Jesus' Appearance In The Revelation of John

What literally does Jesus look like? There are hundreds of artistic guesses. No one knows, because no one made a drawing of Him while He walked this earth for about 33 years. The best we can do is try to imagine what a 30-some year-old man might have looked like in first century Galilee / Judea. Here is a site that claims to document some "face to face" encounters and visitations with Jesus Christ @ Divine Revelations. Below are some free typical examples posted in dreamstime.com.

    

None of these are what John says he saw. Listen and imagine for yourself: 

"Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea." Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.  - Rev 1:11-15 ESV

Did our Lord mean to give us a literal vision of Himself, because none is recorded elsewhere in the Bible? By no means. This description, like all of the visions in The Revelation, is symbolic. It is a picture with multiple meanings that point far beyond the mere picture itself. Let's take a look and ask what Jesus is saying both to John and to us in this revelatory symbol of Himself. Then consider what it means for your own life.

What did John hear and see? He saw:

one like a son of man - Certainly Jesus fully intends for us to remember that He is and always will be human. He is Immanuel, God with us in human form. Volume after volume has appeared across the centuries to emphasize that the risen Christ was and ever will remain not only true God, but also true man, as the Christian creeds emphasize. As our Brother He understands us since He was tempted in every way even as we are (Heb 2:17-18; 4:15). 

wearing a long robe with a golden sash - Revelation was written in code. That is, it is written with reference to the Old Testament. The image here is that of a Jewish high priest with a partly golden sash around his waist (Ex. 28:2-8; 39:5). The prophet Daniel shares this same image as he writes what he saw when the Son of Man appeared to him (Dan. 7:9-13; 10:5-6). In John's revelation Jesus portrays Himself as the High Priest who made the final sacrifice for all mankind (Heb 7:15-16), He is the ancient of days, the eternal God, the risen ruler of kings on earth, the one coming with the clouds to judge all the tribes of the earth (Rev. 1:5-8). 

his hair white as wool or snow. White is the color of purity (Isa. 1:18). All those made clean by the blood of Christ wear white robes (Heb 9:13-14; Rev. 7:9-14). White is also the color our hair turns when we are old. So the white hair points to experience and becomes a symbol of wisdom. Jesus is that wise One with eternal experience and wisdom in all things (Lev. 19:32; Job 32:7; Prov. 16:31).

his eyes like a flame of fire - they penetrate past our empty pretence, into our hearts. Jesus is the all-knowing One. None can hide fro His gaze. This then is a warning to all who will stand before Him. He is the all-consuming fire of those who resist Him (Ex. 24:17; Deut. 4:23-24; 9:3).  

his feet like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace - The LORD appeared to the prophets in a body shining like bright bronze and the mineral beryl. None dare resist this powerful One (Eze. 40:3; Dan. 10:6). 

his voice sounding like the roar of many waters. The waters rose in the days of the flood that destroyed all but Noah's family. Now the same Lord is coming in judgment, with power mightier than the waves of the sea (Psalm 93:4; Isa. 17:13; Ezek. 43:2). 

his face shining like the sun in full strength. The sun does destroy  those unprotected (Psalm 121:6; Isa. 49:10. But the Sun shines with healing upon those who are finally set free (Mal. 4:2).

Recall that John knew Jesus personally. He was one of the inner-circle of three who were with Him on the mount of transfiguration (Matt. 17:1-2). In this revelation Jesus appears in much the same way, in His majesty, power and glory. This is the message John is to send through these symbols that serve both as a warning and as Good News of comfort to the seven churches—and to all members of the church.

Next time we shall consider the two-edged sword that came from the mouth of this mighty Son of Man and what that means to us who put our faith and hope in Him. 

Jesus Had To Be Born Of The Virgin Mary

When you and I read the following chapter of Hebrews about this strange person, Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of the Most High God, we are left with a long list of questions about who he was and why the writer to the Hebrews speaks about him in the way that he does. Here's how he starts, after declaring that Jesus is a high priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 6:20).

For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever. See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils! - Hbr 7:1-4 ESV

We've read about Melchizedek earlier in Hebrews 5 when the author pointed out that the heavenly Father begat Jesus as His Son in the eternal today when He said,

"You are my Son, today I have begotten you" (Psalm 2:7). 

And again we read about David's Lord who sits at the right hand of the LORD,

The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, "You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." - Psa 110:4 ESV

Now, very seriously believing that the Psalms are the revealed Word of the LORD God, the writer begins to explain who this mysterious king of Salem is and why it is so important to realize that Jesus is a priest "after the order of Melchizedek". This priestly king is, after all, only mentioned in Holy Scripture one time. As the writer emphasizes, we know nothing about who he was beyond that. We know nothing about his lineage, his background, who  his parents were, how he came to be the king of Salem (later Jeru-salem)—nothing. We only know that Abraham presented him with a tithe after he returned from the slaughter of the kings (Gen. 14:18-20).

His first point: resembling the Son of God Melchizedek continues a priest forever. Here we encounter the mystery of Jesus as understood and taught by the Christian church. Jesus received His divine nature from His Father in eternity. He was begotten, not made, as our creeds clearly teach. He is not a creature who has had a beginning in time. Indeed, Scripture says of Him,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. - John 1:1-3 ESV

All things came into being through Him and apart from Him nothing—nothing—came into being! He is God. He is the Word! He is the Creator of all things!

But He is also Man, born of the Virgin Mary. Of this wonder the Scriptures also speak.

Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, "Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven." But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test." And he said, "Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. - Isa 7:10-14 ESV

The Gospel of Matthew has this about Joseph's dream the night after he learned that Mary was pregnant:

But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means, God with us). - Mat 1:20-23 ESV

Two questions:

1. How could a virgin conceive? 
2. How could a virgin bear a son and remain a virgin? 

Humanly speaking, it is impossible for a virgin to conceive. A human is the product of the union of male seed and female egg. And yet Jesus' conception was from the Holy Spirit. The Spirit spoke about this in a later chapter of the prophet Isaiah.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. - Isa 9:6 ESV

A child is born—this refers to Jesus' birth and His humanity. He was the divine Son of God from all eternity. Now the Father sent His Son from heaven. (Jn. 3:16, 6:39, 12:49). Here we come upon the wonder and mystery of Jesus, true God from eternity and also true Man, born of the virgin Mary.

Did Jesus need the virgin birth to be sinless? No, he was already sinless as the eternal Son of God before His birth. The angel pointed this out to Mary when he told her she was to become Jesus' mother.

And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." 

And Mary said to the angel, "How will this be, since I am a virgin?" 

