The Wonder of It All

John 18:21-23 (KJV)

Why askest thou me? ask them which heard me, what I have said unto them: behold, they know what I said. And when he had thus spoken, one of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, Answerest thou the high priest so? Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou me?

I have thought about these words that I read for part of my devotion this morning. Jesus simply tells the priests that everyone knows what he said. He is declaring his innocence, and mocking the accusers by reminding them that they have no witness because there was no crime. 

For his comment, one of the minions strikes him, probably hard enough to draw blood, certainly hard enough to begin bruising his face. He is reprimanded for insulting the “high priest”.  Now it was the high priest’s job to recognize and honor the Messiah of God. What did the high priest do? He condemns Jesus to death, fearing his competition.

Jesus answers honorably, “if I spoke evil, tell me where. But why do you strike me?” Jesus knew very well that the priest were engaging only in what we have come to call a “kangaroo court”, one in which the principal was already convicted.

It does take my breath away when I stop to consider that the Creator of the Universe was struck, beaten, and crucified. The wonder of that sacrifice will be overwhelming for us all. In his very fingertips lay the power to completely undo the whole universe, yet he chose to endure a painful time of torment and death that I might live. I will never stop wondering at the grandeur of it all!

The Vineyard

John 15:

I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.

In the rules of interpretation, this is a classic mis-interpreted passage. Jesus is not referring primarily to a Christian picture of Christians being in the Vine and the Father being the Vinekeeper. Rather he is continuing a conversation with his Jewish disciples about the Father being the Husbandman of Israel. 

Consider the setting. Judas is even now betraying his Christ to the leaders of Israel. The leaders are fomenting the death of Christ. All of the disciples are about to forsake the Christ and run away. Why would Jesus suddenly depart from contextually speaking to his disciples and start speaking to his Christians before the cross? It would make no sense, other than the great comfort we get from reading these words. They certainly apply to us, at least some of them. We are being kept by the Father who tends us even as a Loving Father does his son, or as a farmer might tend his vines. But that is application, not interpretation.

To look at the interpretation, we must understand the context. Jesus was facing desertion on every side, but mainly with the national leaders. Israel was about to forever reject their Christ. What else would Jesus have in mind when he declares, “if a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered, and men cast them into the fire and they are burned.” What other thing could possibly  be on his mind? His chosen nation, his people are about to reject him and he is facing the cross all alone. 

Not only the betrayal of Judas and the priests is on his mind; he is also thinking of his disciples. Peter has just foolishly, along with all the disciples, that they would never forsake him. But Peter does it so insistently, that Christ predicts that Peter would deny him three times. Having just said that in John 13, and having sent Judas on his way to betrayal, what else would he possibly be thinking about?

Does he not talk in the Vineyard passage about pruning the branches? Is he not thinking about the disciples being pruned here? Of their denial, and eventual restoration to belief? Israel was constantly being compared to a vine, with different pictures, but all having the background of God being in charge and Israel being responsible.

Early in my Christian life, I was learning the doctrine of eternal security.  Here is a verse that gives eternal security fits: “If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth. . . into the fire.” I used to worry over these verses, contrasting them with the many verses on eternal security and worry about what God could possibly mean? But now I see that these verses are referring the nation of Israel, telling them that if they do not abide, they will be cast out. Is not the evidence before us? Israel has long denied their Christ, and has spent 2,000 years being cast out and burned. This tragedy is foretold in Jesus speaking in John 15.

 

A Tree Ought to be Enough

I never saw a poem as lovely as a tree

Says Joyce in a poem for me

But I cannot help but note

Others not in the same boat

Say they in some random rants

Trees are the product of chance

Products of accident and time

Springing from primordial slime

But I sit under the tree

And wonder at that I see

Its dancing leaves seem to sing

Praises to God it does bring.

Silly fools who do not believe

In darkest doubts they deceive

In all the wonders of creation

The tree is but a singular sensation

True, a wonderous one so strong

But, only one in the mighty throng

Created by our own Designer

The plan could not be finer

The tree alone ought to be enough

For you to believe the right stuff

But everywhere else do I look and see

The God who made the tree for me

So You Think You Can Fool Jesus? Part Two

 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
2 Peter 1:20

But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
2 Peter 2:1

There are ten characteristics that Peter lists about these false teachers.

