The Glorious Church, Part 2

What about Revelation 21:1, where John sees "a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea"? What does this mean in light of my assertion that the Church is the keystone for the entire universe? Aren't we just sitting here waiting for something better than all this to come along?



The term "heavens and the earth," when spoken in poetic language by either psalmist, prophets, or Jesus Himself, refers to the Temple (or by extension, Jerusalem), and the system of rituals/sacrifices there. I'll demonstrate this thesis by illustrations from Scripture and from Jewish writers contemporary with the writers of the New Testament. First, though, I'd like to describe one of the most important skills to have while reading the Bible.



Let me talk about the way the Jewish writers of the Bible expressed their thoughts. The most important aspect of Hebrew thought pattern and expression is the parallelism. If you don't understand parallelism, you won't properly understand most of the Bible. We thinkers/writers of Western Civilization think sequentially. We categorize. We write lists. We tell things in a linear, logical order. The Hebrew writer/thinker does not do this. To be a great writer according to the Hebrew tradition represented in the Bible means to say one thing as many different ways as possible. The biblical writers construct parallelisms at virtually every level, in both poetry and often prose. This same cultural literary phenomenon shows up in the New Testament, as well. I usually begin an explanation of parallelism with the illustration of train tracks. Our parallel lines of tracks represent ideas in Hebrew-minded writing. The train moving over the tracks is the meaning carried by the ideas. Two or more ideas, one meaning. Let's look at a biblical example: Psalm 19:7-9. We take these six statements about Scripture and want to start making lists and charts: the different names, their nuanced meanings, and their quality. This is the point the writer is making! He's giving us a single, multi-faceted view of the glory of the Word of God, and we're deconstructing it so it will make a better "how to" manual! Psalm 119 is a giant example of parallelism, as the psalmist comes up with more "pet names" for his love (Scripture) than Shakespeare in all his sonnets! So when reading every part of the Bible, we must look for parallel statements that mean the same thing, and often shed complementary light on each other. I cannot over-emphasize this point. Adele Berlin wrote a fantastic and annoyingly horrible book about parallelism exquisitely and painfully detailing the pervasiveness of parallelism in Hebrew writing called The Dynamics of Biblical Parallelism (published by Eerdmans). Every seminary student and Bible teacher should be beat half to death with this book until they agree to never again read their Bibles or pretend to teach without applying Berlin's magnificent torture device to themselves while exegeting. Again, without mastering parallelism as a literary concept, you will not understand the Bible. Let's get back to the thesis: the "heavens and earth" language of psalmists, prophets, and Jesus refers back to the Temple and its system of worship, not the universe or cosmos in which we find ourselves. Let's start looking at examples from the Bible.

• "And He built His sanctuary like the heights, like the earth which He has founded forever" (Psalm 78:69). There are at least two sets of parallelisms in this verse. Do you see them? First is the parallel between "sanctuary" and "the heights...the earth." The second is in the verbs "He built" and "He has founded." The Temple of Solomon is figuratively described as being like the heavens and the earth. In this example, it's easy to understand because of the repetition of the word "like" - God sometimes gives us obvious similes to introduce us by baby-step to more subtle parallelisms.


• "I have put My words in your mouth and have covered you with the shadow of My hand, to establish the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, 'You are My people'" (Isaiah 51:16). God's work of creating the heavens and the earth and His work of speaking His people/Zion into existence is the same. His people, gathered at Zion, are representative of the heavens and the earth. They are the reason for Creation, and are figuratively "the whole world" to Him.


• "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing and her people for gladness" (Isaiah 65:17,18). The language of "new heavens and new earth" from Revelation 21 is an allusion to Isaiah 65 (very little of Revelation is totally original - understanding the O.T. is key to interpreting Revelation...throw the newspaper away!). What does Isaiah mean by it? Well, we handicapped Western Civilization thinkers/readers are given a little help by the repetition of the word "create." We are told what the "new heavens" and "new earth" are; they are "Jerusalem" and "her people."