And the angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. - Luk 1:30-35 ESV

Jesus was and is holy and without sin. He was holy before His conception in Mary's womb. He did not need her to be holy and sinless. She was the vehicle by which He entered this world, but His holiness was and is not dependent upon her holiness. That raises, of course, another question. Did the Holy Spirit use Mary's egg to create Jesus' humanity? I'll come back to that question next time.

Part of the answer to this question rests in another strange Biblical prophecy dating all the way back to the Garden of Eden. After Eve and Adam had fallen for the temptation of the serpent the LORD said to the serpent,

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel." - Gen 3:15 NKJV

The Hebrew word for seed is zera, a word that refers both to offspring and to the physical seed that the man passes on. The prophecy is made only of the zera of the woman, as if a woman by herself could have offspring. But this is impossible. No woman can bear a child by herself. She has no zera. She brings rather an egg, not the seed, the zera that fertilizes the egg. No woman ever bore a son alone—until Mary bore Jesus, the Son who destroyed the power of the devil to accuse mankind of sin (2 Cor. 5:18-21; 1 Pet. 2:22).

We need to look at this from the perspective that Adam was

• representative or head of all mankind and 
• bore the physical seed in which mankind's sinful nature is passed on 

Let us start with the representative concept. The Apostle Paul teaches clearly that it was by Adam that sin entered into the world of mankind. As noted, this is the understanding that Adam is the head or representative of the entire human race. He did not reject the temptation of the devil. He ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Therefore when Adam sinned the entire race fell. The Apostle writes about this.

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned-- - Rom 5:12 ESV

Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. - Rom 5:14 ESV 

For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. - 1Cr 15:21-22 ESV

There are many examples in the Scriptures of one person who is the head of a family or a people making a decision that touches all. So we read of Noah cursing his grandson Canaan.

When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, he said, "Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers." - Gen 9:24-25 ESV

Strangely, Canaan wasn't directly involved in what his father Ham had done. Instead of covering Noah's nakedness when he was drunk, Ham went out and told his two brothers, apparently mocking his father. As a result, Noah pronounced a curse on Ham's sons, a curse that fell on Canaan and his descendants.

The same thing happened to Esau when he sold his birthright to Jacob (Gen. 25:31-34). All of his descendants were thus excluded from the blessing of the promise given to Abraham and passed on to Isaac, then Jacob and their descendants (Gen. 28:1-4).

So from this viewpoint no descendant of Adam could possibly rescue mankind from the curse of sin. In Adam all die ! And yet, if mankind is to be rescued it must be that one who is truly a man must bear the  judgment of death for all. But who could do this? And how?

Here we come back to the virgin birth and the necessity of the virgin birth of Jesus. More on this next time.

Not What, But Who Unites Us Christians

We Christians talk a good talk, but in reality we don't walk a good walk. We say we believe that Christ is in charge of God's entire house. He is the Son of God after all. In other words, He is the Groom and the church is His bride. He is also the Head and we believers are His body. That makes us all members of the same body. And so, we are members one of the other. It means we are brothers and sisters, members of the same family. Right?

Sounds good, but . . . there are such little matters as race, ethnicity, nationality, language, tradition, culture, sex, education and generation that keep getting in the way. And they are often not little matters. Consider those matters that separate and divide us.

• I'm white, but you're black (race)
• I'm German, but you're French (ethnicity)
• I speak English, but you speak Spanish (language)
• I'm American, but you're Chinese (nationality)
• I prefer classical European style music, but you only relate to African (culture)
• I have had the privilege of a post-graduate education, but you can barely read (education)
• I was born before World War II, but you were born at the end of the 20th century (generation)

How shall we overcome these differences? Is it even possible? Listen to the writer to the Hebrews. He uses the Greek word oikos (translated as "house" in English) to refer to the household of God. With this word he refers to that great host of mankind rescued from slavery to sin and death by the work of Christ. The previous chapter ends by emphasizing that Christ is the high priest who offered himself as the all atoning sacrifice for the sins of all mankind. That's why he is able to help all who are enslaved by the fear of death.

THEREFORE, holy brothers (or brothers and sisters), you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God's house. For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses--as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. - Hebrews 3:1-6 ESV

What brings us together? The answer is not what, but WHO! What we share, says the writer, is our heavenly calling. When we get down to the bottom of it, we are all human, descendants of Adam and Eve. And Jesus united Himself to all of us when He was born of the Virgin Mary by the wondrous working of the Holy Spirit. It is Jesus who binds us into one body. It is Jesus who makes us members of one another. It is Jesus who has made Himself one with those of us who are black, brown, tan, white, yellow, red, with eyes and hair and complexions of all colors. It is Jesus who is Chinese, Malaysian, Russian, Swedish, Mexican, American and every other nationality. Jesus speaks to and in every culture. He puts the children on His lap and humbles the most highly educated with the mysteries and wonders of His creation.

And Jesus did it by doing for us all what we cannot and never shall be able to do for ourselves. He earned for us forgiveness and absolution for all our sins. He is the "builder of a house" with far more honor than the house itself, as the Hebrews writer says.

If you are interested in the so-called ecumenical movement I commend you. We Christians must be ready to acknowledge that we are members of the same household, brothers and sisters one of the other. BUT, please, please, let us not forget what unites us. As I noted above, it is not what, but WHO! Who is Jesus? What did He do upon Calvary's cross? What does that mean for you, for me? What is it that we share because Jesus? Blind Helen Howarth Lemmel put it beautifully when she wrote,

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

• O soul, are you weary and troubled?
  No light in the darkness you see?
  There’s light for a look at the Savior,
  And life more abundant and free.

Chorus: Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace.

• Through death into life everlasting
  He passed, and we follow Him there;
  O’er us sin no more hath dominion
  For more than conqu’rors we are! - Chorus

• His Word shall not fail you, He promised;
  Believe Him and all will be well;
  Then go to a world that is dying,
  His perfect salvation to tell! - Chorus

Source: http://www.hymnal.net/hymn.php/h/645#ixzz2fky20JIJ

Making It Personal

I have this thing about the use of modern media. I have a love/hate relationship with it. I am obviously using it to write this blog, but I much, much prefer to speak to someone face to face and have someone do the same for me. That's why, I suppose, I have always had such a hard time with sermons that are read. I do NOT want my pastor to read his sermon. I can do that without his help if he would but put it up on the church's website for example or send me a written copy of what he wants to say. What I do want is for him to look me and the rest of his congregation directly in the eye and talk to us as a personal representative of our Lord Jesus.

I have this understanding—is it so strange?—that pastors are called by the LORD Jesus to be His spokesmen. Through them the LORD speaks His Word, warning us about disobeying God's commands, but also speaking about God's mercy offered to us from Jesus' cross. I don't want an essay about this Good Word. I want a face-to-face, person-to-person conversation. That's my view of what a sermon should be. It's the way I've always attempted to preach, both when I served a congregation and now when I'm invited to be a guest preacher. Is it so strange?