1. They shall bring in damnable heresies.

verse 1: But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

2. They shall follow their own selfish ways, and speak evil of the truth.

verse 2:  And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

Parenthetical statement of the complete fairness of God’s judgment:

These men are subject to God’s judgment, as Peter stops to explain how God will judge fairly the righteous and the ungodly.

1. God spared not the angels that sinned. Thus he will not spare false teachers (v. 4).
2. God spared not the whole world while rescuing Noah (v. 5).
3. God spared not Sodom and Gomorrah while rescuing righteous Lot (v. 6).

Summation principle v. 9: (see below) God knows how to discriminate between godly and ungodly.

Paranthetical verses V. 4-9

4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
7 And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)
9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

Signaled by the word “but” at the beginning of verse 10, Peter begins again to characterize these false teachers.

10 But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities

These false teachers characteristics (continued).

4.  Angels are afraid to accuse others; but not so with these “brutes”.

11 Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord. 12 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

5. They shall receive the reward of unrighteousness.

13 And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;

6. They have eyes full of adultery and cannot cease from sin.

14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:

7. They have forsaken the right way following Balaam. 

15 Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness

8. They are like dry wells of water.

17 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.

9. They make great boasts, alluring through lusts, capturing even the righteous.

18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.

10. They falsely promise freedom, while they themselves are slaves of corruption. 

19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.

 Parenthetical three verses explaining consequences to those in bondage:

1. First consequence: (v. 20), Those in bondage are entangled in the deceptions of the world worse than they were formerly.
2. Second consequence: v. 21, Those in bondage are subject to judgment that makes them doubly responsible, for they knew better.
3. Third consequence: v. 22, Those in bondage have returned to their former folly.

20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

To sum up, Peter has given us lists for three different types. First, and mainly, he gives us a list of ten characteristics of false teachers. That is the main subject of this chapter, and Peter, looking to the times after his imminent death, worries about the false teachers inundating the church. Second, Peter provides three examples of God distinguishing between evil and good behavior. He is able to ferret out such behavior, and will faithfully reward the righteous, and judge the wicked. Third, Peter tells of the judgments coming against those who choose to do wrong.

May I add one verse yesterday I read in Isaiah:

They have abandoned the Lord;
they have despised the Holy One of Israel;
they have turned their backs on Him.

Isaiah 1:4

What shall happen when the faithful become unfaithful? It won’t be pleasant. Turn today back to Him, that ye may find life.

So You Think You Can Fool Jesus? Part One

From the beginning of God’s intervention with man, the “cunning” man has dreamed of ways of fooling God. Isaiah, a prophet from the Old Testament, declared, “Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men” (Isaiah 29:13).  I want to insist that when we come to God, we ought to come with much fear and trembling, for we are standing before the One who knows it all. But we don’t. People start wanting something else, or they question God on topics that they do not agree with him about. Soon they start to make “accommodations” and then the accommodations turn into a full-fledged deviant doctrine. Before we turn around, heresy or even a new cult is started. Sometimes it seems to this mournful heart like man will never learn. An idea that I find myself dwelling on all too often lately, as I see so many signs of it.

It starts in the individual often first. Hath God really said? That is the question that they start with. Question God. And question Him again. Then go to the Word, and just like Eve, begin misstating the word of God. Oh, you missed that? Eve did misstate the word of God, for she says to the devil, “But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” (Genesis 3:3) God never said anything about not touching the fruit. Eve made that up. Commentors sometimes suggest that since Adam gave Eve the command, and she did not get it directly from God, that the message may somehow have become garbled.  But the Bible does not say that. What we are left with is only the command God gave. In the day that you eat it, you shall die. To this command Eve adds her own command. In the day that you touch it, you shall die. 

