Table of Contents

Unlocking the Bible Story: Old Testament Vol 1

Unlocking the Bible Story: Old Testament Vol 2

Unlocking the Bible Story: New Testament Vol 3

Unlocking the Bible Story: New Testament Vol 4

Unlocking the Bible Story Study Guide: Old Testament Vol 1

Unlocking the Bible Story Study Guide: Old Testament Vol 2

Unlocking the Bible Story Study Guide: New Testament Vol 3

Unlocking the Bible Story Study Guide: New Testament Vol 4

UNLOCKING THE BIBLE STORY

VOLUME 1

Colin S. Smith

Moody Publishers

Chicago

©2002 by COLIN S. SMITH

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 0-8024-6543-9

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Printed in the United States of America

For Mum and Dad,

who taught me the Bible,

led me to Christ,

and continue to be examples

of a God-centered life

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Prologue

1 Life

2 Curse

3 Salvation

4 Judgment

5 Blood

6 Law

7 Atonement

8 Priest

9 Blessing

10 Courage

11 Giving

12 Evil

13 Covenant

14 Deliverer

15 Redeemer

16 King

17 Throne

18 Prophet

19 Temple

20 Worship

21 Sin

22 Righteousness

23 Joy

Reading the Bible in

One Year

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A friend of mine was once asked how long it took him to prepare a sermon. “Forty years,” he said, quoting his age at the time. As I look back on more than forty years, my heart is filled with a sense of gratitude to God for the many people who, from childhood onward, have taught me the Bible and been a means of God’s blessing in my life.

I am deeply thankful for the example of my own pastors Campbell Henderson, who is now with the Lord, and Derek Prime. I am also indebted to Tony Lane of London Bible College who supervised my studies in historical theology, which gave me a theological grid that continues to be an invaluable tool in studying the Scriptures. I am also grateful to Stuart and Jill Briscoe and Warren Wiersbe, who were part of God’s providence that led to our family’s coming to the United States and who have been models to me of the proper use of imagination in preaching. The influence of all these friends and teachers are interwoven into my life and therefore into this book.

I am especially grateful to my friend Jonathan Stephen for his insights on the theophanies in the early chapters of Genesis, and warmly commend his book Theophany: Close Encounters with the Son of God (Epsom, England: Day One Publications, 1998). His fresh approach has shed new light for me on God’s visible presence in the Garden of Eden. I am also indebted to another friend, Charles Price, for his work on the purpose of the Law of God, which has helped me to see how the Law is a reflection of God’s glory.

I am also grateful to my friend Dr Raju Abraham of the Emmanuel Hospital Association in India who drew an Old Testament time line for me on a napkin over lunch, and gave me his permission to use it! Raju is an insightful Bible teacher, and I am thankful to God for the stimulus of our many discussions. The time lines throughout the book are based on the work of Walter Kaiser, president of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Dr. Kaiser’s dates appear in his outstanding work, A History of Israel (Broadman & Holman).

Those who are familiar with the writing of Dr. Martyn-Lloyd Jones may find his influence throughout this series of books. I have tried to soak my mind in his writings. In this book, I am especially grateful for his image of Christ advancing against the sword guarding the entrance to Paradise, which I found in an unpublished sermon on Genesis 3.

There must be many other insights, phrases and stories, accumulated in my mind over the years, whose source I have forgotten. I am deeply conscious of my debt to many pastors, friends, and colleagues whose ministry I have appreciated over the years, and have attempted to identify sources of ideas that I received from others. If there are those whose influence I have forgotten, then I hope that they will forgive my oversight.

One of the joys of working on this book has been my deep sense of the hand of God on this project. Quite unbeknownst to me, a member of the congregation at Arlington Heights sent a sermon tape to Bill Thrasher, the general manager and associate publisher at Moody Press. Since discovering the series, Bill has been relentless in his drive and enthusiasm to make this material available in print. I owe him a profound and lasting debt of gratitude.

It has been a joy to work with the publishing team at Moody, several of whom have become good friends since the snowy day on which we first met to talk, dream, and pray about this project. It has been a special delight to work with Greg Thornton, Dave DeWit, and John Hinkley. My editor, Jim Vincent, has worked tirelessly in editing and shaping the manuscript and has made significant improvements to it. I am also deeply indebted to my secretary, Susie Von Busch, who continues to support me with skill, speed, and a joyful spirit.

I would also like to express my gratitude to the two churches I have been privileged to serve. The Enfield Evangelical Free Church of London took a risk with a twenty-two year old college graduate who had no pastoral experience and called him to be their pastor. Karen and I served the Lord there with great joy for sixteen years until 1996, when I became senior pastor of the Arlington Heights Evangelical Free Church. “The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places” (Psalm 16:6), and it is a special privilege to serve a congregation with a deep hunger for the Word of God. Their faithful prayers and kind encouragement continue to be a rich means of God’s blessing in my life.

On a more personal note, I want to express a special word of thanks to my family. Karen and I have been married for twenty-one years. We began in the pastorate together three weeks after we were married, and have never known anything else. I owe more to Karen than I can ever express in words, and with every year that passes I feel a deeper appreciation of the gift God has given to me in her. Our two sons, Andrew and David, have taken ownership in this work, and have gladly extended their patience and made sacrifices for it. Without their love, support, and encouragement, I would never have been able to complete this task.

A special word of thanks to my younger son David, who at the age of thirteen has developed a sharp eye for detail and played an important role in preparing this book for print. As I worked on editing each chapter, David made corrections, and looked up every Bible reference. We worked long hours on this project together, broken only by short stops for meals and a longer break for a game of tennis. Our three weeks together are a special memory for us both, and I am full of admiration for the commitment and enthusiasm with which David gave himself to this task.

Through parents, family, teachers, colleagues, friends and churches, God has poured out more gifts and opened more doors of opportunity in my life than I had ever expected. I can say with deep gratitude to “from the fullness of [God’s] grace we have all received one blessing after another” (John 1:16). It is my prayer that some of the blessing I have received over the years may be shared with others and that God may use this book to unlock the Bible story so that you may know Him, through His Son Jesus Christ.

INTRODUCTION

“I’ve been in church for years. I don’t feel that I have a good grasp of the Bible. But I wish that I did.”

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard a comment like that. Many people know stories from the Bible but do not know the story of the Bible. That’s like having a handful of pearls with no string to link them together. Unlocking the Bible Story will give you the string, and show you how the pearls of God’s truth fit together.

It begins with two people in a beautiful garden and ends with a vast crowd in a magnificent city. All the way through, it points us to Jesus Christ. Unlocking the Bible Story will show you the big picture and help you to discover the breathtaking sweep of the whole Bible story.

These volumes began as a series of sermons preached over a period of two years at Arlington Heights Evangelical Free Church in Illinois. I had been planning to teach the story of the Old Testament, and when the chairman of our elder council suggested the idea of encouraging the congregation to read the Bible in a year, the two ideas came together and ignited a spark.

We presented the challenge to the congregation and offered the gift of The One Year Bible to everyone who would make a commitment to read it. We promised that every Sunday the preaching would come from the Bible book we were reading, and would show how each part fits into the whole. We ordered four hundred Bibles. But the response was overwhelming. Fourteen hundred people made the commitment!

Now, two years later, I am deeply moved by many testimonies of how this journey through the Bible has touched and changed people’s lives.

“Though I have been a believer most of my life, I have never continuously read through the Bible from beginning to end. I have studied different passages and books, which was great, but they did not give me comprehensive message of the Bible…. I especially appreciate understanding the Old Testament and find it enriches my understanding of who Christ is.”—Hyacinth, a human-resources manager

“The most significant benefit of these two years of unlocking the Bible has been seeing how God’s plan is so intricately woven through the Bible. Many of the stories in the Bible used to seem disconnected and now are wonderfully brought together. What an encouragement.”—Jeff, an engineer

“The messages of Unlocking the Bible Story [have] given me a new way to talk to seekers about the Bible as a whole and how it impacts them.”—Liz, a nurse and mother What has happened for these folks can happen for you!

There are two ways to use Unlocking the Bible Story. You may choose to read the Bible in a year, and use these volumes (this is volume one of four) as a road map for your journey. At the end of this book you will find a Bible reading plan based on The One Year Bible published by Tyndale House. You may want to use this approach.

Alternatively, you can use Unlocking the Bible Story as an aerial photograph, to gain a big-picture perspective on the Bible so that when you are “down on the ground” in your own study, you will have a better sense of where you are. Either way, welcome to the journey.

Each of the eighty chapters in this four-volume series begins with a key question to unlock, and ends with a summary of the answer from the Bible. At the beginning of each chapter there are signposts that point out discoveries you will make, truths you will learn, and insights that will help you to worship. Finally, in each chapter of the Old Testament volumes, you will find a “Spotlight on Christ” which will help you to see how the whole Bible points us forward to Jesus Christ.

Unlocking the Bible Story does not cover every chapter or even every book of the Bible, but it will take you through the whole of the Bible story, and show you how it fits together. It will also introduce you to the major themes of the Bible.

The Bible uses some specialized words, like prophet, priest, atonement, and revelation. If we want to fully appreciate what God is saying to us in the Bible, we need to understand the words that He uses. Many areas of life have their own distinctive vocabulary. When I came to America five years ago, I had a very limited understanding of baseball. The basic idea was clear to me, but I quickly discovered that other people were seeing and enjoying things that I missed. The commentators talked about a “curve ball” and a “slider.” Of course, I didn’t need to know what these words meant to enjoy the game, but I soon realized that if I wanted to appreciate what was going on, I needed to learn some new words.

Unlocking the Bible Story will help you to understand the Bible’s vocabulary. Each chapter introduces a key word in the Bible story, and as you grasp the Bible’s major themes, you will begin to enjoy insights that otherwise you would have missed.

Unlocking the Bible Story will show you how the whole Bible points to Jesus Christ. He is the focal point of the whole story. If you take a diamond and move it in the light, each facet will reflect a different shade of color. The diamond sparkles as the light reflects on the stone at different angles. Unlocking the Bible Story will help you to worship as you see new facets of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

PROLOGUE: RAISING THE CURTAIN

Suppose you and a friend have tickets to a major play called The Bible Story. But because of traffic (and bad planning) you arrive late at the theater. In fact, you are so late that you have missed the whole of act one in the great drama of the Bible story, and so you know nothing about the Old Testament. You’re frustrated, but figure, Well we might as well stay, and besides the New Testament is the best part.

You walk into the lobby to discover it’s the middle of intermission. You’ve arrived just in time to hear the buzz of conversation about act one. You lean in to listen, when the lights flicker low then go up again. Time to get a seat. You find it just in time for the beginning of act two.

The curtain rises, and the scene at the beginning is in a stable. A manger and a newborn child are at center stage, with animals nearby. As the scene unfolds, you learn this is not an ordinary child. Unlike any other character in human history, He has no father. He is born of a virgin, and an angel announces that He is the Son of God. He is “God with us” (Matthew 1:23), and His Name is Jesus, because “he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).

In front of you, you spot a couple who were talking in the foyer during the intermission. The wife, nudges her husband.

“This is it!” she says. “He will be the one who was promised. You wait and see; it will all center around Him. He’ll be the answer to the problem.”

But you have just arrived, and you don’t know what the problem is. And when you hear that He is the Son of God, you don’t know who God is. When you hear that He will save His people, you don’t know who they are, or why they need saving or what they need saving from! Having missed act one, you struggle to grasp what this story is about. You don’t know the problems and you don’t know the promise, so all you see is a baby lying in a manger, surrounded by a few animals.

That is precisely the situation of many people today. They hear about the story of Jesus, but they do not understand it, because they don’t know the big story of the Bible. Many people today have concluded that God is some kind of impersonal force located within us, and that getting in touch with God is therefore essentially a matter of getting in touch with yourself. And if God is an impersonal force located within us, then presumably sin is about hurting ourselves, and if sin is hurting ourselves then the solution to it is simply that we need to forgive ourselves. People who think like this conclude that if we can learn to be in touch with ourselves and forgive ourselves, then we will enjoy spiritual health.

If you come into act two with ideas like that, the story of Jesus will never make any sense. What need would you have of Christ? And why would it matter who He was? What could He do for us that we could not do for ourselves?

If you don’t know who God is, and you don’t know what the problem is, and you don’t know what the promise is, the coming of Christ will seem nothing more to you than a sentimental story, a wonderland of children, angels, babies, and animals in cattle stalls and snow and Father Christmas. It will all be a blur.

This is why we need to unlock the Bible story. Act two won’t make sense to us until we have grasped the main themes of act one. The living God has revealed Himself. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He has made the world and everything in it, and He causes you to live and move and breathe right now. He is holy. He is love. He reaches out to you and wants you to know Him.

THE BIBLE STORY:

ABRAHAM TO JESUS CHRIST

ABRAHAM

2000 B.C.

ISAAC

JACOB

FOUR HUNDRED YEARS OF SLAVERY IN EGYPT

1500

EXODUS FROM EGYPT (MOSES)

ENTRANCE INTO CANAAN (JOSHUA)

THREE HUNDRED YEARS OF CHAOS (THE JUDGES)

1000

SAUL

DAVID

SOLOMON

FOUR HUNDRED YEARS OF DIVISION

(NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN KINGDOMS)

BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY

500

REBUILDING OF JERUSALEM

(EZRA, NEHEMIAH)

FOUR HUNDRED YEARS OF SILENCE

0

BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST

1

Life

GENESIS 1:1–2:25

Who is God

and why does

it matter?

Who am I and

why am I here?

DISCOVER

how God is directly involved in every home, job, and marriage.

LEARN

why your life has unique value and how you cannot know yourself until you know God.

WORSHIP

as you consider the good gifts God has poured into your life.

IMAGINE yourself at a theater for the first performance of a new play. The curtain goes up, but the stage is empty. Then the author walks on and introduces himself to the audience. He tells you who he is, why he wrote the play, and what it is about. The author does not present an argument for his own existence. When he walks onto the stage, he simply introduces himself and begins to speak about himself and his work.

THE AUTHOR TAKES THE STAGE

The Bible begins with God walking onto the stage and introducing Himself.

In the beginning God…(GENESIS 1:1)

This is His story, and so right at the beginning God introduces Himself to us. As we follow the Bible story, we will discover more about who He is and what He has done, but the first thing God wants us to know is that He is here. He also wants us to know what He has done.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (1:1)

The Author wants us to know that what we are about to see is entirely His work. This is of great importance because the Creator has the rights of the owner. We live in a world of trademarks, registered service marks, and patents. If I say, “Have it your way,” you will immediately think about Burger King. If I say, “Just do it,” you immediately think about Nike. The slogan is owned by its creators.

A creator always has the rights of ownership, and God owns all that He has made. If your life were an accident arising from millennia of human history, then you would be a free agent, accountable to nobody but yourself. But if you were created, then your Creator has the full rights of ownership over your life. One or the other of these things must be true, but both of them cannot be true. Either

1. you are an accident of history and therefore completely at liberty to do whatever you please with your life—to indulge it or trash it or end it—and if that is the case your life is ultimately meaningless; or,

2. you are a created being, and if that is the case, your Creator has absolute rights of ownership over your life.

God introduces Himself as our Creator and therefore our owner. You are not your own. Your life is a trust given to you from God. You are not worthless or aimless; God chose to bring you into being. He did it on purpose, and you will discover that purpose as you get to know the One who created you.

UNDERSTANDING OURSELVES

If we do not know our Creator, we will not understand ourselves. When people start believing that they are meaningless accidents, human life becomes cheap. And if human life is cheap, it becomes disposable when it is inconvenient. First the unborn, then the handicapped, then the elderly or others who are a drain on the economy become nuisances and even expendable. Then come those who are the “wrong color,” the “wrong race,” or the “wrong religion.”

The most monstrous evils of our time have been built on the assumption that human life is an accident. The future direction of our society will in large part be determined by whether we choose to believe that we are accidents of history or the special creation of almighty God.

When we open the Bible, we are confronted by God. He is the Creator, and He has the absolute rights of ownership over all things.

After God tells us who He is, He explains two things that He wants us to know about ourselves: (1) We are made in His image, and (2) we are absolutely dependent on Him.

THE IMAGE OF GOD

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image.” (1:26)

Did you notice the plural pronoun there? God says, “Let us make man.” This is a fascinating hint about the nature of God to be revealed more fully later.

After five days of creation, the crowning moment has come. It is almost as if God has a conversation with Himself. “Let’s do it! Let Us make man in Our image, in Our likeness.” An image is a reflection, and so God is telling us that He made us in such a way that we would be able to reflect something of His own nature and glory.

“Man” is used as a generic term here; it includes male and female. We are specifically told “God created man in his own image,… male and female he created them” (v. 27).

This image of God is what distinguishes people from the animals. The animals were made by God, but none of them was made like God. That is why no man or woman should ever be treated as an animal or behave as an animal. The difference between man and the animal kingdom is of enormous significance.

Early on in the Bible story, we will discover the devil taking on the form of an animal. At the center of the Bible story, we will find God taking on the form of a man. The Son of God is the image of God, and so when He took flesh, it was in the form of a man, because man was made in the image of God.

Men and women who believe that they are simply developed animals have missed the most fundamental thing that God says about them. We are made in the image of God!

THE KISS OF LIFE

Man is made in the image of God, but he must always remember that he is not God. In fact, man is rather fragile. God made the first man from the dust of the ground, so we should not be surprised if there are similarities to the animals at a biological level. But there is more to man than chemical or biological life.

The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. (2:7)

God formed a corpse, and a skeletal frame lay lifeless on the ground. Then God breathed His own breath into this biodegradable corpse. He gave man the kiss of life, and the lifeless corpse became a living, self-conscious being.

God is always doing what He did that day. “He [God]… gives all men life and breath and everything else” (Acts 17:25). God sustains you one breath at a time. So if you want to sin against God intentionally, try to do it without breathing! It would be a sad thing to draw breath from God and use the energy of that breath to grieve His heart.

Here is the second key to knowing and understanding yourself: You are absolutely dependent upon God. If you can grasp those two truths—you are made in His image and dependent on Him—you will discover a great dignity and at the same time a profound humility.

God gave Adam four special gifts that made his life wonderfully rich. They were God’s presence, a place, a purpose, and a partner.

TAKING A WALK WITH GOD

God is Spirit. That means that God is invisible to the human eye. Yet right at the beginning of the Bible we read about “the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day” (3:8; italics added).

God revealed Himself in a beautiful garden called Eden. We call each revelation a theophany, and that means an appearance of God in visible form. The Old Testament has many examples of this, and they are very important. In the earliest theophanies, God did for Adam and Eve in a visible way what He does for all His people in an invisible way.

God is eternal and invisible, and He wants to establish a relationship with the man and the woman so that they may know Him and enjoy Him. Later in the Bible story, we will see that God became a man, so it should not seem strange that in the Old Testament He should appear in a visible form. These theophanies show us the intense desire in the heart of God to establish fellowship with man.

It is almost as if the Son of God could not wait to come. He burst out of heaven, entering human time and space, and came to earth so that He could walk with the first man and woman in the garden.

Notice that “they heard the sound of the LORD God as He was walking in the garden.” They heard the cracking of twigs and the rustling of leaves. They walked with the Son of God in Eden as surely as Peter, James, and John would walk with the Son of God in Galilee.

Adam and Eve walked with God. They asked questions and enjoyed conversation. Can you begin to imagine what this would be like? God was interested in what Adam had done in the day. He was listening to whatever was on Eve’s mind. God spoke with them. The man and the woman were walking in fellowship with God.

We will see in the next chapter that this fellowship between God and man was broken, and that it has remained broken throughout the generations of human history. Christ came into the world to restore that broken relationship and to make it possible for man to walk with God again.

That is the whole story of the Bible. Jesus Christ gives us access to the Father. We cannot see God, but when we come to Him with faith and in the name of Jesus Christ, His presence is as real as it was when He appeared in visible form to Adam. Think about that next time you pray.

A PLACE CALLED HOME

Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. (2:8)

It is difficult to be precise about the location of Eden, but it is important to grasp that it is a real place. We are told that it was in the east. The book of Genesis was part of the revelation God gave to Moses at Mount Sinai, so we are talking about a location east of Sinai. We are also told about four rivers (2:10–14), the Pishon and the Gihon (which are not known to us), the Tigris and the Euphrates, which run through modern Iraq. We cannot be certain about the garden’s location, but it is clear that the LORD planted one somewhere in this area. (See the map “A Garden in the East.”)

The significant thing is that the LORD put the man there. God appeared to Adam in a theophany and placed him in this garden. It is possible that God created Adam outside the garden and then brought him to Eden, saying, “This is the place I have prepared for you!” God created a particular place where Adam would know and enjoy the blessing of God.

I find it helpful to remember that God does the same thing for us. He has determined the exact places for all of us to live (see Acts 17:26). Try to imagine God walking with you into your home and saying, “This is where I want you to be.” Or, imagine Christ walking with you into the church and saying, “This is the place I have prepared for you to grow.” None of us is where we are by accident. When we know, as Adam did, that God has placed us where we are, we will find strength in the most difficult times.

THERE’S WORK TO BE DONE

Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. (2:19)

A GARDEN IN THE EAST

In Genesis 1, God gave names to the day and night. Now Adam was invited to participate in God’s work of naming things. Science is all about giving things names. The scientist observes, reflects on what he sees, and then describes it. That was the first work that God gave Adam to do.

Right from the beginning Adam was occupied with work. “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” (Genesis 2:15).

Work is a good gift from God. It existed before sin entered the world, and it will continue after sin has been cleared out. The entrance of sin into the world has affected our work and introduced frustration into it, but the first thing to say about work is that it is a good gift from God.

Notice that God brought the animals to Adam. God took a personal interest in Adam’s daily work. That’s worth thinking about at your desk, on the shop floor, in the school, or by the kitchen sink. God cares about your daily work and wants to be a part of it.

A MARRIAGE MADE IN HEAVEN

The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” … The LORD God made a woman from the rib He had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. (2:18, 22; emphasis added)

Once again the Lord appeared to Adam, and He said, “Adam, I have someone I want you to meet.” I have no doubt that Adam’s jaw dropped wide open. He certainly seemed pretty pleased! He said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh” (2:23).

Notice, the LORD Himself brought the two together. The first wedding service was conducted by almighty God. Try to picture it in your mind: The Lord God takes her hand and puts it into his hand, and says, “Here is the partner I have made for you!”

We will see in the next chapter that this marriage had more than its fair share of troubles. When Eve was tempted, Adam became a passive observer who did nothing to help his wife when she needed him to stand with her. Then we find both of them trying to avoid their responsibilities and pass on the blame for their troubles. But whatever their problems in the future, neither of them could ever have doubted that the reason they were together was that they had been joined by God.

There will be times in every marriage when a husband and wife need to come back to this. Marriage is the joining of one man and one woman by God. As the Scripture says, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh” (2:24).

Marriage is a wonderful gift from God. When two people marry, God does in an invisible way what He did for Adam and Eve in a visible way. If you are married, try to picture God taking your hand and the hand of your spouse, and joining them together. As He does that, God says, “Be partners together, love each other, and forgive each other. Go through life together.” If you are married, this is what God has done, and when you know God has joined you and your spouse together, it will help you to weather the most difficult times.

If you are looking for a marriage partner, remember that God brought the woman to Adam. The pressure of trying to find the right person can be intense. God brought Eve to Adam. You can trust God to bring the right person to you, or bring you to the right person. I am not suggesting that you should be passive, but I am suggesting that there is no need to panic. You can trust the Lord God with every area of your life.

Can you see the overwhelming goodness of God, who lavishes good gifts on the man and the woman? The Creator gives the first man a place, a purpose, and a partner, and together they share the joy of His visible presence. It was literally heaven on earth.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

In the next chapter we will see that sin brings strain into the marriage, frustration into the workplace, and leads to the first couple being evicted from their home and losing the joy of the presence of God. But even then, God will not remain at a distance from man.

Christ came into the world. The Son of God who walked with Adam in the garden took the form of a man and was born in human likeness. And when He came, the presence of God was made visible among us. He came to heal and restore what was spoiled and broken by sin. He said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).

UNLOCKED

God wants you to know that He is the Creator and therefore has the right of ownership over all things, including you. God also wants you to know that He has made you in His image and that for this reason you have unique dignity and worth.

At the very beginning of human history, God made it possible for our first parents to know Him and enjoy Him. He will do whatever it takes to make this possible. God appeared to them and walked with them.

God poured out His blessing into their lives. He brought the man and his wife together. He led them to their home and gave them their work. He provided all that they needed and shared in their life. What God did for them, He continues to do for all His people. The only difference is that we don’t see Him do it. We walk by faith and not by sight.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Thank You for the gift of prayer in which I may know Your presence as truly as Adam did in the garden. Thank You that through Your Word You speak to me as clearly as You spoke with Eve.

Thank You for the blessings You have poured into my life. I recognize Your hand in my home, my work, and my relationships. I also see how sin can spoil each of these good gifts, and steal the joy of what you have given. Pour out your blessing in a fresh way on my home, in my work, in my relationships, and in my personal walk with You. Help me to bring all these things under Your Lordship and Your control. Amen.

2

Curse

GENESIS 3:1–24

If God made

everything good,

why is the world

as it is today?

DISCOVER

the two greatest problems that confront every person born into this world.

LEARN

your enemy’s top strategies and how you can defend against them.

WORSHIP

as you see how Jesus Christ stands up to your enemy and opens the way back into the presence of God.

IMAGINE life in Eden, the place God gave the first man and woman. Adam’s work is fulfilling and fascinating. He enjoys the companionship of his wife and the company of God. When he is hungry, he reaches up and picks his food from the trees. His whole life is one of blessing and joy. That’s the picture at the end of Genesis 2.

By the end of Genesis 3, everything has changed, and Adam finds himself struggling to make a life in a very different world. The man and the woman are now outside the place where God blessed them. They are excluded from this paradise called Eden, with no way back. They are away from the Tree of Life and find themselves in a wilderness where all kinds of wild animals threaten, and where they must work to get their food. They experience pain and fear and guilt, and when the evening comes, they no longer see God. Something has gone terribly wrong. Genesis 3 tells us the story.

When we feel ill and visit the doctor, we are usually looking for two things. The first is an accurate diagnosis, and the second is an appropriate prescription. Any doctor who gives prescriptions without diagnosis is to be avoided. This principle holds good in every area of life. If we don’t understand the source of sickness, then we will not be able to recognize the cure. Diagnosis is where we must begin.

RECRUITING FOR THE REBELLION

The first carrier of the sickness that infected Adam and Eve is known by various names, most commonly as Satan, the devil, or the father of lies. He is the enemy of God and of mankind.

Satan wants to communicate with the woman, and so he must find some visible form in which to come. Remember that spirits are invisible to us. Satan had no entrance to the man or the woman at this point, so he approaches them through a part of the animal creation. He comes as an alluring serpent.

The Bible never gives us a full explanation of the origin of evil. It does not tell us how a being in the presence of God could find rebellion against God attractive. But it does indicate that the devil was at first an angel of light.

Angels are spirits who are in the presence of God in heaven. When “God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1), angels were part of that invisible creation in heaven.

As one of those angels, the devil became inflated with pride in his own position and tried to usurp the position of God (see Isaiah 14:12–14). Why he should have done this is not revealed to us.

Satan’s rebellion was unsuccessful and led to his being excluded from the presence of God and cast down to the earth. So right from the beginning of human history, there was an enemy bent on destroying the work of God.

This enemy came to the woman in an attempt to recruit the human race into his rebellion. His first aim was to introduce the man and the woman to the experience of evil.

READING YOUR OPPONENT’S PLAYS

A good basketball team will spend hours working on their plays. They will also study the opposition’s plays so that they can work out an effective defense against them. Satan used all his best plays in his first game in the garden. Once we learn these plays we will be able to detect them and defend against them.

The First Play: Confusion

“Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (v. 1)

Satan’s first play is to pose a question. God had given one simple instruction to the man and the woman, and Satan’s first action is to question it. If Satan could undermine the clarity of the Word of God and generate enough confusion about it, then it would be much easier for the man and the woman to disregard the Lord’s command.

It is very interesting that when Satan launched his assault against Christ in the wilderness, this was again the enemy’s first play. “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread” (Matthew 4:3; italics added). The enemy was attempting to bring confusion into the mind of Christ! He wanted to create uncertainty about Christ’s identity, and of course he failed completely.

Whenever Satan tempts you to sin, his first strategy will be to create confusion. He will try to lower your defenses by suggesting to your mind that maybe what you want to do is not really forbidden by God, or at least that the Bible is not clear about the matter.

The Second Play: Presumption

“You will not surely die.” (v. 4)

God had made it clear that sin would result in death (2:17), but Satan suggests to the woman that the consequences of sin have been greatly exaggerated. In effect, the tempter says, “Eve, come on. You can’t seriously believe that just a simple act of disobedience is going to lead to something as drastic as death!”

It’s not hard to see where this strategy is heading. He wants the woman to presume on the grace of God. “After all, God loves you,” he is saying, “so how could He allow anything bad to happen to you?”

Notice that Satan also used this second play against our Lord Jesus Christ. In the second temptation, Satan took Christ to the highest point of the temple, and he said: “If you are the Son of God…throw yourself down” (Matthew 4:6). He tried to suggest to Christ that if He were indeed the Son of God, He could act in any way He chose, including throwing Himself off tall buildings, and nothing bad would happen to Him.

“If You are God’s Son,” Satan was suggesting, “You are in a position where You can do anything You like! So here is a suggestion. Why don’t You do something other people wouldn’t dream of doing. Throw Yourself from the pinnacle of the temple. You know You don’t need to worry about doing it, because You are the Son of God.”

This is the temptation of presumption, and it is the enemy’s second great strategy. When Satan tempts you to sin, he will lower your defenses with this suggestion. “The consequences won’t be that bad. You can do this, and nothing bad will happen to you.”

The Third Play: Ambition

“God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (v. 5)

The man and the woman had been made in the image of God, but Satan suggests that they could now go one better. After all, why would they want to have God telling them what to do? Would it not be better if they could decide what is good and what is evil for themselves?

Satan knows how much we like that suggestion. Man is made in the image of God, but he is not content with that. Time after time, man wants to be God. Satan’s third strategy is to appeal to man’s ambition.

As you might have predicted, Satan also tried this third play against the Lord Jesus Christ. He showed Christ the kingdoms of the earth and said, “All this I will give you…if you will bow down and worship me” (Matthew 4:9). Satan was saying, “Think of what you can become, and don’t let obedience to God get in the way.”

This is one of the enemy’s most subtle strategies. His primary and futile objective is to overthrow the authority of God. He loves to suggest that we should take the place of God, not because he thinks well of us but because of his deep hatred for God. He appeals to our pride when he suggests that we do not need God to tell us what is good and what is evil. His message is still the same. “You decide what is right for you!”

The fact that Satan used the same strategies in the Garden of Eden and in his assault on Christ should give us fair warning that these are the plays that he will most likely try to use against us.

The apostle Paul declared that “we are not unaware of his schemes” (2 Corinthians 2:11). Since we already know his primary offensive tactics, it will not be difficult to organize our defense. We must take the Word of God seriously. We must listen to what He says, refusing to twist the meaning of His Word to make it more convenient. We must recognize that sin always brings its consequences and that when God speaks about judgment, He is not making idle threats. We must let God be God. What God has declared good is good, and what God has declared evil is evil.

THE KNOWLEDGE OF EVIL

Earlier (Genesis 2:16–17) God had given Adam a law for life in Eden: “The LORD God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.’” God’s first law was, like all His commandments, a wonderful expression of His love. God had made everything good, and so “good” was the only thing that Adam knew. But it was not the only thing in the universe. Evil was already at work. It had already found expression in Satan’s rebellion.

When God told Adam that he must not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, it was as if He had said, “Adam, you need to understand that there is a terrible reality in the universe, and I want to protect you from it. It’s called evil. You do not know anything about it, but it already exists. I do not want you ever to experience it. So whatever you do, don’t eat from this tree!”

But later Adam and Eve felt that they would like to have this knowledge of evil. Perhaps they felt they were lacking something. Perhaps curiosity drew them to this forbidden knowledge. Satan worked with the grain of curiosity, and it was not long before both Adam and Eve were convinced that this was what they wanted. The knowledge of evil!

So the first couple did what God told them not to do. They got the knowledge of evil. And we have all lived with it ever since.

Of course there was a terrible hook behind this bait. Adam found that once he had this knowledge of evil he could not get rid of it. The knowledge of evil changed him. Evil gained a grip in his life—in Eve’s too—and it would be the same with all their children. Today it has a grip on us as well. You’ve been in its grip, and I have too. It’s our primary problem.

EXCLUDED FROM PARADISE

The LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. (v. 23)

So God drove the first couple out and placed cherubim—angels who represent His judgment and His holiness—at the entrance to the garden, along with a flaming sword flashing back and forth. Together they bar the way to the Tree of Life.

So man is now outside the place of God’s blessing. He no longer enjoys fellowship with God, and his life becomes a terrible struggle in a hostile place, where he is exposed to all kinds of danger from the wild animals, and there are thorns and thistles that had never been seen before (see v. 18).

The perfect marriage, which was a gift of God, became strained. Adam blamed Eve for the problems they were facing, and Eve must have noted that Adam had done nothing to help her during her struggle with the enemy.

Over time, the two of them would begin to notice lines and wrinkles on their skin. They would experience pain, and they would realize that this “death” that God had spoken about was a terrible reality that they could not avoid.

When the evening came, they must have wondered if God would come to them, but He never does. They are alienated from God and alone in the world. Paradise is lost and there is no way back.

NO WAY BACK

After God drove the man and woman out, He placed the cherubim and a flaming sword to guard the way to the Tree of Life (v. 24). We are told that the flaming sword was flashing back and forth, so getting around it would have been impossible. (The flaming sword speaks of the judgment of God.)

This sight must have been terrifying for Adam. He was excluded from the place where he once knew fellowship with God, and there was no way back.

So here is the Bible’s diagnosis: We are spiritually sick. We have a knowledge of evil, and we were excluded from the presence of God. We can’t get free from this knowledge of evil, and we can’t get back into God’s paradise.

The man and the woman were no longer in paradise, a place where there was only good. Having chosen the knowledge of evil, they were now outside in a hostile environment where they had to work for a living and where they experienced pain, frustration, fear, and finally death. Since then, there has been no joy that is not in some way touched with the shadow of pain.

HOPE THAT BEGAN wITH A CURSE

That is the diagnosis, so what is the prescription? Hope began on the very day that man sinned and was expelled from the garden—and it began with a curse!

God said to the serpent,… “Cursed are you” (v. 14)

A curse is an “utterance of deity…consigning a person or thing to destruction,” according to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, sixth edition. So when God curses the serpent, He was announcing that evil would not stand. Satan would not have the last word. Adam and Eve must have been overjoyed at hearing this news.

We can thank God for His curse on evil. Without the curse, we would be stuck with the knowledge of evil forever. But this curse opens the door of hope for us.

If God did not consign evil to destruction, who else could? Throughout human history we have tried and failed. Our newspapers are still reporting another massacre, another atrocity, another dictator. We can’t get free from it. But God says “cursed are you,” and from that moment on, our enemy was consigned to ultimate destruction.

Then God pronounced a second curse. He turned to the man and began to speak. “Cursed…”

Adam must have held his breath. God had cursed the serpent, and now He was looking straight at Adam as He spoke that dreadful word “cursed.” Adam must have thought that He was going to be utterly destroyed, but he was in for a surprise. Instead of saying to Adam, “Cursed are you,” as the LORD did to the serpent, God said, “Cursed is the ground because of you” (v. 17).

A CURSE DEFLECTED

Here we discover one of the most important things that we need to know about God. God announces that He will destroy evil. At the same time, He deflects the curse away from Adam so that it falls on the ground and does not fall on the man directly.

God is just, and the curse must go somewhere, but God finds a way to direct the curse away from the man and the woman. At the right time, God would send His Son, and then direct the curse on our sin towards Him. That is what the Cross is all about. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree’” (Galatians 3:13).

The man and the woman would live with the effects of the curse on the ground. They would experience frustration, toil, pain, drought, disease and death. Now they lived in a world that was under the curse and one day would be destroyed. But the curse did not fall on them directly. When they experienced the pain and disappointment of life in this fallen world, they were reminded of the curse on the ground. But as often as they thought about that, they must have been thankful that the curse was not on them. On the very day that they had sinned, they had discovered the grace and mercy of God.

At the end of Genesis 3, there was a curse on the devil (v. 14) and a curse on the ground (v. 17). God will not allow the devil to remain as he is or this world to remain as it is. Like a computer disk with a virus, God will wipe it clean. He will reformat it and make a new heaven and a new earth that is free from this virus of sin, which has attached itself to God’s creation. God has subjected “the creation… to frustration,” but He has also planned a day when “the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).

THE ONGOING BATTLE

So the LORD God said to the serpent, … “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (v. 14–15)

“Enmity” sums up the relentless battle against evil that has gone on through the generations of human history. Man is always trying to get rid of evil, but is constantly frustrated as he finds it breaking out in another tragedy, another horror, another dictator, another massacre. Man simply cannot get free from this “knowledge of evil.”

But God promises that there will be an offspring of the woman. Someone will come into the human line. This person is not described as an offspring of the man but an offspring of the woman. When He comes, He will engage in a great struggle against the evil one.

THE DECISIVE VICTORY

A deliverer will come. He will inflict a fatal blow to the head of the enemy. He will crush the head of the enemy, and in the process, the enemy will bite the heel that crushed him. That is a wonderful picture. Imagine standing on the head of a venomous snake. In the same moment, he bites you and inflicts a wound, but then that wounded foot bears down on him and brings his destruction.

In the fullness of time, Jesus Christ did come into the world. He did not face the enemy in the tranquil beauty of a perfect garden where all the food is provided, but in a barren wilderness, where after forty days of fasting He was weak, hungry, and exhausted. Satan tried all his strategies in a vain attempt to introduce Jesus to the knowledge of evil. But when all his efforts failed, the devil was left with no option but to withdraw in defeat and hope to fight another day.

Three years later, Christ went to the cross, where He suffered and died. Through His death He inflicted a deadly wound to the enemy and opened the way for men and women to be delivered from the power of the evil one (see Colossians 2:15).

Oh wisest love that flesh and blood

which did in Adam fail,

should fight again against the foe,

should fight and should prevail.

—JOHN HENRY NEWMAN

“PRAISE TO THE HOLIEST IN THE HEIGHT”

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

If man is ever to get back into the garden, he needs not only to get free from the power of evil, but also to get past the flaming sword and the cherubim, who represent the judgment of a holy God.

Try to imagine yourself standing with Adam and Eve and many others outside the paradise of God, looking back at the cherubim and the terrifying sword of judgment. As you look, someone comes out of the presence of God. He comes to where we are and stands with us. Then He advances towards the flaming sword. We cringe as we look. The flaming sword is flashing back and forth, and we can see what will happen to Him when He gets there. But He keeps walking forward, steadily, relentlessly.

The sword strikes Him and kills Him. It breaks His body, but in breaking His body, the sword itself is broken. The sword that killed Him lies shattered on the ground. By His death, the way back to the presence and blessing of God is opened.

When Christ died, the heavy curtain that hung in the Jerusalem temple was torn in two (Matthew 27:51). The curtain symbolized exclusion from the presence of God. Images of cherubim were stitched into the material of the curtain. So when it was torn, the cherubim were separated.

Could God have given any more powerful illustration of what Christ accomplished in His death? The cherubim were separated. The judgment fell on Him and the penalty was paid for all His people. A new and living way into the place of the blessing of God was opened.

UNLOCKED

We can only begin to make sense of our world when we understand that man has chosen the knowledge of evil and is excluded from paradise. We keep hoping that we will be able to shake free from the power of evil, but it is in us and we cannot get free. We also feel that we can make this world into something like paradise, but we can’t.

But God has not abandoned us. He sent His Son into this fallen world and into our ongoing battle with evil. Christ stood His ground against the enemy and triumphed where Adam failed. He faced all the same temptations but with an entirely different outcome.

Then He went to the cross, and through His death broke the power of the enemy. Thus He opened a way past the judgment of God and back into His presence and blessing.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Almighty Father,

I bow before You and recognize that my deepest need is to be delivered from evil and to find a way past Your judgment. I admit that these things are beyond my power.

Thank You that You have not left me in this condition, but You have sent Your Son Jesus Christ. Thank You that evil could not attach itself to Him. Thank You that He has triumphed over my enemy. Thank You that the sword of judgment that would have been held over me was broken on Him and that He has opened the way for me to come back to You through His death on the cross. Confessing my need, and believing in what He has done, I come. Amen.

3

Salvation

GENESIS 6:5–22

What do I need

tobe saved from,

and how can I

be saved?

DISCOVER

what Noah’s ark teaches us about Christ.

LEARN

the basic building blocks of a Christian worldview.

WORSHIP

because God has always had the same plan of salvation: by grace, through faith, and in Christ.

NEARLY everything you need to know for life can be summarized in two areas: You need to know who God is, and you need to know who you are. If you get these two things right, you will have a firm foundation for life. If you get them wrong, you will be in serious trouble.

In the opening chapters of the Bible we discover who God is and who we are. God is the Creator and therefore the owner of things. He made us and has absolute rights over us. He filled the world with good gifts for us to enjoy, and from the beginning, God has been reaching out to men and women so that we may know Him.

God made each person in His image. But early on there was a terrible catastrophe that would change the course of human history and our experience of life in this world. Man was drawn to the knowledge of evil. Adam chose to have that knowledge, and the rest of us have had to live with it ever since. The knowledge of evil is in us. That is why Paul said that when he wanted to do good, evil was at hand.

As a result of this knowledge of evil, man has been excluded from the paradise of God. He cannot approach God without facing judgment. The cherubim and a flaming sword bar the way to the Tree of Life.

TIME FOR A DELIVERER

But God gave hope in two ways. First, He promised a deliverer. Someone would be “born of a woman” who would engage in a mighty warfare with the enemy and crush his head with a fatal blow. Second, God diverted the curse away from man. The curse fell on the ground. Adam’s sin brought terrible consequences. But he was not wiped out. There remained room for him to seek the face of God. There was even the hope that some way may be found to save him from this awful curse altogether.

All this pointed toward the coming of Jesus Christ the deliverer. Born of the virgin Mary (He was without human father), He would not come from us, but He would come to us. In His subsequent death on a cross, Jesus would inflict a mortal wound on the enemy. Satan had no hold over Him. When the sword of God’s judgment struck Him—in our stead—it broke, clearing a new and living way into the presence of God. Jesus has opened that way to all who will come to God through Him.

BUILDING A BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW

As we learn these foundational truths of the Christian faith, we are building a biblical worldview. A worldview is a set of core beliefs that will determine how we think on any given issue. The reason that people choose very different lifestyles is that they operate on different core convictions about who God is and who they are.

Those who hold a biblical worldview believe that God created them, that He has absolute rights over them, and that every good gift in their lives comes from His hand. If you embrace those realities, your deepest joy will be to know Him and your highest calling will be to obey Him. But, if you believe that your life is an accident and the Bible is a product of human thought, experience, and imagination, then you will conclude that every good gift has come by chance. As a result, your deepest joy will be to discover yourself, and your highest calling will be to be true to yourself.

These are two entirely different worldviews, and both of them cannot be right. Either you

- place yourself at the center, believing that you are an accident of history who must write your own rules, being accountable to nobody but yourself, and that your greatest need is to be at peace with yourself; or you

- place God at the center, believing that He is your Creator, that He writes the rules, that you are ultimately accountable to Him, and that your greatest need is to find peace with Him.

These convictions are like a rudder on a boat. They will determine the direction you take in your life. Convictions formed deep in your heart today will determine where you will be tomorrow.

Men and women who do not know what they believe about God and about themselves are like people sitting in a boat with no hand on the rudder! Their boat will go wherever the prevailing winds and currents are going. If your boat is heading for the rocks, the first thing to do is to stretch out your hand and grasp the rudder.

SAME START, DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS

These two worldviews, one centered on God and the other centered on ourselves, have been with us since the earliest times. Right from the very beginning the human family has been divided in its response to God. Adam and Eve had two children, and the world’s first brothers set the rudders of their boats in totally different directions. Abel sought God; Cain struggled against God. This mystery was there from the very beginning.

Cain developed a fierce anger and hatred toward Abel (see Genesis 4:3–5). The world has always hated those who seek to walk in obedience to God. In the end, Cain killed his brother, and God gave Adam and Eve another son whose name was Seth. From that time on, Cain lived a desperately sad life. He was isolated from God and his family.

Cain’s actions brought several consequences but God still showed mercy toward him(see 4:10–16). Cain built a city, and his offspring were credited with making significant contributions to music, art, and culture. God protected Cain despite his hostility. The LORD shows kindness even to His enemies. But the focus of the Bible story is on the line of Seth.

When Seth was born, “men began to call on the name of the LORD” (Genesis 4:26). Perhaps up to that time, Adam and Eve had believed that they would make it in the world, but now, after the death of their son Abel, they saw that they desperately needed the help of God, and so they began to seek Him and call on His name.

And so we come to Genesis 5, which is filled with unpronounceable names. When you come to one of these chapters in the Bible, you might be tempted to skim over fast because you don’t know who these people are and can’t imagine why they matter!

THE RELATIONSHIP THAT MATTERS MOST

But those names are important. The reason? They’re the beginning of the line of descent into which the LORD Jesus Christ would be born. In Luke 3, we are given the genealogy from Christ back to Adam, and the names listed in verses 36–38 are exactly the same as those listed in Genesis 5. The story we are following is the story of the line into which Jesus Christ would be born.

We know almost nothing about the characters mentioned in Genesis 5. The one thing that makes their lives significant today is that they were all related to Jesus Christ. That is why their names are recorded.

Similarly, the one thing that will give you significance for all eternity is your relationship with the LORD Jesus Christ. If this world goes on for another thousand years, all of us will be completely forgotten. Nobody will have heard of you or know anything about what you did. But those who have a relationship with Christ are brought into God’s purpose for time and eternity.

AMAZING GRACE

God continued to reach out to man even after Adam and Eve were excluded from the garden. God did not abandon people or lose interest in them. All the way through the Bible we find God reaching out to save people by grace, through faith, and in Christ. The pattern is established right at the beginning in the story of Noah:

Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. (6:8)

He found favor, or grace, with God. That is the first occurrence in the Bible of the word that means grace. God looked with kindness and compassion on Noah, and God’s grace was expressed in two ways. First, God told Noah that judgment is coming.

God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them.” (v. 13)

How did God say this to Noah? It is quite possible that Noah actually heard an audible voice. We have seen that when God appeared to Adam, He spoke and walked with him. God also spoke in an audible voice when Christ was baptized and at the transfiguration. In the Old Testament, God spoke to the prophets in dreams and visions. The book of Hebrews tells us that “God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways” (1:1). By whatever means, God spoke to Noah and made it clear to him that judgment was coming.

Noah did not keep the message to himself. We are told in 2 Peter 2:5 that Noah was “a preacher of righteousness.” He was the first preacher in the Bible. God spoke to him and God spoke through him so that a whole community would hear the Word of God.

The Bible records a number of occasions when God brought judgment on particular communities. They include the flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. These examples of God’s judgment in history point forward to the final calamity when God will judge the whole world in righteousness. The first way in which God shows us His grace is that He warns us of the judgment that is coming.

Second, God showed His grace by telling Noah clearly and specifically what he should do in order to be kept safe through it:

“Make yourself an ark of cypress wood.” (6:14)

Knowing about a coming judgment would not be of much help to us unless there were some way in which we could be saved from it. The message of judgment is not the angry outburst of a fierce God; it is the gracious call of a loving God who says, “I must destroy evil, and I will destroy it. But I do not want to destroy you, so here is the way you can escape.”

DELIVERANCE THROUGH FAITH

By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith (Hebrews 11:7; emphasis added)

When the Bible says that Noah was “a righteous man” (6:9), it does not mean that he was a man of perfect character. He needed the grace of God as much as anybody else. The thing that marked him out as “righteous” was that he believed the Word of God and acted on it. God spoke to him and he believed God, and so he became heir of the righteousness that is by faith.

It could not have been easy for Noah to believe God in his day. God told him to prepare for something that had never happened before. There had never been a flood that had destroyed all forms of life. Why should anyone think that such a thing would happen in his or her lifetime?

God tells us that we must prepare for something that has never happened before. Jesus Christ will come to judge the living and the dead. The world still receives this message with ridicule (see 2 Peter 3:3). That is how it was in the time of Noah. People did not take the warnings of God’s judgment seriously then, and many do not take these warnings seriously today.

I have no doubt that if they had aerosol paint cans in the time of Noah, there would be kids who would go to work with graphic slogans like “Noah is nuts.” If there had been journalists in that day, they would have written articles with headlines like “The Ship That Will Never Go to Sea.” The article would have begun this way:

“Fundamentalist preacher Noah, son of Lamech, has aroused curiosity with a new method of promoting his religious beliefs. Claiming that God has spoken to him, he is constructing a seagoing vessel hundreds of miles from the nearest coastline.

“The work has attracted large groups of sightseers. Those who gather at the construction site are treated to a vintage sermon on the need for repentance and the coming judgment.

“When asked about the response to his preaching, Noah was unable to identify a single person outside his own family who believed his warning.”

No doubt at times Noah must have wondered himself. Faith has its questions. If there were no questions, we would not need faith. There are times in the Christian life, when you ask yourself, “Why am I doing this?”

Doubt usually comes to a head when things go wrong, or when God’s promise seems delayed. Every time it rained, Noah must have thought that the moment had come. But, as folks would no doubt point out to Noah, it never came to anything. Sometimes he must have wondered if it ever would. Still he believed the Word of God, and because he believed, he obeyed.

FAITH IN ACTION

True faith always shows itself in action. The evidence of Noah’s faith was that he built the ark. He believed what God told him and he acted on it. Remember, “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:26 NKJV). Luther described faith as a tree, and he pointed out that faith is not a dead tree, but a living tree bursting with fruit.

Our LORD Jesus Christ commented on this story:

“As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” (MATTHEW 24:37–39)

There is nothing wrong with eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage. Noah was married and so were his three sons. They all ate every day. But Noah’s great priority was to be ready for the day God had told him about, and the only way to be ready was to believe what God had said and to do what He had commanded.

Scripture tells us that one day God will send a disaster greater than the flood (see 2 Peter 3:10). On that day, Jesus warned, many people will be in the same position as those who heard Noah and did not believe (see Matthew 24:35–39).

WAITING WITH FAITH

God told Noah to get into the ark a full seven days before the rain began (7:4–7). Loading the ark when there was not a drop of rain falling from the sky was an act of faith. There was no obvious reason for getting in there except for the Word of God. Noah must have felt rather foolish.

Then the rain came. It was not just rain coming down, but also springs of water coming up from the earth (7:11). The ship built in the desert rose, and Noah and his family were lifted up and taken into a new world.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

The flood is past history. It is a judgment that will never be repeated (see 9:8–16). But God warns us about another more terrible judgment to come. Just as God provided the ark for Noah, God has provided a way for us to be saved from the final judgment through Jesus Christ.

CHRIST, THE ARK

All who were inside the ark were safe. All who were outside the ark were destroyed. God has provided an ark for us. Christ is the ark!

God spoke to the people through Noah’s preaching, telling them that there was an ark in which they could be saved, if they would come into it. The same God is speaking through His Word today. He points us to Christ and tells us that we can be saved if we come to Him.

The apostle Paul describes Christians as being “in Christ.” Just as Noah was in the ark, so you can be in Christ. When the day of judgment comes, those who are “in Christ” will be lifted by Christ and taken into a new world.

This ark is open to all who will come. Jesus said, “Whoever comes to me I will never drive away” (John 6:37). The people of Noah’s time had an open door of opportunity. God sent a preacher to warn the people. An ark was built in their own community. Some people would have walked past it every day.

GET OUT OF THE RAIN!

One day, some years ago, I was sitting in my study in London writing a sermon for the coming Sunday. The rain was pouring down outside—a real London soaker!

An elderly couple were walking up the street. The rain had obviously caught them by surprise because neither of them had a raincoat or an umbrella. They stood under a tree that was at the edge of our property. It was winter, and the tree was absolutely bare, so it gave them no shelter whatsoever.

I grabbed a coat and went out to them. “You’ll get soaked out here,” I said. “Why don’t you come into the house?” They looked at me, and in true polite English style said, “No, thank you very much; we are quite all right out here.”

“But you are getting soaked!” I said. “You can come in and be dry.”

To this day I do not know what they were afraid of, but nothing I said could persuade them, and in the meantime I was getting soaked myself. So I left the door to the house open and told them that if they wanted to come in, they were more than welcome. They never moved an inch.

That sudden rainstorm is a good picture of the judgment of God. If we stand alone, the rains will fall on us directly, and we will be overwhelmed by them. But if we are in the house, the downpour will fall on the roof, and because we are inside, it will not touch us.

Jesus Christ is the refuge God has provided for us—the ark that shelters against the storm of God’s judgement. When He died on the cross, the judgment of God for our sins fell on Him. And God invites us to come to Him as our shelter. One day the judgment of God will fall, but when it does, it will not fall on us because it has already fallen on Him. “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1, italics added).

Are you “in Christ”? Have you come to Him and put your trust in Him as Savior and LORD? Why would you stand outside, when the door is open for you to come in? If you will come into Christ, then you will be safe from the judgment of God.

UNLOCKED

Grace, faith, and salvation “in Christ” are not new ideas that emerge in the New Testament. The Bible is one story. God is gracious. He always has been and always will be. He speaks and invites us to believe His Word.

The ark helps us to understand what it means to be “in Christ.” Just as Noah and his family were brought safely through the judgment of God because they were in the ark, so we will be brought safely through the final judgment if we are “in Christ.”

If you have chosen to believe that God is a product of human imagination and experience, then you will feel that all the talk of judgment is outdated and inappropriate. You will feel that the whole point of life is to find personal fulfillment. But if you believe that at the end of your life you will stand before almighty God and give an account to Him, then you will know that the highest priority in this life is to be ready for that day.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Here’s a model prayer for those who want to enter the spiritual ark God provides. This prayer is an opportunity to come to Jesus Christ, the Son of God and your Deliverer from God’s judgment. (If you pray this prayer, I invite you to write the publisher at the address on the last page of the book for information on beginning the Christian life.)

Almighty God,

I believe You are the Creator and that You have absolute rights over my life. I recognize that I have a knowledge of evil and that I am excluded from paradise. I believe Your Word about judgment to come and recognize that apart from You I have no other hope.

Thank You that in Your grace You sent the LORD Jesus Christ. I believe that if I am in Him I will be saved from the judgment to come. I believe in Him today. I put my whole trust in Him. I come and call upon Him to be my Savior. By Your Spirit, place me in Him, and make me secure, through Jesus Christ.

Thank You, God, for Your grace in delivering me from sin’s judgment and giving me this gift of eternal life. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

4

Judgment

GENESIS 11:1–12:3

Why did God

cause the peoples

of the world to

speak in different

languages?

DISCOVER

how prayer began.

LEARN

how God deals with nations.

WORSHIP

as you see how God’s judgment at Babel was reversed at Pentecost.

JUST one more push and he was out. And a moment later, the noise began as the world’s first baby announced his arrival on the scene. His mother had no midwife. She had only her husband to help her, and he didn’t have the faintest idea of what to do.

Come to think of it, neither did she; but somehow in the mercy of God, they both got through, and now she could hold their little son, Cain, in her arms and say what Adam had said about her, “Here is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” I wonder what they said to each other. What would it have been like for the first couple to have the first baby?

Eve must have seen the blessing of God in the birth of her child. After all, God had said that it would be through the offspring of the woman that the head of the serpent would be crushed. Perhaps as she looked into her son’s eyes, she pondered how he might reverse the tide of evil and restore them to paradise.

If those were her thoughts, she must have been very disappointed, because the baby into whose seemingly innocent eyes she stared turned out to be the world’s first murderer. Far from being the one who would deliver the family from evil, Cain was the one who introduced new depths of evil to the world and new depths of pain to his parents’ hearts.

The early chapters of Genesis chart the growing power of sin in the world. This “knowledge of evil” that seemed so attractive at the beginning turned out to be a destroying power and a bitter enemy.

THE GROWING POWER OF SIN

In Genesis 3, we read about one act of disobedience to God. It seems a very simple thing, but the point is that sin did not end there. It is almost impossible to commit a single sin, because sin is a power, and once that power is given room, it grows as it attaches itself to you. In Genesis 4, a baby boy arrived, and the sin that was a free choice for his parents was in him when he was born. It was there from the very beginning. Adam became alienated from God, but Cain began his life in that position.

Genesis 4 describes how Cain became an angry young man. An impulse to fight against God was already inside him, and when he saw his brother enjoying the blessing of God, that made his anger even worse. Cain told his brother, “Let’s go out to the field.” The two of them went out, and while they were there alone, “Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him” (4:8).

Evil had reached a new depth. Violence had erupted for the first time. But it didn’t end there. Sin would continue to mar the human race.

Adam had a third son, Seth, who replaced Abel in his father’s mind: “‘God has granted me another child in place of Abel.’… At that time men began to call on the name of the LORD” (4:25–26). It is not surprising that people began to seek God at that time. The effects of sin went much further than making life difficult at work for Adam and making the bearing of children a painful experience for Eve. Sin was now at work even in their own children. Perhaps they had thought at the beginning that if they had just been able to guide their children by teaching them the difference between good and evil, then everything would turn out fine. But now they knew that they were up against the power of sin. And they begin to call out to God, “We thought we could do this on our own, but now we see that unless You help us, this knowledge of evil will destroy us.”

PARENTS IN PAIN

It’s very easy for us to think that if we provide a loving environment for our kids, give them the best education that we can, feed them and dress them well, and put them into the best youth program we can find, the result will be godly kids. And then we discover that it’s not always like that. We discover this mystery of the power of sin that operates inside human nature. And when we see it, we don’t really know what to make of it. The problem is many of us never come to terms with the reality of the power of sin.

When Adam and Eve finally grasped that evil really was a growing power, they began to call on the name of the LORD. They prayed when they were faced with pain. They cried out, “Oh, God, this power of evil is destroying our family. We need Your grace.” That’s where prayer was discovered. Maybe you will discover the reality of prayer in your pain also.

Genesis 5 describes a continuing line of people through many generations who knew that their only hope was in God, and gave themselves to prayer. It couldn’t have been easy for them, because with every generation, new kinds of evil were beginning to appear. We saw in the last chapter that man’s wickedness on earth became great, and that “every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time” (6:5). The world “was filled with violence” (6:11 NKJV). In a short time the human race had come a long way, from one act of disobedience in the garden to a tide of violence that was sweeping across the earth.

GOD APPLIES THE BRAKES

When God sent the flood, He cut the entire human population back to just one family of eight people. God chose the family of Noah. They were the best family around. With His judgment by water, God applied the brakes to runaway sin.

Noah had a wonderful opportunity. He emerged from the ark like a new Adam. It was a new beginning in a new environment, with no old scores to settle, no enemies, just one family of eight people. But Noah carried the seeds of sin into the new world with him, and it is not long before we find Noah getting drunk (9:20–23) and the seeds of cynicism growing in one of his children. Sin is a power; wherever it is given room, it will grow in strength, and it will take you where you do not want to go.

This is one of the important truths that God teaches us in the Bible. You need to remember that when you read about the wicked acts of Lot’s daughters, or the deceit of Abraham’s lies, or the lust of Judah with a supposed prostitute (who was really his daughter-in-law; see 38:13–19). The Bible contains some terrible stories. It is a holy book, but it tells us that we live in an unholy world, in which men and women have made wretched choices that have long-term consequences over generations. Far from telling us that man gets better and better, which is what our society likes to believe, the Bible tells us that as man moves away from God, he becomes worse and worse.

BATTLING THE BINDWEED

I grew up in Scotland, but my wife, Karen, and I lived in London for sixteen years. When we came as a newly married couple to our home in north London, the garden was overgrown. The church, having called a new pastor, decided that they should clean the place up. So they sent teens from the high school group to help us. There must have been thirty of us working together. At the end of the day, the place looked magnificent. Pruned roses, a freshly cut lawn, and not a weed in sight. But underneath the line of sight, hidden in the ground, a root system of the bindweed remained.

Bindweed is a fast-growing, climbing weed. Homeowners hardly see it at first. It rises like a little shoot out of the ground, and then twists itself around the stems of the roses.

Once established, bind weed is an absolute nightmare to remove. If you pull it from the top, it will just snap. If you pull it from the bottom, the same thing happens. The weed will reroot every time it touches the ground. Even an inch of it will sprout, and once it attaches itself to the clay soil and gets into the root systems of plants, it’s almost impossible to remove. Karen and I battled that stuff for sixteen years, just growing, cutting back, growing, cutting back.

As I look back on it, I think the only thing that I could have done was to uproot all the plants—flowers, bushes, everything—and throw them out. We should have taken out the soil as well, and brought in some new earth. Since we left, I have discovered that my successor has poured concrete over the lot. He’s a wise man. I should have thought of that years ago.

Sin is like this. When you choose to violate one of God’s commands, you plant a living seed, and it will grow. The devil says, “This one experience of evil will be good for you,” but the reality is that it will bind you. The devil tells you, “This experience of evil will broaden your horizons.” The reality is that sin will set up terrible battles within your soul. And the deeper you get into the entanglement of sin, the harder the battle you will face in getting free from it.

The devil comes and he says, “Just tell a little lie. Just nurse that grudge for a little while. Just push the sexual boundaries a little way. Just use a little foul language like everyone else does.” The reality is that the lie will soon have you caught in a web of deceit; you will tell other lies to cover the first. The grudge will soon encase your heart with a shell of bitterness. The pushing of the sexual boundaries will soon pull you into the power of lust. And that use of foul language will soon drag you into the power of blasphemy.

Jesus said, “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin” (John 8:34). When you make a deliberate choice to do the thing that God has told you not to do, you establish slavery inside your own soul. My heart sometimes breaks when I see young folks honestly believing that they’re going to make their future better by experimenting with all kinds of things that God has told them not to touch. You are setting up battles that you will live with for years.

PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE

Author and pastor Chuck Swindoll has a helpful analogy when he talks about a father trying to teach his teenager to drive. There are two possible approaches: the corrective and the preventive. Corrective is you take your keys and you say to your son or your daughter, “Take out the car, and see how you get on. And when you’ve crashed it, we will sit down and talk. That will be a wonderful opportunity for you to learn from your own personal experience.” How many fathers have tried this approach? Not one, because they know that the issues are much too serious. You don’t wait until disaster happens and then teach some kind of remedial lesson.

Swindoll, of course, recommends that fathers use the preventive approach. They should sit in the car and tell their daughter, “I want you to learn to drive in such a way that you will never have an accident. I don’t want to see that pretty face of yours scarred. I don’t want to see you injured, and I don’t want you injuring anyone else either. I love you so I want to teach you to drive in the way that will be as safe as possible for you, and for everyone else. If you drive by these rules and regulations …you could very likely go a long period of time without a single scrape.”[1]

The first thing that the Bible says to us about sin is “Don’t go there.” There are some battles that you should never get into, and you can stay clear of them by making wise choices. Flee from evil. Get as far from it as you possibly can, because it is a growing power. Don’t set yourself up for wounds and scars and battles that may be with you for years. Don’t plant those seeds that years later you wish you had never allowed to get there. Do not give the devil a foothold.

Maybe you’re thinking, I wish I had thought about that years ago, because I’ve done some things that have formed habits in my life and now they’re battles within my soul That’s a great response. You are being honest about the weed you’ve allowed to grow. Now is the time to deal with them. Don’t let it go one more day.

God will not allow the bindweed to take over His garden, so He cuts it back. That’s a good definition of judgment in this world. It is God cutting sin back. And it’s a marvelous thing, because if God did not cut sin back, it would destroy everything good that God has made. You see this throughout the book of Genesis. Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, so God checked the progress of their sin by excluding them from the garden. Cain became the first murderer, so God separated him from the family. In the time of Noah, evil multiplied, so God cut it back through the flood. But sin keeps growing, and it was not long before a community of people at Babel found a new way to express their defiance towards God.

THE “NEW” TECHNOLOGY

Men were migrating eastward, and as they did, an idea was born for a magnificent project. They had developed new technology—bricks! They were a marvelous new discovery and opened up a wonderful new world of possibilities. “Now we will be able to build higher than we ever thought possible before. So let’s see how far we can go. Let’s build a tower right up into the heavens.”

The problem with this building was not its height, but its purpose:

“Let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” (11:4)

The purpose of this city was to proclaim man’s greatness. Man wanted to make a name for himself and to provide for his own security. Once again, man was grasping at the throne of God. “Hey, we can make a name for ourselves. We can be up there.” Instead of worshiping God and believing in Him, man wants to worship and believe in himself. This is not glory to God in the highest. This is glory to man in the highest.

So God came down and took a look at what they were doing (v. 5). Just as He came down in the Garden of Eden, God was watching the building of man’s city. God allowed it to proceed to a certain point, and then He cut it back.

The LORD said,

“If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” (v. 6)

CONFUSION ON THE TWENTY-SECOND FLOOR

It’s not difficult to imagine what this must have been like. For the last two years, you have been working with the same colleague on the twenty-second floor of the Tower of Babel. At the end of the day, you say good-bye, pack up your tools, and go home to your family. Next morning you ask him if he saw the game on the television last night (or something like that), and he responds to you with these incomprehensible sounds. You ask him if he needs an aspirin, and you get more meaningless sounds. What is wrong with this guy?

You soon discover that the rest of the crew working on the twenty-second floor is also uttering these incomprehensible sounds, and you wonder if this is some kind of joke.

Eventually, to your great relief, you find someone else on the building site who speaks just like you. So you say to him, “The rest of these folks around here are mad. I can’t understand a word they’re saying.” Soon the two of you find some other folks who speak like you. One says, “You know, this town’s turning into some kind of madhouse.”

“Yeah, I agree.”

“Me too. It’s hard to get anything done with these guys. They used to talk sense, but now…”

So all of you agree to pack your tools and move off to create a new community somewhere else, a place where everyone speaks the same language.

The LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth. (v. 9)

As God looked down, Babel was being abandoned by little groups of families going in every direction over the face of the earth. They were all suspicious of one another. They all felt that the others had tried to make fools of them. The seeds of the future conflict were already sown.

Interesting. The very thing they tried to avoid—disunity—is the thing that God caused to happen.

Notice the pattern. God allows man’s pursuit of his own greatness to get to a certain point and then He acts. He did it with Sodom and Gomorrah. He did it with Babylon. He did it with Greece. He did it with Rome, and He has done it with every empire in human history.

That’s just one reason for us to cry to God for mercy on our nation. We need it. And it’s not just true of nations. It’s true individually. It is possible to live a double life. Do you have a secret sin that you have cherished, and that no one else knows about? God will allow you to get to a certain point and then He will cut you back. He must do that, because those He loves, He disciplines (see Hebrews 12:6), and the only alternative is to give you up to the weed of sin until it chokes you.

ROOM FOR GOD’S GRACE

God’s judgment is never His final word. When God cuts sin back, it is always to create room for His grace. Adam and Eve were excluded from the garden, but there was the promise of a deliverer. Cain murdered his brother, but then Seth was born and there was a new line of hope. The flood destroyed all life, but Noah was saved in the ark. So when God brought His judgment at the Tower of Babel, we are left wondering how grace will take the initiative.

At the end of the story of the Tower of Babel, we read a genealogy beginning with Shem and ending with Terah (11:10–26). This doesn’t sound very promising, but one of Terah’s three sons was named Abram; he was later renamed Abraham. The New Testament describes him as a man who was looking for a city whose builder and maker is God (Hebrews 11:10). Abraham had a burning passion to be part of a community that would be the opposite of Babel, where people honor God and trust Him for their security.

God appeared to Abraham (see Acts 7:2), just as He had appeared to Adam in the garden. Up to that time Abraham had known nothing about God. His family had worshiped idols (see Joshua 24:2). But when God appeared to Abraham, He promised to bless him and his descendants, and He pledged that through the line of Abraham every nation on the face of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:1–3).

God scattered the nations across the face of the earth. But the judgment was not God’s last word to the nations. Instead, God promised that His blessing would come through the line of Abraham.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

The rest of the Old Testament follows this family history. It started with Adam and Seth, then Noah and Shem, then Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, leading to Judah and David.

Then, in the New Testament, we learn of the birth of a baby in this line. His mother Mary holds Him in her arms and gives Him the name Jesus. For unlike that first baby who brought new depths of evil, this one would “save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Jesus taught the words of God and did the work of God. And then He was crucified. But on the third day, He rose from the dead. He appeared to many, and forty days later, He ascended back to heaven.

Then on the Day of Pentecost, God reversed Babel. In a unique miracle in the vocal chords of the apostles, God caused them to speak in languages they did not know so visitors from other countries could understand.

Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?… [W]e hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” (ACTS 2:5–8, 11)

Do you see the grace of God here? At Babel, man was lifted up, and God confused their language with the result that they are divided and scattered. At Pentecost, Christ was lifted up, and God spoke to the nations in their individual languages with the result that they were united and gathered.

The Acts of the Apostles goes on to tell us how the gospel spread through the nations. The blessing that God promised to all nations through the line of Abraham had been released to every people through Jesus Christ.

The story runs through the Bible until you get to the very last book, the Revelation to John, where the apostle describes a holy city. At the center of the city, there is not a tower but a throne, and Jesus Christ is sitting there. Around the throne are assembled people from every tribe and nation and language and culture. They are not lifting up their own names; they are lifting up the name of Christ. Together they are worshiping the Lamb of God, and they are shouting: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb” (Revelation 7:10).

UNLOCKED

It was God who divided mankind into different linguistic groups. He did this in order to put a brake on man’s growing rebellion. The brake has been remarkably effective. Throughout human history, leadership has consistently attempted to bring the nations together, but any success has always been limited and short-lived.

But God is bringing people from all nations together through Jesus Christ. In heaven all the barriers that have divided people through history—race, class, language, and gender—will be completely removed. God calls His people to begin expressing that union in the church.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Take a moment to be quiet before God, and then answer these questions: Do you see in yourself the rebellious and self-serving attitude of Babel? Will you embrace God’s alternative to Babel?

Almighty Father,

I recognize that I am often more interested about the honor of my name than I am in the honor of Your name. I confess that too much of my life is concerned with gratifying myself rather than glorifying You.

Thank You that through Jesus Christ You are creating a new community of people who will honor Your name, and that You are drawing Your people to faith in Your Son from every tribe and nation and language. May Your gospel come to people from every nation. Help me to do my part in making Your name known. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

NOTE

1. Adapted from Charles Swindoll, David: A Man of Destiny and Passion (Nashville: Word, 1997), 212.

5

Blood

EXODUS 3, 12

Why is there

such a strong

emphasis on

blood in the

Bible story?

DISCOVER

the unique name by which God has made Himself known.

LEARN

the true significance of the plagues in Egypt.

WORSHIP

as you see how Christ’s blood delivers us from the terrors of God’s judgment.

2100 B.C.

CA. 2092

ABRAHAM’S JOURNEY

INTO CANAAN

CA. 2092

-1875

THE PATRIARCHS

ABRAHAM-JACOB

2000

1900

CA. 1876

JACOB TO EGYPT

1800

FOUR HUNDRED

YEARS OF SLAVERY

IN EGYPT

1700

1600

1500

CA. 1447

THE EXODUS

1400

CA. 1407

-1400

CONQUEST OF

CANAAN

1300

1200

HAVE you ever been promised something and it never came? Abraham waited a long time on two promises. God had promised to bless Abraham with a family and a home (Genesis 12:2; 13:15), and Abraham’s faith was stretched to the limits as he trusted God for both of these promises. Years passed without any sign of Sarah conceiving a child.

God left it until their old age when all human hopes of conceiving a child were completely finished. Then He intervened, and Isaac was born. God had fulfilled the first promise.

Isaac had two sons, Jacob and Esau, and Jacob had twelve sons, who became the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel. The promise about the land for these descendants of Abraham was not straightforward either. Abraham had obeyed the call of God and left his home to go to the place that God would show him, but when he came to Canaan, he found that the land was already occupied. It would be some time before God’s promise to give the land to his descendants would be fulfilled.

Isaac and Jacob raised their respective families in Canaan, but in Jacob’s later years there was a famine, and the whole family moved to Egypt, where they found food. God had brought Jacob’s son Joseph, who had been cruelly treated by his brothers, to a prominent position in Egypt, and in this way, God provided for the whole family.

Jacob’s descendants remained in Egypt for the next four hundred years, and during that time grew from an extended family of seventy people into a nation of around two million.

INSTEAD OF THE PROMISE … PERSECUTION

At the beginning of the book of Exodus, we find this growing Hebrew nation facing persecution. It was the first example of violent racism, and especially of anti-Semitism, which has been one of the great evils of history. The Egyptians repressed the Hebrews by subjecting them to forced labor, but the greatest evil was that the Pharaoh decreed that all of the male Hebrew babies were to be thrown into the river Nile (Exodus 1:22).

When Moses was born, his mother put him in a basket on the Nile River. Pharaoh’s daughter found him and brought him into the palace to care for him. In God’s wonderful providence, Moses’ mother was appointed to nurse him.

When he became an adult, Moses felt outrage over the way the Egyptians treated his own people. Eventually he took matters into his own hands and killed an Egyptian who was abusing one of the Hebrews. When word of this got out, he had to run for his life. He came to the land of Midian, where he married Zipporah, and settled down to make a living as a shepherd.

On one occasion, he was tending his sheep in the area of Mount Sinai, which is also called Mount Horeb in the Bible. It was here that God appeared to him in the burning bush and told him to go back to Egypt and tell Pharaoh, “Let My people go!”

Moses obeyed this instruction, and the next four books of the Bible tell the story of how over a period of forty years God brought these people out of Egypt and eventually back into the land of Canaan from which their fathers had originally come.

GOD BREAKS HIS SILENCE

It was four hundred years since Jacob and the family moved to Egypt, and in all of that time, God had been silent. No doubt Moses’ mother would have taught him about the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But by the time of Moses, these stories must have seemed like ancient history. (After all, not many high school students today find stories from the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries compelling or life changing!)

We know that Moses received a secular education in the pharaoh’s palace. That meant that just like any student in a secular university today, he would have had to grapple with teaching about God from his professors that was very different from the teaching he had received from his parents.

In the palace he would have learned about the Egyptian Pantheon, about Orisis, Hekt, Apis, and Ra, the gods of Egypt. So Moses would have been in the same position as a student today who knows the stories of the Bible, but has been brought up in a secular society in which the God of the Bible is regarded as one God among many possible options. It would be no surprise if, in the palace of Egypt, they had taught him that any god you worship is really only a reflection of the culture in which you are raised.

So the great question for Moses must have been, “Who is God?” The story of how he discovered the answer is found in Exodus 3. After four hundred years of silence, the God who came down in the Garden of Eden, who called Abraham and wrestled with Jacob, now came down again to speak with Moses.

THE SELF-SUSTAINING FIRE

This is how it happened. Moses saw a fire resting on a bush, but it did not burn the bush on which it rested. In other words, the fire was self-sustaining. It did not depend on the bush for fuel. All other fires go out when they have exhausted the available fuel. A candle only burns until the wax is gone and then the flame goes out. But this fire was unlike any other. It consumed nothing. It sustained its own life.

Moses had never seen anything like it. He drew closer to look at this self-existent, self-sustaining fire. As he did, the God who spoke to Adam in an audible way began to speak out of the fire.

“I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” (3:6)

Suddenly, it all fell into place for Moses. The stories he had heard about God were all at least four hundred years old, and at times he may have wondered if this God was confined to the past. But now the God who appeared to his predecessors was speaking to him! This self-existent, self-sustaining God could not be confined to any time or place in history. He revealed Himself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but He was not dependent on them. “He is,” and He exists by the power of His own being.

Then God revealed the wonderful name by which He wanted to be known: “I am who I am” (Exodus 3:14). Almighty God was saying, in effect, “I am the God who called Abraham and appeared to Isaac. I am the God who wrestled with Jacob, and I am speaking to you. I am, and because I am, I always will be.”

CONFUSION ABOUT GOD

There’s a place near Birmingham, England, called Spaghetti Junction. It is a maze of motorways and urban roads that come together in a twisted mass of concrete which, when viewed from the air, shows a remarkable resemblance to a plate of spaghetti. When a motorist takes a wrong turn at Spaghetti Junction, he can spend an hour returning to where he started, as I know from bitter experience.

Many people today look at “religion” in the same way motorists often look at Spaghetti Junction. Though God walked onto the stage of human history, created the heavens and the earth, and made us in His image, Satan, our great enemy, wanted to keep us from knowing God. God came down so that our first parents would know Him, but Satan brought confusion by adding a multiplicity of gods. The result is that many people avoid thinking seriously about God. Like drivers who steer clear of Spaghetti Junction, they’re convinced that if they go anywhere near, they will become hopelessly lost!

It is deeply insulting…to reshape God into a more pleasing image.

Did you know that there are 900 million gods in India? That’s one for every person who lives there. People choose the object of their own devotion. I think we are well on the way to having several million gods in America as well, as we fashion gods to support the lifestyles or values that we choose.

When people say that they don’t believe in a God who will judge, or they can’t believe in a God who would save people only through Jesus, what they are really saying is that they do not like the God of the Bible, and they have chosen to fashion another god, more to their liking.

If you want to know how offensive that is, imagine a man editing a digital picture of his wife. Imagine him making changes to all the things that he does not like about her in the picture. He deems the nose too large, so he changes its shape. He believes she weighs too much, so he slims her image. Then, when he has the picture as he would want it to be, he goes to his wife and tells her, “I’ve grown tired of you as you are; here is a picture of what I would like you to be.”

Even as I describe the encounter, you can feel the personal insult. The man’s wife might well look him straight in the eye and say, with a note of defiance, “I am who I am.”

In the same way, it is deeply insulting to God for us to open the Bible, and seeing many things about Him that we do not like, decide to reshape God into a more pleasing image. God is not whoever you want Him to be. He is who He is!

The living God, who introduced Himself as creator of all things on the first page of the Bible, comes down and says, “I am who I am!” Like the fire with no beginning and no end, He depends on nobody and on nothing for His existence. He is subject to no requirement, no restriction, and no obligation.

THE LIVING GOD AND THE OTHER GODS

It is all very well for the God of the Bible to say, “I am,” but how do we know that He is, and that the other gods are not? That is the point of the plagues. Pharaoh refused to obey God’s command to let the Hebrew people go. He did not recognize the authority of God in his life. Perhaps he took the view that he had his own gods, and that there was no reason for him to obey the God who had spoken to Moses.

As long as Pharaoh continued to believe that he could worship his own gods, he would never submit to the authority of the one true God. So the living God gave proof of who He is by bringing down the powers behind the gods of Egypt. God said,

“I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD.” (12:12)

We noted the many Egyptian gods Moses learned about, including Orisis, the god of the Nile; Hekt, the goddess of birth; and Ra, the sun god. The common wisdom was that each of these gods brought particular blessings to Egypt.

We still ask the same question… Does He care enough to act?

This is very important when we come to the story of the plagues. Much more was at stake than a conflict between Moses and Pharaoh, or between Israel and Egypt. The living God was bringing down the demonic powers that were masquerading behind the false gods of Egypt. Those powers were very real. That is why the magicians were able to produce frogs (though they could not get rid of them!).

God was saying to Pharaoh, “You worship Orisis, saying that the Nile sustains you, but I can turn the Nile into a lifeless swamp. You worship Hekt, the goddess of birth, who is depicted as a frog, but I will give birth to so many frogs that you will wish you had never known her. You worship Ra, saying that the sun will shine on you, but I will turn the sun to darkness. What you have put in My place will become like a plague to you.”

Faced with the oppressive Egyptian regime, the defenseless Hebrews cried out to God. What else could they do? They were completely powerless.

The great question at the beginning of the book of Exodus was whether the living God could do anything to rescue these suffering people. And if He was capable of doing something, did He care enough to act? We still ask the same questions of God when we see suffering around us today: Can He do something? Does He care enough to act?

God gives us the answer in the judgment that He brings on Egypt. “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them” (3:7–8).

DEFYING THE LIVING GOD

The people could only be saved from oppression if Pharaoh repented of his evil, or if the evil was destroyed. God called Pharaoh to let the people go, but the Egyptian leader refused. So God spoke through one plague, but Pharaoh still refused. Then more plagues followed. Every time Pharaoh defied God, the cost of his defiance became higher for himself and for the people that he led.

The reason that God brings judgment is that He will not allow evil to stand. God made that plain on the day that sin entered the world. If you do not understand that God will destroy all evil, you will never understand the message of the Bible. The modern world does not feel the need of a Savior because it does not believe in a God who will bring judgment, and too often the church responds to that mistaken belief by trying to adapt the message of the Bible. We start hearing that “Christ will make you happy,” or “Christ will make you rich,” or “Christ will heal your family,” or “Christ will fill a God-shaped hole in your life.”

There may be some truth in some of these things, but none of them are the gospel. The heart of the gospel is that Christ has come to save us from the judgment of God.

A BLOOD SACRIFICE IN EGYPT

God gave Moses very careful instructions for the people. When the great judgment came on Egypt, God made a way in which all who believed and obeyed could be kept safe. Every family was to choose a lamb. They were to keep it for four days, and then they were to kill it. The lamb’s blood was to be painted onto the doorframes of their houses. God said,

“When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” (12:13)

Can you imagine the pressure on Moses to communicate this message? He had been in the presence of the living God at the burning bush. He had seen the fire and heard God’s voice. He had seen the plagues and he knew that God would strike Egypt with judgment. He knew that God had provided one way in which families could be kept safe through this night of terror. The way of deliverance was by blood. Only blood would save them from death.

I can imagine Moses going around the community asking, “Are you covered by the blood of the lamb? Have you shed that blood yet? Is it over your door? The day of judgment is coming. This is not a hoax; it is absolutely serious. God has said, ‘When I see the blood, I will pass over you.’ Now, get it on your house. Why haven’t you done it yet?”

Notice that God never once said, “If you offer a certain number of prayers, I will pass over you.” He did not say, “If you are sincere, I will pass over you.” He said only, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.”

When the night of terrors came, I have no doubt that some of the people must have been shaking with fear as they stood by their tables eating the Passover meal. Some of them must have looked up at their doors and wondered if the blood would make any difference when the storm of God’s judgment broke.

All they had to go on was the Word of God. There were about two million people who believed and obeyed, and every one of them was kept safe through the judgment of God.

BLOOD IN THE GARDEN

The theme of blood in the Bible story goes back to the beginning. When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, they knew that they were naked. Then, we are told that “the LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21). That meant that God killed an animal on the very day that the first sin was committed. God had told Adam about how disobedience in the Garden of Eden would lead to death. And there was a death in the garden that day. Adam’s life was spared. An animal died instead.

We find the same pattern in the story of Abraham and Isaac. God told Abraham to take his son up the mountain, and God provided an animal, which was killed in Isaac’s place. The animal’s blood was shed and Isaac’s life was spared.

Now, a lamb would be killed for every family in Egypt. God was teaching the same message to a new generation. He was saying, “The way in which you will be saved from judgment is through the death of another. It will involve the shedding of blood. It was like that for Adam and for Abraham, and that is how it will be for you.”

Some of Abraham’s descendants no doubt found this hard to take that night in Egypt. The kids would certainly have objected to killing the lamb! It took an act of faith to believe God’s word and do what He said.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

Animal sacrifices continued for centuries in the Old Testament story until one day a prophet named John saw Jesus and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). To all who would listen, John was declaring, “Jesus is the one who’s going to take away the sin, not just of Adam or Abraham, and not just of Israel; He is the Lamb of God who will take away the sin of the world!”

Fifteen hundred years after the Exodus from Egypt, Jesus celebrated the Passover, as faithful Jewish people did then and still do today. He told his disciples that He had eagerly looked forward to sharing this Passover with them. They ate the lamb and continued the great traditions of the Passover throughout the meal. At one point in the Passover, a cup is raised and words are said about how God saved His people by the blood of the lamb. During the Passover meal with His disciples, Christ took the cup and said,

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” (LUKE 22:20)

He was telling His disciples that just as the blood of the lamb delivered the Hebrews from the night of terrors in Egypt, so Christ’s own blood would deliver the people who were covered by it from the judgment of God on the last day.