The writer of this book we're studying, this Letter to the Hebrews, resorted to the written word. It was all he had in those days. The letter came to be seen as a letter from God Himself and over these next two millennia has been re-copied countless times. Who the original author was no one knows for certain. The letter does mention one of the Apostle Paul's proteges, Timothy—assuming this was the same Timothy to whom Paul wrote (1 & 2 Timothy).

You should know that our brother Timothy has been released, with whom I shall see you if he comes soon. - Hbr 13:23 ESV

It is impossible to know to what incident this refers. Released from where and by whom? We simply do not know. Does this mean that Paul wrote this letter? We don't know that either.  Luther believed Apollos wrote the book (Acts 18:24). He was both eloquent and competent in the OT Scriptures. The letter must have been written before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. The author is very concerned about the Old Covenant being superseded by the New in Christ and would surely not have ignored Jerusalem's and Jerusalem's temple's destruction by the Roman General Titus and his army.

All that aside the author is concerned that we know in these last days—the period we now live in—God has spoken and continues to speak to us by his son.

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. - Hbr 1:1-2 ESV

In the days before Christ, God spoke to His prophets and through them to His people. He spoke to

• Moses by a burning bush (Exod. 3:1-22). He was to lead the Children of Israel out of Egypt to freedom in the promised land. 
• Elijah by still, small voice after he fled from the anger of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel (1 Kings 19:1-21)
• Isaiah by heavenly vision (Isa. 6:1-13). The people would not listen and would be sent into exile.  
• Hosea by family crisis. He was commanded to marry Gomer, a whore (Hos. 1:2).
• Amos by basket of summer fruit. The end has come upon Israel (Amos 8:1).

The letter emphasizes that God still speaks to us through these ancient prophecies. God uses the written Word as His medium to this day. But He now speaks in a clearer and purer manner in His Son. All the writings of the OT pointed to Christ. He is the fulfiller and completion of all that the prophets heard and proclaimed. As we work through the letter to the Hebrews we'll learn more about this wonder. We shall learn about that to which the Apostle John wrote, the Word of Life. 

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life-- the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us-- that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. - 1Jo 1:1-3 ESV 

This is personal to each one of us. I only wish I could say this to you face-to-face. I trust that if you have a pastor he will do what I cannot through this media. I trust that he will help you to know more and more about the fact that Jesus is now God speaking to you face-to-face and person-to-person. 

Faith in Jesus, The Great Work Of God

We're asking what it means to do greater works than Jesus did. The final sentence of my last blog was this:

You can ask for no greater work than to bring a soul to Jesus.

I promised to take a deeper look at questions raised by our Lord's promise given to his disciples in the upper room, the very night he was betrayed:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. - John 14:12-14 ESV 

You will recall that Jesus himself said our primary work is to believe in him, as he said to the crowds who followed him after he gave them a sign of who he really was by feeding thousands in the wilderness with a little boy's lunch.

Then they said to him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." - John 6:28-29 ESV

How is it that faith in Jesus can be called the work of God? The answer is found by listening carefully to Jesus' comments about the story of the Exodus, also in John 6. The Jews who chased after Jesus when he had fed them referred to the manna their ancestors received during their forty years in the wilderness:

When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, "It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat. ... The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan. - Exod 16:1-35 ESV

 

The wilderness of the Sinai peninsula is a most uninhabitable place. The only way they survived out there—the only way—was because of the inexplicable gift of manna. I say inexplicable because they never did figure out what that bread was. That's why they called it manna (man hu in their language means, "What is it?"). And yet it came day after day. And it kept them alive.

Keep that in mind as you hear Jesus say about himself, 

". . . my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst." John 6:32-35 ESV

In other words, all your needs for this life and for that age to come are and forever will be met by Jesus. Come to him in your need both for food and for forgiveness and he will provide it.

And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." - John 6:39-40 ESV 

And again,

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." - Jhn 6:47-51 ESV

Yesterday at worship I ate that bread of life. As the pastor placed the wafer of bread into my mouth I heard him say, "Take and eat. This is the true body of Christ." This is the flesh that Jesus gave for me—and for all—upon the cross (1 Cor. 10:16-17). This is what we Christians celebrate. This is what we proclaim. This is what we will sing about and shout out on Easter Sunday. Christ is risen! Christ who died rose again. And because he lives we also live. And we who believe in him will never die. And it is all a completely undeserved and inexplicable gift (manna),  given to us in this wilderness as we make our way to the land of promise. To believe this, to put your entire trust and faith in this Good News is the work of God. The power to believe it is all God's work in me—not my work, but his! It is all grace, free and undeserved.

"This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."

 

The Formidable Unity Among Us Christians

In his introduction to the modern translation of an ancient book by St. Athanasius (On The Incarnation), C.S. Lewis wrote, 

"We are all rightly distressed, and ashamed also, at the divisions of Christendom. But those who have always lived within the Christian fold may be too easily dispirited by them. They are bad, but such people do not know what it looks like from without. Seem from there, what is left intact despite all the divisions, still appears (as it truly is) an immensely formidable unity."

The creed named after Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, reflects that "immensely formidable unity" among us Christians. Almost all Christians readily embrace the Athanasian Creed as a carefully crafted summary of what we believe about the tri-unity or trinity of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Outside the pages of the New Testament itself, Athanasius is probably the man to whom we chiefly owe the preservation of that Christian faith. The creed named after Athanasius exposes the false teachings of a popular party that taught Arianism and defends the full divinity of Jesus Christ. The Arian view is seen today most especially in the teachings of the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormons, who teach that Jesus is not unique from the rest of mankind. Against the Arians the Athanasian Creed emphasizes that Jesus is of one substance with the Father (the Greek word is homo-ousios), leaving the Arians no room to teach that Jesus is merely a god or a high ranking angel then or today.

Father, Son, Holy Spirit = God

Est = is. Non est = is not.

In today's and in upcoming blog postings I intend to emphasize especially that unity we Christians have, most especially around the person and work of Jesus, Son of Mary and Son of God. To do that I invite you to step back to the 4th century to listen to what Athanasius himself taught about Jesus who is "Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood" (Athanasian Creed: 31).

This teaching is of immense importance for several reasons. Let's begin with how we of the 21st century explain the origin of the universe and our own planet. We Christians teach that the universe and our world were carefully designed and crafted by a Mind from outside and beyond our universe. Scientists who espouse Darwinian evolution and natural selection reject such statements. Neo-darwinians stress that it is a grave mistake to mix religion with science, especially since religion is a matter of feelings and blind faith in some supposed revelation whereas modern science depends upon careful observation and rational conclusions that grow out of the scientific method. Here is a chart from Concept Crucible outlining that method:

In response to these modern Darwinians a growing number of scientists stress that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause and design. They point out that intelligent design (ID) is indeed a proper scientific hypothesis or theory.