I think whether Eve did it intentionally or not is not declared; the Bible does explain that Eve was deceived, and Adam bears the graver consequence of sinning with the full knowledge of his disobedience. The point has to be made that for the first time, mankind has taken the word of God and twisted it into a more palatable form. Satan cleverly used her twist of the Scripture against her, showing her that she could indeed “touch” it and come to no harm. But that touch led her to look at the fruit and believe the lie and eat it.

Little has changed with man. We still figure that we can outsmart God. If we twist things a bit, turn them around here, and ignore them there, He won’t notice. But He always does notice. We have a God who is omniscient. There is not any fooling Him; there can be no duplicity when we come to him.  The hymn’s words remind us, “Just as I am”. There is no other way to really come to him except just as we are.

Second Peter, written shortly before Peter’s martyrdom, contains plenty of warnings to the church about this very thing. Peter saw and foresaw clearly the nature of man inclined him constantly to be trying to “rewrite’ what God plainly declares.  In part two, I will take a quick look at some of Peter’s admonishments.

The Seat of Dishonor

    Jesus told a story of a man invited to a wedding, just as every member of the church. He described the wisdom of such a man in choosing the humble seat, rather than a seat of honor. If the man chose a seat of high honor, he might be embarrassed by being asked to move “down” to a lessor seat. How much better it would be to choose a humble seat, and then have the host of the wedding move him up to a more noble seat.  

   

    So, at the wedding feast, I see a potential conflict coming up. I want to follow my Lord’s suggestion, and I want the least honorable seat. But I know thousands and by extrapolation, millions of Christians who have the exact same feeling that I have. We all want that seat of dishonor. Will that provoke the first argument in heaven? 

     Just joking. I trust God will have worked it all out. At that wedding feast, which we so look forward to, we will perhaps just know where we ought to be. If not, I am sure that God will work it out. What a blessed event to look forward to—when I shall at last sit down with the saints that have gone before me, and together we shall celebrate what the Lamb of God has done for us all. Lift your eyes to the heavens and watch. That day is coming!

Watch

Mark 13:32-37

But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch. 

Count the commands to watch. I find four times our Lord tells us to watch. And this passage is one of many; over and again we are told to watch. Curiously, we sometimes have a type of Christian who belittles the job Christ has given us. Watch. I find Christians sometimes tending to sneer at the command—and I suppose Christian history has had a lot to do with that. “Of that time, no man knows” says Jesus, but how many false prophets have stood in the annals of time and told us specifically of the date and time of His coming? They have all been spectacularly wrong; but that only means that they were wrong. It certainly does not put into question the coming of our Lord. He is faithful and has told us that his coming will be “as in the days of Noah” when the humans were busy elsewhere, and not at all looking for his coming.

Watch. A simple command. Let us be found faithful. Watch.

Kindergarten Babies

I spent most of my life in the not-so-hallowed halls of an elementary school. Most of that was within the confines of room 9, the fourth-grade class. The kindergarten teachers were great shepherds of their little flock, and seemed to be most intuitive about strays, and excellent at keeping them together. But every once in a while, I would find the forlorn kindergartner standing with both hands in front, holding his lunch pail, and obviously not knowing where to go.

In elementary schools, the school works hard at keeping the kindergarteners separate.  And the kids are just so young, that they know almost nothing about the school-world at large. They know their boundaries, their playground, and maybe that is about the total sum of their knowledge. But as long as they were in the boundaries, they were okay.

It only happened a few times in my 27 years with Pony. But I would see the child, bereft of his class, and lost. I would bend over, as kindly as an adult could (does any adult not intimidate the little ones by their very presence?), and ask the obvious question. 

“Did you need help getting back to your classroom?”

They would nod their head. 

“Who’s your teacher?” 

They would give a name, and I would lead them back to their classroom, where relief would spread all over their faces when they saw their familiar surroundings, their room, their home.

The picture of that poor child in the hallways is haunting me these days. I remember the lostness of the child so much and I have come to compare it to adult Christians before their God. I think we assume far too much when we get into the presence of God these days. We assume that we know what we are praying for, but after we reflect a bit we realize we do not have a clue. We assume we know what God wants us to do, but reflection again shows we do not have a clue.