As we roll forward to the end of the Bible story, God gave the apostle John a glimpse of the scene in heaven as it will be at the end of time. John saw a great crowd, much larger than he was able to count, standing in the presence of God. They were full of joy. John wanted to know who they were, and he was told that these were people who had “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:14).

This story of God letting death pass over His people takes us right to the heart of the message of the Bible. God says, “I am who I am…[and I will destroy all evil, but] when I see the blood, I will pass over you” (Exodus 3:14; 12:13).

UNLOCKED

The repeated slaughter of animals is one of the hardest themes for us to understand in the Old Testament story, but it is also one of the most important. Through these animal sacrifices, God was preparing His people to understand the need for, and the significance of, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

“Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7). Christ is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” Like the lamb, He died in the place of Adam and in the place of Isaac and in the place of the Hebrews, and in your place too. He bore the judgment of the living God so that it will not fall on you.

But as in the Passover, the blood must not only be shed, it must also be applied.

Just as there had to be an act of faith and obedience in which the Hebrews applied the blood to the doorframes of their own houses, so there must be an act of faith in which Christ’s blood is applied to your life.

Since the blood of Christ has been shed, why would you not, in an act of faith, ask that His blood cover you? Then you can rest on God’s promise, and God will bring you safely through the day of judgment.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Father in heaven,

I bow before You and acknowledge that You are the living God. You are the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who spoke to Moses; You are the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ. Thank You that You have not left Your world in the grip of evil, but have determined that no evil will stand. I acknowledge that if You judged everything that was touched by evil, I would come under that judgment.

Thank You for providing a way for me to be kept safe on the day when You will judge all evil through the blood of Jesus.

I praise You that the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ saves me. I believe Your promise that just as the people of Israel were kept safe through judgment by the blood of the lamb, so I will be safe on the last day through the blood of the LORD Jesus Christ.

Thank You for this incredible gift, which is mine through faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. Amen.

6

Law

EXODUS 20

What is the

role of the

Law in the

life of a

Christian?

DISCOVER

life’s ten greatest struggles and the way to prevail in them.

LEARN

how the Law brings us to Jesus Christ.

WORSHIP

as you see how Christ turns God’s commands into promises.

IT must have been a strange feeling for Moses to return to the place where God had spoken to him out of the burning bush. On his first visit, a flock of sheep had surrounded Moses. Now, two million people surrounded him. God had been faithful and the seemingly impossible had happened: In one of the greatest miracles in the Old Testament, God had parted the waters of the Red Sea. Now, a couple of months later, the Hebrews had arrived at Mount Sinai. Here they set up camp.

Barriers or “limits” were set up as a kind of exclusion zone at the base of the mountain. When the people looked up, they could see “Mount Sinai…covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The whole mountain trembled violently, and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder” (Exodus 19:18–19). The God who came down to speak with Adam, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was coming down to give His laws to the people.

The Law of God was never a ladder for unsaved people to climb up to heaven. It was always a pattern of life for God’s people who had been saved from judgment by the blood of the Lamb.

A NEW DIMENSION OF GOD’S GRACE

God was not saying, “I’m giving you these commandments, so that by keeping them you may become My people.” He was saying, “I am giving you these commandments because you are My people.” The message of the Law to us today is not that we must keep these laws in order to be saved, but rather that because we are saved, we should keep these laws. The Law tells us how people who belong to God ought to live.

This is important, because some people have the idea that in the Old Testament, God tried to save people by getting them to keep the Law. But then He found that people couldn’t do this, and so He came up with a better way of saving people through Jesus Christ. If this were true, the natural conclusion would be that the Old Testament is a book of law, and the New Testament is a book of grace, and that the Old Testament has nothing to do with us because we’re not under law, we’re under grace.

That is a complete misunderstanding of the Bible. The whole Bible is a book of grace. God has one plan from beginning to end, and it all fits together. God promised the Redeemer on the very day that sin entered the world. God has always saved His people by grace and through faith. We’ve seen this in the story of Noah, and in the story of the Exodus. There is one God and there is one story.

The Law is specifically given to people who have experienced the grace of God and have become His people, and for this reason it speaks to us today.

GET A GLIMPSE OF THE GLORY OF GOD!

In the New Testament, sin is defined as “fall(ing) short of the glory of God” and as “break(ing) the law” (Romans 3:23; 1 John 3:4). Put these two truths together, and you make an interesting discovery. If sin is falling short of the glory of God and breaking the Law, then we may reasonably conclude that the Law is an expression of God’s glory. Every one of the Ten Commandments (listed in Exodus 20:3–17) reflects some aspect of the character of God.

When God declared, “You shall have no other gods before me” (v. 3), it was because He is the only God. There is no one like Him.

God tells us that we must not make any images of Him because when we attempt to shape physical representations of Him, we only succeed in detracting from His greatness and His glory.

The reason you should honor your father and mother is that all fatherhood derives from God, and all authority, even within family life, derives from Him.

Why should you not commit adultery? Because God is faithful.

Why should you not steal? Because God is trustworthy.

Why should you not lie? Because God is truth.

Why should you not covet? Because God is at peace and content in Himself.

God was speaking to His own people at Mount Sinai, telling them, “You are My people. And since you are My people, your lives must be modeled on who I am. And if your lives are to be modeled on who I am, then this is what your lives will look like.”

The Ten Commandments are not an arbitrary set of rules. They are a direct reflection of the character of God. The greatest challenge for God’s people is to reflect God’s character in the world. When we obey His Law, we reflect something of His glory.

The Law reflects the glory of God. So as you think about the Law, let it lead you to worship.

THE GREATEST BATTLES OF YOUR HEART

A second reason for God giving these Ten Commandments is that they speak to the ten most significant struggles of human experience.

Parents know all about this. They always give rules to their children to target areas of struggle. Mom and Dad gave instructions like, “Eat your dinner!” or “Do your homework!” or “Clean your room!” to help us overcome our struggles.

Of course, today’s parents do not often find themselves having to give instructions like, “Watch television!” or “Go on-line!” or “Practice your free throws!” The reason that we do not need to give these instructions is that these things come naturally to our children! Every parent knows that you target your instructions to a child’s particular areas of struggle. When God gave the Ten Commandments, He spoke directly to the primary struggles that all of us experience.

Jesus gave a wonderful summary of the Law when He said that the most important commandment is, “‘Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Mark 12:30–31). Christ identified our greatest struggles in life. He was saying, “You will struggle to love God with all your heart, and you will not find it easy to love your neighbor as much as you love yourself.”

The first four commandments address the struggle to love God with our whole heart. In the first commandment, God wrote, “You shall have no other gods before me.” He was telling us that we’re not going to find it as easy as we think to love Him with all our being. You will not find it easy to let God be God. You will keep finding, as Adam and Eve found, that you want to be God yourself. It will be the biggest battle of your life.

In the second commandment, God was saying, “You will struggle to offer authentic worship. You will not find it easy to lift your mind to Me with faith and to worship Me as I really am.” In the third commandment, God wrote, “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God.” He was saying, “You will struggle to speak about Me in a way that truly honors Me.” In the fourth commandment, God wrote, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.” He was saying, “You will find that there is a battle over giving Me your time.”

The last six commandments speak to our struggle to love our neighbor as ourselves. When God wrote “Honor your father and your mother,” He was telling us that we will have some real battles in life over submitting to authority. Our parents were the first authority figures God put in our lives, but before you were very old you probably found some impulse within you that wanted to fight against that authority.

We also struggle with issues of ongoing hostility. “You shall not murder” is the sixth commandment. Christ tells us that the issue here goes beyond physical violence and includes anger or resentment toward others (see Matthew 5:21–22). This commandment goes to the root of ongoing hostility that arises from broken relationships, and God is saying, “You’ll struggle on this one. It will be a battle for you.”

These are the battles of our lives.

You will also find that there is a real battle for sexual purity. “You shall not commit adultery,” God warned in the seventh commandment. Again, Christ made it clear that the issue is not simply whether a man or woman has committed an act of adultery. God was saying, “You will have a real battle to keep your thoughts and your mind clean.” What you think when you look at other people is a reflection of who you really are.

Then, you’ll find that there is a battle for personal integrity. “You shall not steal,” God warned in the eighth commandment. There will be opportunities that come to you to gain advantage at the expense of another person, and when that happens, you will discover that you love yourself much more than you love your neighbor.

And there will be a battle for honesty. God identified this struggle when He wrote the ninth commandment, “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” You will find an impulse within you to distort the truth, to exaggerate a story, to misrepresent the way things are, to tell a downright barefaced lie.

And you will find that there is a battle over this whole business of contentment. That’s why God wrote the tenth commandment: “You shall not covet.” In a materialistic world, you will find that when you see what other people have, it will create within you a feeling that you should have it too.

These are the battles of our lives, are they not? They’re the great struggles that we all face in some degree or another. The Law is like a light. It shines into our souls, and when we look at what God says to us, we have to admit that He is speaking directly to the primary battles of our own hearts.

AN X RAY OF THE SOUL

I went to see the dentist recently. I’d been putting it off for a long time. I’ve had no pain, so why should I go? But I decided it was now time, and he took several X rays. The experience was not the most encouraging.

God speaks to us in His Law, which is like an X ray to the soul.

It’s rather disconcerting, isn’t it, as you lie there at an extraordinary angle, looking up at the nose of a person you hardly know? My dentist stood there looking at the X rays, holding them up to the light, and making extraordinary sounds. “Mmmm…Oh dear!…Nasty. Which country did you say you came from?…There’s a lot of decay underneath these fillings,” he said.

“I’ve no pain,” I insisted. But he didn’t seem impressed. “You’re going to need some pretty major work,” he said. “And the sooner, the better.”

There are many people who go through life with no sense of pain over their spiritual condition. They make the false assumption that things are well with them and that having lived generally respectable lives, they are in good spiritual shape. But then God speaks to us in His Law, which is like an X ray to the soul. God holds the X ray to the light and asks us to look at it. And if you look at the X ray of your own inner condition properly, you will not like what you see. The Law announces our need of Christ by showing us what we are like.

Some lines in the Bible are genuinely amusing. Moses “went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the LORD had commanded him to speak.” Here’s one of the great lines of the Old Testament: “The people all responded together, ‘We will do everything the LORD has said’” (19:7–8).

As you read the rest of the Old Testament, that line really seems like a rather sad joke. God proceeded to declare His laws to Moses on Mount Sinai, but He had hardly finished writing down those laws on the tablets of stone before the people had broken virtually every one of them. They indulged themselves in an orgy around the gold calf. It would have been better if they’d fallen down on their faces when Moses told them the laws of God and said, “The only way we can ever do this is if God helps us, because winning all of these struggles consistently is beyond our power!”

That was the response of St. Augustine. He struggled to get free from the power of habits that bound him, and so he offered this prayer: “O, LORD, command what you will, only give what you command.” He was really saying, “LORD, You may ask me to do anything You want, but the only way I’ll be able to do it is if You give me the power.”

LEARNING FROM THE TEACHER

The Law not only affirms the glory of God, it also announces our need of Christ. The apostle Paul wrote that the Law is a good thing, just like X rays are a good thing-even if they may bring us bad news. The Law brings us bad news. Yet the Law is a good thing, for it shows us the truth; it shows us the genuine state of our hearts.

Through the Law of God, I discover that I’m a person who finds it difficult to let God be God, and I am a person who is naturally more interested in myself than in the interests of other people. The Law announces my need of Jesus Christ.

The Law is like a teacher to bring us to Christ (see Galatians 3:24 NLT). When you learn what the Law has to teach, you will, if you’ve learned its lesson properly, come to Jesus Christ. And if the Law has not brought you to Jesus Christ, then you have missed the greatest purpose God intended for it. This, of course, is the point of Jesus’ statement to the Pharisees, “You diligently study the Scriptures… yet you refuse to come to me” (John 5:39–40). They were busy studying the Law, but they had missed the whole point of the Law, which was to show them their need for Jesus, the Christ.

The first reason you need Jesus Christ is not that you’ll have a richer, fuller, and more satisfying life. It is that you are a sinner by nature and by practice, and the X ray of God’s Law shows it, even if you feel no pain. The Law affirms the glory of God, and the Law announces our need of Jesus Christ.

LAYING TRACK FOR THE TRAIN

God’s ultimate purpose is to restore in us a true reflection of His glory. Since God’s glory is expressed in His Law, that means that the purpose of the gospel is to bring us to the position where we begin to live according to the Law of God.

So the whole of the Christian life is a process in which we are changed from one degree of glory to another, until the day when we see Him, and then we shall be like Him. This transformation is the work of the Holy Spirit, and it is spoken of in both the Old and the New Testament. God says:

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” (EZEKIEL 36:26–27)

In this new covenant, God will not only tell us what to do, He will also give us the power to move in that direction.

The Law of God is like the rails for a train. The rails give direction, but the train will not go anywhere unless there is power in the engine. It is the special work of the Holy Spirit to give God’s people power to move in the direction that is laid out in God’s Law.

The Christian life is not a matter of believing in Jesus and then trying your best to live according to God’s Law. God’s promise is that when you believe in the LORD Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit will come and reside in your life. You will receive power, and that power will make the difference between a battle in which you are destined for defeat, and a battle in which there will be ultimate victory.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

In his commentary on Matthew’s gospel, Bible teacher Charles Price described a man serving time in prison because he was a thief. Stealing had been his lifestyle, until the long arm of the law eventually caught him. During his time in prison, he heard the good news of Jesus Christ and was wonderfully converted.

When the time came for his release, the man knew that he would enter a new struggle. Most of his old friends were thieves, and it would not be easy to break the patterns of his old way of life. The first thing he wanted to do when he was released from prison was to go to church, and so on the first Sunday morning of his new freedom he slipped into a church building and sat somewhere in the back. As he looked up to the front, he saw the words of the Ten Commandments, inscribed on two plaques. He read the words of the command that seemed to condemn him. “You shall not steal.”

That’s the last thing that I need, he thought to himself. I know my weakness. I know my failure, and I know the battle I’m going to have.

As the service progressed, he kept looking at the plaque. As he read and reread the words, they seemed to take on a new meaning. Previously he had read these words in the tone of a command, “You shall not steal!” But now, it seemed that God was speaking these words to him as a promise. “You shall not steal.”

He was a new person in Christ, and God was promising that the Holy Spirit would make it possible for him to overcome the habit of stealing. “You shall not steal, and the reason you won’t steal is that I have put my Spirit in you and I move you to follow My decrees and to keep My laws.”

What once was a condemning command now seemed like a promise (Ezekiel 36:26) of new possibilities that had been opened to him by Jesus Christ through the power of the Spirit.[1]

Where are the greatest battles of your life? Can you hear God’s promise of victory? The Law sets the direction in which we must move to glorify God. The Spirit empowers the believer to move in that direction.

If you have understood the Law of God, it should cause you to fall down in worship, because the Law shows us who God is and what He’s like. If you have understood the Law of God, it will make you cling to Jesus Christ because you will be absolutely clear about why you need Him. And when you understand the Law, it will give you direction for a new life in the power of the Holy Spirit, in which you are not destined for defeat, but for victory.

UNLOCKED

The Law is one of God’s good gifts to His people, and we should thank Him for it. In the Psalms, David spoke about delighting in God’s Law. If he could do that, we should certainly not do less. We will delight in God’s Law when we see that it reflects the glory of God’s character.

While the Law may be like a mirror that reflects things in our lives that we would rather not see, we can be thankful that God uses the Law to make us aware of our sinfulness. This is how He brings us to Christ and continues to remind us of the power available through “Christ in us.” We can also thank God that when the Holy Spirit lives within us, the Law is no longer a list of impossible demands, but a description of new possibilities.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Which of the Ten Commandments speaks to the area of your greatest struggles right now? Take a moment to identify the commandment, and then ask God to make this commandment an area of victory for you by the power of His Holy Spirit. As you pray this prayer, remember the promise of Romans 6:14 (NLT): “Sin is no longer your master.”

O Holy Father,

Thank You for giving the Law to reveal the extent of my sin and show my need for a Savior. You know I continue at times to struggle with_____________ (Name the sin), and in so doing break Your commandment to_____________. Give me victory in this area by the power of the Holy Spirit who abides within me.

Thank You that such victory is available through the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is in His matchless name I pray. Amen.

NOTE

1. Charles Price, Matthew. Fearn, Scotland: Christian Focus, 1998), 88.

7

Atonement

EXODUS 32

What is

atonement,

and why is

it necessary?

DISCOVER

why being sorry is not enough to make us right with God.

LEARN

what an atonement is, why it is necessary, and how God has provided one for us.

WORSHIP

because God reconciles us to Himself through the blood of Jesus Christ.

WHEN God first gave the Ten Commandments, He spoke with an audible voice that was heard by all the people. “The LORD said to Moses, ‘I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you’” (Exodus 19:9).

So Moses came down the mountain and told the people what was going to happen (19:25). Then we read that “God spoke all these words” (20:1). Imagine hearing the audible voice of God!

Notice how the people reacted: “When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, ‘Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die’” (20:18–19).

THE ABSENT LEADER

So Moses went back up the mountain and remained there for forty days and nights (24:18). That is a couple of days short of six weeks, and by the end of that time the people were tired of waiting.

When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses…we don’t know what has happened to him.” (32:1)

Only six weeks had passed since they heard the audible voice of God telling them not to make any idol. Now, within a matter of days, they made a choice that directly contradicted one of God’s simplest instructions. The effects of their remarkable experience of God have faded quickly. Here is the mystery of sin and the weakness of human nature.

Six weeks of silence from God and the absence of their spiritual leader, Moses, had put their faith to the test, and now they had decided that if God could not tell them what He wanted to say in six weeks, they would go ahead and develop their own religion.

FELT NEEDS AND MARKET FORCES

So they looked for a man with a recognized ministry and leadership ability. Moses’ brother, Aaron, seemed the natural choice, and when they approached him, they found that he was quite ready to fill the gap in the market.

I wonder what motivated Aaron? Did he feel that this was his opportunity to step out of the shadow of Moses? Did he justify what he did by saying that he was meeting a “felt” need—giving the people what they wanted?

Aaron’s first move was to raise funds for the launch of the new ministry. People donated their jewelry, and from these gifts Aaron shaped a golden calf. Aaron became the sad father of those who base ministry on the primary question “What do people want?” If we apply the principles of the market to ministry, we will always end up with idolatry.

Of course, Aaron wanted to claim that what he was doing was well within the bounds of orthodoxy, and so he said, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD” (v. 5). But Aaron’s festival was nothing more than an indulgent vehicle of self-expression.

THE MINDLESS PARTY

The next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry. (v. 6)

In other words, out came the drinks and off came the clothes. It was a big celebration, but it was worshiping the wrong God, indulging the wrong behavior, and tasting the wrong kind of joy.

It is worth pausing to ask what a contemporary news program would make of this. After all, the golden calf would make a good subject for a journalist reporting on new religious movements around the world. The camera crew could get some great shots in the desert, with a reporter profiled against the backdrop of the dancing crowd.

“Out here in the Sinai Desert, a remarkable new religious movement has been born,” our reporter would begin. “The movement bears witness to the extraordinary creativity of these primitive peoples, who have adapted religious practices from neighboring cultures and established a new style of worship that is marked by joy and festivity.”

There would then be a couple of interviews with exuberant dancers, who would say that the festival of the golden calf was deeply meaningful to them. They may have thought it was meaningful, but God thought it was abominable.

BREAKING UP THE PARTY

Moses was at the top of the mountain in the presence of God when he received the bad news. “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt” (v. 7). So Moses faced the uncomfortable task of breaking up the party. His first step was to confront Aaron. “What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?” (v. 21).

Had the people subjected Moses’ brother to some horrible torture? In fact, all it took to persuade Aaron to disobey the law of God was public demand and a gap in the market. He led them into sin because he was unable to resist the pressure of felt needs and market forces.

Look at Aaron’s attempt to deflect responsibility. We are told in verse 4 that Aaron shaped the gold into the form of an idol “with a tool.” But when Moses challenged his brother, Aaron gave a sanitized version of the story:

“I told them, ‘Whoever has gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!” (v. 24; EMPHASIS ADDED).

It just happened!

After confronting his brother, Moses called the people to a point of decision:

“Whoever is for the LORD, come to me.” (v. 26)

Everybody was given the opportunity to repent. They were all invited to declare their allegiance to the Lord. Given that there were around two million people in the camp, we may assume that 1,997,000 responded to Moses’ appeal and took their stand with him. We know this because there were 3,000 people who refused the invitation, and that day was the last day of their lives (v. 28).

The issue that brought such devastating judgment on them was not so much their sin as their refusal to give it up. They had seen the glory of God, heard His voice, and refused to come to Him. Ultimate rejection of God’s invitation to repent always leads to devastating consequences. The commandments of God are not a list of suggestions. They are real laws with real penalties for those who break them.

LOOKING FOR FORGIVENESS

Now we come to the really fascinating part of the story. By the end of Exodus 32:29, there are 3,000 people dead, and (presumably from the fact that the rest were still alive), 1,997,000 people who had made some indication of repentance toward God. But notice what happened next:

The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin.” (v. 30)

Talk about preaching to the choir! These people already know that they have done wrong. So why does Moses get up the next day and say, “You have committed a great sin”? Whatever happened to forgiveness?

Why doesn’t Moses draw a line under it? Isn’t it his duty to tell them that they are forgiven? These people are sorry. What more does Moses want from them?

Notice there is no forgiveness offered by God here. Why? Isn’t it God’s duty to forgive them? No, something must happen before forgiveness can be granted.

THE MEANING OF ATONEMENT

At this point in the story, we discover the biblical word atonement. Moses told the people,

“I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” (v. 30)

Very simply, atonement is what it takes to put something that is wrong right. If you divide the English word atonement up into three parts, you get “at-one-ment.” If two people are divided by a dispute, the atonement is what it takes to bring them to be “at one.” Wherever there is an offense, we face the question of atonement. What will it take to make what is wrong right?

BEING SORRY WON’T DO IT

I remember a key soccer match during college. At one moment the other team made a breakthrough. I was one of the last defenders, and in a desperate lunge managed to clear the ball off the goal line. I had saved the day.

Unfortunately, the ball sailed in a magnificent trajectory toward the college president’s study. It smashed through his window, landing on the floor. He was remarkably kind about it—but he did require that I replace the window and clear up the mess. That was what it took to put what was wrong right.

The key point about an atonement is that what is required to put the wrong right is always determined by the injured party. Standing there in my muddy shorts beside the broken window, I didn’t feel that I had a lot of bargaining power!

“I’m very sorry,” I said. That was good, but it wasn’t enough. Damage had been done, and it had to be repaired. I wanted to say, “I won’t do it again,” but that would have sounded very trite. There was not much else that I could do but stand there feeling rather shabby and listen to what the president determined it would take to put what was wrong right.

“Here is what I need you to do,” he said. “I need you to clear up the mess and replace the window.”

That was the atonement. That was the price that had to be paid to put what was wrong right and to restore the relationship. Now this word takes us right to the heart of the Bible. What will it take to put man’s wrong against God right? What will it take to bring you and God together, and make you “at one”?

There are many people who think that it all boils down to being sorry. They feel that if we are truly repentant and have genuinely tried to change, then things will be right with God.

But Exodus 32 tells us being sorry won’t do it. Here, 1,997,000 people were sorry for what they did, and Moses told them that there was still a problem. Being sorry for what we have done will not remove the guilt of our sin. We need an atonement, and being sorry is not enough.

A GREAT LEADER CAN‘T DO IT

Moses began to wonder if making atonement was something that he could do. Of all the great moments in Moses’ life, this was his finest hour. God had already made Moses an offer that must have seemed very attractive.

“Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.” (v. 10)

That was quite an offer! Try and put yourself in Moses’ shoes. He thought about leading a new group of people. God was ready to give him a fresh start, with a clean slate. But then Moses thought about the people God had given him, and he could not give them up.

He began to think about what it would take to make atonement for them. No doubt he thought about the Passover and the death of the lamb. That seemed to indicate that God was prepared to accept the death of a substitute and spare the lives of the people.

Perhaps Moses could be the substitute. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that he would be ready to lay down his life if it would mean that these people could be spared.

The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” So Moses went back to the LORD and said, “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. But now, please forgive their sin—-but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.” (vv. 30–32, EMPHASIS ADDED)

So we have a volunteer. The greatest spiritual leader in the Old Testament steps up to the plate. He is ready to lay down his life for the people. If he has to enter hell to make atonement for them, he is ready to do it.

But God does not accept the offer. He answers, in effect, “No deal, Moses. Making atonement is out of your league.” Moses, of course, had sins of his own—he had a murder on his record—and a man with sins of his own is in no position to atone for the sins of others. So there is no atonement; what is wrong is still not put right.

Life will go on for these people, but without an atonement, they will forfeit the presence of God. Back in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve discovered that their sin led to them being sent away from the presence of God. Now here, the nation of Israel discovers that sin causes God to hide and withdraw His presence.

God will still give them the gift of the Promised Land, but without an atonement, He cannot travel with them. God says, “I will not go with you” (33:3). The immediate presence of God would be dangerous for them, because it is a fearful thing to be in the presence of an angry God.

When the people heard that they would have to face the future without the presence of God, “they began to mourn” (33:4). They were now facing the most fundamental question in the most personal way. “What will it take to bring back the presence of God? If being sorry won’t do it and Moses can’t do it, what will it take to atone for our sins?”

PAINSTAKING OBEDIENCE WON’T DO IT

Some people feel a serious commitment to obeying God’s commands will make up for their sins. Some of the people of Israel may have thought, If we are sincere in our obedience, God’s blessing will return.

All the skilled men among the workmen made the tabernacle. (36:8)

Following this summary statement comes a long and detailed description of how the craftsmen made the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altar of burnt offering, the courtyard, the priestly garments, the ephod, and the breastpiece. The precise instructions for building the tabernacle had already been given (see Exodus 25–30). Now as you read the details of the workmanship in Exodus 36–39, it is like a mirror image of God’s instruction in chapters 25–30. All of this detail is given to make a single point: The people did exactly what God told them to do. They followed the commands of God down to the tiniest detail: “The Israelites did everything just as the LORD commanded Moses” (39:32).

When all the work was finished, the pieces were brought together and “the tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month in the second year” (40:17). They had arrived at Sinai on the first day of the third month after they left Egypt (19:1), so two months had passed. We also know that Moses was away for two periods of six weeks. So the travel time plus Moses’ absences total about five months. The tabernacle was set up at the beginning of the second year, and so they must have spent the remaining seven months of the year working on it.

The craftsmen must have come to work every day feeling the heaviness of life without God. Imagine a woman sewing embroidery on the curtains for the tabernacle, and feeling that God was so distant. As she followed exactly the instructions God commanded, she thought, I’ve got to be obedient to God. Perhaps this will bring back His presence. How I wish I could know the presence of God in my life. Picture a man working with bronze and wishing that he had not grieved the LORD. Perhaps if his hands could do what God had commanded, God’s blessing might return to the people.

The people must have held their breath as they watched to see what happened next.

For seven months, the people gave themselves to a daily, detailed obedience to the law of God, but at the end of it all there was still no sign of the presence of God.

By that point they must have been wondering what it would take to put what was wrong right and bring back the presence of God.

This is a key issue to grasp if we are to understand the story of the Bible. Many people feel that if they are sorry enough for long enough, things will become right with God. There are others who think that if they shape up to a more detailed obedience to God’s laws by attending church, saying prayers, or reading the Bible, this will make things right with God. But right back in the second book of the Bible, God is teaching us that although these things are good, they are not enough. We need an atonement.

A WORTHY SACRIFICE WILL DO IT

The book of Exodus brings us to the day when a priest would offer the first sacrifice in the newly constructed tabernacle. At the end of the book of Exodus, the great day finally arrives.

The detail of how the tabernacle was set up is given in Exodus 40, but a fuller description is given in Leviticus 9. After seven months in which the people had been longing for the presence of God to return, Moses told them how it could happen: “This is what the LORD has commanded you to do, so that the glory of the LORD may appear to you” (9:6).

There must have been a stunned silence as the people waited to hear what he would say. Moses then turned to Aaron and said,

“Come to the altar and sacrifice your sin offering and your burnt offering and make atonement for yourself and the people; sacrifice the offering that is for the people and make atonement for them, as the LORD has commanded’” (Leviticus 9:7, italics added).

The priests took an animal and slaughtered it so that the blood of the animal was poured out. The blood was then taken to the altar. The people must have held their breath as they watched to see what happened next. They did not have long to wait: “Moses and Aaron then went into the Tent of Meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people; and the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people” (9:23).

If the presence of God is…to invade your life, you need an atonement.

God was back, and that could only mean that what had been wrong for seven months had finally been put right. The LORD gave the clearest evidence of His presence not only in the cloud but also in the fire. “Fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown” (9:24). The same event is recorded in Exodus 40: “Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle” (vv. 34–35).

Can you imagine the impact of this on the people? Imagine a couple sitting in their tent and talking about what they had seen. “I’ve never seen anything quite like what happened today. Whoever would have imagined that shedding the blood of an animal would bring back the presence of God?” he says.

“Yes, it’s incredible!” the wife agrees. “I can’t really understand why the sacrifice did it when all those months of being sorry, and all those months of obedience, and even Moses’ offer to lay down his life for us didn’t!”

“There must be something very powerful about a sacrifice that involves the shedding of blood. Anyway, we have learned something. Where there is sin, we need a sacrifice. It’s the sacrifice and the shedding of blood that makes atonement with God.”

Do you think the message could be clearer? Sin causes God to withdraw. Life goes on, but it continues without the presence of God. Being sorry won’t bring God back. Painstaking obedience won’t bring God back. There is only one thing that will bring God back, and that is the blood of the sacrifice shed on the altar.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

It must have been clear to the people even then, that it was not the blood of the animal itself that would make the people “at one” with God. Atonement would be achieved by the person that this sacrifice represented.

Even at this early stage in the story of the Bible, God is preparing us for the coming of Jesus. The whole purpose of the sacrifices in the Old Testament was to shape our thinking so that we would be able to understand why the Son of God had to come into the world. The sacrifices help us to see that in His death on that cross, He did in reality what the sacrifice of animals only did in symbol. Christ made atonement for our sins, and He brings back the presence of God for all who trust in His sacrifice.

Are you feeling that God is far removed from you? Have you wondered what it would take to restore a right relationship with God? If the presence of God is going to invade your life, you need an atonement.

UNLOCKED

The atonement for sin was offered by Jesus Christ through His death on the cross.

Put your trust in that sacrifice, and the presence of God will come to you. You will be “at one” with God.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Before you pray, review the words from verse two (adapted) from the classic hymn “Rock of Ages,” by Augustus M. Toplady.

All the labor of my hands

Won’t fulfill your laws demands;

Should my efforts always grow,

Should my tears forever flow,

All for sin could not atone;

You must save, and You alone.

Father in heaven,

I realize that I needed an atonement for my sins. I realize that nothing I can do will ever atone for my sins. I thank You today that Jesus Christ has offered the atonement through His death on the cross and that His sacrifice covers my sin.

Having put my trust in the blood of Jesus Christ. I rest in what He has done to make atonement for my sins. On the basis of what Christ has done for me, I ask that Your blessing and Your presence remain on me. I pray in Christ’s name. Amen.

8

Priest

LEVITICUS 16

What does God

do with our

sins when we

confess them?

DISCOVER

the great drama of the Day of Atonement.

LEARN

the gospel from God’s greatest visual aid.

WORSHIP

as you see how Jesus fulfills the role of our great High Priest.

If you ever find yourself in a court of law, you probably will want to hire an attorney to present your case. Law courts are intimidating places, and they operate under some fairly complex rules, so you need the help of an attorney to represent you before the judge and to speak on your behalf.

In the Old Testament, the priests did something similar in the presence of God. A priest would represent the people to God and speak to God on their behalf. He operated in a mobile worship center called the tabernacle, which was separated into different areas by a series of curtains and contained various pieces of symbolic furniture.

At the center of the tabernacle was the Most Holy Place, which was screened off from view by a heavy curtain. If you could have gone into the Most Holy Place-nobody but the high priest did—you would have seen the ark of the covenant. It was a wooden chest, carried on poles, with a lid over the chest.

Rising from the lid were two golden statues of cherubim. These were angelic figures whose work was especially associated with the judgment of God. At the beginning of the Bible story, the cherubim were placed at the entrance to the Garden of Eden to prevent sinful men and women from entering the presence of God. (Remember chapter 2?) So the golden statues of the cherubim on top of the ark of the covenant were a visual reminder that you can’t come near God without coming close to judgment.

MEETING WITH GOD

Between the cherubim was a flat area called the atonement cover, or the mercy seat. As God had told Moses, “There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony, I will meet with you” (Exodus 25:22).

Once every year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest would go behind the curtain into the Most Holy Place. God would come down, just as He had done on Mount Sinai. He did not make Himself visible, but He appeared “in the cloud” (Leviticus 16:2). God met with the high priest at a place that spoke of mercy and judgment.

The Day of Atonement was like a great drama in five acts. Today it remains the most visual presentation of the gospel in the Bible. The whole day was filled with symbolism that points us forward to Jesus Christ and helps us to understand the significance of His death on the cross.

Act 1: The Priest Appears

The high priest was one of the most important people in the whole of the nation. If the people did not know that, they would have got the message just by looking at his clothes.

The high priest’s clothing displayed the dignity of his office. Rich in symbolism, his breastplate contained twelve precious stones representing the twelve tribes of Israel. Blue cord joined the breastplate to the underlying ephod, a sleeveless tunic of fine linen, decorated with gold, blue, purple, and scarlet trim. If you saw the high priest, it would be like seeing royalty on a state occasion. The dignity of the high priest’s office and the importance of his work were clear.

But on the Day of Atonement, the high priest did not wear his uniform. He discarded his magnificent clothes and appeared in the streets wearing a simple white cloth instead. This was the sort of clothing that the lowest servant would wear.

Now imagine the scene; it is an amazing sight: the man who holds the most dignified office in the land, dressed as a common slave! The people come out to watch the spectacle themselves. Imagine the onlookers lining the route along which he walks. He makes his way toward the tabernacle like a boxer entering the ring, the vast crowd pressing round in anticipation of what is about to happen.

Act 2: The Priest Prepares

The first thing that the high priest does is to prepare himself for the special work of the Day of Atonement. Let’s look at Aaron, the first high priest. Like his brother, Moses, he has his own sins. He had led the people to worship idols at the time of the golden calf, so this high priest is far from perfect. No doubt Aaron had tried to honor God and live by the commandments, but he had his faults like everybody else. Before he could enter the presence of God to deal with the sins of the people, his first priority was to deal with his own sins.

A bull is brought forward and slaughtered in public view. Then Aaron takes some of the blood behind the curtain into the Most Holy Place where God had said He would come. There, Aaron sprinkles the bull’s blood as a sacrifice for his own sins.

This must have made a powerful impression on the people. The high priest, holding one of the most dignified positions in the land, is saying, “Before we get to offering a sacrifice for the people, I want to recognize publicly that I stand in need of a sacrifice myself.” The high priest was saying, as every other priest, pastor, or religious leader of any denomination would always have to say, “I have sins of my own, and therefore I am in no position to deal with yours.”

Act 3: Atonement Is Made

The high priest now comes back out of the tabernacle, and all the people see him again. Two goats are brought forward, and the first goat is slaughtered. The high priest takes the blood behind the curtain and sprinkles the goat’s blood on the mercy seat.

Remember that the mercy seat is the flat surface between the huge golden figures of the cherubim. It is a powerful picture. God’s agents of judgment are looking down at the mercy seat where the blood will be sprinkled. When Aaron sprinkles the goat’s blood on the mercy seat, it is as if judgment and mercy are meeting together. Judgment, which demands death as the penalty for sin, is satisfied; mercy, which demands forgiveness for the sinner, is sustained. Mercy is released in the place of judgment as the blood of the sacrifice is sprinkled.

Back in the Garden of Eden, God made it clear to Adam that the consequence of sin is death (Genesis 2:17; cf. Romans 6:23). That is why blood had to be sprinkled on the mercy seat. The blood demonstrated that a death had taken place. As we have seen from the beginning of the Bible’s story, God was ready to allow the death sentence to be passed on an animal instead of the sinner, but atonement could only come through a death that would satisfy the justice of God in relation to sin.

It is worth remembering that the high priest is never invited to bring a test tube of tears (representing the repentance of the people) to the mercy seat. Nor is he invited to bring rags soaked in sweat (representing the effort of the people). God’s justice is not satisfied by our tears of repentance or by the strength of our effort. Atonement is made as blood is sprinkled on the mercy seat.

The high priest had to make atonement not only for himself and for the people, but even for the Most Holy Place itself. God says,

“He shall then slaughter the goat for the sin offering for the people and take its blood behind the curtain and do with it as he did with the bull’s blood: He shall sprinkle it on the atonement cover and in front of it. In this way he will make atonement for the Most Holy Place because of the uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites, whatever their sins have been.”

(16:15–16, EMPHASIS ADDED)

The point here is that the presence of God has been removed from the people. God is outside the camp. The people are longing for God to come among them, but how can God come into a sinful community? How can God’s holy fire come into an unclean place? How can the Spirit of God enter an unholy life? The answer is that the atonement clears the way for God to come among His people.

Act 4: Sin Is Confessed

Imagine you are standing in the crowd. The next act without doubt will be the most dramatic part of the whole day: the appearance of a living sacrifice and a public confession for all the people. Remember, the people have not actually seen the atonement being made. That has remained hidden behind the curtain. They have seen the goat slaughtered, but after that, all the people could do was wait as the high priest went into the Most Holy Place to sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat.

But now the high priest comes out, and the second goat is brought to him. Here’s what happens:

“When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the Tent of Meeting and the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat. He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head.”

(vv. 20–21)

In many churches, when there is a service of dedication for an infant, the pastor will hold the child while he says a prayer. This can cause some problems with struggling children who understandably do not want to be separated from their parents and thrust into the arms of a stranger with a loud voice and a microphone. I have often struggled to offer a coherent prayer as a wriggling two-year-old tried desperately to escape my clutches. On one occasion, my prayer was cut short as a small child became sick over my shoulder!

But such problems are nothing compared with what the high priest had to do here. He was charged with the responsibility of confessing all the sins of Israel while laying both hands on the head of the live goat!

I don’t suppose for a moment that the live goat was particularly cooperative as the high priest tried to offer his prayer. There must have been a great deal of noise, and perhaps some kicking of hooves as the high priest struggled to keep control of the animal and at the same time to confess the sins of the people.

“We have evaded the truth; we have exaggerated, deceived, embellished, and distorted.”

If you had been in the crowd, you might have heard a prayer similar to this: “Almighty God, we confess our idolatry. We have loved Your gifts more than we have loved You. We confess our envy. We have seen what You have given to others, and we have coveted that for ourselves. We confess our adultery; in our minds and for some with our bodies we have sinned against You. We also confess our anger. We have been determined to have our own way. We have been short-tempered and unkind to others. We confess our stealing. We have not lived up to the trust that has been placed in us, and we confess our lies. We have evaded the truth; we have exaggerated, deceived, embellished, and distorted.”

Since the high priest had to confess all the sins of the people, this would have been a long prayer. While he was unable to confess the details of every individual sin, the high priest prayed in such a way that the people recognized that there were specific sins that needed to be dealt with. If you had been standing in the crowd listening to the prayer, eventually you would have thought, Yes, that sin is one of mine.

When the high priest confessed the sins of the people with his hands laid on the head of the goat, an act of transfer took place. God moved the guilt of these sins onto the goat. God regarded these sins as being placed on the head of the goat, and being carried by the goat.

Act 5: Guilt Is Removed

What happens next on the Day of Atonement is a marvelous picture of how God deals with our sins when they have been confessed and atonement has been made.

God is using this wonderful visual aid to help us picture how He deals with our sins. As atonement is made and sin is confessed, it is as if that sin is transferred onto the goat’s head. It is removed from the person and laid on the goat. So at the end of the prayer you have one very guilty goat!

Then the high priest sends the guilty goat into the desert:

“He shall send the goat away into the desert in the care of a man appointed for the task. The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a solitary place; and the man shall release it in the desert.” (vv. 21–22)

I cannot imagine a more powerful visual presentation of the gospel.

Again, picture yourself in the crowd watching this act. The high priest has finished confessing your sins. Your guilt has been transferred to the goat, and now someone comes forward and leads the goat away. You watch him go between the tents and then beyond them outside the camp and into the desert. You watch until the man and the goat are only a dot on the horizon, and then you cannot see them at all.

The entire Day of Atonement was a series of visual aids in which God was teaching the basic truths that we need to grasp:

- We need a priest, who will lay aside his dignity and honor and come as a servant to make atonement for the people.

- That priest needs to be prepared, because a man with his own sins cannot atone for the sins of others.

- Atonement can only be made by the shedding of blood. In this way the justice of God will be satisfied, and mercy will be released to the people.

- Sin must be confessed, and when it is, its guilt will be transferred.

- When atonement has been made and sin has been confessed, then your guilt will be removed. It will be taken out of your sight.

I cannot imagine a more powerful visual presentation of the gospel. This five-act drama was like a dress rehearsal for the real performance that took place when Jesus Christ came into the world. It was a like a preview, telling us what to look for and what to expect when He came.

Run forward through fifteen hundred years of history and you move from the dress rehearsal to the opening night, from the preview to the main event. The main event features Jesus Christ in the role of the High Priest.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

As we indicated, the events of the Day of Atonement are a preview of the main action when Christ appeared to the people of Israel. Let’s look at the five-act drama that unfolds with His coming.

ACT 1: CHRIST APPEARS

In the New Testament another High Priest appears. He is not another son of Aaron (all high priests had descended from Aaron). This Priest is the Son of God! His glory is much greater than the splendid clothes worn by the high priest. He shared the glory of the Father before the world began.

However, just as the high priest discarded his magnificent clothing on the Day of Atonement, Christ laid aside His glory. He took on Himself the form of a servant (see Philippians 2:6–7). He was wrapped in strips of cloth and laid in a manger. When Christ was born, the real drama of atonement was about to begin.

ACT 2: CHRIST IS PREPARED

As we read through the Gospels, we find that Jesus Christ lived a life that was different from any other life that has ever been lived. He did the will of the Father and fulfilled all the work that the Father had given Him to do.

He could ask His enemies if any of them were able to accuse Him of sin, and they responded only with name-calling (see John 8:46–48). This High Priest was unlike any other. He did not need to offer a sacrifice for His own sin. He committed no sin (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:22).

He was what every other priest wished he could be. He lived the life that no other high priest was able to live. His perfect life qualified Him to achieve what all the other high priests could only illustrate.

ACT 3: CHRIST MAKES ATONEMENT

After three years of His public ministry, Jesus was arrested and sentenced to be crucified. As He was nailed to the cross, His blood was shed, and His life was poured out. The judgment of God represented by the cherubim fell on Him. Darkness covered the face of the earth, and He cried out from His agony, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” At the end, He cried out in a loud voice, “It is finished,” and the inner curtain in the temple that surrounded the Most Holy Place was ripped from top to bottom (Mark 15:34, 37–38; John 19:30). Atonement was made by our great High Priest, and a new and living way was opened into the presence of God.

ACT 4: WE CONFESS OUR SINS

This is where you have a part to play in the drama. Remember that there were two goats on the Day of Atonement. One was sacrificed, and the other was led into the desert. Both of these animals help us to understand what Christ does for His people. He is one who sacrificed His life as the atonement for our sins, but He is also the one who is able to take away our guilt. The work of Christ is so rich that it cannot be fully represented in any one picture.

The high priest laid both hands on the head of the animal and confessed the sins of the people. Now God says to us, “That is what I want you to do. I want you, in an act of faith, to lay hold of the LORD Jesus Christ. I want you to confess your sins, and when you do, this is what will happen: Your guilt will be transferred to Christ. It will be laid on Him, and included in the sin for which He died.”

Have you done that? Remember, Christ, the perfect High Priest, has appeared. Atonement has been accomplished in His death. His atonement is sufficient to cover the sins of the whole world. The question is whether that atonement has been applied to your sins in particular. That happens when you lay hold of Jesus Christ in faith and confess your sin to Him. As the hymn “Not All the Blood of Beasts” declared,

Not all the blood of beasts on ancient altars slain

Could give the guilty conscience peace or wash away the stain.

But Christ the heavenly lamb bears all our sin away

A sacrifice of nobler name and richer blood than they.

My faith would lay her hand on that dear head of Thine

While like a penitent I stand, and there confess my sin.

—ISAAC WATTS [ADAPTED]

When faith has laid its hand on Christ and confession has been made, then guilt is transferred and you can look back to the Cross and know that your guilt and your sin were dealt with there.

OUR SINS ARE REMOVED

Try to imagine a person who has been struggling with a troubled conscience. Let’s call her Sarah. She has made a foolish choice, and her sin troubles her deeply. She feels that what she has done is always with her and she wonders if God can ever forgive her. Perhaps you know somebody like Sarah.

Now imagine Sarah in the crowd watching the great drama of the Day of Atonement. The following day, she is still struggling with her troubled conscience, when a friend comes to talk with her.

“Sarah, think about what you saw yesterday. What happened when the high priest grabbed that goat by the head?”

“He confessed our sins.”

“And did he confess your sin?”

“Yes, he did, and when he spoke about it, I felt so ashamed.”

“What happened to the sins that he confessed?”

“They were laid on the goat’s head.”

“And what happened to the goat?” her friend asks.

“It was taken away.”

“How far was it taken, Sarah?”

“Farther than I could see.”

Take that picture and apply it to your own life. Can you see your sins lain on Jesus as you lay hold of Him in faith and confess your sins to Him? Can you picture those specific sins being taken away into the distance and out of sight? Can you believe that through the finished work of Christ your sin is not only forgiven but your guilt is also removed? Remember Scripture’s promise: “As high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:11–12).

UNLOCKED

The Day of Atonement illustrates how Christ has made atonement for our sins. When His blood was shed, God’s judgment was poured out, and mercy was released for sinners. The atonement is applied to your sins in particular when by faith you “lay hold of Christ,” believing in Him and confessing your sins to Him. Just as the sins of God’s people in the Old Testament were symbolically transferred to the goat as the priest laid hold of the animal and prayed, so God will transfer the guilt of your sin to Christ as you lay hold of Him with faith. And when God transfers your guilt, He also removes it from you, so that you can look up to God with the joy and freedom of someone who is truly forgiven.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

If you have not asked Jesus, the Great High Priest, to be your Savior, now is a good time to do so. Here is a prayer of thanksgiving and confession that will help you to “lay hold” of Jesus, who takes away our sins. into your life.

Gracious Father,

Thank You that the LORD Jesus Christ has come into the world to be my High Priest. Thank You that He was willing to lay aside His glory and to be born in a manger. Thank You for His perfect life that qualified Him to make atonement. Thank You that He has made atonement by laying down His life and shedding His blood.

I believe in the LORD Jesus Christ and, right now, trust in Him as my Savior and LORD. I want to confess my sins to You… [Take time to confess your sins to the LORD.]

Thank You that Christ died for these sins. Thank You for taking these sins from me. Help me now to enjoy the peace of knowing that You have taken them as far from me as the east is from the west, through Jesus Christ our LORD. Amen.

9

Blessing

LEVITICUS 26

If God’s love

is unconditional,

why does obedience

matter?

DISCOVER

why God loves you.

LEARN

how God disciplines His people.

WORSHIP

as you see how God’s love will never let you go.

THE popular children’s song says it very well:

Jesus loves me! This I know,

For the Bible tells me so.

Little ones to Him belong;

They are weak but He is strong.

Have you ever wondered why God loves you? Indeed, why did God choose someone like Abraham? As one who had been worshiping idols in Mesopotamia (Joshua 24:2), Abraham probably didn’t receive God’s love because of some great spiritual commitment or insight. Indeed, Abraham did not even know who God was!

On one occasion God seemed almost to tease His people with the prospect of an explanation of why He loves them. “The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples” (Deuteronomy 7:7). Our appetite for an answer is aroused. “Yes, Lord, we understand that the explanation of Your love for us does not lie in the strength of our numbers, but now tell us why You love us.”

God gave His people the final answer: “It was because the Lord loved you” (Deuteronomy 7:8).

The reason God loves you is simply “because the Lord loves you,” and you will never get a deeper answer than that! The explanation of the love of God for you lies in God alone. It lies in the source and not in the object. “He loves you because He loves you.”

GOD’S UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

This is quite beyond the range of our experience. It is very easy for me to explain why I love my wife. She captivated my heart; it was love at first sight. I “fell in love” with her. If we look for reasoned explanations of this phenomena, they are not hard to find. Her charming character, striking appearance, her unusual gifts, and warm personality evoked a response from me. It was like that when we met and it is still like that today. I am drawn to things that I see in her, and they evoke a response.

But God’s love is very different. The reason God loves you is not because He was smitten with your appearance, bowled over by your personality, knocked out by your good works, or swept away by the sheer genius of your talent. The explanation of God’s love for you does not lie in anything within you; it lies in God alone. God is love. He loves you…because He loves you!

The love of God has its explanation in its source. Only God is able to love the unlovely, the unskilled, the wounded, the inhibited, and even the rebel. Only God could love Abraham while he was still worshiping other gods. Only God still loves you in your worst moments.

Over the years I have had the opportunity of trying to help people who have been struggling with the question, “How can God love me?” The problem is that the question focuses all the attention on “me,” and when someone is depressed, or if he is struggling to come to terms with a personal failure, then thinking about “me” is not very encouraging. Thankfully, the reason God loves me has nothing to do with me at all. The explanation lies in God. So if we can get our attention away from ourselves and focus our thoughts on God, it will not be long before we are rejoicing in His love rather than deprecating ourselves.

WHY OBEDIENCE MATTERS

Now, at this point in the story of the Bible, we come up against a very important question. If it is true that God loves you unconditionally, why does obedience matter?

Toward the end of his life, Moses was clearly concerned that some of the people might already have been turning away from the living God. “When such a person hears the words of this oath [that is, God’s oath and promise to go on loving them unconditionally], he invokes a blessing on himself and therefore thinks, ‘I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way’” (Deuteronomy 29:19).

Can you see how one of God’s people might reach this kind of conclusion? “We’re God’s people, and God has given us the sacrifices to cover our sins. We have a High Priest who goes into the holy place on our behalf, and we have the Day of Atonement. Since God loves us unconditionally, all we need to do is to go through this religious ritual, and then for the rest of the week we can cut ourselves some slack. We can make room for some things that we know God forbids but that we happen to like doing.”

Moses saw some people who were beginning to think like that, and it has been the same ever since. How do we answer the person who says, “If God is committed to forgive me through the shed blood of Jesus, then I may live as I choose, in the knowledge that no matter what I do God will never stop blessing me. Why does obedience matter?”

God addressed this issue directly in Leviticus 26. He gave a long list of promises, but they were all conditional on the little word if.

“If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send…” (vv. 3–4)

And then God listed the blessings that would follow obedience. They included a strong economy (abundant harvests) and national security (victory over overwhelming enemies). In fact, God promised that five of His people would be able to overpower a hundred of their enemies (v. 8). That would cut the American defense budget a little bit if we had that blessing, wouldn’t it?

The greatest blessing that would follow obedience is the presence of God among His people. “I will put my dwelling place among you,” God said (v. 11). But all of this was conditional upon the massive “if” of obedience. “If you follow my decrees.”

Then God spoke about the consequences of disobedience.

“If you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant, then I will do this to you.” (vv. 14–16)

God then gave a list of the consequences of disobedience, some of which could make your hair stand on end. They included ill health, bad harvests, and defeat at the hands of enemies. In fact, God will go so far as to actually bring enemies against His people as a means of disciplining them in order to bring them back to Himself.

SIN AND SUFFERING

The Bible never suggests that all painful experiences are a result of sin. Jesus spoke with some folks who were asking why a certain man was born blind. They believed that all suffering was a direct result of sin, and so they assumed that the man’s blindness was either the result of his own sin or perhaps a consequence of his parents’ sin. Christ cut right through their assumption. The blind man’s suffering was not a direct consequence of anybody’s sin. On the contrary, the man’s blindness was an opportunity for the glory of God to be revealed (see John 9:1–3).

Job’s three friends operated on the same false assumption that all suffering is a direct result of personal sin. So when Job suffered, they thought that it was their job to help him identify the particular sin that was at the root of his suffering. They were like detectives looking for evidence, and they became more and more frustrated when they could not find any. At the end of the story, God stepped in and revealed that the purpose of Job’s suffering was quite different. Job was a man of integrity, and the supposed sin that his friends were looking for did not exist (see Job 4; 8; 11; 42:7–8). It is a great mistake to think that all suffering is a direct consequence of personal sin.

But it is equally mistaken to think that no suffering is a consequence of personal sin. Jonah sinned against the LORD, and God sent a great storm. God had called this successful preacher to go to a rather unattractive location, but Jonah did not want to go. He had a good crowd where he was, and frankly he did not care a whole lot about the people in Nineveh. So he found a ship heading in the opposite direction to the call of God and moved out in deliberate disobedience to the will of God.

Would God let him go or would God go after him? God loved this man far too much to let him go, and so God sent a storm, with the single purpose of bringing this man back to his senses and restoring him to the place where he could again be useful to God.

We will see later in the Bible story that for decades the nation of Israel lived in rebellion against God. God loved them, so He sent the prophets. The people would not listen; so God sent an invading army. They still would not change their ways, so finally God brought enemies who flattened the city of Jerusalem. It was a terrible devastation, the city lay in ruins for seventy years, and in the end the most able people were taken as exiles to Babylon.

While they were there, God began to work in the hearts of a new generation of men and women, and out of all this suffering came a group of people who loved the LORD. Then under Nehemiah they were able to come back and begin again. God brought His people back.

THE LOVE THAT WON’T LET GO

God’s unrelenting discipline is an aspect of His blessing for which we should be profoundly thankful. The only alternative would be for God to give us up.

Let’s take an imaginary couple, whom we’ll call Graham and Sheila. They fall very deeply in love and are married, and for ten years they share a good life together.

[The angels] must wonder why. The only explanation is the unprovoked, unrelenting, irrepressible love of God.

Then Sheila begins to notice some disturbing patterns in Graham’s behavior. He says he is at the office, but then when she calls the office, he is not there, and his colleague who answers the phone seems strangely evasive about where Graham has gone.

Then one day when she is sorting through some clothing, she finds a hotel receipt in his pocket, and suddenly some things that she has feared begin to fall into place in her mind. There is a reason for Graham’s coldness and distance. He is being unfaithful to her.

Sheila is no longer able to trust him, and the relationship that was once warm and intimate now becomes cold and distant. Sheila has three choices.

1. She can accept things as they are and carry on with the relationship.

2. She can leave the relationship and end her commitment to Graham.

3. She can fight for the relationship to be restored.

It does not take her long to decide. She loves this man and has committed her life to him. They have built a life together, and she is not about to let that go. So she chooses to confront him. But when she does, Graham is unwilling to address the issue. She is met with denials and evasions; soon he ends the conversation.

So now she has to face the same choice again. The thought of carrying on in this situation is incredibly painful. Her love is being given to a man who is unworthy of it and unresponsive to it. But how can she give him up?

She makes her choice. She will fight for Graham. She will fight for however long it takes, and however costly or painful it becomes. The same love that was once expressed in intimate union is now expressed in relentless determination.

That is a small picture of the love of God for us. God has committed Himself to an unconditional covenant. That means that God is committed to do whatever it takes to bring His people out of sin and into His blessing. The same love that caused Him to make an unconditional covenant causes God to be relentless in His pursuit of His people.

As the angels look at this, they must wonder why. The only explanation is the unprovoked, unrelenting, irrepressible love of God. The only alternative would be that He might give us up, and that is the one thing God cannot do with His people. God will not turn a blind eye when His people sin. He will fight to win them back.

God has set His love on His people. He has done it by grace, through faith, and in Jesus Christ at the cost of His shed blood. This relationship is infinitely precious to God, and He will go to any lengths to protect it and defend it. The problem for a woman in Sheila’s position is that she may not have a great deal of ammunition to turn Graham around. But what if God should decide to fight for the relationship He has with you?

When you enter a covenant with God, you need to know that He will never give you up and He will never let you go. He is not content to have a relationship with you in name only. He wants to walk with you and to make you a channel of His blessing in the world. He cannot do that while you are distant from Him, and so He will fight to bring you back.

AGREEING WITH GOD’S CURSES

Shortly before God’s people came into the land of Canaan, God used a powerful visual aid to teach His people the priority of obedience. He brought them to a place where there were two hills, with a valley between them. The two hills were called Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. (See map on opposite page.) When the people came to the pass between the mountains, Moses sent representatives from each of the tribes to the top of these two hills. The story is recorded in Deuteronomy 27–28.

The Levites on the top of Mount Ebal were to shout out the curses from the law of God as the people passed through the valley beneath them. Picture this in your mind: You are one of a vast crowd of people walking along a country path, and high on a rock above you are a group of men shouting, “Cursed is the man who carves an image or casts an idol” (Deuteronomy 27:15). When you hear this threat of a curse being shouted over your head, you have to join with all the other people on the path by saying, “Amen!”

You walk another few yards, and you hear somebody else shouting, “Cursed is the man who dishonors his father or his mother,” and again you say, “Amen.”

The word amen means “so be it,” and when you say “Amen,” you are saying, “That’s exactly what I want to happen. That’s what I am asking God to do.”

This must have been an unforgettable experience! When they said “Amen” to the curses, the people were really saying, “LORD, I know my own heart. I know that when I am surrounded by the pressure of an unbelieving culture it is very easy for me to cave in, and I do not want You to let me do that. I want to be accountable to You, LORD.

“If, at any time in the future, I am stupid enough to choose a path of disobedience, I want You to intercept me and bring that plan to nothing. [That’s what the word curse means.] If I use deception, expose me. If I sin in secret, bring it out into the open. If I start living for myself and for my pleasure, take pleasure from me until I find pleasure in You. If I begin to live for money, let the value of my shares fall and go on falling until I love You more than I love money.”

[The] way into God’s blessing… goes past Mount Ebal, where you renounce sin.

How do you feel about making that kind of commitment to God? It seems demanding, doesn’t it? And the response of your heart is a register of where your heart is.

Suppose in your heart you are not so sure that you want to pursue this life of loyalty to God. You want at least to keep your options open. If you had been at Mount Ebal, you might have mumbled your response and tried to mask the fact that you never said “Amen” at all. Are there sins that you would not want God to curse? Are there issues you would like God not to touch? There is only one way into God’s blessing, and it goes past Mount Ebal, where you renounce sin and call on God to keep you from it.

ENTERING INTO THE BLESSING OF GOD

But beyond Mount Ebal lies Mount Gerizim, the mountain of God’s blessing. Having passed Ebal, where they renounced sin, God’s people now walked under Mount Gerizim where another group of Levites shouted out the blessings of God.

“You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country…. You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out” (28:3, 6).

God was saying, “I will be with you. My hand will be upon you. Though enemies come against you, I will protect you. I’m going to bless you. You will know My presence and I will give you My peace.”

Whenever the people looked up to the hills, these two mountains would have reminded them that there are two ways to live and that they lead to two entirely different experiences of the love of God. The path of disobedience leads us to experience the discipline of God’s love as He does whatever it takes to bring us back to Himself. The path of obedience leads us to experience the blessing of His love as He continues to shower good gifts upon His people.

Moses set out these choices for the people, and then with all the passion of an aging leader he spoke some of his final words to the people:

“This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and holdfast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” (30:19–20)

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

This is why Jesus Christ came into the world. “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full,” He said (John 10:10). It is the evil one who comes to kill and to steal and destroy. Christ made it very clear that the two paths—one of obedience, the other of disobedience—lead not only to different experiences in this life, but ultimately to two different destinations. (See His warning in Matthew 7:13–14.) Christ bore the curse for us so that it would be possible for us to get off the road that leads to destruction and onto the road that leads to life.

Look back on the last ten years of your life. What do you see? Is there a pattern of your pressing against the laws of God and pushing outside the boundaries of His commandments? Are those years a story of you resisting God, and then God confronting the problem to bring you back? Have you been wearing yourself out by resisting His will and His truth?

What will the next ten years look like? Choose life! Choose the path of His blessing.

UNLOCKED

God’s love for His people is unconditional. But the love that blesses is also the love that disciplines. King David discovered this when he tried to cover up his sin of adultery. He wrote about it in Psalm 32, where he described the pain of a double life. “My bones wasted away,…Day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my [energy] was sapped as in the heat of summer.” That’s what he experienced from the God who loved him. God’s hand was heavy upon him. But when he confessed his sin, he was able to say, “Blessed is the man whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.”

God wanted to restore His blessing to David, and He was ready to do whatever it would take. That’s unconditional love.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Almighty God,

I praise You because You will never let me go. But I also thank You that You will never leave me as I am. Thank You for Your unbreakable covenant and thank You for Your unrelenting discipline.

Sometimes I want to hold on to things that You have cursed. Have mercy on me, oh God. Help me to say “amen” to Your curse on every sin so that I may enter into Your blessing.

Bring me back from foolish ways and restore me to the path of intentional obedience. Hear my prayer for the sake of Jesus Christ who came to bring me into life. Amen.

10

Courage

NUMBERS 13–14

How can we

contribute to

advancing

God’s purpose

in the world?

DISCOVER

the key to costly commitment.

LEARN

how God’s people lost their way and how we can avoid their disastrous mistake.

WORSHIP

as you see the courage of Christ, who held nothing back in His pursuit of the will of God.

TEN months is a long time to spend at one campsite, but that is how long the Israelites were camped at the foot of Mount Sinai. It took them two months to get from the Red Sea to Sinai (Exodus 19:1), and by the time the tabernacle was set up, a full year had passed.

God used that time to turn a confused crowd into a disciplined nation. By the end of the year, the people had an ordered way of worship, a functioning legal system, and, through leadership in each of the tribes, a system of government and communication that worked reasonably well.

The book of Numbers takes up the story where Exodus left off, “on the first day of the second month of the second year” after their deliverance from Egypt (Numbers 1:1). God told Moses to “take a census of…all the men in Israel twenty years old or more who are able to serve in the army” (1:2–3). That gives us the clue as to what this book is about; God was leading these people into warfare. He was preparing them for a military campaign in which they would enter the land God had promised to them. Costly battles and ultimate victory lay before them.

The book of Genesis tells us that God chooses His people; Exodus tells us that He redeems His people; Leviticus tells us God is among His people; Deuteronomy (which comes next in chronological order) tells us that God loves His people; and Numbers tells us that God commissions His people. God’s chosen, redeemed, holy, and dearly loved people were now being sent to war.

The early chapters of Numbers describe their preparation for breaking camp and moving on from Sinai. The twelve tribes were camped around the tabernacle, three to the north, three to the south, three to the east, and three to the west. If you could have looked at these two million people from the air, the traveling nation would have resembled a giant cross, moving across the desert floor. It must have been quite a sight: nearly two million people, ordered, disciplined, with each one knowing his own place and with the presence of God at the center. It is little wonder that the sight would soon strike fear into their enemies.

“On the twentieth day of the second month of the second year, the cloud [of God’s presence] lifted from above the tabernacle” and began to move (Numbers 10:11). And so we come to the best-known story in the book of Numbers, the story of the spies in Canaan.

The LORD said to Moses, “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites.” (13:1–2)

Moses obeyed and sent them off, and they traveled through the land for forty days gathering information. But when they got back, things began to go badly wrong. The majority took the view that the land couldn’t be conquered. Their pessimism spread, and the people lost heart. They were unwilling to press forward in obedience to God’s command. Instead, they complained (see 13:31–14:4).

Twelve Tribes Camped Around the Tabernacle

God determined that this generation of grumblers and complainers would not enter the land. They spent the next thirty-eight years in the desert until that whole generation had died and their children had taken their place.

In a sense, Numbers is a book that need never have been written. It is the story of an unnecessary detour, of a group of God’s people who were faced with an open door of opportunity but held back when they should have pressed forward. God recorded this sad experience of His people to warn us about the long-term consequences of cowardly choices. Even though we belong to God, there is still the danger that we may miss our calling and become a group of wandering, aimless people who mark time for a generation.

The prospect is frightening, and that is why the book of Numbers is so valuable to us. If we can understand where these people went wrong, it will help us to avoid repeating their mistakes.

GRUMBLING AND COMPLAINING

According to Numbers 11:1, “The people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the LORD.” They began by complaining about their food, and then Miriam and Aaron began to complain against Moses (Numbers 12). It is always dangerous to complain about God’s gifts, and it is quite clear that the spirit of grumbling was displeasing to God.

God gave them their food, and God gave them their leader, but somehow at the very point where great things lay ahead of them, a negative spirit emerged, and this group of people who had been uniquely blessed by God became deeply dissatisfied with what God had given them.

It is very difficult to make good decisions when you have a bad attitude. If in your heart you feel deeply dissatisfied with what God has given to you, be very careful! That’s where God’s people were when they made the mistake of a lifetime.

This critical spirit drained strength from their spiritual convictions. It sapped the passion of their commitment to the Lord and left them spiritually limp, so that when the moment of decision came, they moved in the wrong direction. Critical, complaining people usually end up choosing the wrong path. Behind a bad decision you will usually find a bad attitude.

COMPLACENT LEADERS

When the twelve spies were sent out, there was one representative from each of the tribes. All of them are described as “leaders of the Israelites” (Numbers 13:3). They were sent out to gather information that would help Moses form a plan to accomplish the will of God. After a forty-day trip behind enemy lines, they returned to tell Moses that, in effect, the plan of God was not practical!

“We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” (13:31)

They were saying, “We can’t do it. The land is good, but it is already occupied by powerful forces. This whole project is beyond us.”

Notice that they made no reference to God in their report. They simply announced the view that “on the basis of data available we are unable to progress further with the purposes of God at the present time.”

Here were leaders who had stopped asking, “What does God want us to do?” and had begun asking, “What seems manageable?” Whenever leadership makes that shift, it will be costly for the people of God. It is a powerful lesson for all who are trusted with the responsibility of leadership. We dare not ask the question “What is manageable?” We must focus our attention on what God is calling us to do. If we lose that proper focus, we will operate at a purely pragmatic level. That often is the beginning of years of aimless wandering in ineffective ministry.

Only two members of the team took a different view. Joshua and Caleb presented a minority report focusing on the fact that God was with them, but by the time they were given the opportunity to speak, the people had already made up their minds.

[We] must see beyond the data and trust in God.

The Canaan report was a catalog of disasters. The research team made their report in the wrong place: They were commissioned by Moses, but they made their report to all the people. They exceeded their authority: They were asked to bring back information, but they went beyond that and made a recommendation. The result was that the people ended up discussing an issue that never should have been brought before them. The question to be decided was not if they should go into Canaan, but how they should go into Canaan.

Moses allowed the situation to get out of control, and the people ended up making a bad decision over an issue that should never have been brought before them in the first place. It brought the whole community to the verge of disaster.

There are some very important lessons for us here. If the people of God are to advance God’s purpose, they must be thankful, and their leaders must be people of faith. They must see beyond the data and trust in God. Here are two critical tests of the health of any church. Is there a grateful and unified spirit among the people? Is there a spirit of faith among the leaders?

CASTING YOUR VOTE FOR COSTLY OBEDIENCE

It is very easy for us to sit in comfortable surroundings and imagine that if we had been asked to vote on entering the land of Canaan, we would have shouted “Yes!” I wonder if you would.

Before we judge them for their feeble choice, let’s take a moment to try and stand in their shoes. True, God had done more for them than they had ever asked or thought. He had led them out of Egypt, forgiven their sins, and provided them with food every day in the desert. But they recognized that now the LORD was asking them to do something that would be very costly: to enter a pagan land, Canaan, and take ground that had become a stronghold of Satan. That would mean war, and people would die in the fighting.

So put yourself in their shoes. If you were one of the women, would you vote for entering Canaan when you knew that it was at least possible that your husband would be one of those whose lives would be taken? If you were one of the men, would you vote for a military campaign that could involve you in up to seven years of military service?

I can understand why, when crunch time came, many people were happy to stay in the desert, offering their sacrifices and enjoying the presence of God. That way they could have all their evenings at home, raise their children in peace, and continue to enjoy the blessing of God that they had known since they left Egypt.

Yet it was God who was calling them forward. This seemed to have carried little weight with these people. Many of them seemed to have lost their first love for the LORD. At one time they had danced for joy after God brought them over the Red Sea, but now they had their questions.

Their leaders, realizing that they were responsible for two million unhappy people, had stopped asking what God wanted them to do and were simply trying to work out what was manageable. “We are sorry to announce that we are at this time unable to do what God has clearly revealed, because having done a careful evaluation, we have decided that the personal cost of obedience to the will of God is too high.”

So the people made a choice.

“Let us die in this desert rather than deal with these fierce enemies,” they said (see 14:1–2). And that’s exactly what God allowed them to do; a whole generation perished because of unbelief shown in their complaints.

OFFENDING GOD

“How long will these people treat me with contempt?” (14:11)

If your commitment to the will of God is conditional on your personal comfort, then you are treating God with contempt. That is, you are glad to receive His good gifts, but care little for Him personally. God saw His people holding out their hands every day for fresh blessings, but they were not willing to serve Him if that involved going outside the boundaries of their own comfort. God found that to be personally insulting, and He said that “not one of [these people] will ever see the land I promised on oath to their forefathers” (14:23).

Now it is important to understand the point of all this. The lesson is not that they were finally lost. God was faithful to them even in the desert. They were still God’s people, and God provided food for them every day. He never left them. The point is not that they were saved and then somehow lost. The point is that this generation of people who had experienced the abundant grace of God contributed nothing to advancing the purpose of God.

The apostle Paul referred to this story in 1 Corinthians 10 and applied it to a local church where some people had become complacent. He reminded the Corinthian believers that “God was not pleased with [that generation]; their bodies were scattered over the desert” (10:5). In effect, Paul said, “You need to be careful that you don’t become unprofitable like the generation in the wilderness.” He told the Corinthians that this was why he exercised self-discipline in his own life. Having preached to other people, he did not want to become unprofitable; that is, a saved person who is of little use in advancing the purposes of God. (See his warning in 1 Corinthians 9:26–27.)

It would be very easy for me to live as a redeemed child of God within my own comfort zone, holding services of worship, rejoicing in the love of Christ, and doing nothing significant to advance the purposes of God. Similarly, it’s easy for churches that have been greatly blessed to grieve the Spirit and become unprofitable in the purposes of God. Once we see the danger, the great question is, “How are we going to avoid being like that?”

UNDERSTAND YOUR CALLING

Our calling is to a life of unconditional obedience to everything God has told us to do. The clearly revealed will of God for Israel in the book of Numbers was for the people to enter the land of Canaan. The clearly revealed will of God for His people today includes the Great Commandment—“Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength…[and] love your neighbor as yourself”—and the Great Commission—“Go and make disciples of all nations” (Mark 12:29–31; Matthew 28:19).

Our calling is not that we become sponges soaking up God’s blessing. Our calling is to a life of unconditional obedience to everything God has told us to do.

We are to go into cold, dark places in industry and business and love people. We are to go into the nations of the world, where Christ is not known, and where they may haul us before courts, and reclaim lives from the darkness in the name of Jesus Christ. We are to see to it that people are built up in their faith and established in authentic Christian lives. We are not called to a life of convenience.

The more God blesses you, the harder it may be to live a sacrificial life. The more God blesses a church, the easier it is to get the idea that our happiness is the ultimate end of all things. This is not the goal. The church exists to do the work that God has commissioned her to do. She exists to be fully obedient to Christ; to be His body, His hands, His feet in the world. The church exists to do whatever Christ says. We must be absolutely clear about our calling. Our calling is to obey Him.

COUNTING THE COST

It is interesting that in the early days after the Exodus, God shielded His people from the full cost of their calling.

When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. (EXODUS 13:17–18; EMPHASIS ADDED).

But then as time went on, God brought them to a place where obedience was more costly. It was time to face the battle.

I have vivid memories of my father taking me to an auction sale when I was young. He prepared me before we took our seats, telling me not to scratch my nose or make any other movement that could be considered as a bid. Then he added, “When you go into an auction sale, make sure you know your upper price limit.” That’s great advice for anybody going into an auction sale, but it would be a lousy approach to the Christian life.

Christ will not allow His followers to set an upper price limit. He said, “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:35). He also compared the kingdom of God to a pearl merchant who finally found a pearl of great value; the merchant sold all he had to buy it (see Matthew 13:45–46). Christ declared, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34).

Our calling is to a life of unconditional obedience; the price…is unknown.

Christ does not tell us what that cross will be, only that we have to be ready to take it up. Our calling is to a life of unconditional obedience; the price of such obedience is unknown. Maybe you feel that you wouldn’t go into anything where the price is unknown. Well, then you cannot be His disciple (see Luke 14:27). The starting point in following Christ is that it costs everything.

As followers of Jesus, you and I must be willing to say:

- “My money is Christ’s.” I don’t find it easy to say that, because there are many things that I would like to buy. But when I recognize that fact, the only question is, “What does He want me to do with it?”

- “My time is Christ’s.” I don’t find it easy to say that either, because there are many things that I would like to do. But when I have recognized that fact, the only question is, “What does He want to do with it?”

- “My life is Christ’s.” I certainly don’t find it easy to say that, because I have my own goals and plans. But when I recognize that fact, the only question is, “What does He want me to do with it?”

We must be absolutely clear about our calling. We must be ready to pay any price. To use a word that is in vogue right now, following Christ is extreme. There is no upper price limit.

KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE PRIZE

The Gospels record the revealing story of a wealthy man, a successful entrepreneur who knew in his heart that God was laying claim to his life. He came to Jesus one day and asked Him what he had to do to inherit eternal life (Matthew 19:16–22; Mark 10:17–22; Luke 18:18–23). Christ knew that money was strangling the man’s spiritual life, and that the only way he would ever be free was if he gave it away. “Go, sell everything you have,” Jesus said, “and give to the poor…Then come, follow me” (Mark 10:21). This man knew the calling, but like God’s people on the verge of Canaan, he struggled with the cost, and “he went away sad” (10:22).

If I could talk to this man, I’d say, “Don’t you realize that the Son of God just invited you to share life with Him? He gave you a personal invitation to follow Him. There are millions of people who will follow you in history, who would give anything they had to have the opportunity that was opened up to you!”

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

The life of Jesus had a very different outcome from the life of the wealthy man. Christ was crystal clear about His calling. “My food is to do the will of him who sent me” (John 4:34). He was sold out to that single purpose, and He was ready to pay any price. With incredible courage He set His face to go to Jerusalem:

“The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” (LUKE 9:22)

Peter came and said, “Don’t do that” (see Matthew 16:21–22), but Jesus set His face to go to Jerusalem. That’s courage.

The book of Hebrews gives us a clue about how Christ was able to do this. He endured the cross “for the joy set before him” (Hebrews 12:2). In other words, when God held the cross before Him, Christ did not focus on it. He looked through it to the joy that was before Him on the other side of the cross. He kept his eyes on the prize. He focused on the outcome, and Isaiah tells us that, “After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied” (Isaiah 53:11).

So here are two stories about different choices and outcomes. One story ends with a man who is sad; the other with a man who is satisfied. The difference is in their readiness to pursue the call of God, without regard for the cost. Sad or satisfied—which of these two words will describe what you feel when you look back on your life?

I will never forget sitting in a meeting in England listening to a great preacher of a previous generation, Dr. Alan Redpath. As I recall, he had already retired, and yet he felt that there was something more that he could do for Christ. He said, “I have asked God to give me ten more years so that I can give them wholly to Him.” He is with the LORD now, but I reckon that is just about exactly what happened.

If God gives you ten more years before Christ comes, what will you have done to advance the kingdom of God, to push beyond your own comfort zone, to do more than enjoy worship services and your own personal blessing?

UNLOCKED

Looking back on the history of the church, it is clear that some generations have contributed more to advancing the purposes of God than others. The book of Numbers leads us to expect that this would be the case; not all generations serve willingly. A critical spirit among people and a cowardly spirit among leaders will lead to an aimless wandering, which will contribute little to the purposes of God in the world.

The greatest challenge for the church of Jesus Christ is to grasp her calling, and then to look beyond the cost to the prize of God’s commendation.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Gracious Father, make me crystal clear about my calling.

Make me ready for any cost.

Keep my eyes focused on the crown that lies beyond the cross.

Let me put obedience to Christ before popularity.

Let me put obedience to Christ before profit.

Let me put obedience to Christ before pleasure.

Let Your purposes be advanced through my life.

Give me the power to do all these things through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

11

Giving

DEUTERONOMY 14–16

How can you

stay spiritually

healthy in a

materialistic

culture?

DISCOVER

how to handle the financial responsibilities that come with God’s blessing.

LEARN

God’s principles for giving and borrowing.

WORSHIP

as you see how Christ proclaims God’s Jubilee.

THE atmosphere was electric as the old man began to speak for the last time. He had been their leader for forty years, and it was hard to imagine life without him. The old man spoke with passion, like a father speaking to his children. His beard had turned white many decades ago, but his memory was still sharp as he recounted the years of their journey together; his vision was still clear as he spoke of critical choices that would shape their future.

Deuteronomy records the last words God spoke through Moses. The people were about to enter the land God gave to their forefathers, but Moses would not go with them. He would die before they entered the land, the mantle of leadership moving onto Joshua’s broad shoulders.

Forty years had passed since the people had left Egypt (Deuteronomy 1:3), and Moses reminded the people from where they had come. God had brought their parents to the verge of the Promised Land, but they had lacked the courage to press forward. Now God was giving the same opportunity to the next generation. They were ready for the challenge.

As the new generation stood on the verge of entering their inheritance, the great question was how would they handle the intoxicating effects of sudden prosperity. Financial security has a subtle way of sucking the spiritual life out of you. Success brings its own subtle tests; it can dull your spiritual passion.

Deuteronomy has more to say about the spiritual dangers of living in a prosperous society than any other book in the Bible. It is God’s handbook on maintaining spiritual health in a materialistic culture. God called His people to develop a culture of kindness in which they practiced giving, exercised restraint, and demonstrated their love for God and their neighbors in their handling of money.

PRACTICE GIVING

“Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year.” (14:22)

The Old Testament goes into great detail about how each tribe and family was to have a share of the land. The land was God’s gift, and from it they were able to earn a living. God says that they were to bring a tenth of all that they produced to the sanctuary as a grateful tithe to God.

In addition, every person in Israel had to attend three festivals. “Three times a year all your men must appear before the LORD your God at the place he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread [Passover], the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles” (16:16). These festivals were to be marked by joyful giving:

“No man should appear before the LORD empty-handed: Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the LORD your God has blessed you.” (16:16–17)

Remember that God was speaking these words through Moses in the desert to a group of people who didn’t own an acre of land among them. The land was still in the hands of their enemies. Moses said, “God is going to give you this land. It will be your means of income and it will sustain your life. What God has done for the last forty years with manna from heaven, He will now do through the crops of the land. But you must remember that it is still God who gives you everything that you have. So every year, work out your income, and then divide by ten. Then take that tenth and you give it to God.”

God’s principles of giving have not changed. In the New Testament, the strongest emphasis is on the spirit in which we give. “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). When you write that check supporting your local church, let it be an act of worship! Let it be an expression of your joy in what God has given you. The more the LORD prospers you, the larger your tenth will be, and the greater your joy in giving.

Remember that God was teaching His people how to maintain their spiritual health in a materialistic culture. When they went into the land of Canaan, the greatest danger was that they would be swamped by the pursuit of money and that the blessing of God would stifle their spiritual life. So God called them—and He calls us—to develop a habit and a culture of giving.

How is your giving to God? Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). It’s not that your treasure follows your heart; it is that your heart follows your treasure. If you keep all your treasure, then God will never have your heart. The first key to maintaining spiritual health in a materialistic culture is practice giving.

RESTRAIN GREED

The practice of giving was not limited to money; it also included the giving of time. God had established the principle of the Sabbath in the fourth commandment: “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work” (Exodus 20:8–10).

The Sabbath day was “holy to the LORD.” It was a day for worship and for the family; a day to be renewed in body, soul, and spirit. The Sabbath law remains of great importance in our 24-7 culture. I was speaking with a local restaurant owner recently, and he told me that he had only taken one day away from his work in the last ten months. He has a wife and a family, yet that is his lifestyle.

God says that on one day in seven we are to stop working. We are to give this day in a special way to God, and we are to use it to be renewed, restored, and refreshed. People will make different choices about what is appropriate on this day, but whatever we do, we must not make it another day of work.

If you think that is challenging, you ain’t heard nothing yet! Not only did God say that the people were to rest one day in seven, but the land was to also lie fallow for one year in seven.

The LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the LORD. For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a sabbath of rest, a sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest.’” (LEVITICUS 25:1–5)

God gave a special promise in connection with this law. He would send a bumper harvest in the sixth year so that there would be enough food to sustain the people through the seventh year and during the planting season of the eighth year (Leviticus 25:20–22).

How would you have reacted to the Sabbath year? Perhaps you would look at your fields and say to yourself, What a waste! This Sabbath law is costing me a whole year of income. Think of the money I could make if I had planted this out.

The Sabbath law placed a restraint on greed. God’s people were to learn how to say no to something good in order to say yes to something better. Thus, one year in every seven they passed up an opportunity for significant income in order to learn again that there is more to life than work and money. The highest good is not the bottom line.

In a world of greed, practice restraint. That’s the second key to maintaining spiritual health in a materialistic culture. I struggle with a temperament that wants to say yes to every opportunity. It is in my nature to load the plate twice full. Without the Sabbath principle of restraint, my life would have no margins. I need to take a day off, and I need to take my vacations. These are not luxuries; they are God’s principles for maintaining spiritual health.

CANCELING DEBTS

“At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.” (15:1)

Lending was encouraged in Israel. The whole nation was descended from one family, and so God said, “If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs” (15:7–8).

Notice the nature of the loan: We are to be “openhanded,” lending freely. In Israel, if you loaned money to another countryman, you could not charge interest (see Leviticus 25:36–37). You could charge reasonable interest to a foreigner, but not to your neighbor. Of course, that also meant that if you received a loan from a neighbor, there was an obligation to repay it as quickly as possible.

Today Christians are under an obligation to repay their debts: “Let no debt remain outstanding” (Romans 13:8). We honor God as we plan on repaying our loans. If you have benefited from someone else’s generosity through a loan without interest, do not take advantage of that kindness by failing to repay.

Let’s return to the case of granting a loan in ancient Israel. Suppose that after seven years your neighbor has been unable to repay you. There are circumstances of misfortune in which this could easily happen. What are you to do?

God says, “Write off the debt.”

God sets out a clear process by which this is to be done. The initiative is with the lender:

“Every creditor shall cancel the loan he has made to his fellow Israelite. He shall not require payment from his fellow Israelite or brother, because the LORD’S time for canceling debts has been proclaimed.” (15:2)

This law was obviously wide open to abuse. Let’s say Jared had been given a $10,000 interest free loan. He has paid back half, and it is the sixth year since the loan was made. He has $7,000 in the bank.

He opens his checkbook, and as he is about to write a check, his hand freezes.

I could give him $5,000, but then again, it’s only a few months till the year of canceling debts, Jared reasons. Maybe I’ll just wait. After all, he doesn’t need the money half as much as I do.

It is important to remember that the law was given to the people of God. The law presupposes grace. The whole of the law of God is an exposition of those two foundational principles: (1) We must love God with our whole heart and (2) we must love our neighbor as ourselves. Those principles of love extend into our handling of money. Love means that where I receive a loan through the kindness of my brother, I am under an obligation of love to repay him in full as soon as possible.

A TEST OF OUR HEARTS

The year of canceling debts tested the heart of the borrower and his commitment to repay, but it also tested the heart of the lender and his willingness to be generous. Suppose you have $50,000 in the bank, and your brother has come on hard times and needs a loan of $5,000. You look at the calendar and you notice that it is year six in the cycle, and the year of canceling debts begins in just a few months time! So you think to yourself, If I give him the money now, I don’t have much chance of getting it back before the year of canceling debts begins. But God said,

“Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: ‘The seventh year, the year of canceling debts, is near,’ so that you do not show ill will toward your needy brother and give him nothing.” (15:9)

These laws tested the hearts of the lender and the borrower. Am I willing to help my brother even if it proves to be costly? If I receive from my brother, am I the kind of person who will abuse his kindness?

Moses was teaching these principles to a group of people who owned no property and had no means of generating income. But God was about to trust them with significant wealth. When that happened, they were to give generously, practice restraint, and demonstrate grace in the way that they used their money. These laws were given specifically to Israel, but they search our hearts today. Even though we are not bound by these laws, they point to the kind of attitude God calls us to display.