Intelligent design begins with the observation that intelligent agents produce complex and specified information (CSI). Design theorists hypothesize that if a natural object was designed, it will contain high levels of CSI. Scientists then perform experimental tests upon natural objects to determine if they contain complex and specified information. One easily testable form of CSI is irreducible complexity, which can be discovered by experimentally reverse-engineering biological structures to see if they require all of their parts to function. When ID researchers find irreducible complexity in biology, they conclude that such structures were designed.

ID scientists do not want to be identified as creationists. Their science is science and not religion. They operate with rational thinking and the scientific method. That is all fine and good, I suppose. It keeps open the dialogue. However, we who have been reborn by the power and working of God's Holy Spirit (John 3:5-6) have no choice but to teach openly that our God is not only some god above and outside this creation. We are not Deists. No indeed. The very same God who created the universe by His Word out of nothing is Jesus! Jesus IS that Word of God who became flesh and blood in the Child born of Mary (John 1:1-16). That is what our Christmas celebration is all about.

And He became incarnate flesh and blood for a specific reason, a reason tied to creation and to the universe itself. We emphasize that if our first parents had obeyed the Creator, the life of a paradise without sorrow, suffering, pain and death would still be ours today—and forever. But they threw away their heritage and birthright. They disobeyed His clear command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And so they died (Genesis 2:16-17; Gen 3:1-19). We who are the children of Adam and Eve share in that death, as does creation itself. In Adam we all died, writes the Apostle (1 Cor 15:21-22).

Life here on our planet was created with purpose and meaning. It was never to be meaningless as it so often seems, a mere matter of the undirected and mindless chance taught by the religion known as Darwinism. Everything was created with purpose and order. Note how the order of creation progresses as recorded in Genesis 1-2. At the end of each day the Creator pronounces what He either created or made as good!

But what do we see all around us? Chaos, confusion, suffering and the cessation of life. This is exactly what the Creator said would be the result. Adam, Eve and their children would all die, die  because of their disobedience. That disobedience is called sin. Death is directly related to sin. Death entered creation because of our disconnect with our Creator. And since we who bear the very image of our Creator were to rule over this world (Gen. 1:26-30) there is a disconnect between us and this created world as well. We either do not have dominion over it or we find it warring against us. As the Creator said to Adam, the earth is cursed (Gen. 3:17). Life has now become a struggle. We murder and wage war with one another. We have twisted and perverted our sexual natures. Family life breaks down everywhere. Our bodies are infected by other hostile lifeforms of the creation. We suffer from disasters brought on by the uncontrolled forces of wind and wave. Hurricanes, electrical storms and earthquakes ravish our homes and destroy our children. Everything is in confusion.

It was never to be this way. God did not want it this way, but what could He do about it? That's a topic for tomorrow.

The Circumcision Of Jesus

The Christmas celebration for believers continues well beyond December 25, all the way to January 6 when Eastern Orthodox Christians celebrate Christ's birth and western Christians the coming of the Magi. The appointed Gospel for the First Sunday of the Christmas celebration is Luke 2:22-40. This text is all about Jesus' and Mary's purification and the family's encounter with two devout seniors who lived in Jerusalem and spent their days at the Temple. Let's start with Jesus' circumcision and its meaning for us now two thousand years later.

And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. Luke 2:21 ESV

The reference is to Genesis 17:1-14 and Leviticus 12:3, the law about a boy child's circumcision. All this seems remote and strange to us. In fact not all Christian parents have their sons circumcised. The American Academy of Pediatrics, for example, does not recommend it as a routine procedure for newborn male babies. Nor are believers spiritually bound by such rules since the coming of Christ. The Apostle Paul writes about about circumcision as it was connected to God's mystery, now revealed in Christ:

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 

In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance (i.e. soma in Gk. = body) belongs to Christ. - Col 2:6-17 ESV

The organ of generation, that bodily part by which the LORD God brings children into the world, that organ had a sign connected to it since the days of Abraham. The foreskin was removed on the eighth day after birth as a sign of the covenant the LORD made with Abraham and all his descendants. For the rest of his life every male was unavoidably reminded of this covenant. Like the rainbow (Gen. 9:12-13), this sign pointed to the fact that God mysteriously and graciously chose Abraham's children as His own. Both a man and his wife were reminded of this covenant when they had intercourse. They belonged to the LORD and so did the children the LORD would create through that intercourse. This is also why Moses called upon the Israelites to "circumcise the foreskin of your heart". The LORD of heaven and earth in love chose them above all people, not because of their numbers or their goodness. He chose them out of His own grace and mercy (Deut. 7:7-8; Psalms 115:1). Consequently they were to remove anything that hindered them from devoting themselves to the LORD and His plans for their lives.

In Jesus' day the Jews had typically distorted that meaning of circumcision. They turned it into yet another way by which they were gaining the LORD's favor. They made it a good work they performed to show how devoted they were. It had become what Paul calls a "human tradition." Away with this, says Paul. Circumcision and all the other laws about food and drink, festivals and a Sabbath are but shadows. They served a purpose for believers in the days of the old covenant. But those days have come to an end. Christ is the body that cast a shadow in former days. But now he is present and has completed his work. He has taken us and our sins with him to the cross. He paid our debts. They were once and for all eternity set aside, nailed to the cross. So we are free from guilt, shame and sin. We died with Christ and rose again. This is the message of our baptism. And this is also why all those rules and laws no longer apply to us.

And yet Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day. Why? So that it might be clear he was identified completely with God's chosen people, even as he has declared himself now to be the Savior of all, both Jews and Gentiles. What a wonder and what a wonderful reason to celebrate Christmas.

We Are Not Celebrating The Birthday Of A Philosopher

Here in the U.S.A. we have the annual controversy about Christmas trees in public places. Some would have them called Holiday trees. Others strongly object, saying that this has been an official holiday since 1870. In this holiday we celebrate the birth of a man whose philosophy is most meaningful to our country. So we must retain the term Christmas tree. However, as all believers know, Jesus persisted in calling himself God's Son. John's Gospel records Jesus openly proclaiming himself to be one with his Father. He is no mere man nor is he merely a philosopher.

"I and the Father are one." The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, "I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?" The Jews answered him, "It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God." - Jhn 10:30-33 ESV

The Gospels are packed with parallel statements.