We are lost and the only way out is to nod your head at the adult in the room (God) and follow him back to safety. We can rest in assurance that “our adult” is always there, and ever at our right hand. I wish we might tout a little less about our importance, and tout a little more about the only one that can get us out of the calamities we find ourselves in. In God’s eyes, we must all appear as those forlorn kindergarteners. Waiting patiently to be helped.

God’s Plan for Human Prosperity

Did you know that God does indeed have a plan for human prosperity? The proverbial old man dressed in a white robe, holding up a sign, “The End is Near” only has part of the picture.  The end of the world is near only in the sense that God is nearly finished with the wickedness of mankind, and elects to bring that free reign of wickedness to an end. In that sense, wickedness—the end—is near, but the Bible clearly proclaims this new time to be a beginning.

So how is it a beginning? It begins the restoration of man to a full and whole relationship with his creator. God has made a plan involving everyone that responds to him in faith, believing in the grace that was shown to reconcile man to God through Jesus’s offering on the cross. Christ himself will return to earth (this time as a roaring lion rather than a sacrificial lamb) and will reign over mankind.

He will reign over Jerusalem, bringing in the prosperity and peace so often promised to the Jews in the Old Testament. Scores of prophecies from the Old Testament all sound the trumpet: there is a coming peaceful time for the Jews, when even the Gentiles will come to the Jewish homeland in subservience to the leadership of Christ in the world. There is a peace plan—one that Christians fully subscribe to. The time that at last swords shall be beaten to plowshares, and the blessing of God himself will flow outward from Jerusalem to the frontiers of the world. 

Then we will have everlasting peace. We will have Christ himself reigning and bringing prosperity to what is now a “cursed” world, but in that day, will be a blessed world. God’s plan, and every Christian’s hope.

 

A Little Bit of Jonah in Me?

Someone in the “much-beloved” press termed the fire in Los Angeles to be apocalyptic. It seems from one month to another that someone somewhere in the world claims some tragedy to be apocalyptic.  It is not. It is not even close. We can and should call the Los Angeles fire serious, even ominous. Perhaps a record tragedy for L.A. But no way is it apocalyptic.

Let’s take a look at the basic meaning of apocalyptic. Oxford defines it as, “describing or prophesying the complete destruction of the world.” Los Angeles being partially devastated by catastrophic fire is not the destruction of the world. Oxford tells us in the following picture that it comes from the Greek “apokaluptikos”.  And Oxford gives a little graph that shows the increase of the word since 1950. Its overuse started then, and it has galloped to the forefront of usage, if I read the graph correctly, many times over. Everything has become “apocalyptic”.

 

 

Partially destroying Los Angeles is certainly devastating. But it is not “the destruction of the world”.  Our use of the word probably comes from Revelation, which literally means “apocalypsis”. Wikipedia has this to say on the book of Revelation: “The Book of Revelation or Book of the Apocalypse is the final book of the New Testament. Written in Koine Greek, its title is derived from the first word of the text: apokalypsis, meaning 'unveiling' or 'revelation'. The Book of Revelation is the only apocalyptic book in the New Testament canon.”

If the book of Revelation is the only apocalyptic book in the New Testament (and it is), it certainly covers everything. The center 17 chapters of Revelation describe devastation to man and the earth that is unequalled in history. Over 90% of mankind is destroyed when the the judgment of God is thrust upon the world over a seven-year period. Billions of people are brought horrifically to their deaths. That is apocalyptic.

Hundreds of books are on Amazon describing what the end of the world, as we know it, takes place. Creative authors have imagined things like the internet “blinking” out one day through different causes. Nuclear war, famine, plagues, and hits from objects in space have all been envisioned. These books all depict a complete falling-apart of the world in the judgment of God. That is the proper envisioning of apocalypsis, what it might mean.

Our pastor has been teaching on Jonah the past month, and I have been reminded of Jonah’s willingness, even eagerness, to see the great city of Ninevah be judged by God. He skillfully took us through several weeks on the topic of Jonah. Each week he reminded us of Jonah’s temperament: Jonah wanted to be the spectator with a front row seat, watching for the judgment of God upon this terribly wicked city. Instead, the city repents and God relents for a time from his judgment. 

