Meditations on Word-Focused Praying

Reading Psalm 119 this morning, I was struck by the prayers of the Psalmist to God over the Word. Coming to the Word should always be a prayer-filled event, asking for God the Holy Spirit to be present and teach us through His Word. It's not enough to schedule time and make ourselves read...we must seek the presence of the Author and that He'll bring us to the Word in His timing…let’s look at a few of these prayers.

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Oh that my ways may be established to keep Your statutes (119:5)! Who establishes our ways? The God of the Word. The mind of man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps (Proverbs 16:9). This is a prayer of the Psalmist, that God would establish his ways in a certain way – not the way he wants, but according to what God wants and has shown in His Word.

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With all my heart I have sought You; do not let me wander from Your commandments (119:10). Why do we struggle through times when we wander from the Word? Well, it’s not just a book. It’s the living Word of God, breathed by the Holy Spirit. When we have divided hearts and our singular desire is not His presence and glory, He gives us over for a season to those things that damage our inner faithfulness to Him. Whether it’s stuff, non-Kingdom priorities, relationships, our own pleasure, His name is Jealous (Exodus 34:14 – we don’t pray to Him using that name, do we?) and He will not allow divided loyalty (Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13), anymore than spouses would allow it in the marriage relationship (which is nothing more than a picture of the relationship with God). Even when we go through a period of closeness and outward fidelity to Him, He knows the heart. Sometimes we are Providentially sent on a period of miserable wandering to highlight the infidelity in our hearts (Jeremiah 29:12,13 – a promise to those exiled for spiritual infidelity). The Psalmist pleads with God to save Him from such a time of wandering from the Word, the place of our primary communion with God. Pray this for yourself, and pray it over those who are wandering.

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Incline my heart to Your testimonies and not to dishonest gain. Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity, and revive me in Your ways (119:36,37). More “defensive” prayer. Consider this preventative to wandering. It’s also almost confessional, isn’t it? I’m reminded of the hymn: “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it; prone to leave the God I love. Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it; seal it for Thy courts above” (“Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” Robert Robinson [1735-1790]).

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We’ve all been blessed in life by great Bible teachers. They are all conduits themselves for the Holy Spirit, Who longs to teach us directly (in addition to His gift of human teachers in the Church – Ephesians 4:8,11).

• Blessed are You, O LORD; teach me Your statutes (119:12).
• I have told of my ways, and You have answered me; teach me Your statutes. Make me understand the way of Your precepts, so I will meditate on Your wonders (119:26,27).

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Deal bountifully with Your servant, that I may live and keep Your word (119:17). This is the basis for a prayer for life; not fear of sickness, calamity, or death, but a prayer for a life keeping God’s Word. How backward is this to our fallen nature, which places itself first! The new creation puts God’s Word first. Life serves the Word, not the twisted view of the fleshly christian, who sees the Word as a means to get what he/she wants. Your testimonies are righteous forever; give me understanding that I may live (119:144).

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Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law (119:18). The Psalm recognizes Who the Teacher is. Prayer is the most neglected part of Bible study for us. We have such an intellectual (even the least intellectual among us) attitude about it. It’s a book. Books are read with the intellect. It’s something to be dissected and categorized scientifically, its facts absorbed like so much history or trivia. No! This thing is the breath, the voice, the essence of God. It is alive, and contains more wonderful things than our tiny minds can pull from it. Pray to see the wonder!

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My soul cleaves to the dust; revive me according to Your word…My soul weeps because of grief; strengthen me according to Your word. Remove the false way from me, and graciously grant me Your law (119;25,28,29). Grief, depression, sorrow. O, would that God would put this conviction in our hearts, that the remedy is not an outward change in circumstance, but an inward application of the Word of life to our weary souls! Even in moments of joy, pray that the next valley is lit by the light of the Word.

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Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes, and I shall observe it to the end. Give me understanding, that I may observe Your law and keep it with all my heart. Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, for I delight in it…Establish Your word to Your servant, as that which produces reverence for You (119:33-35,38). The Psalmist doesn’t ask once, does he? Look at all the ways he has to describe the Word: statutes, law, commandments, word. It’s always reminded me of lovers who have a multitude of secret names for each other. The Psalmist isn’t a “five-minute devotion” kind of guy. God has gifted him with a wonderful, multi-faceted, passionate, singular fidelity and intimate love for the Word. If that’s not something worth praying for, I don’t know what is! What’s the goal: “…that which produces reverence for You.” How can we say we love this God without showing Him reverence? How can we show Him reverence when we aren’t devoted to the source of that reverence?

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The earth is full of Your lovingkindness, O LORD; teach me Your statutes (119:64). Natural revelation, the imprint of God’s character and attributes on creation (Psalm 19:1; Isaiah 6:3; Romans 1:20), inspire the Psalmist to go back to the Word. Nature doesn’t teach us the Word, though. It inspires us to a conception of a God of beauty, order, and power, but we still ask God to teach us through His Word.

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Teach me good discernment and knowledge, for I believe in Your commandments (119:66). Do we really believe His way is best, or is this just some religious confession that isn’t reflected in our lives? The Psalmist comes to the Teacher with this offering: belief.