• In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. - Jhn 1:1-2 ESV
• But Jesus answered them, "My Father is working until now, and I am working." ... that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. - Jhn 5:17, 23 ESV
• Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." - Jhn 8:58 ESV
• All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. ... The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, - Jhn 17:10, 22 ESV
• All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. - Mat 11:27 ESV
• Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. - 1Ti 3:16 ESV

We Christians at least are not celebrating the birthday of a mere man whose philosophy has been influential. Jesus himself will not permit it. Of course U.S. President Thomas Jefferson did indeed consider Jesus to be nothing more than a man. He purposely cut out all references in the Bible to Jesus' divinity, creating the well known Jefferson Bible, also known as The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth. In this book Jefferson focuses on the words of Jesus, chiefly the Sermon on the Mount and his parables. He eliminates the miracles and ends the story with Jesus' burial. One edition also contains a very short section with some of Jefferson's other writings.

In his famous book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis makes this statement, 

"A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg - or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us."

Let us who believe in and trust in Jesus as living Savior and risen Lord make it abundantly clear in our proclamations. Jesus is not a mere philosopher. He is Emmanuel, God with us (Matt. 1:18-25). Hallelujah! Jesus, true God and true Man, is the reason we celebrate this season.

Jesus' Name Of Power

This week I write about Jesus' ascension and return to power and glory at the Father's right hand. But  I want you to understand that I do not write as an academic. You see, I am 78 years old and this weekend the doctors will operate on my heart for the second time in just over four years. Granted, they tell me I'm in relatively good physical condition and that the replacement of my aortic valve stands a 90% + chance of being successful and without complications. Nevertheless, something unforeseen could happen. So I turn to my faith and invite you to meditate with me upon the promises of God's Word that I hold dear.

The Apostles' Creed says, "He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty." As Jesus prepared to leave, He spoke these words to His disciples, "I AM with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). Those are exceedingly comforting words.

Any and every I AM statement Jesus made links Him to the Name of God revealed to Moses on Mt. Sinai.

Then Moses said to God, "If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And he said, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" - Exd 3:13-14 ESV

Some translate: I will be what I will be or I am what I am.

This is the name shared by every person of the Trinity. It is the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Whenever and wherever that Name is invoked, there is power, the power  Jesus demonstrated again and again in His earthly ministry. He is the great I AM who listens to us, identifies with us and answers our every prayer.

The Gospel of John calls Jesus demonstrations of His power signs. The God whose name is I AM, who delivered His people, fed them in the wilderness and brought them into the promised land, is among us, writes the Apostle.

This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. - John 2:11 ESV

Thus I rejoice that Jesus has come among us to free us from anxiety. He is quite capable of caring for me as I face this operation. He is ready to care also for you in every crisis you face today. Ponder with me seven signs John records, signs that point to Jesus' power.

• John 2:1-11 - He turned water into 190 gallons of the best wine. Consider His control over all sources of food, all plants and animals and everything we need to feed, nourish and heal our bodies and bring joy to our hearts. 
• John 4:46-54 - As He healed a nobleman's son, He is ever ready to hear our pleas for help and healing. 
• John 5:1-9 - Even a helpless paralytic was healed at the Bethesda pool. However helpless we feel, Jesus is ready to rescue and restore us. 
• John 6:1-14 - If He could feed over 5,000 with five loaves of bread and two fish, He can surely provide for us this day. 
• John 6:15-21 - As Jesus calmed the storm on the sea of Galilee, so He comes to us in the midst of our extremities to remind us of His presence and power to make everything calm. 
• John 9:1-12 - Jesus healed even a man blind from birth
• John 11:1-44 - And above all, behold how He raised Lazarus from the dead. Here is a wondrous sign to us that we who are in Christ will never die, even though we set aside this body. 

For behold, Jesus rose from the grave Himself! All that I have written above hangs on this. If Christ is not risen, then your and my faith in Christ is empty, pointless and foolish. Everything flows to and follows from this greatest of all signs. When attacked by His earthly contemporaries Jesus said, 

"An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. - Mat 12:39 ESV 

And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. ... An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah." So he left them and departed. - Mat 16:1, 4 ESV

Jonah was in the belly of the great fish three days and three nights, essentially dead and without hope of life (Jonah 1:17). But then the fish vomited him out on dry land. Likewise Jesus was dead and for three days He was in the belly of the earth. But on the third day He rose from the dead. No one can and ever will be able to prove otherwise. As Paul says, 

And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. - 1Cr 15:14-20 ESV

This is the same Jesus who meets us all as we gather in His name to worship Him. He is with us to heal our wounds and bind up our broken hearts with His word of forgiveness and His promise to bring us safely to our Father's home. This is my faith as I face yet another operation. This is my comfort amidst all dangers and doubts. I pray that it is yours as well. 

God's Right Hand Man Is At Our Right Hand

In previous blogs I made it clear that the Christian church has from the beginning to the present day seen the Angel of the LORD passages in the OT to be speaking to us about Jesus Christ, God's Son and our Savior. Numerous other blogs support and clarify this position. Examples from a Google search reveal:

• "The Angel of the Lord" by Wil Pounds
• "Genesis 16:7–13 The Angel of the LORD" 
• Christ in the Old Testament 4 

There are many others. But what are the lessons to be learned from this? The Apostle Paul writes, 

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. - Rom 15:4 ESV

Endurance, encouragement, hope—important concepts, vital words. How do these OT stories encourage us to persist and move toward the high goal of our calling? The writer to the Hebrews tells us to study the lives of OT believers and be encouraged. In one well-known passage he describes Jesus as both the founder and perfecter of our faith.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. - Hbr 12:1-2 ESV

The founder (archagos in Greek) refers to the prime leader, the one who has gone ahead of us all, the captain or the author. Perfecter (teleiotes in Greek) points to the one who raises up the highest example of faith. Its a word unique to this one passage in the NT.

So if we go back to the numerous stories in the OT about the Angel of the LORD what do they tell us about Jesus, the One who endured the shame of the cross for us all and is now returned to the seat of power at God's right hand?

We learn from David before he became King of Judah and Israel. King Saul in jealousy hated David and was out to kill him. David and his men fled for their lives. Having neither food nor weapons, the priest Ahimelech of the village of Nob fed them with the sacred Bread of the Presence. Further, he armed David with the great sword of Goliath. When David and his men fled to Gath, some 20 miles west of Bethlehem, David had to pretend to be insane to escape capture by Achish the king of Gath. For assisting David, Saul murdered Ahimelech and 84 other priests. Things were bleak and frightening indeed. Reflecting back upon this experience David later wrote Psalm 34, "Taste and See that the LORD is Good."