RELEASING WORKERS AND SLAVES

If one of God’s people had a loan and was unable to pay it back, one way he could fulfill his responsibility was by working for the lender and paying off the loan in kind. God established very clear laws to protect the dignity of the worker in this situation. God’s people had been slaves in Egypt, and they were never to return to slavery again (Deuteronomy 15:15). As a result, the lender was not to become a slave master.

“If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave. He is to be treated as a hired worker.” (LEVITICUS 25:39–40)

The obligation of the employer went beyond kind treatment of the worker. The law protected freedom by requiring that a servant had to be released after seven years. If a man was working to repay a debt, he could always look forward to the day when his freedom and independence would be restored.

The releasing of slaves was different from the canceling of debts. The debts were written off for everybody at the same time. But the release of servants happened seven years from the day that the contract was made.

If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, sells himself to you and serves you six years, in the seventh year you must let him go free. And when you release him, do not send him away empty-handed. Supply him liberally from your flock, your threshing floor and your winepress. Give to him as the LORD your God has blessed you. (15:12–14)

The law to release slaves required a compassionate compensation for workers who must have owned little when they sold themselves (their labor) as servants. The law was intended to prevent the rich from exploiting the poor, and to protect the freedom of all the people.

RETURNING THE LAND

The time of canceling debts came around every seven years. Then, after seven cycles of seven years, there was a “once in a lifetime” festival in Israel called the Year of Jubilee. Once in every fifty years, the trumpet was to sound, and there was to be a great festival of grace.

“Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants.” (LEVITICUS 25:10)

In the fiftieth year, all of the land was to be returned to the original owners. So if an Israelite sold land in the fortieth year of the cycle, the price would be low, because the buyer would only have it for ten years, and then ownership would return to the seller. If the same Israelite bought land in the tenth year of the cycle, the price would be high because he would have the use of the land for forty years before he had to return it.

Ownership of the land could never be transferred. The land belonged to the LORD. All that could be bought or sold was the use of the land for a limited period of time.

Imagine the impact this would have on the community. Once in every lifetime, there would be a great restoration. The poor would be given a fresh start with the land that the LORD had given to that family at the beginning. The rich who had prospered would retain the capital they had made, but their children would start with the same amount of land.

The restoring of the land placed a check on the growing power of those who had accumulated wealth, and it meant that their children would have to find their own way in life rather than rely on massive accumulated inheritances of land that were passed on to them.

IGNORING THE LAW

Would you have liked to live under these laws? Your answer to that question will probably depend on whether you would be among the lenders or the borrowers. If your debts were greater than your assets, you would probably think that the year of canceling debts, the year of releasing servants, and the Year of Jubilee were marvelous gifts.

But if you were a potential lender, you would be in a different situation. Imagine Jethro, a man with significant wealth. He has several servants, has acquired a number of fields at a good price, and has been in the happy position of being able to make loans to three of his friends who have come on hard times. One day, Jethro sits down with his accountant to do some financial planning.

“Now, let’s see. The Sabbath for the land is coming up, and then it will be the year of canceling debts, followed by the Year of Jubilee. That means that there will be no harvest, then there are three loans to write off, and I am going to lose these fields that I have acquired over the last few years! And the seventh year is up for four of the men who are working off their debts for me, and so that means that I will have to go out and hire more staff. These laws are going to cost me a fortune!” His accountant nods his head in sad agreement.

No doubt about it. The Sabbath laws were great for the debtor, but costly for the creditor!

Moses gave the people these laws shortly before he died. The people went into the Promised Land under the leadership of Joshua, and after a few years they quietly forgot about the Sabbath laws. I can well imagine a committee meeting to discuss it.

“You know, next year is the year of canceling debts. This law of Moses is going to be very expensive. Let’s just take a pass on it this time, and we will look at it again if the economy is better in seven years.”

It seems to have been the same with the Sabbath for the land. The year of rest for the land was systematically ignored. Over the years that God’s people occupied the land, there should have been seventy years without cultivation. God counted the Sabbaths on which the land should have been left fallow. Then when the Babylonians took God’s people into exile, the land enjoyed its rest in one massive Sabbath, which lasted for seventy years (2 Chronicles 36:21).

Do you know how often the Jubilee happened? Never! Not once.

In their book on Jewish feasts, Kevin Howard and Marvin Rosenthal noted, “The observance of the Jubilee Year, like that of the Sabbatical Year, was also neglected during Israel’s early history. In fact, there is no historical record, biblical or extra-biblical, that Israel ever once observed the Jubilee Year.”[1]

The people who had the power to call the Jubilee never had the will to do so, because for them it would have been very costly. So the history of Israel was one of frustration for the poor. This is why the eighth-century prophets Isaiah and Amos were so scathing about those who had accumulated wealth and had no regard for the poor. The laws that God had given to restore the economic structure of the nation were systematically ignored.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

As the years passed, people must have wondered if the nation would ever have a leader who would have the authority and the will to sound the trumpet and proclaim a Jubilee Year.

There was one king who got close. The prophet Jeremiah wrote that King Zedekiah proclaimed a year of freedom for the captives, but later he changed his mind, and it never happened (Jeremiah 34:8–20). Then after the exile, when Jerusalem was rebuilt, the people establishing the new community made a commitment to observe the Sabbath of the land and cancel all debts on the seventh year (Nehemiah 10:31), but that hardly happened either.

Then Jesus came into the world, and Luke tells us about the day He began His public ministry. Jesus went to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day, He went into the synagogue. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him, and unrolling it, He found the place where it is written, “The Spirit of the LORD is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the LORD’S favor” (Luke 4:18–19; italics added).

Jesus rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and then He sat down. Everybody was watching Him. “Today,” He said “this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). Christ has proclaimed God’s year of forgiving debts and God’s year of restoring the inheritance that men and women had lost. We are still living in that “year” of the Lord’s favor.

The Sabbath laws were great for the debtor but costly for the creditor, and the cost to God of canceling all our debts and restoring our inheritances was incalculable. It cost the death of His Son, Jesus Christ.

The only way to write off a debt is to incur the loss of the amount of the debt personally. If you owe me $1,000, and I write it off, then I incur a loss of $1,000. And if God is to write off all our debts to Him, it will mean that He has to incur the total cost of that debt in Himself. That is why Christ went to the cross. He bore the loss, and in this way canceled our debts and restored the inheritance of everlasting life.

This is good news for the poor! Christ was saying to the people “You’ve been looking to your political leaders to implement the Jubilee, and it has never happened because it is far too costly. But God is going to do a far greater thing for you. He has anointed Me to come and to preach this good news to the poor: God will cancel all debts; God will restore lost inheritances.” Indeed, in Jesus Christ that is what He has done.

UNLOCKED

Money is powerful. It can gain a grip on our hearts. If we do not master our money, then our money will master us. The spiritual disciplines of proportionate giving and exercising restraint will help to break the power that money can so easily hold over us. God calls His people to develop a culture of kindness. Let us give a practical expression of our love for God and each other in the ways that we use our money.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Gracious and forgiving Father,

I confess that the more You give me, the more I want to keep. Deliver me from the love of money and give me a generous heart.

Thank You for writing off my debts and absorbing the cost through Your death on the cross.

Pour Your Spirit into my heart that I may be a person who practices giving and exercises restraint. As You have blessed me, help me to bless others.

Through Jesus Christ my LORD I pray. Amen.

NOTE

1. Kevin Howard and Marvin Rosenthal, The Feasts of the Lord (Nashville: Nelson, 1997), 197.

12

Evil

DEUTERONOMY 19

How can we

create a culture

that is conducive

to holiness?

DISCOVER

why God calls parents to exercise appropriate discipline in the home.

LEARN

God’s principles for dealing with personal grievances.

WORSHIP

as you see how Christ delivers us from the full penalty of the Law.

DURING my first visit to northern India, I discovered that adultery was almost unknown amongst married men in villages. When I asked about the reason for this, I was given a very simple explanation. If a man was unfaithful to his wife, the rest of the men in the village would give him “a going-over” down by the river. This brought about a certain restraint amongst the village men and so adultery was rare, and marriages, while not necessarily particularly happy, were at least fairly stable.

On the other hand, I found that corruption was rife in India. The explanation again was simple. “People turn a blind eye to the bribe.”

A culture can be defined as “what most people think is acceptable.” Whatever a community approves will multiply, and whatever a community opposes will diminish.

As the people of God gathered at the edge of the Promised Land, Moses had one last opportunity to bring the Word of God to them. As they entered the land, God’s people faced new challenges.

How would the community apply God’s laws? What would they do when one of their number flagrantly broke God’s Law? Would God’s people confront the problem or would they turn a blind eye and ignore it? Perhaps they’d punish some violations more severely than others. The way in which the community responded to different kinds of evil would determine which ones would multiply and which would diminish.

Moses challenged the people of God to create a culture conducive to holiness—to regard every sin as God does. Moses called them to be a community that would support and foster the life that God had called His people to lead.

A CULTURE THAT ENCOURAGES RIGHTEOUS LIVING

This is still a burning issue for the church today. Churches create their own culture. What most people consider acceptable in a particular church will multiply, and what most people think unacceptable in that church will diminish. A healthy church is a community of people who care enough to encourage each other in the pursuit of a consistent, holy life. It also is a community of people who care enough to confront each other over issues of sin. If a member of Christ’s body chooses a pattern of sin and refuses to give it up, that person needs to feel the weight of the whole community’s disapproval. Such disapproval is the most powerful statement that can be made this side of the final judgment of God.

God could have given the Ten Commandments and said, “These are the laws, and it will be up to every individual to apply them.” But God did not do that. He gave the Law to His people and said, “If these laws were openly flouted, then the community must act. You must be ready to do something about it. You must create a culture in which there is every encouragement to righteousness and every restraint against evil.”

If you were an observer in ancient Israel, it would not be long before you got the message: “Around here we live by the Law of God. If you honor God’s Law you will be blessed; if you fail God’s Law you will be forgiven; if you flout God’s Law you will be in trouble.”

Our choices are heavily influenced by our nature and our environment, and when we come to Christ, God changes both. He changes our nature through the new birth, and He brings us into a new environment called the church. The church is the environment in which relationships are formed that will encourage us toward obedience and discourage us from sin. We need encouragement because we are often weak, and we need restraint because we are often willful.

As we hear God’s words to His people through Moses in Deuteronomy, we will discover the distinctive marks of a culture that is conducive to holiness, and we will learn how these principles apply to us in the family, the nation, and the church.

PROTECTING THE VULNERABLE

God told the people that when they settled in the land, they were to identify three centrally located cities and then build roads to them so that each would be accessible from any part of the country. These towns were to be cities of refuge, places where “anyone who kills a man may flee” for safety (19:2–3).

Moses gave an example of the kind of situation in which these cities will be used. Two men are out in the forest cutting trees, and there is a terrible accident. The head of one man’s ax flies off the handle, and it hits his colleague and kills him. When the dead man’s family hears about it, they do not believe that it was an accident. They’re convinced it was criminal negligence, and they set out after the hapless woodcutter intent on vengeance (vv. 5–6).

The cities of refuge provided a place of protection for a vulnerable person until there could be a proper inquiry into what happened. The incident with the axe may have been criminal negligence, or it may have been a terrible accident, but among God’s people there was to be a proper, legal process for determining the truth. The community was to make sure that vulnerable people were protected from those who would take the law into their own hands.

Some time ago our church hosted some tribal people from a remote part of Venezuela. They had not heard the gospel, until some Evangelical Free Church missionaries brought the message of Christ’s love to them. Many of the tribal people received Christ. It transformed their whole culture.

One of the tribal leaders explained, through double translation—first to Spanish and then to English—the difference that the gospel had made. “Before the gospel came to our culture, disputes were always resolved with the sword,” he told our congregation. “Now we have a council to resolve disputes.”

That is a wonderful reflection of how God calls a community to function. God is saying, “You must uphold the rule of law; you must have a proper process for dealing with grievances.”

Another crucial principle for protecting the vulnerable is that

One witness is not enough to convict a man accused of a crime…. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. (v. 15)

Suppose someone makes a slanderous accusation in public. It may be completely untrue, but once it is made, people often conclude, “There’s no smoke without fire,” and it may be extremely difficult for a falsely accused person to defend himself.

Knowing this, an enemy may come forward with false accusations. How does a community protect against such slander? God says that if someone brings accusations that prove to be false, the court should do to him as he intended to do to his brother (vv. 18–19). The effect of this will be that, “The rest of the people will hear of this and be afraid, and never again will such an evil thing be done among you” (v. 20).

AN EYE FOR AN EYE

The whole point of these laws is that the vulnerable must be protected. And it is in this context that God instructed His people:

Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. (v. 21)

“An eye for an eye”… simply established the principle of fair compensation.

Some people are surprised that this statement is in the Bible, and it is important that we understand it correctly. God never intended that if you knock my tooth out, you should then stand against a wall while I line up my punch to knock yours out as well! “An eye for an eye” is not an invitation to retaliatory violence. His command simply established the principle of fair compensation.

God gave a specific application of this principle in Exodus 21:23–27. Suppose a slave owner struck his slave and blinded him. The Law demanded that the slave should be compensated in some way, “eye for eye, tooth for tooth” (Exodus 21:24). God did not intend the blinded slave to put out his owner’s eye! The principle is that there should be compensation, and in this case, God says that the slave should be given his freedom (21:26).

“An eye for an eye” also teaches us that compensation should be in proportion to the damage done. It is an eye for an eye, not two eyes, an arm, and a leg! God’s Law places restraints on the injured person who says, “You have made me suffer and so I will make you suffer ten times over.”

God’s Law puts matters of compensation firmly in the courts. It gives guidance to judges by telling them that they are not to make huge and disproportionate awards, but are to keep a due sense of proportion. “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” Properly understood, this is a principle that we desperately need today, in a society where a simple injury is sometimes seen as an opportunity to make a fortune. The community must protect the vulnerable.

RESTRAINING THE WICKED

The Bible speaks to life in a fallen world where the sad reality is that some people are simply wicked. God identifies some specific areas in which wickedness must be restrained for the health and safety of the whole community.

Suppose, God said, that “a man hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him, assaults and kills him” (Deuteronomy 19:11). Here is an example of deliberate, premeditated, cold-blooded murder. The first thing that the murderer will do is to run to one of the cities of refuge. But he is not to be protected from the consequences of his actions. The elders of the town are to bring him back, and then his life is to be taken (v. 12). God made the reason for this very clear:

Show him no pity. You must purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, so that it may go well with you. (v. 13)

This theme of “purging evil” is repeated through Deuteronomy almost like a refrain. For example, in a case of perjury, where someone has deliberately lied in order to harm another person, God said, “Do to him as he intended to do to his brother. You must purge the evil from among you” (19:19). Or in a case of adultery, “if a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel” (22:22). In a case of kidnapping, “if a man is caught kidnapping one of his brother Israelites and treats him as a slave or sells him, the kidnapper must die. You must purge the evil from among you” (24:7). In the case of a prophet among God’s people who comes with signs and wonders but calls the people to follow other gods, “that prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he preached rebellion against the LORD your God…. You must purge the evil from among you” (13:5).

When all of these laws are put together, it might give the impression that God’s people were in constant danger of capital punishment! In actual fact, the number of offenses that called for the death penalty were remarkably few, and they related to three primary values: the worship of God (“You shall have no other gods before me”), the sanctity of life (“You shall not murder”), and the sanctity of marriage (“You shall not commit adultery”).

These are the central pillars of society, and God called the whole community to pull together and uphold them.

RESTORING THE PENITENT

It is important to remember that at the same time God gave His laws, He also gave the sacrifices to His people. God established the death sentence for idolatry, but He also gave His people the sacrifice as a way to make atonement for their sinful rebellion. After the Israelites made the golden calf in the desert, God provided a sacrifice as a way of deliverance.

Similarly, God’s Law called for adulterers to be stoned. But God forgave David when he repented after his sin with Bathsheba. Forgiveness and restoration were always in the mind and heart of God. The sacrifices provided a way out of the full penalties of the Law.

The mercy of God in the sacrifices meant that there was room for restoring grace in the community. This is implicit in the Old Testament and explicit in the New (see, for example, Galatians 6:1; James 5:19–20).

The power of restoration was never more beautifully seen than on the day when some Pharisees, a respected group of religious leaders, dragged a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery before Christ. They wanted Jesus the Teacher to sanction the full implementation of the Law.

Christ responded, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7). Then Christ went to the woman and He said to her, “Has no one condemned you?…Then neither do I condemn you…. Go now and leave your life of sin” (John 8:10–11). Under the justice of God’s Law, she would have been dead, but in the mercy of God she was given a new lease on life. “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our LORD” (Romans 6:23).

PUTTING THE PRINCIPLES INTO PRACTICE

If it is God’s purpose to establish a community where the vulnerable are protected, the wicked restrained, and the penitent restored, where are we to look for a model of these principles being put into practice? Where can we hope to find a culture that is conducive to holiness?

If we look for this community in the Old Testament, we will be disappointed. After God’s people settled in Canaan, the book of Judges tells us that “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6; 21:25 NKJV). The book is filled with appalling stories of violence and injustice that were never dealt with. And when the community failed to deal with evil, wickedness multiplied, until eventually the people cried out to God because the cities were so filled with violence that life became intolerable.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

Centuries later, the LORD Jesus Christ came into the world. His ministry had hardly begun before the Pharisees and the Herodians (political loyalists of King Herod) were plotting to kill Him. Eventually they arrested Him, and He was brought into the religious court.

This was to be the place where the innocent found protection and where an accusation should be established by two or three witnesses. The Gospels record how false witnesses came forward, but Christ was not given the protection of the law against their accusations.

Christ was taken to Pilate, the Roman governor. Instead of overseeing a proper judicial process, he asked the crowd if they would like to have Christ released, or if they would prefer the release of a criminal called Barabbas. Instead of restraining the wicked, Pilate released Barabbas into the community, and Christ was taken outside the city wall to be crucified.

DON’T BLAME THE GOVERNMENT

That raises a question: To what extent should we look to the government to establish a community that is conducive to holiness? We need to be very careful how we draw lines from the laws of the Old Testament to national governments. Christ distinguished between the final authority of God and the derived authority of the state when He said, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s” (Mark 12:17). The problem comes in deciding which evils are to be dealt with by Caesar and which evils are to be left to God.

It is important to remember that there is a difference between a sin and a crime. A sin is an offense against God. A crime is an offense against God, but it is also an offense against another human being. All crimes are sins, but not all sins are crimes. Blasphemy is a sin but not a crime. Idolatry is a sin but not a crime. The state has responsibility for punishing crimes (like murder) against people, but it does not have authority to punish sins (like idolatry) that are uniquely against God.

The state can create a culture that is conducive to peace and safety, but it cannot create a culture that is conducive to holiness. It is the responsibility of the state to restrain crime, but it is beyond the means of the state to promote holiness.

There are just two places where we can hope to find a culture that opposes evil and promotes holiness: the family and the church.

THE CULTURE oF A GODLY FAMILY

God has given Christian parents the responsibility of creating an environment that will make it difficult for their children when they sin, and that will encourage them to pursue what is right.

Likewise, Christian parents must protect the vulnerable. No child should be at the mercy of a father or a mother’s temper. Be very careful that you do not act like the hotheaded avenger of blood! When there has been an incident, you need to be very sure that you have made a proper investigation and established the facts beyond reasonable doubt before exercising appropriate discipline.

God disciplines those who He loves, but He does not stop loving those He disciplines.

Parents must remember to be merciful when something was an accident. I will never forget an occasion when, as a young child, I dropped a pot of black paint on an orange carpet in my parents’ home. I remember thinking, I’m really going to get it, and being totally surprised that “it” never came. I am still surprised by the fact that I was not punished for it. My father realized that, like the flying ax head, it was an accident and there is all the difference in the world between intentional disobedience and an accident.

That is an important distinction. But when little eyes look at you with defiance, it is time for discipline, because “foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child” (Proverbs 22:15 NKJV), and God has given parents the responsibility of communicating the message that sin leads to painful consequences. In a proportionate and measured way, Christian parents need to communicate to their children that the way of the sinner is hard. If we fail to do this, we will raise children who are unable to make the connection between sin and its consequences.

Are you a parent? Remember, whenever you exercise discipline, you must always make the way of restoration clear. God disciplines those who He loves, but He does not stop loving those He disciplines. I thank God for the privilege of being raised in a godly family where there was every encouragement toward good, and every restraint against evil. God calls Christian parents to establish homes where the way of the sinner is hard but the path of righteousness is filled with encouragement. The Christian family can be a counterculture. It can be a place where a different set of values can be established and fostered.

THE CULTURE OF AN AUTHENTIC CHURCH

The church is at the heart of God’s plan to promote righteousness. Most Christians spend the whole week in an environment where sin is joked about, praised, or even actively promoted. The unrelenting pressure of a godless environment can make the Christian life extremely difficult. Christian believers are to help each other in this whole business of living a holy life. The church is to be a place where the encouragement is in the opposite direction.

That means that when your brother is vulnerable, you must protect him. Stand with him in the storm and don’t back off. He needs you. And when your brother is being drawn toward sin and you know it, restrain him. Don’t look the other way. Powerful forces are pulling him, and your honesty may be the very means that God uses to save him from disaster. Your silence, however, may be the very thing that causes him to stumble.

And what if your brother has fallen into sin? Then restore him. “If someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently” (Galatians 6:1). The picture is of someone caught in a trap or tangled in a net. He needs the help of someone who will cut him loose. Don’t give up on your Christian brother or sister. Help the person to get out of the mess he’s in and back to the path of pursuing righteousness.

Are you a teenager? Imagine being in a youth meeting at church, and someone uses foul language. Instead of ignoring it or sniggering, you can say, “Let’s not use that kind of language around here.” Or imagine being in a high school group where your friends care about you enough to challenge you when you are losing your spiritual passion, and will confront you when you are flirting with temptation. Imagine a group of friends who will care enough to restore you when you have blown it.

Imagine a congregation where there are relationships deep enough to challenge patterns of deception, where friends will increase your resistance to sin and strengthen your desire for righteousness. The church is not a place we come for one hour on a Sunday to sing a few songs, listen to a sermon, and go home. The church in the New Testament is a community of people who are committed together to pursue a godly life!

We are not being the church, as it is described in the New Testament, until we learn to stand together in times of trouble, hold each other accountable in times of temptation, and help one another escape the entanglement of sin so that we can be free for the pursuit of a godly life.

UNLOCKED

We live in a highly individualistic culture, but God places great importance on the community. He calls His people to create a culture that is conducive to holiness.

The Old Testament Law describes a community where the vulnerable are protected, the wicked restrained, and the penitent restored. These principles are fundamental to the safety and well-being of any nation. But governments cannot create a culture that is conducive to holiness. Parents have the responsibility of building that culture in the home, and believers have the responsibility of building that culture in the church.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Heavenly Father,

Show me those with whom I need to stand at this time because they are vulnerable. Prompt me by Your Spirit to say a word that will keep a brother or sister from error and disaster. Show me how I can help to restore someone who is caught in a trap. Show me what You would have me to do and make me what You would have me to be, through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.

13

Covenant

JOSHUA 24

How can

we keep

our covenants

with God?

DISCOVER

how to renew your spiritual commitment.

LEARN

the place of accountability in the Christian life.

WORSHIP

as you see God’s faithfulness to His people.

2100 B.C.

CA. 2092

ABRAHAM ENTERS

CANAAN

2000

1900

CA. 1876

JACOB ENTERS EGYPT

1800

FOUR HUNDRED

YEARS OF SLAVERY

IN EGYPT

1700

1600

1500

CA. 1447

THE EXODUS FROM

EGYPT

1400

CA. 1407

–1400

CONQUEST OF

CANAAN

1300

1200

1100

ONE of the most moving services of worship I have ever experienced did not take place in a church or a cathedral. It occurred in the living room of our home in London. About thirty adults were there, half of them sitting on the floor. These folks had all been invited because they were friends of a couple who had asked that we meet together.

The couple had been married for about fifteen years and had three children, but most of those years had been pretty unhappy. Steve (not his real name) had become addicted to pornography and abused alcohol. As time passed, he had also become increasingly dependent on drugs. He was abusive at home and unreliable at work.

Gradually, those of us who cared for this couple saw their family life unravel. Lisa’s health broke down, their finances were in a mess, and finally, when Lisa discovered a pattern of unfaithfulness that had gone on for some time, she could take no more and threw him out.

It was like that for some time. He was living with a friend; she struggled on with the children. But then at the lowest point, God worked what I can only describe as a miracle. There was a softening in Steve’s heart. He began to take responsibility for what had happened, and there was evidence of genuine repentance. He began to spend time regularly with the children. There were some times when they were all together and everyone realized that they were happy. Lisa told me that was scary!

As I had opportunity to talk with Steve, he revealed a new honesty in facing the habitual sins and patterns of behavior that had gripped his life and were eating his soul. At first when he came to speak with me, he wore sunglasses. Then one day he took them off. It seemed almost to be a symbol of the opening up of his soul.

Lisa was very wise and rightly cautious. She did not let him return home, but gradually they began a process of rebuilding trust. Then one day she came to see me. “I feel that I am ready to have him back,” she said. “I believe the change has been real, and I think both of us are ready to make a fresh start. But we need to draw a line under the past. We need to know that we are making a new start with the help of God. Is there some kind of service that we could have?”

THE COVENANT MEETING

I said I didn’t know of any such service, but I was sure that we could invent one, and so we decided that we would plan it together. They wanted it to be in our home, and so it was arranged. They invited their friends. Now thirty people huddled into our living room, all dressed for the occasion, along with this couple and their three children.

We called it “a renewal of the covenant.” I’ll never forget that covenant meeting.

“We have come here,” I began, “to help our friends make a new start in their marriage. Their marriage never ended, but the covenant between them was vio-lated many times in different ways. They have experienced great pain, and so have their children. But God is gracious, and even when we rebel against Him, He will not let us go. He touches our hearts and makes us want to go in a different direction. Both of our friends were heading away from each other, but God has turned them both around and brought them back together. So this is a time for confession, a time for forgiveness, a time for new commitment, and a time of great hope.”

I’ll never forget the atmosphere in the room as Steve told us his story, confessed his sins, and then broke down in tears as he tried to thank the friends who had never stopped praying for him. Together we gathered around him and, as many of us as could, laid hands on him thanking God and praying for God’s strength in his life.

Then it was Lisa’s turn. She spoke about her anger, her hardness of heart, and the bitterness she had harbored. She spoke about how the problems were not all on one side; about things that she might have done differently. She thanked God for what He had done in her life and for showing her that it cost more for God to forgive her than for her to forgive anybody else. We gathered around her and prayed.

Then we came to the vows. We had worked on some appropriate words together. This was not a marriage service, because the marriage had never ended. It was a renewing of the covenant. It was a way of affirming that even though promises made yesterday had been broken, they still stood firm today, and that with the help of God, they would be kept in the future. In the goodness of God, that is exactly what happened.

GOD’S BINDING AGREEMENTS

“Renewing the covenant” is one of the main themes of the book of Joshua. A covenant is simply a binding promise. The whole Bible is the story of how God has committed Himself by making a covenant with His people.

The first time we read about a covenant in the Bible is when God said to Noah, “I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark,” (Genesis 6:18). God made a binding commitment to save Noah and his family from the flood, and afterwards He made another covenant that He would never cover the whole earth with floodwaters again (Genesis 9:11–15).

Then, “The LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I give this land’” (Genesis 15:18). God made a promise, and this time it was sealed with the blood of a sacrifice. The books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy are all about God’s covenant with the nation of Israel. “I will…be your God, and you will be my people” (Leviticus 26:12). Then God gave the Ten Commandments. That covenant was engraved in stone.

In the ancient world, it was common for the terms of a covenant to be written out. Two copies would be made. This is probably the significance of the two tablets of stone, on which the Ten Commandments were written. It is often assumed that God wrote five commandments on one stone, and then ran out of space and had to use another stone for the rest. But it is more likely that God wrote all of the Ten Commandments on one stone and gave Moses two sets. Moses put them in the ark of the covenant. These were the terms of the covenant between God and His people, and just as with any legal contract today there was a copy for both parties: one for God and one for the people.

RENEWING YOUR SPIRITUAL COMMITMENT

We have followed the story of how God brought His people to the verge of the Promised Land, and how Moses, in his parting words, challenged the people about the kind of community they should establish when they entered the land.

The book of Joshua tells us how God gave His people remarkable success in driving out their enemies. The people gathered, full of joy from their victories. Now Joshua challenged them to renew their commitment to the LORD.

For the first time in their lives, God’s people were facing the test of prosperity. As they settled into their comfortable homes, Joshua was concerned that they might lose their passion for serving the LORD. So he exhorted the people to “fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness” (Joshua 24:14). When Joshua spoke about serving the Lord, he was not talking about volunteering to get involved in some specific program or ministry. Serving the Lord meant then—as it does now-making sure that the first commitment of one’s life is to do what God wants done.

This is never easy. We can talk about God being first in our lives, but there is a daily battle to work that out in practice. So Joshua gave the people four strategies (listed in Joshua 24) that would help them to reignite their spiritual passion and keep their covenant with God. They were to (1) remember God’s faithfulness, (2) make a decisive commitment, (3) throw out any idols, and (4) hold each other accountable.

REMEMBER GOD’S FAITHFULNESS

Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. (JOSHUA 24:1)

Shechem was a place of great significance. Abraham had come there when he arrived in the land, more than five hundred years earlier. It was a small town in the valley between the two mountains of Ebal and Gerizim, where the Levites had shouted out God’s blessings and curses. When Abraham (then called Abram) arrived at “the great tree of Moreh at Shechem…the LORD appeared to [him] and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’ So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him” (Genesis 12:6–7).

Now two million descendants of Abraham were gathered at that same town. Imagine the emotion and excitement as these people came over the brow of the hill and looked down into the valley and saw the great trees at Shechem! Moms and Dads would be saying to their children, “You see these trees down there? That’s where God appeared to our father Abraham more than five hundred years ago. God said to Abraham that his descendants would live in this land, and here we are! God is as good as His Word.”

The value of a promise depends on the character of the person who makes it. What you do with your promises is a defining point of your character. God’s character is reflected in His faithfulness to His promises. When the people got to the great trees at Shechem, many must have felt that they were standing on holy ground.

Our commitment is always a response to God’s grace.

Then God, through His servant leader Joshua, began to remind the people of His faithfulness.

“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says:… ‘I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the River … I sent Moses and Aaron. . . and I brought you out. … I brought you to the land of the Amontes… . I gave them into your hands.’” (w. 2–3, 5, 8)

God summarized all he that He had done in bringing the people of Israel to the Promised Land. “So I gave you land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build” (v. 13).

Joshua recalled the faithful acts of God. If you want to restore your commitment to the Lord, come back to the great trees at Shechem. Take some time to think about God’s love and faithfulness to you. Our commitment is always a response to God’s grace. Spiritual passion begins with a mind that has been gripped by the fact that God is faithful.

MAKE A DECISIVE COMMITMENT

“But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then chose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amerites.” (v. 15)

Joshua then directed his attention towards the people who were struggling to make a wholehearted commitment to the LORD. If they didn’t want to serve the LORD, they needed to be clear about who they would serve, he argued.

If I ask you the question, “Will you serve the Lord?” you could answer by saying “Maybe” or “I might do that some time in the future” or “I’m not sure if I am ready to make that commitment.” But that is not the question that God asks you. The issue is not whether you will serve the Lord, it is, “Which God are you serving?” The point of the question is that if you are not serving the Lord, you have put something or someone else in the place that belongs to God. It is of the greatest importance that you be clear and honest about who or what that is.

Just in case the people were struggling to think of alternative gods, Joshua gave them some suggestions. “If you are finding it difficult to make a full commitment to serve the Lord, then you could, for example, return to the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the river!”

Before Abraham knew the living God, he was worshiping idols in Mesopotamia. At that time very few people would have heard of Abraham; his life did not count for anything of great significance. Then God appeared and promised to bless him and make him a channel of blessing to the nations. “Now if you don’t want to serve the Lord, who has blessed you and wants to use you to bring blessing to others,” Joshua is saying, “then perhaps you would like to go back to these gods who did nothing whatsoever for Abraham!”

Identify what you have put in God’s place…[and] where that substitute will lead you.

Then Joshua had another suggestion. “If you are finding it difficult to give yourself fully to serving the Lord, then why not consider the gods of the Amorites?” That really was laying it on a bit thick, because Israel had just driven the Amorites out of the land! It was quite clear that the gods of the Amorites were unable to do anything to save their people from defeat.

Nobody in the twenty-first century is likely to follow the gods of the Amorites, but Joshua’s question is still important for us. If we are not serving the Lord, what have we put in His place? There are times when I am strongly tempted to put myself or success or pleasure there.

There may have been times when you faced a decision, and the issue that determined your choice was not “What does God want” but “What will make me happy?” Or were there occasions when the real question wasn’t “What pleases God?” but “What will make more money?”

Maybe at times you answered the question, “What does God want?” with “Who cares? This is what I want to do, and I am going to do it anyway.”

There is nothing new in this struggle, and Joshua’s question gives us some real help. When you are finding it difficult to serve the Lord, try to identify what you have put in God’s place. Then take an honest look at where that substitute will lead you.

The false gods of the twenty-first century are easy to identify. Popularity, money, pleasure. It’s worth thinking about the kind of epitaph that these gods could offer.

Colin S. Smith, born, 1958, died, 20__(?)

People really liked him…

He left a pile of money…

He had a lot of fun…

Which of these epitaphs would you settle for? Isn’t there something within you that desires something better? Wouldn’t you rather stand with the apostle Paul and be able to say, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21)?

Joshua confronted the people with a radical choice. “If you are not going to serve the LORD with all your heart and soul and mind and strength, then tell me who or what are you going to put in His place?” Then he led the way in saying, “As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD” (24:15b). When you have taken an honest look at the alternatives, it won’t be long before you say the same.

THROW OUT YOUR IDOLS

When Joshua gave this challenge to choose whether they would serve the LORD or some other god, the people responded rightly by saying:

“Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods! It was the LORD our God himself who brought us and our fathers up out Egypt…. And the LORD drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites. We too will serve the LORD, because he is our God.” (vv. 16–18)

So they got the point! Then Joshua made an extraordinary statement: “You are not able to serve the LORD” (v. 19). This is astonishing: The people had responded to the challenge of serving the LORD, and then Joshua told them that they couldn’t do it! The people seem to have been offended by this and they insisted that they could (v. 21).

Then Joshua told them that if they were going to follow through on this commitment, they would have to “throw away the foreign gods that [were] among [them]” (v. 23). Evidently, God’s people had held on to some of the idols that the Canaanites had left when they abandoned their homes. The idols were offensive to God, and He called His people to toss them.

Suppose Jesus Christ came into your house. Is there anything you would not want Him to find? What if He went through the desk in your office? Joshua spoke with the authority of a prophet here. “You say to me that you want to serve the Lord, but let me tell you, that isn’t going to happen until you deal with the stuff that is offensive to Him. Get rid of it!” As long as the idols remained, their commitment to serve the Lord was only words.

It’s noteworthy that God had blessed them despite these things in the past. God is incredibly gracious, and sometimes He overlooks inconsistencies in our lives for a long time. But there comes a time when God puts His finger on a particular issue, and when He does, you have to deal with it.

When Joshua said that God “will not forgive your rebellion and your sins” (v. 19), he was not telling the people that they had committed an unforgivable sin. But he was making it clear that God would not forgive a sin that they were not willing to forsake. God would not forgive the sin of following other gods while the people were still holding on to these gods. You cannot ask God to forgive you for a sin that you have no intention of abandoning.

What are you holding on to that keeps you from serving the Lord? Joshua would not allow the people to renew the covenant with words only. Commitment to the covenant involved a clear and decisive rejection of all that displeases God.

Remember God’s faithfulness; make a decisive commitment; throw out your idols.

HOLD EACH OTHER ACCOUNTABLE

“You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD.” (V. 22)

The witnesses to a covenant had a responsibility to see that the covenant was honored. A good example of this would be a wedding. A young couple are getting married, and all their friends come for the service followed by a free meal and a piece of cake. What is the role of the friends who witness the wedding?

In the ancient world, the witnesses had a responsibility of making sure that the covenant was kept. So if a man was unhappy at home, he would go to his friend, who might have been best man or one of the other friends at the wedding, and talk. He might pour out all the reasons why his marriage was a big disappointment and explain why he was thinking of getting a divorce. His friend would say, “Well, wait a minute; there’s a covenant involved here. You took some solemn vows and I am a witness. So let me stand with you as a friend and help you work this through.”

Joshua told the people that they were witnesses against themselves that they had chosen to serve the LORD. In other words, they were to hold each other accountable. If you see your brother or sister with an idol, don’t turn a blind eye. Help him; you are his witness!

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

“On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people…at Shechem” (v. 25). The place where we renew our covenant is not Shechem with those few trees where God first made His promise to Abraham. It is at another tree, where Jesus Christ gave His life for us. The trees at Shechem spoke to the people of God’s faithfulness and love, but the cross proclaims that same truth more clearly.

When we come to the Cross, God calls us to give up our idols, as we make that decisive commitment to Jesus Christ our LORD.

UNLOCKED

God is faithful to all His promises, and one of the first signs of spiritual maturity will be that we are faithful to our promises too. Keeping promises to God or to another person will involve choices that are sometimes costly, so God has given us four strategies that will help us to make covenant-keeping choices.

First, recollect what God has done for you. A lively sense of God’s grace in your life will help to strengthen your loyalty to Him.

Second, look at the alternatives to serving the LORD. Take a long-term view of where other choices will lead you.

Third, throw out all that you know is displeasing to God in your life. That will be the evidence that your commitment to Christ is more than words.

Fourth, ask a friend to hold you accountable for the promises you have made. That accountability is one way in which God will give you strength and encouragement.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Almighty God,

Thank You for Your faithfulness and love demonstrated beyond contradiction by the Lord Jesus Christ at the cross.

I face a daily battle to let You be God, but nothing else is worthy of the full devotion of my life.

I admit that I have often said words about my commitment to serve You but they have been undermined by hidden idols. Today I want to say with Joshua, “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Help me to throw out the idols and to become a person who is truly committed to serving You.

Through Jesus Christ my Lord, I pray. Amen.

14

Deliverer

JUDGES 2

What is idolatry,

and how is it

practiced in

America today?

DISCOVER

how the knowledge of God was lost in one generation.

LEARN

why idols are attractive to us and offensive to God.

WORSHIP

as you see how Christ delivers His people from our greatest enemies.

1900

CA. 1876

JACOB ENTERS EGYPT

1800

FOUR HUNDRED

YEARS OF SLAVERY

IN EGYPT

1700

1600

1500

CA. 1447

THE EXODUS FROM

EGYPT

1400

CA. 1407

-1400

CONQUEST OF

CANAAN

CA. 1360

-1350

TRANSITION PERIOD

BETWEEN JOSHUA

AND THE JUDGES

CA. 1350

-1084

THE PERIOD OF

THE JUDGES

1300

ON April 21, 2000, the Wall Street Journal published an article entitled “Redefining God.” In her story, reporter Lisa Miller summarized the phenomenon of newly imagined, highly personalized definitions of God.

Across the country, the faithful are redefining God. Dissatisfied with conventional images of an authoritarian or paternalistic deity, people are embracing quirky, individualistic conceptions of God to suit their own spiritual needs…

They are cobbling together a spiritual life from a variety of religious influences, along with a dash of yoga and psychotherapy or whatever else moves them.

“People seek out these new gods the way they seek out new products in the marketplace,” says Randall Styers, assistant professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York. “It’s the ultimate form of individualism.”

Miller then gave an example from America’s Heartland.

Take Ken Zweygardt, a 43-year-old lawyer in Oskaloosa, Kan. Growing up in a strict, Lutheran household, he says he used to imagine God as a “Santa Claus type,” a provider and a judge. But as he matured, Mr. Zweygardt became frustrated with the church, and started waking early Sunday mornings to go fishing instead.

Today, for him, God is being alone “on a lake, seeing the fog lift up at sunrise and hearing the water bell.” When he teaches his children, now two and three years old, about God, “I plan to take them outside and say, ‘Here it is.’”[1]

Alongside this article, the Journal offered a side panel citing ten people from various backgrounds, offering their response to the question “What is God?” I found it interesting that the question was “What is God?”—rather than “Who is God?” Here are four of the responses.

Rev. James Forbes, senior minister at Riverside Church, New York, said God is “a force field of positive energy.” Danny Goldberg, CEO of Artemis Records, who described himself as Jewish, said God is “pure love, intense feelings of love.” Bill Joy, cofounder of Sun Microsystems and a self-described Protestant, added, “As scientists we can say God is part of our genes.” Dana Buchman, who is a fashion designer and identified herself as a Presbyterian, said, “I don’t believe in God, but I think often of close relatives who’ve had an effect on my life and values. It’s like ancestor worship.”[2]

The Wall Street Journal article brings the book of Judges out of the mists of ancient history and right into the twenty-first century. People do not know the living God.

A GENERATION WHO DID NOT KNOW THE LORD

Joshua had gathered the people together for a great national event where they renewed their covenant with God and pledged to put away the idols. Then the book of Judges takes up the story, telling us that, “after Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance” (Judges 2:6).

When they returned home after renewing the covenant, they followed through on their promise to God.

The people served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel. (v. 7)

These people had a direct, personal experience of the saving action of God. This was the generation that had grown up in the desert. Some of them would have been small children at the time of the Exodus, and if so, they would have been in their late forties or early fifties when they arrived in Canaan, and by the time the land was conquered, they would have been of retirement age.

Others would have been born in the desert, and would be in their twenties and thirties when Joshua took over leadership from Moses. These folks would have served in the heat of battle during the conquest. They would have seen what the LORD did for Israel on the day the walls of Jericho fell down, or the remarkable day when the sun stood still. As we saw in chapter 13, they recalled what God had done for them and made a commitment to serve the LORD.

But eventually, “that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers” (a rather touching way of saying they died; v. 10). The next generation was different:

Another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. (v. 10)

This is one of the saddest verses in the Bible, and it sets the scene for the whole book of Judges. This book tells us what happens to a nation when a generation grows up not knowing God and not knowing what He has done for His people. It is not very pleasant reading.

What can be lost in one generation can also be restored in one generation.

Judges introduces a whole new chapter in the Bible story that is of great importance for the church today. Out in the desert, everybody knew who God is and what He had done for Israel. So if the Wall Street Journal reporter had asked these folks “What is God?” they would immediately have said, “Wrong question. You should ask, ‘Who is God?’ and we can give you the answer to that question. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is the God who appeared to Moses and said, ‘I am who I am.’ He is the God who came down on Mount Sinai and gave the Ten Commandments.”

They would have declared His character. “He is the Creator of all things, and He is our Savior and Judge. He is holy, righteous, loving, gracious, and good. He is to be worshiped and feared; He is to be loved and adored. He is the living God.’”

These people did not always obey the Lord. That generation wandered in the wilderness because of their parents’ disobedience, but at least they knew who God is and what He had done. But now a new generation had arisen, and they were in an entirely different situation. Their problem was not that they failed to believe in God; it was that they did not know God.

HOW DID IT HAPPEN?

How could that have happened in one generation? Perhaps it was simply that their parents were busy in a prosperous land. These people had seen God do wonderful things in their own lives, but they clearly neglected the systematic teaching of their children, and within one generation the knowledge of God was lost!

So here in Judges we have a generation exactly like our postmodern society. Born in prosperity, fascinated with the search for spiritual meaning, but not knowing the Lord or what He has done for Israel.

PRIORITIES FOR PARENTS

This crisis in Israel reminds us of the priorities for parents, Sunday school teachers, small group leaders, and every Christian who is concerned about the spiritual life of our nation. We are to teach our children who God is, and we are to teach our children what God has done. These are the essentials.

We are not called to teach that “Johnny must be a good boy” or “Mary should be a good girl.” Johnny and Mary must know who God is and what He has done. Without this knowledge, faith is impossible. As the apostle Paul puts it, “How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?” (Romans 10:14). So this must be the core of our curriculum. When Johnny and Mary know who God is and what He has done, then they will be in a position to make a meaningful response of faith and obedience.

It is not the job of Christian parents to bring their children to faith. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. But God gives all believing parents the task of teaching their children what the faith is. Our children are growing up surrounded by peers who think that God is “a force field of positive energy,” or like Ken Zweygardt’s children, that God is, “seeing the fog lift up at sunrise and hearing the water bell.” Our great need today is for homes, churches, and seminaries where parents, pastors, and professors will teach who God is and what He has done for Israel.

It only took one generation for that knowledge to be lost. And what can be lost in one generation can also be restored in one generation. In fact, that is exactly what happened some time later in Israel. God spoke to Samuel, and through him, the Word of God came to all of Israel (1 Samuel 3:21).

GOING AROUND IN CIRCLES

The book of Judges records a cycle of events that recurred many times over a period of several hundred years. It began when people forsook the LORD and turned to idols. “Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. They forsook the LORD…They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them” (vv. 11–12).

Then God became angry and gave His people into the hands of their enemies. “They provoked the LORD to anger…. In his anger against Israel the LORD handed them over to raiders who plundered them” (vv. 12, 14).

In response, the people cried for God’s help, and God raised up a leader, or a judge, to deliver them. “Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders” (v. 16). These judges were not like magistrates; they were more like military leaders.

But upon the judge’s death, the people returned to their previous ways, and the whole cycle started over again. The people were going around in circles: idolatry, judgment, cries to God, deliverance, and then idolatry again. As Judges 2 summarizes it:

Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the LORD had compassion on them as they groaned under those who oppressed and afflicted them. But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways. (vv. 18–19)

IDENTIFYING THE IDOLS

As you read through the Old Testament, you will keep coming across this business of idolatry. Every few pages there seems to be something about one of the idols: the Baals, the Asherahs, Molech, or Dagon. It all seems rather remote to us, but it comes up so often that it is obviously important. The Wall Street Journal article provides a solid definition of idolatry: “Across the country, the faithful are redefining God…. [They] are embracing quirky, individualistic conceptions of God to suit their own spiritual needs.”

You will never get a clearer definition of idolatry than that. The Journal could equally well have entitled their article “Idolatry in America,” and according to the paper, our country is full of such idolatry. Of course, we do not hear about Baal, the Asherahs, Dagon, or Molech; we have replaced them with “a force field of positive energy,” or “pure intense feelings of love,” or “seeing the fog lift up at sunrise, and hearing the water bell.” Redefining God is pure idolatry.

THE ATTRACTION OF IDOLS

Idolatry is powerfully attractive, because it puts you in a position of absolute control. Have you ever thought that you would like to write a novel? You could start with a blank sheet of paper, and you could create a story and take it in any direction you wanted it to go.

Suppose you invent a fictional character and call him Wayne Ford, a sort of mixture of John Wayne and Harrison Ford. You decide that Wayne will be a pioneer, and you sit down at the computer and begin to write about him. “Wayne is rugged and muscular. He has a black mustache.”…No, wait! You press the delete key. “He has a brown mustache.”

God responds, “I am who I am. You cannot redefine me.”

You describe Wayne’s encounter with a bear in the Rocky Mountains. But then you need a bit of romance in the story, so you give Wayne a sensitive side. “Underneath that rough exterior, all his life Wayne has been looking for true love.”

As you build the story, you are absolutely in control. Wayne is under your total power. The only existence he has is the existence you give him in the pages of your book. You can make Wayne whoever you want him to be, and he will do whatever you want him to do. That is the attraction of idolatry. Instead of worshiping the living God who says, “I am who I am,” many people have preferred to create a god that suits their own spiritual needs.

Inventing a character is all very well in writing a novel, but try doing this with a real person and you will find yourself in court for libel or defamation of character! Idolatry is powerfully attractive, but it is also deeply offensive. Suppose that there were some folks in the church that I serve who said, “We like the idea of having a sort of ‘Colin figure’ around here, but we don’t like who you are and we don’t like what you do.” I think I’d find that moderately offensive. But that is exactly what idolatry does in relation to God. Idolatry says to God, “We like the idea of some kind of God, but we don’t like You. We don’t like what You say, and we don’t like what You do! So we’ll redefine You. We’ll determine who You are.”

God responds by saying, “I am who I am. You cannot redefine Me. But I hear you clearly, and I will withdraw. I will take away My hand of protection, and I will deliver you into the hands of your enemies.”

God creates a crisis in order to bring His people back to Himself. He withdraws His protection and allows them to live with the consequences of their own choices. This is the way in which God most often deals with persistent sin.

THE SIN OF THE AMORITES

When God promised Abraham that His descendants would return to the land of Canaan, He indicated that it would not happen until the fourth generation because “the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure” (Genesis 15:16, italics added). This is a very important statement for our understanding of the conquest of Canaan. The Amorites was a general term used to describe the various tribal groups that inhabited the land of Canaan. Evidently these people were sinning, against God. But God is patient. He is slow to anger, and He often overlooks sin for a long time. But at a certain point, God will move to act in judgment. When the sin of the Amorites had reached its full measure, God would bring judgment on them.

At the same time, God was working with Israel. God had allowed them to go through the experience of suffering in Egypt. He brought them to the borders of Canaan, but they lacked the faith and the courage to go forward. So God led them in the desert for almost forty years, until a new generation was ready to trust Him. Then under the leadership of Joshua they were ready to invade the land and drive out the Amorites.

By that time, the sin of the Amorites had reached its full measure. God’s time of judgment had come, and so He brought the two together and fulfilled His purposes of blessing for Israel and judgment for the Amorites at the same time.

Now, some years later, we find God’s own people turning to the very idols that the Amorites had worshiped. They adopted the very evils for which God had judged the Amorites. So God gave His own people into the hands of the Amorites! “Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the LORD was against them” (v. 15). But that was not the end of the story.

THE GOD WHO DELIVERS

Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. (v. 16)

Throughout the book of Judges we read about these military leaders and their heroic achievements. There was Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, Barak, Gideon, and, of course, Samson. The Spirit of the Lord came on these judges and enabled them to achieve remarkable victories for God’s people.

I was fascinated to read Ms. Miller’s conclusion to her article in the Wall Street Journal She wrote,

These gentler, almost mystical forms of theology [that’s a good euphemism for the idols!] have found a receptive audience in today’s affluent society… These are relatively peaceful and prosperous times. So even as many Americans search for deeper connections with God, they aren’t facing the kinds of crises that often prompt people to seek protection or salvation from above….

Tough times or sudden hardships could change all this in a hurry…no matter how broad or far flung people’s conceptions of God, they revert to God the Father when the going gets tough.[3]

That is very perceptive. It’s exactly what Judges tells us. When the going gets tough, the question becomes very simple: “Is there a God who is able to do something to help you?

When that is the question, the idols don’t seem so attractive any more, for the simple reason that they cannot do anything! They may be very convenient in peaceful and prosperous times, because they do not make any moral demands upon us, but how in all the world when you face a crisis in your life can you call on the mist rising from the lake to help you? What can a force field of positive energy do for you when you are on your deathbed?

But there is a God in heaven, and you can call on Him to deliver you. This is what we are to teach the new generation that does not know God. We are to say to them, “There is one living and true God. He says, ‘I am who I am.’ He is not whoever we want Him to be. We cannot redefine Him; in fact, any attempt to do so is idolatry. God will judge idolatry, so we dare not go down that pathway.

“But remember, God is gracious to all who call upon Him. If you turn to Him in faith, He will deliver you.”

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

As you read through the book of Judges, it is clear that while these rather individualistic military leaders achieved remarkable things, they also had significant limitations.

Most of them were seriously lacking in character, and it is difficult to admire them. Ehud seems like a cowardly assassin (3:12–23). Gideon was so lacking in faith that he needed multiple confirmations of what God was telling him to do before he would do anything (6:36–40)! Jephthah made a disastrous choice that involved sacrificing his daughter (11:30–40). Samson’s failures are legendary (14, 16) and qualify him as the weakest strong man who ever lived.

As you follow the story, it is difficult to escape the conclusion that after all the activity of the judges, nothing seemed to have really changed. The judges brought about a change in the people’s circumstances, but they were never able to bring about a change in the people’s hearts.

So the achievements of the judges were short lived. As soon as a judge died, the people returned to the idols, and the whole cycle started all over again. The book leaves you wondering how long this pattern could continue. You rightly conclude that God’s people needed a better deliverer than any of these judges; someone who could bring a change of heart, not just a change of circumstances. They needed a savior who could bring change that would last.

Roll the Bible story on another 1,400 years, and you find the people of God under another oppressor. This time it is the Romans. They pay taxes to Caesar, and justice is in the hands of a foreign political pragmatist called Pontius Pilate.

During this time there were riots and attempts to overthrow the might of Rome, and people were hoping that God would raise up a deliverer. Some wanted God to raise up another Ehud or Samson, a strong, aggressive guy who could take out Pontius Pilate and a few others like him. Others, like Simeon and Anna, saw a deeper need. They were praying for a deliverer who could touch the issues of the heart. As they cried out, God did an new thing; He sent His Son into the world.

Jesus’ ministry focused on the heart. The angel said to Joseph “You are to give Him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). When Judas Iscariot saw what Jesus could do, he knew He could be the deliverer from the power of Rome. But Christ refused to follow that agenda. God could change the external circumstances of your life a thousand times, but if He does not change your heart, your life will go round in circles just like the book of judges.

Then at the height of His ministry, Jesus was nailed to the cross. All hopes of deliverance seemed shattered. On the third day after His death, however, Jesus rose from the dead. Here, for the first time in human history, was a deliverer who would never die. Today He continues to deliver us from our greatest enemies—sin, death, and hell.

A god who only exists in your mind cannot deliver you. The living God invites you to turn from idols and call on Him, and He promises that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13).

UNLOCKED

Idolatry is redefining God, and across the centuries people have often chosen to invent their own gods rather than bow before the living God. The gods we create are attractive because we control them, but they are powerless to help us, and they are deeply offensive to God.

The living God is able to deliver us. He has sent His Son Jesus Christ into the world to save us from sin, death, and hell. People today still face a choice between the gods of their own imagination and the living God of the Bible. Only the living God can deliver.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Almighty God,

Thank You that You are the living God, and that You are able to save Your people. Forgive me for my reluctance to love and worship You as You are. Help me to trust what You say more than what I think. Let my faith life be built on Your truth rather than on my imagination.

May parents and pastors, with the help of Your Spirit, teach Your Word, so that a new generation may know who You are and what You have done. May Your name be known and honored in our nation. In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord I pray. Amen.

NOTES

1. Lisa Miller, “Redefining God,” The Wall Street Journal, 21 April 2000, W4.

2. “When We Talk About God,” The Wall Street Journal, 21 April 2000, W4.

3. Miller, “Redefining God,” W4.

15

Redeemer

RUTH

Why do we need

a redeemer?

DISCOVER

the most beautiful love story in the Old Testament.

LEARN

how true love is always ready to pay a price.

WORSHIP

as you see how Christ has become our Redeemer.

WHAT do you do if you have a wife and two children to support and the amount you make won’t buy the food you need? No doubt some husbands would talk about “trusting God,” but that isn’t easy when the kids are saying that they are hungry. Elimelech watched his family suffer through famine and finally felt that he had waited on God long enough. He and the family packed what they could from the farm in Bethlehem and headed to Moab.

Moab wasn’t the kind of place any self-respecting Jew would want to live. There was a sense in which the Moabites were a nation who should never have existed. Their ancestry went back to a rather sordid story of incest with Lot and his eldest daughter (Genesis 19:36–37). They were known for worshiping idols, and the Moabites had been enemies of Israel for years.

Some years earlier, a Moabite king named Eglon had invaded Israel and oppressed the people for eighteen years. Then God raised up a judge by the name of Ehud, who delivered God’s people when he assassinated Eglon with a left-handed thrust of his dagger. So Moab was hardly a first choice for Israelites planning a vacation. It was hostile territory. But desperate situations sometimes call for desperate measures, and Elimelech decided that Moab was his best option.

Besides, things were pretty grim in Israel as well. The book of Judges is so full of sordid stories of gang violence and especially violence towards women that you wonder whether some of this should really be in the Bible. But the Bible records what life was like in Israel in those days when there was no king. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. The rule of law and order had often broken down, and Israel was not a safe place to bring up children. So Elimelech decided to go. He left the people of God and the land God had chosen to bless to make a new beginning.

The whole family moved to Moab, and soon after they arrived there, Elimelech died. So now we have a mother whose name is Naomi, with two sons, probably in their teenage years, trying to make a life in a foreign land.

ALONE AGAIN

In the course of time the two boys married local Moabite girls, named Orpah and Ruth. Naomi was left alone in her empty nest.

Another ten years passed, and then tragedy struck the family again. Naomi’s two sons died as well. Naomi was now absolutely alone in a foreign land. She had come to Moab because of her husband, she had stayed in Moab because of her sons; and now she felt like a lost soul in an alien place.

Despite this tragic beginning, the story of Ruth is one of the most beautiful and moving stories in the entire Bible. In the end, both Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth would play a key role in God’s plan of salvation. They lived during the distressing days of the judges and their story is like an oasis of joy in a rather bleak time for the people of God.

Soon Naomi heard news that the famine in Israel was over and there was food in Bethlehem. She knew that as an aging single woman without family members she could no longer run the farm. But the farm was still home, so she decided that it was time to return. At least she could generate some income by selling the land.

The old lady didn’t want to be a burden to her two daughters-in-law, though they seemed willing to go with her. She knew that if they came with her to Israel, they would face the same problems she had endured in Moab; they would become lonely foreign women in an alien culture, with no means of support. Without a husband or a father, two foreign women in Israel would be vulnerable and defenseless. Better that they stay in Moab, where there was hope that they would marry again. So Naomi gave her daughters-in-law sound advice when she urged them to remain in Moab (Ruth 1:11).

CALL ME “MISS BITTER”

But Naomi was struggling with a deeper problem. She had become convinced that God was against her (1:13). She believed in God, like a good Jewish woman should, but as she grew older, the experiences of life had led her to the conclusion that God must be against her.

When Naomi arrived back in Bethlehem, we’re told that “the whole town was stirred.” Women asked, “Can this be Naomi?” (1:19). That somewhat insensitive remark can only be an indication of how bad she looked. She had left Bethlehem as a bright-faced mother with two healthy sons; she returned as a rather sad and haggard-looking woman. Suffering had taken its toll.

When Naomi returned to Bethlehem, she asked her friends to call her Mara, which means bitter (1:20). That tells us a lot about what was going on inside her. How would you like to live with an aging lady who says, “I want to be known as ‘Miss Bitter’”?

Clearly, Naomi had sunk into a deep depression. “The Almighty has made my life very bitter,” she told the townspeople (1:20). If God was against her, then it would do her daughters-in-law no good to stay with her. “You don’t want to hang around with me. Leave me with my grief. Go and see what you can make of life for yourselves.” When Naomi told the two women, “Return home, my daughters,” all three cried together. Then Naomi’s daughter-in-law Orpah went back to Moab (1:12–14).

But Ruth wouldn’t go, and that was when she said some of the most beautiful words of commitment that have ever been spoken:

“Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.” (1:16–17)

LOVE THAT CHOOSES TO PAY A PRICE

Here was a young lady making a costly commitment of love and loyalty to a rather difficult, bitter older woman. At the same time she was making a costly commitment to the God of Israel, who had allowed great pain and disappointment in her own life. Love proves itself when it chooses to pay a price.

I sometimes reflect on this when a young couple tells me how much they are in love. I remember one couple who wanted me to do their wedding. Perhaps they were anxious to let me know that they really were a perfect match, as they each said, “We really love each other, and we have an amazing relationship.” After listening to their praise for each other, I decided to ask a few questions.

“Have you ever had an argument or disagreement?” I asked with a smile. They looked shocked at the impertinence of the question!

“No, never,” they said.

“Have either of you ever been disappointed in each other?” Their faces were a register of astonished surprise.

“Tell me about some problems you have faced together.” By now they were seriously wondering if they were talking to the right pastor.

“We told you that we love each other,” the woman said.

Real love proves itself in the face of overwhelming obstacles.

“But how do you know that you love each other if that love has never been tested, never been disappointed, and you have never had anything to forgive?”

Real love proves itself in the face of overwhelming obstacles, and Ruth gives us a marvelous model of what true love is all about. She looked Naomi in the eye, knowing her mother-in-law was rather bitter and that life with her would not be easy, yet she made a commitment to care for her anyway. “Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay.”

LOVE DESPITE DISAPPOINTMENT AND PAIN

Then she made the same commitment to Naomi’s God. “Your God will be my God.” Think of it! Ruth was saying, “I do not know why my husband died or why I never had children. But You will be my God. My love for You will not depend on You answering every question, or on You meeting all of my hopes and dreams. I will not be a fair-weather disciple. I am committed to You. I love You.” That is just about the highest worship that anyone could offer.

You don’t know what it means to love another person until you have been disappointed or it begins to cost. You don’t know what it means to love God until you have experienced pain and you love Him still. That is exactly how God loves us. “God demonstrates his own love us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). That is the love that God pours into our hearts by the Holy Spirit so that we may be able to love in an unlovely world.

LIFE ON THE BREADLINE

It could not have been easy for the two women when they arrived back at Naomi’s farm. The fields had not been cultivated for at least ten years, and the whole area would have been overgrown. Even if they had a workforce, it would be weeks before they cleared the fields for planting and months before they could raise a harvest. So the women had no source of income. They were poor.

Boaz felt that it was the least he could do for a woman who… loved his God.

One way in which the poor could get food was through gleaning. The poor were permitted to pick the corn from the edge of any field; they would follow the harvesters to pick up any grain left on the ground. It was like sorting through the trash, and it was not the kind of thing that most people would have wanted to do. Sometimes the gleaners were viewed as pests, and landowners could be abusive or threatening.

Yet Ruth went out, willing to glean in the fields, behind anyone “in whose eyes I find favor” (2:2). What she meant was that if anyone would allow her to gather the leftover grain, that was what she would do.

The field she chose belonged to a man named Boaz, amazingly (or to be more accurate, providentially) a distant relative of Elimelech. Boaz had a considerable estate and ran a large farming operation. He was supervising the harvest when he noticed a foreign woman picking up the grain behind the harvesters.

“Who is she?” he asked.

“She is the Moabitess, a foreigner. She came back with Naomi.”

Boaz had heard about Ruth’s kindness to Naomi, and he told her to stay in his fields. He also made sure that the harvesters showed kindness to her. Ruth was surprised that a complete stranger should treat her with such kindness, but Boaz felt that it was the least he could do for a woman who would support a grieving relative and loved his God. “May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge” (2:12).

THE INFECTIOUS POWER OF KINDNESS

Ruth had shown great kindness to Naomi. Now Boaz was showing great kindness to Ruth. Kindness is the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). It is an evidence of the grace of God in our lives. God has a wonderful way of making sure that kindness given leads to kindness received. The woman, who showed such great kindness, now received kindness that she did not expect.

Notice that Boaz offered protection to someone of another race, who had put her trust in God. I have no doubt that there would be others who thought that God’s covenant meant His love was limited to Israel, and that God cared nothing for the rest. But that has never been the case. God’s promise was that He would bless Abraham, and that through Abraham all the nations of the earth would be blessed. Even in the Old Testament, God was ready to receive all who would take refuge under His wings.

Boaz recognized that this penniless foreigner was every bit as important to God as a wealthy landlord like himself. He treated Ruth with all the dignity and respect that he would have given to her if she had been born among the people of Israel.

The kindness of Boaz is a powerful challenge for the church today. Christ has broken down the dividing walls of society so that people from every background can find a place in the family of God. Whoever wants to come and take refuge under the wings of the Almighty may do so, and all who take refuge in God are to be received by the people of God with kindness.

TAKING AN INITIATIVE OF FAITH

Now we come to the best part of the story. First, though, a short legal briefing so you can understand what’s about to happen. Two laws in ancient Israel apply here. The first is the law of redemption (Leviticus 25:25). This law said that if a person became poor and had to sell land, the first right of purchase was given to the nearest relative in their family. If the relative purchased the land, then it would remain within the family, and when the Year of Jubilee came, the land would be returned to its original owner.

The second law is the law of levirate marriage (Deuteronomy 25:5–10). This law said that if a man died without children, his brother should take responsibility for the support of the dead man’s widow, including marrying her and raising children together. The law especially applied to a situation where an extended family was living together. It seems that the closer the relationship, the greater the obligation.

In this story, Boaz was not even the nearest relative, and it had not occurred to him that he would have any greater role in the lives of these women than the kindness he had already shown. He was rather slow, as men sometimes are, and so it fell to Ruth to take an initiative of faith.

Naomi came up with the plan, but it was Ruth who took the risky initiative of faith. Boaz was working around the clock on the harvest. During the day he would be harvesting, and in the evening he went to the threshing floor, and when he was through, he would lie down and sleep by the corn.

One night Ruth went over to the threshing floor and lay down by his feet. During the night, Boaz stirred, and as he wakened, he realized that somebody else was there.

“Who are you?’” he asked.

“I am your servant Ruth,” she said. “Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a kinsman-redeemer” (3:9).

If you want that in plain English, she said, “Marry me.” That’s what the phrase “Spread the corner of your garment over me” means.

[Ruth] was not afraid to take an initiative of faith.

Remember, Boaz had prayed that God would bless Ruth as she had taken refuge under His wings (2:12). The word Boaz used for wings and the word Ruth used for garment are the same in Hebrew. So there is a beautiful double meaning in the words. Ruth was saying, “Boaz, you prayed that God’s wings would be spread over me. But I think that the way this should happen is for you to spread your wings over me too! Marry me.”

This was one sharp lady! She placed her trust in God, but she was not afraid to take an initiative of faith. She was willing to take a risk in order to see the fulfillment of God’s purpose for her life. Faith trusts, but it also acts.

Boaz did not think twice. Of course he would marry her, but there was one problem. There was another relative who was closer to the family than he. We may wonder why this closer relative had not done anything to help Naomi and Ruth before, but now he appears in the story, and it seems that he might spoil the party.

AT THE CITY GATE

Boaz went to the city gate where legal contracts were struck and where the elders of the town hung out. He sat there until this unnamed relative came by. Boaz persuaded him to sit down, and then he gathered ten elders of the town as legal witnesses of the conversation (4:2). To paraphrase Ruth 4:3–5, the dialogue went like this:

“Naomi is selling the Elimelech farm,” Boaz said, “and you have the first right to buy it.” “Oh yes,” he said, “I’ll buy. It’s a good farm at a nice price. I’ll cover my costs in a few years, and it will be a nice little earner!”

“Of course, you realize that when you acquire the property, you will also assume responsibility for the support of two women,” said Boaz. “There are two laws to consider here. One gives you the right to buy the land; the other gives you the responsibility of supporting the widows. You can’t claim the privileges of the one and deny the responsibilities of the other!”

This was a masterpiece of negotiation! The price of redeeming was going to be higher than the unnamed relative thought. It would not be a one-time payment; it would be a lifelong commitment!

The close relative didn’t like that idea. “Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it” (4:6).

“If you don’t want to redeem,” Boaz answered, as the witness listened to the transaction, “I will. I am ready to pay the price for the farm and assume the support of the women. I will take Ruth the Moabitess as my wife” (paraphrase of 4:9–10).

The nearer relative, who had forgone his right to act as the kinsman-redeemer, breathed a sigh of relief and handed Boaz his sandal. That was the sign of consenting to a legal deal. Then he disappeared off the scene, never to be heard of again.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

One of the greatest titles given to our LORD Jesus Christ is the name Redeemer, and the story of Ruth gives us a wonderful insight into its meaning.

To deliver Ruth from pain and poverty, Boaz acted as a kinsman-redeemer, a blood relative of a person in need, able and willing to pay a price. Likewise, to become our Redeemer, Christ had to take upon Himself our flesh and blood. That is what the Christmas story is all about. When Christ was born at Bethlehem, He entered the human family and became our close relative.

A WILLING REDEEMER

Christ was able and willing to pay the price of buying us out of our spiritual poverty and our alienation from God. That price was the shedding of His own blood. “It was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life…but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18–19). When He paid that price, Christ won the right to take redeemed sinners as His bride. That is why the New Testament pictures the church as “the bride of Christ” (see Ephesians 5:22–33).

At the end of the story, the women of Bethlehem said to Naomi, “Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer” (4:14). Since Christ has come, God has not left us without a Redeemer, either!

Once again, if you have never done so, I invite you to follow the example of Ruth and take a risky initiative of faith. You can come to Christ in faith and say, “Under Your wings I take refuge. Spread Your garment over me for protection. I ask You to be my Redeemer.” Christ has the right, the ability, and the will to redeem you. If you come to Him, He will not turn you away.

A TWIST IN THE TALE

Like all the best stories, this one has a fascinating twist at the end. Indeed, that twist is probably the reason God has preserved Ruth’s story for us in the Bible.

Following her marriage, Ruth conceived and gave birth to a son, whom she and Boaz named Obed (4:17). The story concludes by saying, “Obed [was] the father of Jesse, and Jesse [was] the father of David” (4:22).

That same David was the second king of Israel, and if you follow the line of David for another thousand years, you will find that it was into this line that Jesus Christ was born. Matthew gives a special mention to Ruth the Moabitess in the human ancestry of Christ (Matthew 1:5).

God was at work through all of this family’s tears of disappointment. Through this foreign widow who trusted in God and her mother-in-law who almost gave up hope, King David was eventually born—and the Messiah would appear.

You may sometimes feel that God’s plans for the world turn on governments, businesses, kings, and armies. But the book of Ruth reminds us that at one point God’s plan of salvation flowed through one woman who decided to trust God and love a rather bitter old lady.

The extraordinary thing is that Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz all died without having any idea of what God would do as a result of their faithfulness. An older lady whose family nest was empty and a younger woman who no doubt thought she would never have children found their lives caught up in God’s redeeming plan for the world.

Never underestimate the significance of what God has given you to do. It may be a hidden, costly commitment to a rather difficult person or a simple act of kindness to a foreigner you have never seen before. It may be an initiative of faith to get the will of God done. The most ordinary acts of faith and obedience can lead to most extraordinary results.

UNLOCKED

A redeemer is only needed when an individual finds himself or herself in difficulties beyond their own control. Naomi’s poverty illustrates this point. The Bible makes it clear that we need a spiritual redeemer because sin leaves us bankrupt before God with no means of generating the ability to pay.

Christ is willing to redeem you. He is ready to make a lifelong commitment to you and invites you to embrace Him as your Redeemer.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Gracious LORD,

Thank You that You are the Redeemer I need. Thank You that You paid the price on the cross and that You never turn back on Your commitments to Your people.

I praise You for Your Son’s love that reached out to redeem me from the curse and pain of my sins. Continue to cover me with Your garment, protecting me from harm and keeping me safe in Your great family.

Help me to love You even when that love is costly. Help me to show kindness to those who are in need and especially to those who may be lonely or even bitter.

Help me to reflect Your love in this broken world, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

16

King

1 SAMUEL 8

Why did God

not want

His people to

have a king?

DISCOVER

the qualifications for leadership among God’s people.

LEARN

how God is at work even when His people make bad choices.

WORSHIP

Christ, the King of Kings.

1500 B.C.

CA. 1447

THE EXODUS

1400

CA. 1407-1400

CONQUEST OF CANAAN

CA. 1360-1084

THE JUDGES

1300

1200

1100

CA. 1051-1011

KING SAUL

1000

CA. 1011-971

KING DAVID

CA. 971-931

KING SOLOMON

900

CA. 931

DIVIDED KINGDOM UNDER JEROBOAM AND REHOBOAM

800

RETIRED General Norman Schwartzkopf, one of the architects of American victory in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, often is asked about war strategy and his opinion of the U.S. military. Imagine the four-star general being asked to give a military analysis of the battles fought by the Israelite army. I have no doubt he would say, “Well, none of those battles makes any military sense at all.”

It was God who gave His people victory in all their battles. God gave the troops courage and specific plans, and at times He even caused confusion among their enemies, so that the people of God prevailed, even when they were hopelessly ill-equipped and outnumbered by their enemies.

The exodus from Egypt was a marvelous example of overcoming a stronger enemy. God’s people had no weapons, and the Hebrew men, women, and children were being pursued by a vast, well-ordered army with horses and chariots. They did not have a chance as they stood in front of the Red Sea, except for one thing: God was with them. God opened the sea, and then He closed it over the chariots!

Then they faced a military campaign against the Amalekites (Exodus 17:8–13). As the battle progressed, the initiative seemed to swing one way, then the other, and the people must have wondered what made the difference. The Bible tells us that when Moses held up his hands in prayer, Israel prevailed, and when his hands became tired and dropped, the Amalekites prevailed. So this battle turned on the intervention of God, in response to prayer.

TRUSTING GOD FOR GREAT VICTORIES

You find the same pattern when God’s people came to invade the land of Canaan. The town of Jericho was well fortified, and there was no obvious means of taking it. God told Joshua and the Hebrew army to march around the city seven times blowing trumpets, and when they did, the walls of the city fell down. That was one of the most unusual victories in the annals of military history!

The book of Judges tells us about Gideon, who raised an army of 32,000 people to fight the Midianites. God said that was far too many, and so Gideon went through a de-selection process; in the end he had reduced the number to three hundred, who went at night to lay an ambush. They entered the camp of the Midianites with torches, pitchers, and trumpets, making an extraordinary noise as they sounded the trumpets and broke the pitchers. God caused confusion among the Midianites, so that they ran off in panic.

Israel’s victories were not by might or by power, but by the intervention of the Spirit of God. At times when they were likely to win because of their overwhelming numbers, God cut their numbers back so that it would be absolutely clear that God had given them the victory.

THE FRUSTRATIONS OF LIVING BY FAITH

The whole story was a pattern of miraculous deliverance by God. For almost four hundred years, from the time of the Exodus to the end of the judges, God led His people Israel. But the people of God were becoming dissatisfied with this.

The obvious weakness was that the judges lacked continuity. God raised up a judge when there was a crisis, but this meant that the people were dependent on God all the time. Other nations did not operate like that. They had kings, standing armies and national defense strategies. When a king died, his successor was crowned immediately, amid chants of “The king is dead; long live the king!”

The people wondered why Israel could not have this kind of stability and continuity. Eventually the elders of the community came to Samuel, who was a judge and a prophet, and asked him to appoint a king (1 Samuel 8:5).

The answer to their question, “Why do we not have a king?” was that God was their king. God led them into battle and into blessing. God did everything that a king would do for his people, and much more. But the people were not satisfied. They did not want to go into battle depending on God alone, and they did not want to wait on God to raise up their leaders. They wanted a system of succession, a “flesh and blood person” to lead them into battle and into blessing.

“It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.” (v. 7)

It is quite clear from the LORD’S words to Samuel that this was not pleasing to God. When the people asked for a king, they were turning away from a life of faith in which they were directly dependent on the LORD.

But God let them have their way. The LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to them and give them a king” (v. 22). God’s people made a decision that was displeasing to Him, but He allowed their decision to stand. God gives us the incredible privilege of making real choices.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CHOICES

You have choices of friends, careers, and relationships; choices to spend, borrow, or pay, choices to marry or stay single; and choices to fight, part, or reconcile. These choices matter; they have long-term consequences.

No choice, how ever poor, can put us beyond the grace of God.

The first book of Samuel tells the story of how God’s people made a poor choice. They knew that their desire for a king was displeasing to God, and Samuel had warned them of the consequences of their choice. “If you have a king, you had better know what is going to happen. There will be taxes and conscription, and your sons and daughters will wish that you had never made this choice.” In 1 Samuel 8:18 he declared, “You will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day.” But they were not listening. Their minds were made up, and so God gave them what they asked for. The rest, as they say, is history.

In the well-known parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11–32), a son asked his father for his inheritance. The father granted his son’s request to receive his inheritance early. The father loved the son, but the son was free, and the father would not keep him against his will. The father saw the determination in the lad’s eyes and knew that the only way to change the boy’s will was to let him go. So the son went to pursue his dream, and as a result of his choice, he became absolutely miserable.

Never underestimate the importance of your choices. Poor choices always lead to painful consequences. Experience is a great teacher, but her school fees are very high. God is sovereign, and that means that no choice, however poor, can put us beyond the grace of God. But the Bible also teaches us personal responsibility. That means that each of our life choices has significance. Each choice has consequences.

An earlier generation in Israel had already learned this when the people made the choice of unbelief and refused to go up and take the land of Canaan. Their choice led directly to almost forty years in the wilderness. Where you are today is the result of the grace of God, but it is also related to a series of choices. Where you are tomorrow will be by the grace of God, but it will also be affected by your choices today.

IRREVERSIBLE DECISIONS

The decision to anoint a king was irreversible. Once made, it led to all kinds of trouble. While some kings ruled well, most of them were a great burden to the people. Israel lived with the painful consequences of a poor choice.

We all make poor decisions at some points in our lives, but some people live with the pain of daily regret over a major choice. For some it is a career or marriage choice. Others make a decision that leads to a permanent injury or poor health. Such choices have irreversible consequences, and can leave you looking back in regret and saying, “If only…”

The good news is that God works in hard situations that are brought about by irreversible bad decisions. It may be that if you had not made a poor decision years ago, you would not be dealing with what you are facing now, but it is also true that God will work in the present situation. Just as there is no sin that puts us beyond the grace of God, there is no decision that puts us beyond the help of God.

God does not abandon us when we make faithless choices. God redeems bad decisions. He advances His great purpose for our lives even through circumstances that might never have been. Indeed, the main story of the Bible is about how God has blessed people who are living with the irreversible consequences of a poor decision made by Adam in the Garden of Eden. The story of the kings reminds us that a bad choice cannot put an end either to God’s grace or His purpose for our lives.

LEADERSHIP QUALIFICATIONS

Once the decision to appoint a king had been made, the people had to determine the qualifications. God did not ignore His people; He gave guidelines for the leaders they would elect.

The king would have the responsibility of making sure that God’s will was done among the people. He was to deliver the people from their enemies and to lead them in right paths. This is a high calling, and God’s people needed to be very careful about selecting a person who could be trusted with this kind of authority.

Saul was anointed as the first king of Israel, and when he was crowned, “Samuel explained to the people the regulations of the kingship” (10:25). God had anticipated the time when His people would ask for a king. So back in the book of Deuteronomy, God had already given a profile of the person who should be king among His people. There are seven distinct qualifications, and each one is reflected in the New Testament teaching about qualifications for leadership in the church.

First, the king must be anointed by God. “When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, ‘Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,’ be sure to appoint over you the king the LORD your God chooses” (Deuteronomy 17:14–15). If God did not approve the king, there was no hope whatever of him advancing God’s purpose. The New Testament parallel to this is in Acts 6, where the first deacons are appointed, and the church is told to “choose men who are filled with the Holy Spirit” (v.3). There must be the mark of God’s presence in their lives. That is the primary qualification.

Second, the king must belong to God’s people. “He must be from among your own brothers. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not a brother Israelite” (Deuteronomy 17:15). Again in Acts 6, church members are told that they are to choose leadership from among the number of believers (6:3). The church is not to depend on the sponsorship of famous names; it is to find its resources from within the body of believers. God’s people should look for leaders who have proved themselves in the local church.

Third, the king must exercise faith. “The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them” (Deuteronomy 17:16). Chariots and horses were the key to Egypt’s military power. Israel had never enjoyed these resources. All of their fighting had been done on foot, and their victories had been given by God. Now God was telling the people, “If you have a king, then I do not want him building personal security by making alliances with My enemies.”

The king is to model faith. He is to put his trust in the living God. When the church appointed the first deacons, they chose Stephen because he was “a man full of faith” (Acts 6:5). Leadership among God’s people must always be in the hands of people who know how to trust in the living God.

Fourth, the king must be loyal “He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray” (Deuteronomy 17:17). The same principle is reflected in the New Testament: The elder must be “the husband of but one wife” (1 Timothy 3:2). In Old Testament times it was common for kings to seal alliances with marriages. God said, “Don’t do that.” Today, a Christian leader’s loyalty to God will be expressed in his loyalty to his wife.

Fifth, the king must be ready for sacrifice. “He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold” (Deuteronomy 17:17). Kings in the ancient world had the opportunity to make a pile of money. But God said that the one who is given leadership responsibility over His people must not use his privileged position to feather his own nest. He must not be greedy, but must use his power for the benefit of the people. In the New Testament, Peter wrote to pastors and elders, instructing them not to be “greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over” the flock (1 Peter 5:2–3).

The king was to make a handwritten copy of the law for himself.

Sixth, the king must know the Scriptures. “When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the priests, who are Levites. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees” (Deuteronomy 17:18–19). This is marvelous! The king was to make a handwritten copy of the Law for himself.

Imagine if, when an American president was inaugurated, his first job was to go into the Oval Office and copy out the Law of God by hand, and then keep it beside him so that he would be careful to lead the people into following all these decrees! Again the New Testament reflects this priority for leaders in the church. Deacons must “keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience” (1 Timothy 3:9). Leadership is to be given into the hands of people who know the Word of God and will lead the people in it.

Seventh, the king must be an example of obedience. The king must “not consider himself better than his brothers and turn from the law to the right or to the left” (Deuteronomy 17:20). The king could not say to the people, “Do as I say, not as I do.” The most powerful man in the land must be the first to model commitment to the Law of God. Others were looking to him, and they would follow his example. For the Christian church, Peter wrote that pastors and elders are to be “examples to the flock” of God (1 Peter 5:3).

A PROFILE FOR CHRISTIAN LEADERS

This profile for leaders of God’s people is of great importance for pastors, elders, lay leaders, and all who participate in appointing them to positions of leadership. It is a profile for students preparing for ministry and for everybody else who wants to see that God’s will gets done.

If you want to be used by God, seek the anointing of His Spirit. Be committed to God’s people, and learn to trust God for great things. Cultivate loyalty to all your commitments and especially within your marriage; place the pursuit of money on the altar and determine to receive whatever God gives you gladly. Be crystal clear in your convictions regarding the central truths of the gospel, and feed on the Word of God every day. Ask for the grace and help of God to live a life that is worthy of the calling that God has given you in Christ Jesus.

That’s the profile of the man or woman God will use to get His will done, and these are the first things that we should be looking for in the process of trying to identify leaders for the church.

WHO FITS THE PROFILE?

As we follow the rest of the Old Testament story, it is interesting to see how the kings who ruled Israel over the next six hundred years measured up against the profile. Which of them fulfilled what God required of a king?

It certainly wasn’t Saul, the first king. His self-willed disobedience to God soon became very evident. And it certainly wasn’t Solomon, the third king. He did some marvelous things, including writing some Scripture and building the temple. He made some wise choices, but he also made some very foolish ones. He had seven hundred wives, which must have made Valentine’s Day a nightmare, and the Bible says when he became old, his wives turned his heart toward other gods (1 Kings 11:4). He failed God’s fourth qualification for leadership big time.

The most likely candidate might have been David. However, King David was not the husband of one wife. Still, he came the nearest to God’s profile because he had a genuine desire in his heart to follow the Lord.

After Solomon, the story of the kings of Israel was very disappointing. Some were better, some worse, but none were able to fulfill God’s mandate for the king of Israel.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

Let’s roll the Bible story forward another thousand years. Another king is in power in Jerusalem. King Herod has very little interest in obeying the Word of God, however, and he doesn’t have much real power, because that lies with a foreigner, whose name is Caesar. The people of God are still waiting for the king who will get God’s will done.

God answered their pleas for a flesh-and-blood leader who would deliver them from their enemies. A star shone in the east and an angel announced to shepherds the birth of one who would be “the King of the Jews.”

FULFILLING THE ROYAL PROFILE

Christ fulfilled all the qualifications of the king of the Jews. Jesus was born into the line of David, so this king belonged to God’s people. At the age of twelve He was in the temple talking about the Scriptures. The Word of God filled His mind, and people who heard Him were amazed at His understanding. This king knew the Scriptures.

At His baptism, the heavens were opened, a dove descended, and God announced, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). This King was anointed by God. After that, Jesus went into the wilderness to confront the great enemy of the people of God, who immediately suggested an alliance. “All these kingdoms I will give You if You will only bow down and worship me.” But Christ refused any alliance with the enemy. This king was absolutely loyal.

Throughout His life, Jesus modeled absolute faithfulness to the Law of God. He did all the work that the Father had given Him to do. This King was an example of obedience. Christ told His disciples that He had “not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45). As the apostle Paul wrote, He did not consider His own interests “but made himself nothing, taking the [form] of a servant” (Philippians 2:7). This king was ready for sacrifice.