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O accept the freewill offerings of my mouth, O LORD, and teach me Your ordinances (119:108). Part of our prayer before studying the Word or hearing it taught (and during and after these times, too) is not just asking for teaching only, but an offering of praise for the previous times of teaching, for God’s promise and provision to teach, for the marvelous fruit the Word has produced in your spirit-life, and for the closeness of relationship with the matchless God the Word provides. Let my lips utter praise, for You teach me Your statutes (119:171).

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Deal with Your servant according to Your lovingkindness and teach me Your statutes. I am Your servant; give me understanding, that I may know Your testimonies (119:124,125). God is not the cold, impersonal professor. He deals with us and teaches us according to His character, the embodiment of lovingkindness. He knows the reason and purpose of our creation. He knows what is best for us (an existence of giving Him praise and enjoying His glory). On this basis (a God-centered reality as opposed to the false self-centered reality) He will teach. Your hands made me and fashioned me; give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments (119:173). Not only does the Creator enable His creation to enjoy His love through His Word, but His goodness: You are good and do good; teach me Your statutes (119:68).

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Make Your face shine upon Your servant, and teach me Your statutes (119:135). The Word itself is an unfathomable expression of God’s radiant glory. The more we spend time in the Word and Spirit (as He answers our prayer to give us opportunity), the more we’ll reflect and enjoy that “shining.”

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Let my cry come before You, O LORD; give me understanding according to Your word (119:169). Job’s experience is not unique – when difficulties come, we all seem to be surrounded with people who don’t give us God’s wisdom for dealing with the situation. Their advise will often appeal to our fleshly desires for revenge, justification, or wallowing self-pity. The Psalm asks for correct, God-oriented thinking. This takes a maturity and a willingness to die to those parts of ourselves that want to come out on top in difficult situations (rather than embracing the cross).

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I am a stranger in the earth; do not hide Your commandments from me (119:19). We need to confess this every day. Unless we remind ourselves before God of this truth, there is an almost irresistible tendency to start feeling at home here. His Word should be the constant flag of a foreign country lifted up before us here on our pilgrimage. If He hides His commandments from us, we would immediately forget our true home. Your statutes are my songs in the house of my pilgrimage (119:54). Songs! Not brief times of study we force ourselves to endure to assuage a guilty conscience! Songs touch the emotional seat of our souls, don’t they? We don’t sing songs to stimulate ourselves intellectually. They are capable of radically modifying our mood, and equally capable of expressing the inexpressible. This is how the Psalmist views the word in land far from home. Pray this becomes your passion!

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I hope this has given you some ammunition as you pray for yourself, those close to you, and all of the Church of Jesus Christ. O, that we, the Bride, would come to desire to enjoy all we can of the Bridegroom in His Word. May this be our prayer.

Approaching the Brockman Hills

The images in the Bible of God as a pillar of smoke or a whirlwind come to mind when facing something like this in the desert. A creation of heat, this towering plume crossed my path on a windless day, making the barest of whispers. I stand in awe of something so big and silent, knowing it is a reflection of a Sovereign Glory I can barely comprehend.
Even after moving into an area void of dust, these vortices are still present. Driving through them while they are invisible is a surprise. A great day would be to follow one on foot, baking in the desert sun, being covered in dust, greeting the occasional desert dweller with a wave - wouldn't want to break the silence with speech, except for the occasional lifting up of "a song to Him Who rides through the desert" (Psalm 68:4).
God is good.

Black-necked garter snake near Gila River, West Fork

Bull snake just south of Brock Ridge.

Stand, therefore.

Apologetics have always given me the hives. "...sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence" (1 Peter 3:15). Read the rest of 1 Peter, and you quickly understand that this "defense" (apologia) is not a debate in the arena of ideas and worldviews, but in the context of criminal trial! Jesus spoke of the same situation, and of the source of "defense" (apologia) for the believer on trial:

• "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. But beware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues; and you will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given to you in that hour what you are to say. For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father Who speaks in you" (Matthew 10:16-20).
• "But be on your guard; for they will deliver you to the courts, and you will be flogged in the synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them. The gospel must first be preached to all the nations. When they arrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit" (Mark 13:9-11).
• "But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name's sake. It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony. So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves; for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute" (Luke 21:12-15).

Father, Holy Spirit, Jesus. Our true "defense" (apologia) finds its source not in clever arguments, scientific/archaelogical/logical proof, appeals to "felt needs," or bullying polemics. The source of our "defense" (apologia) has nothing to do with us - it is entirely Trinitarian. What is our role? Making up our minds not to prepare a defense!

I fear most believers study apologetics to steel themselves against the onslaught of the hurricane that is opposition to the absolutely authoritative, divinely inspired, infallible Word of God. Apologetics is a security blanket as they huddle in the dark clutching a Bible they weakly hope is what the preacher said it was. This is not our sure foundation or the position of a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ!

"...our conviction of the truth of Scripture must be derived from a higher source than human conjectures, judgments, or reasons; namely, the secret testimony of the Spirit...those who are inwardly taught by the Holy Spirit acquiese implicitly in Scripture; that Scripture carrying its own evidence along with it, deigns not to submit to proofs and arguments, but owes the full conviction with which we ought to receive it to the testimony of the Spirit. Enlightened by him, we no longer believe, either on our own judgment or that of others, that the Scriptures are from God; but, in a way superior to human judgment, feel perfectly assured - as much so as if we beheld the divine image visably impressed on it - that it came to us, by the instrumentality of men, from the very mouth of God" (John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, I.7.4,5).