Jonah is devastated and disappointed because the judgment is postponed. And that reminds me a little bit of us Christians. Many of us, and I include myself, want to see the end come. As fiercely as Jonah, we “camp” outside and look at the world, proclaiming the end is coming. Perhaps it is our fault that the word apocalypsis is so overused.

As Christians in the end time, what is the proper attitude for us to have? Are we really to be like Jonah, eagerly watching for the end? This week I have become interested in a study of Peter, as our small group touched briefly on 1 Peter. Our teacher reminded me of the great Bible Project, and they have really done a great job of summarizing 2 Peter, the last letter of Peter. It touches so poignantly on my subject that I want to close with. 

Peter talks almost in newspaper headline about our world. He warns us about corrupt leadership, mainly people who are indulging themselves in sexual fantasies and greed (following their own evil desires), pretending they have God’s approval. They were teaching falsely that God would give no final reckoning, asking the question, “where is the promise of his coming?” Thus they scoff at God, forgetting “deliberately” that the world is created and destroyed by a world-wide flood. Peter then gives two quick points that I would summarize.

First, Peter reminds us that God is patient, not willing that any should perish. This is a main focus of what our attitude should be, looking to the world and reaching out with the gospel we have been entrusted with. God withholds judgment and surely the scoffers are having their day. But the patience of God is not without end and it is quite proper for Christians to look for the end of wickedness. The “day of the Lord” will come exactly at the right second, not earlier, nor one nanosecond later.

Second, Peter reminds us that the world will pass away, even the elements melting by fire, so that all of the wickedness of mankind is fully exposed. God’s purpose is not to stop there with judgment; his stated purpose is to give us a new heaven and new earth. This is really what those of us who would be like Jonah should stress. The signs that “the end is near”, proverbially put in so many cartoons for so many years, is not quite the accurate picture of us “Jonahs”. Instead, we are to look beyond the judgment toward the very plan of God. God plans on getting rid of the evil world, only to replace it with a new heaven and a new earth.

So, to summarize, Christians who feel a bit like Jonah, ought to take the better viewpoint of Peter, who looking forward to his death, was prescient enough to warn us of God’s longer plan. Though the time has extended out to nearly two thousand years now, yet the plan of God to end evil in this world is as sure and absolute as ever. We “Jonahs” can look forward to the new heaven and new earth, meanwhile proclaiming the gospel to the lost as often as possible.

Not a Tame Lion

Lewis famously labels Aslan as “not a tame lion”.  In so doing, he captures a characteristic of God that we often overlook. God is doing things his way, precisely because that is who he is. It is our job to uncover who he is and to see him as he is. 

“There are none so blind as those who will not see.” Another saying that fits the general character of man. When we get willful we do not even want to see. But that is not going to change who he is. We must earnestly hunger and thirst for righteousness if we are to see him at all, however dimly.

And that is precisely the point of the Word of God, the Bible. It is the fount of the definition of God; to it we must regularly pilgrimage if we are to come to know him better. I see my brothers and sisters in Christ ignoring the Bible at their very deep peril. We must spend our lives coming regularly to this fount if we are to know God at all. He is not a tame lion. I have spent my life trying to fit God into my box, only to find that the box I have constructed is not large enough after all, and I must throw it aside. But not to be dissuaded, I get busy constructing another box, sure that this time the box I have so carefully made will be a good fit. But to no avail. I think I have spent a great deal of my life constructing boxes, only to throw them aside as I realize that they do not, once again, capture his essence.  He is not a tame lion.

So it is a lifelong process, this coming to know God. And it is to his Word we must go again and again if we are to know him. Fortunately there is even a verse about our quest to know him ever better, and it is found in 2 Corinthians 3:18:

 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

My life since accepting Christ can be described as one process of getting to know Him better and better. Not much else is important besides the aim of contemplating him to know him. Have you immersed yourself in the Word lately, so that you may know him better? How about starting today? It is a lifelong process, with a lifelong commitment needed on our part. I am afraid there is no other remedy. He is not a tame lion.