Then His enemies came to arrest Him. Peter thought that the King needed some weapons to defend Him, so he reached for his sword. But Christ told him to put the sword away, telling the disciple, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26:53). This King was ready to live by faith.

When Christ was brought to Pontius Pilate, the procurator had one question. “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus replied simply, “Yes, it is as you say” (Matthew 27:11).

THE MOCKED AND HUMBLE KING

As Pilate handed Christ over to be crucified, he said to the people, “Here is your king” (John 19:14). For many in the crowd, that was the ultimate insult. After all, what use is a king who is bound? What help is a disfigured leader whose face is bruised and whose brow is scarred? If He was the one who had been sent to get the will of God done, then what hope was there for God’s people now?

Then Christ was given to the Roman soldiers who “stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ they said” (Matthew 27:28–29).

The mocking of Christ continued when He was on the cross. A notice above His head proclaimed, “Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews” (John 19:19). The crowd that had gathered to watch saw the sign and shouted, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself” (Luke 23:37). The teachers of the Law and the elders shouted, “He saved others…but he can’t save himself! He’s the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him” (Matthew 27:42).

Yet it was through this bruised, disfigured, and crucified King that the will of God was done. Through Christ crucified your enemies of sin and death and hell are defeated, and the way is opened for you to enter everlasting life.

God raised Jesus to life and “exalted him…and gave him the name that is above every name” (Philippians 2:9). Indeed, the story of the Bible ends with the announcement of His name: “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” (Revelation 19:16).

UNLOCKED

God did not want His people to have a king because He was already leading them into victory and into blessing Himself. The people of God made a big mistake when they chose to rely on human leadership rather than to exercise faith in the LORD. But God allowed their choice and continued to bless His people.

None of the kings was able to fulfill God’s profile, and so God Himself took human flesh in Jesus Christ and became the flesh and blood king that His people had asked for. Christ is the King who leads God’s people into victory and into blessing.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

A prayer for Christian leaders:

Gracious Lord,

Thank You for the leaders You have given to Your church. May Your anointing be upon them, so that they will be able to lead Your people with wisdom and strength. Keep them from temptation, and nourish them with Your truth. May Christ truly be Lord over His church so that Your will may be done and Your people may be blessed.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

17

Throne

2 SAMUEL 7

Where should we

look for stability

and security?

DISCOVER

the challenge of humility in God’s service.

LEARN

how disappointment is God’s door to promise.

WORSHIP

as you see how Christ will reign forever.

AS David looked back, he could hardly believe what God had done for him. It wasn’t so long since he was a shepherd and nobody had heard of him. Then he defeated Goliath, and from that day on, everybody knew who David was. God’s people had a hero.

Of course that wasn’t the way that King Saul saw it! When the ancient equivalent of cheerleaders started singing, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands” (1 Samuel 18:7), it just about drove Saul crazy. David had to flee for his life.

Saul spent the last years of his life trying to destroy the future. But God’s hand was on David, and eventually King Saul died, a bitter, disillusioned man. The way was opened to crown the king who had a heart to serve the living God.

Of course, resistance emerged to the new leadership. Some of Saul’s loyalists fought to defend their turf; they resisted the new thing that God was so obviously doing. During the next two years “the house of David… grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker” (2 Samuel 3:1). Eventually everyone accepted David’s position as leader of the people of God (see 2 Samuel 5:1–5).

GOD WITH KING DAVID

Then David marched to Jerusalem (5:6). Although God’s people had been in the land for around three hundred years, they had still not occupied the great city. But under David’s leadership they captured Jerusalem, and when the city was taken, David established his palace and his center of government there.

David wanted the presence of God at the center of national life.

Then, he had to deal with the nearby Philistines. When they heard that David was king over Israel, they sent a special expeditionary force to take him out. They already had good reason to fear him since his extraordinary victory over Goliath, and the news that David was now king provoked them to take desperate action against him, so “they went up in full force to search for him” (2 Samuel 5:17). But God gave David a great victory, and it was a long time before the Philistines attacked Israel again.

Then David brought the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem. Remember that when the people were in the desert, God’s presence actually came down to the ark. God met with the high priest at the mercy seat.

We can gauge what had happened to the spiritual life of the nation from the fact that during the reign of Saul the ark had been placed in storage and then forgotten (1 Samuel 7:1–2). Now King David wanted the presence of God at the center of national life; so he brought the ark to Jerusalem. When the ark that symbolized God’s presence was brought to the capital city, there was great joy and celebration (2 Samuel 6).

So the new king was settled in his palace and had peace from all his enemies. It had been a long time since God’s blessing on His people had been so obvious. The nation was united, prospering, and at peace. David had been more successful than he had ever dreamed. The blessing of God had exceeded all his expectations, and he felt that this was a moment of opportunity to give something back. David was a godly man with a good heart and a great idea.

A KING’S PLAN TO HONOR GOD

So he called his friend Nathan. You can read about their conversation in 2 Samuel 7:1–3. To paraphrase their words, David said: “You know, Nate [that’s my version!], I have been thinking. It doesn’t seem right to me that I get to live in this lavish palace and the ark of God is housed in a tent. The palace is a statement of the greatness of the king. I want to put up a building that will be a statement of the greatness of God.”

Nathan liked the idea. “You know, David, everything you touch right now turns to gold. So whatever you have in mind, just go ahead and do it.”

But that night, when Nathan went home, he had an uncomfortable time alone with God. Nathan was a prophet, and that meant that God revealed things directly to his mind. In effect, God said, “Nathan, you told your friend David that he should do whatever he has in mind, but that was bad advice. I will honor David my servant and establish a home for him. But tell him that he will not be the one to put up this building. I am going to give that privilege to his son” (7:9, 11–12). Then God added that David’s son “will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever” (v. 13).

Have you ever been in a situation when you wanted to do something good and God closed the door on you? Or maybe a friend encouraged you to pursue some initiative that you thought would be for the glory of God, but it didn’t work out. Or perhaps you had a great idea, and the next thing you knew, God gave somebody else the opportunity to develop it! This is the ultimate test of humility. David was humbled, but in accepting this position, he would be honored.

In effect, God was telling the king, “David, you say this building would be for Me. If the temple is really for Me and for My glory alone, then it should make no difference to you who builds it! Your dream will come true, David. There will be a temple, but your son will build it.”

David recognized that God’s plans, even when not fully understood, are best. And he recognized the final result would honor God. (Just read his prayer of praise after being denied; it’s in verses 18–19.)

THE TEST OF HUMILITY

David accepted God’s plan with humility. True humility is not a false attempt to deflect praise when you have done something well. If you have played a marvelous game or made a great speech or landed a new position, and somebody praises you for your effort, it is not humility to hang your head and say, “Oh, it was nothing.” That’s false humility that pretends something God enabled you to do was of no importance or value. Such feigned humility does not glorify God.

What is real humility? C. S. Lewis described humility as “a state of mind in which (a man) could design the best cathedral in the world, and know it to be the best and rejoice in the fact, without being any more glad at having done it than he would have been if it had been done by another.”[1]

Such humility doesn’t come naturally. For instance, on a soccer team true humility means that you would have great joy if you scored three goals, but that you would feel the same joy if someone else scored the goals! In music ministry true humility means that you would have great joy in singing a solo to the glory of God, but you would have the same joy if someone else was chosen and sang it equally well. For a pastor genuine humility means that you can have joy in God’s blessing on your ministry, but you would experience the same joy in hearing that God had poured out even greater blessing on one of your brothers.

True humility means that you are more concerned that God is glorified, and less concerned about whose name gets on it.

DAVID’S HUMILITY

Thus, while David would have felt great joy in building a temple for God, his joy was no less when that honor was given to his son. That’s true humility. David knew history would describe the building as “Solomon’s temple,” yet he was not jealous—he was joyful.

To David’s great credit, he learned humility and counted the glory of God more important than his own name. It would not have been surprising if David had lost all interest in the temple project after God told him that he would not be able to complete it. But David’s humility is shown by the fact that he gathered the wood and the stones. He prepared all the materials and then handed the great privilege of building the temple over to his son.

True humility is never easy. None of us is naturally humble. Yet it is the mark of true greatness in God’s kingdom. As Jesus told His followers, “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve” (Mark 10:43–45).

Sadly, the early church wrestled with this issue. Some preached “Christ out of envy and rivalry…[and] selfish ambition” (Philippians 1:15, 17). Even in the early church, there were ministries that centered on the heavy promotion of a particular personality. Paul was saying, in effect, “I really don’t care about any of that, just so long as Jesus Christ is preached. That is all that matters to me. I rejoice that Christ is preached and God’s kingdom is being extended. I don’t have to have my name on it” (see Philippians 1:18).

DISAPPOINTMENT AND THE DOOR OF PROMISE

When David faced the disappointment of a closed door, God gave him a wonderful promise. “Your idea was to build a house for Me, David. It isn’t going to happen, but I have a better idea. I am going to build a house for you.”

“The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you.” (7:11)

Then God explained that He was not talking about putting up some brick and mortar. He was making a promise about one of David’s descendants: “When your days are over and you rest with your fathers”—that is, when you are dead—“I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom” (v. 12).

God promised He would raise up [a] descendant of David to the position of king.

God promised that He would raise up one particular descendant of David to the position of king. That promise was remarkably similar to the promise given to Eve in the garden, when God said one of her offspring would crush the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15).

God then gave David three marvelous promises about this special offspring. God said:

“He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son.” (vv. 13–14)

God was saying, “David, here is what I am going to do for you: Your son will build a house for My name, and I will establish His throne forever, and more than that, David, I will be His father and He will be My son. Your son will be My son!”

David was so overwhelmed by the weight and the glory of these promises that he had to go in and sit down (see v. 18). God was promising to do something that was beyond his wildest imagination, and he was struggling to take it in. How could a son of David possibly be the Son of God? How could any king’s reign last forever?

These were incredible promises. The question was, which son of David would fulfill them? The first and most obvious candidate was David’s immediate son, Solomon. It is a matter of history that Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem. He used materials gathered by his father, and you can read about the construction of this magnificent building in 1 Kings 5–8.

A PROMISE DEFERRED

God allowed Solomon to fulfill David’s dream of putting up this magnificent building. And when the temple was dedicated, the cloud of God’s glory came down and filled the temple. God filled the building with His presence.

When that happened, no doubt some people thought, “This is it! This is what God promised to David. Solomon is the king who has built the Lord’s house. His kingdom will last forever.” But a few years later Solomon died, and when he did, the kingdom was divided in two. And a few centuries after that, Solomon’s temple was destroyed.

From the time of David onward, the Bible story revolves around a search for a son of David who would build a temple, whose throne would last forever.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

Fast-forward the Bible story one thousand years, and you come to the opening verse of the New Testament:

A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David. (MATTHEW 1:1)

The first thing that we learn about Jesus is that He is the Son of David. From the beginning, Jesus is introduced to us as the person who fulfills God’s incredible promise to David.

JESUS, THE SON OF DAVID—AND THE SON OF GOD.

That theme runs all the way though the Christmas story. Luke records the angel’s announcement to Mary that God’s promise to David would be fulfilled:

“You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The LORD God will give him the throne of his father David.” (LUKE 1:31–32)

Jesus is the Son of David. But He is more; He is also, as the angel Gabriel announced, the Son of the Most High—that is, the Son of God.

Later, other angels appeared to the shepherds in the fields and announced that “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).

When Jesus began His ministry and people saw His miracles, they were so astonished that they said, “Could this be the Son of David?” (Matthew 12:23). Could this be the one that the people of God had been looking for for a thousand years? As the ministry of Jesus continued, more and more people put their hope in Him so that crowds were lining the streets when He arrived in Jerusalem.

They were waving palm branches and shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” (Matthew 21:9). They were convinced that Jesus would fulfill the ancient promise that God had given to David.

Others perceived more deeply; they understood that Jesus was not only the Son of David, but also the Son of God (Matthew 16:16; John 11:27). The demons were the first to recognize this. As soon as Jesus addressed them, they knew who He was (Mark 5:7).

Jesus affirmed that He is indeed the Son of God. Caiaphas, the high priest, asked Him directly, “Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God,” and Jesus gave him a straight answer, “Yes, it is as you say” (Matthew 26:63–64).

Jesus Christ fulfilled the mystery of God’s promise to David. He was God in the flesh, and He took His flesh from the line of David. David’s son was also God’s Son!

A PLACE FOR MEETING WITH GOD

If Jesus was indeed the promised Son of David, it would follow, from God’s promise, that He would be the one to build God’s house. So discerning people would listen very carefully to anything that Jesus said about the temple.

And sure enough, John tells us that at the beginning of His ministry, Jesus announced in the temple courts: “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days” (John 2:19). Those who heard Him thought that He was inviting them to bulldoze the building so that He could reconstruct it. “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple,” they reminded him, “and you are going to raise it in three days?”

But when Jesus spoke about the temple that would be destroyed, He was not talking about the building; He was talking about His own body. The magnificent structure that stood around Him as He spoke had at one time been the place where God had met with His people, but it had become a center of commercial enterprise. It was as if Christ was saying, “This building used to be the place where men and women met with God, but from now on, My body is a new temple.” The presence of God is found in Jesus Christ. In Christ “all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9).

When Jesus was crucified, the temple of His body was torn down. When He rose three days later, it was built again! A few years later (in 70 A.D.), the temple building in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans, and it has never been rebuilt. There is great significance in that. The place where men and women can meet with God is not a building in Jerusalem, or anywhere else. The place where you meet with God is though Jesus Christ.

God promised David that his son would build a house for God’s name. Christ never put up any buildings of stone, but He is building a house of people for the glory of God. The writer to the Hebrews told believers in Jesus that they are God’s house (Hebrews 3:6), and Peter described believers as “living stones…being built into a spiritual house” (1 Peter 2:5).

The New Testament places very little importance on buildings. God “does not live in temples built by [human] hands” (Acts 17:24). But God’s presence is among believers who are built together as a living temple for God’s glory (see Ephesians 2:21). That is why the apostle Paul expected when unbelieving people visited the worship service of the Corinthian church, they would respond by saying, “God is really among you!” (1 Corinthians 14:25). God’s presence is always among His people gathered together in the name of Jesus.

THE THRONE THAT WILL LAST FOREVER

God’s promise of a king whose throne would be established forever was repeated by later prophets in the Old Testament. For example, Isaiah said that a child would be born and a son given, and that the government would be on his shoulders.

Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. (ISAIAH 9:7)

Later the angel Gabriel announced the birth of Jesus: “The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end” (Luke 1:32–33; italics added). Two great promises, one from a prophet, the other from an angel: “A government [to which] there will be no end…His kingdom will never end.” But a question arises: How can any kingdom last forever? Kings have their time, but eventually each one dies; so how could any king reign forever?

This is the great significance of the resurrection and the ascension. Christ died and rose again. Death no longer has power over this king. As King of kings, Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, and no power can ever move Him from the position in which God has placed Him. “He must reign until he has put all His enemies under his feet” (1 Corinthians 15:25). Then “the kingdoms of this world [will] become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and He will reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 11:15).

The following words were penned by a soldier under siege during the First World War. The soldier knew his source of strength as he wrote these words while in a trench:[2]

They cannot shell his temple, nor dynamite his throne.

They cannot bomb his city, nor rob him of his own.

They cannot take him captive, or strike him deaf or blind,

nor starve him to surrender, nor make him change his mind.

They cannot cause him panic, nor cut off his supplies.

They cannot take his kingdom, nor hurt him with their lies.

Though all the world be shattered, his truth remains the same;

His righteous laws still potent, and Father still His name.

Though we face war and hunger and feel their goad and rod,

we know above confusion there always will be God.

Christ made a wonderful promise about thrones to His disciples. He said, “I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:29–30). The disciples will participate in Christ’s reign, and that is a distinctive promise of the New Testament to Christian believers. “To him who overcomes,” Jesus said, “I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne” (Revelation 3:21).

THE BIBLE’S GREATEST MIRACLE

God promised that David’s offspring would be God’s Son, and this promise points us to the greatest miracle in the Bible. When Jesus was born, he came into the line of David through Joseph’s fiancée, Mary. Joseph was a descendant of David (Matthew 1:1, 16). But Jesus was not born as a result of intercourse between Mary and Joseph (Matthew 1:25). He was conceived in the womb of the virgin by a creative miracle of God: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). The Son of David was the Son of God!

When we think of a son, we think about someone who is born twenty or thirty years after his father. But there was never a time when the Son of God was not with the Father. When the Bible tells us that Christ is the Son of God, it is telling us that Christ shares the nature of the Father, and it is the nature of God to have no beginning. If Christ, as the Son of God, shares the nature of God, it follows that He has no beginning and no ending. Indeed, the apostle John wrote, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).

This is the central mystery of the whole Bible. It is impossible to comprehend, and yet once this truth is grasped, it begins to make sense of everything else. God became man. The eternal Son took flesh. The One who had always been beside the Father became a son of David and in His own nature brought God and man together. When He appeared in the Bethlehem stable born of Mary, He fulfilled the promise that God had given to David. The incarnation is the Bible’s greatest miracle.

CHILDREN OF GOD

When you came to faith in Christ, who is the one and only Son of God by nature, God received you as an adopted child into His family! As John explained, “To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).

I wish I had a dollar for every time I hear or read about the search for self-worth and significance. If you are struggling in this area, let the truth of who Christ is and what He does for His people sink into the very core of your being.

- Christ is the temple, He reigns on the throne of the universe, and He is the Son of God.

- Faith joined you to Christ, so that in Him, you have become God’s temple, a place where God’s presence will come.

- You are a citizen of God’s kingdom living under the benefits of His rule.

- You are a son or a daughter of the living God, and your destiny is to enjoy Him forever.

Take that into your most ordinary day or into your darkest hour. Let it lift you to see the honor that God has bestowed upon you. Let it lift you to praise and glorify His name.

UNLOCKED

The experience of God’s people in the Old Testament depended in large degree on the king who was reigning at the time. It must have been a great relief for the people when a bad king died, and when a good king died, there must have been great anxiety about what the future would hold. At the heart of the Old Testament, God gave a wonderful promise to David that one of his descendants would reign forever. Christ fulfills this promise.

God’s people can be confident about the future because Christ is on the throne. This King has many enemies, but they will all be put under His feet (Psalms 110:1). The ultimate destiny of Christ’s people is to enjoy the blessing of His everlasting kingdom and to share in it.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

For our prayer, use these Scriptures (from Revelation 5:9–10, 13) that ascribe the King of Kings praise due His name:

Great King of Kings and Lord of lords,

You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.

You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth….

To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever! [Amen].

NOTES

1. C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (New York: Macmillan, 1942), 73.

2. I heard this poem years ago in a recorded message by English Pastor Paul Tucker. I do not know its prior source.

18

Prophet

2 SAMUEL 12

How has God

spoken to us?

DISCOVER

how God spoke to and through the prophets.

LEARN

how we know that the biblical authors were not expressing their own opinions.

WORSHIP

as you see how all that God says is expressed in a person.

A FRIEND of mine, who I’ll call Brian, was hired to a position in which his salary quadrupled overnight. I remember being in his home as he talked enthusiastically about his new opportunity. Brian had landed a senior management position; he was only in his early thirties.

At the time, he spoke about how God had given him this opportunity. But within a few months, Brian had blown his faithfulness to God and to his wife.

Beware. People who are given positions of power often begin to feel that they are somehow beyond the rules that apply to others. That’s exactly how it was for David. One day, the king saw a married woman by the name of Bathsheba, and when he saw her, he decided that this was the person he wanted. David had the power and, of course, the money to have whatever he desired, so he ignored God’s law and took the woman.

The ULTIMATE COVER-UP

David loved the Lord, even as Brian seemed to love God. But even a heart that loves God can harbor some strange affections. David’s feelings for Bathsheba were utterly offensive to God, but they were also very powerful, and he gave way to them. No Christian is ever beyond the power of temptation, and the moment we think we are, is probably our time of greatest danger. “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:12).

As the story develops, we discover that Bathsheba was carrying the king’s child. So now, the great king of Israel became involved in a squalid cover-up. The woman’s husband, Uriah, was on the battlefield, and David ordered that he be sent home, supposedly to bring news from the battle. David was really hoping that the man would spend a few nights at home with his wife so that he could be identified as the father of the child.

God had seen what was done.

But it didn’t work. Uriah was a conscientious soldier, and did not feel that he should be at home with his wife while his colleagues were risking their lives on the field of battle. So David had to resort to even more desperate measures. He ordered that Uriah be put into the front lines of battle, making his death almost inevitable. The field commander obeyed, and Uriah died in fierce fighting (2 Samuel 11:5–17).

A short time later, David took the recently widowed Bathsheba to be his wife. The whole thing happened without a trace of public knowledge. The papers hadn’t got hold of it; David’s family didn’t know about it. Only David and Bathsheba knew what was done. It was the ultimate cover-up, and we can reasonably assume from the way the story is told that David was highly delighted with the outcome of his marriage to Bathsheba.

His marriage to Michal was a great disappointment. She was the daughter of Saul, and from her attitude when the ark was brought to Jerusalem, it seems that she was a sultry cynic. When David was filled with joy because of the blessing of God, Michal “despised him in her heart” (2 Samuel 6:16).

However, the outcome probably pleased Bathsheba as well. There seems to be little doubt that Bathsheba made a play to attract the attention of the king while her husband was away from home. She must have known when she went out to sunbathe on her roof that she was within sight of the palace.

So here we have two rather unhappy and frustrated people who got together. Bathsheba had what she wanted, and the king had what he wanted. End of story…

…Except for one thing. “The thing David had done displeased the LORD” (2 Samuel 11:27).

God had seen what was done. The LORD could have remained silent, in which case David’s sin would remain hidden, and he would live as a believing man at a distance from God. Or He could create a situation that would bring what had happened into the open so that forgiveness and restoration would be possible. Guess which choice God made?

THE TERRORS OF HEARING THE VOICE OF GOD

We have already seen from the Old Testament story that hearing the voice of God directly was a terrifying experience. When God spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai, there was thunder and lightning and the sound of trumpets announcing the glory of God’s presence. The people saw that the mountain was surrounded in smoke, and then they heard the audible voice of God. God spoke!

You have to imagine yourself in an earthquake or a hurricane to get any sense of what this must have been like. Even Moses was trembling with fear, and when the people heard the voice of God, they begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear it (see Hebrews 12:18–21). They must have felt something of what it will be like for sinners to stand before almighty God on the last day. As the psalmist wrote, “He lifts his voice, the earth melts” (Psalm 46:6).

When God was present at Mount Sinai, the people said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die” (Exodus 20:19). So Moses went up onto the mountain, and God spoke to him, and then Moses came down from the presence of God and repeated the words of God to the people. That was the beginning of what we call “prophecy.”

God sent prophets to bring His Word so that the people would be saved from the terrors of hearing God speak to them directly. When God sent a prophet, it was always a sign of His grace. Sometimes the prophets could say pretty fierce things, but nothing that any of the prophets said could ever come close to what it would have been like for the people to actually stand in the presence of God and hear His voice directly. That was how David would hear God’s Word—through the strong, direct words of a prophet sent by God.

THE ROLE OF A PROPHET

People sometimes say, “I don’t want to go to church to hear a preacher talk about my sins.” Well, it would be better for the Holy Spirit to convict you through a preacher than having your sins remain hidden until the last day and then have God speak to you about them Himself! Prophecy can be expressed today as preachers proclaim the Word of God, declaring God’s counsel for His people. It’s not the same as during Old Testament times, because preachers do not bring new revelation. Nonetheless, when God’s Word is proclaimed, then God’s voice is heard.

In Old Testament times, God spoke through the prophets, who were given the unique privilege of standing in the counsel of God.

Those prophets heard the voice of God directly so that they could repeat the actual words of God to the people. There is a sense in which the role of a prophet was the opposite of the role of a priest. Priests spoke to God on behalf of people; prophets spoke to the people on behalf of God.

In order to understand the Bible, you need to grasp that (1) God speaks, that (2) He has spoken through these prophets (Hebrews 1:1), and that (3) the Old Testament records the Word of God spoken through the prophets from Moses onward.

STANDING IN A PROPHET’S SHOES

What would it have been like to receive the Word of the Lord? And how did God actually speak to the prophets? The apostle Peter tells us about this in the New Testament:

Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man. (2 PETER 1:20–21)

In other words, there was always a clear distinction between the prophet’s own opinions and the words that God spoke to them.

We have already seen a good example of this in the story of David’s desire to build a temple for the Lord. David asked the prophet Nathan what he thought about the idea, and Nathan told him to “go for it.” That was Nathan’s opinion. But that night, God said to the prophet, “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the LORD says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in?’” (2 Samuel 7:4–5). The distinction between Nathan’s opinion and God’s Word is very clear. It is as if God said, “All right, Nathan, David has heard what you have to say, now go and tell him what I have to say!”

So Nathan went to David and, speaking in the first person because he was repeating the actual words of God as he had heard them, he said, “I will raise up your offspring…. I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever…. I will be his father, and he will be my son” (2 Samuel 7:12–14).

Sometimes in a discussion I have often quoted a statement from the Bible and been told, “That is just somebody’s interpretation.” But Peter tells us that is not the case. The Bible claims to be the Word of God. It is the record of the words God spoke to the prophets. Christians believe in a God who speaks; we believe that He has spoken through the prophets. And there is a big difference between a prophet’s opinion and that prophet speaking the Word of God.

God has spoken through the prophets in order to protect us from the terror of hearing His voice directly. And God spoke to the prophets in such a way that they could record the precise words that God had spoken without elaboration, interpretation, or distortion.

PROPHETIC INSPIRATION

The apostle Peter tells us, “Men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21). In what way were these prophets “carried along”? Some months ago, our neighborhood was hit by a severe storm. We lost several trees, one of which was blown onto the roof of our home. In the process of clearing up, we found a chimney pot, a couple of trash can lids, and several other items that had been blown into our garden by the wind. We had no way of telling where they had come from or how far they had traveled. They had been picked up and carried along by the wind.

That is the picture that God uses to describe the way in which He communicated His Word to the prophets. When God spoke to the prophets, it was like the force of a great wind, and they were caught up in it. These men were not in control of the process. They were not applying deductive logic to work out what God might be saying. They were “carried along” by the Spirit of God and accurately recorded God’s words.

This does not mean that they were like robots or that Scripture was given by some process of automatic writing. There are different styles in the writing of the prophets. “Men spoke from God.” Different men, at different times, with different personalities, but all of them swept up into this gale of the Spirit which blew upon them. The Word of God came to the prophets with such force and clarity that what God said to them and what they wrote is exactly the same thing.

This is how the prophets could speak about things that otherwise could not have been known. Isaiah spoke about a virgin who would conceive and give birth to a son. Zechariah spoke about a king who would come to Jerusalem riding on a donkey. The only way the prophets could have known these things was that God told them.

The only way the prophets could have known these things was that God told them.

Now how did Nathan know what David had done with Bathsheba? Had he noticed that Bathsheba got married rather quickly after the death of her husband and that the baby was born soon after, and somehow put two and two together and decided to have a word with David about it? No! God told him what had happened. God spoke to Nathan and blew David’s cover apart.

A PROPHET IN THE KING’S COURT

So Nathan, God’s appointed prophet for this time in the history of Israel, approached the king. David had become convinced that his cover-up of the scandal had been so effective that nobody knew what had happened. But God knew, and He told Nathan to speak to David about it.

I feel sorry for Nathan! God was telling him things that he didn’t want to know, let alone have to repeat to the king! But he was being carried along by the Spirit, and he knew that when God spoke, he could not be silent.

No doubt it was with fear and trembling, and yet in the power of the Spirit, that Nathan went to the palace to speak the Word of God to his old friend David. Using a clever parable, Nathan told David about a rich man who stole a poor man’s lamb. As David listened to the story, he was filled with anger at what this man had done. He wanted to know who the man was so that he could see him brought to justice. Nathan looked at David and said, “You are the man!” (12:7).

David’s defenses were ripped wide open. He had thought that any potential Bathsheba-gate scandal was behind him. But God knew, and God had told Nathan. David had moved into the darkness, so God sent a prophet to expose what has been hidden. David had lost his fellowship with God, so God sent a prophet to bring him back.

This was God’s grace in action. The prophets were like prosecuting attorneys sent by God to bring His case against His people. But they were also like wise counselors who helped God’s people to face the truth about themselves so that they could return to God and find grace and forgiveness.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

Down through the centuries, God spoke His Word to the prophets and sent them to His people. They were often hated, despised, brutalized, and sometimes murdered. Then in the fullness of time God sent His Son (Hebrews 1:1–2).

In the Old Testament, the Word of God was given to a man, but in Jesus Christ the Word of God became a man. “The Word became flesh and dwelt…among us” (John 1:14 NKJV).

It was not that Christ heard the Word of God like the prophets. He is the Word of God. Everything that God has to say to you is expressed in Him. This is why we

do not need any other prophet today. God spoke in the past by the prophets, but they were all pointing forward to Christ who is the Word of God. There can be no further Word beyond the One who is the Word.

A PROPHET … AND MORE THAN A PROPHET

Jesus exercised the ministry of a prophet. The words He spoke were the words He was given by the Father. “I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it…. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say” (John 12:49–50).

He knew what was in the hearts of people who professed to follow Him (John 2:24–25). He told the Samaritan woman at the well that she had been married five times and that the man she was living with was not her husband (John 4:18). Christ said this so that she would discover who He is and receive new life from Him.

People soon recognized Jesus as a prophet, but it was not long before His disciples realized that He must be more than a prophet because He claimed what no other prophet could ever claim. “I and the Father are one.” “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 10:30; 14:9).

As His ministry progressed, the plot to discredit Him gained momentum. Eventually Jesus was arrested, and the Scriptures tell us that the guards blindfolded Him, and in a scene of horrible brutality, they circled around Him and took turns striking Him with their fists. Then they said, “Prophesy! Who hit you?” (Luke 22:64). They knew the people called Him a prophet; now they asked that He have God tell Him which of them had dealt the last blow.

HOW DOES GOD SPEAK TODAY?

People often say, “I wish that God would speak to me.” He does, yet not as He spoke at Mount Sinai, where His people were so terrified that they begged Him to stop. We can be profoundly grateful that God has spoken through the words of the prophets and Jesus Christ, and that the Scriptures have recorded His words.

The role of a prophet in the Old Testament is fulfilled by the work of the Holy Spirit in the New. Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit came, He would convince the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8). It is the work of the Holy Spirit to bring hidden sin to light through your conscience.

But God’s purpose goes far beyond revealing sin. That is simply a means to the end of restoring sinners. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would take the truth about Himself and make it known to us (John 16:14). That means that it is the special work of the Holy Spirit to show us that God offers His grace to us in Jesus Christ. Just as David was restored to fellowship with God, and then went on to live for God’s glory, so our sins may be forgiven, and we may live a new life.

RESPONDING TO THE WORD OF GOD

The Bible tells us the stories of two kings who received God’s word from a prophet and responded in very different ways: David and Herod.

When God spoke to David through Nathan, David said, “I have sinned against the LORD” (12:13). He could have said, “Nathan, you have to understand that the woman threw herself at me,” and there may have been some truth in that. He might have said, “Nathan, you don’t understand. My marriage has been dead for years,” which may also have been true. David could even have said, “Nathan, I know that I did something wrong, but a lot of earlier leaders of this people have done the same or worse.” That also would have been true.

But David did not use any of these excuses. He said, “I have sinned against the LORD.”

Would you have said that? How you respond to the Word of God when it hurts you is probably one of the most revealing statements about you. It will determine whether you remain on a spiritual casualty list or are restored to living fellowship with God.

The result of David’s honest confession was that he found forgiveness. The pain of his suppressed conscience was released, and the joy of his salvation was restored.

One thousand years later, another king, Herod, sat on the throne in Jerusalem. God spoke to him through a prophet whose name was John the Baptist. Herod was very interested in spiritual things, and he liked listening to John’s preaching. He felt that there was something authentic about him and he was drawn to that.

One day John the Baptist was taken up in the gale of the Spirit, and God gave him words to speak to Herod about his illicit relationship with his brother’s wife. The king didn’t want to know, and in the end he ordered that the head of John the Baptist be brought to him on a plate.

It is significant that Herod’s sin did not dull his interest in spiritual matters. For some time, Herod had wanted to see Jesus (Luke 23:8). Eventually he had the opportunity, because Christ was sent to him by Pilate, who was trying to avoid the responsibility of making a decision. We’re told Herod “plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer” (Luke 23:9).

Herod had refused God’s word to him through John the Baptist. He had hardened his heart, and now the Savior had nothing more to say to Him.

As far as we can tell, the next time God spoke to Herod, it was without a prophet, and without a Savior. The next time he heard the word of God, he was in the presence of God. If you will not hear the word of God through the mediator, there will come a day when He will speak to you without a mediator, and that would be absolutely terrifying. That is why the Bible says, “How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?” (Hebrews 2:3).

God’s promise is that, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). That is what happened to David, and it can happen for you.

UNLOCKED

God has spoken to us through the prophets and through His Son Jesus Christ. We should be profoundly grateful that God has not chosen to speak to us directly. Israel discovered something of the terror of that at Sinai. God has graciously chosen to speak to us indirectly, through the prophets and by His Son who is the Mediator.

God speaks to us about our sins so that we may turn from them and be forgiven. He speaks through His Word and by His Spirit.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Almighty God,

Thank You that when we have sinned, You have not remained silent.

Thank You that You have spoken Your Word by the prophets and through y Your Son. Thank You that the Word became flesh. May I continue to listen to Your Words through these two sources.

Through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.

19

Temple

1 KINGS 8

Where can we

go to meet

with God?

DISCOVER

the significance of the lost ark of the covenant.

LEARN

how God uses trials as stonecutters in your life.

WORSHIP

as you see how God’s presence comes to us in Jesus Christ.

THE Bible story is about how men and women can live in the presence of God. It begins with the first man and woman enjoying God’s presence in a garden, and ends with a vast crowd enjoying the presence of God in a city. Between these two scenes, we have the story of how God’s presence was lost through man’s choice of sin and disobedience, and how the presence of God is restored by God’s initiative of grace.

So the Bible answers the question, “How can a man or a woman live in the presence of God?” After Adam and Eve were thrown out of the garden and God’s presence, they only knew God from a distance. But God wanted His presence to be known, and He revealed Himself through a number of theophanies, or divine appearances. He appeared in human form so that He could communicate with His people. But these experiences of the presence of God were very rare. (Abraham experienced four theophanies, Isaac two, and Jacob probably three.)

After that, there was no manifestation of the presence of God for four hundred years. Then God appeared to Moses in a self-sustaining fire, and when Moses led the people out of Egypt, God’s presence was with them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

SEEKING GOD’S PRESENCE

When God’s people came to Sinai, they saw a new manifestation of the glory of God. The cloud of God’s presence came down on the mountain, and the people were filled with fear and awe. It was as if the day of judgment had come.

The people asked Moses to go up the mountain into the presence of God, and while he was there, the people made an idol in the shape of a golden calf. So God said, “Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you” (Exodus 33:3).

God was ready to give the people all the blessings of life in the land of Canaan, with the single exception that God Himself would not be with them. Upon hearing His words, God’s people recognized that all the prosperity, peace, and freedom in the world would be nothing without the presence of God. So they mourned their actions, and removed their ornaments, as God commanded (see 33:4–5). And they waited for God to act.

But God had already told Moses how His presence could come among the people again. He had given precise specifications for building the ark of the covenant to be placed in the inner court of a tabernacle. The high priest was to enter the Most Holy Place once a year, and there God promised to meet with the priest on behalf of the people (Exodus 25:22).

So now they built the ark, which contained the covenant (or testimony) between God and His people, and the tabernacle to house it. You can read about it in Exodus 35–40:33. When the tabernacle and the ark were complete, “The cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle” (Exodus 40:34–35).

The cloud of the presence of God had returned to His people. This was the sign that their sin was forgiven and that their relationship with God was restored.

THE STORY OF THE ARK

From that time on, the ark was the symbol of the presence of God with His people. When the people traveled, they lined up in formation around the four sides of the ark. When they crossed the Jordan River to enter the land, the priests carried the ark first, and the people followed. Sometimes they took the ark into battle with them as a sign of the presence of God. When God was with His people, nothing was impossible for them.

One day, however, the Philistines captured the ark of God. Many mourned; one woman giving birth that day named her son Ichabod, which means “the glory has departed” (1 Samuel 4:21–22). The loss of the ark was a sign that the presence of God had departed from Israel. Eventually the ark was returned, but for a whole generation in the time of Saul, it was placed in storage and neglected. That tells you something about Saul’s sense of priorities!

When David came to the throne and established his center of operations in Jerusalem, his first action was to bring the ark of God to the capital city. He wanted the presence of God to be established at the center of national life.

As noted in chapter 17, David wanted to honor God by building a beautiful temple. The building would shelter the ark of the covenant. It would be a permanent meeting place between man and God. It had always been in the plan of God that such a place should be built. That is why, back in the time of Moses, four hundred years before David, God had spoken about “the place [where] the LORD your God will choose… to put his Name there for his dwelling” (Deuteronomy 12:5).

God would choose a certain place where people could meet with Him, and He would “put his Name” there. When David came to the throne and brought the ark to Jerusalem, he began to think that this might be the place. He was right that it was the place, but it was not yet the time. David’s role was to subdue the enemies of Israel. It would fall to his son Solomon to build the temple.

TIME FOR THE TEMPLE

It is hard to think of any other time when God’s people were so singularly blessed as when Solomon came to the throne. It seemed that God was giving His people a unique moment of opportunity. He had given them wise and stable leadership and had entrusted them with significant resources.

Right from the start, Solomon knew what God wanted him to do with this moment of opportunity. God had said to his father, David, “Your son will build a house for me.” So Solomon knew from the prophecy given to his father that God had work for him to do.

In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites had come out of Egypt,…[Solomon] began to build the temple of the LORD. (1 KINGS 6:1)

The stones were cut, shaped, and dressed at the quarry, and then delivered to the building site. Then, when all of the materials were assembled, a command was given—“Build!”—and the whole building went up in silence. “No hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built” (1 Kings 6:7).

That picture is taken up in the New Testament, where God’s people are described as “living stones” who are being built into a temple that will be for the glory of God (1 Peter 2:5). Every stone has to be shaped for its place in the building.

The pain that God may allow in your life, or the hardships that you struggle with, are like the hammer and chisel in the quarry. God is shaping you as a living stone to take your place in that building that will be for His glory. All the painful preparatory work is done here and now in the quarry, because on the day when Jesus Christ returns, the command to build will be given, and all the people of God will be brought together. In heaven, all the preparation and shaping will allow you to glorify Him together with all His people forever. If you can think of some of the most painful experiences of your life as being like the chiseling in the quarry, you will have a proper perspective.

GOD’S STONECUTTERS

Some years ago, we had the opportunity of welcoming a Romanian pastor, Joseph Ton, into our home for several days. Back home, he had been imprisoned for his faith, and we listened intently as he talked about the cost of commitment to Christ. One night he told us about how some of the prison guards had noticed that Joseph’s attitude was very different from that of other prisoners. Nearly every prisoner hated the guards because of their cruelty, but Joseph prayed for the guards and for their families.

A guard once asked Joseph, “Why are you not filled with bitterness toward me?”

“Because to me you are God’s stonecutter,” Joseph answered.

Who are God’s stonecutters in your life? They may have brought you pain, but God will use that pain in His great purpose of shaping you into the likeness of Christ so that you can take your place in the living temple that will be for God’s glory in eternity.

I don’t know who—or what—God is using in your life to cut you into shape. It may be a challenging problem, such as a health, job, or financial issue. No matter the cutting instrument—a person or a situation—the process can be painful. But when Christ returns, the stones will all be sized and dressed and the command will go up “Build!” and in silence and in wonder, the church will be all that Christ died for it to become, and you will be a part of the place where God’s glory is known and enjoyed forevermore.

Solomon paid particular attention to the inner sanctuary of the temple. The old tabernacle had been a series of curtains dividing off different areas, but this flimsy structure was now being upgraded to a permanent building with walls.

The Most Holy Place would now be an unlit room about thirty feet square and thirty feet high; so it was a perfect cube. Solomon had two sculptures of cherubim made from olive wood and overlaid with gold (1 Kings 6:20–28). Their wingspan was fifteen feet, and so when they were positioned side by side, their wings would have spanned the whole room. They were also fifteen feet high, so they were positioned to look down on the ark. We keep coming across these cherubim in the Bible story. They always represent exclusion from the presence of God. These massive carvings positioned so that they were looking down on the ark were symbols of how God above is separated from man below.

This massive construction project took seven years to complete. Fully 30,000 men were conscripted to fell timber in Lebanon, working in shifts of 10,000 men for one month at a time. There were 80,000 stonecutters, 70,000 carriers, and 3,300 foremen working in the quarries.

A SERVICE OF DEDICATION

When the building was complete, the people gathered for a service of dedication. The temple dedication was one of the greatest occasions in the nation’s history. Solomon summoned the elders of Israel, the heads of the tribes, and the chiefs of the families to bring up the ark of the covenant (see 1 Kings 8:1). “The priests then brought the ark of the LORD’S covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim” (8:6).

When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the LORD. And the priests could not per-form their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD fled his temple. (vv. 10–11)

The last time God’s glory had shown itself like this was in the desert, more than four hundred years earlier. But now, this same God, whose glory came down and rested on the ark of the covenant in the desert, had come down into the temple!

Solomon had to explain to the people what was happening. They had never experienced the immediate presence of God. They did not even know what the cloud was! So Solomon told them, “The LORD has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud” (v. 12).

We have seen that the Most Holy Place was a darkened room, dominated by two fifteen-foot figures of cherubim. Beneath them was the ark of the covenant, a wooden chest about six feet by two, and on the lid of the ark there were also golden figures of cherubim. If God’s presence were to come down into that room and touch the ark of the covenant, then God would have to come down through the cherubim. God breached the wall of separation and judgment, represented by these figures, and came to meet with His people at the mercy seat.

RESPONDING WITH WORSHIP

Solomon’s first response was to worship! “Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his own hand has fulfilled what he promised with his own mouth to my father David,” he began (v. 15; the entire ascription of praise is found in vv. 15–21). Then he turned to God in prayer and expressed the longing of his heart (vv. 22–53). Solomon was a wise man and he knew that no building could ever contain God. He knew that the cloud could leave as quickly as it came. He longed for much more than a once-in-a-lifetime experience of God’s presence and wanted the temple to be a place where God’s presence could always be found. So he made this request:

“May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you have said, ‘My Name shall be there.’” (v. 29)

Solomon knew that heaven is the dwelling place of God, but his desire was that the temple would be the place where God would meet with men and women on earth.

Some people who were living miles from Jerusalem would also want to seek the face of God. So Solomon asked that God would hear them as they directed their prayers toward the temple. “Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive” (v. 30, italics added). Then Solomon concluded by rising “from before the altar of the LORD, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven” and began a final praise and benediction for the people:

“Praise be to the LORD, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses. May the LORD our God be with us as he was with our fathers” (vv. 54, 56–57).

THE SAD STORY OF THE TEMPLE

For a time, that was how it was. But it was not long before there were some sad changes. A king by the name of Manasseh promoted the worship of other gods and introduced astrology into the temple (2 Kings 21:5). This provoked the LORD to anger, and eventually the pattern of idolatry became so offensive to God that He gave His people into the hands of their enemies. The Babylonian army laid siege to Jerusalem; the city fell, the temple was destroyed, and the most gifted people were deported to Babylon.

Jerusalem was reduced to a pile of rubble, and in the process, the ark of the covenant was lost, so that even when the temple was rebuilt, the place where God said He would meet with the people was gone.

ONLY A SHADOW

That’s how it was for seventy years. Then God allowed the people to return under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah. They rebuilt the walls of the city and then the temple. But it was only a shadow of Solomon’s temple. When the foundations were laid, some of the older people wept. They knew that the new temple would never match the one that had stood there before. And when the new temple was dedicated, the Scripture records no reference to the cloud of God’s presence. It was simply a building in which people worshiped.

It wasn’t long before the country was overrun again and the second temple destroyed. It was not until the time of Herod that it was rebuilt, and there certainly is no evidence of the cloud of God’s presence in the third temple. By that time, God’s house of prayer had become a den of thieves and robbers.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

During the time of the third temple, our LORD Jesus Christ was born. John wrote that “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). The word that is used for dwelt literally means “tabernacled,” or “pitched His tent.” John is telling us that when Jesus Christ was born, the presence of God came to His people.

THE TEMPLE WITH US

At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus spoke about His own body as a temple that would be destroyed and rebuilt within three days. In referring to His own body as the temple, Christ was telling us that He is the new meeting place between God and man. “You used to look to the temple as the place where you could meet with God. Don’t look there. If you want to meet with God, come to Me.”

In the Old Testament, the meeting point between God and man was a place, but in the New Testament, the meeting place between God and man is a person. On one occasion, Jesus spoke with a Samaritan woman who wanted to discuss the best place to worship. Jesus told her that God was seeking people who would worship Him “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23).

Solomon asked that God would listen to all those prayers that were directed toward the temple, but Jesus promises that God will hear prayers that are offered in His name. “Whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you” (John 16:23 NKJV).

THE SPIRIT IN US

When Jesus began to speak to the disciples about His departure, the thought appalled them because that would mean that the presence of God would be taken from them. But Jesus told them what would happen. “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of Truth” (John 14:16–17). The presence of God would not only be with them as it had been through Jesus, but God’s presence would “be in [them]” by the Holy Spirit (John 14:17, italics added).

Then after the resurrection, Christ came to His disciples and He breathed on them. He said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Jesus was picturing what would happen after His ascension on the Day of Pentecost.

On the Day of Pentecost, the disciples heard the sound of a rushing wind. Now the breath of God was indeed blowing on them. Next they saw a fire—a symbol of God’s presence just as it had been when a pillar of fire hovered over His people in the desert. But on the Day of Pentecost, the fire separated into tongues of fire, and the flames rested on each of the disciples. God was showing in a visual and powerful way that His presence was coming upon these people. The breath of God’s life had entered them.

Now if the presence of God comes into a man or a woman’s own body, that person becomes a place where God is; or to put it another way, that person becomes a living temple!

That is how the New Testament describes Christian believers. “Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit,” the apostle Paul told the Corinthian church (1 Corinthians 6:19). When you come to Christ, your own body becomes a place where God is. God’s presence is with you.

AN ONGOING STORY: GOD WITH HIS PEOPLE

Do you see the glorious sweep of this story right through the Bible? The presence of God remains with His people. God was with two people in the garden. Then God came down in awesome power to speak with Moses on Mount Sinai. Then God’s presence came to the mercy seat between the cherubim on top of the ark. Next God’s presence shone in the cloud that filled the temple. Later the presence of God became incarnate in the person of our LORD Jesus Christ. Today the presence of God is breathed into all His people by the Holy Spirit.

The whole of human history is leading up to the day when Jesus Christ will return in glory and take His people into the immediate presence of God. Then, we will see Him and we will be like Him (1 John 3:2).

The apostle John was given a glimpse of what this will be like. He saw a great city and a great crowd of people. Then he heard “a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God’” (Revelation 21:3).

Do you feel something of the glory of this? One of the greatest problems in the Christian church is that Christian people have hardly begun to grasp the glory of their salvation. You are a living stone in the temple of God, and everything that God is doing in your life is shaping you for your eternal destiny with Christ.

Think about the cloud of God’s presence filling the temple. Think of that as a picture of God’s Spirit filling you. Let it stir your mind and imagination. Paul prayed that Christian believers would be “filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19 NKJV).

Think about the two temples in the Old Testament. God’s presence filled Solomon’s temple, but the temple of Nehemiah’s day was simply a building with God’s name on it. We must be careful not to become like the second temple. Many have the name “Christian” but have no observable evidence of the presence of God in their lives. Christ came to change that. He has opened the way for the presence of God to fill us by the power of the Holy Spirit.

UNLOCKED

The Bible story is all about how we can enjoy the presence of God. Since Adam was evicted from the garden, any hope of meeting with God depended on His choosing to come and meet with us. The Bible tells us how God has repeatedly come down to make Himself known and to reach out to men and women. He did this through the theophanies, and then by coming to the mercy seat on the ark, and then by the cloud of His presence filling the temple.

Despite the efforts of Indiana Jones and the fantasies of Hollywood, the truth is that the ark of the covenant has been lost. There was no ark in the second temple, and it has never been found. The fact that the ark is gone is very significant. God no longer meets with us at a particular place but through a particular person.

The manifestations of God’s presence at the ark and in the temple were pointing forward to something greater that God would do in Christ. God took human flesh and has made Himself known through Jesus. When we come to Jesus in faith, God’s presence enters our lives by the Holy Spirit. Then, either through death or at His second coming, Christ will take us into the immediate presence of God. We will see Him, and we will be like Him.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Take a moment to identify God’s stonecutters in your life. You may want to tell God how painful they are for you.

Ask God to help you believe that even the stonecutters are part of His purpose. Ask Him to use the trials in your life to shape you for ministry now and prepare you for the place you will take in His presence.

20

Worship

1 KINGS 18

What are the

distinguishing

marks of

authentic

worship?

DISCOVER

why idolatry took hold among God’s people.

LEARN

why all religions are not the same.

WORSHIP

as you see how Christ’s sacrifice saves us from the judgment of God.

THE UNITED KINGDOM AND

KINGS OF THE NORTH

1000 B.C.

CA. 1011-971

KING DAVID

971–931

KING SOLOMON

931–910

JEROBOAM

910–909

NADAB

909–886

BAASHA

900

886–885

ELAH

885–874

OMRI

874–853

AHAB

800

SEVERAL years ago I spent two weeks of ministry in northeast England, having been asked by our denomination to give support and encouragement to the work of some pastors I knew there. The northeast of England is strewn with Methodist chapels. Most of them were started at the time of John Wesley, when revival was sweeping through England. People came to Christ by the hundreds. They were discipled in small groups, and then gathered into local congregations.

Now, more than one hundred years later, many of the chapels are relics of history; those that still function often don’t proclaim the gospel. Indeed, the area has become one of the hardest in Britain for the work of the gospel. The experience of working there made me wonder how it was possible for living congregations to die in such a short space of time. How could these beautiful buildings, once filled with worship, now be disused shells that do little more than perpetuate a past tradition? One thing I know: What happened to these buildings can happen to people too.

And that raises another question: What kills worship in your life and what would it take for worship to become a living experience for you? The first book of Kings speaks directly to these issues.

PLANTING THE SEEDS OF DIVISION

When Solomon came to the throne, the people of God had everything going for them. They had wise and godly leadership, peace from their enemies, and strong unity. Under those circumstances, they were able to accomplish remarkable things. Solomon assembled a workforce of nearly 200,000 people, and after seven years of construction, the temple of God was built. When the building was dedicated, the glory of God filled the temple. It was one of the greatest moments in the history of Israel.

God’s people became the envy of the nations. The queen of Sheba came to visit Solomon to learn from his wisdom and marvel at what he had accomplished. Our Lord Jesus Christ referred to “Solomon in all his splendor” (Matthew 6:29).

But there was a very short distance between triumph and disaster. As time passed, we find that Solomon’s success began to breed complacency, and the seeds of future disaster were planted in the later years of his reign. Solomon made three mistakes that are a warning for all who are called to leadership among the people of God. He (1) lost touch with hurting people, (2) slid into indulgence, and (3) did the popular (rather than the right) thing.

LOSING TOUCH WITH HURTING PEOPLE

Solomon put all of his attention on the palace and the temple in Jerusalem. While people in the south were prospering, the people in the north were struggling. Solomon had focused his forced labor program in the north. The result was a significant group of people that were feeling increasingly marginalized among the people of God.

Solomon lost touch with hurting people. Perhaps he thought the people in the north were unimportant, but that shortsighted leadership decision had long-term repercussions after his death.

It is always important for leaders to be sensitive to those who are feeling left out among the people of God. Solomon was not hearing the growing discontent among the people, and so when he handed the country over to his son Rehoboam, it was filled with suppressed bitterness and tension. The seeds of disunity were already planted.

SLIDING INTO INDULGENCE

Solomon was in a position where he could do virtually anything he wanted. He had almost unlimited power and great resources of wealth. In his early days, he was a man with a mission. He knew that God had called him to build the temple, and he threw his time, energy, and money into accomplishing something for the glory of God.

But later in his life, he used his position to support his own indulgence. Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kings 11:3). That’s indulgence! And the interesting thing is that his indulgence was the root of his own downfall. “As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been” (1 Kings 11:4).

It is extraordinary that Solomon, who was so wise in his early years, became so foolish in his personal choices. In his later years, the relationships he had chosen became a burden and a snare to him. The constant influence of ungodly people eroded his faith. Be very careful about your choice of significant relationships, friendships, and partnerships.

DOING WHAT’S POPULAR

Solomon’s third mistake was that he chose what was popular instead of what was right. “On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab” (1 Kings 11:7). It’s not hard to imagine the circumstances that led him to do this. One of his wives who was especially in favor at the time probably said, “Solomon, I have one tiny little favor to ask of you, but it’s not just for me; it’s for a number of us here in your harem. I’m from Moab. I have left my home and family to be your wife. But just sometimes, I feel I would like to have a little taste of home. And I know you wouldn’t want me going back to Moab, so what about us having a little bit of Moab here!

“If I had a place where I could go and practice my religion, just a little shrine to Chemosh, that would be so wonderful.”

So Solomon built a high place for Chemosh for his Moabite wives. Then you know what would happen next. Another of Solomon’s wives came to him, this one from Ammon, asking for similar treatment. So Solomon set up a shrine “for Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites” (1 Kings 11:7).

Then the rest of the harem would all come forward with their petitions, and at some point, Solomon must have become completely fed up with the whole thing. Maybe he said, “To make it fair, the rule is that all of the women may have a shrine of their own choosing.” The record reads: “He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods” (1 Kings 11:8).

This was the beginning of a radical transformation that infected God’s people. At the start of Solomon’s reign, Jerusalem was the place where the living God had put His name. By the end of Solomon’s reign, there was a place near Jerusalem with the name of just about every other god from a surrounding kingdom or culture!

When the queen of Sheba came to Jerusalem, she saw a temple that spoke of the unique glory of the God of Israel. Now the temple of the living God was surrounded by a smorgasbord of shrines to other gods, so that any visitor to Jerusalem would draw the conclusion that the God of Israel was one among many. It was the first step towards becoming a multi-faith society.

Solomon’s choices were the beginning of true worship being lost in Israel. Our personal worship may also be stifled by poor choices. The apostle Peter warns husbands to be careful about the way that they treat their wives “so that nothing will hinder [their] prayers” (1 Peter 3:7). King David wrote that “the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their [prayers]” (Psalm 34:15). If we intentionally hide sin in our hearts, then the LORD will not hear us.

A TURNING OF THE TIDE

After years of peace, prosperity, and the blessing of God, the tide began to turn. “The LORD raised up against Solomon an adversary” (1 Kings 11:14). In fact, Solomon faced three adversaries during a short period (see 11:14, 23, 26). Then after Solomon’s death and during his son Rehoboam’s early rule, rebellion in the north allowed Jeroboam to usurp part of the kingdom.

Solomon did great things for God in the first half of his life and then reversed much of that good through the indulgence of his later years. He received a kingdom from his father David that was united and at peace, but he handed his son a kingdom that was divided and at war. Thus when Rehoboam took over, he immediately faced rumbling discontent among the people in the north. Eventually those northern tribes found a leader in Jeroboam. They rallied around him and crowned him as their king. That meant that the ten tribes in the north were separating from the line of David that God had promised to bless. The kingdom that was once the envy of the world was now divided and at war—the north (called Israel) against the south (called Judah).

THE STORY IN THE NORTH

Jeroboam was a shrewd leader of the ten northern tribes of Israel, and although he had little personal knowledge of the Lord, he did realize the cohesive power of religion. He saw that if faithful people from the north kept going down to Jerusalem to worship God in the temple, then they would keep being reminded of the powerful unity they shared with the people from the south, as together they worshiped the one living God.

So Jeroboam decided to establish his own centers of worship for the northern tribes using an old image: the golden calf of Mount Sinai. The northern king had two golden calves crafted and told the people: “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt” (1 Kings 12:28). That final statement contained the same words that Aaron had used when he made the golden calf in the desert half a millennium earlier (Exodus 32:8)! It was politically shrewd but entirely wrong, and it was deeply offensive to God. Jeroboam was not seeking the presence and the blessing of God on his kingdom. He was merely using religion to strengthen the corporate identity of the people he was leading, and when that is the aim, any religion will do.

After Jeroboam, there was a succession of kings in Israel who followed the same policies over a period of about fifty years. Jeroboam handed the kingdom over to his son Nadab, who followed in the ways of his father until he was murdered by Baasha. He was followed by Elah, who was a drunkard and murderer. Then there was Zimri, who was guilty of treason and only lasted seven days, and then Omri, who “sinned more than those before him” (1 Kings 16:25). Finally there was Ahab, who topped Omri by doing “more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him” (1 Kings 16:30).

Ahab thought nothing of committing the sins of Jeroboam. He also married the infamous Jezebel and began to serve Baal. Jezebel used the power of the palace to initiate a program of persecution in which the prophets of God were hunted and killed.

In just fifty years after the death of Solomon, Israel had changed beyond recognition. At the beginning of Solomon’s reign, the king said, “There is one God.” By the time of Jeroboam, the official position was that “there are many gods,” and by the time of Ahab, it was unacceptable to say that there is one God, and those who did so were subject to violent persecution.

In half a century, Israel had gone from a people united in worshiping the living God to a nation confused and divided, where people assumed that all religions were essentially the same and therefore that the God you worshiped was a matter of personal choice. As long as you were sincere, it really did not make any difference!

Only a few years earlier the presence of God had filled Solomon’s temple; now the knowledge of God was all but lost, even among His own people. If that could happen in Israel around 800 B. C., it can certainly happen in America around 2000 A. D. So how can authentic worship of the living God be restored in the land? That is the theme of the great story of Elijah on Mount Carmel. Here we find several distinctive marks of authentic worship.

AUTHENTIC WORSHIP IS A RESPONSE TO REVEALED TRUTH

Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” (18:21)

The prophet Elijah was on Mount Carmel, facing 450 prophets of Baal, 400 prophets of Asherah, and “people from all over Israel” (v. 19). Even King Ahab was there. But Elijah was honest and direct. In effect, he said: “If Baal is God, then the thing you should do is follow him. If he’s not, return to God!” That is like someone saying today, “If Allah is God, then leave the church and go to the mosque! If Siva or Vishnu are God, then adopt Hinduism!”

Elijah did not appeal to tradition. He was not interested in perpetuating a system of vested interests that are used to dominate the culture. He appealed to the truth: The single reason for worshiping the Lord is that He is God.

Nobody has the right to say that you should be a Christian because your parents were Christians, or because Christianity is the dominant religion in your country. These are not good enough reasons. Christianity stands or falls on the claim that it is true. Authentic worship is a response to revealed truth. “If the Lord is God, follow Him.”

The people found it very difficult to respond to Elijah’s challenge. “The people said nothing” (v. 21). Elijah’s question assumed categories of truth and error, and the people found it very difficult to think in these terms. They had been brought up on a syncretism that said, “The God you worship is a personal choice, faith is a private matter in the realm of your own heart, and every individual must find a way to worship that fits their own personality.”

When Elijah challenged the people to decide what was true, they didn’t know what to say. So Elijah’s first task was to confront the people with the claims of truth. Before you can truly worship, you need to know who God is. Authentic worship is a response to revealed truth. So if worship is to be restored, truth must be proclaimed. The whole of a public service of worship should be built around the truth. We should sing the truth, read the truth, pray the truth, and preach the truth.

If you want to know a greater depth of worship in your life, get your Bible open and engage with the truth. Soak your mind in it. The Holy Spirit will use the truth to stimulate a response within your heart, and this will help your prayers.

AUTHENTIC WORSHIP FOCUSES ON THE LIVING GOD

Elijah invited the prophets of Baal to prepare a sacrifice and then call on the name of Baal to manifest himself by sending fire. The prophets of Baal gave themselves to the challenge and called on their god. “Oh, Baal, hear us.” They danced around the altar, working themselves into a frenzy.

This went on hour after hour. You have to give them top marks for sincerity and effort. Perhaps they would have said that they felt that this form of worship was very meaningful, or that it made them feel good. And they probably did feel good; after all, six hours of dancing would be a pretty good workout!

But after all of this intense activity, “There was no response, no one answered” (v. 29). That is the tragedy of false religion. When they had done everything with total sincerity and at great personal cost, there was no one there.

Their worship was nothing more than an exercise in self-expression. They were talking to themselves, because nobody else was listening. Baal worship evolved because at some point in history, people made up mythical stories about Baal and wrote them down. Then other people made images of Baal and carved them out of wood. But there was nothing in the worship of Baal beyond what human minds had dreamed up and what human hands had made. The whole thing was a cultural creation, and for that reason, it had no authority and no power. Elijah wanted to save the people from that.

There are many people today who have concluded that Christianity evolved in precisely the same way as the worship of Baal did. They assume that the Bible is also a book of ancient myths, and because they assume that it is a creation of human culture, they insist that it has no authority. If they are right in their assumption, then they are right in their conclusion. A religion created by one culture should not be imposed on another; a religion that was merely the choice of one generation should not be foisted on another. If all religions are human creations, then none of them can claim to be true.

But Elijah knew that the living God was no cultural creation. He longed that the knowledge of the living God should be restored in the land. So he began to pray:

“O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God…. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God.” (vv. 36–37)

Elijah was talking about the most fundamental truth in the Bible: “In the beginning God.” Before the world began, before cultures developed, before religious writing, before animal, vegetable, or mineral, in the beginning there was God. The world and all that is in it are His handiwork. The living God had revealed Himself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the tragedy of our world is that the knowledge of God has been drowned out in the noise created around a thousand substitutes. Elijah longed that his own people should know who God is.

Authentic worship is directed toward the living God. Churches today are often struggling to find ways to stimulate worship. We are in difficulties over worship because we have lost a sense of the weight and glory of the LORD. If we put the living God in the same category as Baal and swallow the world’s conviction that all religion is a creation of human minds, we will be in profound difficulties over worship. Like the prophets of Baal, we may find ourselves increasingly desperate in our efforts to provoke a response.

Elijah’s approach was very different. He knew that where God’s glory was known there would not be a problem over worship. He simply stepped forward and prayed that God would make Himself known. Questions of worship style are entirely secondary.

AUTHENTIC WORSHIP FOCUSES ON AN ACCEPTABLE SACRIFICE

Elijah acted very deliberately as he built the altar of God. He took twelve stones, representing the twelve tribes of Jacob. That was politically incorrect. His audience from the northern tribes would have preferred him to take ten stones. But Elijah took twelve, because he was about to offer a sacrifice to the God of all Israel.

He prepared the sacrifice on the altar, and then in order to make the revelation of the power of God compelling even to skeptics, he poured water over the altar and drenched the sacrifice. And then came a miracle both astonishing and profound in its significance:

The fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice. (v. 38)

Try to imagine yourself in the crowd at that moment. You have bought into the prevailing belief of your culture, that all religions are a human creation, and that one religion is essentially the same as another. Now you are sitting on the top of Mount Carmel, and as you watch Elijah praying, suddenly the sky is filled with fire. In an instant, your mind is lucid, and everything falls into place. Elijah had been speaking the truth. The Lord is God, and now the fire of His judgment is falling on us!

Here we come to the most wonderful part of the story: “The fire of God fell on the sacrifice.” There were thousands of people there, but when God’s fire came, it did not fall on them. God’s fire was diverted away from them, and onto the altar, where the sacrifice had been prepared.

Something similar happened when the first man and the first woman sinned in the garden and God pronounced judgment. God looked at the serpent and said, “Cursed are you.” Then God looked at Adam and said, “Cursed is the ground because of you” (Genesis 3:17, italics added). Adam must have expected the curse, but God diverted His judgment to the ground instead. The same thing happened here on Mount Carmel. The fire of God fell, but it did not fall on the people; God struck the sacrifice instead.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

On another day on a different hill, another sacrifice was offered. When Jesus Christ died at Calvary, the judgment of God fell. But it did not fall on the people; it fell on the sacrifice. It struck Him, and in this way, God created room for men and women from every culture and in every generation to be reconciled to Himself.

The sacrifice of Jesus is the focal point of Christian worship. The worship of heaven is centered around all that Jesus Christ has done for His people. The same should be true of our worship. Authentic worship is truth based, God centered, Christ focused, and Spirit inspired.

When the representatives of the twelve tribes saw the fire, they fell prostrate and cried, “The LORD—he is God! The LORD—he is God!” (v. 39). Watching His awesome power and amazing grace, a group of people made a new and decisive commitment as they confessed their faith in the living God.

This is where true worship brings us. The Scripture makes it clear that it is the work of the Spirit to bring us to the point of confessing the Lord (1 Corinthians 12:3). A man I’ll call Bill had been attending a church occasionally for years. His wife was a Christian, and other members of his family were praying for him, but somehow he never made any spiritual progress. One day as Bill was leaving the service, his pastor asked him if he was any nearer becoming a Christian.

“Well, I don’t know,” he said.

“Don’t you think this is a bit pathetic?” said his pastor pointedly. “You say you believe in God and Christ and His death and resurrection. Why don’t you confess Christ?”

Later that night Bill’s wife phoned the pastor.

“What have you been saying to my husband? He’s been phoning up all his colleagues at work and telling them that he is a Christian.” The Holy Spirit, through a caring yet candid pastor, had convicted the man of his need to worship the Savior.

Years later, I had the opportunity to speak with Bill. He had grown to have a profound faith and an effective ministry. He laughed as we talked about the story. “I think that I was head-butted into the kingdom,” he said. “But it was the greatest thing that has ever happened in my life.”

Have you come to a place of decisive commitment to Christ in your own life?

Maybe as you have been learning God’s truth, you have seen something of the glory of the living God and His grace to you in Jesus Christ. Why don’t you confess faith in Christ today? The Scripture promises, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).

UNLOCKED

Authentic worship is always a response to revealed truth. It is directed towards the living God, focused around the Lord Jesus Christ, and inspired by the Holy Spirit.

True worship will be fostered where God’s truth is proclaimed, where Jesus Christ is exalted, and where God’s people give freedom to the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Everything else is secondary.

If you want to grow in your own worship, take time to meditate on who God is. Soak your mind in what God says about Himself in Scripture. Ask God’s Spirit to enlarge the capacity of your own heart to appreciate what God has done for you in Christ.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

O God my Father,

Your word speaks to me today because I see the land where I live, which I love, increasingly filled with false religion. I see a new generation that does not believe in truth and does not know the living God.

Send forth Your Word. Establish Your truth. Let Your glory be known. May I worship You wholly in spirit and truth. Through Jesus Christ my Lord I pray. Amen.

21

Sin

2 KINGS 17

What is sin and

why is it serious?

DISCOVER

why morality is lost when God is not known.

LEARN

the story of the ten northern tribes of Israel.

WORSHIP

as you see how God has revealed His mercy in Jesus Christ.

KINGS OF THE NORTH

(CONTINUED)

900 B.C.

874–853

AHAB

853–852

AHAZIAH

852–841

JORAM

841–814

JEHU

814–798

JEHOAHAZ

800

798–782

JEHOASH

793–753

JEROBOAM II (COREGENT)

753

ZECHARIAH

752

SHALLUM

752–742

MENEHEM

742–740

PEKAHIAH

752–732

PEKAH

732–722

HOSHEA

722

FALL OF THE NORTH

700

FOR many of our contemporaries, the word sin belongs on the dessert menu! When I was in the grocery store recently, I was struck by the names of some of the cookies a shopper could purchase. Two that caught my eye were called “raspberry temptations” and “sinful selections.” Those cookies were described as “sinful” because of the amount of chocolate they contained, a fact that would make them attractive to all normal people, except of course for those who had chosen the miserable path of a disciplined diet!

For many people in our culture, sin has become a word that describes slightly indulgent things that are entirely legitimate, and which would make most normal people turn a wry smile.

THE BIBLE IN THE BASEMENT

Imagine a thirty-five-year-old husband and father at home on a Sunday morning; let’s call him Bob. He has finished reading the Sunday Tribune and decides that he will tackle that often postponed task of sorting out his basement. As he sorts through the boxes, Bob comes across an old family Bible that belonged to his grandmother. Something inside tells him he should not throw it away; after all it’s rather old, and there are notes in his grandmother’s rather frail handwriting on many of the pages. He opens it up to see what it says and he reads that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15).

This strikes Bob as rather quaint. This person Jesus Christ has come into the world to save overindulgent people! Bob likes to enjoy a cream pie and knows that he probably shouldn’t, but he does work out in the gym twice a week and is generally in good health. He doesn’t particularly need saving. He flicks over a few pages in the Bible to see what else it says, and he reads that God was angry with people who sinned (Hebrews 3:10). This doesn’t make any sense to Bob. Why would sin (as he understands it) make God angry? What kind of God would be angry towards people who indulge in a little bit of pleasure?

Even among Christian people, the word sin is falling into disuse.

So he closes the Bible reassured that he made the right choice to spend his Sunday morning at home. He loves his wife and his kids and cannot really see why it was that his grandmother thought that the Bible was such a wonderful book.

Clearly the word sin has been assigned a new meaning in our culture, one Christians must be careful not to adopt. We must always recognize that sin is disobeying God and His laws. It is rebellion against God, not a harmless pleasure.

Sadly, even among Christian people, the word sin is falling into disuse. People used to come to church to confess their sins. Catholics did it personally through the confessional, and Protestant pastors led in a prayer to confess the sins of the whole congregation, and the people would say “Amen” because they all felt that they could identify with what he was saying. But “God, have mercy on me, a sinner” (Luke 18:13) the humble cry in the New Testament, is a prayer that is fast disappearing even from evangelical churches. We celebrate grace, but we do not confess sin.

If we did, it would probably be couched in contemporary language. “As we come to prayer this morning, let us confess our struggles to get in touch with ourselves, and especially our need to be more authentic. Lord be merciful to me, a person who needs to be more intentional about developing my full potential.”

As long as we hide behind politically correct verbiage, we will never understand what God says about sin, and if you do not feel that sin is your greatest problem, you will not be able to make sense of Christianity. Jesus Christ came to save His people from their sins.

SIN IN THE NORTHERN KINGDOM

As we noted in the previous chapter, God’s people became divided after the death of Solomon. The ten tribes in the north declared their independence from the two tribes in the south. The tragedy of the northern tribes was that they separated themselves from the blessing of God. God had promised He would bless the line of

David’s descendants, who continued to rule from Jerusalem in the south. There the royal line of David continued, with the king typically transferring power to his son as he approached death.

In the north, however, with no established royal house, most of the kings came to power by murdering their predecessor. Political intrigue and sin abounded. The northern kingdom lasted about two hundred years. There were nineteen kings altogether, and every one of them “did evil in the eyes of the Lord.”

Eventually, God allowed enemies to overrun the northern kingdom. The people were deported and the whole area became a kind of wasteland. Second Kings 17 is an important chapter in the Bible story because it tells us why God brought the northern kingdom down.

THE PRIORITY OF GODLINESS

All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the LORD their God…. They worshiped other gods…. They worshiped idols, though the LORD had said, “You shall not do this.” (17:7, 12)

Jeroboam, who was the first king of the ten northern tribes, did not want his people going to Jerusalem to worship God. So he established his own religion at Dan and Bethel, where he set up two golden calves (see page 253). This was the beginning of two hundred years in which these people turned away from the LORD, so that by the time of Ahab, a prophet who spoke about the living God did so under threat of his life.

If you want to get a sense of what life was like in the later years of the northern kingdom, read the book of Amos. He describes a community where the rich lived in opulence and showed a total disregard for the poor. The streets were filled with violence. One of the greatest atrocities in Israel was an obscene practice in which parents gave up unwanted children and allowed them to be burned in the fire. This society had become sick at the core.

But it is very significant that the first charge God brought against His people was not the violence, the murder, the greed, or the cruelty. The first complaint against them was that they had worshiped other gods (17:7).

This should not surprise us, as the first four commandments are all about God Himself. “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol…. You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God…Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy” (Exodus 20:3–4, 7–8). These are God’s fundamental requirements for His people.

Our first calling is to give God His place. The Bible calls this godliness, or a God-centered life. The priority of godliness is confirmed by the teaching of Jesus. When asked, “‘Which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’ Jesus replied: ‘Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind’” (Matthew 22:36–37).

THE PRIORITY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

After God calls us to godliness, He speaks about our attitudes and actions towards other people. “Honor your father and your mother…You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not [lie]. You shall not covet” (Exodus 20:12–17).

This is God’s second calling for His people. The Bible calls such restraint righteousness. Righteous living is a faithful reflection of the attitudes and actions of God in our relationships with other people. Christ confirmed this as the second priority, when He said that the second commandment is, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39).

It’s crucial we understand the order of these two priorities. True godliness—a God-centered life—will result in increasing evidence of righteousness. Put another way, godliness will cause us to reflect the attitudes and actions of God in our relationships with other people. Righteousness is built on the foundation of godliness, and so when people reject godliness, they find that righteousness is beyond their grasp. You cannot have righteousness if you do not have godliness. You cannot reflect the attitudes and actions of God until you have a God-centered life!

This is the message of 2 Kings (and 1 Kings 12; 15:25–22:53), which gives us a record of two hundred years of history. The story teaches us that when a nation turns away from the living God, the result will be moral confusion and the unleashing of sin and evil. In the northern kingdom, sin began with the people rejecting God, and it ended with them putting their children through the fire. The reason they lost the morality of the Bible is that they rejected the God of the Bible. You cannot have righteousness without godliness.

BOB’S BIGGEST PROBLEM: LIFE WITHOUT GOD

This is a truth that our culture desperately needs to hear: You cannot have righteousness without godliness. Our friend Bob, who is clearing out his basement on Sunday morning, wants his family to enjoy the benefits of righteousness. He wants to have an ordered family life and his kids to respect him. He wants his children to be free from the fear of violence. He wants his marriage to succeed, and he would like the people who do business with him, to be honest and keep to their word. He expects public officials not to tell lies, and he wants his own property to be protected and safe.

Bob wants all the benefits of righteousness, but he does not want God, and that is his first and greatest sin. Bob is godless. Bob is a successful, laid-back, regular family man who wants the best for himself and his family, but he will not let God be God! The book of 2 Kings is telling us that when people turn away from God, they lose the benefits of righteousness.

It is a great mistake to think that our hearts are filled with a natural love for God. “The sinful mind is hostile to God” (Romans 8:7). Unless God changes our hearts, it is natural for us to resent God because His power seems to threaten our freedom. Further, we resent God because His holiness offends our pride, and His complete knowledge of us seems like an invasion of privacy. And the fact that He will never change means that there will never be a time when He steps down from power, or becomes more tolerant of things that He presently disapproves, or when His memory fails and our deeds slip beyond His recall!

Unless God changes our hearts, this is what we feel about Him. The sinful mind is hostile to God, and that is the root of our sin. Sin originates with the rejection of God.

PROVOKING THE ANGER OF GOD

They did wicked things that provoked the LORD to anger… They practiced divination and sorcery and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the LORD, provoking him to anger. (17:11, 17, EMPHASIS ADDED)

The anger of God is one of the most misunderstood truths of the Bible. Notice the word provoked. Anger is not a part of the nature of God. God is always holy, He is always love, and He is always true, but He is not always angry.

Many of the pagan gods were angry in their nature. They were always smoldering and constantly needing to be appeased. So offerings were given to placate them and settle them down. But their anger never went away, it was never spent, it was only contained. But when you come to the Bible, you find something entirely different.

“The LORD is…slow to anger” (Psalm 103:8). It is not a part of God’s nature to be angry, but He can be provoked to anger.

This is part of the perfection of God. A God who was not provoked when people made their children pass through a fire could hardly be worshiped. We do not admire those who stand idly by while others are being abused.

God is immensely patient. For two hundred years, He restrained judgment and sent the prophets to call the people back to godliness and righteousness, but the people “would not listen” (2 Kings 17:14). Eventually, God was provoked.

Notice what God does when He is provoked to anger:

So the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence… The LORD removed them from his presence, as he had warned through all his servants the prophets. (17:18, 23)

Where it says “his presence,” it means the land where God had put His name. God acted upon His repeated warnings through the prophets. And then we are told how this happened: “The people of Israel were taken from their homeland into exile in Assyria” (v. 23).

That is hell: eternity outside the blessing of God.

This pattern began in the Garden of Eden. Adam decided that he did not want to live under the rule of God. His ungodliness led to unrighteousness as he broke God’s commandment, with the result that he was driven out of the presence of God. Now in the two books of Kings we find that the people turned away from worshiping the living God, and that led to all kinds of unrighteousness, with the result that God drove His people out from the land that He had promised to bless.

At the end of the Bible story, we are told that every person who has ever lived will stand before God, and the ungodly and the unrighteous will be driven from the presence of God. That is hell: eternity outside the blessing of God. If a person refuses to bow before God and say, “Your will be done,” a time will come when God will say to that person, “Your will be done. Depart from me forever.”

The book of Romans, which contains the most systematic explanation of the Christian faith in the Bible begins with the apostle Paul reminding readers that “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men” (Romans 1:18 NKJV, italics added).

That is the fundamental issue. The message to an unbelieving world is not that following Jesus is the best way to a more satisfying life. Paul was saying, “You need to understand that you are facing an immense problem. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and unrighteousness of men!” This is why what he had to say about Jesus Christ is so urgent. This is why he was so passionate about it, and why we must use all possible means to communicate this same message today.

AN OPPORTUNITY FOR THE MERCY OF GOD

The people had rejected the Lord and refused His invitation to return to Him. God was provoked to anger, and He removed them from His presence. The land God had promised to bless lay desolate and uninhabited.

But it wasn’t long before the king of Assyria repopulated the area by bringing people from all over his empire and settling these people in the area previously occupied by the ten northern tribes. Immigrants came from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and settled in the land (17:24).

Apparently while the Promised Land was left desolate, the number of wild animals increased; so when these new immigrants arrived, they faced some unexpected problems. A number of them were attacked by lions that seemed to be roaming freely. The new immigrants didn’t have the faintest idea of what to do about this problem. They would have been brought up to believe that a different god is responsible for each area of countryside, so they naturally assumed that the lions were some kind of plague from whichever god was in charge of this area.

Word of the problem got back to the king of Assyria, who thought that the best way to deal with the situation would be to find a priest from among the people who used to live there. He assumed that a local priest would know what to do to placate whatever god was causing this problem, and so he gave orders for a priest to be found and sent back to Israel. But this priest did more than the king intended. According to the Scripture,

One of the priests who had been exiled from Samaria came to live in Bethel and taught them how to worship the LORD. (v. 28)

Here was God’s mercy in action. He brought people from the north, south, east, and west into the place He had promised to bless, and when they were there, God sent one of His own people to them so that they could discover the truth of the living God. Those who were outside the scope of God’s kingdom were brought near. God’s promise was not just to bless Israel, but that through Israel all the nations of the earth would be blessed (see Genesis 22:18).

Over a period of time this multiethnic population became confused because each national group made its own gods as well (17:29). So these people had some truth mixed with a lot of error, but there was a witness to the truth among them for the first time.

The story of these immigrant people soon would intertwine with that of the Hebrew people. One hundred and fifty years later, the people of the southern kingdom were also taken into exile. Seventy years later, a group of these Hebrew people came back under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah to rebuild the temple of God. Ezra tells us that these northern settlers—foreigners who worshiped God (and sometimes other gods as well)—offered to help in the rebuilding of the Jerusalem temple. The Jews quickly refused their offer of help (see Ezra 4:1–3). They made it plain that the temple was to be built by the people of God, and that the northern settlers could have nothing to do with it.

After that, the Samaritans, as these people came to be known, opposed the work that was going on and became bitter enemies of the Jews. Later they decided that they would build their own temple, on Mount Gerizim, where the blessings of God had been spoken when God’s people came into the land. From then on, the Jews would have nothing to do with Samaritans.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

Four hundred years later Jesus Christ came into the world. John tells us that “he had to go through Samaria” (John 4:4). He met a woman there who, not surprisingly considering her Samaritan background, had some knowledge of the truth, with a great deal of confusion mixed in. She also had a disastrous personal life, having had five husbands and now living with a man out of wedlock. She was hung up on some questions about the appropriate place to worship. She wondered whether people had to worship in the Jewish temple in Jerusalem or whether the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim would do (John 4:20).

This woman was both godless and unrighteous. But notice that as Christ counseled her, He did not begin by telling her that God was angry about her sins. Christ tells her that God is seeking “worshipers [who] will worship the Father in spirit and truth” (4:23). He began by guiding her toward a right relationship with God.

Godliness is the foundation of righteousness, and there is little point in talking about issues of righteousness to people who do not know God. Christ began by speaking to the Samaritan woman about knowing God because things could only change for her when she discovered the transforming power of a God-centered life!

Christ died to deal with our ungodliness and our unrighteousness. On the cross, the Father treated the Son as if He had lived a godless life, and as if He were guilty of every kind of unrighteousness that had been known in the history of the human race. The Father turned away from the Son, and Christ was shut out from the presence of God. That is why He cried out, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46)

Christ became the godless one and the unrighteous one. He did this in order to bring us back into a right relationship with God and restore us to a righteous life. “Christ died for sins once and for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God” (1 Peter 3:18).

Jesus Christ is able to bring godless and unrighteous people to God. If you will come to Him, He will make you godly. He will lead you into a God-centered life that will be the foundation of growing in righteousness.

Paul begins the book of Romans by telling us that “the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all godlessness and wickedness of men.” But then he explains what Christ has achieved on the cross and says, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 1:18; 8:1).

I’ve sometimes been asked why God created the world if He knew that Adam would sin. One of the answers to that is that if there had never been sin, the mercy of God would never have been known or revealed.

Angels have experienced God’s holiness, His truth, and His love, but because they have never sinned, they have never experienced God’s mercy. It must have been quite staggering for them to watch as Jesus Christ came into the world and they saw what it meant for the one they had always worshiped to bear the sins of others. A whole new dimension of the character of God was revealed to them—and to us. God has always been merciful, but it was our sin that caused that mercy to be revealed.

UNLOCKED

Sin is breaking the law of God. Jesus summed up the law when He said that we are to love God with our whole heart and our neighbors as ourselves. God’s two great priorities for His people are godliness and righteousness.

The northern tribes took the wrong path when they allowed idols to take the place of God. The decline of the nation began with them losing the knowledge of God; it ended with them putting their children in the fire. Morality cannot be sustained when a people lose the knowledge of God.

Eventually, God’s anger was provoked, and He brought judgment to the ten northern tribes. They were invaded by the armies of Assyria, and the people were scattered. Eventually they were replaced by an immigrant population who became known as the Samaritans, and God’s grace came to these people also.

Christ came into the world to save His people from sin and its consequences. When we come to Him, He will lead us in paths of righteousness.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Father in heaven,

I recognize that I am a sinner by nature and by practice. I thank You that You sent Christ into the world to save sinners.

Help me to live a godly life and to love You with my whole heart. Then help me to love others, and to reflect Your character to them in my attitudes and actions. May Your name be known and honored in our nation, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

22

Righteousness

2 KINGS 22–23

What is

righteousness,

and how can

it be established

in our land?

DISCOVER

why one of the greatest attempts to call the nation back to the Bible failed.

LEARN

why no government can enforce righteousness.

WORSHIP

as you see how Christ brings our hearts into line with God’s law.

1000 B.C.

CA. 1011-971

KING DAVID

971–931

KING SOLOMON

931–913

REHOBOAM

913–911

ABIJAH

911–870

ASA

900

873–848

JEHOSHAPHAT

848–841

JEHORAM

835–796

JOASH

800

792–740

UZZIAH

750–731

JOTHAM (COREGENT)

735–686

AHAZ (12TH KING)

729–686

HEZEKIAH (COREGENT)

700

696–642

MANASSEH (COREGENT)

642–640

AMON

640–609

JOSIAH

609

JEHOAHAZ

600

608–598

JEHOIAKIM

598–597

JEHOIACHIN

587–586

ZEDEKIAH

586

FALL OF JERUSALEM

HOW would you feel if, in the news one morning, you discovered that forty-two of the fifty American states had left the union? Each of the forty-two had a completely independent government and armed forces, and refused to pay taxes. Then, what if several years later, those forty-two independent states collapsed and were overrun by enemies?