We (the Church of the living God) exist for this sole purpose, to be the "pillar and support of the truth" (1 Timothy 3:15). This is not a human-centered or human-empowered endeavor, since "it is the Spirit Who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth" (1 John 5:6). We are but vessels! "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth, for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and truth" (John 4:23,24). This is who we are. It is not a method, program, or system. It is not man-made. It is not one of many options available to the inhabitants of this hurtling rock. It is absolute reality. We testify to it in the power of the Holy Spirit, and trust that He will open the minds and hearts of those who hear. Where is the glory in a person convinced by our pseudo-philosophical, weakly logical, satirically scientific, humanistic apologies?

To the outside of the gates of the world's way of debating, saints (you're speaking the language of Babylon)! Come out of the city of man with its equality of viewpoints, people! Be nailed to the cross and determine to know nothing but its reality splayed over the pages of the Bible and standing unmovingly over the days of human history.

Rest.

Why can’t we delight in Him? Because we don’t desire His Rest.

“If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on My holy day, and call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable, and honor it, desisting from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasure and speaking your own word, then you will take delight in the LORD” (Isaiah 58:13,14).

When have we turned ourselves from doing and seeking our own pleasure? When have we done anything but our own ways? When have we paused from speaking our own word? When have we done all these things, forsaking our cravings and expression in exchange for His Rest? How can we delight in Him when His Rest is not a priority?

“…with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His Rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief” (Hebrews 3:17-19).

Obedience is preceded by trust, and trust by a vision-as-yet-unseen that becomes more desirous to us than all the fancies of the vision-seen. As Jonathan Edwards said of the will, “it is that motive which, as it stands in the view of the mind, is the strongest, that determines the will.” Which, in the view of the mind, is strongest: the surrounding dust or the exalted Rest?

For the sake of His rest, trade your pleasure for His holy day (the “Today” of Hebrews 3:13). Trade your ways for His honor. Trade His Word from speaking your own word.

The fruit of embracing His Rest is a life that delights in Him.

Proverbs of the Court.

Numerous proverbs speak about the character, actions, and effects of the lives of kings. Rather than applying these as a means of judging our current civil leaders, can I suggest that we apply them to our own lives, since we are "a royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2:9), made by the Lamb to be "a kingdom" that will "reign upon the earth" (Revelation 1:6; 5:9,10)?

Proverbs 8:15; 14:28,35; 16:10,12-15; 19:12; 20:2,8,26,28; 21:1; 22:11,29; 24:21; 25:2,3,5,6; 29:4,14; 31:3,4.

After all, the kings of Israel were but a foreshadowing in their office of the King of kings, Jesus Christ. Our authority (Matthew 16:19; John 20:21-23) is not of us, but solely an extension of the Father's through the Son, exerted only in the power of the Holy Spirit through the Body. This is Kingdom authority and power, not of us.

We, as royalty, have an obligation to mirror the character, actions, and effects of the Absolute Sovereign. Perhaps the Proverbs of the Court can be guides for us as we steward the Kingdom.

worthless rambling rat far from the desert...

Time is short for all of us, so make "the most of your time, because the days are evil" (Ephesians 5:16). Or, more hauntingly, a day comes when "all the daughters of song will sing softly" (Ecclesiastes 12:4). Bury the calendar, be filled with the Spirit. To paraphrase 1 Corinthians 1:25, "the chaos of God is more organized than the organization of men."

rambling of a worthless rat far from the desert from desert rat of Morgan on Vimeo.

Example.

Listen and read: http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Biographies/1471_The_Divine_Majesty_of_the_Word/.

An epic, inspiring sermonic biography of a life utterly sold out to the Word of God. Would it be that God would bless our generation with such grace.

Angels, Colossians 2, and my Self-centered Reality

Colossians 2:18 condemns the “worship of the angels.”. That’s usually thought of as some New Age or perverted Christian doctrine. It’s not. Read the entirety of Colossians 2. The problem with the church in Colossae (and the problem of most of the churches of the N.T.) was elements in the church trying to impose rules (usually Old Testament rules) on the church that didn’t reflect the new covenant church. These were usually Jews who had been saved, were now part of the church, but couldn’t let yesterday’s religion go. At first, “worship of the angels” seems out of place in a discussion of the freedom from legalism we have in Christ. But let’s look closer.

1. Stephen addresses the Jewish mob listening to him as “you who received the law as ordained by angels” (Acts 7:53).

2. Paul tells the Galatian churches (struggling with old covenant legalism in the new covenant church) that the Law was “ordained through angels” (Galatians 3:19).

3. The writer of Hebrews (obviously dealing with the same problem as Stephen and the churches of Colossae and Galatia), describing the punishment of the old covenant law, says, “For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” (Hebrews 2:2,3).

So you see, Paul’s admonition that the Colossians not “worship…the angels” is not a Gentile (non-Jewish) sin thrown into the middle of a sin of first century A.D. Judaism. It is directly tied to their obsession with a Law now made obsolete for the new covenant church.

Any time you put non-scriptural mediators between God and man (Mary, priests, rituals, angels), it puts God at a distance and makes it easier to ignore His desire for a relationship with us. I can have warm fuzzies about the holy Mother, nostalgic rituals (which can even be favorite “old time” songs), or guardian angels, but that mean, demanding old grouch far away in heaven can’t trouble me. After all, I’m free to live however I want and still go to heaven (a place where my every desire is catered to) a long time from now, right?