This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! - Psa 34:6-8 ESV

David knew the stories of how the Angel of the LORD had appeared to Abraham, Hagar and Jacob. He knew how the Angel of the LORD led, fed and protected God's people in the wilderness. He cried to this same LORD in his great hour of peril. He took refuge in him. And he discovered that "the angel of the LORD" does indeed surround, guard and deliver those who put their trust in Him.

This Angel, this Messenger of the LORD is the same One who came among us in flesh and blood to endure our shame and deliver us from eternal death. Like the sacred bread set week by week before the LORD, Jesus is present to feed us with His own body and blood. Taste and see. The LORD is good, kind and rich. He will indeed deliver each one of us who trusts Him.

 

JESUS - Angel Of The LORD

We're taking a quick walk through some of the Biblical teachings about angels and the rebel angels known as demons. Today we go a little further into the narrative.

After the serpent in the garden the next angel we come upon may not be an angel at all. He is called the angel of the LORD. He shows himself to Hagar, the Egyptian servant woman Sarai gave to Abram when it seemed Sarai herself was unable to conceive. But then when Hagar became pregnant, Sarai couldn't deal with it and insisted that Abram get rid of her.

But Abram said to Sarai, "Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please." Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her. 

The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?" 

She said, "I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai." 

The angel of the LORD said to her, "Return to your mistress and submit to her." The angel of the LORD also said to her, "I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude." And the angel of the LORD said to her, "Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has listened to your affliction. He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen." 

So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, "You are a God of seeing," for she said, "Truly here I have seen him who looks after me." Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered. - Gen 16:3-16 ESV

Did you catch it? "So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, 'You are a God of seeing' . . . I have seen him who looks after me." Did she mean that the angel was the LORD? It sure sounds like it.

The next time we encounter this mysterious angel of the LORD is at the very moment that Abraham is about to slaughter his son Isaac in obedience to the LORD.

But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I."  

He said, "Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." 

And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place, "The LORD will provide"; as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided."  

And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, "By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice." - Gen 22:1-18 ESV

There it is again, "By myself I have sworn . . .I will surely bless you . . ." What's an angel doing swearing by himself and blessing? Only the LORD may so speak and do.

And then we have Jacob. After successful marriages to Rachel and Leah and becoming a wealthy man, he headed back to where he had grown up, knowing he would have to deal with his estranged brother Esau. The night before the two brothers met Jacob had a wrestling match with some strange man all through the night. In the morning the man who wouldn't reveal his name left Jacob with his hip out of joint and a blessing that only the LORD could give—a new name, Israel (the one who wrestled with God). Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying,

"For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered." - Gen 32:30 ESV

And so it goes, again and again and again in the Old Testament. The angel of the LORD occurs 56 times and the angel of God occurs 10 times. He appears to Abraham, Hagar, Isaac, Jacob, Manoah and his wife, Moses, Joshua and many others.

Jewish Rabbis have long been puzzled by this. Since they deny the deity of Christ Jesus they are forced to conclude that the angel of the LORD is probably Michael, the chief or arch-angel. But Christians from early on have taken the angel of the LORD to be none other than the second Person of the Holy Trinity, through whom all things were created and who came once and for all to unite Himself with all mankind as Jesus, Son of Mary and Son of God (John 1:1-14). 

In other words, the angel of the LORD was the LORD Himself, the One whose name was and is so revered that Israel of old would not speak it. Instead of putting vowels to the four-lettered name by which He revealed Himself to Moses, YHWH, they would speak only the name that now appears in English translations, the LORD. The Apostle Paul clears up the mystery quite succinctly. 

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is LORD and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. - Rom 10:9 ESV 

Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says "Jesus is accursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is LORD" except in the Holy Spirit. - 1Cor 12:3 ESV 

 Christians from New Testament times to the present believe the Word. Across the ages, from Adam to Abraham, Moses and on to the present, God was at work in Christ. Through His mysterious and wondrous plan He reconciled the world to Himself (2 Cor. 5:14-21). The Angel of the LORD was none other than the God of the Covenant, the One we now identify as YAHWEH, the name above all others, YAHWEH SAVIOR (Jesus). And now, at the name JESUS every knee in heaven, on earth and under the earth must bow in obedience and love and "every tongue confess that Jesus MESSIAH (Christ) is LORD, to the glory of God the Father." - Phil. 2:5-11 ESV

We'll look some more at angels next time. If you're interested in an in depth look at the whole question of angels, check into the following resources:

• The Lutheran Difference: Angels and Demons by Armand Boehme - their beginning, who and what they are, their ranks and number and what they do.
• All About Angels by Jill Hartman - an informative look at the biblical teachings about these servants and messengers of God, with an emphasis on how His grace and providence are demonstrated through these beings.
• This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness by Frank Peretti - two novels about angels and demons at work in a small town, based in part upon Ephesians 6:10-20.
• The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis - letters between a senior demon and his junior 

apprentice, dealing with moral questions about evil, temptation, repentance and grace.

The Place of Jesus' Birth

It's the first week of Advent, the first of the four weeks leading up to the celebration of our Lord Jesus' birth. And it's high time we started celebrating. Our congregation is planning to decorate the church building with garlands and poinsettias this weekend. We're also getting the Christmas tree in place. After all, it's less than a month to Christmas Day.


Today I'm also putting the final touches on a midweek Advent sermon I'll be preaching to a small congregation located less than an hour from where I live. I'm preaching a series entitled "Back to Basics," based upon readings from the Apostle Peter's letters. This week's sermon is based upon 1 Peter 2:6-8. It's all about the precious cornerstone laid in Zion, so I'm calling it simply "Stone."

Interior of the Basilica of the Holy Nativity

When a Holy Land tour group I led many years ago visited the probable location of the original manger in Bethlehem, we were surprised to learn that the Holy Family spent the night of Jesus' birth in a cave, carved out of stone. It was not the wooden structure our Nativity creches suggest. For over 1700 years there has been a large church building, a basilica, built over that cave. It's called the Church of the Nativity. It was was begun by Saint Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine I, and completed in 333. Over the centuries the church was burned down, rebuilt and expanded until today it is a compound covering approximately 12,000 square meters.


The stone cave in which Jesus was born is in stark contrast to the very elaborate Church of the Nativity. Those who built, rebuilt and maintained that structure over the centuries probably did so out of reverence, but in so doing they have made it difficult to see how simple, humble and basic was the place of Jesus' birth. To remember this is also to recall that the Creator and Ruler of the universe chose to become a tiny child born for us in the lowliest of conditions. In this manner He has become a cornerstone upon which we may build our lives, a Rock that will never be destroyed. No matter how humble, difficult, stressful and lonely our condition of life, we can rest securely on this Rock, this Prince of Peace, born in a stable. 