As a citizen in one of the eight remaining united states, you would no longer be part of a world superpower. Instead, you would be a citizen of a rather small and vulnerable country. Enemies who were once thousands of miles away could now move military installations very close to your border. What once seemed strong and secure would now seem weak and vulnerable.

That must have been how it was for the people of God in the two tribes that made up the southern kingdom of Judah. In the time of David, Israel had been a dominant power, with the twelve tribes united and the kings—Saul, David, and Solomon—ruling from the south. During Solomon’s reign, admiring heads of state came to Jerusalem to see the achievements of the world’s leading country.

But after ten of the twelve tribes declared their independence, things changed radically for the south. The nation was diminished militarily and economically. And within two hundred years, the whole of the northern area would be overrun by enemies, and the ten tribes were scattered.

If you were in the south at that point, you were among the remaining few of a once-magnificent kingdom; you were part of a vulnerable group of the descendants of Judah and Benjamin. All that remained was two tribes.

God’s promise to bless the descendants of Abraham and then to bring blessing to all the nations of the world through them at that point must have looked very doubtful. But God’s promise to bless His people had never been revoked, and although the people of the southern kingdom, usually referred to in the Bible as Judah, went through some harrowing times, God was faithful to His promise.

THE UPS AND DOWNS OF LEADERSHIP

For many years, the people of Judah had the benefit of better leadership than their brothers and sisters in the north. Both 1 and 2 Kings say that every one of the nineteen northern kings “did evil in the eyes of the LORD” or “did not turn away from any of the sins of [the previous king],”[1] but in the south, there were a number of kings who “did what was right in the eyes of the LORD.” (2 Kings 15:3).

Things took a turn for the worse when Manasseh came to the throne. He was to the south what Ahab had been in the north. He reigned for fifty-five years (21:1) and brought more trouble to God’s people than anyone else. “Manasseh led them astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites” (21:9).

God had driven the Canaanites and Perizzites out of the land because of their sins, but now God’s own people were doing things that were worse! Manasseh promoted the worship of Molech, which included an evil rite in which children were sacrificed in a fire (21:6). After half a century of this, God’s anger was provoked. If God judged the Amorites for their sins, then how could He restrain judgment on His own people when they did the same things? (See 21:11.) They were called to be a light in a dark place, but the reality was that they were living in the same darkness as the people around them!

At the end of Manasseh’s reign, his son Amon came to the throne, but he lasted only two years before he was murdered, and so a boy by the name of Josiah became king when he was only eight years old.

THE INFLUENCE OF A GODLY LEADER

[Josiah] did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and waked in all the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left. (22:2)

This was one remarkable kid! He began to seek the Lord in the eighth year of his reign (2 Chronicles 34:3), which would be at age sixteen. As a teenager he developed a heart for God, and that became the foundation of the character of a great man. It is never too early to seek God.

So here we have a godly young leader who wanted to get Judah back on the right lines. What was he to do? He had no Bible training to draw on. His father (Amon) and grandfather (Manasseh) certainly had not given him any kind of model to follow. Josiah grew up in what we would call a spiritually confused and biblically illiterate culture, and yet deep within his heart, there was a longing to know God.

REDISCOVERING THE BIBLE

Josiah knew that the living God was to be worshiped in the temple, so he decided that he would begin his attempt at turning things around by refurbishing the temple of God. That would take money, so he set about raising the money through taxes, which were collected at the temple.

Then in the eighteenth year of his reign (at age twenty-six), the king and his people began the renovation (22:3). Josiah sent his secretary Shaphan to tell Hilkiah the high priest to hand the money over to the supervisors, who would pay the builders. Hilkiah entered the temple to collect the money, which presumably was being stored in some kind of vault, and while in the vault the high priest discovered a dusty old book that would change the direction of the nation.

Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the LORD.” (22:8)

It is extraordinary that the leading religious figure of the day did not know where to find a copy of the Word of God! This “Book of the Law” was almost certainly a copy of the book of Deuteronomy, and one wonders how it could possibly have become lost in, of all places, the temple!

Remember that Judah had gone through half a century in which the pattern of national life had been to resist the LORD and push against the boundaries of every area of His law. The Word of God did not sit comfortably with the prevailing trend of the culture. God’s Law roundly condemned most of the things that Manasseh had done, and everybody knew what had happened to the brave prophets who had spoken the Word of God in the north: Jezebel had put them to death.

So it is not very difficult to imagine why the priests in the time of Manasseh ignored the Scripture. If the priests had preached from the Word of God, they would have found themselves on a collision course with some of the central values of the culture. If the high priest had preached from the Scriptures, he would have had to say that there is one living God and that the worship of all other gods is an offense to God’s glory. That would have led to trouble in Judah during Manasseh’s time, just as such a statement would lead to trouble today.

The priests ran the entire program of the temple without ever needing to open the Scriptures.

So the high priest in Manasseh’s day probably placed the Bible in the vault of the temple and offered in its place short talks that gave encouragement to everyone. Now, fifty years later a new generation of the people of God arose that did not know the law of God, and so lacked any idea of what righteousness is.

The amazing thing is that the priests continued their work in the temple without ever using the Scriptures. What were they doing all day? Presumably they became experts in administration, pastoral counseling, and organizing social events, but apparently the priests ran the entire program of the temple without ever needing to open the Scriptures.

That practice has returned today. The apostle Paul warned us that “the time will come when [people] will not put up with sound doctrine…[but] will gather around them a number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear” (2 Timothy 4:3). They will not want preaching that talks about righteousness. Indeed, many people today seek pastors who tell a few stories, crack a few jokes, and offer the people something along the lines of “chicken soup for the soul.” You don’t need the Bible to do that. But if the church chooses this path, then within a generation they may well have young people like Josiah growing up, who long to know God but do not know where to find Him. They go to church, but they do not find Him there.

Until age twenty-six, that’s where Josiah was—longing to know God but not knowing where to find Him. Then Shaphan turned up with the long-lost Book of the Law and read it to the king.

REDISCOVERING RIGHT AND WRONG

The book of Deuteronomy contains the Ten Commandments and all the regulations about how God’s people were to live when they entered the land. It contains the blessings and the cursings that would follow obedience or disobedience, and it ends with a record of how the people of God renewed their covenant with God and committed themselves to live according to His law.

All this was read to the king, and “when the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes” (22:11). Josiah took the Bible seriously. When the commandments were read to him, he said, “We are not doing this.”

How could they have strayed so far from what God required? Without the Word, the people had no criteria for telling right from wrong. So they were reduced to operating on consensus, and that seemed to change with every generation! By the time of Manasseh there had been a consensus that it is sometimes right to put your children in the fire.

The Bible has a very simple definition of righteousness and of evil. What God says is right, is right, and what God says is evil, is evil. Righteousness is revealed in the Word of God. And if righteousness is to be restored to our nation, then the Bible must be restored to the churches, and those who love God must get serious about putting the Bible into practice.

Josiah gives us a wonderful model of this. He heard the Word of God, took it seriously, and then he said, “This is how I am going to live.” He did more than read the Bible. He wanted to put it into practice, and he wanted to begin with his own life at the age of twenty-six. As he listened to the Scriptures, he was gripped by a radical new vision of obedience to the Word of God. What would it be like if life was lived fully according to the Law of God?

This was the vision that fired up D. L. Moody after he arrived in England. An English evangelist said to him, “The world is yet to see what God will do with a man who is wholeheartedly given to Him.” Moody said, “By the grace of God, I will be that man.”

Josiah also wanted to be that man, so he gathered the elders and the people together for a rally at the temple. Imagine the sea of faces as a great crowd gathered around the temple area. Josiah read the whole of the book of Deuteronomy to the people, and then he stood by the pillar of the temple and made a personal and public commitment to obey the Lord (23:2–3). Then he had all the rest of the people make the same commitment (2 Chronicles 34:32).

LEADING A REFORMATION

Then Josiah went through the country on a kind of “reformation tour.” Wherever he found altars, Asherah poles, or other evidences of idolatry in the land, he completely destroyed them. It was the greatest onslaught against pagan practices in the history of Israel. Josiah went right through the area of Judah and even extended his activity into the now desolate areas of the north.

The significance of Josiah’s reform can be measured from the fact that he destroyed the altars that Solomon had authorized for the sake of his foreign wives (23:13). These altars had stood for three hundred years. No other king had been prepared to do anything about them. Then, when Josiah went to the north, he destroyed the altar in Bethel, where Jeroboam had set up a golden calf. That altar had also stood for three hundred years. Other kings had promoted the worship of God but none of Josiah’s predecessors in the north or the south had the courage and political will to destroy the pagan altars in the land. Josiah was doing what no other king before him had been prepared to do.

Later, when Josiah sent a delegation to a prophetess named Huldah, she sent him this message:

“Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says concerning the words you heard: Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before the LORD … I have heard you, declares the LORD. Therefore I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be buried in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place.’” (22:18–20)

God honored Josiah’s leadership and held back judgment on the nation during his lifetime. King Josiah died in peace, and the book of Kings gives Josiah a sterling epitaph that reflects praise for his personal integrity.

Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses. (23:25)

You couldn’t ask for a much better personal epitaph than that. But there were limitations to his achievement. “Nevertheless, the LORD did not turn away from the heat of his fierce anger, which burned against Judah because of all that Manasseh had done to provoke him to anger” (v. 26).

The explanation lay in the hearts of the people. A holy God observed their past and present evils. Consequences would still come.

RIGHTEOUSNESS BEGINS IN EACH PERSON’S HEART

God had said, “If my people…will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways…[I] will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14). But there was precious little evidence of a change of heart among the people during Josiah’s reign.

Most of the change came as the direct result of Josiah’s own activity. He had to go around the country and personally oversee the destruction of these altars. It was not a popular uprising of the people; it was all done by state intervention! It was Josiah who did away with the pagan priests (2 Kings 23:5) and took the Asherah pole from the temple of the Lord (v. 6) and “tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes,…desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Himmon,…[and] pulled down the altars the kings of Judah had erected on the roof” (vv. 7, 10, 12).

There was a strong element of coercion involved in all of this. When Josiah held his great rally to renew commitment to the covenant, we are told that “he had everyone in Jerusalem and Benjamin pledge themselves to it” (2 Chronicles 34:32). So it is not surprising to find that “as long as he lived, they did not fail to follow the LORD, the God of their fathers” (2 Chronicles 34:33). But as soon as Josiah died, the inevitable happened. Things went back to the way they were before.

The book of Jeremiah gives us a fascinating insight into the limitations of Josiah’s reform. God said to the prophet, “‘Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense,’ declares the LORD” (Jeremiah 3:10).

“I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.” (JEREMIAH 31:33)

With the right leader you can change the laws of the land. But unless the hearts of the people are changed at the same time, it will only lead to disappointment in the long term.

When Josiah used his political power in an attempt to change the face of the nation, the people conformed to the tide of cultural pressure. But that was as far as the change went. Under a new king, the tide moved in a different direction.

It is not difficult to conform to the expected patterns of Christian behavior. But if all you do is conform to the expectations of others, then you will find that when you are with a different crowd, you adapt to a new tide of cultural pressure. Patterns of behavior can sometimes be little more than a reflection of our environment.

As long as there was no change in the people’s hearts, a reformation of morals led by the king would not last long after the king died. Righteousness must flow from the heart! The greatest question for the church is not how to change the laws of the land, but how to change the hearts of the people.

Some years after Josiah’s bold attempt to change the face of the nation, God spoke again to the prophet Jeremiah. It must have been hard for Jeremiah to see the people slide back into their old idolatrous ways after the death of the good king, but that was when God gave one of the most wonderful promises in the whole of the Old Testament: “‘The time is coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah…. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people” (Jeremiah 31:31, 33; italics added).

Some years later, God gave the same promise through the prophet Ezekiel: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws” (Ezekiel 36:26–27).

That must have sounded like a dream to the prophets. Josiah had been able to put the law on the statute book, but he could not put the law into the people’s minds. He could enforce the law of God in the courts, but he could not put it into people’s hearts. But now God was promising to do what no state, no church, and no parent could ever do: to get His law into the minds and the hearts of the people. God was promising to bring a fundamental change in the thinking of His people, so that they thought along the same lines as the law of God.

He would bring a change in their hearts so that they would want what God commanded. They would have a new hunger and thirst for righteousness. Jeremiah must have wondered how on earth God would do it.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

Six hundred years later another King was born into the line of Josiah. One night, He went into an upper room, and He took a cup filled with wine. He said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:20). He was talking about the new covenant God had promised to Jeremiah, in which God would bring an inner change to the way His people think and feel.

Then, He went out from the upper room, down into a garden where He was arrested, and the next day He was crucified. On the third day, He rose from the dead.

This King, the risen LORD Jesus Christ, invites all to come to Him. He invites us to come as we are, with our confused minds and our stubborn hearts.

When we come to Him, He puts the desire for righteousness in us. That is the promise of the new covenant. God gives us more than His law, He gives us Himself! When God’s Spirit enters your soul, He creates new desires and capacities within you. That is why a Christian loves God and longs for righteousness. That is why a Christian prays, and why, when a Christian sins, it is not long before he or she feels the need to come to Christ and be forgiven.

This hunger and thirst for righteousness is one of the greatest blessings of the Christian life. Those who hunger for what God forbids will, in the end, experience emptiness and frustration, but those who have an inner desire for what God wants will be satisfied. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6).

Don’t rest content with an outward conformity to Christian values when Christ can give you a new heart.

UNLOCKED

God has reserved the right to tell us what is good and what is evil, what is right and what is wrong; and man’s first sin in the Garden of Eden was to assume that right for himself. We still want to take God’s place and decide what is right for ourselves. When someone says, “It may not be right for you, but it’s right for me,” he is saying that the individual can determine right and wrong. But God tells us what righteousness is in His law. Righteousness is what God says is right.

Righteousness cannot be imposed by governments because it must flow from the heart. Of course, good laws are better than bad ones, and they have great value in educating people in what is good and restraining what is evil. Good laws backed up with appropriate penalties for breaking them will usually bring some modification of behavior. But the law cannot bring a change of heart, and that is why attempts to impose religion always fail.

God’s purpose is not to impose an outward conformity to the law but to cultivate an inward desire for righteousness. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. It involves changing our hearts to give us a hunger and thirst for righteousness, and new capacity to pursue a life that is pleasing to God.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Almighty Father,

Forgive me for the arrogance with which I often try to decide what is right and wrong for myself, instead of listening to what You say in Your Word. Bring my mind and my heart into line with Your words, and help me to count what You say is right as right and what You say is wrong as wrong. Help me to agree not only in my head but also in my heart, and help me to follow through by doing what You command and turning from what You forbid.

Create a new hunger and thirst for righteousness in our land. Begin among Your people, but let that hunger sweep into the lives of those who are not yet Your people. Begin a new work in many hearts, by the power of Your Spirit. In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord I pray. Amen.

NOTE

1. Twenty-three times in 1 and 2 Kings we are told that the kings of Israel (that is, the northern kingdom) “did evil in the eyes of the Lord.” Of ten of the nineteen kings it was said that the current monarch “did not turn away from any of the sins of [the previous king].”

23

Joy

NEHEMIAH 8

How can God’s

people experience

His joy?

DISCOVER

the joy of obedience.

LEARN

how a community was discipled around the Word of God.

WORSHIP

as you anticipate the joy that God is preparing for His people.

700 B.C.

696–642

MANASSEH

642–640

AMON

640–609

JOSIAH

609

JEHOAHAZ

608–598

JEHOIAKIM

600

598–597

JEHOIACHIN

587–586

ZEDEKIAH

586

FALL OF JERUSALEM

606–536

BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY

536

FIRST RETURN (ZERUBBABEL)

516

TEMPLE REBUILT

500

458

SECOND RETURN (EZRA)

445

THIRD RETURN (NEHEMIAH)

400

FOUR HUNDRED YEARS OF SILENCE

300

200

100

0 A.D.

BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST

IN 1999, near the close of the second millennium, scores of earthquakes rocked the world, but the most devastating was in Izmit, Turkey. The Turkey quake, measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale, killed an estimated 15,000 people. Centered 115 miles east of Istanbul, the quake’s toll brought enormous grief to families of the victims.

During the early days of the rescue, however, technology gave many families some hope. Rescue teams from twelve countries sent a variety of equipment to locate survivors, including video cameras, sensitive microphones, and locator dogs—all able to detect bodies under rubble that otherwise would go unseen and unheard.

The trapped survivors, weak or even unconscious, could not cry out, but the dogs or equipment would point rescuers to the site, and hours later, survivors were pulled out alive, placed on stretchers, and delivered to hospitals where they’d make a full recovery.

For the parents and spouses of trapped victims, hope remained as long as there were reports of rescues. However, the likelihood of survival decreased with the passing of time. Eventually, after days of no rescues and with fears of airborne disease, a decision was made to call off the search and clear the rubble.

The last glimmer of hope had faded.

In the waning years of the southern kingdom of Judah, Josiah’s great attempt to call people back to the Bible was the last glimmer of hope, and after it faded, God allowed enemies to reduce His own city to a pile of rubble.

God used the power of Babylon to bring discipline to His people. The Babylonian army laid siege to Jerusalem. There was a terrible loss of life, and those who survived either fled for their lives or were taken prisoner and marched off to resettlement camps in Babylon.

God had not forgotten His promise to His people.

The city where God had put His name became a smoldering ruin, and silence reigned where a community of believers had once lifted their voices in worship. The temple that had once been filled with the cloud of God’s presence was completely destroyed.

But God had not forgotten His promise to His people, and after seventy years, the exiled people of Israel watched as the Babylonian empire fell, to the rising empire of the Medes and Persians. Soon the new king, Cyrus, gave the decree that any Jewish exiles who wished to return to Jerusalem and rebuild a temple to the living God were free to do so.

Only about fifty thousand people responded to the challenge (Ezra 2:64–67). But they had caught the vision of rebuilding the temple and forming a new community in the city of God.

It was a small group for such a large task, but they were fired up by the opportunity to return home and serve the LORD. The first challenge was to build homes. Perhaps they would have thought about how, when their ancestors had first come into the land, God had given them homes they did not build and vineyards they did not plant. But there was nothing like that on this occasion. The land had been untended and laid waste. These people had to do it the hard way. They had to saw every timber and hammer every nail.

When their homes were complete, Zerubbabel, who was leading this first group of returning exiles, called the people together to build an altar (Ezra 3:1–2). When it was finished, the people once more began to offer sacrifices as God had commanded Moses. Next they began the task of rebuilding the temple, and when the work was completed, there was great joy.

Then God raised up a man called Ezra. “Ezra came up from Babylon. He was a teacher well versed in the Law of Moses, which the LORD, the God of Israel, had given…. The hand of the LORD his God was on him” (Ezra 7:6).

After Ezra arrived in Jerusalem and discovered the spiritual condition of the people, he sat down appalled and remained there in a stunned silence until the end of the day (see Ezra 9:2–4). He could hardly believe that the people of God in the city of God knew so little about the Word of God.

A few years later, God raised up another man named Nehemiah, who was a brilliant planner and organizer. He also came to Jerusalem and saw that, although the temple had been completed, nothing had been done about the walls. The great city of God had no defenses, was underpopulated, and had precious little infrastructure. God put it into Nehemiah’s heart to do something about all of this.

The story of the rebuilding of Jerusalem is a wonderful example of how God brings people with different gifts together to get His work done. Despite adversity, they succeeded, finding strength in “the joy of the LORD” (Nehemiah 8:10). God used a builder, a Bible teacher, and a strategic planner, and in His strength God’s people achieved great things.

Ezra was faced with the challenge of teaching the Bible to a community of people who thought they knew the Lord, but actually knew very little about the Bible. Most of the people who returned to Jerusalem had spent their whole lives in a pagan culture. They had been surrounded by the language and literature of the Babylonians, and although some, like Daniel, had no doubt maintained the distinctives of their faith, many had become assimilated into their surrounding culture. They knew that they were the people of God, but they knew very little about the God whose people they were.

More than five hundred years had passed since the cloud of God’s glory had filled Solomon’s temple. By the time of Nehemiah, these events were ancient history! So how could these people be molded into a worshiping community who loved the LORD and were committed to obeying His law? The answer was the Word of God!

BRING OUT THE BIBLE!

On a truly remarkable occasion, fifty thousand people gathered in a public square to worship God. Then they made a request:

They told Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded for Israel. (NEHEMIAH 8:1)

Now how do fifty thousand people make a request? They chant! So we have to assume that this crowd, gathered in high spirits and with a great hunger for the Word of God, grew impatient for events to get underway. They began to shout, “We want the Bible; bring out the Bible!” or something similar.

It must have been a great joy for Ezra to bring out the Scriptures and to teach this vast crowd the Word of God. These people had been starved for Bible teaching for most of their lives, and now they were committing themselves to a new life of faith and obedience to God, and they were hungry for the Word of God.

THE VALUE OF FAMILY WORSHIP

Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. (v. 2)

“All who were able to understand” means children were there too. It is a powerful thing to bring children into an environment where they see adults worshiping and taking the Word of God seriously. I thank God for the impact of that in my own life. As a child, I would sit on the pew in a small Baptist church in Scotland with my grandmother, grandfather, mother, father, and younger brother. I usually tried to get near my grandmother because she carried candies in her bag, and I became an expert at taking the wrappers off without the slightest hint of a sound!

My parents and grandparents had their Bibles open on their laps, so I learned to do the same. When the pastor said, “You see it says in verse two,” a finger would come out from the left or from the right and land on my Bible right by verse two, just in case I had become distracted by adding up all the numbers of the hymns and seeing how many would divide by five!

Over the years, their example communicated a powerful sense of the importance of the Word. The Bible was speaking to my mother and father in their forties and to my grandparents in their sixties and seventies, and they were deadly serious about learning it! I remember now things that were said from the pulpit when I was twelve years old, and perhaps more significant, I remember the sense of the presence of God.

Seeing my parents worship left a lasting impression. Hearing my father sing or my mother softly saying “Amen” at the end of a prayer conveyed a sense that they were not just sitting in church; they were worshiping! Over a period of about ten years, this set a path I wanted to follow.

I thank God for the influence of Sunday school in my life and am grateful for programs that are geared specifically to our children and young people. But there is something special about bringing children and young people into an environment where they see an adult congregation taking the Word of God seriously. So I encourage parents to bring their children into a worship service as soon as they are “able to understand.” If parents do not model a desire to worship God and to receive His Word when their kids are young, it will be difficult for them to feel that this is important when they are older.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

The crowd watched expectantly, and when Ezra opened the Scriptures, the people all spontaneously stood (v. 5). Then, as Nehemiah reports,

Ezra praised the LORD, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, “Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground. (v. 6)

It was a thousand years since God had spoken these words to Moses, but when the Book was opened and explained, the people clearly believed that God was speaking to them. They recognized that when they heard this Book read and explained, they were not listening to the words of a man, but they were hearing the Word of God, so they gave it their full attention.

Notice that they did not ask Ezra to take a trip to Mount Sinai and see if there were any new words from the LORD. They asked Ezra to open the Book of the Law which was a thousand years old, because they believed that what God said then in that Book was still His Word for them in their day.

Ezra, and the Levites who assisted him, give a great model for preachers to follow:

They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read. (v.8)

MAKING THE MEANING CLEAR

Notice that the preaching started from the text of the Bible. Ezra did not create a message to suit his audience; he explained the message that had already been given by God. He did not decide on a message and then come to the Bible to find some verses to support it; he came to the Scripture and allowed the Scripture to determine the message. God has not promised to bless the words of any preacher. But He has promised to bless His own Word. So the task of the preacher is to fill his words with God’s words so that the people will be blessed.

Ezra was supported by the Levites in his task. It seems that they were interspersed in the crowd. Ezra would read a part of the law and explain the meaning, and then he would stop. The Levites would then gather people around them in smaller family groups and ask if they had understood and if there were any questions. When everyone in the group was clear, Ezra would continue (see vv. 7–8).

There was a direct connection between Ezra’s preaching and a small group setting in which people had the opportunity to ask questions and make applications of the teaching. People had some break-out time to work through the application of the preaching. Of course these small groups would have been based around extended family units, so what we have here is a model of public preaching being confirmed and applied in the home.

One of my heroes of the faith is a man called Richard Baxter. He served as a pastor in the town of Kidderminster, England, in the seventeenth century. When he came, Kidderminster had few believing people, but God used his ministry to transform the whole town. He taught the Bible from the pulpit, and then he had a system of visiting families and talking with them in their homes about what they had learned.

Baxter would ask some questions of each family member, including the children, and if they were confused, he would give some clearer explanation. Families could ask questions, and he would encourage parents to be faithful in teaching their children and praying with them.

God still speaks through His Word…the bread that sustains the spiritual life of God’s people.

Baxter did this for sixteen years, and in this way, he discipled a whole community. The Word was preached in the church, then confirmed and applied in the home, and families were encouraged through the visits of their pastor or an elder. In this way, a biblically illiterate generation was discipled.

God still speaks through His Word. It is the sword of the Spirit, and it is the bread that sustains the spiritual life of God’s people. If we lose confidence in the power of the Word, we will soon be trying just about everything else to hold on to our young people, attract our neighbors, or make our services more interesting. But if we want to disciple a community of people, then reading, explaining, and applying the Bible must be central to all that we do.

THE JOY OF GRACE

Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is sacred to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law. (v. 9)

As Ezra read the law of God, the people realized how far they were from what God was calling them to be. One of the first effects of receiving the Word of God is that it humbles us. You start to see things in your life that you didn’t see before. You become sensitive to attitudes and actions that grieve the heart of God. The Word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword. It pierces and cuts and wounds!

It is often the purpose of God to bring you there, but it is never the purpose of God to leave you there. You may have experienced a legalistic kind of preaching that made you feel small, and that was all it did. You came out saying, “What a miserable person I am; I must do better,” but then after years of that you got worn down. Eventually you lost (or will lose) the energy or the strength to keep trying.

Ezra and Nehemiah’s ministry was very different. When they taught the Word of God, it reduced many people to tears, but the leaders did not leave the people there. Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our LORD. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength” (v. 10).

Conviction of sin is never an end in itself. It is always a means to an end, and the end is that we come to a deeper appreciation of God and His Son Jesus Christ. In just a few days’ time it would be the Day of Atonement, the day that reminded the people that God would forgive the sins of His people. They could look at the animal to be sacrificed and know that atonement was coming! We can look at the Cross and know that atonement has come!

When Nehemiah spoke about the joy of the LORD, he was not telling them to pull themselves together and cheer up, but reminding them that the grace and mercy of God was enough to wipe away tears from all of their eyes.

It is not your joy that is your strength; it is God’s joy that is your strength. This is the joy that Jesus spoke about when He said that there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:7). Repentance on earth leads to joy in heaven. Our tears over sin are reflected in God’s joy in forgiving, and that joy is our strength.

When you feel your failure and your weakness, look up into the face of God, and you will find that He is gracious. His hand is extended toward you in Christ. His joy will be your strength.

If the Christian life was an endless attempt to fulfill the law of God, our strength would eventually be exhausted. But the message of the Bible is that the mercy and grace of God are extended toward us, and in that, you will find the strength to go forward.

When people left the great service of worship in Jerusalem, they were not going home preoccupied with themselves and their failures. They went home with a fresh glimpse of the grace and mercy of God that had brought them new hope and new joy which had given them new strength to face the challenge of another week.

THE JOY OF OBEDIENCE

The day after the great rally, the men returned for a follow-up session. During a further reading of the Law, they made a discovery:

They found written in the Law, which the LORD had commanded through Moses, that the Israelites were to live in booths during the feast of the seventh month. (NEHEMIAH 8:14)

This rather unusual festival involved each family making a temporary housing from branches and then living in it for seven days. The festival reminded the people of how God had kept their forefathers in the desert. It was also a reminder that everything in this world is temporary, and that, like Abraham, they were to look for a heavenly city.

I love the spontaneity of their response. These men see the teaching of the Word of God and so they go and do it. “So the people…built themselves booths on their own roofs, in their courtyards, in the courts of the house of God, and in [the market square]” (v. 16). Their obedience was visible in the home, among their neighbors, in their place of worship, and in the workplace. It was a marvelous example of the power of a group of men who are committed to do whatever the Word of God says.

Their obedience to the Word of God was infectious:

The whole company that had returned from exile built booths and lived in them. From the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day, the Israelites had not celebrated it like this. And their joy was very great. (V. 17)

Eight centuries had passed since the days of Joshua! These people had never been so happy as when they were fully obedient.

God had spoken to His people through His Word. It had humbled them in their sins, but it had lifted them up to see the grace and mercy of God, and then had directed them into a new life of obedience.

In all our desperate searching for ways to find joy, God is telling us that we will never find joy like the joy of knowing God, being humbled in our sins, experiencing His grace, and walking in a life of obedience.

The book of Nehemiah brings us to the end of the Old Testament story. After the people of God returned from exile and rebuilt the city of Jerusalem, there was a break of four hundred years before the central event in the Bible story, when Jesus Christ came into the world.

The rest of the Old Testament comes in two parts. First, there are books of wisdom: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs. These books contain the timeless wisdom or skills that we need for life. Then there are the prophets: Isaiah and Jeremiah, through to Haggai. The prophets were raised up by God to speak His Word to the nation, but all of them ministered within the period of the story we have already covered. In volume two of Unlocking the Bible Story, we will match the words of the prophets with the events that were taking place at the time.

Thus far in the Bible story, we have seen how God chose to reach out to men and women after their sin in the garden.

God pledged that blessing would come to all the nations of the world through an offspring of Abraham. So we have followed the story of Abraham’s family becoming a great nation under the blessing of God.

We have seen how God gave His law and the sacrifices to His people. They became a great and powerful nation, but then they were allured by the worship of idols. God warned them that the same love that had blessed them would also discipline them if they turned to idols. The warnings of the prophets fell on deaf ears and eventually, when God’s anger was provoked, the ten northern tribes were scattered, and later, many of the people from the two southern tribes were taken into exile, where they remained for seventy years.

But God never gave up on His people. Eventually a small community returned to Jerusalem, and once again there was a gathering of God’s people in the place where God had said He would put His name.

Over the next centuries, this small community of God’s people suffered all kinds of evil through invading armies and advancing empires. That pattern has never changed. Our world is still plagued with the knowledge of evil.

And when the people of God rebuilt the temple, one thing was missing: the visible manifestation of the presence of God. God had promised to meet His people at the ark, which was in the Most Holy Place at the center of the temple. But the ark had been lost. So when the new temple was built, the Most Holy Place was empty. God’s place was an empty room.

On the day when the foundations of the second temple were laid, some of the older people found it hard to join in the celebrations. They could remember Solomon’s magnificent temple, and when they saw the size of the foundations for the new building, they knew that it would only be a shadow of the one that had been destroyed, and they couldn’t hold back their tears. (See Ezra 3:12 and Haggai 2:3.) They knew that they were living in a “day of small things” (Zechariah 4:10).

So the Old Testament story leaves us with a sense of thankfulness to God for His promises and His faithfulness, but still looking to see how God will deliver people from evil and restore men and women to His presence.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

When Jesus Christ came into the world, He said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8). If you were pure in heart, you would be free from the knowledge of evil. And Christ spoke of how these people would have the joy of seeing God. Christ also said that His kingdom was not of this world. So we should not expect this world to be free from the knowledge of evil, nor should we expect to see God in this world. But Christ has come to deliver us from the knowledge of evil and to bring us into God’s presence.

The whole Bible story is leading up to the great day when Christ will return and bring His people from every tribe and nation into the immediate presence of God. Evil will be destroyed, and human history as we know it will come to an end. Our bodies will be changed, and we will begin a new kind of life of greater joys than Adam ever knew in the garden.

UNLOCKED

God’s people experience joy when they discover His grace and respond in obedience. When God’s Word is taught, sin will be challenged and God’s gracious forgiveness presented. God delights to forgive. Restoring sinners is a joy to the heart of God, and God’s joy is the source of our joy.

The Word of God also shows us the path of righteousness, and the same God who offers His grace also calls us to a life of obedience. In Nehemiah’s day God’s people discovered that there is great joy in wholehearted obedience to all that God had commanded. A large part of our joy in heaven will be that we will serve God and bring Him pleasure. There is great joy in obeying God.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Gracious Father,

I believe that in Your presence there is fullness of joy and at Your right hand, there are pleasures forevermore. Forgive me for thinking that I can find joy without You. Help me to know the joy of Your grace and to discover the joy of obedience.

As the psalmist prayed, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” Through Jesus my Lord and Savior I pray. Amen.

READING THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR

January 1

Genesis 1:1–2:25

Matthew 1:1–2:12

Psalm 1:1-6

Proverbs 1:1-6

January 2

Genesis 3:1–4:26

Matthew 2:13-3:6

Psalm 2:1-12

Proverbs 1:7-9

January 3

Genesis 5:1–7:24

Matthew 3:7–4:11

Psalm 3:1-8

Proverbs 1:10-19

January 4

Genesis 8:1–10:32

Matthew 4:12-25

Psalm 4:1-8

Proverbs 1:20-23

January 5

Genesis 11:1–13:4

Matthew 5:1-26

Psalm 5:1-12

Proverbs 1:24-28

January 6

Genesis 13:5–15:21

Matthew 5:27-48

Psalm 6:1-10

Proverbs 1:29-33

January 7

Genesis 16:1–18:15

Matthew 6:1-24

Psalm 7:1-17

Proverbs 2:1-5

January 8

Genesis 18:16-19:38

Matthew 6:25-7:14

Psalm 8:1-9

Proverbs 2:6-15

January 9

Genesis 20:1–22:24

Matthew 7:15-29

Psalm 9:1-12

Proverbs 2:16-22

January 10

Genesis 23:1–24:51

Matthew 8:1-17

Psalm 9:13-20

Proverbs 3:1-6

January 11

Genesis 24:52-26:16

Matthew 8:18-34

Psalm 10:1-15

Proverbs 3:7-8

January 12

Genesis 26:17-27:46

Matthew 9:1-17

Psalm 10:16-18

Proverbs 3:9-10

January 13

Genesis 28:1–29:35

Matthew 9:18-38

Psalm 11:1-7

Proverbs 3:11-12

January 14

Genesis 30:1–31:16

Matthew 10:1-23

Psalm 12:1-8

Proverbs 3:13-15

January 15

Genesis 31:17-32:12

Matthew 10:24-11:6

Psalm 13:1-6

Proverbs 3:16-18

January 16

Genesis 32:13-34:31

Matthew 11:7-30

Psalm 14:1-7

Proverbs 3:19-20

January 17

Genesis 35:1–36:43

Matthew 12:1-21

Psalm 15:1-5

Proverbs 3:21-26

January 18

Genesis 37:1–38:30

Matthew 12:22-45

Psalm 16:1-11

Proverbs 3:27-32

January 19

Genesis 39:1–41:16

Matthew 12:46-13:23

Psalm 17:1-15

Proverbs 3:33-35

January 20

Genesis 41:17-42:17

Matthew 13:24-46

Psalm 18:1-15

Proverbs 4:1-6

January 21

Genesis 42:18-43:34

Matthew 13:47-14:12

Psalm 18:16-36

Proverbs 4:7-10

January 22

Genesis 44:1–45:28

Matthew 14:13-36

Psalm 18:37-50

Proverbs 4:11-13

January 23

Genesis 46:1–47:31

Matthew 15:1-28

Psalm 19:1-14

Proverbs 4:14-19

January 24

Genesis 48:1–49:33

Matthew 15:29-16:12

Psalm 20:1-9

Proverbs 4:20-27

January 25

Genesis 50:1—Exodus 2:10

Matthew 16:13-17:9

Psalm 21:1-13

Proverbs 5:1-6

January 26

Exodus 2:11-3:22

Matthew 17:10-27

Psalm 22:1-18

Proverbs 5:7-14

January 27

Exodus 4:1–5:21

Matthew 18:1-22

Psalm 22:19-31

Proverbs 5:15-21

January 28

Exodus 5:22-7:25

Matthew 18:23-19:12

Psalm 23:1-6

Proverbs 5:22-23

January 29

Exodus 8:1–9:35

Matthew 19:13-30

Psalm 24:1-10

Proverbs 6:1-5

January 30

Exodus 10:1–12:13

Matthew 20:1-28

Psalm 25:1-15

Proverbs 6:6-11

January 31

Exodus 12:14-13:16

Matthew 20:29-21:22

Psalm 25:16-22

Proverbs 6:12-15

February 1

Exodus 13:17-15:18

Matthew 21:23-46

Psalm 26:1-12

Proverbs 6:16-19

February 2

Exodus 15:19-17:7

Matthew 22:1-33

Psalm 27:1-6

Proverbs 6:20-26

February 3

Exodus 17:8–19:15

Matthew 22:34-23:12

Psalm 27:7-14

Proverbs 6:27-35

February 4

Exodus 19:16-21:21

Matthew 23:13-39

Psalm 28:1-9

Proverbs 7:1-5

February 5

Exodus 21:22-23:13

Matthew 24:1-28

Psalm 29:1-11

Proverbs 7:6-23

February 6

Exodus 23:14-25:40

Matthew 24:29-51

Psalm 30:1-12

Proverbs 7:24-27

February 7

Exodus 26:1–27:21

Matthew 25:1-30

Psalm 31:1-8

Proverbs 8:1-11

February 8

Exodus 28:1-43

Matthew 25:31-26:13

Psalm 31:9-18

Proverbs 8:12-13

February 9

Exodus 29:1–30:10

Matthew 26:14-46

Psalm 31:19-24

Proverbs 8:14-26

February 10

Exodus 30:11-31:18

Matthew 26:47-68

Psalm 32:1-11

Proverbs 8:27-32

February 11

Exodus 32:1–33:23

Matthew 26:69-27:14

Psalm 33:1-11

Proverbs 8:33-36

February 12

Exodus 34:1–35:9

Matthew 27:15-31

Psalm 33:12-22

Proverbs 9:1-6

February 13

Exodus 35:10-36:38

Matthew 27:32-66

Psalm 34:1-10

Proverbs 9:7-8

February 14

Exodus 37:1–38:31

Matthew 28:1-20

Psalm 34:11-22

Proverbs 9:9-10

February 15

Exodus 39:1–40:38

Mark 1:1-28

Psalm 35:1-16

Proverbs 9:11-12

February 16

Leviticus 1:1–3:17

Mark 1:29-2:12

Psalm 35:17-28

Proverbs 9:13-18

February 17

Leviticus 4:1–5:19

Mark 2:13-3:6

Psalm 36:1-12

Proverbs 10:1-2

February 18

Leviticus 6:1–7:27

Mark 3:7-30

Psalm 37:1-11

Proverbs 10:3-4

February 19

Leviticus 7:28-9:6

Mark 3:31-4:25

Psalm 37:12-29

Proverbs 10:5

February 20

Leviticus 9:7–10:20

Mark 4:26-5:20

Psalm 37:30-40

Proverbs 10:6-7

February 21

Leviticus 11:1–12:8

Mark 5:21-43

Psalm 38:1-22

Proverbs 10:8-9

February 22

Leviticus 13:1-59

Mark 6:1-29

Psalm 39:1-13

Proverbs 10:10

February 23

Leviticus 14:1-57

Mark 6:30-56

Psalm 40:1-10

Proverbs 10:11-12

February 24

Leviticus 15:1–16:28

Mark 7:1-23

Psalm 40:11-17

Proverbs 10:13-14

February 25

Leviticus 16:29-18:30

Mark 7:24-8:10

Psalm 41:1-13

Proverbs 10:15-16

February 26

Leviticus 19:1–20:21

Mark 8:11-38

Psalm 42:1-11

Proverbs 10:17

February 27

Leviticus 20:22-22:16

Mark 9:1-29

Psalm 43:1-5

Proverbs 10:18

February 28

Leviticus 22:17-23:44

Mark 9:30-10:12

Psalm 44:1-8

Proverbs 10:19

March 1

Leviticus 24:1–25:46

Mark 10:13-31

Psalm 44:9-26

Proverbs 10:20-21

March 2

Leviticus 25:47-27:13

Mark 10:32-52

Psalm 45:1-17

Proverbs 10:22

March 3

Leviticus 27:14—Numbers 1:54

Mark 11:1-25

Psalm 46:1-11

Proverbs 10:23

March 4

Numbers 2:1–3:51

Mark 11:27-12:17

Psalm 47:1-9

Proverbs 10:24-25

March 5

Numbers 4:1–5:31

Mark 12:18-37

Psalm 48:1-14

Proverbs 10:26

March 6

Numbers 6:1–7:89

Mark 12:38-13:13

Psalm 49:1-20

Proverbs 10:27-28

March 7

Numbers 8:1–9:23

Mark 13:14-37

Psalm 50:1-23

Proverbs 10:29-30

March 8

Numbers 10:1–11:23

Mark 14:1-21

Psalm 51:1-19

Proverbs 10:31-32

March 9

Numbers 11:24-13:33

Mark 14:22-52

Psalm 52:1-9

Proverbs 11:1-3

March 10

Numbers 14:1–15:16

Mark 14:53-72

Psalm 53:1-6

Proverbs 11:4

March 11

Numbers 15:17-16:40

Mark 15:1-47

Psalm 54:1-7

Proverbs 11:5-6

March 12

Numbers 16:41-18:32

Mark 16:1-20

Psalm 55:1-23

Proverbs 11:7

March 13

Numbers 19:1–20:29

Luke 1:1-25

Psalm 56:1-13

Proverbs 11:8

March 14

Numbers 21:1–22:20

Luke 1:26-56

Psalm 57:1-11

Proverbs 11:9-11

March 15

Numbers 22:21-23:30

Luke 1:57-80

Psalm 58:1-11

Proverbs 11:12-13

March 16

Numbers 24:1–25:18

Luke 2:1-35

Psalm 59:1-17

Proverbs 11:14

March 17

Numbers 26:1-51

Luke 2:36-52

Psalm 60:1-12

Proverbs 11:15

March 18

Numbers 26:52-28:15

Luke 3:1-22

Psalm 61:1-8

Proverbs 11:16-17

March 19

Numbers 28:16-29:40

Luke 3:23-38

Psalm 62:1-12

Proverbs 11:18-19

March 20

Numbers 30:1–31:54

Luke 4:1-30

Psalm 63:1-11

Proverbs 11:20-21

March 21

Numbers 32:1–33:39

Luke 4:31-5:11

Psalm 64:1-10

Proverbs 11:22

March 22

Numbers 33:40-35:34

Luke 5:12-28

Psalm 65:1-13

Proverbs 11:23

March 23

Numbers 36:1—Deuteronomy 1:46

Luke 5:29-6:11

Psalm 66:1-20

Proverbs 11:24-26

March 24

Deuteronomy 2:1–3:29

Luke 6:12-38

Psalm 67:1-7

Proverbs 11:27

March 25

Deuteronomy 4:1-49

Luke 6:39-7:10

Psalm 68:1-18

Proverbs 11:28

March 26

Deuteronomy 5:1–6:25

Luke 7:11-35

Psalm 68:19-35

Proverbs 11:29-31

March 27

Deuteronomy 7:1–8:20

Luke 7:36-8:3

Psalm 69:1-18

Proverbs 12:1

March 28

Deuteronomy 9:1–10:22

Luke 8:4-21

Psalm 69:19-36

Proverbs 12:2-3

March 29

Deuteronomy 11:1–12:32

Luke 8:22-39

Psalm 70:1-5

Proverbs 12:4

March 30

Deuteronomy 13:1–15:23

Luke 8:40-9:6

Psalm 71:1-24

Proverbs 12:5-7

March 31

Deuteronomy 16:1–17:20

Luke 9:7-27

Psalm 72:1-20

Proverbs 12:8-9

April 1

Deuteronomy 18:1–20:20

Luke 9:28-50

Psalm 73:1-28

Proverbs 12:10

April 2

Deuteronomy 21:1–22:30

Luke 9:51-10:12

Psalm 74:1-23

Proverbs 12:11

April 3

Deuteronomy 23:1–25:19

Luke 10:13-37

Psalm 75:1-10

Proverbs 12:12-14

April 4

Deuteronomy 26:1–27:26

Luke 10:38-11:13

Psalm 76:1-12

Proverbs 12:15-17

April 5

Deuteronomy 28:1-68

Luke 11:14-36

Psalm 77:1-20

Proverbs 12:18

April 6

Deuteronomy 29:1–30:20

Luke 11:37-12:7

Psalm 78:1-31

Proverbs 12:19-20

April 7

Deuteronomy 31:1–32:27

Luke 12:8-34

Psalm 78:32-55

Proverbs 12:21-23

April 8

Deuteronomy 32:28-52

Luke 12:35-59

Psalm 78:56-64

Proverbs 12:24

April 9

Deuteronomy 33:1-29

Luke 13:1-21

Psalm 78:65-72

Proverbs 12:25

April 10

Deuteronomy 34:1—Joshua 2:24

Luke 13:22-14:6

Psalm 79:1-13

Proverbs 12:26

April 11

Joshua 3:1–4:24

Luke 14:7-35

Psalm 80:1-19

Proverbs 12:27-28

April 12

Joshua 5:1–7:15

Luke 15:1-32

Psalm 81:1-16

Proverbs 13:1

April 13

Joshua 7:16-9:2

Luke 16:1-18

Psalm 82:1-8

Proverbs 13:2-3

April 14

Joshua 9:3–10:43

Luke 16:19-17:10

Psalm 83:1-18

Proverbs 13:4

April 15

Joshua 11:1–12:24

Luke 17:11-37

Psalm 84:1-12

Proverbs 13:5-6

April 16

Joshua 13:1–14:15

Luke 18:1-17

Psalm 85:1-13

Proverbs 13:7-8

April 17

Joshua 15:1-63

Luke 18:18-43

Psalm 86:1-17

Proverbs 13:9-10

April 18

Joshua 16:1–18:28

Luke 19:1-27

Psalm 87:1-7

Proverbs 13:11

April 19

Joshua 19:1–20:9

Luke 19:28-48

Psalm 88:1-18

Proverbs 13:12-14

April 20

Joshua 21:1–22:20

Luke 20:1-26

Psalm 89:1-13

Proverbs 13:15-16

April 21

Joshua 22:21-23:16

Luke 20:27-47

Psalm 89:14-37

Proverbs 13:17-19

April 22

Joshua 24:1-33

Luke 21:1-28

Psalm 89:38-52

Proverbs 13:20-23

April 23

Judges 1:1–2:9

Luke 21:29-22:13

Psalm 90:1–91:16

Proverbs 13:24-25

April 24

Judges 2:10-3:31

Luke 22:14-34

Psalm 92:1–93:5

Proverbs 14:1-2

April 25

Judges 4:1–5:31

Luke 22:35-53

Psalm 94:1-23

Proverbs 14:3-4

April 26

Judges 6:1-40

Luke 22:54-23:12

Psalm 95:1–96:13

Proverbs 14:5-6

April 27

Judges 7:1–8:17

Luke 23:13-43

Psalm 97:1–98:9

Proverbs 14:7-8

April 28

Judges 8:18-9:21

Luke 23:44-24:12

Psalm 99:1-9

Proverbs 14:9-10

April 29

Judges 9:22-10:18

Luke 24:13-53

Psalm 100:1-5

Proverbs 14:11-12

April 30

Judges 11:1–12:15

John 1:1-28

Psalm 101:1-8

Proverbs 14:13-14

May 1

Judges 13:1–14:20

John 1:29-51

Psalm 102:1-28

Proverbs 14:15-16

May 2

Judges 15:1–16:31

John 2:1-25

Psalm 103:1-22

Proverbs 14:17-19

May 3

Judges 17:1–18:31

John 3:1-21

Psalm 104:1-23

Proverbs 14:20-21

May 4

Judges 19:1–20:48

John 3:22-4:3

Psalm 104:24-35

Proverbs 14:22-24

May 5

Judges 21:1—Ruth 1:22

John 4:4-42

Psalm 105:1-15

Proverbs 14:25

May 6

Ruth 2:1–4:22

John 4:43-54

Psalm 105:16-36

Proverbs 14:26-27

May 7

1 Samuel 1:1–2:21

John 5:1-23

Psalm 105:3745

Proverbs 14:28-29

May 8

1 Samuel 2:22-4:22

John 5:2447

Psalm 106:1-12

Proverbs 14:30-31

May 9

1 Samuel 5:1–7:17

John 6:1-21

Psalm 106:13-31

Proverbs 14:32-33

May 10

1 Samuel 8:1–9:27

John 6:22-42

Psalm 106:32-48

Proverbs 14:34-35

May 11

1 Samuel 10:1–11:15

John 6:43-71

Psalm 107:1-43

Proverbs 15:1-3

May 12

1 Samuel 12:1–13:23

John 7:1-30

Psalm 108:1-13

Proverbs 15:4

May 13

1 Samuel 14:1–14:52

John 7:31-53

Psalm 109:1-31

Proverbs 15:5-7

May 14

1 Samuel 15:1–16:23

John 8:1-20

Psalm 110:1-7

Proverbs 15:8-10

May 15

1 Samuel 17:1–18:4

John 8:21-30

Psalm 111:1-10

Proverbs 15:11

May 16

1 Samuel 18:5–19:24

John 8:31-59

Psalm 112:1-10

Proverbs 15:12-14

May 17

1 Samuel 20:1–21:15

John 9:1-41

Psalm 113:1–114:8

Proverbs 15:15-17

May 18

1 Samuel 22:1–23:29

John 10:1-21

Psalm 115:1-18

Proverbs 15:18-19

May 19

1 Samuel 24:1–25:44

John 10:2242

Psalm 116:1-19

Proverbs 15:20-21

May 20

1 Samuel 26:1–28:25

John 11:1-54

Psalm 117:1-2

Proverbs 15:22-23

May 21

1 Samuel 29:1–31:13

John 11:55-12:19

Psalm 118:1-18

Proverbs 15:24-26

May 22

2 Samuel 1:1–2:11

John 12:20-50

Psalm 118:19-29

Proverbs 15:27-28

May 23

2 Samuel 2:12-3:39

John 13:1-30

Psalm 119:1-16

Proverbs 15:29-30

May 24

2 Samuel 4:1–6:23

John 13:31-14:14

Psalm 119:17-32

Proverbs 15:31-32

May 25

2 Samuel 7:1–8:18

John 14:15-31

Psalm 119:33-48

Proverbs 15:33

May 26

2 Samuel 9:1–11:27

John 15:1-27

Psalm 119:49-64

Proverbs 16:1-3

May 27

2 Samuel 12:1-31

John 16:1-33

Psalm 119:65-80

Proverbs 16:4-5

May 28

2 Samuel 13:1-39

John 17:1-26

Psalm 119:81-96

Proverbs 16:6-7

May 29

2 Samuel 14:1–15:22

John 18:1-24

Psalm 119:97-112

Proverbs 16:8-9

May 30

2 Samuel 15:23-16:23

John 18:25-19:22

Psalm 119:113-128

Proverbs 16:10-11

May 31

2 Samuel 17:1-29

John 19:23-42

Psalm 119:129-152

Proverbs 16:12-13

June 1

2 Samuel 18:1–19:10

John 20:1-31

Psalm 119:153-176

Proverbs 16:14-15

June 2

2 Samuel 19:11-20:13

John 21:1-25

Psalm 120:1-7 |

Proverbs 16:16-17

June 3

2 Samuel 20:14-21:22

Acts 1:1-26

Psalm 121:1-8

Proverbs 16:18

June 4

2 Samuel 22:1–23:23

Acts 2:147

Psalm 122:1-9

Proverbs 16:19-20

June 5

2 Samuel 23:24-24:25

Acts 3:1-26

Psalm 123:1-4

Proverbs 16:21-23

June 6

1 Kings 1:1-53

Acts 4:1-37

Psalm 124:1-8

Proverbs 16:24

June 7

1 Kings 2:1–3:2

Acts 5:1-42

Psalm 125:1-5

Proverbs 16:25

June 8

1 Kings 3:3–4:34

Acts 6:1-15

Psalm 126:1-6

Proverbs 16:26-27

June 9

1 Kings 5:1–6:38

Acts 7:1-29

Psalm 127:1-5

Proverbs 16:28-30

June 10

1 Kings 7:1-51

Acts 7:30-50

Psalm 128:1-6

Proverbs 16:31-33

June 11

1 Kings 8:1-66

Acts 7:51-8:13

Psalm 129:1-8

Proverbs 17:1

June 12

1 Kings 9:1–10:29

Acts 8:14-40

Psalm 130:1-8

Proverbs 17:2-3

June 13

1 Kings 11:1–12:19

Acts 9:1-25

Psalm 131:1-3

Proverbs 17:4-5

June 14

1 Kings 12:20-13:34

Acts 9:26-43

Psalm 132:1-18

Proverbs 17:6

June 15

1 Kings 14:1–15:24

Acts 10:1-23

Psalm 133:1-3

Proverbs 17:7-8

June 16

1 Kings 15:25-17:24

Acts 10:24-48

Psalm 134:1-3

Proverbs 17:9-11

June 17

1 Kings 18:1-46

Acts 11:1-30

Psalm 135:1-21

Proverbs 17:12-13

June 18

1 Kings 19:1-21

Acts 12:1-23

Psalm 136:1-26

Proverbs 17:14-15

June 19

1 Kings 20:1–21:29

Acts 12:24-13:15

Psalm 137:1-9

Proverbs 17:16

June 20

1 Kings 22:1-53

Acts 13:16-41

Psalm 138:1-8

Proverbs 17:17-18

June 21

2 Kings 1:1–2:25

Acts 13:42-14:7

Psalm 139:1-24

Proverbs 17:19-21

June 22

2 Kings 3:1–4:17

Acts 14:8-28

Psalm 140:1-13

Proverbs 17:22

June 23

2 Kings 4:18-5:27

Acts 15:1-35

Psalm 141:1-10

Proverbs 17:23

June 24

2 Kings 6:1–7:20

Acts 15:36-16:15

Psalm 142:1-7

Proverbs 17:24-25

June 25

2 Kings 8:1–9:13

Acts 16:16-40

Psalm 143:1-12

Proverbs 17:26

June 26

2 Kings 9:14-10:31

Acts 17:1-34

Psalm 144:1-15

Proverbs 17:27-28

June 27

2 Kings 10:32-12:21

Acts 18:1-22

Psalm 145:1-21

Proverbs 18:1

June 28

2 Kings 13:1–14:29

Acts 18:23-19:12

Psalm 146:1-10

Proverbs 18:2-3

June 29

2 Kings 15:1–16:20

Acts 19:13-41

Psalm 147:1-20

Proverbs 18:4-5

June 30

2 Kings 17:1–18:12

Acts 20:1-38

Psalm 148:1-14

Proverbs 18:6-7

July 1

2 Kings 18:13-19:37

Acts 21:1-17

Psalm 149:1-9

Proverbs 18:8

July 2

2 Kings 20:1–22:2

Acts 21:18-36

Psalm 150:1-6

Proverbs 18:9-10

July 3

2 Kings 22:3–23:30

Acts 21:37-22:16

Psalm 1:1-6

Proverbs 18:11-12

July 4

2 Kings 23:31-25:30

Acts 22:17-23:10

Psalm 2:1-12

Proverbs 18:13

July 5

1 Chronicles 1:1–2:17

Acts 23:11-35

Psalm 3:1-8

Proverbs 18:14-15

July 6

1 Chronicles 2:18-4:4

Acts 24:1-27

Psalm 4:1-8

Proverbs 18:16-18

July 7

1 Chronicles 4:5–5:17

Acts 25:1-27

Psalm 5:1-12

Proverbs 18:19

July 8

1 Chronicles 5:18-6:81

Acts 26:1-32

Psalm 6:1-10

Proverbs 18:20-21

July 9

1 Chronicles 7:1–8:40

Acts 27:1-20

Psalm 7:1-17

Proverbs 18:22

July 10

1 Chronicles 9:1–10:14

Acts 27:21-44

Psalm 8:1-9

Proverbs 18:23-24

July 11

1 Chronicles 11:1–12:18

Acts 28:1-31

Psalm 9:1-12

Proverbs 19:1-3

July 12

1 Chronicles 12:19-14:17

Romans 1:1-17

Psalm 9:13-20

Proverbs 19:4-5

July 13

1 Chronicles 15:1–16:36

Romans 1:18-32

Psalm 10:1-15

Proverbs 19:6-7

July 14

1 Chronicles 16:37-18:17

Romans 2:1-24

Psalm 10:16-18

Proverbs 19:8-9

July 15

1 Chronicles 19:1–21:30

Romans 2:25-3:8

Psalm 11:1-7

Proverbs 19:10-12

July 16

1 Chronicles 22:1–23:32

Romans 3:9-31

Psalm 12:1-8

Proverbs 19:13-14

July 17

1 Chronicles 24:1–26:11

Romans 4:1-12

Psalm 13:1-6

Proverbs 19:15-16

July 18

1 Chronicles 26:12-27:34

Romans 4:13-5:5

Psalm 14:1-7

Proverbs 19:17

July 19

1 Chronicles 28:1–29:30

Romans 5:6-21

Psalm 15:1-5

Proverbs 19:18-19

July 20

2 Chronicles 1:1–3:17

Romans 6:1-23

Psalm 16:1-11

Proverbs 19:20-21

July 21

2 Chronicles 4:1–6:11

Romans 7:1-13

Psalm 17:1-15

Proverbs 19:22-23

July 22

2 Chronicles 6:12-8:10

Romans 7:14-8:8

Psalm 18:1-15

Proverbs 19:24-25

July 23

2 Chronicles 8:11-10:19

Romans 8:9-25

Psalm 18:16-36

Proverbs 19:26

July 24

2 Chronicles 11:1–13:22

Romans 8:26-39

Psalm 18:37-50

Proverbs 19:27-29

July 25

2 Chronicles 14:1–16:14

Romans 9:1-24

Psalm 19:1-14

Proverbs 20:1

July 26

2 Chronicles 17:1–18:34

Romans 9:25-10:13

Psalm 20:1-9

Proverbs 20:2-3

July 27

2 Chronicles 19:1–20:37

Romans 10:14-11:12

Psalm 21:1-13

Proverbs 20:4-6

July 28

2 Chronicles 21:1–23:21

Romans 11:13-36

Psalm 22:1-18

Proverbs 20:7

July 29

2 Chronicles 24:1–25:28

Romans 12:1-21

Psalm 22:19-31

Proverbs 20:8-10

July 30

2 Chronicles 26:1–28:27

Romans 13:1-14

Psalm 23:1-6

Proverbs 20:11

July 31

2 Chronicles 29:1-36

Romans 14:1-23

Psalm 24:1-10

Proverbs 20:12

August 1

2 Chronicles 30:1–31:21

Romans 15:1-22

Psalm 25:1-15

Proverbs 20:13-15

August 2

2 Chronicles 32:1–33:13

Romans 15:23-16:9

Psalm 25:16-22

Proverbs 20:16-18

August 3

2 Chronicles 33:14-34:33

Romans 16:10-27

Psalm 26:1-12

Proverbs 20:19

August 4

2 Chronicles 35:1–36:23

1 Corinthians 1:1-17

Psalm 27:1-6

Proverbs 20:20-21

August 5

Ezra 1:1–2:70

1 Corinthians Psalm 27:7-14

Proverbs 20:22-23

August 6

Ezra 3:1–4:24

1 Corinthians 2:6–3:4

Psalm 28:1-9

Proverbs 20:24-25

August 7

Ezra 5:1–6:22

1 Corinthians 3:5-23

Psalm 29:1-11

Proverbs 20:26-27

August 8

Ezra 7:1–8:20

1 Corinthians 4:1-21

Psalm 30:1-12

Proverbs 20:28-30

August 9

Ezra 8:21-9:15

1 Corinthians 5:1-13

Psalm 31:1-8

Proverbs 21:1-2

August 10

Ezra 10:1-44

1 Corinthians 6:1-20

Psalm 31:9-18

Proverbs 21:3

August 11

Nehemiah 1:1–3:14

1 Corinthians 7:1-24

Psalm 31:19-24

Proverbs 21:4

August 12

Nehemiah 3:15-5:13

1 Corinthians 7:25-40

Psalm 32:1-11

Proverbs 21:5-7

August 13

Nehemiah 5:14-7:60

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Psalm 33:1-11

Proverbs 21:8-10

August 14

Nehemiah 7:61-9:21

1 Corinthians 9:1-18

Psalm 33:12-22

Proverbs 21:11-12

August 15

Nehemiah 9:22-10:39

1 Corinthians 9:19-10:13

Psalm 34:1-10

Proverbs 21:13

August 16

Nehemiah 11:1–12:26

1 Corinthians 10:14-33

Psalm 34:11-22

Proverbs 21:14-16

August 17

Nehemiah 12:27-13:31

1 Corinthians 11:1-16

Psalm 35:1-16

Proverbs 21:17-18

August 18

Esther 1:1–3:15

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Psalm 35:17-28

Proverbs 21:19-20

August 19

Esther 4:1–7:10

1 Corinthians 12:1-26

Psalm 36:1-12

Proverbs 21:21-22

August 20

Esther 8:1–10:3

1 Corinthians 12:27-13:13

Psalm 37:1-11

Proverbs 21:23-24

August 21

Job 1:1–3:26

1 Corinthians 14:1-17

Psalm 37:12-29

Proverbs 21:25-26

August 22

Job 4:1–7:21

1 Corinthians 14:18-40

Psalm 37:30-40

Proverbs 21:27

August 23

Job 8:1–11:20

1 Corinthians 15:1-28

Psalm 38:1-22

Proverbs 21:28-29

August 24

Job 12:1–15:35

1 Corinthians 15:29-58

Psalm 39:1-13

Proverbs 21:30-31

August 25

Job 16:1–19:29

1 Corinthians 16:1-24

Psalm 40:1-10

Proverbs 22:1

August 26

Job 20:1–22:30

2 Corinthians 1:1-11

Psalm 40:11-17

Proverbs 22:2-4

August 27

Job 23:1–27:23

2 Corinthians 1:12-2:11

Psalm 41:1-13

Proverbs 22:5-6

August 28

Job 28:1–30:31

2 Corinthians 2:12-17

Psalm 42:1-11

Proverbs 22:7

August 29

Job 31:1–33:33

2 Corinthians 3:1-18

Psalm 43:1-5

Proverbs 22:8-9

August 30

Job 34:1–36:33

2 Corinthians 4:1-12

Psalm 44:1-8

Proverbs 22:10-12

August 31

Job 37:1–39:30

2 Corinthians 4:13-5:10

Psalm 44:9-26

Proverbs 22:13

September 1

Job 40:1–42:17

2 Corinthians 5:11-21

Psalm 45:1-17

Proverbs 22:14

September 2

Ecclesiastes 1:1–3:22

2 Corinthians 6:1-13

Psalm 46:1-11

Proverbs 22:15

September 3

Ecclesiastes 4:1–6:12

2 Corinthians 6:14-7:7

Psalm 47:1-9

Proverbs 22:16

September 4

Ecclesiastes 7:1–9:18

2 Corinthians 7:8-16

Psalm 48:1-14

Proverbs 22:17-19

September 5

Ecclesiastes 10:1–12:14

2 Corinthians 8:1-15

Psalm 49:1-20

Proverbs 22:20-21

September 6

Song of songs 1:1–4:16

2 Corinthians 8:16-24

Psalm 50:1-23

Proverbs 22:22-23

September 7

Song of songs 5:1–8:14

2 Corinthians 9:1-15

Psalm 51:1-19

Proverbs 22:24-25

September 8

Isaiah 1:1–2:22

2 Corinthians 10:1-18

Psalm 52:1-9

Proverbs 22:26-27

September 9

Isaiah 3:1–5:30

2 Corinthians 11:1-15

Psalm 53:1-6

Proverbs 22:28-29

September 10

Isaiah 6:1–7:25

2 Corinthians 11:16-33

Psalm 54:1-7

Proverbs 23:1-3

September 11

Isaiah 8:1–9:21

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Psalm 55:1-23

Proverbs 23:4-5

September 12

Isaiah 10:1–11:16

2 Corinthians 12:11-21

Psalm 56:1-13

Proverbs 23:6-8

September 13

Isaiah 12:1–14:32

2 Corinthians 13:1-13

Psalm 57:1-11

Proverbs 23:9-11

September 14

Isaiah 15:1–18:7

Galatians 1:1-24

Psalm 58:1-11

Proverbs 23:12

September 15

Isaiah 19:1–21:17

Galatians 2:1-16

Psalm 59:1-17

Proverbs 23:13-14

September 16

Isaiah 22:1–24:23

Galatians 2:17-3:9

Psalm 60:1-12

Proverbs 23:15-16

September 17

Isaiah 25:1–28:13

Galatians 3:10-22

Psalm 61:1-8

Proverbs 23:17-18

September 18

Isaiah 28:14-30:11

Galatians 3:23-4:31

Psalm 62:1-12

Proverbs 23:19-21

September 19

Isaiah 30:12-33:9

Galatians 5:1-12

Psalm 63:1-11

Proverbs 23:22

September 20

Isaiah 33:10-36:22

Galatians 5:13-26

Psalm 64:1-10

Proverbs 23:23

September 21

Isaiah 37:1–38:22

Galatians 6:1-18

Psalm 65:1-13

Proverbs 23:24

September 22

Isaiah 39:1–41:16

Ephesians 1:1-23

Psalm 66:1-20

Proverbs 23:25-28

September 23

Isaiah 41:17-43:13

Ephesians 2:1-22

Psalm 67:1-7

Proverbs 23:29-35

September 24

Isaiah 43:14-45:10

Ephesians 3:1-21

Psalm 68:1-18

Proverbs 24:1-2

September 25

Isaiah 45:11-48:11

Ephesians 4:1-16

Psalm 68:19-35

Proverbs 24:3-4

September 26

Isaiah 48:12-50:11

Ephesians 4:17-32

Psalm 69:1-18

Proverbs 24:5-6

September 27

Isaiah 51:1–53:12

Ephesians 5:1-33

Psalm 69:19-36

Proverbs 24:7

September 28

Isaiah 54:1–57:14

Ephesians 6:1-24

Psalm 70:1-5

Proverbs 24:8

September 29

Isaiah 57:15-59:21

Philippians 1:1-26

Psalm 71:1-24

Proverbs 24:9-10

September 30

Isaiah 60:1–62:5

Philippians 1:27-2:18

Psalm 72:1-20

Proverbs 24:11-12

October 1

Isaiah 62:6–65:25

Philippians 2:19-3:3

Psalm 73:1-28

Proverbs 24:13-14

October 2

Isaiah 66:1-24

Philippians 3:4-21

Psalm 74:1-23

Proverbs 24:15-16

October 3

Jeremiah 1:1–2:30

Philippians 4:1-23

Psalm 75:1-10

Proverbs 24:17-20

October 4

Jeremiah 2:31-4:18

Colossians 1:1-17

Psalm 76:1-12 |

Proverbs 24:21-22

October 5

Jeremiah 4:19-6:15

Colossians 1:18-2:7

Psalm 77:1-20

Proverbs 24:23-25

October 6

Jeremiah 6:16-8:7

Colossians 2:8-23

Psalm 78:1-31

Proverbs 24:26

October 7

Jeremiah 8:8–9:26

Colossians 3:1-17

Psalm 78:32-55

Proverbs 24:27

October 8

Jeremiah 10:1–11:23

Colossians 3:18-4:18

Psalm 78:56-72

Proverbs 24:28-29

October 9

Jeremiah 12:1–14:10

1 Thessalonians 1:1–2:8

Psalm 79:1-13

Proverbs 24:30-34

October 10

Jeremiah 14:11-16:15

1 Thessalonians 2:9–3:13

Psalm 80:1-19

Proverbs 25:1-5

October 11

Jeremiah 16:16-18:23

1 Thessalonians 4:1–5:3

Psalm 81:1-16

Proverbs 25:6-8

October 12

Jeremiah 19:1–21:14

1 Thessalonians 5:4-28

Psalm 82:1-8

Proverbs 25:9-10

October 13

Jeremiah 22:1–23:20

2 Thessalonians 1:1-12

Psalm 83:1-18

Proverbs 25:11-14

October 14

Jeremiah 23:21-25:38

2 Thessalonians 2:1-17

Psalm 84:1-12

Proverbs 25:15

October 15

Jeremiah 26:1–27:22

2 Thessalonians 3:1-18

Psalm 85:1-13

Proverbs 25:16

October 16

Jeremiah 28:1–29:32

1 Timothy 1:1-20

Psalm 86:1-17

Proverbs 25:17

October 17

Jeremiah 30:1–31:26

1 Timothy 2:1-15

Psalm 87:1-7

Proverbs 25:18-19

October 18

Jeremiah 31:27-32:44

1 Timothy 3:1-16

Psalm 88:1-18

Proverbs 25:20-22

October 19

Jeremiah 33:1–34:22

1 Timothy 4:1-16

Psalm 89:1-13

Proverbs 25:23-24

October 20

Jeremiah 35:1–36:32

1 Timothy 5:1-25

Psalm 89:14-37

Proverbs 25:25-27

October 21

Jeremiah 37:1–38:28

1 Timothy 6:1-21

Psalm 89:38-52

Proverbs 25:28

October 22

Jeremiah 39:1–41:18

2 Timothy 1:1-18

Psalm 90:1–91:16

Proverbs 26:1-2

October 23

Jeremiah 42:1–44:23

2 Timothy 2:1-21

Psalm 92:1–93:5

Proverbs 26:3-5

October 24

Jeremiah 44:24-47:7

2 Timothy 2:22-3:17

Psalm 94:1-23

Proverbs 26:6-8

October 25

Jeremiah 48:1–49:22

2 Timothy 4:1-22

Psalm 95:1–96:13

Proverbs 26:9-12

October 26

Jeremiah 49:23-50:46

Titus 1:1-16

Psalm 97:1–98:9

Proverbs 26:13-16

October 27

Jeremiah 51:1-53

Titus 2:1-15

Psalm 99:1-9

Proverbs 26:17

October 28

Jeremiah 51:54-52:34

Titus 3:1-15

Psalm 100:1-5

Proverbs 26:18-19

October 29

Lamentations 1:1–2:19

Philippians 1:1-25

Psalm 101:1-8

Proverbs 26:20

October 30

Lamentations 2:20-3:66

Hebrews 1:1-14

Psalm 102:1-28

Proverbs 26:21-22

October 31

Lamentations 4:1–5:22

Hebrews 2:1-18

Psalm 103:1-22

Proverbs 26:23

November 1

Ezekiel 1:1–3:15

Hebrews 3:1-19

Psalm 104:1-23

Proverbs 26:24-26

November 2

Ezekiel 3:16-6:14

Hebrews 4:1-16

Psalm 104:24-35

Proverbs 26:27

November 3

Ezekiel 7:1–9:11

Hebrews 5:1-14

Psalm 105:1-15

Proverbs 26:28

November 4

Ezekiel 10:1–11:25

Hebrews 6:1-20

Psalm 105:16-36

Proverbs 27:1-2

November 5

Ezekiel 12:1–14:11

Hebrews 7:1-17

Psalm 105:3745

Proverbs 27:3

November 6

Ezekiel 14:12-16:41

Hebrews 7:18-28

Psalm 106:1-12

Proverbs 27:4-6

November 7

Ezekiel 16:42-17:24

Hebrews 8:1-13

Psalm 106:13-31

Proverbs 27:7-9

November 8

Ezekiel 18:1–19:14

Hebrews 9:1-10

Psalm 106:32-48

Proverbs 27:10

November 9

Ezekiel 20:1-49

Hebrews 9:11-28

Psalm 107:1-43

Proverbs 27:11

November 10

Ezekiel 21:1–22:31

Hebrews 10:1-17

Psalm 108:1-13

Proverbs 27:12

November 11

Ezekiel 23:1-49

Hebrews 10:18-39

Psalm 109:1-31

Proverbs 27:13

November 12

Ezekiel 24:1–26:21

Hebrews 11:1-16

Psalm 110:1-7

Proverbs 27:14

November 13

Ezekiel 27:1–28:26

Hebrews 11:17-31

Psalm 111:1-10

Proverbs 27:15-16

November 14

Ezekiel 29:1–30:26

Hebrews 11:32-12:13

Psalm 112:1-10

Proverbs 27:17

November 15

Ezekiel 31:1–32:32

Hebrews 12:14-29

Psalm 113:1–114:8

Proverbs 27:18-20

November 16

Ezekiel 33:1–34:31

Hebrews 13:1-25

Psalm 115:1-18

Proverbs 27:21-22

November 17

Ezekiel 35:1–36:38

James 1:1-18

Psalm 116:1-19

Proverbs 27:23-27

November 18

Ezekiel 37:1–38:23

James 1:19-2:17

Psalm 117:1-2 |

Proverbs 28:1

19

Ezekiel 39:1–40:27

James 2:18-3:18

Psalm 118:1-18

Proverbs 28:2

November 20

Ezekiel 40:28-41:26

James 4:1-17

Psalm 118:19-29

Proverbs 28:3-5

November 21

Ezekiel 42:1–43:27

James 5:1-20

Psalm 119:1-16

Proverbs 28:6-7

November 22

Ezekiel 44:1–45:12

1 Peter 1:1-12

Psalm 119:17-32

Proverbs 28:8-10

November 23

Ezekiel 45:13-46:24

1 Peter 1:13-2:10

Psalm 119:33-48

Proverbs 28:11

November 24

Ezekiel 47:1–48:35

1 Peter 2:11-3:7

Psalm 119:49-64

Proverbs 28:12-13

November 25

Daniel 1:1–2:23

1 Peter 3:8–4:6

Psalm 119:65-80

Proverbs 28:14

November 26

Daniel 2:24-3:30

1 Peter 4:7–5:14

Psalm 119:81-96

Proverbs 28:15-16

November 27

Daniel 4:1-37

2 Peter 1:1-21

Psalm 119:97-112

Proverbs 28:17-18

November 28

Daniel 5:1-31

2 Peter 2:1-22

Psalm 119:113-128

Proverbs 28:19-20

November 29

Daniel 6:1-28

2 Peter 3:1-18

Psalm 119:129-152

Proverbs 28:21-22

November 30

Daniel 7:1-28

1 John 1:1-10

Psalm 119:153-176

Proverbs 28:23-24

December 1

Daniel 8:1-27

1 John 2:1-17

Psalm 120:1-7

Proverbs 28:25-26

December 2

Daniel 9:1–11:1

1 John 2:18-3:6

Psalm 121:1-8

Proverbs 28:27-28

December 3

Daniel 11:2-35

1 John 3:7-24

Psalm 122:1-9

Proverbs 29:1

December 4

Daniel 11:36-12:13

1 John 4:1-21

Psalm 123:1-4

Proverbs 29:2-4

December 5

Hosea 1:1–3:5

1 John 5:1-21

Psalm 124:1-8

Proverbs 29:5-8

December 6

Hosea 4:1–5:15

2 John 1:1-13

Psalm 125:1-5

Proverbs 29:9-11

December 7

Hosea 6:1–9:17

3 John 1:1-15

Psalm 126:1-6

Proverbs 29:12-14

December 8

Hosea 10:1–14:9

Jude 1:1-25

Psalm 127:1-5

Proverbs 29:15-17

December 9

Joel 1:1–3:21

Revelation 1:1-20

Psalm 128:1-6

Proverbs 29:18

December 10

Amos 1:1–3:15

Revelation 2:1-17

Psalm 129:1-8

Proverbs 29:19-20

December 11

Amos 4:1–6:14

Revelation 2:18-3:6

Psalm 130:1-8

Proverbs 29:21-22

December 12

Amos 7:1–9:15

Revelation 3:7-22

Psalm 131:1-3

Proverbs 29:23

December 13

Obadiah 1:1-21

Revelation 4:1-11

Psalm 132:1-18

Proverbs 29:24-25

December 14

Jonah 1:1–4:11

Revelation 5:1-14

Psalm 133:1-3

Proverbs 29:26-27

December 15

Micah 1:1–4:13

Revelation 6:1-17

Psalm 134:1-3

Proverbs 30:1-4

December 16

Micah 5:1–7:20

Revelation 7:1-17

Psalm 135:1-21

Proverbs 30:5-6

December 17

Nahum 1:1–3:19

Revelation 8:143

Psalm 136:1-26

Proverbs 30:7-9

December 18

Habakkuk 1:1–3:19

Revelation 9:1-21

Psalm 137:1-9

Proverbs 30:10

December 19

Zephaniah 1:1–3:20

Revelation 10:1-11

Psalm 138:1-8

Proverbs 30:11-14

December 20

Haggai 1:1–2:23

Revelation 11:1-19

Psalm 139:1-24

Proverbs 30:15-16

December 21

Zechariah 1:1-21

Revelation 12:1-17

Psalm 140:1-13

Proverbs 30:17

December 22

Zechariah 2:1–3:10

Revelation 12:18-3:18

Psalm 141:1-10

Proverbs 30:18-20

December 23

Zechariah 4:1–5:11

Revelation 14:1-20

Psalm 142:1-7

Proverbs 30:21-23

December 24

Zechariah 6:1–7:14

Revelation 15:1-8

Psalm 143:1-12

Proverbs 30:24-28

December 25

Zechariah 8:1-23

Revelation 16:1-21

Psalm 144:1-15

Proverbs 30:29-31

December 26

Zechariah 9:1-17

Revelation 17:1-18

Psalm 145:1-21

Proverbs 30:32

December 27

Zechariah 10:1–11:17

Revelation 18:1-24

Psalm 146:1-10

Proverbs 30:33

December 28

Zechariah 12:1–13:9

Revelation 19:1-21

Psalm 147:1-20

Proverbs 31:1-7

December 29

Zechariah 14:1-21

Revelation 20:1-15

Psalm 148:1-14

Proverbs 31:8-9

December 30

Malachi 1:1–2:17

Revelation 21:1-27

Psalm 149:1-9

Proverbs 31:10-24

December 31

Malachi 3:1–4:6

Revelation 22:1-21

Psalm 150:1-6

Proverbs 31:25-31

ADVANCED PRAISE FOR UNLOCKING THE BIBLE STORY

Unlocking the Bible Story flows from the pen of a pastor

who understands how important it is to encourage God’s people to read and discover the power of the Bible. Colin Smith has written a practical tool to facilitate the wonderful adventure of reading and understanding the Bible. I recommend that every pastor and church consider deepening their Bible knowledge by utilizing this tool that has produced incredible results in the church Pastor Smith leads.

WILLIAM HAMEL

PRESIDENT, EVANGELICAL FREE CHURCH OF AMERICA

“… touches the deepest concerns of our hearts.”

DR. GREGORY L. WAYBRIGHT,

PRESIDENT TRINITY INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

Colin Smith’s Unlocking the Bible Story is a significant work. In fact, I’m convinced it will make a lasting contribution to God’s people regardless of age or ethnicity.

At first glance the Bible appears to many people as a puzzle, with parts that are not easily assembled. Here is a simplified explanation for understanding and learning to love the scriptures. My colleague, Colin Smith, capably serves up a pleasing and satisfying literary meal that merits thoughtful consumption in our day of biblical starvation.

HOWARD G. HENDRICKS,

DISTINGUISHED

PROFESSOR

CHAIRMAN, CENTER FOR CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP

DALLAS THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

Unlocking the Bible Story explores the mountain peaks of Scripture, helping us trace the Bible’s story line from beginning to end. I promise, it does unlock the Bible, showing us the unity of God’s revelation. Best of all, it shows that Christ is the central theme, as the Biblical narrative moves from one event to another. Excellent for those who want to “get into” the Bible.

“Excellent for those who want to “get into” the Bible.”

EERWIN W. LUTZER,

SENIOR PASTOR MOODY CHURCH

This is a satisfying and insightful overview of Scripture that tells “the old, old story” in a fascinating way. Even seasoned Bible students will find their eyes opened and their hearts warmed as they read it.

WARREN WIERSBE

AUTHOR AND CONFERENCE SPEAKER

UNLOCKING THE BIBLE STORY

VOLUME 2

Colin S. Smith

Moody Press

Chicago

© 2002 by COLIN S. SMITH

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Cover Design: Smartt Guys design

ISBN: 0-8024-6544-7

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Printed in the United States of America

For Karen,

whose love, patience, loyalty, and courage

mean more to me than words can tell.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1 Suffering

2 Resurrection

3 Revelation

4 Wisdom

5 Holiness

6 Comfort

7 Servant

8 Calling

9 Heart

10 Tears

11 Glory

12 Shepherd

13 Breath

14 Alien

15 Love

16 Faith

17 Hope

Reading the Bible In

One Year

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

What makes a sermon memorable? Every week thousands of sermons are preached. Many make only a slight and short-lived impression, but some leave their mark forever. The preachers and teachers who have left a lasting impression on my life are those who communicate the greatness and the glory of God.

My own vision of the greatness of God has been stretched as I have worked on the chapters of this book. That’s what happened to Job through his suffering, and to the prophets as God revealed what He was doing in the momentous days in which they lived. My hope and prayer for this volume is that God will use it to give you a fresh glimpse of His glory that will feed your soul and lead you to worship.

It is now ten years since I heard Eric Alexander preach on Isaiah’s vision at the Evangelical Ministry Assembly in London. His vivid presentation of the awesome glory of God was powerful then and has lived in my memory ever since. I am especially grateful to him for his observation that those who stood in the presence of God could not look directly on His glory. His insights were the foundation for my own reflections on Isaiah’s vision.

Other Bible teachers have contributed to my understanding of various themes found in this book. I was helped by Don Carson’s lectures on Ezekiel given to pastors of the Evangelical Free Church of America. His presentation of the glory of God and the flying platform in Ezekiel’s vision opened up that book for me.

I am also grateful to Stuart Briscoe for his description of wisdom as “life skills,” which I have used in chapter 4. Stuart spoke on “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” in England in 1994. That was when we first met and led, through his kindness, to our first visit to America.

The timelines in this volume are again based on dates in Walter Kaiser’s book A History of Israel (Broadman & Holman). They illustrate how God’s words through the prophets relate to events that were taking place at the time, many of which we discovered in volume 1 of Unlocking the Bible Story.

It has again been a joy to work with the publishing team at Moody, and I am especially grateful to Jim Vincent for the editorial skill and insight that he has brought to this project. My younger son David also worked with me on this volume. Our three weeks together in researching this book are a special memory for us both, and I greatly appreciate the enthusiasm with which David gave himself to this task.

I am again deeply conscious of my debt to many pastors, friends, and colleagues whose ministry I have appreciated over the years. I have spoken about some of them in the acknowledgments in volume one. If there are others whose influence on these chapters I have forgotten, then I hope that they will forgive my oversight.

Finally, I again owe an unpayable debt of gratitude to my wife, Karen, without whose love, support and encouragement, I would never have been able to complete this task. This volume is gratefully dedicated to her.

INTRODUCTION

“I’ve been in church for years. I don’t feel that I have a good grasp of the Bible. But I wish that I did.”

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard a comment like that. Churches are filled with many people who know stories from the Bible but do not know the story of the Bible. Others who do not attend church may find it difficult to know where to begin in the Bible. When you know some stories without knowing the story of the Bible, it’s like having a handful of pearls with no string to link them together. Unlocking the Bible Story will give you the string, and show you how the pearls of God’s truth fit together.

The Bible is one story. Thus it begins with two people in a beautiful garden and ends with a vast crowd in a magnificent city. All the way through, it points us to Jesus Christ. Unlocking the Bible Story will show you the big picture and help you to discover the breathtaking sweep of the whole Bible story.

These volumes began as a series of sermons preached over a period of two years at Arlington Heights Evangelical Free Church in Illinois. I had been planning to teach the story of the Old Testament, and when the chairman of our elder council suggested the idea of encouraging the congregation to read the Bible in a year, the two ideas came together and ignited a spark.

We presented the challenge to the congregation and offered the gift of The One Year Bible to everyone who would make a commitment to read it. We promised that every Sunday the preaching would come from the Bible book we were reading, and would show how each part fits into the whole. We ordered four hundred Bibles. But the response was overwhelming. Fourteen hundred people made the commitment!

Now, two years later, I am deeply moved by many testimonies of how this journey through the Bible has touched and changed people’s lives.