The mystic-warrior.

“Cease striving and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). I was hiking alone six years ago, on my way to seeing the figure on the water (a story for a later time). Somewhere along the way, I thought about this verse. Look at what it says. If a lack of striving is equal to or flows naturally into knowledge of God, then striving imposes an ignorance or unknowing of God. It frightens me that I am unknowing more than I would like. This is a war-Psalm, by the way (like Psalm 2) – God’s battle against a humanity that wants to do it their way, no matter Who sits on High. Our striving, battling…they are against the Unseen-on-High. The more we battle, struggle, strive, the less we know of Him. God is in the business of Creation; sometimes it is His answer to unknowing (see Jeremiah 4:22,23…no, really, look it up!). “The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters” (Genesis 1:2).

• My prayer: to only be moved by the exhale of the Ancient One. I will be that perfectly still water that reflects the parade of the Heavens on a winter’s night, ready for Creation.
• My salvation: “…what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate…I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not…the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want…I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord…there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 7:15,18,19,22-25; 8:1).

Walls, trenches, death, and wine.

"...he must desire life like water, and yet drink death like wine."

Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

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“Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death” (Revelation 12:10,11). Don't you just love that overcoming doesn't involve survival? That Jesus can say things like, “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:28-31), and keep a straight face? They'll kill my body, but my soul and hair will look good!

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I'm thinking of sandcastles at the beach. I enjoy building them, but also enjoy trying to come up with moats and seawalls and trenches to divert the tide. I know it's futile, but I still can't help myself. It doesn't really matter how many ways I try to protect the castle, the sea will take it on the next high tide. I'm not going to apply this as you might think.

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We never know how we'll face that last moment. It's inevitable, but no matter how much we consider it, I suspect it's nothing like our imaginations. "He who has found his life will lose it, and He who has lost his life for My sake will find it" (Matthew 10:39; 16:25; Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24; 17:33). As much as I enjoy building the castle itself, I enjoy the walls and trenches a whole lot more; away from the center of attention, away from the imaginary throne room and luxury suite at the top of the tower, away from the games of the courtyard and the hierarchy of the grand table in the dining hall. Let me build walls and trenches. Instead of living for the accouterments of Babylon (build of the grocery lists of Revelation 18:12,13), let's make a daily habit of facing the inevitable tide, embracing the moment in Christ, knowing it to be a taste of the eternal. Work, work, work, knowing that it will be swept away tomorrow and the deeper sea imagined in the trenches and ignored in the court will be all the reality there is tomorrow.

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"...let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, Who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:1,2). Where the the throne of joy? Just over the hill (mixing my metaphors now). Hmm. There seems to be something in the way. Cross, shame. Ah, but the other side...drink deep the cup, choke down the dregs, practice that wildly insane look, and smile as the tide comes.

Three Markan Silences.

Many of us have wondered about the commands to silence that Jesus gives throughout the Gospels. I’ve always assumed it was Jesus’ way of controlling the situation, adjusting the heat, if you will, so that the opposition didn’t reach a fever pitch until the Providentially-ordained moment. I’m sure that’s true to a certain extent, but I think there’s a greater purpose behind the commands to silence. It has to do with Jesus’ stated purpose for stepping down from heaven: the Message.

• “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (1:1).
• “Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel’” (Mark 1:14,15).
• “…immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and began to teach. They were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (1:21,22).
• “Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for” (1:38).
• “He was speaking the word to them” (2:2).
• “He was teaching them” (2:13).
• “He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach” (3:14).
• “He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in parables” (3:23).
• “He began to teach again by the sea…He was teaching them many things in parables, and was saying to them in His teaching…with many such parables He was speaking the word to them” (4:1,2,33).
• “When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue” (6:2).
• “They went out and preached that men should repent” (6:12).
• “He began to teach them many things” (6:34).
• “He was teaching His disciples and telling them…” (9:31).
• “He went from there to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan; crowds gathered around Him again, and, according to His custom, He once more began to teach them” (10:1).
• “Every day I was with you in the temple teaching” (14:49).
• “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation…they went out and preached everywhere” (16:15).
• “…they went out and preached everywhere” (16:20).

We see from the amount of these verses in this short Gospel that one of Jesus’ main purposes on this earth was the presentation of His Message. It was a treasure to Him, something precious. His commands for silence throughout this Gospel should be seen in that light. He is not controlling events, but taking care that the Message is treated with the respect it deserves.

Silence #1: The Messenger Must Not Taint the Message (Silencing the Unclean Spirits)

The Examples

· “Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying, ‘What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are - the Holy One of God!’ And Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be quiet, and come out of him!’” (1:23-25).

· “And He healed many who were ill with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He was not permitting the demons to speak, because they knew Who He was” (Mark 1:34).

· “Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, ‘You are the Son of God!’ And He earnestly warned them not to tell Who He was” (Mark 3:11,12).

Ignoring the Message Because of the Messenger

The Pharisees ignored the message of Jesus by saying He cast out demons by the power of Beelzebul.[1][1] Those who hate the message will rarely attack the message; no one wants to be in the position of opposing the Word of God.

The Way the Message Is to Be Shared

In contrast to the disruptive and undisciplined announcements of those possessed by unclean spirits, the sharing of the Message by the saints is completely directed by God.