• The prophet Jeremiah gives us a little background on why Isaiah 65 needs to speak of "new" in relation to "the heavens and the earth." You see, the original "heavens and earth" were undone for a time. This happened in 586 B.C. by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, when his army utterly destroyed Solomon's Temple, Jerusalem, and Judah (this was the hand of God for Judah's unwillingness to be faithful to God alone). Jeremiah, in writing of this event, says, "I looked on the earth, and behold, it was formless and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light" (4:23). Read the whole chapter and you see the prophet is describing the destruction of Judah as being the undoing of creation itself - which it was, to the Jewish mind. The language of "formless and void" and darkness come from the Genesis account of creation.


• Fast-forward to the New Testament. Jesus sits atop a hill teaching His followers, and He makes a statement about the Law of Moses that leads Christians into theological trouble to this day: "For I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished" (Matthew 5:18). "Pass away" is paralleled with "all is accomplished," and "heaven and earth" is paralleled by "the Law." Jesus is speaking of the destruction of Herod's Temple by the Romans in A.D. 70, the utter and complete end of Temple Judaism. It was a conclusive statement by God accomplished 40 years (a hugely significant number in the Bible) after the death of Christ for sins.


• In Matthew 24:4-25:46, Jesus gives an extended teaching about the destruction of the Temple that was to occur 40 years later. Wait...someone told you this was about the end of the world? Read it again. What prompts Jesus to give this teaching? The disciples, in Jerusalem with Jesus, admiringly point out the great buildings of the Temple complex to Jesus. The Lord responds, "Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down" (Matthew 24:2). This is too much for them. Later, in a private moment on the Mount of Olives, they ask, "Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" The teaching from 24:4-25:46 answers this question. It is totally inexcusability and shameful self-centeredness on the part of the modern reader to believe that Jesus ignores the questions of the disciples and proceeds to warn them about events not to happen for millennia! Back again to our thesis...Jesus, in this discourse, says, "Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away" (Matthew 24:34,35). The future tries to redefine "generation" to fit their charts and cut-and-paste approach to the Bible. Read it for what it says and the O.T.-saturated language the Lord uses.


• What about the apostle Peter's language? "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with an intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells" (2 Peter 3:10-13). The apostle, in writing this last letter to the Church, continues the language of the psalmists, prophets, and his Lord. Without a holistic understanding of biblical language, this dramatic-sounding end of the world was useful fuel to the Bible-teachers of the 20th century as they shepherded flocks under threat of global nuclear war. Do you see now what Peter is pointing to, what was less than a decade away as he penned these words? There is a slight variation to the language we've seen so far. What is it? The word "the elements." To understand Peter's variation from the other biblical language we've seen, we're going to look at similar uses of this exact word written decades earlier by another apostle. Paul doesn't write with the same Hebrew stylings, but his use of the word "element" will be very helpful to us. Writing about the Law, Paul says that we "were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world" (Galatians 4:3). He then asks, "now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? You observe days and months and seasons and years" (4:9,10). To another Church Paul says, "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ" (Colossians 2:8). He then asks, "If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, 'Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!' (which all refer to things destined to perish with use) - in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men?" (2:20-22). While the apostle Peter speaks of the "elements" of the old heavens and earth being undone in fire, and a new heavens and earth built on righteousness, Paul describes the Law followed by the Temple and its worshipers and being "elements," obsolete under Christ. Peter and Paul are speaking the same ideas with different cultural language.

I told you I'd give you some examples from Jewish writers contemporary to the writers of the New Testament:

• "As for the inside [of the Tabernacle], Moses parted its length into three partitions...this proporation of the measures of the tabernacle proved to be an imitation of the system of the world: for that third part thereof which was within the four pillars, to which the priests were not admitted, is, as it were, a Heaven peculiar to God; but the space of the twenty cubits is, as it were, sea and land, on which men live, and so this part is peculiar to the priests only..." (Flavius Josephus, A.D. 37-100, The Antiquities of the Jews, Book 3, Chapter 3.4).