“Though I have been a believer [most] of my life, I have never continuously read through the Bible from beginning to end. I have studied different passages and books, which was great, but they did not give me comprehensive message of the Bible…I especially appreciate understanding the Old Testament and find it enriches my understanding of who Christ is.”—Hyacinth, a corporate human resources manager

“The most significant benefit of these two years of unlocking the Bible has been seeing how God’s plan is so intricately woven through the Bible. Many of the… stories…of the Bible used to seem disconnected and now are wonderfully brought together. What an encouragement.”—Jeff, an engineer

“The messages of Unlocking the Bible Story [have] given me a new way to talk to seekers about the Bible as a whole and how it impacts them.”—Liz, a nurse and mother

What has happened for these folks can happen for you!

There are two ways to use Unlocking the Bible Story. You may choose to read the Bible in a year, and use these volumes (this is volume two of four) as a roadmap for your journey. At the end of this book you will find a Bible reading plan based on The One Year Bible published by Tyndale House. You may want to use this approach.

Alternatively, you can use Unlocking the Bible Story as an aerial photograph, to gain a big-picture perspective on the Bible so that when you are “down on the ground” in your own study, you will have a better sense of where you are. Either way, welcome to the journey.

Each of the eighty chapters in this four-volume series begins with a key question to unlock, and ends with a summary of the answer from the Bible. At the beginning of each chapter there are signposts that point out discoveries you will make, truths you will learn, and insights that will help you to worship. Finally, in each chapter of the Old Testament volumes, you will find a “Spotlight on Christ” which will help you to see how the whole Bible points us forward to Jesus Christ.

Unlocking the Bible Story does not cover every chapter or even every book of the Bible, but it will take you through the whole of the Bible story, and show you how it fits together. It will also introduce you to the major themes of the Bible.

The Bible also uses some specialized words, like prophet, priest, atonement, and revelation. If we want to fully appreciate what God is saying to us in the Bible, we need to understand the words that He uses. Many areas of life have their own distinctive vocabulary. When I came to America five years ago, I had a very limited understanding of baseball. The basic idea was clear to me, but I quickly discovered that other people were seeing and enjoying things that I missed. The commentators talked about a “curve ball” and a “slider.” Of course, I didn’t need to know what these words meant to enjoy the game, but I soon realized that if I wanted to appreciate what was going on, I needed to learn some new words.

Unlocking the Bible Story will help you to understand the Bible’s vocabulary. Each chapter introduces a key word in the Bible story, and as you grasp the Bible’s major themes, you will begin to enjoy insights that otherwise you would have missed.

Unlocking the Bible Story will show you how the whole Bible points to Jesus Christ. He is the focal point of the whole story. If you take a diamond and move it in the light, each facet will reflect a different shade of color. The diamond sparkles as the light reflects on the stone at different angles. Unlocking the Bible Story will help you to worship as you see new facets of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

THE BIBLE STORY: ABRAHAM TO JESUS CHRIST

2000 B.C.

ABRAHAM

ISAAC

JACOB

FOUR HUNDRED YEARS OF SLAVERY IN EGYPT

1500

EXODUS FROM EGYPT (MOSES)

ENTRANCE INTO CANAAN (JOSHUA)

THREE HUNDRED YEARS OF CHAOS (THE JUDGES)

1000

SAUL

DAVID

SOLOMON

FOUR HUNDRED YEARS OF DIVISION

(NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN KINGDOMS)

BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY

500

REBUILDING OF JERUSALEM

(EZRA, NEHEMIAH)

FOUR HUNDRED YEARS OF SILENCE

0

BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST

1

Suffering

JOB 1

What does God

have to say

about the

suffering of

His people?

DISCOVER

the story behind the story of suffering.

LEARN

how you can defeat Satan’s purpose by your response to pain.

WORSHIP

as you see what Jesus Christ accomplished in His suffering.

GENESIS is the first book in the Bible, but Job is the oldest. The story comes from the time of Abraham or before, and the book of Job may well be one of the oldest books in the world. It is also one of the most important, because it deals with some of the deepest questions you will ever face in your life.

Job is the first of the Bible’s wisdom books, that is books that deal with the skills we need for navigating our way through life. It also contains one of the most dramatic and compelling stories in the Bible.

When God chose to speak to us about suffering, He did not give us a book of philosophy. When we are in deep personal pain, we do not have a great deal of interest in theory or arguments. God speaks to us through a real-life experience of a man who suffered and records for us his thoughts and his struggles. As you enter Job’s struggles, God will speak into your pain. Wherever you look in human history, pain is still pain, and God is still God.

THE GREATEST MAN IN THE EAST

Job was an outstanding man in every way. We are told that he was “blameless” and “upright” (1:1). This did not mean that he was perfect, but it did mean that if people were looking for anything to stick on him, they wouldn’t find it. The same word is used in the New Testament for Christian leaders. They are to be “blameless” (Titus 1:6). No leaders are perfect but they must be above reproach. That was true of Job. He “feared God” and he “shunned evil” (Job 1:1). That means that he experienced the same temptations that all the rest of us do, but he had learned to push them off. He shunned evil, and the reason he was able to do this was because he feared God. Indeed, “he was the greatest man in the East” (v.3).

The second thing that we learn about Job is that he was wealthy. He had been highly successful and God had blessed him. In those days, wealth was measured in livestock. We are told that he had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred donkeys (v. 3). His total net worth was pretty impressive.

We are also told that Job had seven sons and three daughters (v. 2), and it seems that they may have represented the one shadow on his horizon. The one thing that we are told about them is that their lives were an endless round of parties. “His sons used to take turns holding feasts in their homes” (v. 4). Their whole lifestyle seems to have been built around the pursuit of pleasure. If you had asked them what they were living for, they would have said, “We live for the weekend. We get our work done, and then we all have a blast.”

Job did not like what they were doing. In fact after the parties were over, he used to offer a sacrifice for each of his children. He did this “thinking, ‘Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts’” (v. 5).

If you had spoken to Job’s sons or daughters, you would have thought them to be fine, upright people, but Job was worried that what they said and what they thought were two different things. He was worried about what was in their hearts, and it would not have surprised him if, when the wine had loosened some of their inhibitions, they had cursed God.

So here is a man who was wonderfully blessed, but had one nagging fear that haunted his mind. He felt that what was going on in his family was not pleasing to God.

CATASTROPHE

Then one day everything in Job’s life changed. The day was like any other—until a terrified servant broke through the door of the house with desperate news. “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, and the Sabeans attacked and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped” (vv. 14–15).

Job did not have time to take this appalling news in, because while the servant was still speaking, another messenger came with the news that the sheep and other servants had been killed in what was probably something like a lightning storm. “The fire of God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!” (v. 16).

While he was still speaking, a third messenger arrived with news that three raiding parties of Chaldeans had swept down from the hills and taken off the camels. Then a fourth messenger arrived with the worst news of all. Job’s sons and daughters had been eating and drinking at one of their parties, and suddenly the house was hit by a mighty wind that swept in from the desert. The house collapsed on them, and all of them were dead (v. 19).

In one day this man lost every familiar landmark of his life. His business was destroyed, his wealth was plundered, and his entire family tragically killed. It all happened in one day. By any standards, this is a catalog of unspeakable suffering.

GOD’S PEOPLE WILL SUFFER

Bad things happen to good people. Sometimes terrible things happen to wonderful people, and God allows it to be so. The Scripture tells us Job was “the greatest man among all the people of the East” (v. 3). So the story of Job clearly teaches us that the pursuit of a godly life will not put us beyond suffering.

Many Christians have an instinctive feeling that if we pursue a life of worship and service, it would be a reasonable expectation that God would keep us from significant suffering in our lives. But there is no such deal on the table. The book of Job makes that very clear. Christian faith does not inoculate us against suffering in a fallen world. That is why it is an absolute travesty of the gospel to suggest that if people come to Jesus, all their problems will be over. God does not immunize His people against suffering.

At the heart of the Bible story, we learn that the greatest and most godly person who ever lived suffered more than any other. He was rejected by His family. He wept at the graveside of one of His dearest friends. He was betrayed and suffered injustice, and then He was crucified. When He calls us to walk in His footsteps, that includes following Him into the mystery that He experienced, of the suffering God allows in the life of a godly man or woman.

When you suffer, you will probably ask the question “Why?” Jesus did. But you should not ask the question “Why is this happening to me?” That question betrays a mind-set that says, “It may be appropriate that this should happen to other people but not to me.” Your faith in Christ does not and will not ever give you immunity from suffering. The apostle Peter wrote us, “Do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you” (1 Peter 4:12). So the important question to ask is not “Why does suffering happen?” but “How can a man stand when all the navigating points of his life disappear?”

GOD’S PEOPLE WILL FEEL PAIN

It is a wonderful thing that God has given us a whole book of the Bible that recounts the inner struggle of a believing man who faced terrible suffering.

The book of Job gives the lie to the superficial idea that if we “Take it to the Lord in prayer” this will somehow remove the pain. Job discovered that prayer does not act as an anesthetic. C. S. Lewis described this powerfully in his book A Grief Observed. In the deep pain that followed the death of his wife, Lewis felt that his attempts at prayer were like coming up against a great door that was then shut in your face, with the sound of bolting and double bolting inside, and then silence.

Lewis was discovering what Isaiah describes when he said that the Lord is “a God who hides himself” (Isaiah 45:15). God reveals Himself in Scripture and in Christ, but He also hides Himself, and we do not speak about God correctly unless we have grasped both these things. He has revealed Himself so we may know Him and love Him and trust Him; but He also hides Himself, so that there are times when we will say, “I just don’t understand; I can’t make any sense of His ways.” There will be times when our heart will shout out Why? and there will be no answer.

Job’s friends tried to comfort him. They said many things, some misguided, some true. But Job was not able to hear them. There were times in the past when he would have enjoyed a theological discussion with his friends, but now their words seem to float outside him and beyond him. He was simply overwhelmed by the pain.

Later in the story, the comfort of God broke through to him, but it was a long time coming, and Job never pretended that he was experiencing comfort when he was not. There is a relentless honesty about this man, and he refuses to say what he does not experience. “What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me. I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil” (Job 3:25–26).

God’s people are not always so honest. Perhaps the reason for that is that we are afraid of “not having the answers.” Job’s testimony releases us from the pressure of feeling that we have to say things are well when they are not. There are times of pain and turmoil when peace seems to be beyond our grasp. And we must not be afraid of this; this was the experience of the greatest man in the east.

If the Christian life is presented as a life of constant victory in which the triumphs are always greater than the pain, and the certainties are always greater than the questions, then Christian people will not be able to make sense of their experience when the pain seems greater than the victory, and the questions seem greater than the answers.

I thank God for a book of the Bible that tells me the greatest man of his time struggled in deep darkness with unresolved questions, and battled with a level of pain that his closest friends could not begin to understand. And yet in all of this, he did not sin against God.

THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY

Here we come to one of the most fascinating scenes in the whole of the Bible. In Job 1 God pulls back a curtain so that we can get a glimpse of another story that is going on behind the pain that Job experienced. God wants us to know that there was more at stake in this story than Job ever knew or could begin to understand.

There is an old war movie that I have seen many times, but every time I see it, I discover something else going on in the plot. Where Eagles Dare tells the story of a group of special agents who are dropped behind enemy lines supposedly to rescue a captured military commander who has information that is crucial to the outcome of the war.

In actual fact, the man who has been captured is not a commander at all, but an actor who has no information whatever. The real reason for the mission is to flush out the identity of an enemy agent who has penetrated the secret service, and whose continued presence there would spell disaster for millions of people. The team thinks that they are risking everything to rescue one man from torture and death, but in fact they are involved in a far greater mission that has not yet been revealed to them. The outcome involves much more than the safety of one man; it involves the destiny of a whole nation.

The only person who really knows what is going on is the team leader, played by Richard Burton. His lieutenant, an American played by Clint Eastwood, has an implicit trust in his leader, but at times that trust is strained to the limit. His life is on the line a thousand times as he jumps from cable cars to escape the enemy, but it is not until the very last scene in the film that he discovers what the whole mission was really all about.

There is a story behind the story, and it is extremely difficult to make any sense of the film if you don’t know the story behind the story, which is why I have enjoyed watching the film a number of times!

So what is the story behind the story of Job? What is really at stake as this man makes his journey through suffering? The book of Job tells us about a particular day when God summoned the angels to present themselves before Him, and we are told that Satan came with them.

The story behind the story is about vindicating the name of God.

The Bible is quite clear that in the beginning, God not only created the earth, but also the heavens. Alongside the visible creation, God also fashioned a creation that is invisible to us. The Bible indicates that evil originated in the heavenly creation before it ever infected the earthly creation. Lucifer (morning star) was an angel of God who wanted to take the place of God (Isaiah 14:12–15). His rebellion was unsuccessful and led to his being excluded from the presence of God and cast down to the earth. So right from the beginning of human history there was an enemy, bent on destroying the work of God. So in Genesis 3, we find this enemy coming to the first man and woman in a quest to involve human beings in his own rebellion against God.

This sets the stage for the great drama of human history in which God will redeem sinners. He will bring such a transformation within them that they will love good more than evil, truth more than lies, and God more than themselves. That is the big story behind our little lives.

In Job, God pulls back the curtain on the drama that was taking place in heaven. We’re told that Satan, now an outcast of heaven, was summoned to stand before God.

“Have you considered my servant Job?” God asks the evil one. “There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil” (Job 1:8).

Satan uses the occasion to slander the name of God. “Does Job fear God for nothing?” (v. 9). In effect, Satan is telling God, “The only reason Job fears You is raw self-interest. You think that he loves You freely, but that’s impossible! It cannot be done. Job is a man, and men love themselves!”

“Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land.” (V. 10)

Satan is saying, “Of course he will profess to be a lover of God as long as You give him everything that he wants; but take away his wealth, take away his work, take away his family, take away his health, and he will surely curse You to Your face.”

Satan, who himself had rejected God’s law and authority, was telling God, “Nobody could love You for who You are! Men may love the gifts of God, but sin is so deep that men will never come to love You for who You are.” Satan was convinced that sin is an incurable disease, and that restoration from sin is impossible. No man could love God for His own sake.

So God says, “Let’s see.”

Job never knew the story behind the story. As far as he was concerned, this whole thing is about one man struggling to come to terms with a series of unexplained tragedies in his life. But something much more important is going on. The story behind the story is about vindicating the name of God.

The Bible never suggests that every experience of suffering is a direct result of the activity of Satan. Even in this story where Satan’s activity was a direct factor in Job’s suffering, his activity was within strict limits that were determined by God. But when suffering comes into your life, whatever its shape or cause, you have the opportunity to vindicate the name of God.

SAME PROBLEM: DIFFERENT RESPONSE

When tragedy came to this family, it produced two entirely different responses from Job and his wife. Job’s wife said to him, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9). That was exactly what the devil had figured she would say. Suffering did to Job’s wife exactly what Job feared wine might do to his children; it lowered her inhibitions and exposed what she thought.

But Job’s reaction was entirely different.

Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship. (V. 20; EMPHASIS ADDED)

When Job worshiped, Satan was confounded. The worship of an ordinary man in the middle of his suffering vindicates the name of God. Job’s worship must have reverberated among the angels of heaven. I like to think about Satan shrinking back in silence, dumbfounded by the power of the grace of God in the life of this ordinary man.

Your response to God in times of trouble will be one of the most revealing things about you. For Job’s wife, integrity was a means to an end. As far as she was concerned, it was God’s responsibility to fill her life with good things, keep the family healthy, and keep the business prospering. As long as that continued, she “loved” God. But when suffering came to this couple, their different responses were telling: Job loved God for who He is; his wife loved God for what He gave. One loved God unconditionally; the other loved God as a means to an end. One proved that the devil is sometimes right; the other gave evidence that the devil is finally wrong.

I will always remember the evening when about twenty members of our congregation met to share their stories of loss. I had become aware that a number of our people had walked through the dark valley of the death of a son or a daughter. Each of the families who came had the opportunity to tell their story. People spoke about what they had found most difficult, and also about what had helped them the most.

“I asked why and never got an answer!”

There were many tears and a strong sense of the fellowship that you discover when you recognize a reflection of your own experience in somebody else’s story.

“I asked why and never got an answer!”

“I felt angry with God, and then I wondered if I should feel that way.”

“The pain is still with me now.”

But at the end of the evening one thing stood out to me more than any other. Here were twenty people who had experienced inexpressible pain. None of them could explain why it happened. Their suffering is a mystery to them, and the pain of it is with them still, and yet every one of them loves God.

How do you explain that? I know people whose suffering has been much less who say that they hate God! But here are people who have endured great suffering and yet truly love Him. Satan has no answer to that, so he falls like lightning, as the angels rejoice at the vindication of the name of God. It is possible for a man to love God freely, and to love Him not simply as a means to an end, but to love Him for who He is.

Job never knew the big story of what was at stake in his suffering. If he had a conversation with the angels after he died and went into the presence of God, they may well have said:

“Job, when we heard Satan slander the name of God we trembled, and we held our breath as we watched to see what you would do. God placed His name and His reputation on the line. And Job, when you worshiped, we can’t tell you the shouts of joy and triumph that went up here as we watched the enemy shrink away in defeat and humiliation!”

In the New Testament, the apostle Peter writes to suffering believers and says that their trials “have come so that your faith…may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:7).

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

I cannot think about this story without my mind running forward to the suffering of Christ. He was brought before a prejudiced judge and indicted on charges brought by false witnesses, but none of this made Him ask why. He was paraded through the streets; He was beaten, stripped, flogged, and crucified; but none of this made Him ask why.

But then as He hung on the cross, darkness covered the land and the comfort of God was withdrawn from His soul. He was entering into the heart of His suffering as He bore the sins of the world. Then He “cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthant,’—which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me’?” (Matthew 27:46).

There was no answer to His question. Yet in the mystery of His unspeakable suffering, His final words were worship: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”

Then He breathed his last, and that splintered the gates of hell.

UNLOCKED

God does not give us an explanation of suffering, but He does tell us how we can stand in it. Our greatest need when suffering comes is not an explanation but the ability to withstand the pressure and to come through the struggle in a way that brings honor to God.

There may come a time in your life when you are facing the mystery of great suffering, and from deep inside, you will be asking, “What does God want of me?” The answer is, “God wants that you should love Him still,” because when you do that, you bring glory to His name, and expose the enemy for the liar and slanderer he is.

The greatest evidence of a true work of God in a human soul is that when God allows a person to suffer, he or she loves Him still. That testimony may be more powerful than anything else that you do in the service of Christ.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Gracious Father,

Help those who are in great pain and distress to see Your greatness and to find strength in You. Help me to accept that there are many questions that I will never be able to answer this side of heaven, and to find peace in knowing that You know what is hidden from me.

Help me to love You for who You are and not just for what You give, so that my worship in times of trouble may bring glory to Your name. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

2

Resurrection

JOB 19

How can I hold

on to my faith in

the darkest times?

DISCOVER

Job’s secret of survival.

LEARN

how to confess your faith in the darkest times.

WORSHIP

as you see how you can count on the Redeemer and be certain of the resurrection.

ONE of the richest men in the world lost everything. God had given Job the joy of a large family, a thriving business, and great wealth. Then, in a single day, all the landmarks of his life were gone. His business was destroyed, his wealth plundered, and his whole family taken in a sudden tragedy.

The book of Job is the story of one man’s struggle to come to terms with a catalog of suffering.

What more could happen? Plenty. Next Job’s health broke down. His skin became covered in sores, and his whole body was racked with pain.

Then his wife decided to throw in the towel. Why don’t you “curse God and die!” she told him (2:9).

Despite poor health and the suggestion by a bitter wife to curse God, Job remained resolute in his faith. He “tore his robes and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship” (1:20; italics added). It was one of the greatest moments in the whole of the Old Testament.

AFTER THE CRISIS

Those who have walked the path of deep suffering know that, after the moment of crisis, there is an ongoing process of living with a new and unwelcome situation. On the day of his tragic loss, Job had made a magnificent confession of faith, but now he had to find a way to get through another day when his mind was in turmoil and his body was in pain.

The crisis in Job’s life plunged him into a desperate struggle to hold together his faith and his experience. The unanswered questions don’t go away after the funeral—remember he had lost seven sons and three daughters. The mystery of suffering does not diminish with time. Faith may have triumphed yesterday, but there is still today, and then there will be tomorrow.

Job had kept the faith in his hour of crisis, but now he began to wonder how much longer he could keep this up! Sometimes he felt that it would be best if his own life ended immediately; at least then he could say, “I have fought the good fight and kept the faith.” The problem was that God kept calling him to face another day, and he didn’t know how much more of this he could take!

“Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant what I hope for, that God would be willing to crush me, to let loose his hand and cut me off! Then I would still have this consolation—my joy in unrelenting pain—that I had not denied the words of the Holy One.” (6:8–10)

I’ve been told that there are three stages to seasickness. First you think that you are going to die, then you are sure you are going to die, then you are afraid that you might not die. That’s where Job was! He was more afraid of the pain of living and denying the Holy One than he was of the prospect of dying.

Besides, there was nothing on Job’s horizon that he felt he could look forward to. He might have looked forward to grandchildren, but his children were gone. He might have looked forward to some travel, but his wealth was plundered. Or he might have enjoyed some mellow years in the company of his wife, but she had given up the faith and, as we will see, walked out on him. So what was there left to look forward to?

With great candor and anguish, he cried out to God: “What strength do I have, that I should still hope? What prospects, that I should be patient? Do I have the strength of stone? Is my flesh bronze?” (6:11–12).

Job was getting to the point of saying, “I just can’t go on like this.” You can’t read his words without sensing the great agony in this man’s soul.

WHERE DO YOU TURN WHEN NOBODY UNDERSTANDS?

Job looked to his friends for help and support. We are told about three friends, Eliphaz, Zophar, and Bildad. You have to give them credit for being there, but they left a lot to be desired when it came to sensitivity! These friends were quite certain that all suffering is a punishment for sin, and that Job must have had some skeleton in the closet. They were convinced that Job was holding out on them and not telling the truth. Job told them straight; there was no hidden skeleton. But they didn’t believe him.

For all their sincerity, Job’s friends were of no help to him whatsoever. Eventually Job became frustrated with them and said, “How long will you torment me and crush me with words? Ten times now you have reproached me; shamelessly you attack me. If it is true that I have gone astray, my error remains my concern alone” (19:2–4). That’s really a nice way of saying, “Why don’t you all go away and mind your own business?”

Job didn’t get much help from his wife either. We have already noticed that she was ready to throw in the towel as far as faith in God was concerned, and it appears that she gave up on Job as well. Job said “my breath is offensive to my wife” (v. 17), which seems like a good way of saying that his wife didn’t want him anywhere near her, and the same seems to be true of the other members of Job’s wider family. He said, “I am loathsome to my own brothers” (v. 17).

It appears that Job’s wife came back to him at the end of the story, and his brothers and sisters joined him for a feast at his table, but in the middle of his suffering, he was utterly alone.

So it is difficult to imagine a more desperate situation. Here is a man who lost everything. His friends were no help to him, his wife didn’t want to know him, and his own health was deteriorating to the point where he said, “I am nothing but skin and bones” (v. 20). People who went to visit Job would go away saying, “I don’t think that he has long left you know.”

So how are you going to get through when the wheels come off and there is no help at hand?

JOB’S SECRET OF SURVIVAL

Right in the middle of all this pain in his body and turmoil in his mind, Job made a confession of the faith on which he would stake his life. When there are a thousand things that you don’t know, the most important thing you can do is affirm what you do know.

Many years ago someone said to me, “Never doubt in the darkness what God has taught you in the light.” That is wise counsel. In the darkness of great suffering, hold on to what you know is true.

As I was thinking about this, a memory came back to me of a family vacation when I was about twelve years old. We were staying at a country cottage in the north of Scotland, and my brother and I were enjoying a game of soccer when I kicked the ball into a field.

My father said that he would get the ball, but the field was an extremely wet marshland, and as he walked toward the ball, it seemed as if the whole field was moving. For a few moments I was quite certain that he was going to go under and never appear again, and he might have, except for one thing. He was able to grab hold of something solid: the branch of a tree.

That is exactly how it was for Job. Everything around him was collapsing, and the only way to avoid being sucked down was to grab hold of something solid. That’s what Job did when he identified and confessed the fundamental convictions on which he would stake his life. Here was Job’s branch:

“I know that my Redeemer lives.” (V. 25)

That was Job’s secret of survival. He knew that there was a living Redeemer, ready and able to deliver him.

We have discovered the word “redeemer” in volume 1 of Unlocking the Bible Story, in the book of Ruth. The kinsman-redeemer was someone who would get a relative out of a mess. The word was used most commonly in a financial crisis. If a family came on hard times, they might be forced to put their land on the market. Their best hope would be that somebody within their own family circle would have the means and the will to buy the land so that it would stay within the family. Then at least the suffering family could remain on the land and work for someone who had their best interests at heart.

He was staking his life on the Redeemer.

That was all very well with land and money, but who in all the world could get Job out of the mess he was in when his whole body was breaking down and death was on the horizon. Who would get him out of that mess? The issue wasn’t recovering his property; it was recovering his life!

Job’s confession of faith was absolutely magnificent. He turned to his friends and said, “Now just listen to this: You have seen the tough situation that I am in, but of two things I’m sure: I have a Redeemer, and I know that my Redeemer lives.”

If they had asked him who this redeemer was, he would not have been able to answer. All he knew was that God had somebody somewhere who would have the will and the means to do whatever was necessary to deliver him from this mess.

Job’s physical condition was getting so bad that he was beginning to feel that he may well die before this Redeemer appeared on the scene. But that would make no difference. He was convinced that this Redeemer would come and even if he did not come until long after Job had died, he would still be able to deliver Job from ultimate loss.

Can you imagine the Son of God listening to these words? There would be at least another two thousand years of history before Jesus Christ would come into the world. But here was a man who was already looking for Him to come, and counting on it! He was staking his life on the Redeemer.

At the beginning of time, God had promised someone would come to get men and women out of the mess they are in, and Job held on to that promise of God. He believed that the pain, suffering, and loss of life in this fallen world would not be the end.

The agony of the cross… ruptured the heart of God.

When the Redeemer came, He had to pay a price to redeem. Peter says, “It was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed” (1 Peter 1:18). It was not like the Old Testament days when you looked around for a wealthy uncle to buy your field to get you out of financial trouble. That was relatively easy, but the mess that we are in laid a much greater price tag on the Redeemer. Instead, Peter says, you were redeemed “with the precious blood of Christ” (1:19).

When God looked down on the suffering of His people in Egypt, God said, “I can’t leave them there! I must go down and redeem them.” That took overcoming Pharaoh’s resistance and parting the waters of the Red Sea. But what is that to almighty God?

Then God looked at the world in its pain and suffering and death, and He said, “I can’t leave them there. I must go down and redeem them.” That took God giving up His Son. It took the agony of the Cross. It ruptured the heart of God. The Cross tells us that when the Redeemer came, He did something infinitely more difficult than anything else God had ever done in all the history of the world.

But the Redeemer has come, and He has paid the price. His blood was shed, and on the third day, He rose again. So even through your tears, you can say with absolute confidence, “I know that my Redeemer lives.”

JOB’S CONFIDENCE

Right from the beginning of human history there were men and women who were looking for the Redeemer (Genesis 3:15; Job 19:25). After the fall, God warned the serpent that an offspring of the woman “will crush your [Satan’s] head.” Adam and Eve heard that promise of deliverance, and when they held their first son, they would have wondered if he was the Redeemer. But he wasn’t, and Adam and Eve died before the Redeemer came. As time went on, there were more and more people who died believing that the Redeemer would come, but they did not live to see the great day.

Job was at the point where he felt that his body would give way before the Redeemer showed up. So he turned to his friends and said, “Now here is a second thing I want you to know. I am well aware that it is more than likely that I will die before the Redeemer comes. And if that happens, some of you might be tempted to think that my faith was in vain. So here is what I want to tell you. Even though worms destroy my body, I will see God. Death will not put me beyond the range of the Redeemer’s power.”

“After my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.” (V. 26)

Now this is a remarkable statement of faith. Remember that Job is one of the oldest books in the whole Bible. God has chosen to reveal His truth progressively through history. Eventually, through the coming of Christ, “life and immorality [were brought] to light through the gospel” (2 Timothy 1:10). It was as if Christ came into a dark room and switched on a brilliant light.

[Job knew] that God had more in store after his funeral service was over.

But here, at least two thousand years before Christ turned on that gospel light, it is as if God had given Job a candle in a dark room. In its short flame, this man had enough light to know that God had more in store after his funeral service was over.

Job’s wife didn’t begin to grasp this. Her philosophy was very simple. “What you don’t get now, you won’t get ever!” As far as she was concerned, this life was everything, and death was a kind of black hole that led into a world of shadows where nothing was quite as it had been before. There are a lot of people today who would agree with her. As far as they are concerned, whatever lies on the other side of death cannot be half as attractive as suburban life here!

But Job knew there was more. “In my flesh I will see God.” He only saw this dimly, but when Jesus Christ came into the world, the one true Light declared it: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies” (John 11:25; see also John 1:9; 3:19).

When you think about the Bible story, this is the only ending that would make sense. In the beginning, God created the man from the dust of the ground and breathed a living soul into him. The angels are spirit without bodies, and animals are physical beings without souls. But the unique glory of the human creation is that God has brought body and soul together, giving men and women a capacity for all the joys of physical and spiritual life.

Right from the beginning, Satan attacked this creation, seeking to destroy the soul by bringing temptation through the body. The purpose of God is to redeem men and women from every generation and culture. This is why the Son of God took human flesh. He assumed our flesh in order to redeem it.

If there was no resurrection of the body, the devil would have won a great victory. He would have forced God to abandon the original plan of creation, and change human beings into creatures without bodies, rather like the angels. If that was the case, the enemy could spend eternity savoring the pleasure of knowing that at least he had succeeded in overturning God’s original purpose, and had successfully ruined some of the gifts that God had given to our first parents in the garden.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

That is the great significance of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Why was it important that He should rise from the dead as opposed to returning to the Father in His Spirit and sending the Holy Spirit? In His resurrection, Christ became the prototype of a new humanity. His body was raised, adapted for everlasting life. The outcome of our faith will include the redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:23–24).

The day is coming when you will be done with sin forever. It will have no entrance to your soul or your body. Your whole being, body and soul, will be responsive to what is right, good, pure, and true. You will be filled with all the fullness of God. Temptation will be gone, confusion past, disability unknown, pain forgotten, and tear ducts superfluous.

There are two houses in the British Parliament: the House of Commons, where all the action is, and the House of Lords, where distinguished leaders of the past are able to carry on some fairly limited functions. Those in the House of Commons sometimes refer to the House of Lords as “the other place.” Indeed, some very distinguished people walk the floor of the House of Lords, but it isn’t really a very exciting place. I don’t wish to be unkind, but as you see these folks sprawled out on the benches, it is not always easy to tell the ones who are asleep from the ones who may have become unconscious!

To some people, the House of Lords seems like a consolation prize for distinguished people who are past the rigors of a working life but may still have some useful contribution to make. When a politician gets to a certain age, people begin to talk about him “being ready for the House of Lords.” And, of course, when your time comes to go there, it is the sort of thing that one should accept gracefully, but nobody really wants to go there!

If you think of heaven like that, you will never have a right view of your life in this world. We do not retire into the presence of God; we graduate there. I love the phrase that they use in the Salvation Army when a believer dies, “Promoted to glory!”

God has planned a life in heaven that will make the joys Adam and Eve knew in the garden pale into insignificance. The joys of body and soul in this life are so great that it is difficult for us to imagine this, and God tells us that what He has prepared is beyond what we can conceive and beyond what has entered our minds (1 Corinthians 2:9).

Job discovered that he was not in the land of the living on his way to the land of the dying. Rather, he was in the land of the dying on his way to the land of the living. In his ongoing pain and confusion over the tragedies of his life, he knew that he could count on the Redeemer, and that he could be certain of the resurrection.

UNLOCKED

In times of trouble, when we are surrounded by many unanswered questions, it is important to focus our attention on what we know for sure. Job gives us a wonderful model of this as he confesses his faith in the Redeemer and the Resurrection.

You can trust God to bring you through, and you can be certain that even death cannot put His people beyond His redeeming power. Never doubt in the darkness what God has taught you in the light. Faith grows as we fill our minds with the truth we know, and leave what we don’t know in the hands of God. Perhaps you can follow the example of Job, and tell your friends what God has taught you. Confessing what you believe is a great way to keep the truth clear in your mind, and that will bring strength to your soul.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Almighty Father,

Thank You that Jesus Christ is the Redeemer, and that where there is a Redeemer, nothing can end in final defeat. Thank You for the Resurrection and for the knowledge that what we cannot understand now will one day be known.

Help me to stand strong in faith in times of trouble. Help me to find rest in the truth You have given. Thank You that Jesus Christ shines light into the deepest darkness. Help me to move forward in that light. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

3

Revelation

JOB 38

How can we

know God?

DISCOVER

why the Bible is different from any other book.

LEARN

the first effects of a true encounter with God.

WORSHIP

as you get a fresh glimpse of the greatness and glory of the living God.

REVEAL and revealed are favorite words with journalists and headline writers. The whole purpose of a newspaper or other news media is to tell us things that we would not otherwise have known. Newspapers compete with each other for a major scoop. They want to be in the position of publishing a story that nobody else has, and when they do, they can claim that their story is a “revelation.”

In the early 1970s, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post kept pursuing a trail of information until they were able to bring the Watergate scandal to light. When the Post published their story, it was a revelation, a disclosing of something that would not otherwise be known.

Woodward and Bernstein were able to track down the players involved in the Watergate scandal, but who will track down God? God is invisible, and the only way we could ever be able to know Him would be if He revealed Himself. This revelation cannot be made by our investigation; it has to be given by God.

That is why the Bible story is so important. God has revealed Himself. He has disclosed what could not otherwise have been known to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and the Prophets—and this revelation is given to us in the Bible.

THE BIBLE: GOD’S EXCLUSIVE

If there is one word that people object to when it comes to religion, it is the word exclusive. Many people are deeply offended by the claim that “the Bible is the exclusive revelation of God,” or that “God has revealed Himself exclusively in Jesus Christ.” But I have never met anybody who was offended by a newspaper telling us that their story is an exclusive.

When a paper runs an “exclusive,” what they mean is that somebody has revealed information to them and to no one else.

Let’s invent a newspaper, the Cook County Chronicle, which is trumpeting its own exclusive. The Chronicle has an exclusive interview with basketball superstar Michael Jordan. In the article, Jordan reveals previously unknown stories from the Chicago Bulls locker room. The Cook County Chronicle reports the story under the headline “My Secret Pain: Jordan Reveals Locker Room Agonies.” The article begins: “In an exclusive interview with the Cook County Chronicle, Michael Jordan tells never before revealed secrets of the locker room.”

Because the story is an exclusive, the only way you could know about these locker room agonies would be to get hold of a copy of the Chronicle and read this particular story. Other papers may copy the story, but the Chronicle has the “revelation.” The accuracy of other versions of the story in competing newspapers will have to be measured against the paper to which the original revelation was given.

Some people might question why Michael Jordan would want to reveal things about himself to the Cook County Chronicle, but very few people would dispute his right to do so. If Michael Jordan wants to reveal the inner secrets of his world, then he is at absolute liberty to do so at any time and in any place that he chooses. Equally, if he chooses to draw a veil of privacy over his life, he is entitled to do that and reveal nothing at all.

Now the same is true when we come to God. God is under no pressure to reveal Himself. But if He chooses to reveal Himself to His creatures, He is at absolute liberty to do so in any way and at any time that He chooses.

God first made Himself known through the creation. The world is a theater of God’s glory; it reflects the glory of God. But that revelation is limited. A wise person looking at the moon and the stars could comprehend that God exists and that His power is great, but they would not learn much more about God’s character.

So God has given a fuller revelation of Himself in Scripture. The whole story of the Bible is about how God has come down to make Himself known to men and women. God wants to be known. That is why He walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Then God spoke to Abraham and revealed that He would bless people from every nation on earth through one man who would come into the line of Abraham’s descendants.

God came down on Mount Sinai and revealed the terror of His presence and the holiness of His Law. He came down on the Day of Atonement and revealed that peace with God is found when the blood of a sacrifice is shed and God accepts the death of another in the place of the sinner. We could not have known any of this if God had not revealed it.

Then God revealed Himself through His greatest “exclusive”—God became a man. God had inspired, filled, or anointed many men and women throughout the Old Testament story. But there was only one occasion when God Himself actually took human flesh and became a man. The Son of God, who had always been at the right hand of the Father in heaven, came to earth. He revealed the way in which we could come to God and opened it for all who will turn to Him in repentance and faith.

That is the story of the Bible. It is not a revelation of God, but it is the revelation of God. It is God’s exclusive, and there is no other revelation that we can put alongside it that has the same source or that tells us the same story.

TRUTH, SPIN, AND FANTASY

There are three different kinds of reporting in our news media. Some reports are factually accurate; some have a basis of truth but involve a significant degree of interpretation or spin; and some have very little connection with truth or reality at all. For example, when your newspaper arrives in the morning, you may look at the money section to find out what happened to your stocks or your mutual funds. Facts about the previous days’ trading are revealed to you—if your eyes are good enough to read the tiny printed numbers! Either the Dow Jones went up or the Dow Jones went down, and assuming that there has not been a printing error in the paper, you accept the truth of these numbers. The information is factual.

But some newspaper reporting has a bias or spin to it. In some major cities where multiple newspapers exist, readers often choose a newspaper that reflects their own opinion. The political stance of most newspapers is well known. In Washington, D.C., for example, the Washington Post is admired for its willingness to take on the government, especially conservative government. Those who read its counter-point, the Washington Times, do so because they know it has a conservative slant. You can tell a lot about a man by the newspaper that he reads.

Then there are supposed “revelations” that seem to have very little connection with truth whatsoever. You can’t go to the grocery store without seeing tabloid newspapers at the checkout, often with the most bizarre headlines about celebrities, politicians, or aliens. You know the kind of thing: “The Weekly Tickler reveals astonishing new evidence that Oprah Winfrey was abducted by aliens when she was seven years old.” The content of these newspapers seems to have nothing whatever to do with the truth. It is all about entertainment, and it appears that a significant number of people find such wild stories entertaining.

Christians believe that (1) God has spoken, (2) God is true, and (3) God makes no mistakes.

When we talk about God’s “revelation” in the Bible, we are talking about a revelation that is true. This is not like the fanciful imaginations of the Weekly Tickler. Nor is it the slanted reporting that comes from the pen of a journalist with an ax to grind or a personal point to make. In the Bible, God reveals Himself as He is and tells us the truth about ourselves and the world in which we live.

Christians believe that (1) God has spoken, (2) God is true, and (3) God makes no mistakes. These are the three pillars of what we believe about God’s revelation in the Bible.

If God has spoken, and God is true, and God makes no mistakes, then what He has spoken must be true. God can be trusted. He cannot lie. He has spoken, and His word is truth.

THE MEASURE OF TRUTH

If God had not revealed Himself, then no word about Him could ever carry any authority. If God had not spoken, then all of our speculations about Him would be of equal value. None of us could actually know Him; we would all merely be guessing. And if that were the case, it would be arrogant for me to say that my guess was better than yours or anybody else’s.

If God has not revealed Himself, then nothing we say about God could ever be universally true. It’s all personal opinion.

But what if God has revealed Himself? What if God came down to the garden, spoke to Abraham, and became incarnate in Jesus Christ, just as the Bible says He did? If God has chosen to reveal Himself exclusively in Christ, and if that revelation is true, then it follows that this revelation must have authority for every person in every culture and every generation. It will be the rule by which all other claims to truth are measured.

When I spoke on this subject to our congregation, I asked them to hold their hands twelve inches apart. Everybody has some idea of twelve inches, but if we tried to put up a building using these guessed measurements, we would be in serious trouble. We need a rule by which to measure, so we buy rulers and tape measures. If we ask how we know that they are right, the answer is that there is a definitive measure of one foot in Greenwich in London. That is the measure; it is the rule by which anything that claims to be twelve inches can be tested.

The Bible is the measure of all claims to truth. This book stands in authority over me. I do not come to the Bible to judge it, analyze it, or evaluate its message. I am not at liberty to separate out what suits my taste and supports my lifestyle. The Bible examines me. It judges me, showing where I am wrong and need to change.

SNOWFLAKES AND CROCODILES

In Job 38, we have a marvelous example of God’s revelation actually happening. Job had endured a period of great suffering in his life. He had struggled with all kinds of unanswered questions, and his friends had made matters worse by their narrow theories and their insensitive words.

But now as the end of the story neared, God revealed Himself. Almighty God spoke directly to Job. It must have been absolutely awesome.

Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. (V. 1)

It seems that God spoke with an audible voice, and it is likely that this was a theophany, an appearance of God in visible form. Later Job would respond: “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you” (42:5).

God came down to this suffering man of faith who was in great darkness and spoke to him. What God gave to Job was not an explanation, but a revelation. The final chapters of Job will disappoint people who are looking for an explanation of suffering. George Bernard Shaw complained that instead of giving a proper explanation of Job’s suffering, all God did was to brag about how He made snowflakes and crocodiles! But Job was satisfied with what God said to him. When God drew near and revealed Himself, Job felt that he could live without an explanation of his suffering.

God’s revelation did not answer all Job’s questions. It does not answer our questions, but it does tell us who God is. God revealed Himself as the one in whom we may put our trust, and when Job saw the glory of God, he found that he was able to live with the questions that God had not yet answered.

GOD’S UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

In Job 38–41, God asked Job nearly seventy questions, and Job was not able to answer one of them. It was as if the Lord was saying, “Job, you have wanted to enter the counsel of God. You have felt that you needed to know all things. But only God knows all things. So let’s see if you are qualified to enter the counsel of God.”

If Job was to enter the counsel of God, then he would need to have an interview for the position! So here we have the toughest interview for the highest position. You may have endured a demanding interview in which high-powered people asked hard questions, but you have never had an interview like this. It was the most devastating interview of all time.

In the presence of God…[Job] could not think of a single question.

“Good morning, Job, please come in and take a seat. I understand that you want to know all things. Are you aware that in wanting to know this you aspire to the position of being God of the universe? You want to enter the counsel of God. Of course, if you are going to enter the counsel of God, you need to be qualified. It’s a pretty exclusive position. So let me ask you this, Job, ‘Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?’ (38:4).

“Tell me, ’Where were you ‘while the morning stars sang together, and all the angels shouted for joy’?” (v. 7).

I love that touch about the angels. Have you ever thought about the joy of the angels when God created the moon and the stars and the galaxies? God called the morning stars into being, and all the angels said, “Oh yes!”

“Sorry you missed that one, Job,” God was saying. “It was pretty spectacular!”

Then God continued: “Who shut up the sea behind doors?” (v. 8).

Next God asked Job about his experience with controlling the tides and the morning sun. “Have you ever tried talking to the waves and turning the tide, Job? Or what about telling the sun to rise?” (see vv. 11–12). If you wish to know all things, you need to learn how to do this.

Then God summarized:

“Tell me, if you know all this.” (V. 18)

Throughout his suffering, Job had wanted an opportunity to lay his case before

God, but when he had the opportunity, he didn’t say a word. How could he? No one could answer these questions.

Job realized that he was way out of his depth. He used to think that he should be able to understand the whys of his life, but now he knew that this knowledge was way out of his league. So Job asked to be excused from the rest of the interview.

“I am unworthy—how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth.” (40:4)

But God will not let this man go. “Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me” (40:7). All through his suffering, Job has thought about what he would ask God. Perhaps you have thought that when you saw God, you would ask Him some pretty tough questions. But when Job was in the presence of God, it was altogether different from what he expected. He could not think of a single question to ask.

It is very difficult for us to grasp even the beginning of the glory of God. We talk about God and we sing about God, but often we have very little sense of His glory. Perhaps that is why the Lord continued the interview with Job for such a long time.

THE OUTCOME OF THE INTERVIEW

When the interview finally ended, Job must have been exhausted. But when God relented, Job was a changed man. He had an entirely new perspective on his life and his suffering.

“I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.…Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.” (42:2–3)

The book of Job is dominated by the opinions of his friends Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, with another man called Elihu throwing in his rather long-winded contribution. When Job’s friends had finished all their counsel, Job was turned on himself in absolute misery and depression.

But at the end of the book, God took center stage. You might think that God’s words to this broken man seem harsh. God’s revelation seems crushing, but it has exactly the opposite effect. After his encounter with God, Job was no longer obsessed with himself, but filled with a vision of the glory of God who is sovereign over all things. The friends had focused Job’s attention inward; God focused Job’s attention upward. That’s what the Word of God does. It takes you outside of yourself, and it brings you to God. Job said, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I… repent in dust and ashes.” (42:5–6)

When Job saw the glory of God, it changed the way he was thinking and the way he was feeling. His encounter with God did not end with him saying “now I understand” but “now I repent.”

Job was a man of faith. At the beginning of the story, God described him as “the greatest man among all the people of the East.” When tragedy struck, Job responded magnificently; he tore his robes, and he worshiped! But in the course of his suffering, and under the influence of his friends, he became increasingly consumed with himself and his unanswered questions.

Some people sin by thinking too highly of themselves, others sin by thinking too lowly of themselves, but all of us sin by thinking too much about ourselves. That’s where Job was until the revelation of God broke through, and in a fresh encounter with the living God, this man of faith once again became a worshiper.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

Perhaps your experiences in life have raised unresolved questions, and gradually, like Job, you have become more and more preoccupied with yourself. You still attend church, but instead of worshiping God, you spend most of your time questioning Him. Your experiences of life have drawn you into a self-centered life with God at the outer edge.

God may not come to you in a theophany as He did for Job, but He has done something far greater in Jesus Christ. “In the past God spoke…in various ways, but [now] he has spoken to us by his Son” (Hebrews 1:1–2). When Christ came into the world, God did more than appear to man in a visible form, He actually became a man and entered into our suffering world. Christ “is the image of the invisible God,” “the exact representation of his being” (Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3). “No one has ever seen God,” John tells us, “but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known” (John 1:18).

God’s revelation in Christ is exclusive. There has been only one occasion when God became man. Nobody else has been or ever will be God in the flesh. This is why Jesus Christ can never be one figure in the line of religious leaders of history. He is God with us.

God’s revelation in Christ is true. His words were not His own particular religious viewpoint or insight. He spoke the words that the Father gave Him (John 14:24) and insisted that God’s Word is truth (John 17:17).

God has not left us guessing about who He is or what He might be like. In Christ, God has revealed Himself. He has made Himself known. Christ came to do for us what the theophany did for Job. He has come to bring us to God and to repentance. He came so that we should no longer live for ourselves but for the glory of God our creator.

UNLOCKED

If we are to know anything about God, we are utterly dependent on God making Himself known. He is beyond the range of human investigation and research. The good news is that God has made Himself known. He reveals something of His power and glory in the creation, but He has revealed Himself more fully in His Word, which points us to Jesus Christ, who is God with us.

God has spoken. He is there and He is not silent. He has revealed Himself because He wants to be known.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

The following suggested prayer is from Psalm 139:23–24:

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

4

Wisdom

PROVERBS 8–9

How can I put

my life together

with success?

DISCOVER

what wisdom is and where we can find it.

LEARN

the subtle power of sexual temptation.

WORSHIP

Christ, who is the wisdom of God.

DURING a recent visit to northern England, our family had the opportunity of visiting Durham Cathedral. I had never been there before, and it was absolutely magnificent. The craftsmanship is exquisite. Parts of the cathedral are over one thousand years old, and the main structure took two hundred years to build. There must have been men who spent their whole lives working on one level of the building and then died knowing that even their grandchildren would not live to see it completed!

The following day, we drove south and went past some really depressing high-rise apartments that were thrown up in the 1960s. After just forty years their dilapidated exteriors signaled that they were near the end of their useful life.

The contrast was stunning! One building had been brilliantly put together and was still inspiring to look at after one thousand years. The other had been thrown together, and within a short time was a complete mess.

It takes skill to put up a quality building, but it takes greater skill to live a successful life. The word that the Bible uses to describe that skill is wisdom. In the Hebrew language wisdom can mean knowledge, shrewdness, training, good judgment, right values, or skill. When God’s people were in the desert, the Lord gave them instructions about making the ark and the tabernacle. God filled a man called Bezalel with the Holy Spirit and with “skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts—to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship” (Exodus 31:3–5).

When people looked at his work in wood, stone, or precious metal, they would say, “Wow, this man is a skilled professional,” and the word that they used when they said that was the Hebrew word for wisdom. Wisdom is all about the skills we need for life, or as Stuart Briscoe notes, wisdom is about life skills.

When God speaks about wisdom, He is telling us the skills we need to put our lives together. Your life could either be something magnificent that would lead people to say, “That was put together with great skill” or else, it could be thrown together in a way that would lead people to say, “That’s a mess.”

You may recall that when King Solomon was given the opportunity to ask for one gift from God, he requested wisdom (1 Kings 3:5–12), and the book of Proverbs records for us some of the wisdom God gave him. It is full of practical counsel for navigating the course of life.

Proverbs tells us its purpose right at the start:

The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: for attaining wisdom and discipline; for understanding words of insight. (1:1–2)

Solomon began the book of Proverbs by emphasizing the supreme importance and value of wisdom. It is “more precious than rubies” (3:15). Whatever you do, he says, “get wisdom” (4:5).

There is a big difference between wisdom and knowledge. It is possible to have many academic degrees and yet have very little idea of how to put your life together. You could be a genius when it comes to technology, and yet be almost bankrupt when it comes to life skills. Our generation has seen an unprecedented explosion of knowledge, but not of wisdom.

LOOKING THROUGH THE WINDOW

Imagine Solomon in his study, pen in hand, writing down the words of these proverbs. His mind is full of this great subject of wisdom, and he has all kinds of practical wisdom or life skills that he wants to get down on paper. He has finished the opening section of the book setting out the priceless value of wisdom.

As he is writing, he looks out the window.

At the window of my house I looked out through the lattice. I saw among the simple, I noticed among the young men, a youth who lacked judgment. (PROVERBS 7:6–7)

There on the street, right outside his window, Solomon saw a fellow who looked like a perfect example of absolute stupidity. Solomon watched for a moment, and then he tells us what he saw.

He was going down the street near her corner, walking along in the direction of her house at twilight, as the day was fading, as the dark of night set in. (PROVERBS 7:8–9)

This fellow was just drifting through the streets. He didn’t have anything particular to do, he was just drifting—in the direction of a certain woman.

Then, a woman came out to meet him (v. 10). Remember Solomon was simply recording what he saw. The woman was making a play for this man. She took hold of him and kissed him and said, “I have fellowship offerings at home” (v. 14). This lady was obviously very affectionate, and she sounded pretty spiritual as well!

She must have made this aimless man feel rather good about himself, because she told him that she had come out to meet him. “I looked for you and have found you!” (v. 15). That was like saying, “You are the person I have been looking for all my life. I have never felt about anybody, the way I feel about you!” The man was flattered and enchanted. He hadn’t felt like this before, or at least, if he had it hadn’t been for a long time.

Solomon was still watching them from his window, when suddenly it seemed as if the man made a decision and went with her. Solomon says,

All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter. (7:22)

That’s a powerful description. He was driven by impulse. His actions were guided by feelings that became overwhelmingly powerful.

It did not occur to him to ask the simple question “If I do this, where will it lead?” Solomon tells us the answer to that question. “Her house is a highway to the grave, leading down to the chambers of death” (v. 27).

After seeing this, I think Solomon must have put down his pen and put his head in his hands. Here he was writing about God’s wisdom for life, and he only needed to look out of his window to see that even among the people of God, some folk were heading for disaster!

The story deals with the deep issues of the soul that give rise to our choices and our behavior. This is searching stuff. Solomon reminds us that if we drift without a purpose, and allow ourselves to be driven by impulse, and disregard the consequences of our choices, then it is very likely that our lives will end up in an absolute mess.

THE ROOTS OF FOLLY

Solomon pointed to several danger signs on the road to folly that we ignore at our peril. First, folly often begins when we are drifting. King David was hanging around the palace when his troops went off to war. Instead of being with them or tending to the kingdom affairs, he wandered to a window and spied a beautiful woman bathing. He was drifting, with no particular purpose in mind. Instead of turning away, he looked some more. The result was adultery with Bathsheba and the eventual murder of her husband.

Perhaps the truth is that your life has no particular direction right now, and you are hoping that something might happen that will make your life interesting. When you’re drifting, you’re in danger.

The second danger sign is operating on impulse. Have you noticed how when people often try to explain a decision they have made, they say, “Well, I just felt…” There is nothing wrong with that, so long as the feeling is aligned with sound reason. But the problem with operating on impulse is that our feelings vary like the wind. They can be driven by faith, fear, anger, lust, greed, pride, or love. People who are driven by impulse are like a furrow plowed by an animal with Mad Cow Disease! It ends up all over the place; it’s a mess!

Christians are often in danger of this. It is very easy for us to be driven by impulse, and to give our choices a spiritual gloss by calling it “the Lord’s leading.” I will never forget, when I was assisting my pastor in Scotland, hearing a lady give a glowing testimony of how the Lord had led her to become a member of the church. It was only a couple of months later that she came to see the pastor again to explain that the Lord was leading her to go somewhere else! The truth was that she was living at the level of impulse, and every time she encountered a problem, she moved on. She had deceived herself by calling all her feelings “the Lord’s leading.”

The third danger sign is not considering the consequences of a decision. Solomon saw the young man make a quick decision without thinking through its implications. Wisdom asks where a choice will lead. A new job opportunity opens up; it will be a great move, but how will it affect the person’s spouse or children? A boy asks a girl for a date. The girl is a Christian, but the boy is not. If she dates him, where will it lead? Or suppose there is a long-term problem that you have been avoiding for some time. What will things look like in six months or ten years if you turn a blind eye and refuse to confront it?

It is impossible to live for the moment, because we are alive for more than the moment. You live today with the decisions you made yesterday, and the decisions you make today, you will live with tomorrow.

One way to learn the path of wisdom is to look at the path of folly and to head in the opposite direction. That would mean (1) stop drifting and get committed to a clear purpose; (2) stop making decisions on impulse and start making choices that are guided by the Word of God; and (3) stop living for the moment and start to live in the light of eternity.

LIFE SKILLS 101

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. (9:10)

The very first step in putting your life together in an appropriate manner is that you let God be God in your life. He leads; you follow. This is where life skills begin.

Jesus told a story about a man who made a pile of money in his business. From a small beginning, his whole enterprise continued to expand. He had a target figure in mind that would give him financial security, and eventually he achieved it. His friends and colleagues would have regarded him as a great success. They would have made marvelous speeches about the way he had put the business together, his extraordinary capacity for hard work, and the power of his vision. But Jesus described him as a fool, because the day he thought everything he had worked for was about to begin, was the day it all came to an end. That night he died (Luke 12:20).

He had climbed his ladder, but when he got to the top, he found that it was against the wrong wall. That is the height of folly. Jesus said, “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:21).

The Gospels also tell us a story about a man whose life had been an absolute mess. A convicted thief, he now hung on a cross, dying a slow death. During his suffering, he could think of nothing better to do than to shout abuse at Jesus. On the other side was another thief. Though he had made several wrong choices in his life, he rebuked the first thief, saying, “Don’t you fear God?” (Luke 23:40).

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The second criminal was displaying wisdom, and that led him to trust in Christ.

When you let God take His place as Lord in your life, you are at the starting point of putting your life together with skill. When you know that your life is a sacred trust from God and that you are accountable for your stewardship of it, then you will not live for the moment, or drift with the tide, or go with the flow of impulse.

LIFE SKILLS MODELED IN PRACTICE

In Proverbs 8, wisdom speaks with a voice. Literary types call this personification, as wisdom becomes a person.

Does not wisdom call out? Does not understanding raise her voice? (V. 1)

Wisdom comes to the crossroads of life. She enters the gates of the city, where difficult judgments have to be made, and looks for an audience. This person, who is wisdom in flesh and blood, wants to appeal to people who are drifting through life, driven by impulse, and who have disregarded the consequences of their actions. She invites them to come and to listen and to follow.

Later in the chapter, wisdom makes some incredible claims:

“I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep, when he established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep, when he gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep his command, and when he marked out the foundations of the earth. Then I was the craftsman at his side.” (VV. 27–30, EMPHASIS ADDED)

This person says, “I was the craftsman! It was my skill that brought the creation together.” God said, “Let there be lights in the sky,” and through the agency of the craftsman—through wisdom—the sun and moon were created and the stars were suspended in space. God said, “Let the waters teem with living creatures, and let birds fly across the sky,” and by the agency of the craftsman—through God’s wisdom—it was all brought together. Wisdom puts things together with great skill, and it is this wisdom we need to put together a successful life.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

One thousand years later, the wisdom that was only a voice to Solomon became flesh and blood. The craftsman of creation became a carpenter. The wisdom of God, the skill that put creation together, came to us in human flesh. “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made” (John 1:3).

Think of how Jesus lived His life. There was no drifting. His purpose to do the will of the Father was absolutely clear. He was not driven by impulse, but submitted His feelings to the purpose of God. Facing the horrendous prospect of the cross, He said to the Father, “Not my will but yours be done.” Rather than living for the moment, which the devil would have liked Him to do, Jesus chose a path of obedience, and that choice has brought the blessing of God to all His people.

It is uplifting to stand in England’s Durham Cathedral and marvel at the skill that brought that magnificent building together. But go under the night sky and marvel with awe at the skill of the hands that brought all that together! If Christ has the skill to make the cosmos out of nothing, think what He could do with your life if it was placed wholly into His hands! And that is what Christ, the skilled craftsman of God, invites you to do.

That will mean that you let Him teach you the way of wisdom. The New Testament speaks about Christ as the “wisdom from God” (1 Corinthians 1:30). “All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” are hidden in Him (Colossians 2:3).

Christ told a story about two men who were trying to put their lives together. Jesus compared it to building a house. He told listeners that to put their lives on a solid foundation, they must hear “these words of mine and [put] them into practice” (Matthew 7:24).

THE SPIRIT OF WISDOM

It is all very well to talk about putting the teaching of Jesus into practice, but that is easier said than done. The Christian life is much more than a valiant effort to put life together on principles taught by Jesus. The Holy Spirit is described as “the Spirit of wisdom” (Isaiah 11:2; Ephesians 1:17). When you come to Christ, He will give you the power of the Holy Spirit to move you in the direction of wisdom.

There was a young pastor in the New Testament called Timothy. He had been given significant responsibility for an important church early in life, and he was beginning to feel overwhelmed. He tended to listen too much to his feelings and his moods, and that made him nervous and cautious. So Paul wrote to encourage him. “God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power” (2 Timothy 1:7). “Timothy, you don’t need to be driven by impulse,” Paul was saying. “The Spirit of God lives within you!”

That’s how you can rise above living at the level of impulse! That’s how the man Solomon saw in the street could have lived above the temptation he experienced—by the power of the Spirit of God. You can come to God every day and ask Him to fill you with His Spirit, so that your choices will not be made at the level of prevailing feelings, but according to the wisdom of God as you find it in Jesus.

WISDOM LOOKS FOR COMPANY

Solomon gives us a wonderful picture of wisdom sending out an invitation. Wisdom has built a house and is inviting people to come in and share a meal (9:1–2). The extraordinary thing is the guest list.

When the wisest person in the world prepares a meal, who would you expect her to invite for company? Surely it would be those who have made something of their lives, whose choices have been sound and who have the ability to talk about profound things. But wisdom invites “those who lack judgment.” She says,

“Let all who are simple come in here!” (V. 4)

That’s precisely the way Solomon described the naive man he saw from his window (7:7). He too could have received wisdom.

Christ invites all who know they have made stupid mistakes and foolish choices. He says, “I want you to come in My company at the feast. I want you to sit and eat and drink with Me.” The only qualification for the guests at wisdom’s feast is their need for wisdom! Christ invites us to come to Him with all our mistakes and all our regrets. Through His Word He will teach you what to do, and by His Spirit He will give you the power to do it.

UNLOCKED

Fearing God is the first step toward a life that is successfully put together. Without that foundation, our success is at the level of a man building a house with cards. He may be thrilled with his achievement, but in its very nature it is short lived. We are God’s creatures, and we are made for His glory. A godless life is an exercise in futility.

When we fear God, we will see our need of Christ and respond to His invitation to come to Him. Christ is the wisdom of God, and by His Spirit, he will lead His people to put their lives together with skill.

A life that is put together well will be marked by a clear sense of purpose that centers round bringing glory to God. It will be marked by decisions made in the light of God’s Word rather than on impulse, and choices considered not only in the light of their immediate impact but also in the light of their long-term consequences. The result of this wisdom, over years, will be a life which, like Durham Cathedral, has the mark of greatness about it. Such a life will cause those who see it to give praise and thanks to God.

PAUSE AND PRAYER

For our prayer for wisdom, here are words adapted from the hymn “Teach Me Your Way,” by B. Mansell Ramsey (1849–1923).

Teach me your way O Lord, teach me your way,

Your gracious aid afford, teach me your way,

Help me to walk aright

More by faith less by sight

Lead me in heaven’s light

Teach me your way.

I pray this in the name of Jesus, my Savior. Amen.

5

Holiness

ISAIAH 6

What is

God like?

DISCOVER

what happens when God’s presence comes near.

LEARN

why your greatest strength may be a point of weakness.

WORSHIP

as you take in a fresh glimpse of the awesome glory of God.

1000 B.C.

971–931

SOLOMON

931

KINGDOM DIVIDES

900

800

792–740

UZZIAH

700

ISAIAH

750–731

740

735–715

729–686

696–647

JOTHAM

ISAIAH’S VISION

AHAZ

HEZEKIAH

MANASSEH

(COREGENT)

606–536

BABYLONIAN

CAPTIVITY

600

586

FALL OF JERUSALEM

500

SEPTEMBER 11, 2001, is a date marked forever in American history. With thousands of civilian lives lost, it has eclipsed December 7, 1941, that “day of infamy” when Japanese fighter pilots attacked Pearl Harbor, launching America into World War II. On September 11, a deadly terrorist attack struck America.

On a cloudless morning in New York City, two hijacked aircraft plowed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center. A third aircraft rammed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. A fourth, believed to be heading for the U.S. Capitol or the White House, crashed into a remote area of western Pennsylvania as passengers wrestled the terrorists for the controls.

Within hours of the tragedy, the media asked Christian leaders for comment. What was God doing? Was this a judgment on America? Was it the beginning of the end of the world? Where was God in all this suffering?

Across the country, pastors, myself included, were abandoning carefully planned sermons for the following Sunday and searching the Scriptures as we tried to discern how best to apply the Word of God to the most extraordinary event (to date) in the new millennium. It was an awesome responsibility.

And that got me thinking: What would it be like if God spoke to me directly so that I would know exactly what God Himself was saying to the nation, and be given the precise words that I should use to communicate that message?

That was the experience of the prophets. As we saw in volume 1 of Unlocking the Bible Story (chapter 18), the prophets stood in the counsel of God and received the Word of God by a direct revelation so that they could communicate exactly what God was saying to His people in the precise words that God had given. They were able to say, “This is what the Lord says.”

Pastors today seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit in applying the words that God has already given to the great issues of our time. We seek to discern the appropriate application of God’s truth. But the prophets received direct revelation from God. He told them clearly and unmistakably what He was doing in the great events of world history. So the prophets make compelling reading. They give us the meaning of the great events of the Bible story up to the coming of Christ, and help us to understand how God works in the world today.

The prophets spoke the Word of God throughout the events that are recorded in the historical books that we studied in volume 1. There we discovered what happened to God’s people. Now, through the prophets, we will discover what God was doing through all these events. It is a fascinating story.

The first of the writing prophets were probably Joel and Obadiah, somewhere around 850 years before Christ. The last was Malachi in the time of Nehemiah when the temple was rebuilt, about 430 B.C. So for more than four hundred years God spoke through these prophets.

GROWING CASUAL TOWARD GOD

Isaiah’s ministry was in the southern kingdom and spanned the reigns of four kings: Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah (Isaiah 1:1). So his ministry stretched over sixty years. But it was a vision from God given in the year King Uzziah died, that would shape Isaiah’s whole life and ministry.

King Uzziah ruled in Jerusalem for fifty-two years. That was longer than David or Solomon or any other previous ruler in the southern kingdom. During these years, the nation enjoyed a remarkable period of prosperity. We might have called it the longest running bull market in history. There was a huge increase in construction, a remarkable growth in farming, and a significant strengthening of their defenses. All of this had generated a feeling of confidence among the people, and as that confidence grew, they became increasingly casual toward God.

The opening chapters of Isaiah make it quite clear that there were plenty of people coming to the temple. They offered the sacrifices and observed the feasts and festivals. Yet God refers to their actions as “this trampling of my courts” (1:11–12). They did all the religious things, but the time in the temple seemed to have little impact in their lives; God rebuked them for “bringing meaningless offerings” (v. 13). The temple that was once filled with God’s glory was now something of a national treasure, a symbol of traditional values. Indeed, for all their profession of faith in God, there seems to have been little difference between these people and the pagan nations around them.

Their situation speaks powerfully to the church today. America is also a prospering nation where many people acknowledge God but behave in a way that is hardly different from the surrounding culture.

Many people have lost sight of the awesome holiness of God.

One evangelical church in the Midwest was honest enough to do a survey of patterns of behavior among their congregation. The survey showed that in a period six months prior to the survey, 33 percent said they had lied and 18 percent said they had stolen. Meanwhile, a survey at one of the Promise Keepers men’s conferences, attended largely by men committed to the Christian faith, revealed that 50 percent of the men who attended the event had viewed pornography within the past week.[1] These figures may not be representative, but they remind us that our greatest danger is to be worshipers of God, whose lives are scarcely distinguishable from the world around us.

Like Israel in the time of Isaiah, we have people who participate in services of worship and yet lie to their parents, claim false expenses from their employer, abort their babies, cheat on their wives, and throw themselves into materialism that is indistinguishable from the world.

The important thing to grasp is that this is not new. It always happens when people lose their vision of God.

A. W. Tozer put it this way in his great book The Knowledge of the Holy.

What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.…The gravest question before the church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at any given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like.… Were we able to extract from any man a complete answer to the question, “What comes to your mind when you think about God?” we might predict with certainty the spiritual future of that man. Were we able to know exactly what our most influential religious leaders think of God today, we might be able with some precision to foretell where the church will stand tomorrow…Always the most revealing thing about the church is her idea of God.[2]

What you think about God is the clearest indicator of where your spiritual future will be. If a man thinks of God only as loving and forgiving, we should not expect him to be too diligent in the pursuit of a moral life. If a woman thinks of God primarily as one who affirms everybody, then it should not surprise us if she feels affirmed even while she is still in her sins. The great issue in Isaiah’s time, and ours, is that many people have lost sight of the awesome holiness of God.

“I SAW THE LORD”

When God’s people had lost sight of His glory, God chose to reveal Himself to one man, and commissioned him to go and tell the people who God is. Isaiah was given that incredible privilege and awesome responsibility.

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. (6:1)

It seems that this glimpse of God was in the form of a vision, rather like the vision of Christ given to John in the New Testament. Isaiah had already been preaching for some years, but now on this particular occasion, God came to him in a way that would shape a lifetime of ministry.

When Isaiah says that he “saw the Lord,” one wonders what he actually saw. What does God look like? Isaiah writes:

[He was] high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. (V. 1)

We wait for more, but that is all that Isaiah can say.

You find the same kind of description whenever there is a revelation of God in the Bible. God’s brilliance is overwhelming. When Moses and Aaron saw the God of Israel, Moses said, “Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself” (Exodus 24:10). Moses could not look directly at the brightness of His glory; he could only describe the brightness of what lay beneath God’s feet.

It is the same in the book of Revelation when John sees the glory of the risen Christ. He says, “His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance” (1:16). You can’t look directly at the sun shining in all its brilliance, of course. The apostle is telling us he could not look into the face of the risen Christ because of the brightness of His glory.

It is exactly the same here. Isaiah was saying, “The invisible God revealed Himself to me, but I could not look at His face. All I can tell you is that He was high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.” The temple was a vast building that had taken years to construct. It was the pride of the nation, but the whole place could scarcely contain the end of God’s robe!

Then Isaiah heard angelic creatures called seraphs calling out to one another.

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty.” (V. 3)

If we want to give emphasis to a statement, we can underline it, put it in italics, or use a bold typeface. In the Hebrew language, if someone wanted to give something special emphasis he would say it twice. When Jesus wanted to emphasize a point, He said, “Truly, truly, I say to you” (John 3:3, 5 NASB). That was a customary way of saying, “This is something of special significance, so listen carefully!”

There is only one truth in the whole of the Bible that is , and that is the holiness of God. “Holy, holy, holy.” There is never a time when the Bible says that God is wrath, wrath, wrath, or love, love, love, or power, power, power. So we must conclude that the holiness of God is so foundational to who God is, that if we do not grasp His holiness, we do not know Him as He is.

If we ask “What is holiness?” it is rather like asking “What is fire?” The best way to understand fire is by observing its effect. If you watch the effect that fire has on what it touches, you will have some understanding of the awesome thing that it is. The best way to understand the holiness of God is by observing its effect on what it touches.

THE ANGELS WHO COULDN’T BEAR TO LOOK

When the presence of God came down, He was surrounded by seraphim, who were calling to each other, announcing the presence of God. You would think that angels, who inhabit heaven, would be comfortable in the immediate presence of God, but Isaiah saw that they were covering their faces.

Why would they do that? These angels hadn’t sinned as we have. They have nothing to be ashamed of. Their whole lives are spent in obedience to God. The angels cover their faces because they are creatures, overawed in the presence of their Creator. If you were to live the most perfect life in history, and then entered the presence of God, you would still shrink back in awe and wonder as a creature before the glory of your Creator. That’s how it was for the angels when the invisible God came down.

If you think God is boring, you have never encountered the God of the Bible.

Many people today have the idea that God is nothing more than a spiritual side of their own being, and that being at peace with God amounts to little more than being at peace with yourself. But the God of the Bible is “wholly other.” Even to the angels, He is something else.

CAUGHT IN AN EARTHQUAKE

When God came down,

the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. (V. 4)

This must have been absolutely terrifying to Isaiah. The earth shook when God’s presence came near. As the English Christmas carol “In the Bleak Midwinter” affirms: “Our God heaven cannot hold him, nor earth sustain; heaven and earth shall flee away when he comes to reign.”

David Wells has coined a phrase to describe the challenge of our times when he talks about the “weightlessness of God.”

It is one of the defining marks of Our Time that God is now weightless… He rests upon the world so inconsequentially as not to be noticeable.

Wells describes the God many people believe in today as “less interesting than television, His commands less authoritative than their appetites for affluence and influence, His judgments no more awe-inspiring than the evening news, and His truth less compelling than the advertisers sweet fog or flattery and lies.”[3]

That is why the people who worshiped in the temple were not very different from those who did not. Their experience of worship sent them home feeling good but it brought no lasting moral change in their lives. At one time, the cloud of God’s presence had filled the temple, but in Isaiah’s day, there were thousands of people crowding into the temple, enjoying their favorite music, hearing a few uplifting thoughts, but never experiencing the awesome presence of God. It would never have occurred to them that if God came among them the very foundations of the building would shake.

Ultimately this kind of worship becomes boring. A God who is there simply to satisfy our felt needs is not a God who is worthy of the devotion of our lives. He is not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you think God is boring, you have never encountered the God of the Bible.

There is a great irony about the worshipers of Isaiah’s day. They were the people of God, but they did not know God. They had no experience of the God they claimed to be worshiping. So God came down and revealed Himself to one man so that this man could bring the truth of God to his generation.

COMING APART AT THE SEAMS

The most significant effect of God’s holiness was not on the angels or on the foundations of the temple, but on Isaiah the prophet himself. When Isaiah saw the Lord, he said,

“Woe to me!… I am ruined!” (6:5)

The word ruined literally means coming apart at the seams. If someone is very competent or successful, we sometimes say, “He or she has got it all together.” Isaiah says the opposite. When he saw God, it all fell apart.

Isaiah was one of the most respected people of his day. He had already been engaged for some time in a prophetic ministry of speaking the Word of God. Throughout chapter 5, he had been saying “woe” to all kinds of people but now in the presence of God, he can only say “woe” to himself! The holiness of God makes even the best people feel their own sinfulness.

Isaiah felt that sin had infected the area of his greatest gift. “I am a man of unclean lips” (v. 5). As a preacher and a prophet, Isaiah’s lips were the tools of his ministry. This was the area of his spiritual gift. But in the presence of God, he felt that even his greatest gift had to be cleansed, lest it be subverted for another purpose. Sometimes our greatest strength will become the point at which we are most vulnerable to the sin of pride.

Then Isaiah said, “I live among a people of unclean lips.” Things that he would have become used to, now seeed dirty to him and he had a new sensitivity to how far the whole community is from the purity of God.

Tozer wrote, “Unless the weight of [this] burden is felt, the gospel can mean nothing to a man, and until he sees a vision of God high and lifted up, there will be no woe, no burden.”[4] A God who loves and forgives will be compelling only to those who have stood in His presence and have felt their need to be forgiven. We will never discover our need until we have seen the holiness of God.

A HOT COAL

The knowledge of the Holy One will bring a man to feel that he has come apart at the seams, and that his whole life has been unraveled, but God will never leave a man there. Isaiah would have been ruined in the presence of God except for one thing.

Isaiah had seen the glory of God, and the seraphim had announced the immanent presence of the holiness of God. Then smoke filled the temple. So after a momentary glimpse of the glory of God, Isaiah was surrounded by darkness. He was conscious of the presence of God, but God was hidden from his view. Then the foundations of the temple began to shake. It must have been absolutely terrifying!

Then as Isaiah peered into the smoke, it seemed as if one of the angels was coming toward him from the direction of the altar where the fire that consumed the sacrifices was always burning.

One of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” (VV. 6–7)

The angel had picked up a burning coal from the altar and flew toward Isaiah. He pressed the hot coal onto Isaiah’s lips. It seared the prophet’s flesh.

The altar was the place where the sacrifice of atonement was made. Now the effect of that atonement was being applied to Isaiah’s particular need. Isaiah had made his confession, “I am a man of unclean lips” and now the angel of God said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away” (v. 7). That which is touched by holy fire will never be the same again.

Having seen God’s holiness, Isaiah was conscious of his own sins as never before. God’s grace had touched his own life at the point of his deepest need, and that was the foundation of a life of ministry. Having discovered the grace of God in this deep and personal way, Isaiah wanted to serve.

I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” (V. 8)

And God sent Isaiah. It was as if God said, “You go, Isaiah, because you’ve understood who God is, and you know what sin is, and you have grasped what grace is.”

Filled with a new wonder at God’s grace in his own life, and sensing the privilege of serving this God, Isaiah went out into a culture that had lost touch with the reality of who God is, to make the living God known.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

Isaiah’s encounter with the holy God points us toward the coming of Jesus Christ. The Old Testament tells us that Isaiah saw the glory of God. But the New Testament adds that Isaiah saw the glory of Christ. “Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him” (John 12:41). Significantly, we are told later by John that the glory of the Father and the glory of the Son are the same glory (John 17:5).

Throughout the Bible story, the Father is made known by the Son. The theophanies were appearances of the second person of the Trinity, who is the image of the invisible God. He came down to give His people glimpses of the knowledge of God in preparation for the time when He would take human flesh and, by coming among us, make the Father known.

The holiness of God that was revealed to Isaiah points us toward another day when the holiness of God would be revealed. The day came when the Holy One Himself, whose glory Isaiah had seen, was placed on the altar of the cross and became the sacrifice for our sins.

The holiness of God the Son was revealed when He bore the sins of the world. Just as Isaiah sat there in complete darkness as smoke filled the temple, so when Christ was on the cross, darkness covered the whole earth. And just as the foundations of the temple shook when the presence of God came down, so when Christ died on the cross, the earth shook and the rocks split (Matthew 27:45, 51). When the Son of God bore the sins of the world and the Father poured out His judgment on the Son, the earth itself trembled.

In His death, Christ made a sacrifice so that people who are unraveled by the holiness of God may be touched and healed by the grace of God. Just as the angel brought a live coal from the altar in the temple, God is ready to touch our lives with the effects of the death of Jesus. From the altar of Calvary, God comes to us in grace and says, “Your guilt is taken away and your sin is atoned for.”

UNLOCKED

God is holy, holy, holy. His holiness is so foundational to His character that if we do not grasp it, we do not know the God of the Bible. Without the holiness of God, the gospel message would not make sense. Sin is terrible because it is an offense against a holy God. An atonement is needed because without it sinners would be ruined in the presence of God’s holiness. Grace is amazing because it is God’s love flowing to us out of His judgment. The good news of the gospel is that Jesus, God’s Son, satisfied the judgment of a holy God, becoming a sacrifice that atoned for all our sins.

A proper vision of the holiness of God is essential. Without it, our worship descends to entertainment, our sins become mistakes, and our lives will drift on with little evidence of significant growth.

As we begin the twenty-first century, the church desperately needs to rediscover the awesome holiness of the God whose immediate presence made buildings shake and caused the greatest man of his time to feel his sins. Then, like Isaiah, we will begin to appreciate the wonder of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ, and we will feel that our greatest privilege in life is to serve this awesome, glorious, holy God.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Think about what it must have been like for Isaiah when the seraph brought the coal from the altar. The area of his life in which he felt most in need of God’s cleansing was touched by the symbolic coals taken from the place where the sacrifice was offered.

Think about the area of your life that most needs to be cleansed. The Spirit of God brings the grace that flows from Jesus’ sacrifice right over to where you are, and touches you so that your sin is atoned for and your guilt taken away.

Gracious Lord,

In the light of Your holiness I feel deeply aware of my own sin. I know that apart from Your grace I would be ruined. So thank You for the grace that comes from Jesus Christ to all who believe.

Touch my sin with Your cleansing power, and let what is touched be changed forever. Then let me live as Your servant, and for Your glory.

Through Jesus Christ my Lord I come. Amen.

NOTES

1. As cited in Laurie Hall, An Affair of the Mind (Colorado Springs: Focus on the Family, 1996), 236.

2. A.W. Tozer, Knowledge of the Holy (New York: Harper and Row, 1961), 9.

3. David Wells, God in the Wasteland (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994), 88.

4. Tozer, Knowledge of the Holy, 11.

6

Comfort

ISAIAH 40

How can

I live with

problems that

won’t go away?

DISCOVER

the comfort of the sovereignty of God.

LEARN

how God strengthens the brokenhearted.

WORSHIP

as you see how no disaster can thwart God’s purpose for your life.

IMAGINE the chief executive officer of a Fortune 500 company who cannot read a financial sheet, motivate his employees, or attract new business. As a CEO, he has little charisma and only slight knowledge of the company history. He knows the company has some kind of mission statement, but he can’t remember it and doesn’t know if it’s really important.

But he has lots of money and his grandfather was the founder of the company.

It’s not difficult to predict the future of the company. Unfortunately, that’s pretty much how it was with several of the kings in the southern kingdom. They ruled from Jerusalem, home to King David and later his son Solomon. But over time, they knew less and less about those two kings and their vision for God’s kingdom. Some were indifferent, if not downright hostile, to God.

Consider King Ahaz. No doubt Ahaz professed faith in God, but when you looked at the things he promoted, it was difficult to believe that he knew anything about God at all.

The king did nothing to uphold the ancient commandment of God that human life is sacred. In fact, he actually promoted an abominable practice in which children were sacrificed in a fire (2 Kings 16:3). This taking of the lives of infants was so offensive to God that it made His judgment on the nation inevitable.

Ahaz was also responsible for a sinister attempt to reshape religion to fit the prevailing trends of the day. The power of Assyria was growing, so Ahaz made a visit there. He admired their religion and took measurements of their altar so that he could construct a replica back in the temple in Jerusalem.

It was an extraordinary attempt to absorb God’s people into the surrounding culture, and it must have deeply offended all who loved the Lord and wanted to live by His Word.

The Bible records a sad epitaph about this king. Ahaz “reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years.…He did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD” (2 Kings 16:2). When his time came to an end, I have no doubt that there was a great sense of relief among God’s people. They had endured sixteen years of political leadership that had taken them in the wrong direction. They longed to see the name of God honored in their nation, and as the time for change drew near, there was a growing sense of anticipation.

When the day came for the coronation of the new king, there must have been great expectations in the hearts of many good people. The new king’s name was Hezekiah, and he met those high expectations. The first we learn of him in 2 Kings is that “he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done.… Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him” (18:3, 5).

So at last godly leadership had returned to Judah. But as we follow the story, we find that the best leader was faced with some of the worst problems. It is right to pray for godly leaders in the nation, but leaders do not control the future, and even the best leaders can only respond to circumstances as they arise. The future is shaped by the hand of God.

A GODLY KING AND AN OVERPOWERING ENEMY

When Hezekiah came to the throne in Jerusalem, he was faced with the power of an overwhelming enemy. Assyria had become a world superpower, and under the leadership of Sennacherib was poised to expand her borders.

King Sennacherib had invaded the northern area of Israel, and the people of the ten tribes were scattered. So by the time of Hezekiah, the growing empire of Assyria extended right up to the borders of this tiny southern area of Judah. It could hardly have come as a surprise to Hezekiah that a few months after the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel, Sennacherib was back, camped a few miles outside Jerusalem (18:13).

Hezekiah tried to negotiate, and in the end, he managed to buy Sennacherib off by giving him the silver and gold from the temple (vv. 14–16). The king had to order the gold plating to be taken from the doors and the doorposts of the temple. It must have been terrible to watch.

But payments for peace are rarely successful, and it was not long before Sennacherib was back at the gates of Jerusalem again, intimidating Hezekiah’s tiny army with propaganda that pressed home the impossibility of their situation.

Then God intervened. It seems that some kind of plague hit the army, and they withdrew. (You can read about it in 2 Kings 19:35–36.) Eventually two of Sennacherib’s sons slew him (v. 37). Almighty God had delivered.

A FATAL MISTAKE

Some years later God spared Hezekiah’s life when the king became terminally ill. Hezekiah cried out to God in prayer, and again God intervened, restoring the king to health (20:1–6).

When the king of Babylon heard about Hezekiah’s illness, he sent messengers with letters and gifts. By the time they arrived, Hezekiah had recovered from his illness, and the economy seems to have recovered from the plundering it took at the hands of Sennacherib. According to Isaiah, “Hezekiah received the messengers and showed them all that was in his storehouses—the silver, the gold, the spices and the fine oil—his armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them” (20:13).

That was a fatal mistake. It was like lighting a slow burning fuse. Isaiah told the king what would happen. The power of Assyria that had been such a problem would decline, and the power of Babylon that nobody took very seriously would rise. Hezekiah had just shown all his treasures to his future enemy.

Isaiah prophesied the outcome: “The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your fathers have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD” (20:17; Isaiah 39:6).

That is exactly what happened. Within three generations, Babylon became a superpower, and under the leadership of Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian army marched on Jerusalem, killing many, reducing the city to a heap of rubble, and deporting the most able people.

By the end of Hezekiah’s reign, Isaiah was an old man. The prophet had kept preaching through nineteen years of the reign of Jotham and the twenty dreadful years of Ahaz, and now Hezekiah was well into his reign that lasted forty-three years. Things had changed since the days of King Uzziah, when the prophet began his ministry. Then confidence was sky high, and the people of God thought that all things were possible. That confidence had led many of the people to be increasingly casual toward God. Now the old confidence had gone, and God’s people had to live with the prospect of increasingly difficult days ahead.

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU CAN’T FIX IT

Isaiah 40 is God’s Word to people who have just received devastating news. God’s people in Judah had all kinds of hopes and dreams for the future, but Isaiah’s prophecy of Babylon’s rise (39:5–7) made it clear that the future would bring hardship and suffering.

Suffering can strike any of us, including those close to God. (Remember Job in chapter 1?) That was the experience of two friends of mine, Barbara and Brian Edwards. Barbara suffered from severe rheumatoid arthritis. She began to experience severe pain early in their marriage, and eventually was confined to a wheelchair. As her vertebrae began to crush her spinal cord, she faced surgery that involved fusing two pairs of vertebrae to relieve pressure and then bolting her head and neck together with a pair of titanium rods. Barbara faced this with extraordinary courage. She is now free from pain in the presence of the Lord.

We thrive on solutions… But what about the things we cannot fix?

In Brian’s book, Horizons of Hope,[1] he described the roller-coaster of their battle with disability throughout their thirty-five years of marriage, as well as the stories of mutual friends who love the Lord and face a long-term journey through suffering. Andrew and Helen Bryant’s fourth child, Charlotte, was born with a rare skin disorder that required them to cover their daughter’s body with grease every two hours, day and night. Pastor Claude Trigger had his entire voice box removed, and now he has to communicate through an electronic device attached to his throat.