It is God the Father’s message:

· John the Baptist’s final testimony: “He Whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure” (John 3:34).

· “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works” (John 14:10).

· “…the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me” (John 17:8).

It is shared because of the love of God the Son:

· “…the love of Christ controls us” (2 Corinthians 5:14).

· “…speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15).

It is given through the power of the Holy Spirit:

· “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22,23).

Silence #2: The Physical Must Never Become More Important Than the Spiritual (Silencing the Healed of Humanity)

The Examples

· "And a leper came to Jesus, beseeching Him and falling on his knees before Him, and saying, ‘If You are willing, You can make me clean.’ Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I am willing; be cleansed.’ Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed. And He sternly warned him and immediately sent him away, and He said to him, ‘See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.’ But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news around, to such an extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but stayed out in unpopulated areas; and they were coming to Him from everywhere” (Mark 1:40-45).

· Jesus, after raising the little girl from the dead, gave these directions: “…He gave them strict orders that no one should know about this, and He said that something should be given her to eat” (Mark 5:43).

· After healing the deaf and dumb man: “And He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it” (Mark 7:36).

Miracles Don’t Save – the Gospel Saves

Look at 1 Corinthians 12-14. While chapter 12 mentions the spiritual gift of healing (12:9,28,30), the focus is on the multitude of gifts all serving the unified body of Christ. Chapter 13 deals with the motivation for our mutual service: love. Chapter 14 deals with the heart of the matter: we must speak words that build up the entire body, motivated by love. Healing is a work of the Spirit, but not the greatest!

Silence #3: Nothing Is to Become More Important Than the Cross (Silencing the Disciples)

The Examples

· “Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way He questioned His disciples, saying to them, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ They told Him, saying, ‘John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; but others, one of the prophets.’ And He continued by questioning them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered and said to Him, ‘You are the Christ.’ And He warned them to tell no one about Him” (8:27-30). After this Jesus shares the purpose of His mission with the disciples (8:31).

· “As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, ‘Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man has risen from the dead’” (Matthew 17:9//Mark 9:9). The heart of the Gospel, the cross and resurrection, had to occur before these stories of visions and miracles were to come to light.

Giving the Wrong Impression

“Christ” was a politically charged term in Jesus’ day, and He wanted to avoid the impression that He had come for political or military purposes. When Jesus was on the cross, they taunted Him, daring Him to fulfill their vision of the Christ: “this Christ, the King of Israel” (Mark 15:32). While Jesus was, by rights, King, He did not come for that purpose. Deliverance of Israel from the rule of the Roman Empire would have done nothing to show the Jews God’s true nature, would not have saved the Gentiles, would not have saved us from our sins. Our wishes for the laws and culture to become Christian do not always serve God’s ultimate goal.

“Calling them to Himself, Jesus said to them, ‘You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great men exercise authority over them. But it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (10:42-45).

I hope these few thoughts about the three silences in Mark bring these verses into a unified focus. They all are commanded to keep the testimony legitimate, in proper perspective, and given the proper honor it deserves.

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[1][1] Matthew 10:25; 12:24,27; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15,18,19.

Thoughts on the reign of the saints.

“Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years” (Revelation 20:6).
How do we understand the reign of the saints? I think to adequately understand this passage we have to find the biblical roots to the idea of a “kingdom of priests.” The earliest place I can find that contains this idea is in the founding of the old covenant between Yahweh and Israel at Mt. Sinai: “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you to Myself. Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:4-6). This is what Israel was supposed to be before God to the world. In a long history highlighting the fallen nature of humanity, we see the continued failure to be this sort of people before God to the world. So Jesus, the true Israel, comes to be what His Father intended for His people. Now, in Christ, we are part of the true Israel, the Church.

Numerous passages point to our reign:

1. “Grace to you and peace, from Him Who is and Who was and Who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him Who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood - and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father - to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen” (Revelation 1:4-6).
2. “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth” (Revelation 5:10).
3. “There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever” (Revelation 22:3-5).

So, how do we reign?

1. KINGS PROCLAIM - we reign by proclaiming the salvation found in Jesus alone: “…you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).
2. KINGS TEACH - we reign by proclaiming the truth of God: “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice” (John 18:37).
3. KINGS SUFFER - we reign by suffering for Christ: “We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren, as is only fitting, because your faith is greatly enlarged, and the love of each one of you toward one another grows ever greater; therefore, we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure. This is a plain indication of God's righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering” (2 Thessalonians 1:3-5).
4. KINGS ARE THANKFUL - we reign by offering sacrifices of thankfulness to God: “…since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:28,29).
5. KINGS ARE APPOINTED BY GOD – we do not choose, gain, or earn our thrones, for we cannot: “Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you” (2 Peter 1:10,11).
6. KINGS ARE SERVANTS OF THE LOWEST OF THE KINGDOM – we serve the brothers of Christ in their struggles: “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me’” (Matthew 25:34-40).

It is not a call to a worldly throne, but an everlasting throne, and it brings the King of the universe joy to give us this reign: “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32).

I don’t desire the throne of the world; it is destined to crumble to dust. The priestly kingdom of which this rat is a part will never be destroyed. Reigning here may not bring the prestige that so feeds our prideful desires for power, comfort, and domination, but it makes us more like Christ, which is the goal of all existence.

let Facts be submitted to a candid World.