• "...if anyone does but consider the fabric of the tabernacle, and take a view of the garments of the high priest, and of those vessels which we make use of in our sacred ministration...he will find they were every one made in way of imitation and representation of the universe. When Moses distinguished the tabernacle into three parts, and allowed two of them to the priests, as a place accessible and common, he denoted the land and the sea, these being of general access to all; but he set apart the third division for God, because heaven is inaccessible to men. And when he ordered twelve loaves to be set on the table, he denoted the year, as distinguished into so many months. By branching out the candlestick into seventy parts, he secretly imitated the Decani, or seventy divisions of the planets; and as to the seven lamps upon the candlesticks, they referred to the course of the planets, of which that is the number. The veils, too, which were composed of four things, they declared the four elements; for the fine linen was proper to signify the earth, because the flax grows out of the earth; the purple signified the sea, because that color is dyed by the blood of the sea shellfish; the blue is fit to signify the air; and the scarlet will naturally be an indication of fire. Now the vestment of the high priest being made of linen, signified the earth; the blue denoted the sky, being like lightning in its pomegranates, and in the noise of the bells resembling thunder. As for the ephod, its showed that God had made the universe of four [elements]; and as for the gold interwoven, I suppose it related to the splendor by which all things are enlightened. And the girdle which encompassed the high priest round, signified the ocean, for that goes round about and includes the universe. Each of the sardonyxes declares to us the sun and the moon; those, I mean, that were in the nature of buttons on the high priest's shoulders. And for the twelve stones, whether we understand them by the months, or whether we understand the like number of the signs of the circle which the Greeks call the Zodiac, we shall not be mistaken in their meaning. And for the miter, which was of a blue color, it seems to me to mean heaven; for how otherwise could the name of God be inscribed upon it? That it was also illustrated with a crown, and that of gold also, is because of that splendor with which God is pleased" (Flavius Josephus, A.D. 37-100, The Antiquities of the Jews, Book 3, Chapter 7.7).


• Moses "chose the materials of this embroidery [of the veil], selecting with great care what was most excellent out of an infinite quantity, choosing materials equal in number to the elements of which the world was made, and having a direct relation to them; the elements being the earth and the water, and the air and the fire. For the fine flax is produced from the earth, and the purple from the water, and the hyacinth color is compared to the air (for, by nature, it is black), and the scarlet is likened to fire, because each is of a red color; for it followed of necessity that those who were preparing a temple made by hands for the Father and Ruler of the universe must take essences similar to those of which he made the universe itself" (Philo Judaeus, 20 B.C.-A.D. 50, On the Life of Moses II, XVIII).


• "...the dress of the high priest...is a copy and representation of the separate parts of the world...and our argument will be able to bring forth twenty probable reasons that the mantle over the shoulders is an emblem of heaven" (Philo Judaeus, 20 B.C.-A.D. 50, On the Life of Moses II, XXIV).


• "The high priest, then, being equipped in this way, is properly prepared for the performance of all sacred ceremonies, that, whenever he enters the temple to offer up the prayers and sacrifices in use among his nation, all the world may likewise enter in with him, by means of the imitations of it which he bears about him..." (Philo Judaeus, 20 B.C.-A.D. 50, On the Life of Moses II, XXVI).

Fred Asaire, in the 1951 film "Royal Wedding," dances around his hotel room singing "You're All the World to Me." He compares His love to Paris, New York, the Swiss Alps, Cape Cod, Lake Como, Sun Valley, a museum, a Persian palace, Christmas, and a tropical sea. The Jews of Jesus' day could sing that song, too, about the Temple, the Law, and the priesthood.

We don't get to read the Bible with our definitions and understanding in mind. The Bible tells us how to read it. The results may not conform to our self-centered worldview, which says, "there's never been a time like this" and "this is what the Bible means to me," but the results will be accurate to the message God desires for His people to receive. The destruction of the heavens and earth language of the Bible refers to the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, first in 586 B.C. and second in A.D. 70. In both instances, the people bearing God's name and Word in the world had rejected Him, and re-created was required. The Church, free from centralized worship, human-efforted sacrifices, and ethnic homogeny, is the new heavens and earth (see the first essay again for elaboration on the grandness and all-encompassing nature of the Church).

Time to read our Bibles again!