Brian, Andrew, and Claude were all colleagues of mine in the pastoral ministry in England. Challenges like these do not get easier, and they do not diminish with time.

These are often the hardest situations for us to face. We thrive on solutions. “Tell us the problem and we will fix it!” But what about the things we cannot fix: the serious illness, the crippling disability, or the irreplaceable loss?

People may pray for a miracle, but what if God has called you to live with a burden that will not be lifted? There’s a hollow sound when people say “I hope things will be better soon,” because deep in your heart you feel that it may well get worse.

What does God have to say to those who have to live with an ongoing burden that can reduce life to a daily struggle to survive? How do we find strength when the future does not hold hope for something better, but dread of something worse? That’s the issue Isaiah addresses. This is the Word of God to people who face difficult circumstances in which there is no reasonable prospect of change.

GOD IS IN CONTROL

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. (40:1–2)

When God told Isaiah to go and comfort His people, Isaiah’s response was predictable: “What shall I [say]?” (v. 6). God’s first answer is that Isaiah is to tell the people that God is in control.

Isaiah 40 is one of the greatest passages in the Bible on the sovereignty of God. It reminds us that God reigns over all the events of history. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Isaiah mobilizes the power of language to communicate this truth to these discouraged people.

He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers.…He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither. (VV. 22–24)

God is as much in control through our disasters as He is in our triumphs. God was in control when Sennacherib’s armies came to the gate of Jerusalem and when they suddenly withdrew in retreat. God was in control when Assyria’s power weakened and when Babylon’s power rose. God was as much in control when Jerusalem was destroyed and the exiles were taken off to Babylon as He was when Nehemiah led the exiles back and Jerusalem was rebuilt.

On the darkest day in human history, when God’s own Son was taken and nailed to a cross, God was in control. And on the greatest day in human history, when Christ rose from the dead, God was in control.

God is in control through the darkest day of your life. The sovereignty of God does not make God the author of evil, but it does mean that no evil, however great, can finally overturn the purpose of God. Your faith can feed on the sovereignty of God.

THE MYSTERIOUS WAYS OF A SOVEREIGN GOD

Around the turn of the century, there was a pastor in London, by the name of J. Stuart Holden. He had purchased two tickets for the maiden voyage of a new ship that many people were talking about at the time. About a week before the ship was due to sail, Holden’s wife took ill, and to their great disappointment, they were unable to make the trip. So here they were with two unused tickets for the maiden voyage of the Titanic.

Of course, later they saw the hand of God in this. Holden had the tickets framed, and underneath, he had the words inscribed “a testimony to the love of God.” Some months later, a visitor was in their home, and his attention was drawn to the tickets and the inscription. “Mr. Holden,” he said, “that is a very moving picture, but I think you have the wrong inscription.”

The visitor went on to explain. “I have a friend who did sail on the Titanic. He was an evangelist from Glasgow by the name of Harper, and he had been booked to speak at some meetings in the States.” Harper led several people to Christ in the water before he died.

“Now,” said the visitor, “tell me, Mr. Holden, when you say ‘a testimony to the love of God,’ did God love you more than he loved Mr. Harper?”

Holden had no answer, except to ask, “What should I have written?”

“You should have written ‘a testimony to the sovereignty of God.’ God called you to glorify Him in your life. God called Harper to glorify Him in his death.”[2]

Here were two wonderful servants of God, Harper and Holden. The love of God towards them both was exactly the same, but in the mystery of His sovereign will, one was taken, and the other left.

Isaiah reminds us that none of us will be able to understand the sovereignty of God. “Who has understood the mind of the LORD, or instructed him as his counselor?” (v. 13). I do not understand the mind of God, but I know of no greater comfort than to hold on to this great truth: God makes no mistakes.

GOD WILL FULFILL HIS PURPOSES

When things go terribly wrong, we sometimes feel that God’s plans for us must have been overturned. Most of us have certain ideas of what we would like to do for God. We have certain hopes and dreams. Then something unexpected happens, and we are faced with an entirely new situation. The people of Isaiah’s day must have wondered what hope there could possibly be for the future if Jerusalem was destroyed.

Remember that the whole story of the Bible is about how God would bring salvation through someone from the line of Abraham. God had raised up a great nation of twelve tribes all descended from Abraham, but now ten of these tribes had been scattered. It was as if a strong rope of twelve strands had been frayed, so that only two strands were left to hold a great weight. Just two vulnerable tribes of the once great nation of Israel remained free, and now God said that they were going to be overrun and scattered!

So what hope could there possibly be for the promises and purposes of God? There are times when God’s work seems so vulnerable, and then perhaps another key worker is taken away or some other setback occurs, and we wonder how on earth God’s purposes could ever be fulfilled. God gave Isaiah for the people in their darkest hour.

God will never become weary of you.

The glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. (V. 5)

The Sennacheribs and Nebuchadnezzars who blasphemed the name of God seemed to be unassailable. But God said, “All men are like grass” (v. 6) and “the breath of the LORD blows” on them (v. 7). God would blow away the wicked like the wind blows away the chaff (see Psalm 1:4).

Then the Lord added, “But the word of our God stands forever” (v. 8). Long after Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar were gone, the promise of God to bring blessing to the world would still stand. And God would not become weary of His people.

The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary. (V. 28)

Have you ever watched a young child with too many toys? He plays with one for a while and then discards it. He gets tired of it; he gets weary of it and wants to play with something else. Isaiah says, “Whatever you do, don’t ever imagine that God is like that. He will not tire of you. He will not lose interest in you or put you aside. God will never become weary of you!”

You may find that God allows circumstances that will change the whole direction of your life so that you wonder what He is doing. It may look as if the problems you face would make it impossible for the purposes of God to be achieved in your life. Don’t be so sure!

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

When Jesus Christ came into the world, His disciples had great hopes and dreams about what the future might hold, and then the unthinkable happened. Christ was crucified.

GOD WILL REMAIN IN CONTROL

It must have seemed to the disciples that all hope of God’s purposes being fulfilled was gone. And yet God was in control even when evil was unleashed in its most horrendous and violent form—the death of God’s Son. There is a deep mystery in this, but God’s greatest purpose was fulfilled in the world’s darkest hour.

It is helpful to think about this when it seems that our lives have been thrown into chaos or confusion. What has taken us by surprise and brought deep disappointment was always known to God, and has its place in His purpose.

God told Isaiah to comfort His people. God’s people find comfort in knowing that He is in control and that He will fulfill His purposes. But those who face great burdens still have to find a way to get through today and tomorrow.

GOD WILL SUSTAIN HIS PEOPLE

Isaiah reminds the people of how God will sustain them.

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. (VV. 29–31)

Notice how God recognizes that unrelenting pressures can wear us down. Even at our strongest, we do not have unlimited resources. Even youths grow tired and weary. The word Isaiah uses for “young men” is related to another word that means “chosen men.” So Isaiah is talking about men who are the pick of the bunch, the kind of athletes who would catch the selector’s eye.

Even the Olympic athlete, at the very peak of condition, has limited resources of strength, and when that strength is drained, he will stumble and fall. But those who hope in God will renew their strength. Those who know that God is in control, and believe that God will fulfill His purposes will find their strength renewed. They will be given the ability to press on and persevere.

In Horizons of Hope, Brian Edwards describes the painful journey he shared with his wife as she battled her way through the last months of her illness. He writes, “For months on end there seemed to be no light at the end of the tunnel, until gradually it dawned on me that perhaps I was expected to find light in the tunnel.”[3]

God leads His people through some pretty dark valleys, but He promises to sustain us in them. “Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God” (Isaiah 50:10).

UNLOCKED

God sometimes leads His people through dark valleys, where it will not be possible for them to see what He is doing. When God’s people faced their darkest time, God sent Isaiah to tell them that God is in control.

This is the foundation of our faith. God also promises that He will fulfill all of His purposes. There are times and circumstances that make us feel that this would be impossible, but it is the promise of God. God will sustain us through the darkest times.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

You may like to read Romans 8:28–39 before praying this prayer.

Sovereign Lord,

Sustain me in my darkness, and help me to find my strength in You.

Help me to know that You are in control and to find comfort in knowing that Your purpose will be fulfilled. Thank You that nothing can ever separate me from Your love shown in Jesus Christ my Lord. In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

NOTES

1. Brian Edwards, Horizons of Hope (Day One Publications, 2000).

2. I recall this story vividly from a sermon preached by Leith Samuel, a respected pastor and Christian leader in England, who is now with the Lord. In my office I have a framed facsimile copy of Holden’s ticket to the Titanic. For obvious reasons, it is one of the few tickets that remains. Friends who were helped by the story presented it to me after they spotted a plaque for sale during a visit to the Titanic exhibition at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry. The plaque displays a ticket bearing the handwritten name of J.S. Holden.

3. Edwards, Horizons of Hope, 44.

7

Servant

ISAIAH 42, 49, 53

How can God’s

will get done?

DISCOVER

the power of compassion.

LEARN

God’s pattern for a ministry that will bring blessing to the world.

WORSHIP

as you see how Christ fulfills the role of God’s Servant.

I WILL never forget my first view of Rishikesh, India. The opulence of the temples contrasted sharply to the desperate poverty of so many people. Sadhus in their saffron robes sat next to their ashrams, some of them in altered states of mind, others looking as if they did not have a hope in the world. The streets were lined with idols shaped in the image of a lion, a monkey, or a snake.

The place was crowded with people from east and west who had come as pilgrims to this Hindu holy place on the Ganges River. This was where the Beatles had come in the sixties, looking for spiritual meaning. The place seemed to be bereft of the presence of God.

As I walked farther into the city, I wondered what it would take for the will of God to be done there.

The same question comes to mind in other less exotic places: the inner city, the local prison, or the affluent suburb. Isaiah probably asked the same question when he looked at the realities of his own time.

God had called His people to be a model community in the world. They were to live by His laws and bear the name of God in the world. But they had become divided and then had turned to other gods, and now they were coming under the discipline of God themselves. Isaiah had prophesied that Jerusalem would become a desolate wasteland. The place where God had put His name would become a smoldering ruin. So what hope would there be of God’s blessing coming to the nations? If God’s light among the nations became darkness, then the darkness would be very great indeed.

God had told Isaiah to comfort His people by telling them that God is in control: that God would sustain His people through the dark times, and that His purpose would be fulfilled. God’s people must have wondered how this could possibly happen. What would it take to get the will of God done?

MEET “THE SERVANT”

It is at this point in the story that we are introduced to someone who is simply called “the servant.”

“Here is my servant.” (42:1)

A servant is a person who gets his master’s will done. If you are a servant, your job description is very simple. Whatever your master tells you, do it! The servant is at the beck and call of his or her master, and the role of the servant is to get what the master wants done.

Now God introduces His Servant. He is saying, “Let Me tell you about the person who will get My will done in the world.” God is telling us about how His ancient promise to Abraham to bless His own people and then bring blessing to the nations of the world will be fulfilled.

As we read through the book of Isaiah, it becomes increasingly obvious that this Servant is of great importance. He is the executor of the will of God, and He delivers the promises of God.

When we come to the New Testament, the Servant is clearly identified with our Lord Jesus Christ. But before we see how Jesus fulfills the role of the Servant, it is important to remember that Isaiah was speaking to God’s people about how God’s will would be done seven hundred years before Christ came into the world.

God’s words about the Servant give us a pattern for the kind of ministry that will get His will done in dark places and the kind of person God will use to bring His blessing to the nations.

MAKING THE MAXIMUM IMPACT

“Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations.” (42:1)

God’s Servant has some very remarkable privileges. The Servant would be chosen, loved, anointed, and sustained in His ministry. The Servant’s calling would be to bring justice to the nations. This means much more than getting right decisions in a court of law. The Servant’s task would be to put things in order and make them as they ought to be.

By any standards, this would be an extraordinary ministry, and when God tells us about the magnificent results of the Servant’s ministry, we are bound to ask how this kind of transformation could possibly be achieved.

How do you think a servant of God should change the world? If you were casting a vision for a ministry that would restore a right order of things in the world, where would you begin? Perhaps you would call a national press conference, or initiate an education program, or even take to the road in a white suit with a series of religious revival meetings.

But the Servant Isaiah was describing would do none of these things. Instead, we are told,

“He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets.” (42:2)

God said, “The person I am going to use to get My will done is not going to have anything of the showman about Him. He will not promote Himself. He will not be the kind of person who tries to dominate everybody else. He will not shout. In fact, the outstanding thing about Him will be the quietness of His ministry. He will get on with doing the will of God without drawing attention to Himself.”

THE POWER OF COMPASSION

The will of God does not get done in this world through the genius of spectacular programs or by the glamour of mega-personalities. The Servant’s style is altogether different.

“A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.” (V. 3)

Few people try to mend broken reeds. The instinctive thing to do with a broken reed is to break it off. When a reed bends, it usually gets trampled on. And if a candle is almost burned out on your dinner table, you snuff it out and get another one. But God says that His Servant will not be like that. He will not break bruised reeds and He will not snuff out smoldering candles. He will show compassion.

The church I served in London is like many evangelical churches in England: Its building is a rather plain rectangle with white walls. We have not had a strong tradition of artistic imagination; it’s probably an overreaction to all the cathedrals. On one occasion, Bible teacher Warren Wiersbe told me that going to an Evangelical Free church in England gave him the feeling of sitting on the inside of a milk carton!

So we decided to do something about it, and a number of the ladies formed a group to make banners. They did a superb job, producing stunning banners that depicted various scenes from the Bible. My favorite one is taken from this verse. It shows a number of reeds, and one in particular where the stalk is split. But there is a hand holding it. Without the hand, the stalk would snap under the pressure of its own weight.

Our world is full of bruised reeds. Perhaps you can identify with that description. You have been hit by something and it has bruised you and almost broken you. You are hardly able to stand up under a crushing weight that seems too great to bear. Take heart. The Servant will support you.

Or perhaps you can relate to the picture of a smoldering wick. There was a time when you were aflame with passion for the Lord Jesus Christ, but now it is as if you are running out of fuel. Your inner resources of patience, hope, and love seem to be burning low and the light within you is flickering. Having thrown yourself into ministry, you find that you need to receive before you can give. The church is called to ministry for God, but we all stand in desperate need of ministry from God.

Broken, bruised, and burned-out people will never be drawn to the loudmouthed showman. People who feel that their lives are flickering will not be helped by high impact promotions. The servant who gets God’s will done will have a quiet ministry that touches the lives of wounded people with great compassion.

This kind of ministry can seem extremely slow and can be very discouraging. Those who are looking for quick results and glowing reports will not find this kind of ministry easy or attractive. But God’s servant will stick at his or her ministry with great faithfulness.

“In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged.” (VV. 3–4)

God has given us a powerful picture of the Servant He will use to get His will done in the world. That Servant—any servant useful to God—has a heart of compassion for the broken and the bruised. He or she does not get discouraged, but is sustained by the staying power of the Spirit. The servant does not need to see his or her own name in lights. If you want to be useful in the hand of God, cultivate humility, cultivate compassion, and cultivate faithfulness.

THE SCALE OF THE CHALLENGE

The people to whom God sends His Servant are not only bruised and broken, but also blinded and bound. So the Servant would face an overwhelming challenge. He was to

“open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.” (V. 7)

Sin blinds us to God’s glory and binds us by its power. It follows that if the blessing of God is to flow to the nations, there must be healing from sin’s blindness, and freedom from sin’s power.

The scale of the challenge that God’s servants face today points us to the resources needed for ministry. If people had the capacity of spiritual sight, it would be relatively simple to flood the world with the good news of the gospel. People would immediately see their need of the gospel and come to Christ. But the problem God’s servants face is that even when they have described the glory of God and the good news of the gospel, their hearers lack the capacity to appreciate this truth and respond to it. They are blind.

And even if they had the capacity to see clearly, they are incapable of responding positively to God because they are bound. If sin were simply a choice, it would be relatively easy to give people guidance toward better choices. But sin is a power.

Effective ministry is never less than proclamation, but it is more than proclamation. God’s servants are utterly dependent on God creating the capacity of spiritual sight and of spiritual life that will make it possible for a person to see God’s glory and respond to God’s law when it is proclaimed. Apart from that ministry, the servant’s hearers are like blind people in an art gallery, or prisoners who have a map but sit behind bars.

God says, “My Servant will deliver you from blindness to truth and He will release you from the binding power of sin.”

WHO FITS THE PROFILE?

As God gave more information about His servant, His people would have become increasingly curious. Who might fulfill this role? Certainly Isaiah must have wondered who could possibly fit the profile.

When God first spoke about “the servant,” it must have seemed to Isaiah that He was talking about Israel.

“O Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend, I took you from the ends of the earth.…I said, ‘You are my servant.’” (41:8–9 EMPHASIS ADDED)

God had called Israel to fill this ministry. He had said, “I will be your God and you shall be My people,” and God’s people were called to fulfill the role of God’s servant among the nations. They had been given the light of God’s truth, and they had been given the law and the sacrifices. God’s people were to be the channel through which His name would be known and His blessing would flow to the nations of the world.

NOT ISRAEL…

But God’s people could not live up to their calling. The servant was to bring sight to the blind and to release those who were bound, but God said, “Who is blind but my servant, and deaf like the messenger I send?” (42:19). Then He added:

“You have seen many things, but have paid no attention; your ears are open, but you hear nothing.”… This is a people plundered and looted, all of them trapped in pits or hidden away in prisons. (VV. 20, 22)

The servants who were supposed to bring sight and freedom to others turned out to be blind and bound themselves! The servant who was called to give ministry now turns out to be the very person who needs to receive ministry!

The prospects for God’s blessing coming to the nations seemed to be bleak at this point. Israel was chosen as God’s servant, but was not in a position to fulfill the role. Before Israel can bring light to the nations, she needed to receive ministry from someone who will bring light to her.

At one point, it seems as if God might be calling Isaiah to be that person.

In Isaiah chapter 49, God speaks about the servant again, but this time, the Lord was not speaking about the nation, but about an individual who would minister to the nation. God was saying, “I called Israel to reflect My glory, so that the world may see, but it has not happened, so Isaiah, I am calling you to fulfill this ministry instead. “He said to me, ‘You are my servant’” (v. 3; italics added).

NOT ISAIAH…

But Isaiah knew that the job was way beyond him.

I said, “I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing.” (49:4)

He was saying, “There is no way that my little ministry with its puny results can begin to fulfill the role of the Servant!” That was true. The people were remarkably unresponsive to Isaiah’s ministry.

Then God told Isaiah that the Servant would be called to a ministry that would go far beyond Israel.

“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.” (49:6)

This is not mission difficult; this is mission impossible! There is no prophet in all of the Bible who achieved this or even came close.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

After God had revealed the character, calling, and commission of the Servant, He gave Isaiah a vision of the person who would fulfill this role. What Isaiah saw was so staggering to him, that he hardly knew how to report it. It seemed to him that nobody would believe what he had seen.

Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? (53:1)

“If I tell you what I saw,” Isaiah was saying, “you will never believe it.” But Isaiah tells them anyway (vv. 2–3). Imagine Isaiah describing this Servant to those who asked.

“I saw the Servant! I saw Him! The One who would get the will of God done.”

“What did He look like, Isaiah?”

“That’s what I can’t get over. I saw Him despised. I saw Him rejected and hounded out of town. I saw violence being poured out on Him in such a way that I could hardly bear to look at Him. He was so disfigured. I saw people around Him hiding their heads in their hands because they didn’t want to look at Him. Others who did watch said, ‘He’s just getting what He deserves.’”

THE SUFFERING SERVANT

Isaiah must have winced as he saw the vision of what would happen to the Servant on whom all hope of God’s blessing depended. Isaiah tells us that He was pierced, He was crushed, He was punished, and He was wounded.

As Isaiah contemplated what happened to the Servant, it must have seemed the greatest disaster. Then God told Isaiah something that must have made him gasp. “It was the LORD’S will to crush him and…[make] his life a guilt offering” (53:10).

The suffering—and death—to be inflicted on the humble and compassionate Servant of the Lord was actually the will of God! Then the Lord said something else that would have been staggering to Isaiah.

The will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. (V. 10)

This is how the will of God would be done. This is how God’s blessing would flow to the world. The humble, compassionate Servant who has been anointed and commissioned by God to bring the blessing of God to all nations will accomplish His mission through His suffering and death.

Christ fulfilled what Isaiah saw.

He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. (V. 5)

God also gave Isaiah a profound insight into why the Cross was necessary.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (V. 6)

All the sin, failure, pride, and selfishness that belongs to those who wish to be God’s servants are laid upon the One who is God’s Servant. What no nation or prophet could ever accomplish, Christ achieved.

Christ is specifically identified in the New Testament as the gentle, compassionate Servant who would not break a bruised reed or snuff out a smoldering wick. Matthew tells us that His ministry fulfilled the words God had spoken through the prophet Isaiah (12:17–21).

The character of the risen Christ has not changed. He is compassionate to the bruised, broken, and faltering who will come to Him in faith. He opens our blind eyes to know God and He cuts us free from the power of sin that binds us. His ministry is not restricted to certain groups of people but is for people from every nation.

GETTING OUT THE GOOD NEWS

Later in the New Testament, there is a story about a deeply religious African leader who had come to Jerusalem to worship. While he was traveling home, he was reading from the Old Testament. The passage he was reading described the suffering servant of Isaiah 53.

A man named Philip joined him on the journey, and the African “asked Philip, ‘Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?’ Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus” (Acts 8:34–35). I have no doubt that Philip told him everything Isaiah said about the Servant.

“Listen,” Philip may have said, “the Scripture says that the person who gets God’s will done will have a ministry of compassion to bruised reeds and smoldering wicks. Let me tell you about Jesus. He touched the lepers and forgave sinners. He had compassion on people because He knew they were sheep without a shepherd.

“Isaiah said that the Servant would restore Israel, and Jesus affirmed that He had come first to the lost sheep of Israel, but added that He had also come for the nations. He said, ‘I have other sheep, which are not of this fold’ [John 10:16 NASB].

“But then let me tell you what happened. They brought forward false witnesses and tried Him on false charges. He was crucified in the very city you have just come from. What He suffered was unspeakable. He was pierced, crushed, punished, and wounded, and then they took Him down and laid Him in the grave.

“But do you see where Isaiah says, ‘After He has suffered, He will see the light of life’? That is exactly what happened on the third day. He rose again! The Servant, prophesied by Isaiah, has come, and His name is Jesus. The will of God will prosper in His hand. It will be through Him that God’s blessing will come to all who will receive Him, whatever their background or nationality. He is the one through whom the ancient promise to Abraham is now fulfilled.”

Those who come to Christ have a great privilege and an awesome responsibility. Christ said to His disciples, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (John 20:21). Those who know Jesus are to go out into the world as His servants. We are to go into a proud world and show the humility of Christ. We are to go into a hard world and show the compassion of Christ. We are to proclaim the truth of what God has done in Jesus Christ, so that people who do not know may come to see who He is, and people who are bound may come to enjoy the freedom He gives.

And we are not to limit our horizons to one town or city. Christ has commissioned His people to go to the nations. He has told us to go whatever the cost. Safety is never promised. Christ said, “I am sending you out like lambs among wolves” (Luke 10:3). On another occasion He said, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first” (John 15:18).

But Christ promises that as we go and minister in His name, the will of God will be done, the blessing of God will come to many people, and Christ will see of the fruit of the travail of His soul and be satisfied.

UNLOCKED

God’s purposes do not depend on programs or personalities, but His will is accomplished through the quiet, humble, and faithful ministry of His servants who show compassion in a broken and hurting world.

The heart of the human problem lies in the fact that we are blind to God’s glory and bound by sin’s power. So God’s servants depend on Him to create the capacity of spiritual sight and the ability to fulfill His law. They look to God to do this as they declare His glory and call people to repentance and faith.

Jesus Christ is the Servant who gets the will of God done. Incredibly, God’s purpose was achieved through Jesus’ awful suffering and death. Without Him the purposes of God could never have been fulfilled.

God sends His servants to all the nations of the earth, so that people from every tribe and language may see God’s glory, discover the freedom that He offers through Jesus Christ, and then become His servants themselves.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Almighty Father,

Thank You that Your Son, Jesus Christ, took the form of a servant, was made in human likeness, and humbled Himself even to death on a cross. Thank You that He became the one Isaiah spoke about.

Thank You that He is highly exalted and that You have given Him the name above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow.

I acknowledge Him as Savior and Lord of my life and count it my privilege to be a servant of Christ.

Use me as Your servant. Fill me with the compassion of Christ. Give me a wider vision for Your kingdom among the nations of the world. Thank You that on the last day there will be people from every tribe and nation who will glorify the name of Christ and enjoy Your blessing forever.

Through Jesus Christ my Lord I pray. Amen.

8

Calling

ISAIAH 55

What does Jesus

Christ offer, and

how can it

be yours?

DISCOVER

the amazing auction in which what is offered goes to the lowest bidder!

LEARN

how Christ can satisfy the deep thirsts of your soul.

WORSHIP

because God offers His greatest gifts to all who will receive.

IN the town where my wife, Karen, and I used to live in north London, market day was every Thursday and Saturday. Right in the center of the town there is an open area called the Market Square. Its cobblestones have been there for hundreds of years. Every Thursday and Saturday, the crews would arrive at around six in the morning and set up the scaffolding and the canopies for the stalls. There were probably about fifty traders who had a license to trade, and some of them were real characters.

There were stalls with fruit and vegetables, a luggage rack, clothing stalls, and a man who strangely seemed to do nothing but sell parts for vacuum cleaners. The place was always milling with people looking for a bargain. Then, at the end of the day, the crews took the whole thing down, and after it was swept, the old cobbled Market Square would be completely deserted.

One of the enjoyable things about markets is the noise and banter of the traders. When the market is going, the whole place is a cacophony of noise. The traders’ stalls were probably no more than six feet apart, and as you wandered between them, the traders would try to attract your attention.

“Lovely mushrooms—pound for a pound.”

“New towels—feel the softness.”

“New luggage—unbeatable prices.”

It was almost a relief to go past the man selling parts for vacuum cleaners. He just sat there lost in a book he was reading.

In Isaiah 55, God uses the picture of a marketplace to explain an incredible offer. Try to imagine yourself walking by the stalls, with many voices calling you. Back there in the third row on the left, you see a stall. The trader is quiet compared to most but ready to make a special offer.

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” (55:1)

This trader is offering something of great value. He calls out:

“Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.…Hear me, that your soul may live.” (VV. 2–3)

Who is this trader? And why do many rush past an offer that seems so good?

THE TRADER REVEALED

The identity of the street trader is revealed by the words of one who spoke centuries later: “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink” (John 7:37). Jesus took the words of Isaiah 55 and applied them to Himself. The street trader is the Son of God!

So it is Christ who is calling to attract the attention of anybody who will listen. He is one voice among many, and He is inviting people to come over to His stall where He offers to satisfy the deepest thirst.

In Isaiah 55, the spotlight is already on the coming Christ, so in this chapter we will turn on that spotlight early. Actually, Isaiah 55 is a floodlight, casting lots of light on Jesus Christ, the Trader with an incredible offer.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

Jesus’ invitation goes out, but not everybody who hears the invitation responds to it. Some people hear, and others don’t. This is one of the great mysteries of the Bible.

One reason for this is that some people in the marketplace are preoccupied at other stalls. They are within earshot of the sound of the invitation, but their attention is so taken up with what they are doing that they do not hear. The invitation is going out, but it is not heard because it is drowned out by other voices and other interests. The street trader is competing for an audience with many other voices. Christ calls out to them as they rummage through the products displayed in other stalls.

COMPETITION IN THE MARKETPLACE

Recognizing that rival products exist, the Trader asks, “Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?” (v. 2).

In today’s market, some people are preoccupied at the stall that is marked “Sport.” Others are looking for what will satisfy on the stall that is marked “Marriage.” Others are rummaging around in the stall that is marked “Career” or “Popularity” or “Family.”

Many of those stalls involve good things, but Christ is saying to us, “Come over here; I have something to offer that you will not find anywhere else.”

DEAFNESS

Other people don’t respond to the invitation because they don’t hear it. They are unable to hear the voice of God.

When a meal is ready in our home, either Karen or I will usually shout, “Dinner’s ready!” so that our boys know that it’s time to come. Sometimes there is no response, and so one of us goes downstairs to investigate. Sometimes the problem is very simple: headphones!

In a sense, it’s not the boys’ fault that they don’t hear. There was a blockage over their ears that prevented them from hearing the call. Some people do not hear Christ’s invitation because there is a spiritual blockage in their lives. If we knowingly hold on to something that God forbids, it can prevent us from hearing the voice of God.

PREJUDICE

Others are not listening to the call of Christ because of prejudice. I am rather like this myself with sales calls from telephone companies. We’ve had so many of them that in the end I have lost interest in hearing. I’m prejudiced, and I just can’t be bothered. The phone company offer actually may be better than the phone service we have, but I’m not listening. If a telephone company calls with another deal, I want to say, “No thanks. I’ve made up my mind, and I’m not open to reconsider. I have spent more than enough time considering my choices of telephone company, thank you. Good-bye.”

I don’t say all that, of course, but I’d like to. That’s how some people feel about Christ. “I made up my mind long ago.” But Christ is still calling out in the marketplace to all who will listen. He has something to offer that is not available on any other stall and He wants us to have it.

A ONE-OF-A-KIND OFFER

A good trader will do an excellent job of displaying his product. When you go into a store, it’s frustrating if you find that the sales assistant knows less than you do about the product that he is selling! A good trader will tell you what a product will do and why it is of value. So what exactly is Christ’s offer?

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters” (v. 1). The Trader offers to meet the fundamental thirsts of the human soul. Christ is saying, “I will satisfy the deep thirsts that God has created within you.”

When Adam and Eve were in the garden, every thirst within them was fully satisfied. But when sin entered the world, they found that things went strangely wrong. Their marriage, that had been so wonderful, now seemed to change as they blamed one another for their problems. Their work that had given them such joy now became mixed with frustration. Their bodies that had been so healthy now began to age, and they began to experience pain. They began to wonder what was wrong with them. They became thirsty.

Have you ever wondered why there are deep thirsts within your soul? Adam and Eve knew the answer. In the garden they had walked with God, but that changed when they were thrown out of the garden. Now they were separated from God, and they were thirsty. We experience the same thirsts and so we find ourselves in the marketplace of the world trying to find fulfillment, satisfaction, and life. That is why Jesus announced one day, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink” (John 7:37). Christ was calling out to us: “Come over here! I can satisfy the deep thirsts that are within your soul.”

Indeed, that is why Jesus came into the world. He said, “I have come that [you] may have life…to the full” (John 10:10). He came to restore what was lost in the garden to all who would receive. At the end of the Bible story, John described a vision of heaven where a shepherd “will lead them to springs of living water” (Revelation 7:17). One of the joys of life in heaven is that we will always be satisfied, and yet Christ will continually lead His people into new discoveries of delight.

That’s the product; now let’s talk about price!

THE PRICE IS RIGHT!

“Come, buy … without money and without cost.” (V. 1)

This is staggering. Selling is usually about the trader arguing the customer up to his price, but here we have Christ doing the opposite. He is arguing the price down!

Perhaps you enjoy going to an auction sale. It can be fun watching the price go up, especially if you’re not bidding. The auction starts with many bidders, but people begin to drop out as the price gets too high, and then it becomes a battle of the big spenders. Sometimes I wonder if there isn’t more than a hint of pride that creeps in as the fat wallets slug it out to the finish.

Christ is conducting an auction in reverse. Everything is turned on its head, because Christ has chosen to sell to the lowest bidder. So come with me in your imagination to this auction sale! Christ is standing in the stall, and He says, “I am pleased to be able to offer to you today total forgiveness and reconciliation with God. This offer includes bringing you out of your old way of life and onto a new path of holiness. It includes satisfying the deep thirsts of your soul, and it includes the ultimate value of everlasting life. All of this is available today to the lowest bidder.”

AN AUCTION LIKE NO OTHER

So let’s attend an auction where bids are being made for a great item: reconciliation with God and eternal life.

A man in a pin-striped suit steps forward with the first bid.

“Well, I’ve led a good life and run an honest business. I have been faithful to my wife and have been a good father to my children. I have been sensitive to the needs of the poor, and I have served on the boards of three charitable organizations. I offer all those good works so I may live forever with God.”

A murmur rises from the rest of the bidders. That’s a pretty impressive offer.

“It’s with the man in the pin-striped suit,” says the auctioneer.

Then a lady in a blue coat lifts her hand.

“I haven’t done as much as the man in the pin-striped suit,” she says, ’but I have attended church faithfully, and I have had wonderful experiences with God. I think that I have become a spiritual person, and I’d like to have what you are offering today.”

“It’s with the lady in the blue coat,” says the seller. “Can anyone make me a better offer?”

A girl in blue jeans raises her hand.

“I haven’t attended church like the lady in the blue coat, but I am sincere in wanting to do what is right, and I have tried to live a life that is pleasing to God.”

“Well,” says the auctioneer, “that’s not very much, but it’s going to the lowest bidder, so you have it. Am I hearing any other bids?”

A man in a red sweater, with a bit of a red face to go with it, gets up slowly.

“I’ve not lived up to my own expectations,” he says. “I have let people down, and I’ve done some terrible things, but at least I have been sorry. I didn’t intend to do what I did, so let me offer the fact that I am truly repentant.”

“Well, that’s even less than the girl with blue jeans,” says the seller. “It’s with the man in the red sweater. Does anyone want to make a lower offer?”

A kid with red hair and freckles raises his hand.

“I am not sure if I am truly sorry, and I’ll tell you why. There are some things that I said I was sorry for, and then I go right ahead and do them again! But at least I can say that I believe.”

“Well,” says the seller, “that really isn’t much. The Bible says that even the devils believe and they tremble. But it’s going to the lowest bidder, so your meager bid has it right now. Is anyone going to make me a lower offer?”

This is not a battle of pride; it is a battle of blushes. Many people have opted out of the bidding, not because the cost is too high, but because the offers are embarrassingly low. Most people are just watching to see if anyone would dare to offer less than the boy with freckles. How could anyone offer so little to God?

Finally someone steps forward, and says, “I don’t have anything to offer. My repentance isn’t what it should be; my faith isn’t what it should be; my works aren’t what they should be. Nothing is as it should be! I have nothing to offer.” And the auctioneer brings down His hammer. “It’s yours,” He says. “It’s yours.”

WHAT DO WE BRING?

Maybe you’re saying, “OK, but don’t we have to bring something to God? Don’t we have to be sorry? Don’t we have to believe?”

Yes. But we do not receive salvation because we offer these things. Salvation is a gift. Many people become confused at this point. They think of salvation as a trade in which God offers forgiveness and life, and we bring repentance and faith, and somehow we get together and make the trade. But that’s not the gospel.

The blind man did not come to Christ because he had sight; he came to Christ to receive sight. You do not come to Christ with a changed life; you come to Christ for a changed life. You do not come to Christ because you are brokenhearted about your sin; you come to Christ in order to be brokenhearted over your sin, and that will only happen when you see your sin in the light of the Cross.

In the words of the old hymn “Rock of Ages,”

Nothing in my hand I bring,

Simply to Thy cross I cling.

Your salvation does not rest on your good works, your spiritual experience, your repentance, or even your faith. You come to Christ to receive. If God were to ask you on the last day why He should let you into heaven, the answer is not “Because of my good works…my repentance” or even “…my faith.” Our salvation does not rest on anything we have done. It rests on Jesus Christ alone.

If we are resting on our repentance and faith, we will never have assurance, because our faith and our repentance are never what they might be. Our salvation depends entirely on Christ. Faith is the open hand that receives what He offers, and repentance is the response of a heart that has received.

OFFERING THE LOWEST BID

Many people have difficulty in offering worship to God the Father and God the Son because they have never received what Christ offers. When they hear others talking about “loving Christ,” they find it hard to relate to that, and the reason is that they have not received anything. They are merely following a moral code and offering that to God. In fact, all that they have ever done is to offer things to God. Their hands are full. They have never come to Christ to receive.

The only offer Christ will receive is nothing. The only price for which He will release salvation is zero. God has made it so that every one of us can make the lowest offer. Only pride stands in your way. The man in the pin-striped suit and the lady in the blue coat may have this blessing also, but they must stop trying to buy it. They must lay aside their works and come to Christ empty-handed.

One reason we find this so difficult is that we don’t like debt. This came home to me a few months ago, when a friend offered to fix a problem in our home. He must have spent a couple of hours working on it, and I was grateful. I had some money to slip in his pocket, but he wouldn’t take it.

“I’m happy to do it,” he said.

“Yes, I know, but I’d like to give you something for it. It’s better that way.”

So we had this rather stupid argument.

Why did I want to pay him? Because we are equals, and I didn’t want to be unreasonably in his debt. If I got some help and he got some money, then we were level in the deal. And somewhere deep in our hearts that’s often how we think when it comes to Christ. “He offers something that I need. Let me offer something that He wants.” That gives me some credibility, some self-respect. And Christ says, “On that basis, no deal.”

The only basis on which we can receive what Christ offers is with the empty hand that reaches out to Him and offers nothing in exchange, and that leaves us incalculably in His debt for the rest of our lives and for all eternity. That’s what the Christian life is like. We look up into the face of Christ saying, “I cannot begin to express the debt that I owe to You for what You have freely given to me. So I will worship, love, and obey You for the rest of my days; not so that I may receive, but because I have received.”

MAKING THE PURCHASE

“Come, buy.” (55:1)

Why does Christ talk about buying when there is no payment being made by us? I think that there are two reasons.

First, salvation comes at a price, even though that price is not paid by us. Think about the Trader at the market stall. He is offering something at no cost to the buyer, but He had to obtain what He offers.

How did Christ obtain the blessing that He freely offers to all who will receive? He bought it. What Christ offers was obtained at the price of shedding His own blood for sinners.

But Christ speaks about buying for a second reason; buying indicates a definite transaction. When Christ says, “Buy,” He is telling us that there must be a definite transaction in which what was obtained by Christ actually becomes yours. Buying is a transaction in which what Christ has in His stall is placed into your hands and becomes your possession, and unless this transaction takes place, what Christ offers remains on the stall. It remains His, and it isn’t yours.

LOOKING ISN’T BUYING

Some people enjoy “just looking” in shops, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. That’s where some people are spiritually. They are wandering around in the marketplace and have heard the invitation of Christ. They have come over to His stall and started asking questions about the Bible and salvation. They are like the shopper who picks up some clothes and holds them up to feel the texture of the material.

I have found that some shops are “seeker friendly” and others are “seeker hostile.” You go into some, and the assistant offers to help. You say, “No, I’m just looking,” and that’s fine with him. But it’s not always like that. I went into a jewelry store recently because I wanted to get some ideas of price range for a gift. I quickly regretted it when an over-zealous salesperson approached me.

“Can I be of help to you?”

“No, I really just want to look around today, thank you.”

“Do you have a particular occasion in mind?”

“Well, I might have.”

“And when might that occasion be, may I ask?”

Sometimes I think that the only cure for these folks would be to draw up a chair, ask them to sit down, and then take an hour to tell them your entire life story in excruciating detail. But I didn’t have the time for that.

“I’m just looking,” I said with a note of finality. “Is that all right with you?”

Looking is great, but looking isn’t buying. The greatest commitment of your life is worthy of the deepest investigation, so look into the claims of Christ carefully. But don’t confuse looking with buying. If what Christ offers is to become yours, you must close the deal.

TRYING ISN’T BUYING

And trying isn’t buying either. I’m thankful for that, because if we had bought every dress my wife has tried on over the last twenty years, we would be truly bankrupt! But trying isn’t buying. You could be in a store from nine till five, Monday to Friday and never buy. And you can come to church, read the Bible, join a study group and still never close the deal with Christ. You can hear fine sales pitches from your pastor, and enjoy them, and still never buy. You can be moved to feel that you should buy and never buy.

And knowing isn’t buying. We were looking at washing machines a few months ago. We did our research and found a brilliant sales assistant. He was like an encyclopedia of washing machines.

“This one,” he said with a rather nasal voice, “rotates with twenty-three minutes of agitation; and this one has the cork-screw spindle, but it does not have the automatic temperature gauge.”

We began talking with him, and eventually he told us that he didn’t own a washing machine himself because he lived on his own, had plenty of socks, and he went to the laundry once every month. He knew all about the products but had never bought one himself. We didn’t buy the washing machine either.

Maybe that is where you are spiritually. You have learned many things about Jesus, but what He offers has not yet become yours. Knowing isn’t buying.

We have been in the market for trees. We lost three in a storm, and our backyard looked like a desert. I am ashamed of how little I know about trees, so we took the opportunity to try and learn a few things. We went to garden centers and made a pain of ourselves asking endless questions, gathering information, comparing prices, and pondering alternatives. Then one day I said to Karen, “Today’s the day. We’ve got to buy. We have done the research; now let’s make a decision.” We did. And three trees were moved from the nursery to our yard. They became ours.

That’s the picture. There is a definite transaction, with no returns and no going back. It is like making a purchase, entering a marriage, or signing a covenant. And when you buy, what Christ offers becomes yours.

Christ says, “Come, buy, without money, without price.” Are you ready to buy?

UNLOCKED

Jesus Christ offers to meet the deepest thirsts of your soul. He offers to bring you into a relationship with God in which your sins are forgiven and you begin to experience His power to live in a way that pleases Him. This life will continue beyond death for eternity.

You cannot buy this gift, but you can receive it. In order to receive, you must lay aside any idea that there is something that you can offer to God. You must ask Him to give what you do not have. That is the only basis on which the gift can be received.

Receiving the gift is a definite transaction in which what Christ offers actually becomes yours. Faith is like a hand being opened to receive what Christ offers. Even Christ cannot place His gift of salvation in a closed hand, but He stands ready to give to all who will receive. If you have come to the point of wanting to receive what Christ offers, you can use the words of the following prayer to God.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Almighty God,

My soul is thirsty for You. I feel my need to be forgiven for my sins, and I want to know Your presence in my life.

I believe that Jesus Christ is able to meet the deepest thirsts of my soul. I believe that He died on the cross so that my sins can be forgiven and that He rose again in power. I believe that His power can come into my life and make me a new person, and I believe that He offers that gift to me now.

Gracious Lord, I ask that You will forgive my sins and that Your Holy Spirit will enter my life. Make me one of Your people, and help me to live for Your glory.

By faith I take what You offer, through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.

If you have prayed the above prayer, you have accepted the greatest offer of all time-forgiveness of sins and eternal life with God in heaven. Congratulations! For information in growing as a new believer in Jesus Christ, please contact the publisher at the address shown at the end of this book. They will send you free books on the Christian life (and they’ll let me know too, so I can rejoice as well and pray for you personally).

9

Heart

JEREMIAH 31

What is the

key to real and

lasting change?

DISCOVER

why discipline, education, and religion cannot produce a godly life.

LEARN

how sin defaces the heart and how God cleans it up.

WORSHIP

because God gives what He commands.

800 B.C.

792–740

UZZIAH

700

ISAIAH

750–731

740

735–715

729–686

722

696–647

JOTHAM

ISAIAH’S VISION

AHAZ

HEZEKIAH

END OF NORTH KINGDOM

MANASSEH

(COREGENT)

640–609

JOSIAH

600

JEREMIAH

608–598

606–536

598–597

597–586

586

JEHOIAKIM

BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY

JEHOIACHIN

ZEDEKIAH

FALL OF JERUSALEM

536

FIRST RETURN

TO JERUSALEM

500

JOHN’S credit card debt had spiraled out of control. His wife had insisted on him seeing a counselor, and so, reluctantly, he agreed to go. The counselor made an assessment of his income and his expenses. It wasn’t going to be easy. Eventually the counselor came up with a plan. It would involve a radical change in John’s lifestyle, and it would take ten years to solve the problem.

John winced as he looked at the figures. “I know what I need to do,” he said. “The problem is that I don’t want to do it.”

John’s predicament gives us an insight into why change is so difficult. Knowing what to do is easy, finding the heart to do it is much more difficult.

Early on in the Bible story, God had told His people what they were to do. There was never any difficulty in understanding the commandments. The problem was finding the heart to obey them. At one point God spoke to His people through the prophet Jeremiah about this matter of the heart, and told them how real, deep, lasting change would be possible in their lives.

HIGH HOPES AND BIG DISAPPOINTMENTS

God’s Word first came to Jeremiah the prophet in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah. This would have been around six hundred years before the birth of Christ. Josiah was a good king. It must have been a great relief to many people when he came to the throne. Before that time, Israel had suffered under the rule of Manasseh, the worst of the kings of Judah. He promoted the worship of other gods and burned his own children in the fire. There is a tradition that Manasseh executed the prophet Isaiah by sawing him in two. He reigned for fifty-five years, and there was so little interest in God’s truth during his reign, that the book of God’s Law became lost in the temple.

When Josiah came to the throne, the book of God’s Law was found. The king asked for the Scripture to be read to him, and when he heard the law of God for the first time, he tore his clothes. That was an ancient way of expressing repentance or regret. He was saying in effect, “We’re not doing this! The way we are living is nothing like the way God has told us to live. We are supposed to be the people of God, but we have not even known what the Law of God says!”

So Josiah launched a personal campaign to turn things around in the nation. The king went around the country and personally supervised the dismantling of all pagan sites of worship. He reinstated the feast of the Passover and called on the people to return to the living and true God (2 Kings 22–23).

Jeremiah’s ministry began during this moral reformation, and it was through this prophet that God spoke to the people.

“Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD. (3:10)

God was saying, “Jeremiah, you’ve seen this great campaign for moral reformation led by the king. There have been a certain number of changes. The pagan shrines are gone, and the Passover is now being observed. But here is the problem: While there has been some change of behavior, it has not touched the hearts of the people.”

Jeremiah lived through the greatest attempt to restore godly values to the land. But for all the good things that Josiah did, the hearts of the people were not changed.

It is very interesting that when Jehoiakim succeeded his father, King Josiah, the new king went in exactly the opposite direction. You can read about him in Jeremiah 36. God told Jeremiah to write the Word of God on a scroll, and it was read to Jehoiakim as he was sitting by a fire in the winter room of his palace. Jehoiakim asked his secretary to read a few columns of the scroll and then he took his penknife and cut them off and threw them in the fire. Then he said, “Read me some more of what God says.” The secretary read some more, and then the king took his penknife, and cut off the pages, and threw them in the fire, until the whole scroll was burned.

What a contrast. Josiah heard the Word of God and tore his clothes in repentance. His son, Jehoiakim, heard the Word of God and tore the Scriptures, tossing the scraps into the fire.

Jeremiah prophesied through the reigns of both these kings. He saw some outward change among many people during the time of Josiah, but it didn’t touch the heart, and when the next king came to the throne, there was a reaction, and things went back exactly as they had been before. Jeremiah must have wondered, “If Josiah’s massive moral crusade can’t change the people, what will?”

A PROMISE FOR A DISCOURAGED PROPHET

It was at this time that God gave a wonderful promise to the discouraged prophet. “Jeremiah, let me tell you what I am going to do. You have seen Josiah’s noble attempt to change the nation. You have experienced the disappointment of it. You have seen how little is achieved by attempts to impose the truth on people. It simply cannot be done. So let me tell you, Jeremiah, what I am going to do.”

“This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel…. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.” (31:33)

God told Jeremiah He would make a new covenant, and the heart of the new covenant would be a change in the heart. In effect, God was saying, “This new covenant will not require a king saying, ‘You shall.’ It will succeed through an inner transformation in which, by My Spirit, I will bring people to the place of saying, ‘We will.’

Perhaps you have been searching for this for a long time. I have lost count of how many people have said to me something like this: “Pastor, you need to understand that I was taken along to church as a child and I hated it. I didn’t understand what was being said, and when I did, it made me feel bad. It was boring and I could not see how it was possibly relevant to life. The whole thing was a matter of duty imposed on me, and so as soon as I had the opportunity, I broke free.”

If that was your experience, you have probably rejected a system of religious rules and duties but perhaps there is also something within you that still wonders whether you can know and love God from the heart. That is exactly what God is talking about here.

THE PROBLEM WITH THE HEART

The book of Jeremiah contains one of the clearest statements about the fundamental problem of the human heart in the whole of the Bible.

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (17:9)

The heart is devious and sometimes quite baffling. You cannot predict the direction in which the heart will lean. Jeremiah also wrote that “Judah’s sin is engraved with an iron tool, inscribed with a flint point, on the tablets of their hearts and on the horns of their altars” (17:1).

When sin gets written into our hearts, it becomes engraved on our character.

Think about the walls of the living room in your home. Suppose that thieves break into your home, and they ransack the place. Suppose that they toss out the contents of your drawers in your bedroom, and suppose that they spray graffiti on your walls. That is the picture that God gives to Jeremiah.

Sin is written in two places. First it is written or recorded “on the horns of [the] altars” (17:1; see also Leviticus 4:18–20). That is the place where God’s presence is. If I sin, my sin brings guilt in the presence of God and I need to be forgiven. But sin is also written on our hearts. It is as if graffiti has been inscribed over this hidden and private place at the very center of our lives. An enemy has come in and written all the wrong things there!

When sin gets written into our hearts, it becomes engraved on our character. It creates the power of habit within us and sets up all kinds of battles once it has gained an entrance to the private world of the heart.

This happens in different degrees. For some people, over a period of time, the heart has become a place where ugly, foul, and obscene things are deeply engraved. It’s not easy to live with a heart like that. For others, the defacing effects of sin have been less severe, but the Bible is clear in telling that in some degree, sin is scrawled over every human heart.

When King David was recovering from a massive moral failure in his life, he asked God for two things. First, he came to God recognizing that his sin was written in God’s presence, and he said, “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow” (Psalm 51:7). But he did not stop there. He knew that he needed more than forgiveness, and so he prayed, “Create in me a pure heart, O God” (v. 10).

David knew that what happened was a reflection of his own heart. He asked God to deal with his heart, because he knew that unless there was a change, his heart would lead him down that same sinful path again. So he prayed, “Lord, deal with the heart that led me to do this!”

Our actions are not a matter of random chance; they are the fruit of the prevailing dispositions of our hearts. Things don’t just happen. Our actions are the fruit grown in the secret garden of the heart.

CLEANING UP THE GRAFFITI

When God speaks about the heart, He is talking about the prevailing disposition of the soul, the mainspring that gives rise to our actions. There is a disposition that governs your thinking, your feeling, and your choices. We sometimes talk about “the way we are wired.” That gets at it. There is a disposition within us that leads us to choose in certain directions. So when we talk about the heart, we are talking about the absolute foundation of a person’s whole being.

God said that He would write His law on the hearts of the people. This would be quite a transformation considering that the graffiti of sin was scrawled all over their hearts. It would be like decorating a room that had been vandalized and violated.

How can we get from the external “thou shalt” to the internal “I will”?

This is the fundamental change that every one of us needs. If you are going to live the kind of life that God calls you to lead, then His law will need to be worked into the very core of your being so that it is not a set of external rules, but a set of inward desires. The Old Testament story shows that you cannot live a righteous life simply because God says, “You shall.” If you are to become what God wants you to be, there must be an inner transformation that brings you to the point of saying freely, “I will.”

God is looking for more than behavior modification. It is not simply that we stop stealing, lying, and coveting. God wants to clean up the graffiti in the heart.

It is important to realize that this was not a new idea that God introduced in the New Testament. Some people have this idea that in the Old Testament, God was interested in rules, regulations, and duties, but in the New Testament, He saw that wasn’t working, and so introduced a new religion of the heart. But there is one God and there is one story, and right from the beginning, God makes it clear that the only way we can become what He calls us to be is through a change in the heart.

Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. (DEUTERONOMY 6:5–6; EMPHASIS ADDED)

This has always been the purpose of God. The question is, How can we get the Law of God into our hearts? How can we get from the external “thou shalt” to the internal “I will”?

The Old Testament story shows us three routes that will not take us there. It is important to understand this because there are many people who are still persevering on routes that won’t take them where they need to go.

FEAR WON’T CHANGE YOUR HEART

When God gave the Law at Mount Sinai, the people were absolutely terrified. They looked at the mountain and saw smoke and lightning, and they heard the sound of trumpets as the presence of God came down. It was so awesome that even Moses was terrified. God’s people were given a glimpse of the terrors of God Almighty, but it did absolutely nothing to change their hearts. Within a few weeks, they were dancing around the golden calf!

Some parents think that strictness, discipline, and an abundance of punishment will deliver the kind of character they want to see in their children. Discipline has its place, it will usually modify behavior, but it will not change the heart. The fear of hell will not change the heart. It is important for pastors to preach the whole of God’s truth. That includes judgment and hell, and God may use that to make a person think deeply. But the preaching of judgment and hell will not change the heart. It is powerless to do so.

PROSPERITY WON’T CHANGE YOUR HEART

There are people who think that the answer to the human condition is primarily social and economic. The argument is that if people do not have enough money, or if they live in appalling conditions, and if they have no horizons of hope, they will turn to evil, and the way to change this is through programs of economic aid and social reform.

There is some truth in this. If a person is taken out of poverty and given hope, his patterns of behavior will probably change. But his heart will not. God brought His people out of the desert and into a land flowing with milk and honey. They were blessed with freedom, opportunity, and every material blessing you could imagine, but it did not change their hearts. You cannot erase the graffiti of sin on the human heart by changing a person’s circumstances.

RELIGION WON’T CHANGE YOUR HEART

I can understand why some people might think that coming to church, saying prayers, or reading the Bible might change their hearts, but again, the Old Testament story makes it clear that although these things may lead to some changes in behavior, they will not change the heart.

In the history of the world there have never been a people more religious than the nation of Israel. And yet one of the most conscientious Jews who ever lived said, “In my mind I know that God’s laws are good, but I find that my heart pulls me another way, so that while I want to pursue the Law of God, I find that I am moving in a different direction.” That’s the apostle Paul in Romans 7:22–23 (author paraphrase). He threw the whole energy of his soul into the pursuit of a godly life but found that it was like pushing a stone up a hill. The Law was powerless to change him. It was overwhelmed by the prevailing disposition of his soul.

Parents often struggle over this with their children. They raise them in the discipline of an ordered home; they shower them with material things and bring them to church to give them a good dose of the religious program. Then they are alarmed to find that there is still a prevailing disposition in the soul that takes their children in a wrong direction. And when they see this, they say, “What can we do?”

Perhaps you see that same struggle in yourself. After a great trauma, an accident, or a near death experience that was absolutely terrifying, you feel that you need to change and take a different path. But when you try, you find that you are up against the prevailing disposition of your soul. Or perhaps you started coming to church and studying the Bible, hoping that it would change you. But then you found to your astonishment that the prevailing dispositions of your soul toward selfishness, pride, lust, and greed are every bit as strong as they were before.

A CHANGE OF HEART

So the great question is, How can we get the law of God into our hearts? If we can find the answer to that question, we will have discovered the secret of real and lasting change. God answers that question in Jeremiah 31.

Notice that God says, “ I will put my law…on their hearts” (31:33; italics added). The story of the Old Testament demonstrates that no matter how heard you try, there is no way that you can align your heart with the law of God. So God says, “I will do what you are incapable of doing. I will write My law on your heart.” God made the same promise to the prophet Ezekiel. “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you” (36:26).

The technical word for this is regeneration. It is God changing the prevailing disposition of the heart. And when God does it, you find something deep within you that wants to know Him in a way that you didn’t want to know Him before. You have a new hunger and thirst for the Word of God. You feel drawn to Christ and become responsive to God.

The best illustration I know of this new life in the soul is the way in which human life begins. The living seed comes, and in a secret, mysterious, and wonderful way, new life is conceived. It is instantaneous. It happens in a moment! Hidden within the woman’s body there is a new life, and here is the amazing thing: At that moment, she may not even be aware of it!

Lasting change is something that God does.

The next day she goes to work, and it seems that everything is exactly as it was before. But some weeks later, she begins to feel that something has changed inside her. She does not feel quite as she felt before, and she thinks, I wonder if I could be pregnant?

That is how new life begins, and it is a wonderful picture of how new life begins in the heart. It is a direct work of the Spirit of God to implant the seed of the life of God in your soul. And that has either happened or it has not happened. There’s nothing in between.

This may have happened to you and you don’t even know it yet. But, like every pregnancy, it will eventually show! Repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are the first visible evidence of new life that comes from God. But it all begins with God changing the heart! This is what He promised to Jeremiah: “I will write My Law on their hearts.” He will bring this inner change to the fundamental disposition of the soul.

It’s natural for us to want a program or a plan to change our own hearts. “Pastor, make it simple! Give me five steps to lasting change and I’ll try three of them!” But lasting change is something that God does. And God says that He will do for you what you cannot do for yourself. This is why David prayed, “Create in me a clean heart.” He realized that the only way to change would be for God to change him. This is precisely what God promises to do in the new covenant.

Perhaps you can look back and see how God has done this in your life, and it’s wonderful to you. There was a time when you were unresponsive to God. You came to church, but it did not mean much to you; the whole thing was on the outside. But then things began to change inside you. All you knew was that you had a new hunger for God, a sense of need, a desire to be clean. You couldn’t explain it! You didn’t know it at the time, but the life of God was implanted within you by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Has this happened to you? Is there, at the core of your being, a deep hunger and thirst after God? That desire is something that God has placed within you. He is fulfilling His promise and changing your heart.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

Nobody ever spoke more powerfully about the state of the human heart than our Lord Jesus Christ. He said,

“Out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’” (MARK 7:21–23)

On one occasion, a deeply religious man called Nicodemus came to talk with Jesus. Jesus knew that his fundamental problem was that he needed a new heart. His life was an uphill struggle of attempting to please God. Jesus said, “You must be born again” (John 3:7).

Nicodemus pointed out that it would be difficult for a middle-aged man to return to his mother’s womb, but Jesus explained that He was not talking about a physical birth but a spiritual one. Just as flesh gives birth to flesh, it is the Holy Spirit who gives birth to spirit. The Holy Spirit could do what God had promised through Jeremiah, and give Nicodemus a new heart.

Nicodemus needed a work of the Holy Spirit within him that would redirect the prevailing disposition of his soul. The result, a repentant and believing heart, would lead him to be a lifelong follower of Jesus.

When you are in the presence of Christ, what is at the heart of you will become the whole of you. In other words, if God has implanted that new life in your heart, then the deepest desire of your heart will be satisfied. In God’s presence, you will become the person you always wanted to be. And until then, there will be a process of wonderful growth in that direction.

If the prevailing disposition of your heart is toward sin, it is still true that in eternity, what is at the heart of you will become the whole of you. One of the most terrifying statements in the Bible is when God says, “Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile” (Revelation 22:11). In eternity, you will have the desire of your heart. What is the prevailing disposition of your soul?

UNLOCKED

The problem of the human heart is that it is written over with the graffiti of sin. Our great need is that the Law of God should be written in our heart so that it is not just an external command, but an internal desire. But it is not possible for us to make this change in our hearts. Only God can write His Law within our hearts. This is the work of the Holy Spirit, which is sometimes referred to as regeneration.

If you want your heart changed, you need to cast yourself upon God. You may be able to change your circumstances and even your behavior, but you cannot change the prevailing disposition of your heart. Only God can do that.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Almighty Father,

I confess that without Your Spirit, I would not love You or hunger after You. So thank You for putting within me a true desire to live for Your glory. Deepen that hunger within me. Strengthen my desire to follow You in a life of faith and obedience. Nourish the life that You have implanted within me.

Thank You that along with the commands of Your law You have given me a desire to obey and, by the power of Your Holy Spirit, the ability to pursue that desire.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

10

Tears

LAMENTATIONS

How should

I deal with

discouragement

in God’s

service?

DISCOVER

why God values your tears.

LEARN

how God’s plan continued when His city was destroyed and His people were scattered.

WORSHIP

the God who will one day wipe away all tears from our eyes.

722

END OF NORTH KINGDOM

700 B.C.

640–609

JOSIAH

600

JEREMIAH

606–536

608–598

598–597

597–586

586

BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY

JEHOIAKIM

JEHOIACHIM

ZEDEKIAH

FALL OF JERUSALEM

536

FIRST RETURN

TO JERUSALEM

500

THIS is God’s world, but it is not as He made it. It has been spoiled by an intruder, and that is why God will not allow this world to remain as it is forever. God will create a new heaven and a new earth, and when He does, the old order of things will pass away. Cancer will pass away. War will pass away. Terrorist outrages will pass away. Pain will pass away. Death will pass away. God promises that He will make everything new (Revelation 21:5).

In the meantime, the people of God are called to serve in this fallen world as it is. That means that we will shed tears. But it will not be like this forever. One day, in heaven, God will wipe away our every tear (Revelation 21:4).

Our tears can be traced back to sin in the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve sinned, there were two things that God could have done. He could have locked them out of the garden forever and left them to experience the full horrors of sin. He could have abandoned them to evil. But God did not do that because God is love, and the true lover will never abandon the loved.

Alternatively, God could have locked them in the garden. He could have banished the evil one to some remote corner of the universe, given him no access whatever to human beings, so that every external source of evil was removed from them. The problem with that, of course, was that Adam and Eve had a desire for the knowledge of evil, and keeping them from the possibility of evil would have been like imprisoning them. God did not do that because God is love, and true love never forces itself on a loved one.

What kind of relationship could there be between man and God if the only reason man was in God’s presence was that he had no opportunity to explore the knowledge of evil outside the garden? It would be like a child suffering through adult company when he really wanted to go outside and play. Heaven would not be heaven if it were like a prison where people lived wanting to sin but were denied the opportunity! The great purpose of God is that eternity will be filled with the joy of those who have no desire for sin.

So how will this happen? How will God bring people who have a desire for evil to love Him freely so that their greatest joy will be to enjoy God and live in harmony with Him for all eternity? That is the great story of the Bible, and it involves a people, a place, and a purpose.

GOD’S DISCREET REVELATION

God has made Himself known discreetly, so that those who seek Him may find Him, and at the same time, those who do not want to know Him should be able to remain without Him forever. God revealed Himself to one man, Abraham, and said, “I will bless you…and [through you] all peoples on earth will be blessed” (Genesis 12:2–3).

We have followed the story of how God brought the nation of Israel from this one man. They were to be the channel of God’s blessing to the world. God’s purpose was that this community of people, rightly related to God, would model a life of worship and obedience to God’s law so that the nations would be able to watch and then desire life under the authority and blessing of God.

Then God had designated a particular place where God would meet with His people. While God’s people were in the desert, it was a movable place. God met with His people in the tabernacle, where the ark of the covenant was housed, and where the sacrifices were made. But when they came into the land, God said that there was to be a particular place where He would make His presence known (Deuteronomy 12:5). That place was the city of Jerusalem. King David made this city his capital, and when the ark, the symbol of God’s presence, was brought to Jerusalem, there was great joy.

THE MOST BLESSED CITY ON EARTH

A few years later, David’s son Solomon built a temple there, and when he did, the cloud of God’s glory filled the whole place. This was the high-water mark of the Old Testament story. God’s people were united, the place where God would meet with them was established, and God’s purpose was beginning to be realized as kings and queens from surrounding nations came to Jerusalem to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Israel was the envy of the world. Jerusalem was the most blessed city on earth.

Instead of true worship where God’s presence was known … there was hollow ritual.

But all that changed very quickly. After the death of Solomon, the kingdom divided, and the quality of leadership among God’s people was desperate. One king after another led the nation down the wrong track. The worship of other gods multiplied, and the whole basis of a moral life was lost.

God’s people ended up being little different from the surrounding nations who never knew the Lord. Instead of true worship where God’s presence was known among His people, there was hollow ritual. Instead of obedience among God’s people, religious life was motivated by raw self-interest. Instead of God’s blessing, there was increasing evidence of the clouds of God’s judgment beginning to gather.

Time after time, God sent His prophets to call His people back to paths of obedience, but there was little response. So finally, God drew a line in the sand, and judgment began. At this most desperate time, Jeremiah had the unenviable task of being God’s mouthpiece.

As we saw in chapter 9, Jeremiah’s ministry began during the reign of Josiah, the young king who led a personal crusade to clean up life around Jerusalem. He threw out the idols and personally supervised the destruction of pagan altars. No doubt many people would have thought this was a good thing, and it was so far as it went, but Jeremiah realized that unless there was a change in the hearts of the people, it would be short lived. And so it was.

When Josiah’s son Jehoiakim came to the throne, he asked for the Word of God to be read, and then cut it up with a scribe’s knife and threw it into the fire. It was during the reign of Jehoiakim that God’s judgment on His people began. Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, laid a siege to Jerusalem. That was the way a city was conquered in those days. An army camped outside and waited until the people ran out of food and water, and then the Babylonian force went in and took over. That’s what the Babylonian army did, and eventually they rounded up the most talented people in the city of Jerusalem, including a young man called Daniel, whose story we will come to later.

THE KING WITH THE CHIN

When the best leaders are taken out of a community, people of lesser ability are promoted to take their place, and after the siege, Jehoiakim’s son Jehoiachin (also known as Jeconiah) came to the throne at the age of eighteen. I have a caricature of him in my mind with a huge protruding chin, and probably a very large beard to cover its eccentricity! No one knows, of course, the size of this king’s chin, but it’s a great way to remember Jehoiachin’s name. King Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he came to power, and it is hardly surprising that Nebuchadnezzar seized the opportunity of sending another expeditionary force. Jehoiachin’s reign lasted only three months.

This time the Babylonians took about 10,000 of the most able people from Jerusalem. This group included a colorful character called Ezekiel, whose story we will come to later. He was taken off to join Daniel and the rest in Babylon, and young King Jehoiachin was taken with them. At the age of eighteen, Jehoiachin didn’t have a son to succeed him as king in Jerusalem, and so his uncle Zedekiah took the position. They were running out of members of the royal family!

THE DARKEST HOUR BEFORE THE DAWN

Zedekiah had to decide how to handle a difficult situation. Should he try to form an alliance with some other countries to stand up to Nebuchadnezzar, or should he accept that Nebuchadnezzar’s power was within the plan of God and submit to it? Jeremiah was in no doubt about the answer. Jerusalem would fall; it was time to surrender to the king of Babylon (Jeremiah 38:17). But Zedekiah didn’t like that message, so he ignored the Word of God.

King Zedekiah decided, with a bit of encouragement from Egypt, that he would rebel against Nebuchadnezzar. He did, and sure enough, the armies of Babylon came and laid another siege against the city. What happened was just about as bad as it gets.

Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He set fire to the temple of the LORD, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down. The whole Babylonian army under the commander of the imperial guard broke down all the walls around Jerusalem. Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile some of the poorest people and those who remained in the city, along with the rest of the craftsmen and those who had gone over to the king of Babylon. But Nebuzaradan left behind the rest of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields. (52:12–16)

Then, in an unspeakable act of cruelty, all of Zedekiah’s sons were killed before his eyes. Then, Zedekiah’s eyes were put out, and he was taken to Babylon where he died a short time later (2 Kings 25:7).

This was the lowest point and the darkest hour in the whole story of the Old Testament. The temple, where God’s presence had been known, was destroyed. All the king’s sons had been killed. The city where God had put His name was destroyed. The people in the north had been scattered, and now the people in the south were taken into exile in Babylon. What hope could there be now for the purpose of God?

Lamentations …is a lament, a book written in tears.

It was at this lowest point that the book of Lamentations was written. Jeremiah was walking through the rubble, with the smoke still rising from the ashes of the once beautiful temple where God’s presence had been known. The walls that had once been a strong defense against the enemies of God’s people were completely destroyed. There was hardly one stone on top of another.

When Jeremiah saw this, it broke his heart. That is why the book is called Lamentations. It is a lament, a book written in tears. It is the cry of a heart that had been broken by the torn-down state of the work of God in the world.

THE TEARS OF ONE WHO CARES

Try to picture Jeremiah walking through the rubble, with dust and smoke still rising from the ashes. “How deserted lies the city, once so full of people!” he began (Lamentations 1:1). The city that once was a thriving community under the blessing of God, now seems like a ghost town. Jeremiah looked down the roads that once were crowded with happy people making their way up to Jerusalem to worship God and saw no one. “The roads to Zion mourn, for no one comes to her appointed feasts,” he wrote (1:4). The roads were deserted, because there was no city for guests to visit.

All the splendor has departed from the Daughter of Zion. (1:6)

He thought about the temple, the royal palace, exquisite craftsmanship, now all reduced to rubble. Now there was no place for the sacrifices to be made. There was no place for worship, no meeting place between God and man.

My eyes fail from weeping, I am in torment within, my heart is poured out on the ground because my people are destroyed. (2:11)

Now Jeremiah’s tears began to flow. Notice, though, that Jeremiah was not shedding tears over personal pain or loss. God has important things to say to us about that issue (we have looked at some of them in the book of Job), but that is not the issue here. The book of Lamentations is about a godly man whose heart is broken over the state of the work of God in the world. He is weeping over Jerusalem.

If you set out in ministry with the idea that strong faith mixed with hard work and prayer will lead to unbroken success and blessing in the work of God, you will be in for some big disappointments. That’s a key truth, and it is so important that God has given us a whole book of the Bible to teach it to us. God’s work often advances through tears.

Jeremiah became known as “the weeping prophet.” I don’t want to make too big a thing about shedding tears, because some people are naturally more moist than others. But however you express emotion, freely or with greater reserve, you can’t live a life of service to God without sometimes experiencing a broken heart. If you have never experienced that, it may be either that your heart is insensitive, or that you have never given yourself fully to the work of God.

A heart that cares will break over squandered opportunities, over sin in the church, over souls that might have been saved but were not, over the suffering of those who are persecuted, and over the hardness of an unbelieving world. But these are good tears, because they are the tears of a person who cares.

The tears of God’s people are of great value to God.

The apostle Paul shared the same experience. “For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you” (2 Corinthians 2:4). On another occasion, he told the church in Galatia that ministry was like giving birth! “I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you”(Galatians 4:19).

Perhaps you have thrown yourself into some venture for Christ. You wanted to see His blessing and His purpose advance in the world, but you have come up against overwhelming difficulties that you find impossible to explain. It breaks your heart and causes you to cry out to God. You are weeping over “Jerusalem.”

It doesn’t help for someone to say, “Cheer up; you know it will work out in the end.” That can sometimes be offensive, because it does not recognize the reality or the value of your pain. What you need to know is that God values your tears.

David once asked the Lord to collect his tears in a bottle (Psalm 56:8 NKJV). That is a beautiful picture. The tears of God’s people are of great value to God, because they are the tears of people who care. When your heart is breaking over the work of God, you are giving one of the most precious offerings of worship in the sight of God. God’s work advances through many tears.

GOD’S PURPOSE WILL FINALLY PREVAIL

If the people God had chosen to bless were scattered, and the place God had chosen to put His name was destroyed, what hope could there possibly be of God fulfilling His promise and bringing blessing to the world? If the last king’s sons were all killed, what future could there be for the royal line of David?

The answer lay in the man with the chin, the eighteen-year-old king who only lasted three months before he surrendered and was taken off into exile in Babylon. Jeremiah tells us that Jehoiachin was released. “Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king’s table” (Jeremiah 52:33). His life was preserved, and so the royal line was continued. And when Matthew lists the royal line of David into which Jesus Christ was born, Jehoiachin (or Jeconiah) has an honored place (1:11). The king who lasted three months and did nothing but surrender to the enemy became a link in the chain that leads us to Christ!

Of course, Jeremiah did not know that when he was walking through the ruined city of Jerusalem and writing the book of Lamentations. If we had asked him how God’s promise of a Savior who would be born into the line of David could happen given that all King Zedekiah’s sons were dead, I don’t suppose he would have had the faintest idea. But he believed that God is faithful to His promise, and he staked his trust and hope on the faithfulness of God:

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD’S great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (3:21–23)

Looking back over the centuries, it is a wonderful thing to see that even in the darkest hour, God is faithful.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

After seventy years, a small group of people returned to the ruined site of Jerusalem and rebuilt the city. Then, about five hundred years later, Jesus Christ came to the city, and like Jeremiah, He wept over it.

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” (LUKE 13:34)

Later He came back to the city, and “as he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, ‘If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes’” (Luke 19:41–42).

The city where God had placed His name did not want to receive His Son. God came to His own city and was herded out of it and nailed to a cross. But in His death and resurrection, Christ accomplished the purpose of God, and He is the channel by which the blessing of God will come to all the nations of the earth.

People with a sensitive heart will still weep over Jerusalem today. But at the end of the Bible, God gave the apostle John a vision of how the story will end. John tells us that he saw “the Holy City, the new Jerusalem” (Revelation 21:2). That’s Jerusalem as God intended it to be. The place for God’s people, where God has put His name and where His purposes will be fulfilled.

That New Jerusalem will come “down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband” (Revelation 21:2). And John reports that a loud voice from God’s throne will announce:

“Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’” (REVELATION 21:3–5)

There is nothing greater in all the world than to be one of God’s people, fulfilling God’s purpose and headed for God’s place. God’s work may advance through many tears, but God’s purpose will always finally prevail. Weeping goes on for the night, but joy comes in the morning (see Psalm 30:5). God’s people know the day is coming when “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Revelation 7:17). Can you imagine God doing that for you?

Whatever the circumstances you face in ministry, whether God calls you to serve Him at a high-water mark in the story of His people or at the darkest hour before the dawn, “Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

UNLOCKED

Knowing how to handle discouragement is a key to sustaining a lifetime of ministry. Unrealistic expectations usually lead to deep disappointment, and the Bible story reminds us that there are no instant formulas for success in God’s work. Ministry often advances through tears, and learning that principle will help us when we face discouragement.

Remember that God values the tears of a person who cares about His kingdom. A broken heart can often be a sign of spiritual health. Our deepest ministry may come out of a broken heart.

We can thank God that Lamentations is not the last book in the Bible. God was working His purpose out even at a time when Jeremiah would have been unable to see how any good could ever come out of the ashes of the ruined city of Jerusalem. God is faithful. The day will come when all His people will be gathered and made perfect in His presence, and His purpose for all eternity will begin.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Gracious Father,

Thank You that You value the tears of a person who cares about Your kingdom. Give me a passion to see Your name honored and Your purpose fulfilled in the world. When my heart is broken, help me to offer my tears to You as worship, the expression of a heart that cares.

Strengthen those who face particular discouragement in Your work at this time and give them a glimpse of Your faithfulness. Help them to trust in the amazing power by which all of Your purposes will be fulfilled. Thank You that the day is coming when You will wipe every tear from the eyes of Your people.

Through Jesus Christ my Lord I pray. Amen.

11

Glory

EZEKIEL 1, 10

In what sense is

God’s presence

always with us?

DISCOVER

the amazing story of God’s flying platform.

LEARN

how God deals with persistent sin among His people.

WORSHIP

Christ who is the glory with us.

722

END OF NORTH KINGDOM

700 B.C.

600

EZEKIEL

606–536

605

597–586

586

BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY

FIRST DEPORTATION

ZEDEKIAH

FALL OF JERUSALEM

516

REBUILT TEMPLE

COMPLETED

500

MOST adults look forward to their thirtieth birthday. They’re far beyond a “just starting” twenty-one, but certainly not entering the middle age of forty. A career often is taking off; a family may be growing (or starting). But for the prophet Ezekiel, the thirtieth birthday may have been the hardest day of his life.

Ezekiel had spent his whole life preparing for a ministry in the temple of God, but at age twenty-five, in the middle of his training, war broke out and he was carted off as a hostage to the Kebar River, which must have seemed like the other end of the earth. Now, five years later, he reached his thirtieth birthday, and all that he could think of was what might have been.

A priest’s thirtieth birthday was the day on which his ministry in the temple would begin, and if Ezekiel had been back home, it would have been a great day of celebration. But what can a new priest do if he is seven hundred miles away from the temple?

The whole situation must have seemed like a disaster. Ezekiel was a man with crushed hopes and shattered dreams. If only he had lived at another time. If only he had not been taken from his home by the Babylonians. If only! But now circumstances seemed to have blocked his path to ministry, and he found himself among a group of confused and discouraged people in a backwater near Babylon.

Perhaps you can relate to Ezekiel. Maybe you had high hopes and big dreams, but in your wildest imagination you didn’t ever think you’d be in the situation you find yourself in now. And you wonder, “What on earth is God doing in my life?”

That was where Ezekiel was. But then something wonderful happened:

In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. (1:1)

God met this displaced and disappointed man. And he discovered something far greater than lighting candles or offering sacrifices in the temple. God showed this man His glory, and when Ezekiel saw the glory of God, he was able to find his way forward.

When we face times of confusion and circumstances that are hard to understand, or when we find ourselves in a place we never thought we would be, our greatest need is to get a glimpse of the glory of God. Then, like Ezekiel, we will find direction for our lives.

THE GLORY APPEARS

Ezekiel saw “an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light” (1:4). It must have been like gazing through smoke into a blazing fire. As Ezekiel looked into this cloud, he could see four living creatures. We find out later that they are cherubim (10:1, 9–10), and they are described here in symbolic language.

Each of them had four faces and four wings (1:6). Their faces represent the pinnacles of God’s creation, the face of a lion (speaking of nobility), an ox (speaking of strength), an eagle (speaking either of speed or more likely compassion), and the face of a man (representing the highest point of God’s creation). These angels had four wings. They were positioned in a kind of square, with their wings connecting at the corners, and above them was an “expanse, sparkling like ice” (1:22), like a platform of some sort. Above the platform rested the throne of God (vv. 10–12, 26).

Then Ezekiel saw some wheels. Even people who have never read the Bible have probably heard the song “Ezekiel Saw Da Wheels.” The wheels that he saw were sparkling, and each wheel was intersected by another wheel. If you can imagine a wheel facing north to south, being intersected by another wheel going east to west, then you have the picture. These wheels could move in any one of four directions, which would be extremely useful if you were parking your car and found yourself two feet from the sidewalk. You could just switch to lateral mode, and slide in!

These wheels gave mobility to this giant platform upon which the throne of God was situated. Bible scholar Don Carson compared their movements to that of a cursor on a computer screen. Up and down, left to right, but never diagonally. This is telling us that the glory of God’s presence is not fixed to any one location. There are no restrictions on God. You cannot tie Him down. He is free to move in any direction.

Then Ezekiel saw that the cherubim who were supporting the platform could also rise or fall (Ezekiel 1:19), so that the whole platform could take off like a helicopter. This, no doubt, is why people who get excited about UFOs are drawn to the book of Ezekiel. But of course, this has nothing whatever to do with UFOs. This is a vision of the majesty and glory of God.

Then, we discover something that often appears in Ezekiel, Daniel, and the book of Revelation, and that is a mixed metaphor. We are told that the wheels were “full of eyes” (Ezekiel 1:18). This is simply a way of saying that nothing is hidden from the throne of God. Just as there is no place that God cannot go, so there is nothing that God cannot see.

As Ezekiel peered at this incredible vision, he just kept looking up and up, like a small boy at the foot of the Washington Monument. Above the creatures, there was a “sparkling expanse,” or platform. Above the platform, he saw “what looked like a throne of sapphire,” and high above the throne he saw “a figure like that of a man” (v. 26). He looked like fire, and brilliant light surrounded him.

“When I saw it, I fell facedown.”

The higher Ezekiel looked, the more difficult it was to find words to express what he saw. The best description he can give is to say, “This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. When I saw it, I fell facedown” (v. 28).

Pastor and author Stuart Briscoe has said that Ezekiel’s putting what he saw into words would have been like a man hearing Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and then being given a tin whistle, and asked to convey to people who had never heard an orchestra what it sounded like. How could anyone do that? Ezekiel was struggling for words. All that he could really say was that when he saw the glory of the Lord, he fell facedown.

The glory of God appeared. There is no place God cannot go, and nothing that He cannot see. He is high and exalted, enthroned above the angels on the throne of the universe.

SCANDAL IN THE TEMPLE

Some time later, some of the leaders of the exiled community by the Kebar River came to Ezekiel’s house (Ezekiel 8:1). While they were there, the Spirit of God came on the prophet and he saw another vision. This time he saw the temple in Jerusalem, and looking from the north gate, he saw a massive idol. When he looked in the other direction, toward the center of the temple area, he saw the same glory of the Lord that he had seen in his earlier vision (8:2–4).

It was as if God was squaring off with the idol. The Lord was getting ready to destroy the false worship that had taken over His own temple. There were many false prophets who were telling the people that Jerusalem could never fall because the temple of God was there (Jeremiah 7:4–8). But now God was showing Ezekiel not only that Jerusalem would fall, but that Jerusalem would fall because God had determined to destroy His own temple!

Then the Lord brought Ezekiel, in this vision, to a hole in the wall in the temple court. Ezekiel found a secret door, and God invited him to look inside. When he did, Ezekiel found images of all kinds of detestable animals and idols scrawled on the walls of the temple of God (8:7–10). They may have been astrological signs, going back to the time of Manasseh (2 Kings 21:5).

God was making it clear that, even in the temple, obscene things were going on in secret, and people were saying, “The LORD does not see us” (Ezekiel 8:12). That’s what happens when people lose their vision of God. If they had seen Ezekiel’s vision of the wheel full of eyes, they would never have dreamt of saying, “The LORD does not see us.” God sees everything!

So now it was very clear to Ezekiel. The days of the temple were numbered. Judgment was coming to the household of God. God was coming to destroy His temple.

THE GLORY DEPARTS

Some time later, Ezekiel saw the vision of the glory of God again. He saw the cherubim (four creatures), the platform, the wheels, and the throne of God. But when he saw what happened next, he must have been completely horrified.

The glory of the LORD rose from above the cherubim and moved to the threshold of the temple. (10:4)

The wheeled vehicle was moving from the center of the sanctuary toward the door. God was getting on the moving platform to leave His own temple!

There was one simple message behind all this rather strange imagery. God’s presence was on the move. God had summoned His wheeled platform and was about to leave the city where He had put His name. God was heading off!

The great question, of course, was where was God’s platform heading? As the vision unfolded, Ezekiel discovered the answer. First

The glory of the LORD departed from over the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim. (10:18)

But soon,

The cherubim, with the wheels beside them, spread their wings, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them. The glory of the LORD went up from within the city and stopped over the mountain east of it. (11:22–23)

This must have been an awful thing for Ezekiel to see. He probably thought back to the days of Solomon when the glory of God filled the temple. Jerusalem was the place where God had placed His name. People had said Zion could never fall, for God was within her. But now Ezekiel sees in his vision the glory of the Lord moving from the temple to the edge of the city, and now, outside of the edge of the city, to a mountain in the east.

[God] had not abandoned His people or His promises.

But suddenly it must have dawned on Ezekiel. God had already given him a vision of this same flying platform, by the Kebar River! God was abandoning Jerusalem, but He had not abandoned His people or His promises. The focus of His redeeming work was moving away from Jerusalem, and was now focused on this strange backwater, the Kebar River, where ten thousand of God’s people would be preserved and eventually in the goodness of God, they would be brought back.

That’s why God said, “For a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone” (11:16). But then He also said, “I will gather you from the nations and bring you back” (11:17). And God promised that when they were brought back, they would have a changed heart and a new spirit (vv. 19–20).

This must have been wonderful news for Ezekiel. The man who thought that his door to ministry was closed at age thirty because he was seven hundred miles from the temple, now discovered that he was in the very center of the will of God! God’s presence was leaving the temple, and His glory would now be made known among an obscure group of displaced people beside the Kebar River. Ezekiel was at the center of the action after all!

THE GLORY RETURNS

Twenty years after Ezekiel’s first vision of the glory of the Lord, the prophet was still ministering to the exiles by the Kebar River. Ezekiel was fifty years old when God spoke to him again (Ezekiel 40).

God gave Ezekiel a vision of a massive temple. Its dimensions were not in yards, but in miles. It was one gigantic place of worship. The scale of this temple is emphasized over and over, as the huge measurements of every wall and gate are given in painstaking detail. There is some debate as to whether this is referring to a literal temple to be built in Jerusalem at the end times or whether it is referring to the worship of all God’s people in the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21–22. Certainly, the descriptions are very similar.

The significant thing for Ezekiel was that in the vision he saw “the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east” (43:2). The east, of course, was the direction in which the glory of God had headed twenty years earlier when the Lord had abandoned His temple and focused His redeeming work on the community of His people by the Kebar River. Ezekiel wrote, “The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when [God] came to destroy the city and like the visions I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown” (43:3).

What he saw next must have brought joy to his heart.