From the Declaration of Independence:

HE has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their Substance.

A worthy quote.

“Reader, you must know that an interesting fate (sometimes involving rats, sometimes not) awaits almost everyone, mouse or man, who does not conform.”[1]

True.





[1] Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux (Somerville, Massachusetts: Candlewick Press, 2003), 25.

Sine qua non.

"By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Hebrews 11:5,6).

Faith is the only way to please Him. How did Enoch obtain this witness? Three times in verse 5 the verb "to take" is used. What Enoch does to obtain this triple-taking is not mentioned. Unless it is (1) faith, (2), believing God exists, and (3) believing He rewards those who seek Him. Wait. I left something out, didn't I?

It's not just enough to believe that "He is" (a reference to God's name?). The one with faith "comes" to God. It's not just enough to believe. We must also be coming to Him, approaching Him.

And no one comes to Him unless He is drawn: "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:44). There's the answer, eh?

He draws, by faith we come. The reward? Being taken, raised up.

Sine fide autem impossibile est placere Deo.
Credere enim oportet accedentem ad Deum quia est,
et inquirentibus se remunerator sit.

Lots and witnesses.

There’s a lot of doubt about Esther. The book of Esther is not directly quoted in the N.T. It doesn’t mention God. Here’s my contribution to the defense of Esther in the canon.

“Then Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, obliging them to celebrate the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same month, annually, because on those days the Jews rid themselves of their enemies, and it was a month which was turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and rejoicing and sending portions of food to one another and gifts to the poor” (Esther 9:20-22).

Here’s my thoughts. If you can even find a celebration of Purim (or “lots,” after Haman cast lots to determine the day of the Jews’ extermination, Esther 9:24) in the N.T., this will lend a lot of credence to the authority of Esther.[1] I think I found it. “Those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth” (Revelation 11:9,10).

"Earth" should be translated "land," as in the rest of the Book of Revelation and in most of the O.T. Prophets.

Three and a half days? Other than the obvious connection to the time between Jesus’ death and resurrection, the events that inspired the Jewish festival of Purim lasted at least three days: “…the Jews who were in Susa assembled on the thirteenth and the fourteenth of the same month, and they rested on the fifteenth day and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing.” (Esther 9:18). This is interesting since Mordecai and Esther, when establishing the celebration of Purim, made it a two-day celebration. The first event, however, for those in the Persian capital, lasted three days.

The ministry and murder of the two witnesses occur in Jerusalem, the Babylon of the Book of Revelation: “And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified” (Revelation 11:8). Identifying this “great city” as anything other than Jerusalem does damage to the context of Revelation and good interpretation. In our discussion of Purim, it doesn’t matter; Jews didn’t have to be Jerusalem to celebrate this feast. It would have been celebrated throughout the Empire.

I suggest to you that the celebration over the dead bodies of God’s witnesses is the celebration of Purim, explained, established, and mandated in the book of Esther. Just as Purim commemorates the defeat of the Jews’ enemies throughout the Persian Empire, the Purim of Revelation 11:9,10 recognizes the apparent defeat of the Jews’ enemies in A.D. first century: Christians (probably during the first great persecution of the Church under Nero Caesar, the “beast” of Revelation). The witnesses are symbolic of the Church, the witnesses for Jesus in the world (Acts 1:8, and 10 other times in Acts).[2] Why two? Revelation breathes the Old Testament in every verse and idea, including this one: “On the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness…a single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which he has committed; on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed” (Deuteronomy 17:6; 19:15). Our witness for Christ is a legal matter; it fulfills the requirements of the Law.

I don’t think this conflicts with the other place in the Bible that describes two witnesses. In Zechariah 4, the prophet sees two olive trees beside a great menorah. Twice he is asked if he knows who they are. Twice he says he doesn’t. Then the angel tells him, “These are the two anointed ones who are standing by the Lord of the whole earth” (4:14). They were Zerubbabel (the civil leader) and Joshua (the religious leader). They were used of God to finish rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem after its destruction by the Babylonians some 70 years earlier. This fits nicely with a preterist understanding of Revelation 11. The Church is the true Temple of God (no new Jewish Temple is foretold in the Bible after the destruction of Herod’s temple in A.D. 70 by the Romans). We now are God’s house. So the Church being the two witnesses doesn’t conflict with Zechariah 4.

On the matter of interpretation, let me say this. A lot of time is spent in N.T. interpretation making the Romans the primary enemy; the Gnostics get a lot of press, too. Here’s the problem. The overwhelming weight of biblical evidence goes to the A.D. first century Jews as being the biggest threat to Christianity. This isn’t racist to say.[3] While a small percentage of Jews accepted Christ as Messiah, a larger percentage greatly persecuted the young Church, including one who became Her greatest apostle: Paul.

“He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11).

I know I got off track. But just as Reformed Theology is a beautiful Grand Unified Theory that makes the theology of the Bible come together perfectly, Preterism brings the N.T. into a unified focus with the rest of the redemption history of the Bible.

Anyway, there it is: Esther and Purim in the New Testament.

By the way, you know this, but I’ll say it anyway: witness and martyr are the same word in Greek.