P.S. "No longer any sea..." Don't worry, you beach bums. I'm sure heaven will be acceptable to you; but this speaks of the Church. Revelation has already defined the symbol "sea" for us: "The waters which you saw where the harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues" (17:15). I don't think it's necessary to look much further. In the Church, there is no "us and them" from an ethnic standpoint, as in the Old Covenant, where the people of God were marked out first by ethnicity. In Christ that barrier is broken down (Ephesians 2:11-22), so in the "new heavens and the new earth" (a term symbolizing the New Covenant), there is "no longer any sea."

In the Name.

He received the Name of God. Barefooted in the presence of an unconsuming fire and a staff with a double personality (the other a serpent), Moses asks for God's name and gets it (Exodus 3:13-15). It'd been lost to the ears, lips, and minds of men for a long time, at least since the days of Isaac (Genesis 4:26; 12:8; 13:4; 16:13; 21:33; 26:25). God gives the Name to Moses, who goes forth as God's prophet. But certainly not the last. Over and over God sends prophets among His people who utter messages with the attention-grabbing subject line: "Thus says the LORD." What irony, that the Name of the LORD - which should be the secret password to unlock the hearts of every created being in the universe - is taken for granted, misused, ignored, and relegated to superstitious silence. "The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place; but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, until there was no remedy" (2 Chronicles 36:15,16). There is no remedy for a people who continually take the Name in vain. "...the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain" (Exodus 20:7; Deuteronomy 5:11).

So the voice of the LORD, spoken by the prophets in the name of the LORD, goes silent. Another would come, as Moses himself prophesied: "I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I commanded him. It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him" (Deuteronomy 18:18,19 - quoted in Acts 3:22,23; 7:37). Another Moses, giving another Law. And so He came, as the Church considers this Advent season.

He brought the words of God, but just as importantly He brought the Name:

• "I have come in My Father's name..." (John 5:43).
• "I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father's name, these testify of Me" (John 10:25).
• "Hosanna! Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the LORD, even the King of Israel" (John 12:13).
• "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word" (John 17:6).
• "Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled" (John 17:11,12).

So the King dresses as a messenger and goes through the land proclaiming His own word as if it were not His word, but the King's. More faithful than the most faithful servant of the house, this hidden King is faithful as a son (Hebrews 3:1-6). This one, for a time hidden in "the form of a bond-servant," was so faithful and obedient that it took His very last breath to proclaim the message. That last breath was honored and given back for all eternity, and the servant-King's name is exalted on high: "God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:9-11).

He received the name of God, and God received GLORY.

In awe of a stuttering and lisping God.

We have no idea how different He is than us, how much more He is than us, how absolute and incomprehensible His utter transcendence is. We are not capable of even beginning the intellectual, spiritual/mystical, or emotional act of conceiving of Him. When we quote, "'My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,' declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts,'" (Isaiah 55:8,9) we barely understand this divine confession. One of the most serious indictments in the Bible - to this rat - occurs in Psalm 50:21, where the LORD laments, "you thought I was just like you." May it never be, O great God! How far down do you have to stoop, to condescend, to speak to us? To surround us with your glory, how dumbed-down did You have to make Your "invisible attributes" to paint the inconceivable detail, joyous beauty, and humbling grandeur of this creation? O Christ, O eternal God the Son, how does an Infinite Beyond get poured out of Your Being so that it could be said of You: "...Christ Jesus...emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant...being made in the likeness of men" (Philippians 2:7)? Every day of eternity will bring a greater, unending, ever-satisfying measure of what has been lost in translation here on this earth. You, the all-sufficient pleasure of the soul, will have to bring us up that unimaginably lofty ladder between this sod we walk and Your throne. We cannot wait!

Let me quote the great Reformer of Geneva:

"For who is so devoid of intellect as not to understand that God...lisps with us as nurses are wont to do with little children?" (Institutes of the Christian Religion, I.13.1)

"If we heard God speaking to us in His majesty, it would be useless to us, for we would understand nothing. Therefore, since we are carnal, He has to stutter or otherwise He would not be understood by us" (Sermon on 1 John 1:1-5).