My Treasured Possession

Last Sunday, following my Bible class, a lady came up to ask what it means that the devil can appear as an angel of light. In particular, she wondered about those folks who have had a near-death experience of light shining as they moved away from their bodies. Were they, she asked, really seeing the glories of heaven or were they possibly being deceived by the devil appearing to them as an angel or messenger of light (2 Corinthians 11:13-15)?


Good question. I shared with her what one Christian woman whom I served said about her near-death experience. She was convinced she had gone to heaven after a swift journey through a tunnel of blazing light. She was greeted by relatives and was ready to go with them when she heard a voice calling her back. As a result of this, she was completely unafraid of death now. She knew she would be with Jesus and her family when she died.


I also shared with my Bible class questioner that Satan can indeed deceive us into thinking he bears a message of light and understanding. In the context of the passage about Satan appearing as an angel of light the Apostle speaks about false workmen who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. The world is full of such messengers.


The Old Testament lesson for next Sunday, the final Sunday in the Church Year, is from Malachi 3:13-18 and speaks to this question. The writer of this prophecy is not identified. Across the centuries people have come up with many guesses. For now, we'll let that pass. It is enough to know that Malachi was the last of the prophets before Christ's coming and that the title of his book means simply "My Messenger," with the 'My' referring to God.


The LORD is gravely concerned about the empty faith and the total disobedience of so many of those who claim to be God's people, says Malachi. But this will not be allowed forever. A Day of judgment is coming. On that Day the Book of Remembrance will be opened (Malachi 3:16-18). This reminds me of that day when the Children of Israel finally left the wilderness for good and passed over the dried up Jordan riverbed into the promised land. On that day the LORD commanded the priests to take twelve boulders and pile them on the river's edge where the priests and levites stepped out on to the land. The writer says, "And they are there to this day" as stones of remembrance (Joshua 4:1-11). The stones were there to remind the people of how the LORD had graciously brought them from slavery to this beautiful land. They were his treasured possession. That's what the LORD loved to call His people, His treasured possession (Exodus 19:5; Deuteronomy 7:6; 14:2).


Is that not a beautiful image—treasured possession? We all have treasured possessions. Sometimes they are pieces of jewelry, like a wedding ring or a special painting received from one who loves you. Some treasured possessions are photographs and family letters, preserved in books or on electronic recording devices. Here the LORD speaks not about things, but about people. They are His children, His family, His beloved and His treasured possessions. He has purchased them, not with gold and silver, but with His holy and precious blood (Ephesians 2:12-14). His newborn children fear and love Him. They esteem His name above all names. He loves them. They love Him. And their names are recorded in the LORD's book of remembrance.


Now back to the question my Bible class student asked about the ability of the devil to appear as an angel of light. He does indeed, especially as he fosters the false teaching that suggests there is no distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between God's children and those who despise and disobey Him (Malachi 3:18). The LORD makes it very clear. There is a distinction. 

"But the LORD said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book" (Exodus 32:33). 

If you fear death or believe yourself close to death, do not overlook the distinction, but know also that Jesus is our righteousness. He is the One who has provided for us the all atoning sacrifice accepted by the heavenly Father (1 John 2:1-2). Put your trust in Him. Follow His ways and when the Book of Remembrance is opened, your name will be read out as one of the LORD's precious possessions. 

What A Strange King Is This Crucified Jesus

Next Sunday is the final in the church's year of worship. It is often called Christ the King Sunday, especially since the Gospel for this Sunday tells of Jesus crucified with an inscription over him, "This is the King of the Jews" (Luke 23:27-43). The Jewish rulers in Jerusalem of that day scoffed at him, saying, "He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!" I plan to use this Gospel lesson as the basis for the sermon I will preach to a small congregation of Lutheran believers in East Texas. I will use the conversation of the two criminals as the text for meditation, focusing on the prayer of the one who repented, saying, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."

Such a strange king is this Jesus. He had but a few days before entered Jerusalem as a king, riding on a donkey colt in fulfillment of the ancient prophecy of Zechariah 9:9, "Behold your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." The multitude of his disciples rejoiced and spread their clothing on the road to honor him, shouting, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!" Now he hung on a Roman cross, condemned as an insurrectionist and traitor, mocked by the leaders of his own nation. Such a strange king.

All this is connected to the title he accepted, the Christ or in Hebrew the Messiah, the Anointed One. The great King David was the first anointed one, the first Messiah. His sons were also anointed as the kings of Israel. From that line, said the prophets, one day would come the great king, the Messiah.

The descendants of Israel, the Jews, held the concept of the coming of the Messiah in the highest regard. The prophets foretold that he would usher in a great day of blessing, prosperity and peace. Isaiah, for instance, wrote about the Anointed One who would bind up the broken hearted, free the captives, comfort all who mourn and clothe them with garments of praise instead of a faint spirit. Their ruined cities were to be rebuilt and the restored nation would have foreign servants plowing their fields and tending their vineyards. They had lost so much when led into captivity in Babylon, but their fortunes were to be restored double (Isaiah 61:1-7). What a wondrous time the coming of the Messiah would be. No wonder that the Jews waited with longing and prayed each Sabbath for Messiah's return.

And yet here is this Jesus, directly descended from David, a true Son of David and hailed by the multitudes as Messiah, hanging upon the cross with this mocking inscription, "King of the Jews." I want to focus upon the strangeness of King Jesus. Pilate did not understand it. When he asked Jesus if he was indeed a king, Jesus affirmed that he was. However, his kingdom was not a worldly kingdom. Jesus said,

"My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world." Then Pilate said to him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice" (John 18:36-38). 

There are hundreds of questions flying around this statement. Jesus had no political aspirations nor was he intent on leading a rebellion against Rome. There were many who were ready to do so. Indeed thousands of Jews did rebel against Rome in the generation after Jesus lived on the earth. I will not get into all that in next Sunday's sermon. Instead I want to focus upon the faith of that single thief crucified next to our Lord who believed Jesus was indeed coming into his kingdom. Somehow he believed that Jesus' death was the path that would lead to his reign.

Who was this strange believer? And how did he arrive at such a belief? And what does he have to teach us today? These are questions I  want to explore with you this week and with the gathered believers next Sunday.

No Work, No Eat

As we move toward sermon preparations for the Second-last Sunday of the church year there remains one final lesson to study, 2 Thessalonians 3:1-13.

The Apostle asks this congregation to pray for him and his work of proclaiming the Word of the Lord. He request reminds us that the Lord is honored among us when we believe and trust His Word. Among the Thessalonians the Word had indeed sped ahead. Paul longs for that to happen in other places as he preaches and teaches. He wants his hearers to trust in the Lord's faithfulness and reliability. He knew the members of this group would indeed trust in the Lord and fulfill His commands, directed by the Love of God and the steadfastness of Christ.