[1] Admittedly, this is faulty because of another example: Hanukah, or the festival of lights. Just because this festival is mentioned in the New Testament doesn’t mean we recognize 1 Maccabees as canonical.
[2] We have to make an interpretive choice between the two witnesses of Zechariah 4 as our template (and then spent time trying to find two biblical figures like most interpreters do) or look to the N.T.’s use of the word “witness,” which almost exclusively is used of believers.
[3] And just as a prod to my Dispensationalist brothers and sisters, God isn’t racist or xenophobic, either! Here is His favor and preference for the Jews: Jesus was a Jew and all peoples of the earth (including Jews) can find salvation only in Him. There is “one Body” (Ephesians 4:4). The promises of God to Abraham are completely fulfilled by the giving of the Holy Spirit to disciples of Jesus (Galatians 3:14).

Panem et circenses.

Roman satirist Juvenal (1st century A.D.) spoke of the blasé carelessness of the masses, who were happily trading in their democratic responsibilities and freedoms for comfort: panem et circenses. Bread and the Circuses. Food and entertainment.
“…these days we’ve no vote to sell, so their motto is ‘Couldn’t care less.’ Time was when their plebiscite elected Generals, Heads of State, commanders of legions: but now they’ve pulled in their horns. Only two things really concern them: bread and the Games. ‘I hear that many are to be purged.’ ‘That’s right, and the oven’s a big one, and no mistake.’”
Juvenal, Satires, X.77-82

The children of Israel, thinking Moses dead from forty days and forty nights lost in the darkness and glory of God, looked for another leader and another god.
Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” Aaron said to them, “Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. He took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.” So the next day they rose early and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play (Exodus 32:1-6).
How do you “make…a god”? Do we make gods from our “gold rings,” or our wealth? What kind of spiritual blindness and metaphysical smallness does it take to see a thing made before your eyes and call it “deliverer”? Isaiah 44:9-20 records similar idiocy. A man takes a log and cuts it up. With one part he makes a fire to bake bread. He makes another fire with another part to warm himself. With still another part he fashions a god and bows down before it, praying, “deliver me, for you are my god” (44:17). Here’s the thing about a god of your own making: you can give it whatever you want, and it doesn’t complain. You can live however you want, and it won’t complain. A God that makes you, however, can makes demands of you. They “sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.” A party around a man-made god is a party without bounds.

Paul brings this story up to the Corinthians, who liked to live like those revelers in Exodus: For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness. Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, “THE PEOPLE SAT DOWN TO EAT AND DRINK, AND STOOD UP TO PLAY” (1 Corinthians 10:1-7). When we are given Christ, how do we desire bread and games? Craving “evil things” is paralleled with idolatry in Paul’s mind. “Craving” is not an outward act, yet it is still condemned.

We have to guard against this attitude, repeated over and over by the bitter-at-life Teacher:
“There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good” (Ecclesiastes 2:24).
“Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one's labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his reward” (Ecclesiastes 5:18)
“So I commended pleasure, for there is nothing good for a man under the sun except to eat and to drink and to be merry, and this will stand by him in his toils throughout the days of his life which God has given him under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 8:15).
“Go then, eat your bread in happiness and drink your wine with a cheerful heart; for God has already approved your works” (Ecclesiastes 9:7).
The book of Proverbs is a story of mother and father sending a young man into the world. In effort to get his attention, they describe God’s Wisdom in terms a young man can understand: she is a young lady, beautiful and wonderful, an object of great desire. Song of songs then describes the passions of choosing her. Ecclesiastes describes the cynical sorrow of rejecting her. Nothing but an eating, a drinking, and an enjoying that will be exhausting and emptied.

Jesus is asked to artibitrate an inheritance disbute between two brothers. He gives this warning and parable:
Then He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:15-21).
Bread and games, or rich toward God?

God gives 8th century B.C. Israel a call to repentance. They respond with bread and games:
Therefore in that day the Lord GOD of hosts called you to weeping, to wailing, to shaving the head and to wearing sackcloth. Instead, there is gaiety and gladness, killing of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die.” But the LORD of hosts revealed Himself to me, “Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you until you die,” says the Lord GOD of hosts (Isaiah 22:12-14). God does not take lightly a disregard for His patience and the opportunity He gives for repentance in our lives.

“If the dead are not raised, LET US EAT AND DRINK, FOR TOMORROW WE DIE” (1 Corinthians 15:32). The dead are raised, so be sober about where you find your satisfaction: “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment” (John 5:25-29).

Be fed, therefore, not on temporary satisfaction (bread and Circuses), but on these Two Preachings:
THE WORD:
"You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD” (Deuteronomy 8:2,3). These words were originally given to the sons of Israel on the verge of the Promised Land. Jesus (the true Israel) lived them in the desert, driven by the Spirit, tempted by the tempter (Matthew 4:1-4; Luke 4:1-4).
THE TABLE:
“I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst…I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh…truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever” (John 6:35,51,53-58).

And, to show that the desert rat of Morgan never takes himself too seriously, i end it thus:

TIGRESS
It is said that the Dragon Warrior
can survive for months at a time
on nothing but the dew of a single gingko leaf
and the energy of the universe.

PO
I guess my body doesn’t know it’s the Dragon Warrior yet.
I’m gonna need a lot more than dew.
And, uh, universe…juice.

Kung Fu Panda (DreamWorks 2008), script by Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger

...from everlasting to everlasting, GOD.