And so I journeyed with family from the rim of the Rio Grande Gorge to the river itself, descending 700 feet in less than a mile. Beautiful. Stunning. Awesome. This is the most basic, vague, and childish way He communicates Himself to us: His creation.

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If this is the lisp, if this the stutter, how beyond the most glorious descriptions of a million writers of human masterpiece, laboring for a billion years, is our great God and Savior?

Preaching Together at the Table

The Table. Yesterday morning the Spirit highlighted, like turning a crystal in the light, an aspect of the Table liturgy I don't think I'd noticed before: "This is My body, which is for you..." (1 Corinthians 11:24). Not for the world of the children of wrath, but for "the Church of God which He purchased with His own blood" (Acts 20:28). In the Lord's Table we proclaim not a general atonement, but a particular atonement. Curiously, there are many congregations who will go out of their way to exclude visitors from other congregations or denominations, repeat the "for you" aspect of the liturgy, yet spit and get pretty worked up about the issue of limited atonement. Interesting. This rat finds it calmly joyous that the truth of the doctrine of God's grace is proclaimed at His Table, whether or not the participants fully realize what they are saying...we are but little children gathered at the Table...pray we don't make too much of a mess.

I love the corporate preaching of the Table: "...as often as you eat this bread or drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes" (1 Corinthians 11:26). Shouldn't we want to make this proclamation every time we gather? I love it, pray the Spirit will inflame greater love in me, and pray He will do so among the clay lanterns He inhabits. Paul, as he writes this to the Corinthians, is cognizant that there is a potential audience to this corporate preaching of the Table, for later (speaking of tongues and prophecy) he mentions "ungifted men or unbelievers" (I think this is a parallelism referring to one type of person) entering into the congregation's worship gathering (1 Corinthians 14:23,24). All that we do to reach out to visitors (from gimmicks to gift bags), when the sure prophecy of the Word and the corporate proclamation of the Table are the given tools to meet all the needs of the gathered congregation! Sunday after Sunday the Table is mute, lest "it stops becoming special," while we would sing "Amazing Grace" every Sunday if possible! The problem isn't the Table, but our hearts. The answer isn't quarterly observation tacked on to the end of the service, but repentant prayer for a reclamation of the hearts of God's people. Bind us to the Book, O eternal Spirit, and bind us to the Table. Should we stray, break us and bring us back. Teach us to love what You have given rather than seeking new thrills and emotional highs in things that are peripheral.

What about the music? It's not given to be a sacrament linking us to God, but a teaching tool to help us catechize each other through the expression of truth and a heart devoted to God (Ephesians 5:18-21; Colossians 3:14-17). I like how Matthew and Mark record the first Lord's Supper. It was not added as an afterthought to teaching and dynamic music. It took its place alongside the teaching, and a hymn was added at the very end (Matthew 26:30; Mark 14:26). I have nothing against music, especially good music that teaches deep doctrine (www.reformedpraise.org), but let's keep it in the perspective it belongs. Let's keep it tamed under doctrine. Let's keep it respectfully under the authority of the preaching of the Table and the preaching of the Word.

Pray God chains our hearts and our hands to the corporate preaching of the Table. Not as a window into revival, greater blessing, or "church growth," but because it is one of the three things we are to do when we gather, and it is the most neglected by the children.

Pray.

Everything.

"The Bible is authoritative on everything on which it speaks - and it speaks on everything."

Cornelius Van Til, Defense of the Faith

This Most Beautiful Theater...

"Meanwhile, being placed in this most beautiful theatre, let us not decline to take a pious delight in the clear and manifest works of God....it is...the first evidence of faiths to remember to which side soever we turn, that all which meets the eye is the work of God, and at the same time to meditate with pious care on the end which God had in view in creating it."

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, I.14.20.

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.

* * * * * * *

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).

* * * * * * *

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).

* * * * * * *

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.”

* * * * * * *

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).

* * * * * * *

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!

* * * * * * *

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)

* * * * * * *

“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!

* * * * * * *

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.

* * * * * * *

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.

* * * * * * *

"...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.