Even as he says this he asks for prayers to be delivered from wicked and evil men. This is another sober reminder that we live in the final days of this era before Christ's return. In other parts of the letter Paul speaks about the destruction of the Roman Empire—a most unthinkable concept—and the rising up of the Antichrist. We don't have time today to get into a discussion of the Antichrist. If you own The Lutheran Study Bible, you will find good information there about the meaning of that widely misunderstood teaching.

The point the Apostle makes in our passage is that, yes, we live in the final days, but we still must live each day. That is to say, we will have to deal with evil men, the evil one and our own sinful natures every day while we wait for our Lord to return. One of the temptations we face is that of idleness or laziness. That refers to the habit of expecting others to take care of us and not being willing to do our part in the family, in the community and in the congregation of believers.

Paul invites us to look at him as an example. He did not ask for their support while he was there. He paid his own way, supporting himself by his tent making trade. He had a right to be supported, of course, even as everyone who devotes himself to full-time pastoral work. In 1 Corinthians 9:14-15 Paul had pointed to a command from the Lord Jesus Himself that "those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel." He taught the same thing in 1 Timothy 5:17-18 where he urges that elders or pastors be considered worthy of double honor as they labor in preaching and teaching. And yet, Paul himself refused to accept remuneration for his work. Why?

Paul wants his hearers to recall the Gospel. Jesus came not to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. Paul imitated Christ. Now he wants them to imitate him. He wrote extensively about this understanding in his letter to the Ephesians 5:1-21. We are children of light, he says. Christ has shined upon us to open the eyes of our hearts to His love and His promised return. So we walk and live in that light, filled with the Spirit of Jesus and addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody to the Lord with our hearts. At all times we give our Lord thanks and seek to serve one another, rather than being lazy.

So we have great encouragement as we wait for our Lord's imminent return. Even so, come Lord Jesus.

Not What But Who Is The Word of God

Over the past several weeks we've been pondering the statements of the Apostle Paul  in Ephesians 6:10-20 about spiritual warfare. He writes both about wrestling and about the armor of a Roman foot soldier. After teaching about the protective value of the armor he points us to the offensive weapon of the soldier, the word of God, what he calls the "sword of the Spirit."  What is that word of God?

As I suggested earlier one could simply say that the Bible as we know it is the word of God. I could spend a lot of time defending that statement. I could point you to the writings of many scholars who have defended the Scriptures from attacks by the higher critics, the Copenhagen school and others. But that would miss the point those very Scriptures make, a point emphasized by Jesus in a debate with the Jews of His day that the Apostle John records in John 5.

And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life (John 5:27-40).

Jesus point: we can argue all day and all night about the authority of the Scriptures, the lack of evidence for or against biblical stories in archeology, the value of the many ancient copies of the Scriptures and so forth. We can do that, but if we do we've asked the wrong question. The essential  question is not WHAT is the word of God, but rather WHO is the word of God. Jesus and His apostles claim that He, Jesus, is that word of God. The writings of the prophets, poets, wise men and finally the apostles and their students are all about Jesus. He is the Creator of all things, the One through whom all things were made at the very beginning. And this Creator has taken on human flesh and blood in order that He might bring to all mankind the undeserved grace and mercy of God (John 1:1-18).

Paul knew that. He had been an avid protector of the Jewish faith, a member of the Pharisee party, a leader of armed men commissioned to ferret out followers of that rebel rabbi from Nazareth, those folks that blasphemed God and the Scriptures. And then Jesus confronted Paul on the road outside of Damascus (Acts 8:1-18). Jesus forced him to ask, "Who are you Lord?"

This is the question you—and I—must wrestle with again and again. The Scriptures will not allow us to argue about their authority, their historicity, their reliability, etc. until we have first confronted the question about Jesus. Who is He? Is He the Messiah? Is He the Creator of all things, the One by whom all things were made (Colossians 2:1-15)? Did Isaiah point to Jesus when he wrote about the Servant who has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows and through whose stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:1-12)?

We must all wrestle with Jesus and finally be defeated by Him (Genesis 32:22-32). Only then will we know and have in our hand the sword of the Spirit. Jesus is that word of God who drives out Satan and the forces of darkness. In essence everything that Paul writes about in Ephesians 6 is about Jesus. He provides the whole armor. He brings salvation, peace, righteousness, hope, faith and forgiveness. Protected by these the soldier of God attacks all his enemies with Jesus, the sword of the Spirit, the true Word of God. 

Learning the Language of Peace

"Let me hear what God the LORD will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints; but let them not turn back to folly" (Psalm 85:8). 

My wife claims that I speak 'dog' or at least I speak the language of our dog. I should. I've been walking up and down our neighborhood with him for the past six years. By this time I pretty well know his moods, his great interest in smells, his body language when he wants to chase the neighbor's cat and when he's plain tired of walking and ready to go home. 

Now if I could only learn to speak 'wife'. That's a far more difficult language, one that I've been working at learning for these many years. I know a few of the verbs and many of the nouns and certainly some of the adjectives, but I'll always have more to learn about this language. 

I note with great interest that the Sons of Korah are praying in the psalm that they might learn to hear the LORD God speak 'peace'. Peace is a fascinating language, one that I desire to know better.

To hear peace implies that I quiet my life. There are times when so much is going on, so many voices screaming for my attention, that I cannot hear Him speaking to me. All I hear is guilt, anxiety, fear, tension, pain, hunger and desire. Where is the voice of the LORD speaking peace? Listen.

• "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 43:10). 
• "But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him" (Habakkuk 2:20).
• "Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD, for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling" (Zechariah 2:13). 
• "Be silent before the LORD God! For the day of the LORD is near; the LORD has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated his guests" (Zephaniah 1:7). 
• "But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, "Why have you made me like this?" (Romans 9:20).

What do all these exhortations mean other than to humble yourself before him. He is the Sculptor who has formed us from the dust of the earth. We are but clay in his hands. We too often ignore him. We are in grave danger of him speaking words of judgment. We are too ready to listen to all those other voices, even though he longs to speak peace to us.

What a beautiful language peace is. It tells of harmony and unity with our Creator. It speaks of oneness with His creation. It draws us to one another. It is not the language of this fallen world. That's why our LORD says, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid" (John 14:27).

Peace is a gift, purchased for us by the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Only he can give it to us, leave it with us. No where else can it be found. Yet when we receive it, our hearts are calmed and fear leaves, for peace with Him brings new life and hope.

Today, LORD, I will come away from the noise all around me. I will seize that quiet time and I will listen to you. Speak peace to my heart and help me to turn not again to the foolishness and emptiness that surrounds me. Speak peace and I shall be at peace.