Melchizedek. The story of his meeting with Abraham in Genesis 14 is both mysterious and forgettable…forgettable if the Holy Spirit had not inspired writers centuries apart to use it. Psalm 110:4 suddenly speaks of “the order of Melchizedek.” The writer of Hebrews mentions the enigmatic character in chapter 7. In preaching through Hebrews, I struggled with this strange being. Now, as I spend my days meditating on the eternal nature of God the Son, I find Hebrews 7 to suddenly be immensely valuable. You see, all the passages that speak of Jesus as being with God before the foundation of the world don’t necessarily assert His eternality. Those who would exaggerate this technicality to lessen Jesus’ ontology challenge us to find the forever pre-existent Christ (pre-existence before Incarnation isn’t enough for them, for He could still be a created being and therefore NOT God). We need Him to be forever to be God. The answer that has been provided occurs in this most alien of passages to our contemporary culture!

Speaking of Melchizedek: “Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually” (Hebrews 7:3). Do you know what jumps out at me about this assertion? The writer (inspired by the Holy Spirit) takes an absolutely literal, narrow, rigid interpretation of the Genesis 14 passage. No lineage is mentioned in the Bible, and so none exists. That appeals to this rat. Where was I? Oh yeah, no beginning.

No beginning – like the Son of God.

Eternality is not a communicable attribute. God cannot create a being and make it have an eternal existence. A Son of God with no beginning co-existed with God from all eternity and is therefore also God.

For those who say that “Son of God” is a title implying inferiority and therefore something less than God: God calls the prophet Ezekiel “son of man” at least 93 times. Is God somehow implying that Ezekiel is less than human? Of course not! The son of a man is a man. The Son of God is God.

God the Son has no beginning: “…the Son is eternally begotten of the Father” (Westminster Confession of Faith, II.iii). This is a challenging confession, yet it embraces the scriptural truths.

From the two preeminent apostles of the infant Church:

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds (Titus 2:11-14).

Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence (2 Peter 1:1-3).

God is God, and cannot be created. He is eternal.

I never thought I’d say this, but I’m thankful for Melchizedek.

rat claws groping for glory...

The prophet heard the fiery serpents singing of a glory that fills the whole earth (Isaiah 6:2,3). Therefore it must fill "His body, the fullness of Him Who fills all in all" (Ephesians 1:23). Oh, beloved Body of Christ, it must!

rat claws groping for glory... from desert rat of Morgan on Vimeo.

Parallels from a Thorny Pulpit

In reading about my favorite Christmas hymn, I discovered a verse not in modern hymnals that expresses the truth of Christ as second Adam, abundantly overflowing in comparison to the first:

Adam’s likeness, Lord, efface,
stamp Thine image in its place:
Second Adam from above,
reinstate us in Thy love.
Let us Thee, though lost, regain,
Thee, the Life, the inner man:
O, to all Thyself impart,
formed in each believing heart.

“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” by Charles Wesley (1739)

Speaking of comparison, behold: “…if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many” (Romans 5:15).

There’s a parallelism here in the midst of one of the most hermeneutically difficult passages in the Bible that boils my heart to praise and energizes me for battle. This worthless rat has become sensitive this year to any effort to make Jesus less than He is. A kind old man has been frequenting the neighbor, and bestowed on our household a book entitled “The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived.” He, knowing what I am (Baptist pastor – he is yet to encounter the rat, THOUGH HE WILL), gave this subtly blasphemous book. I, knowing what he is (Jehovah’s Witness), suspected from the title the lie for which he was living. There it was, in the first few pages: the assertion Jesus never claimed to be God, that He was, in fact, the first creation of God and not God at all. As I said, these sort of things are creating a roar in this rat that I hope never fades.

With that, I share this morsel from the latest series of Advent wanderings. Someone once said he had a vision of me walking the desert, preaching to coyotes, scorpions, and tarantulas from a cactus pulpit. The desert folk have received from Romans 5:12-21 this season of Christmas.

Look at this parallel:
- “the grace of God”
- “the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ”

He is God, the Giver of Grace, and He is Man, the Embodiment of Grace. Not half of each (you cannot divide true Divinity or true humanity and maintain the integrity of either). Not some new hybrid (for a Being different from what we are cannot pay the penalty for our sin; a Being different from God cannot keep His Law perfectly).

In the Pastorals there are two names given to Jesus that embrace the Definition of Chalcedon (A.D. 451), that Jesus is fully man and fully God:

“For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time” (1 Timothy 2:5,6).

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds” (Titus 2:11-14).

Over and over and over – when we cease to make our assertions about Jesus with any doctrinal purity or theological depth, we lose the true Jesus. A jesus of “anything goes” replaces the true Jesus. Without the true Jesus, we have no salvation.

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us - for it is written, ‘CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE’ - in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” (Galatians 3:13,14).

Here’s another wonderful parallel to turn things upside-down:
- “the blessing of Abraham”
- “the promise of the Spirit”

Is the giving of the Holy Spirit (the giving of God Himself to His people) the complete fulfillment of all the Old Testament promises? Wouldn’t the gift of God Himself far exceed the gift of land, no matter how “promised” the land may (or may not) be?

“Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). Bring us to God, not land! How can the created (land) ever satisfy as much as the Creator (God Himself)?

“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools…they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, Who is blessed forever. Amen” (Romans 1:20-22).

Enough rambling,
though I’m content with rambling that names Jesus as truly God, truly man,
and wandering that proclaims God the song of our pilgrimage, not land.