The glory of the LORD entered the temple through the gate facing east … and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. (43:4–5)

Have you got the picture? Ezekiel was a desperately discouraged person who must have wondered what God was doing in his life. But he saw the glory of God and realized that there was no place God could not go, and nothing that God could not see.

Then God showed Ezekiel that the focus of His redeeming work for the next seventy years would not be on the temple in Jerusalem; it would be with the people in the east, by the Kebar River. God would not abandon the city of Jerusalem where He had placed His name forever. There would come a time when God’s presence would return to the great city, and His glory would fill a new temple. But this new temple would not be like the old one that had been destroyed. It would be massive, beyond any scale of imagination. It would be so large that it would become a center of worship for people of every tribe and nation who would turn from their idols and seek the true and living God.

THIS COULD BE YOUR STORY

Ezekiel saw the glory of God when he was thirty years old. He was a gifted man in the prime of life, yet he found himself relegated to an obscure backwater in Babylon. His prospects seemed bleak, his personal hopes for the future shattered. There must have been times when he sat down by the Kebar River hundreds of miles from home and said to himself, This isn’t how it was supposed to be!

Maybe you have felt like that. Something happened in your life that shattered your dream, and you say to yourself, This isn’t how it was supposed to be! I never imagined I would be in this situation. Or maybe God has taken you from a place where you were happy and blessed and put you somewhere else. It is not easy when God puts you in a place you would rather not be.

Think about Ezekiel’s flying platform. It reminds you that God’s glory and His blessing are not limited to one place. If God moves you on to another place, then His presence will go with you. He says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” He sees you and knows all about you. Remember, there is no place on earth where His presence cannot go. Ezekiel discovered that it was better to be in Babylon with the presence of God, than to be in Jerusalem without it!

THIS IS THE CHURCH’S STORY

The story of the church is a story of the movements of God. There have been times when God’s presence has come to His people. We call those movements revivals. And there have been times when God’s presence has left. Christ spoke through John the apostle to the church in Ephesus, telling them He would remove His presence from them if they did not repent.

A church without Christ’s presence is like the temple without God’s glory, nothing more than an empty shell. It is not difficult to find places that were once great centers of gospel preaching with thriving churches, where there is very little evidence of spiritual life today.

The church needs the presence of God like the human body needs blood. Without the blood, the body cannot sustain life. Without the Spirit of God, the church becomes like a corpse. A local church may have many strengths and assets, but take away the presence of God, and none of them will amount to anything much for long.

Though Ezekiel’s glimpse of the flying platform of God’s presence was only a vision, I find it helpful to think of God’s presence also hovering over the ministry of the church where I serve. God’s presence empowers the local church. That is why we must be careful not to grieve the Spirit of God. God’s Spirit is a sensitive guest among His people.

THIS IS THE BIBLE STORY

If you understand the story of Ezekiel, you will be able to understand the story of the whole Bible. Remember, the Bible story began in a garden—which was God’s place. The man and the woman enjoyed the presence and the blessing of God there. He not only hovered over them, He came down and walked with them.

But then they turned away from Him and chose to experience evil. And when they did, they were thrown out of God’s place, just as God’s people were thrown out of the city of Jerusalem. Indeed the place itself was destroyed. The Garden of Eden is nowhere to be found today. But although they were thrown out of God’s place, God did not abandon them. He came to this strange, alien, and sometimes hostile place in which we live so that those who would seek Him might find Him and know His presence.

And God will bring His people back, not to the Garden of Eden, but to a new creation, greater and more glorious than anything we have ever seen before. The Bible story points forward to the time when the great exile of human history will be over and God’s people will be brought to God’s place, to enjoy His presence forever.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

Six hundred years after Ezekiel’s visions, Jerusalem had been rebuilt and a new temple had taken the place of the old one. Into this setting was born Jesus Christ, “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being” (Hebrews 1:3). The glory of God came down among us. The apostle John wrote, “We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

God came off the platform! The eternal creator, the Lord of glory, came down from the throne, took human flesh, and was born in a small town outside Jerusalem. The one who sat on the throne upheld by angels lay in a manger and the angels looked down on Him.

Not only did the Lord of glory come down from the platform, but in Jesus Christ, the glory of God came to the temple. And just as Ezekiel had seen in his vision that the temple needed to be cleansed, Christ saw that the temple had become a den of thieves and robbers. Christ came to the temple, and day after day He taught the things of God.

But the people did not want Him, so the glory of God left the temple, not on a flying platform, but bound and escorted by guards with swords and clubs. The glory of God left Jerusalem, bearing a cross to a place called Calvary outside the city wall, and there the Lord of glory was crucified.

Then, on the third day, He rose from the dead. It was impossible for death to keep hold of Him. For forty days, He appeared to His disciples giving “many convincing proofs that he was alive” (Acts 1:3). Then Christ went to a mountain that is east of the city, called the Mount of Olives. Christ stood on the very spot where Ezekiel had seen the glory of God hovering as the platform left the temple, and then as the disciples watched, Christ ascended into the presence of the Father. He has returned to the throne that Ezekiel saw in his vision.

Then an angel appeared to the disciples and said, “Why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).

The glory of God appeared. The glory departed from the city as He was rejected and crucified outside Jerusalem. The glory has returned to the throne in heaven, and the glory of God will come again. That is where all history is headed.

On that day we will go one better than Ezekiel. He saw the Lord descend in a vision. We will be caught up to meet Him in the air, and so we will be forever with the Lord.

UNLOCKED

God is omnipresent. That means that He is always present in every place. Nothing is hidden from Him. But the Bible also makes it clear that there is a sense in which God’s presence comes to His people, and at times may be withdrawn from His people. It is possible for us to grieve the Spirit, and there may be times when God hides His presence from us. This is why Paul tells us that he exercised discipline in his personal life because, having preached to others, he did not want to become disqualified (1 Corinthians 9:27). Paul was not worried that he would lose his salvation, but he was deeply concerned about losing his usefulness in ministry.

Christ made it clear to the churches in the book of Revelation that if they refused to repent from patterns of persistent sin, a time would come when Christ would withdraw His own presence from them. That is why the church must be careful not to grieve the Spirit of God.

This is also why we should pray for revival. God can do more in us and through us than any of us have experienced. Paul prayed that the church would be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:19). Think of what that would be like!

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Almighty God,

I lift my heart in worship and praise to You the God who knows all things and from whom no secrets are hidden. Cleanse the hidden and secret places of my heart so that there will be no area of my life of which I would be ashamed in Your presence. Fill my life with the presence and power of Your Holy Spirit today, and guard my way so that I may not grieve You by sinning against You.

Come to Your church so that Your people may have a new sense of Your glory, majesty, and power. Revive your church, I pray.

Thank You that one day all Your people will see Your glory. Through Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.

12

Shepherd

EZEKIEL 34

What does

effective

leadership

look like?

DISCOVER

how God evaluates ministry.

LEARN

the key indicators of a healthy church.

WORSHIP

Christ, the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep.

FOR some years after we were married, my wife, Karen, worked as a teacher in a London school. The buildings were run down, there was a shortage of books and materials, and morale among the staff was low. The school principal had resigned in frustration, and the place was being run by a deputy head who was about to retire and didn’t want the responsibility.

Eventually a new principal was appointed. On her first day in the school she called a staff meeting. “This school,” she said, “has the reputation of being the worst in the area, and I intend to make it the best.” Newer members of the staff thought this was marvelous; those who had been around a long time found it insulting, but what she said was true, and over the next years she led the school in a remarkable turnaround in standards.

The experience of any group of people will largely be determined by the quality of their leadership. So when we talk about leadership, we are looking at an issue that affects every one of our lives. The experience of every family, school, business, church, and nation will largely depend on the quality of its leadership.

It should come as no surprise that the Bible has a great deal to say about this subject. In one sense the whole of the Old Testament is a story about leadership, and most of it is about leadership failures. The story leaves us asking, “Who will lead God’s people into the blessing that God wants them to enjoy?”

THREE KINDS OF LEADERS: THE PROPHET, PRIEST, AND KING

There are three distinct leadership roles in the Old Testament. The first of these was the role of the prophet who was to stand in the presence of God and hear the Word of God so that he could speak that Word to the people. The prophet gave leadership in the realm of truth.

Second, there was the role of the priests who operated in the temple. Their function was to offer the prayers and sacrifices. Their ministry related to worship; it was all about bringing people into the presence of God. You could go to a priest in the temple and he would pray with you. The priests offered a kind of pastoral counsel to people in relation to their spiritual lives. The role of the priest was the mirror image of the role of the prophet. The prophet spoke to men on behalf of God; the priest spoke to God on behalf of men.

Then there was the king, who would lead the people into battle and protect them from their enemies. He was also responsible for leading the people in right paths, so that they would continue to enjoy the blessing of God.

These three dimensions of leadership run all the way through the Bible story. The prophet was to lead the people into truth, the priest was to bring people to God, and the king was to lead the people into righteousness. The ministry of the prophet was about revealing, the ministry of the priest was about reconciling, and the ministry of the king was about ruling. These three ministries, taken together, show us God’s plan for leadership.

The way in which God divided authority between the prophets, priests, and kings gave some checks and balances to leadership among God’s people. The king ruled, but the prophet spoke the Word of God to the king. So you have Nathan coming to David, or Elijah coming to Ahab, or Jeremiah speaking to King Zedekiah, and telling them the Word of God.

The king ruled from the palace, but when he came to the temple, he was not allowed to offer a sacrifice. Only the priest could do that. Even the king in all his glory needed the priest to exercise that ministry of bringing him into the presence of God.

SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP IN THE CHURCH

These three leadership roles are still essential to the health of the church today. The church needs the prophetic function of teaching the Word of God. This is not a matter of revealing some new truth received directly from God, because God’s revelation has been completed in Jesus Christ. But every church needs the ministry of the Word so that God’s truth may be known among God’s people.

Then there is a priestly function in the ministry of prayer and pastoral care. The church needs a ministry of prayer in which the needs of people are brought before God, and help is given to those who struggle with their consciences or need to find relief from guilt and fear. This is the heart of pastoral ministry.

Then there is a kingly function in the area of vision and direction. The church is called to fulfill a purpose, and we need leadership that will help us all to move in that direction. There must be administration, organization, and order within the church of God. And leaders must protect the flock of God from false teaching, and from sin that could hinder God’s blessing on His people.

These three ministries will be a key indicator of the health of any local church. If you want to know about the spiritual state of a church, you could begin by asking questions like these?

1. Is there a strong, balanced, and sustained ministry of the Word so that the flock of God is being fed on a steady, healthy diet of truth?

2. Is there a ministry of prayer in which the needs of the people are brought before God privately and publicly, so that the wounded may be healed and the weak may be strengthened? Is the worship directed toward God, or is it primarily entertainment for the people?

3. Is there a sense of purpose and clarity of vision? Are the people protected from what is false so that God’s people are guided in right paths, and protected from sin and error as the whole church pursues the purpose of God?

SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP IN THE HOME

The ministries of prophet, priest, and king are central to leadership within the family. It is God’s plan that in every home there should be a prophetic ministry of teaching God’s truth to our children. Parents are also called to the priestly ministry of praying for our children and encouraging them in their knowledge of God.

In addition, parents are to perform a kingly ministry. They are to protect their children from an evil world and guide them into paths of righteousness. In any area of life, these are the foundational principles of leadership.

MINISTRIES FOR ALL GOD’S PEOPLE

The Scriptures tell us that, through Christ, the ministries of prophet, priest, and king have been opened to all the people of God. On the Day of Pentecost, Peter spoke about all God’s people prophesying (Acts 2:17). That doesn’t mean that all of us become preachers, but it does mean that God can use any of His people at any time to say something that God will use to penetrate someone else’s life. A friend of mine used to say that every Christian is like a pilot light: always lit and always carrying within him the potential to light a larger flame.

All the people of God become priests as well (1 Peter 2:9). We can all pray for and minister to one another in the body of Christ. And all of God’s people can offer worship, not just the choir or a few worship leaders on the platform.

All of God’s people are kings. God has “raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 2:6). We are positioned for victory over our enemies of sin, death, and hell, and are given the Spirit of God so that we may have the ability to move in right paths.

THE SHEPHERD LEADER

In the Bible, God has brought these three leadership roles of prophet, priest, and king together into one beautiful picture that encompasses all three dimensions of biblical leadership, and that is the image of a shepherd.

- The shepherd feeds the sheep—that is the role of the prophet, to sustain the people of God on a healthy diet of the Word of God.

- The shepherd seeks the sheep; when one of them is injured or lost, the shepherd is responsible for finding the sheep and doing what it takes to bring that sheep back, and that is the role of the priest.

- The shepherd leads the sheep—that’s the role of the king, giving direction and protection to the flock.

So when God speaks about shepherds, He is speaking about all the dimensions of leadership together—revealing, reconciling, and ruling; truth, worship, and power; preaching, pastoring, and leading—everything that is involved in leadership among the people of God.

Nowhere is the shepherd role detailed more clearly than in Ezekiel 34.

THE SHEPHERD’S PERFORMANCE REVIEW

Most professions have a system of making an annual review or appraisal of the way in which employees have performed their duties. God had trusted the shepherds of Israel with the great responsibility of leading His people, and in Ezekiel 34, God gives an evaluation of their performance.

God spoke these words through Ezekiel, who was ministering to a community of ten thousand people who had been uprooted from their homes in Jerusalem and were now living as exiles by the Kebar River near Babylon. These people must have wondered why all this had happened to the people of God. So God spoke to Ezekiel, telling him that the people of God came to disaster because of a massive failure of leadership.

The word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock?’” (VV. 1–2)

God brings three particular charges against the leaders of His people: They abuse their power, subvert the truth, and neglect the Lord.

LEADERS WHO ABUSE THEIR POWER

“You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally.” (V. 4; EMPHASIS ADDED)

It is as if God was saying, “You kings have been given power; now what have you done with it?”

Ezekiel was not speaking about any one king, but about the whole history of the kings. The exile to Babylon did not happen because of the sins of one generation, but because of the repeated pattern of sin over many generations. God was saying that there had been a consistent pattern of abuse of power down through the entire history of the nation.

This should not surprise us because it is exactly what God said would happen before the first king was appointed. When the people asked for a king, God told them that a king would conscript their sons into the army, take their daughters into the service of the palace, and raise taxes on their crops and livestock, so that in the end, the people would “cry out for relief from the king [they had] chosen” (1 Samuel 8:18).

That is exactly what happened. Many kings were wicked, but even the best kings ended up placing great burdens upon the people. Solomon is remembered for all his glory, but his abuses of power were considerable. He built the temple, but a large part of it was done under forced labor, and the taxes on the people were almost intolerable.

When he died, the people came to his son Rehoboam and said, “Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you” (1 Kings 12:4). But when Rehoboam made his first public policy speech, this is what he said: “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions” (12:14).

This is hardly a model of exercising power in the interests of the people! But it became a pattern, and God said, “That’s not being a shepherd.”

LEADERS WHO SUBVERT GOD’S TRUTH

God spoke through Ezekiel to those who claimed to be prophets, but replaced the Word of God with a catalog of their own opinions.

The word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are now prophesying. Say to those who prophesy out of their own imagination: ‘Hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing!’” (13:1–3)

These leaders looked at the market and discovered what people wanted to hear. Then they shaped their message to fit the felt needs of the hour. In Ezekiel’s time, these prophets observed that the people wanted to hear a message of peace, so they gave the people what they wanted. They led God’s people astray by saying “peace” when God had said that there would be no peace (Ezekiel 13:10). What God had said did not concern them. Their ministry was not driven by truth but by demand. But that’s not feeding the sheep!

LEADERS WHO NEGLECT THE LORD

“Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean; and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.” (22:26)

The priests were given a ministry of bringing people to God, but instead of bringing people to God, they became like secular counselors and focused on helping people to be at peace with themselves. They were not exercising a ministry of prayer or showing people how to be reconciled with God. If you had gone to one of these priests, you could have gone through a whole session without any prayer or any reference to Scripture. In fact, they said very little about God. They had lost the vertical—man to God. Their ministry focused entirely on the horizontal—man to man.

So God was giving very low marks to the shepherds of Israel. He had looked at their work and had seen terrible abuses of power, a deliberate subversion of the truth, and a neglect of God Himself so that ministry among God’s people had become secularized. The effect of all this was that God’s flock was malnourished, they were not cared for, and they were not protected.

TIME FOR A NEW SHEPHERD

God found the situation among His people intolerable, so He determined to intervene. But He would do so in an unexpected way. In fact, God told Ezekiel something absolutely astonishing:

“I myself will tend my sheep…declares the Sovereign LORD.” (34:15)

In effect, God said, “I will be the prophet, priest, and king to My people. I will personally bring the truth to them. I will come and care for My people Myself. I will personally protect them and lead them in the right paths. I will be the shepherd to the sheep.” It must have been hard for Ezekiel to understand how God could possibly do that.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

When Jesus Christ came into the world, He saw that the people were still living under the kind of religious leadership that imposes unnecessary burdens. The shepherds of God’s flock were not bringing the people into the joy of the knowledge of God, and as Jesus looked at the people, “he had compassion on them.” They were “like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36).

Christ gave an uncompromising assessment of the shepherds of God’s people. “All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers,” He said (John 10:8). They feathered their own nest. They used the flock for their own advantage. Then Jesus identified Himself as the Shepherd of Ezekiel 34 who would tend the sheep:

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (JOHN 10:11)

Here was sacrificial leadership. As the Good Shepherd, Jesus would give the lost sheep everything they would need. First, He would feed the sheep with God’s truth. Perhaps you have wondered how you could grow in the Christian life, or how you could be sustained in what you are facing. Christ will sustain you and He will nourish you in the truth. You will grow more than you ever thought you could as you walk with Him.

Second, Jesus Christ came to seek the sheep. He illustrated His own ministry in the story of the shepherd who left the sheep in his pen, in order to go and find one who was lost, “and when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home” (Luke 15:5–6). Jesus is the One who will bring lost people back to God. And He does not wait for them to come to Him. Christ does the work of going out and finding lost people and bringing them back to God.

Third, Christ leads the sheep, all the while protecting them from their enemies. “My sheep…shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:27–28). He will guard you by all means, and when death comes, He will bring you into everlasting life.

Christ said, “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6). But there were other shepherds among the people who did not like the truth He was teaching, the way He was leading, or the life He was giving. They saw the danger of losing their flocks. So they called Him in, and Christ was brought to stand before the shepherds of God’s own people. The Good Shepherd became as one of the sheep.

CHRIST BEFORE THE “SHEPHERDS”

In the dramatic story of the trial and crucifixion of Jesus, several key characters filled the roles of a prophet, a priest, and a king. But they were not worthy shepherds of the people.

First, Christ was brought to the house of Annas the priest (John 18:12–13). If ever there was a priest who used his position to feather his own nest, Annas was the man. The Bazaars of Annas in the temples were infamous for their exorbitant rates of exchange, which bordered on extortion and let Annas live like royalty. You can imagine how upset Annas must have been when he heard of Christ overturning the traders’ tables in the temple.

The position of high priest seems to have been kept in a tight family circle, and at this time, the position was held by Annas’s son-in-law, Caiaphas.

When Christ stood before Caiaphas, surrounded by elders and teachers, one of the shepherds of Israel spat in Christ’s face. Others slapped Him and struck Him with their fists (Matthew 26:67). God had given the high priest the responsibility of leading His people in worship. But in the house of Caiaphas, the one who was to lead worship stood by as they spat in the face of the Son of God.

Then Christ was sent from the priest to the king, whose name was Herod. This was the king who had abused his power by ordering the execution of John the Baptist. John was a prophet and had spoken God’s Word to the king, and Herod did not like it. Herod was more like a butcher than a shepherd. The king was responsible for defending God’s people, but Herod offered no defense to Christ. He simply sent Him back to Pilate.

As the governor of the land, Pilate’s duty was to establish the truth and administer justice. Although not a prophet, he did receive a revelation as God spoke to his wife through a dream. Later, when Christ spoke to Pilate about the truth, the governor was not impressed. “What is truth?” he asked (John 18:38). Unlike true prophets, this judge did not believe that there was such a thing as truth regarding Jesus’ identity, and so his decision about Jesus could not be based on justice, but rather on the prevailing mood of the people. Pilate washed his hands and went with the popular vote which, on that particular week, was for the crucifixion of the Son of God.

So Christ the Good Shepherd became a meek lamb. He was “led like a lamb to the slaughter” (Isaiah 53:7). He suffered as one of the sheep under the shepherds who abused power, subverted truth, and cared more for themselves than for God. At the cross, He became the sacrificial lamb who would take away the sins of the world.

THE MIGHTY SHEPHERD

Then on the third day, He rose from the dead. Death is a dark valley. But the Shepherd has already been through it. He has cleared the enemies out of the tunnel. It is still a dark place, but it is a safe place for all who belong to the Shepherd. “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (Psalm 23:4).

Then Christ ascended to heaven, and on the Day of Pentecost He poured out the Holy Spirit. Ever since that time, He has been giving gifts to the church. The ascended Christ gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers (Ephesians 4:11). Some are gifted to give direction to God’s people. Some are gifted to proclaim the truth. Some care for the flock and prepare God’s people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up. Those who are gifted and called to leadership in the church are undershepherds of the flock of God. They serve under the Good Shepherd. There could be no greater privilege or responsibility.

SHEPHERDING tHE FLOCK OF GOD

Jesus gave very clear instructions about how leadership is to be exercised in the church. “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:25–28). Don’t use your power to promote personal agendas. Use your power as a servant of the people of God.

Leaders in the church are to make sure that the flock of God are fed on the truth. There will always be pressure from people with itching ears who have their own agenda for what they want to hear from the pulpit, but pastors are to preach the Word and lay leaders are to support and encourage them in that task.

Leaders of Christ’s church are not entertainers who make a living by appealing to felt needs. They are to be like priests who will reach out to lost people and bring them to God. The church is to be a kingdom of priests, a worshiping community with a heart for the lost. Christian leaders are given a great trust by the Chief Shepherd and by the flock of God. They are accountable for the way in which they exercise their ministry to the Lord Himself.

Is Christ your Shepherd? Can you say, “The Lord is my shepherd”? The apostle Peter used a beautiful phrase to describe what it means to become a real Christian. He said that we “were like sheep going astray…[who] have returned to the Shepherd…of [our] souls” (1 Peter 2:25). We return to the Shepherd when we believe that Christ is the truth, receive the reconciliation that He, as our great High Priest, has achieved through His sacrifice on the cross, and submit to His rule as King. If you are not sure that Christ is your Shepherd, you can come into His flock today by believing His truth, trusting His sacrifice, and submitting to His rule.

UNLOCKED

Shepherding God’s flock involves the ministries of the prophet, priest, and king. Those who are trusted by God with the responsibility of leadership in the church must be very careful that they do not become like the shepherds in Ezekiel’s day who abused their positions. It is an abuse of privilege to teach one’s own opinions, to neglect the spiritual needs of God’s people, or to impose unnecessary burdens on them.

Effective leaders will teach God’s truth, pastor God’s people, and lead God’s flock in paths that are pleasing to God. They focus on these duties because they are accountable to the Great Shepherd of the sheep, Jesus Christ. Jesus gave His life for the sheep, and as the Good Shepherd, He will bring His sheep into God’s fold.

Human leaders may sometimes disappoint and fail us, but the Good Shepherd cares for the sheep and will not lose a single one.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Gracious Father,

Pour out Your blessing on the leaders of Your church today. Help them to walk with You in integrity, and keep them from the attacks of the evil one. Give Your shepherds a deep love for Your Word and for Your people. Give them great wisdom to lead Your people in right paths and to protect them from danger.

Thank You that Your church is in the hands of the Great Shepherd who gave His life for the sheep. Feed me with Your word, renew and restore my soul, and lead me in right paths, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

13

Breath

EZEKIEL 37

How does God

bring life to

people who are

spiritually dead?

DISCOVER

the place of preaching and prayer in God’s purpose.

LEARN

how we should view the future with humility and faith.

WORSHIP

the God who gives life to the dead.

THE bedraggled stranger walked into town and asked for directions to the house of the prophet. He was exhausted after his seven-hundred-mile journey, and he said that he had bad news. Ezekiel never forgot the day that the stranger arrived at his home. It was the fifth day of the tenth month in the twelfth year (Ezekiel 33:21). That meant that it had been twelve years since Ezekiel and the ten thousand other exiles had been taken captive and deported to the Kebar River.

There had been endless discussion among the exiles about what would happen next in Jerusalem. False prophets had insisted that the exile would only be for a short time, and that soon God’s people would be back in God’s city, but that was not what God had said. Now the bedraggled stranger arrived with the news that Ezekiel had dreaded even though he knew that it would happen: “The city has fallen!” (33:21).

It is hard for us to imagine the impact of this. Jerusalem was the city of God. God had put His name and His presence there. These people had been brought up in Sabbath school singing songs like “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall” (Psalm 46:4–5; italics added).

So how could God have allowed this to happen? Did it mean that God had given up on His people? What kind of future was there now? Those were the great questions that the exiles at the Kebar River were struggling with. That was when God gave Ezekiel a vision of the future for these people.

FACING THE CREDIBILITY GAP

Before the vision, God had already made a great promise to His people: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26). Despite His promise, the people said, “Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off” (37:11).

God was saying, “A terrible thing has happened, but I want you to know that it is not the end. My purpose continues, and I am going to fulfill My promise.”

But the people were answering, “No, this is the end of the road. There is no future for us. After what has happened, our hope is gone.”

The people felt that there was a credibility gap between the promises of God and the circumstances they were facing. They heard what God was saying through Ezekiel, but they were finding it very difficult to connect the Word of God with the broken reality that was all around them.

Perhaps there have been times when you have felt that in church on Sunday morning. The preacher talks about how the life of God can be poured into the church so that the truth, love, and grace of God may flow into the community. He reads from the Bible about the wonderful promises of God. But you look at the rising godlessness of our time and say, “No, we are cut off.”

There are times when the broken circumstances of life make us feel that we are beyond the range of the promises of God, and that while they may be for other people, at other times, or in other places, they are somehow not for us. If you have felt that, then the vision God gave to Ezekiel is just for you.

UNDERSTANDING THE SCALE OF THE PROBLEM

The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. (37:1)

In this vision, God took Ezekiel to a rather grim valley. It was like a mass graveyard filled with human remains, as if there had been a great slaughter there hundreds of years before. God told Ezekiel that the bones he was seeing in the vision represented the whole house of Israel (v. 11). The people were complaining that “our bones are dried up,” so God used the picture of a valley of dry bones to speak to them.

The first thing God did to impress upon Ezekiel the scale of the problem was to give the prophet a guided tour.

He led me back and forth among them [the bones], and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. (V. 2)

I don’t suppose that Ezekiel particularly enjoyed this experience. God led him back and forth over this grim valley. The longer the tour continued, the more deeply the hopelessness of the situation was impressed on Ezekiel’s mind. There was not the faintest sign of life in the valley. God was saying, “I want you to take in how dead this whole situation is. You need to see how hopeless things have become.” Ezekiel had to be convinced that the only hope would be through a direct intervention of God.

The only hope would be through a direct intervention of God.

Actually, this is a great way to start out in ministry! You have to begin with an honest assessment of the realities you are facing. God said to Ezekiel, “Here is what you are up against. You are called to minister in a place where there is not the slightest sign of life.”

Ezekiel had remarkable gifts and abilities. He clearly had an unusual flair for creative communication. But none of that would be much use in a valley of dry bones. “Ezekiel, here is something to help with your humility. Your gifts, your talents, your resources aren’t going to amount to a hill of beans in a valley of dry bones! Ezekiel, see how dry the bones are! There is no program that will fix this problem. There is nothing that you can do that will transform the reality that I am showing you right now.”

The first thing that we need to understand in ministry is that what God calls us to do is impossible. If we do not grasp this principle, we will not survive in ministry for long.

Perhaps God is showing you a valley of dry bones. Maybe you have been looking for signs of hope in the spiritual condition of someone you love. You have been praying for them for a long time, but the truth is that there is not the slightest sign of life. When you try to talk with them about spiritual things, their eyes glaze over. They are as unresponsive to the things of God as the dry bones Ezekiel saw. Maybe something has happened and now the situation seems more hopeless than it ever did before. God took Ezekiel over the valley of dry bones again and again until in the end, he was absolutely convinced that the only hope would be a direct intervention of God. Do you see that?

HOW TO ANSWER GOD’S BIG QUESTION

After showing Ezekiel the desperate state of the valley, God asked the prophet the big question.

He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” (V. 3)

How would you have answered that question?

Ezekiel could have said yes. There are people today who are looking at the valley of dry bones and saying, “Yes, they will live.” I listened to a tape recently in which a well-known Bible teacher began his message by announcing categorically that America is on the brink of the greatest outpouring of the Holy Spirit that the world has ever seen. He was absolutely certain about it. I hope he is right, but I don’t know how he knows that. There is a great danger in confusing naive optimism with faith.

Alternatively, Ezekiel could have said no. It is very easy for us in a postmodern culture, where Christianity is moving to a minority position, to feel that our freedoms will be eroded, and before long the church will fade into insignificance. I have also heard this predicted. I hope that it is wrong, but how can we know what the future holds?

Ezekiel took neither of these positions, and his response gives us a model of faith.

“O sovereign LORD, you alone know.” (V. 3)

The prophet was saying, “Lord, there is no way that I can know what You will do in the future with these particular bones.” There is great humility in Ezekiel’s response.

We also need such humility. We need an attitude that says, “Lord, keep me from the arrogance that says yes. Keep me from the spirit that says, ‘I know how it works; I can make it happen.’ Keep me from the presumption that says we can reclaim this country for Christ.”

There is also great faith in Ezekiel’s response, “You alone know.”

“Lord, keep me from the unbelief that says no. Keep me from the spirit that says, ‘These are dark days, and the difficulties are so great that I cannot see any possibility of change.’ ” Ezekiel would neither despair nor presume. He found his rest in the sovereignty of God.

I am very grateful that God does know the future. Some people are questioning that today. I am glad Ezekiel was not in the position of saying, “Well, I don’t know, and of course God can’t know because it all depends on how people respond!” If it all depended on how people respond, there wouldn’t be much hope in the valley of dry bones.

Ezekiel got the answer absolutely right. Similarly we should say, “Lord, I don’t know if the future of the church in this country is revival or decline, but You do. I don’t know whether those I pray for will come to Christ or whether they will remain in their hardness of heart, but You know. I do not know whether we are going to see a great missionary advance through ever-opening doors or whether we will find the doors of opportunity closing, but You know. The future of those I pray for and seek to minister to is known to You, and I will find my rest in the sovereignty of God.”

God took Ezekiel on a tour in which he saw the utter hopelessness of the situation. Then God asked him a question that led him to affirm his confidence in the sovereignty of God.

WHAT TO DO WHILE YOU ARE TRUSTING GOD

Then, God called Ezekiel into action.

“Prophesy to these bones.” (V. 4)

Notice that believing in the sovereignty of God is never an excuse for sitting back and doing nothing. Ezekiel had trusted the future into the hands of God, but now God had something for him to do.

“Ezekiel, here is what I want you to do: Preach to the bones.”

“You want me to speak to a pile of bones?”

“Yes, Ezekiel, that’s right.”

“Do I actually have to speak out loud? I’d feel rather stupid doing that when the audience are all dead. Can’t I just think my sermon or even just say a prayer instead?”

“No, I want you to prophesy out loud.”

“To the bones?”

“Yes, to the bones.”

This is one of the strangest commands in the Bible. Why would God want the prophet to speak to a pile of dead bones?

Pastor Erwin Lutzer of Chicago’s Moody Memorial Church once told me about a class that he holds from time to time for preachers. In the first session, he takes a group of seminarians on a field trip to a cemetery. They gather on the grass, somewhat curious at what is going on. Then Pastor Lutzer asks if someone in the group will volunteer to preach. Nobody wants to do that, of course. The whole thing seems ridiculous. What is the point of preaching in a situation where, by definition, hearing, understanding, and responding are impossible?

The point of the exercise is simple. Every time someone presents the Word of God to an unbelieving person, that is exactly the situation. The Bible says that until God makes us alive through Jesus Christ, we are spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1–5).

God does amazing things when His truth is proclaimed.

There is something inherently absurd about preaching the gospel or sharing your faith. When we do that, we are speaking to people who are spiritually dead and, therefore, by definition, incapable of response. Maybe you have felt the pain of this. You speak to a colleague about eternal things, or about the glory of Christ, or the life-changing power of the Cross, and there is no response! Their eyes glaze over, and you know that your best efforts just didn’t connect.

Ezekiel might well have objected that God was calling him to do something that had no reasonable chance of success. But God called him to preach anyway. “Prophesy to the bones, Ezekiel.” So he did. Perhaps he felt rather stupid, but he began to speak the Word of God to the bones.

As he spoke, an amazing thing happened. To Ezekiel’s absolute astonishment, there was some movement in the graveyard. Nothing had moved in that valley for years, but now there was the sound of movement, and as Ezekiel looked, he saw that the bones were coming together! They connected to form the intricate structure of skeletons. Ezekiel kept preaching. Something was happening as he preached, and as he continued to watch, he saw tendons sealing the connections of the bones, and then flesh, and then skin. It was incredible.

I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. (V. 8)

Bones speak of structure. Tendons speak of unity (they hold the bones together). Flesh (which includes muscle) speaks of strength, and skin speaks of appearance. If the bodies had only been covered in flesh, they would have looked hideous, but God gave them skin. All of that was there, but there was no breath.

The church of Jesus Christ can have all these things, and still not have life. The church can have marvelous structures; people can be very united; there can be the strength of all kinds of resources, and an outward appearance that is very attractive, but still no breath.

At this point in the vision, all that had happened was that under Ezekiel’s ministry, the graveyard was better organized! It was no longer a massive burial ground for dry bones; now it was a burial place of dead corpses! The miracle that God would do in the valley began as the prophet preached. God does amazing things when His truth is proclaimed. But it was clear to Ezekiel that it would take more than his preaching to bring life back to the valley of dry bones.

Charles Spurgeon said, “You may study your sermon, you may examine the original of your text, you may critically follow it out in all its bearings; you may go and preach it with great correctness of expression; but you cannot quicken a soul by that sermon. You may go up into your pulpit, you may illustrate, explain, and enforce the truth; with mighty rhetoric you may charm your hearers; you may hold them spellbound, but no eloquence of yours can raise the dead.”[1]

Parents can teach their children God’s truth; churches can run magnificent programs. We can pass out tracts and go on marches. All such activities are good. Yet none of these things in themselves will raise the spiritually dead. Something else has to happen.

SPEAKING TO THE BREATH

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath.” (V. 9)

God called Ezekiel to accompany his ministry of preaching to people who were spiritually dead with another ministry. He must prophesy to the bones, but he must also prophesy to the breath.

The Hebrew word that is translated “breath” is Ruach. It can mean “breath,” “wind,” or “spirit.” Back in the book of Genesis, God made man from the dust of the ground. God formed a corpse from chemical matter. The corpse consisted of bones, tendons, flesh and skin, but he did not have life. Then God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7).

Now God is about to do the same thing again in the valley of dry bones.

The prophet sees structure, unity, strength, and an attractive appearance before him, but there is no life here. So God tells Ezekiel to call on the wind of God’s Spirit.

“This is what the sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.” (V. 9)

So Ezekiel began to pray, and as he did, the breath of God entered the corpses. Ezekiel saw them coming to life, and then standing up, until right there, in what had been a valley of dry bones, there stood a vast army ready for action (vv. 9–10).

Never, never, never underestimate what God can do, when His Word is preached and His people pray. If the breath of the Spirit of God blows upon a situation that is completely dead, a remarkable transformation will take place.

As Ezekiel looked at the vast army in the valley, he knew that this was the work of God. But he also knew that God had done this miracle as he preached and as he prayed. He must have wondered, What if I had not spoken? What if I had not prayed?

Don’t you long for the wind of the Spirit to accompany the preaching of God’s Word so that miracles of grace will happen in the darkest and most hopeless places? Where the wind blows is in the sovereignty of God. It is not under our control. But God calls us to speak the truth and call on the Spirit of God in prayer.

So what are we to do if our children’s eyes glaze over as we try to present the truth, or if a colleague seems unresponsive as we share our testimony? First, we can try to introduce them to, or keep them in, an environment where they will hear God’s truth. Then we can surround them with the ministry of prayer. We are to speak the Word of God and to call on the Spirit of God. We are to proclaim the Word and to call on the wind. And God is telling us that amazing things can happen in the most unpromising places when His Word is preached and His people pray.

FROM VISION TO REALITY

Of course, all of this was simply a vision that God gave to Ezekiel. It was a wonderful vision, because it spoke directly to God’s people when they felt there was no future for them. But the amazing thing is that the vision became reality. The people by the Kebar River turned out to be the key to God’s purpose for His people. When Jerusalem was destroyed, God kept these people safe in Babylon. They were preserved like Noah in the ark, and through these people and their children, the unbroken line of God’s purpose would continue.

Seventy years later, the children of those people, who had said, “Our hope is gone; we are cut off,” returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and the city walls. They established a worshiping community where God’s name would be honored and His law obeyed. Through these once-discouraged people by the Kebar River God advanced His plan to bring blessing to the nations of the world.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

When Nicodemus talked with Jesus about his spiritual life, this religious leader came at night, presumably because he wanted to have a private discussion. After all, he was one of the leaders of the synagogue, and people expect their spiritual leaders to have their own spiritual lives sorted out. But Nicodemus knew that there was a dryness and a hunger in his own soul. He knew that he needed help, and so he came to Jesus.

Nicodemus was part of a group that had structure, unity, strength, and a great appearance, but somewhere deep in this man’s soul, he knew that he did not have spiritual life. He felt like a corpse in a valley of dry bones.

Jesus said to him,

“Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (JOHN 3:6–8)

Nicodemus needed the wind of the Spirit of God to blow on him and give him new life. And that is exactly what happened to him. When Christ was crucified, Nicodemus stepped forward to ask for the body of Jesus (John 19:38–39), and in this way he identified himself as a disciple of Christ.

When Jesus rose from the dead, He appeared to His disciples and showed them His scars. Then He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). Just as physical life was breathed into Adam by God at the creation, so now, spiritual life was breathed into the disciples by the Lord Jesus Christ. Spiritual life is the gift of God. Nothing much seemed to happen at that moment. When Jesus breathed on them, He was illustrating what would happen after His ascension, when the wind of God would blow on them, and the Spirit would come.

Forty days later, it happened. They were all gathered together in one place, in the city of Jerusalem, and they had been praying. “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting” (Acts 2:2). And when that happened, Peter spoke to a vast crowd of people who were spiritually dead. He prophesied to the bones and spiritual life came to them through the Word and by the Spirit.

Three thousand people were converted on that day. They were from all over the known world, and they began to spread the good news of Jesus Christ to the nations. Spiritually dry bones came to life. Today, all who have the breath of God’s Spirit breathed within, have a new, everlasting life.

When we get to the end of the Bible story, we find that God has one more thing to do involving bones. God has set a day for gathering the bones of His people. Believers who have died are taken immediately and consciously into the presence of Christ. But there is still a final miracle of grace that will not be given to any believers until it is given to all believers together.

The Lord himself will come down from heaven,… and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. (1 THESSALONIANS 4:16–17)

Knowing this truth, we can “encourage each other with these words” (4:18).

UNLOCKED

The way in which God brings life to spiritually dead people is a great mystery and a miracle of His grace. There are many things that we do not understand, but the Scriptures do make certain things clear. Spiritual life is imparted by the Spirit of God. The Spirit is like the wind, and we do not control where, how, or when the wind blows. But God does work through people like you and me; Ezekiel’s vision clearly indicates that the Spirit of God works in, through, and along with the declaring of God’s truth and the prayers of God’s people. This does not mean that people will be converted every time we teach the Bible and pray, but it does mean that people will not normally come to spiritual life without a ministry of the Word and prayer. These are the normal means that God uses. God’s Spirit brought life to the dead bones as Ezekiel was faithful to God’s call to speak His truth and pray. As we are faithful to this same calling, we may look to the Spirit of God to bring the wonderful gift of spiritual life.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

I come to You, the author and sustainer of life, and stand amazed at Your awesome power. Thank You for giving me new life through Your Word and by the power of Your Spirit. Thank You for making me a new creation in Jesus Christ.

Breathe new life from above into your church, O Lord. Help me to feel my need and to be renewed in Your power. Cause Your people to rise up in faith and obedience so that our nation may hear Your voice and know that You are the living God.

I pray this in the name of my Lord and Savior, Jesus. Amen.

O Breath of Life, come sweeping through us,

Revive your church with life and power.

O Breath of Life, come cleanse, renew us,

And fit your church to meet this hour.

O wind of God, come bend us break us,

Till humbly we confess our need.

Then in your tenderness remake us,

Revive, restore, for this we plead.

—BESSIE P. HEAD

“O Breath of Life”

NOTE

1. Charles Spurgeon, “Come from the Four Winds, O Breath!” Metropolitan pulpit sermon 2246, as cited in “The C. H. Spurgeon Collection,” CD disk (Albany, Oreg.: Ages Software, 1998). Preached in 1890.

14

Alien

DANIEL 1

How can I live in

the world without

being squeezed

into its mold?

DISCOVER

how to live a distinctively Christian life in a secular world.

LEARN

how Satan tries to subvert the Christian.

WORSHIP

because Christ has overcome the world.

722

END OF NORTH KINGDOM

700 B.C.

640–609

JOSIAH

608–598

JEHOLAKIM

606–536

BABYLONIAN

CAPTIVITY

605

FIRST DEPORTATION

600

DANIEL

598–597

597

597–586

586

JEHOIACHIN

SECOND DEPORTATION

ZEDEKIAH

FALL OF JERUSALEM

536

FIRST RETURN TO JERUSALEM

500

My wife, Karen, teaches kindergarten at a Christian school. On the day of the 2000 presidential election, the children were sitting on the rug talking about all that was going on. It was election day, and the children had caught the excitement. Then Karen told them that she would not be voting, and she asked them why they thought this might be.

“Is it because you are too old?” asked one confident youngster.

“Is it because you are teaching us?”

“Is it because you have a meeting to go to later?”

Eventually a bright child asked, “Is it because you come from England, Mrs. Smith?”

“Yes,” said Karen, “and do you know what they call me? A resident alien.”

It is amazing what sticks in a child’s mind, because two weeks later, when the children were sitting on the rug for their morning prayer time, one little girl began to pray for my wife. “Dear Lord, please help people to stop calling Mrs. Smith a resident alien, because that’s really not very nice!”

ALIENS wITH A HEAVENLY PASSPORT

The Bible uses the words aliens and strangers to describe God’s people (1 Peter 2:11). We do not belong here in any permanent way. We are given the privilege of life in this world for a short time, but this world is not home for us. We belong to another city “whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:10 NKJV), and our time here is a preparation for taking our citizenship, which is above. You cannot understand this life or this world until you have grasped that this is not what God created you for.

If you are a Christian, you should think of yourself as a person who carries two passports. One of them will expire, because when Christ returns national identities will be relegated to history as all of God’s people are united together in heaven. But your passport as a citizen of heaven will never pass away. It will remain forever.

The art of the Christian life is to live in this world without becoming consumed by it. We are to use the short time frame of our life here to prepare for the main event which is still to come. The story of Daniel is about one of God’s people in an alien land, and it gives us a powerful model of how we should live in a secular and materialistic culture.

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS ABDUCTED!

Daniel was one of the small group of talented students who were taken to Babylon after the first siege of Jerusalem. He was taken from his home in the third year of Jehoiakim (1:1) and remained in Babylon until the first year of King Cyrus (v. 21). That is a period of sixty-five or seventy years and so, given a normal life expectancy, Daniel must have been under the age of twenty when he came to Babylon. In all probability, he was of high school age.

Try and get a picture of this high school student in your mind as we follow the story. Daniel was one of the brightest and the best. He came from a good home and was a straight-A student. He had an “aptitude for every kind of learning” (v. 4). He was also extremely fit and very good-looking. The world was at his feet.

Then one day during his junior year, Dan was sitting at his desk when there was a knock on the door. A moment later, three soldiers from the Babylonian army burst in, and Daniel was dragged off and, along with some of his school friends, marched seven hundred miles to Babylon. These prize pupils were abducted—part of the first deportation—and the parents could do nothing to stop it!

Daniel’s parents must have been distraught. And who knows what must have been going through Daniel’s own mind as he talked with his friends.

“What do you think they will do to us, Dan?”

“They’ll probably torture us till we die.”

They needn’t have worried, because when they arrived in Babylon, they found that far from being abused and imprisoned, they were treated like royalty and enrolled in a topflight boarding school. They had been selected to participate in the nation’s premier education program and would be fast-tracked into the king’s service. If they played their cards right, they would have the opportunity of holding down some of the top jobs in the whole of the Babylonian empire. Life in captivity was turning out not to be so bad after all!

THE PRESSURE TO CONFORM

Daniel had grown up under the care of his parents and the influence of godly people. Now suddenly, he was taken out of that environment and placed in a new situation where he had to stand on his own feet… and make his own decisions. In Jerusalem many knew him. But in Babylon he was completely anonymous.

“How can you believe that your god is the only God?”

Those who travel know all about this pressure. At home there are many people who know you, but when you get on a plane or check into a hotel, nobody knows who you are. Suddenly, it occurs to you that you can be whoever you want to be, and that brings pressure. All Satan has to do with some people is put them in a different location and their testimony is completely undermined.

This is a great test for those who leave home and head off to college. The watchful eyes of parents cannot extend to a new location, and that’s when who you really are will be made known. That is exactly the situation that Daniel was confronted with. When you can be whoever you want to be, then the person you really are will be revealed. That was the first pressure Daniel faced.

Daniel was placed under the care of a tutor called Ashpenaz, who was assigned to teach these students “the language and literature of the Babylonians” (v. 4). Back in Jerusalem, Daniel would have studied Hebrew and learned the Bible. But the Bible was not on the curriculum in Babylon.

Daniel was exposed to a whole spectrum of learning, much of which would have been quite foreign to him. In fact, a great deal of it would have been in direct conflict with what he had been taught from the Bible as a child. Learning the literature of the Babylonians would have included the myths of their gods: Marduk, Bel, and Nebo.

There would have been all the usual discussions among the students over coffee. And there would have been challenges from other students and their tutor. “How can you Jewish boys seriously believe that your god is the only God?…Don’t you understand that every culture has its own religious stories and that all of them point to the same spiritual reality?…How can you possibly think that you are the only ones who have the truth? Don’t you understand that these Bible stories are simply a way of describing the personal beliefs of the author?” It is not very different for many Christian young people in secular universities today.

Parents are sometimes distressed over things that their children have to read or are taught in secular schools. Students are studying literature that is sometimes in direct contradiction to the truth. But this is nothing new. It is exactly the situation that Daniel faced. God has given us a model of how one godly youngster and a group of his friends stood against that pressure. Far from their secular education overwhelming them, it was actually the making of them. In the goodness of God, their Babylonian education became the anvil on which their faith was hammered out into maturity.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Ashpenaz gave new names to his new students (1:7). He did not want to use their Jewish names, so he gave them Babylonian names instead. Daniel’s name means “God is my Judge;” El was one of the Hebrew names for God. Ashpenaz changed this to Belteshazzar. Bel was the name of one of the Babylonian gods, and Belteshazzar means keeper of the hidden treasures of Bel. At this point, the Ashpenaz plan becomes very clear. He was taking these brightest Jewish students, and he was attempting to “Babylonize” them.

By putting them in another place, and filling their minds with another learning, and calling them by another name, he was attempting to erode the roots of their distinctive faith in God, so that at the end of three years in the royal college, they would emerge with flying colors and a thoroughly Babylonian worldview They would still be Jews, of course, but they would think, act, behave, and respond exactly like Babylonians.

MASKS OF THE ENEMY

At key points during Old Testament times, God’s people lived under two very different kinds of oppression. Pharaoh’s plan was to persecute God’s people. He was ruthless and put them through hard labor. It was a terrible attack on God’s people, but all that happened was that they multiplied and became stronger. Satan uses the same tactic today in many places where Christians are persecuted for their faith. The outcome is usually the same; God’s people become stronger under persecution.

Nebuchadnezzar’s plan was more subtle. He had read his history and knew that what Pharaoh had attempted didn’t work. Nebuchadnezzar realized that the best way to subdue these people was not to persecute them, but to bless them. His strategy was to welcome them and absorb them into the culture of Babylon. He opened doors of opportunity for them and placed them on the fast track to Babylonian success. He was convinced that they would find it so intoxicating that they would quickly forget all about their distinctive calling as the people of God, and it would not be long before they would lose every trace of what made them different.

This story speaks powerfully to the church in America today. There are some places in the world where the enemy of our souls is using the crude tactics of Pharaoh. But he is increasingly using the tactics of Nebuchadnezzar, and they are proving very effective in his warfare against the church. The strategy is very simple. Intoxicate the people of God with the sheer fascination and splendor of this world. Spread the assumption that what they believe could not actually be true. Gradually erode their distinctive practices and values, and it will not be long before they are so assimilated into the culture that their distinctive calling to live for the glory of God will simply be overwhelmed. There are some believers who might be heroes under the persecutions of Egypt, but are unable to resist the seductions of Babylon.

A TASTE OF THE HIGH LIFE

The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service. (V. 5)

This was heady stuff for a group of high schoolers. They were eating from the same menu as the king of Babylon. Every mealtime the same message was getting through to these students: “The king’s palace is the place to be. This is where the doors of opportunity are. This is the fast track to success and all that success offers.” The king knew that once they got a taste for the high life, they would find it difficult to settle for anything else.

But Daniel decided that he would not eat from the king’s table. He “resolved not to defile himself with the royal food” (v. 8). There are different opinions about why this was. Some suggest that it was to do with Jewish food laws. Others suggest that it was because the king’s meat had been offered to idols before it was cooked. I am convinced that there is a much larger issue here. Daniel abstained from the king’s table, not because of some scruples of conscience, but because he was absolutely realistic about the pressure of the culture that could so easily suck him in.

He understood what was happening. He realized that Nebuchadnezzar wanted to overwhelm him with the opportunities of life in Babylon, and Daniel was determined that this would never happen. He would live, serve, and prosper in Babylon, but he would never allow Babylon to consume his heart. He would always remember that he served a greater King, and he would never forget that he belonged to another place.

But he needed some way of keeping that fixed in his mind. So he chose to establish a discipline for himself. He turned down the offer of a daily visit to the top restaurant in town and ate a brown bag lunch of vegetables instead. He did not do this because of some external law, but because of an internal desire. It was an act of freedom, a voluntary discipline, designed to remind him of his distinctive calling and to increase his spiritual strength.

Daniel did this because he knew that if he did not exercise some restraint, he would be gradually sucked in until he was completely consumed by the values of the culture. He was determined that he would not let his soul get hooked on the things of this world; he knew that if that happened, he would lose his freedom to be an effective servant of God.

Are you being realistic about the pressure that the world places on you? Every day you are bombarded by a view of life that is self-centered and has no room for God. The message of the culture is clear, powerful, and attractive: “Nothing matters more than you do, so pursue your own pleasure.” Once we have identified the pressures we face, it’s time to develop a strategy for resistance.

CULTIVATING THE ABILITY TO SAY NO

The greatest significance of Daniel’s decision to abstain from the king’s table was that he was cultivating the ability to say no. This is critical to an effective Christian life. “The grace of God… teaches us to say … ‘No’ to ungodliness” (Titus 2:11–12).

Daniel made a great decision. One day a future king would remove freedom of worship and call on everyone to pray in the name of the king, or else face death in a den of lions. When that day came, Daniel would be able to stand firm.

If you do not develop that ability to say no on smaller issues, you will not be able to say no when larger tests and temptations come. This is why it is so important to develop the ability to withstand peer pressure, and why there is great value in following Daniel’s example of exercising voluntary restraint over some legitimate pleasures and opportunities.

Daniel was at liberty to eat from the king’s table, but he perceived that the habit of the king’s table would exert a drawing power in his life that could subvert his loyalty to the Lord, and so he used his freedom to exercise restraint. He would not allow himself to get into a position where the good things of this life consumed his heart.

This is full of practical significance for us today. Some Christians operate as if there was only one question to be answered in the practical decisions of life. We ask, “Is it right or wrong?” and unless it’s illegal, immoral, or it makes us fat, we eagerly affirm our liberty to enjoy. But there is another question to ask of things that come within our area of freedom: “Is it wise?”

What films should you watch? How large a mortgage should you take? What parties should you go to? What company should you keep? On what should you spend your money? Daniel’s example reminds us that as we make these decisions, we need to consider the long-term potential for being sucked into the values and lifestyles of the world.

THE SPIRIT OF FASTING

Daniel could not change what they taught him at school. He could not change what Ashpenaz and the others chose to call him. But he could create a space in his life that was a daily reminder to him that he was a servant of God. He chose to exercise restraint and it strengthened him.

Terry Waite was for some years the special envoy of the Archbishop of Canterbury in England. He was seeking to negotiate the release of hostages in Lebanon when he was taken hostage by terrorists himself. In His book, Taken on Trust, he describes the first thing that he did after being taken captive.

Unless it’s illegal, immoral, or it makes us fat, we eagerly affirm our liberty to enjoy.

What would be the first thing that you would do if you were chained, blindfolded, and locked in a concrete building with no idea of what lay ahead? Terry Waite decided to fast, because he knew that he needed to build his inner strength for the challenges ahead.

There are more ways of fasting than going without food. If we embrace every legitimate thing that the world offers, on the basis that “there’s nothing wrong with it,” we may find that we have naively missed the bigger picture, and that we have been seduced into adopting values of the world. The big issue for Daniel in

Babylon was to make sure that his soul was not consumed with the abundance of opportunity that surrounded him so that his distinctive allegiance to God became nothing more than a memory.

God does not call us to a life of austerity, but a life of undisciplined indulgence will eventually erode all that distinguished the people of God from your life. Daniel was determined that his success in Babylon would never do this to him.

FAITHFUL AND SUCCESSFUL

God gave Daniel and his friends great success in their studies:

To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. (V. 17)

Their gifts blossomed and flourished. So when they came to their finals, which would have been in the form of an oral exam before the king, they passed with flying colors, and Daniel found himself appointed to a premier position of influence within the most powerful government of his day. Faithfulness and success need not be alternatives; they are natural partners.

Daniel had proved faithful in small things, and so God trusted him with greater things. That’s always the pattern. Never imagine that faithfulness to Christ means being second rate or settling for small things. Daniel proved that he could be trusted, so God increased Daniel’s gifts and abilities and opened the door of opportunity. Daniel would have influence beyond what he had ever dreamed, becoming second in command to the king.

In the darkest hour for God’s people, the light of faith burned brightly in a teenager who refused to be overcome by the world and learned to live a distinctive life of faith in an alien culture.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

All this points us toward our Lord Jesus Christ. He came into this world from another place. He took our flesh and came among us as a stranger, and yet as a friend.

Satan wanted Him to buy into the thinking and values of this world. “Use your powers to benefit yourself. With your ability, you could make a name for yourself and increase your ministry.” And so Satan three times tempted Jesus: “Turn these stones into bread.…Jump from the pinnacle of the temple.…Worship me and all these kingdoms of the world will be yours” (See Matthew 4:1–9).

But Christ refused. He chose to live by the Word of God, and for the glory of God. He said, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me” (John 4:34; see also Matthew 4:4). He cultivated His walk with the Father as he prayed and soaked His mind in the Word of God. Christ was ready to do whatever it took to be obedient to the Father, and it cost Him everything. For such obedience, “God exalted him… and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow” (Philippians 2:9–10).

Satan used Nebuchadnezzar-type (assimilation) tactics in his first assault on Jesus and failed completely. He was left with no other option but to use the tactics of Pharaoh (persecution) in a ferocious assault unleashed at the cross. Christ faced the seductive enticements of the world in the temptations and the open hostility of the world on the cross. He triumphed over both and was able to say to His disciples, “Take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

Christ warned His disciples about the conflict they would experience. There are times when Christians face the direct hatred and open hostility of the world. Jesus said, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first” (John 15:18). At other times, Satan tries to subvert Christians through the enticements and pleasures of the world. Paul urges us not to “conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2).

When you know yourself to be an alien, you become free to serve.

One scene in Jesus’ life best reflects the message of the book of Daniel. On the night when He was betrayed, Christ washed the feet of the disciples. None of them had felt that they wanted to serve the others in that way, but Jesus was different.

Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. (JOHN 13:3–4; EMPHASIS ADDED)

Do you see the secret? Christ knew who He was and where He was going. The other disciples were worried about who was first in the pecking order. But when you know that you belong to God and that you are destined for eternity, what does that matter?

We are aliens. And knowing that our destiny is to be with the Lord, we are free to pour out our lives in service that fulfills the will of God and brings blessing to others. Jesus knew that He was returning to God, so He got up, put a towel around His waist, and washed the disciples’ feet.

When you know yourself to be an alien, you become free to serve.

Daniel spent most of his life in Babylon, but he knew that he did not belong there. Christ knew that He had come from the Father and that He was returning to the Father. Does your life reflect the values of someone who knows that while you live here, your true home and your destiny is in heaven?

UNLOCKED

Daniel was faced with the powerful seductions of the world, but he overcame them. He maintained and developed a godly and successful life in an affluent and ungodly culture. He was realistic about the subtle pressure that he faced and exercised voluntary restraint that enabled him to develop the ability to say no. He nourished his love for God so that it was stronger than any of the attractions and pleasures of the world.

Daniel knew that he belonged to God and that he was an alien in Babylon. Those who know that their true home is in heaven will be free to live for the glory of God on earth.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Gracious Father,

I confess that the things of this world have often consumed my heart. The attractions of wealth, power, and pleasure are strong. Give me a love for You that is stronger. Help me to be different—not only in what I believe but also in how I live—from those who do not know You. Show me where I can practice voluntary restraint. Help me to rise above drifting with the crowd.

Save me from the power of coveting, and help me to live for Your glory, so that at the end of my life I may hear You say, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into your master’s joy.”

May I do this all through Jesus Christ my Lord, in whose name I pray. Amen.

15

Love

HOSEA 11

What is love?

DISCOVER

four amazing dimensions of the love of God.

LEARN

how to love when your feelings run dry.

WORSHIP

because God is faithful even when we have been faithless.

THE reflected light of the moon danced on the water as Robert slipped an arm around Kelly’s shoulder and shifted a little closer. It was only their second date, and the movie wasn’t all that much. But now they had driven to the lake to enjoy the view. After he turned off the engine, there was a kind of silence. Neither of them knew what to say.

Then, rather nervously, Robert said, “I think…I love you.” It seemed like the right thing to say, but when he spoke, the words seemed to fall flat. He wasn’t sure why he said it, and he wasn’t really sure what he meant.

Kelly didn’t know how to answer. She thought about saying, “I love you too,” but it seemed a bit early in their relationship, and anyway, she wasn’t entirely sure where the conversation—if that’s how it should be described—was heading. So she shifted nervously in her seat and said nothing.

What do those deceptively simple words “I love you” mean? Robert didn’t know, and neither did Kelly. Indeed, what does that phrase, spoken to our sons and daughters, future fiancés and spouses, really mean?

The answer is that it all depends! The Greeks had four words for love. They distinguished eros (sexual love), phileo (brotherly love and friendship), and storge (kinship) love. In our impoverished English language, all of these are lumped together in the one word love, so it’s little wonder that we sometimes get confused. But the Bible uses a fourth Greek word, agape, to describe God’s love for us and the love that He calls us to show to one another.

The best way to learn the real meaning of agape is through the story of Hosea. God used Hosea’s personal experience of a broken heart and wrecked marriage to speak to His people—and to demonstrate the true meaning of real love.

A TWO-TIMING RELATIONSHIP

When God made His covenant with the nation of Israel, He said, “I will…be your God, and you will be my people” (Leviticus 26:12). You shall have no other gods before me.” The covenant was exclusive. “If I am to be your God,” the Lord was saying, “I must be your only God.” The best picture we have of this exclusive covenant is marriage. In the Old Testament, God pictures Himself as being the husband of Israel, and in the New Testament, the church is the bride of Christ.

Hosea’s ministry was during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah (Hosea 1:1). This was the same time as Isaiah. Uzziah, Jotham, and Ahaz all failed to remove the pagan altars in the land, and it was not until late in Hosea’s life that King Hezekiah tore them down (2 Kings 18:3–4). So throughout most of Hosea’s life, God’s people were “two-timing.” They had a covenant relationship with God, but they had also made room for other gods on the side. That was as offensive and as painful to God as an unfaithful wife would be to her husband. Hosea’s painful marriage became a mirror in which the love of God for His people is wonderfully revealed.

The book of Hosea is a real-life drama played out in four scenes.

SCENE 1: THE WEDDING—LOVE’S CHOICE

When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said to him, “Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the LORD.” (HOSEA 1:2)

We are not to think that the Lord was telling Hosea to phone up a dating agency and find the profile of the worst woman in town. We may reasonably assume that Hosea had already come to know a lady by the name of Gomer, that he had fallen in love with her, and that he was planning to marry her (see verse 3). But now, shortly before the wedding, God told Hosea what the future would hold.

Try to imagine what this must have been like for Hosea as he was preparing for his wedding. One night he had a dream, but it was not an ordinary dream. He knew that God was speaking to him. In his dream, he saw Gomer, the woman he loved. Then, to his horror, Hosea saw his fiancée with another man, and then another.

As the dream became a nightmare, he saw Gomer looking back and laughing at him. It was a disturbing and horrible laugh.

Hosea woke up in a cold sweat. Surely this could not be the future! And yet, somehow he knew that God was revealing what lay ahead: Gomer would become an adulterous wife. Hosea was absolutely horrified, and yet at the same time, he knew that God was telling him to go ahead with the wedding.

So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim. (HOSEA 1:3)

Hosea chose to marry in the full knowledge of the pain that lay ahead.

Can you picture the wedding service? The minister begins by welcoming everybody to the service. “We are gathered here today,” he says, “to join Hosea and Gomer in marriage. If anyone knows of any reason why they may not be lawfully joined together in marriage, let them speak now, or else keep silent forever.” Then he turns to Diblaim, the bride’s father. “Who gives this woman to be married to this man?” Diblaim speaks his two famous words with style: “I do.” If Gomer had been as difficult at home as she turned out to be after she was married, I imagine that he must have been very relieved to get her to the altar!

The minister continues. “Hosea, will you take Gomer to be your wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse?” Hosea has a lump in his throat. He knows that there would be a lot of “worse” in the days that lay ahead. But without hesitation he says, “I will.”

Then the minister turns to Gomer. “Will you have Hosea to be your husband? Will you love him, honor and obey him, and forsaking all others, keep only to him as long as you both shall live?”

Hosea looks deep into Gomer’s eyes in that moment while everybody waits for her response. “I will,” she says. Hosea knows she won’t, but he chooses to marry her anyway. Would you have done that?

Over the years a number of folks have told me, with great sadness, that if they had known the pain that the future would hold they would never have gone through with the wedding. Of course, none of us who has made a marriage vow knew, when we said “for better or worse,” what the future would hold. But Hosea did know, and his extraordinary decision to marry a woman who he already knew would repeatedly break his heart gives us an extraordinary insight into the love of God. God is telling us, “This is what I have done: I have made a covenant with My people in the full knowledge that they would be unfaithful and that they would bring Me indescribable pain.”

God knew before the beginning of time that men and women would choose the knowledge of evil, and that delivering us from it would involve God Himself taking human flesh, entering our world, and being rejected by it. It would lead to indescribable suffering and pain in the heart of God, but He went ahead and did it anyway.

God knew from the beginning that Israel would turn to idols, and yet He set His love on these people. He said to them, “I will be your God and you will be My people.” He invited them into an exclusive covenant relationship with Him, knowing that they would be hard-hearted, stubborn, and faithless.

God has shown the same love to us. Does it not strike you as amazing that God should pledge His love to you in Christ in the full knowledge of what you would be like? He knew how slow, selfish, and stubborn we would be, and yet He loved us still.

[God] knew how slow, selfish, and stubborn we would be, and yet He loved us still.

Christ took you on in the full knowledge of what you would be like. That is why there is a profound sense in which it is never possible to disappoint God. He loved you in the full knowledge of the deepest and most consistent failure of your life. “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). God does not wait for us to sort out our lives before He takes us on. He commits Himself to sinners, in the full knowledge of all the pain that this will involve.

SCENE 2: THE HOME—LOVE’S PAIN

It appears that Hosea and Gomer enjoyed some good years after the wedding. They had three children—two boys and a girl—but the names given to the children are rather disturbing and seem to indicate that there were some serious problems beneath the surface. The children were called Jezreel, which was the place of a massacre (see 2 Kings 10:1–11); Lo-Ruhamah, which means “not loved;” and Lo-Ammi, which means “not my people” (1:4–9).

Try to picture Hosea at home with the children. It is late at night, and Gomer has been gone for hours. She has been evasive about where she is going and what she is doing, but Hosea is not naive. He knows what is going on. He has confronted his wife, but nothing has changed. So Hosea is pacing the floor in his own home, a man distraught with the pain of wounded love.

Over the years, Gomer’s absences become longer and more frequent. She will walk in and she will walk out. The whole situation is absolutely intolerable. Hosea is in an agony of soul. God had told him that he would experience this pain, but now he is thrust into it.

Hosea’s pain is a window into the heart of God. God’s own people were as faithless to Him as Gomer was to Hosea, and their love of other gods brought the same kind of pain to the heart of God as Hosea experienced when his wife went off with another man. Thus in Hosea 6:4, God asked: “What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah? Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears.”

Every time we pursue self-interest over God’s interest, we are inflicting a wound in the heart of God.

“One minute you say you love Me, but the next minute, your love has faded away! What am I to do with you?” Anyone who has experienced the pain of a broken home will know exactly what is pouring from the heart of God.

Gomer’s behavior helps us to understand that sin is a deeply painful and personal offense against God. Every time we lie, cheat, steal, swear, lust, or blaspheme; every time we pursue self-interest over God’s interest, we are inflicting a wound in the heart of God. If sin were merely breaking some principle or regulation, it would be much less serious. But sin is wounding the heart of God.

There is a great poem by John Masefield called “The Everlasting Mercy.” It tells the story of Saul Kane, who came to faith in Christ through the work of a Quaker missionary called Miss Bourne, who used to go around some of the worst inner-city pubs in England. She was a woman of unusual courage. On one occasion Saul Kane was in a terrible state, leading a group of others in foul language and all that goes with it.

Then he spotted Miss Bourne standing at the bar. This courageous woman had entered “men-only territory” in the name of Christ. Amid the cigarette butts and matches she walked up to Kane, her eyes wide and her heart breaking. She told him that his next drink, his next dirty word was like another crown of thorns pressed on the head of Christ.

It was the turning point of his life. Saul Kane couldn’t continue doing what he was doing to Christ.[1]

SCENE 3: THE CITY—LOVE’S INITIATIVE

The Old Testament Law set out the death penalty for both parties involved in an act of adultery (Leviticus 20:10). That is why Christ allows the possibility of divorce following adultery (Matthew 19:9). Adultery created a unique set of circumstances because if the full penalty of the Old Testament Law was exacted, the unfaithful partner would be stoned to death, and therefore, by definition, the innocent party would be free to remarry. So divorce was a legitimate option for Hosea.

God had made an exclusive covenant relationship with His people “I will… be your God, and you will be my people.” (Leviticus 26:12). But God’s people had violated the core of that covenant. They had turned to other gods. It seems clear that, under these circumstances, the appropriate course of action would be for God to terminate the covenant He had made with these people and find another people for Himself.

Clearly the situation was intolerable and could not be allowed to continue, so God determined that He must act. He could not allow His people walking in and out of an exclusive covenant relationship in this way. Something had to be done. God’s people would face the full consequences of their sins. They would be cut off.

“Will not Assyria rule over them because they refuse to repent? Swords will flash in their cities, will destroy the bars of their gates and put an end to their plans.” (11:5–6)

It appears that God’s mind was made up. It was too late for the people to say they were sorry. Actions have consequences, and this was the end of the road. “Even if they call to the Most High, he will by no means exalt them” (v. 7).

But then, it seems that God cannot live with this conclusion. He just cannot let judgment be the last word for His own people.

“How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel?…My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused.” (V. 8)

God’s justice says, “I have to bring this to a close,” but His love says, “I simply cannot give up the people I love.” Can you sense the tearing of the heart of God here? All the way through the Old Testament story you have these two themes: God in His awesome holiness, and God in His incomparable love. It seems as if they are pulling in opposite directions.

It is like Hosea saying, “I can’t stand what Gomer is doing any longer!” But at the same time, he is saying, “I can’t stop loving her.” His mind goes back and forth. At night he says, “I have to see a lawyer,” but when the morning comes, he can’t bring himself to go. If this dilemma is painfully close to home for you, then you have a unique insight into the heart of God.

God told Hosea what he was to do about his estranged and unfaithful wife. It is a wonderful picture of how God has chosen to deal with us.

The LORD said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites.” (3:1)

So Hosea went into the city to find his wife. She was not in a pleasant part of town. He looked for her, and when he eventually found her, she was in a desperate state. Hosea describes how he “bought her for fifteen shekels of silver” (3:2). Can you imagine what this must have been like for Hosea?

SCENE 4: HOME AGAIN—LOVE’S JOY

We are not given scene four within the book of Hosea, but it is clearly promised. There’s a clear parallel running between Hosea’s marriage and God’s relationship with His people; that’s the whole point of the book. If Hosea illustrates God’s pain, we may reasonably assume that the ultimate outcome of God’s story would be reflected in the ending of Hosea’s story.

God tells us how the story of His relationship with His people will end.

“I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her.” (2:14)

The desert, of course, is the place where the couple can be alone. God is going to win back His bride. He is talking about a new honeymoon alone together. Later, speaking of the whole nation, God says,

“I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them.” (14:4)

Gomer is home again. The nation Israel is home again, reconciled with God.

Hosea must have written all of this down at the end of his life. I admit to some imagination here, but I picture him as an old man sitting at his desk with his cane beside him. As he looks across the room, he sees an old lady sitting in her rocking chair, and he thinks to himself, “I love her now more than I ever did.”

Hosea’s story had a happy ending. The broken relationship was restored. It was the story of love’s choice, love’s pain, love’s initiative, and love’s joy. Hosea’s traumatic and yet triumphant experience is a picture of God’s story.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

God has chosen to love sinners. He knows all about love’s pain and its cost. Nowhere is this truth clearer than in His sending of His Son to earth for wayward, undeserving man. As the apostle Paul wrote, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

God has taken love’s initiative in Jesus Christ, and for all eternity God will share love’s joy with His people.

We did not deserve such love. Justice demanded something else. But the Cross brings God’s love and justice together. Picture a mound of explosives. Two long fuses extend from the mound, for miles into the distance, one going to the right, the other to the left. At the end of the one fuse a sign points toward the explosives, with one word written on it, “Justice.” At the end of the other fuse a second sign also points toward the explosives, bearing on it the word “Love.”

The two fuses are lit simultaneously. Over on the one side, someone spots the slow-burning fuse. He says, “This is terrifying; when that fuse gets to the explosive of justice there will be hell to pay!” On the other side, someone else spots the fuse as it burns. He says, “This is wonderful; when the fuse gets to the explosive of love, heaven will be opened.”

The fuses burn their way forward until they burn into each other, and when they do, there is an explosion that shakes the whole earth. Justice and love collide together at the Cross.

That’s the story of the Bible. On the day Adam sinned, God told him that he would die. At the same time, God promised victory over the curse. There would be someone born of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent and deliver man from death.

God lit two long fuses. With justice and love God would destroy sin’s curse and deliver sinners. Justice and mercy. These two themes burn their way through the Old Testament story, until they meet together at Calvary. Justice and mercy reach their fullest expression at the Cross. Love met God’s requirement for justice, as a perfect sacrifice was offered for our sins.

Why would you turn away from love like this?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,

That were an offering far too small.

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my life, my soul, my all.

—ISAAC WATTS

“WHEN I SURVEY THE WONDROUS CROSS” [ADAPTED]

UNLOCKED

True love is neither an urge nor a feeling, but a decision. It is a steady commitment to act in the interests of the one who is loved, irrespective of the cost. Hosea demonstrated the true meaning of love in his actions towards Gomer. Hosea made a decision that he would act in her best interests irrespective of the cost. That is why he married her even though he knew the pain and sorrow that lay ahead. That is why he remained committed to her through the dark years when he would have been quite justified in ending the relationship. And that is why, when she came to the lowest point, he paid a price and brought her home.

Hosea loved Gomer “as the LORD loves the Israelites” (Hosea 3:1), and through his extraordinary love for his wife under desperate circumstances, he has given us a snapshot of the heart of God.

The Bible tells us “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son” (John 3:16). This does not mean that God was overcome with warm feelings about us. In fact, quite the opposite is the case. God sees our sin and it is repulsive to Him, just as Gomer’s behavior was repulsive to Hosea. But God has made a choice to act in our best interests without regard to the cost, even if that meant sacrificing His Son.

The love of God for us has been decisively demonstrated in history through the death of Jesus, but it does not end there. Paul also tells us that “God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us” (Romans 5:5). The words “poured out” speak of abundance, gushing out, saturation. The Holy Spirit pours this love into our hearts so that the love of God is not only historically demonstrated on the cross, but also personally experienced in our lives today. When we have discovered this love, then, by the power of the Spirit we can also choose to act in the best interests of another person without regard to the cost.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Almighty God.

I bow in Your presence, humbled and in awe of Your amazing love. I cannot fathom why You should commit Yourself to me in the full knowledge of my sin, but I thank You that you did. I cannot grasp why You should remain faithful when I have been so faithless, but I praise You that You have. I cannot know why You should send Your Son at immeasurable cost to rescue me and bring me back to Yourself, but with awe and wonder I confess that this is what You have done.

Give me a greater ability to grasp the dimensions of Your amazing love for me, and fill my heart with this redeeming love so that something of Your nature may be reflected in me, through Jesus Christ. Amen.

NOTE

1. John Masefield, “The Everlasting Mercy” in the Collected Poems of John Masefield (New York: Heineman, 1942).

16

Faith

HABAKKUK 2

What are we to

make of the evil

God allows in the

world today?

DISCOVER

the amazing way in which God uses evil within His own purpose.

LEARN

why faith is better than sight.

WORSHIP

as you see how God will ultimately destroy all evil.

THE news was not encouraging during the week I wrote the first draft of this chapter, but it was not unusual either. Violence in the Middle East, atrocities in the Balkans, and a family wiped out in a multiple murder in California. I pointed out the persistent pattern of events like these and wrote, “By the time you are reading this, the headlines will be different, but the themes will be the same: violence, destruction, and death.”

Now, as I complete the final revisions, the point seems more poignant than before. The headlines are filled with the aftermath of America’s greatest disaster to date: the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, leaving more than 4,000 civilians dead. The themes are the same: violence, destruction, and death.

I cannot predict the headlines today, as you hold this book in your hands, but I am sadly confident that the themes will not have changed. Sometimes we wonder how long the depressing catalog of evils in the world will continue.

That was the question that faced the prophet Habakkuk. His prophecy reads rather like the book of Job, with one important difference. Job was concerned with the question of personal suffering, but Habakkuk was concerned with the evil that God allows in the world.

The major role of a prophet was to speak to men from God. But Habakkuk was different in that he also spoke to God on behalf of men. A large part of this book is taken up with Habakkuk’s complaints against God. He raises some profound questions. He was deeply disturbed about why God allows things to be as they are in this world. Perhaps you are too.

That is the great issue of the Bible story. The Bible does not begin with you and me. It begins with God and the world. “In the beginning God.” That is the first thing. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” That is the second thing.

There is a great danger of Christians becoming narrow-minded people who treat the Bible like a kind of handbook on personal salvation and largely ignore all the rest. The Bible is the revelation of God, and it tells us about His plan for the world. The Bible tells us that the world belongs to God, and that He has His own reasons for tolerating evil for a time. God tells us that in the end, evil will be brought to nothing, and the whole earth will be filled with God’s glory.

The Bible gives us what some people call a worldview, a way of making sense of the world in which we live, a way of understanding the things that are going on around us. Nowhere in the Bible is this more clearly present than in the book of Habakkuk.

“WHY DO YOU ALLOW IT, GOD?”

We are not told precisely when Habakkuk lived. The one clue we are given is that God says, “I am raising up the Babylonians” (Habakkuk 1:6). The Babylonians destroyed the city of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., so it is reasonable to assume that Habakkuk spoke the Word of God about a generation before that time.

Habakkuk begins with the prophet asking a profound question:

How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? (1:2–3)

Imagine Habakkuk at home in the city of Jerusalem, with his head in his hands. He cannot read his Jerusalem Tribune newspaper without seeing something about a shooting or a killing or some kind of violence and destruction. When he looks around the city, he says, “Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds” (1:3). Everywhere he looks, in business, government, between neighbors, or even in the temple, there are disputes and arguments. You might have expected at least a basic neighborliness among God’s people, and it had once been so. But now it seems to be every man for himself, and Habakkuk finds himself in a litigious society.

The result was, of course, that “the law is paralyzed” (v. 4). The courts were jammed with litigation, but when all is said and done, justice did not prevail. The reason for this was that “the wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted” (v 4). More and more cases were being decided on the basis of money and power than truth and justice, and as a result, the whole legal system was coming apart at the seams. Does this sound like another world or does it sound strangely familiar?

The thing that made this so painful for Habakkuk was that all this was happening among God’s people! God had called these people to be a light to other nations. Jerusalem was supposed to be the city where God’s name was honored and people lived according to His law. Habakkuk’s heart was heavy because of the rampant injustice in the city of God. He wondered how long God would allow this to go on and longed for God to do something about the sins of His own people.

Why does God tolerate wrong? How are we to understand what is happening in our day? Habakkuk raises the great questions that believers in a fallen world face in every generation. Why is the world as it is? Why does God allow the evils that stalk the world today?

YOU WON’T BELIEVE THIS!

“Look at the nations and watch—and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.” (1:5).

Habakkuk had been waiting for God to act, and now God was ready to move. Perhaps the prophet thought, Great. Tell me what this unbelievable thing is, Lord! Are You going to bring a national revival? Will there be a vast turning to faith in the next generation?

What God said next must have left Habakkuk speechless.

“I am raising up the Babylonians.” (1:6)

I imagine Habakkuk doing a double take at this point.

“The Babylonians?!”

“Yes, Habakkuk; the Babylonians.”

If you want to know how Habakkuk must have felt about this, put in a more contemporary name. This would be like God saying, “Yes, I know that there are terrible things going on among My people, so here is My answer: I am going to raise up Saddam Hussein.”

That raised another question: What would God ultimately do with evil powers?

“But You can’t do that, God! Things are in a pretty desperate state among the people of God, but nothing like what’s going on among the Babylonians. They are the denial of everything that You stand for. You can’t possibly raise them up, can You?”

The cure seemed worse than the condition. But God’s answer was quite clear. God would use the Babylonians to deal with the sins of His own people. He would use their evil to accomplish His own purpose.

That does take some believing! It seems to raise more questions than it does answers, and so it is not surprising that Habakkuk asked a second question.

O LORD, you have appointed them [the Babylonians] to execute judgment.… You have ordained them to punish. Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves? (1:12–13)

Habakkuk’s first question was about the sins of God’s people. His second question was about the wider evil in the world. Habakkuk seemed to have accepted that God could use an evil power like Babylon to bring judgment to His own people, but that raised another question: What would God ultimately do with evil powers?

WHERE HISTORY IS HEADING

There seems to be a pause in the conversation, and we have to wait until Habakkuk 2 before we come to God’s answer. When God finally speaks, He makes a major announcement.

Then the LORD replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.” (2:2–3)

God was saying, “Habakkuk, I want you to write down what I am about to say, because this is something that everybody needs to know. It needs to be a permanent record, because what I am about to tell you will not happen until the appointed time. I am going to unveil what will happen in the end.” So Habakkuk pulled out a pen and a tablet and recorded God’s five statements. Each one began with the word woe, which indicated that something would be stopped.

“Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion!” (2:6, all italics added). This is a person who has accumulated wealth without integrity.

“Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain” (v. 9). This person has lost sight of truth and justice and will do anything to build his power and achieve his own ends.

“Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed” (v. 12). This person has placed a low value on human life.

“Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk, so that he can gaze on their naked bodies” (v. 15). Here is the abuser of drugs, the abuser of women.

“Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Come to life!’ Or to lifeless stone, ‘Wake up!’” (v. 19). This person is an idolater. The greatest thing in his life is his own achievement. What he has made has been put in the place of God.

God is promising that all the dimensions of evil in the world will finally be stopped. Their destruction is assured. God will completely overthrow all evil, and “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea” (2:14). That is where human history is heading.

LIVING BY FAITH

Right in the middle of this struggle with the problem of evil, God tells Habakkuk—and us—that

“The righteous will live by his faith.” (V. 4)

These are the words that the apostle Paul quoted as a summary of the gospel. “The gospel… is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.… For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith’ ” (Romans 1:16–17).

The righteous living by faith was not a new idea concocted by the apostle Paul in the New Testament. The righteous have always lived by faith. The Bible is one story, and God’s people have always had to operate on the basis of faith and will do so until Christ returns.

Now when Habakkuk talks about “the righteous,” he does not mean that there are some people who are absolutely in the right in every respect. The Bible is absolutely clear that “there is no one righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10). But there are clearly people who desire righteousness in their own lives and in the world. Jesus spoke about these people when He said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6).

How are these people, like Habakkuk, who hunger and thirst after righteousness to make sense of this confusing world? How are we to navigate our way through the uncertain and unpredictable events in our world? How are we to hold our course in the face of the great evils that arise in the course of history? The answer is faith. “The righteous shall live by faith.”

FAITH IS BETTER THAN SIGHT

Sight is a wonderful gift, but it has a very limited capacity. It cannot look around corners, it can look in one direction at a time, and when it turns to look another way, it loses the capacity to view what it saw before!

For as long as we are living in this fallen world, faith is much better than sight. Sight looks at evidence, forms opinions, and draws conclusions. The problem with sight is that it is only capable of looking at the observable realities; it does not have the capacity to perceive any further.

Sight never reckons on the invisible power of God, and that is why sight is hopelessly inadequate when it comes to making sense of this world in which we live. By definition sight must leave the invisible God out of the picture. So if you try to make sense of your life or of events in this world purely on the basis of sight, you will be very discouraged.

Faith sees beyond the difficulties and counts on God.

God was telling Habakkuk that he would see the rise of Babylon. He would live through things that seemed utterly overwhelming. The level of evil in the world would stagger him. But God also told Habakkuk that he must not operate on the basis of what he saw around him.

This does not mean that the person who exercises faith goes through life with his eyes closed. His eyes should be wide open to the problems. But faith goes beyond sight. Faith sees beyond the difficulties and counts on God.

If we operate on the basis of sight, we will soon be pretty discouraged. We will see the abuse of power in high places, the weakness and worldliness of the church, appalling acts of violence, and terrible abuse. We will see “Babylon” rampant. If we are longing for righteousness and are operating on the basis of sight, we will soon be overwhelmed with darkness and despair.

Of course, when we are in the presence of Christ, sight will be altogether different. Then we will see Him. Sight will then have the capacity of apprehending God, but it does not have that capacity now. The joy of heaven will be that we will behold Him. Until then, we must walk by faith.

FAITH RESTS ON GOD’S PROMISE

That was what God was inviting Habakkuk to do. God Almighty would prosper Babylon, and Jerusalem would be crushed. The apparent triumph of evil would make it seem that God’s purpose was being overturned, but God was saying, “My purpose will be achieved; in the end, evil will be completely destroyed. That is My Word, and this will be My work. Now trust Me.”

Faith rests in the Word and the work of God. It trusts what God says and finds rest in what God does. That’s what Abraham did. God had promised to make Abraham’s descendants like the stars of the heavens (Genesis 15:5). The only problem was that Abraham was a hundred years old, and his wife was nearly ninety! The statistical probability of Isaac being born was around about zero!

Sight said, “There isn’t a lot of hope here,” but faith went beyond sight and found rest in the Word of God. God had said, “Your descendants will be like the stars in the skies,” and Abraham trusted what God said and rested in what only God could do. Paul said that Abraham “faced the fact that his body was as good as dead” (Romans 4:19), yet he gave glory to God being fully persuaded that God had the power to do what He had promised (v. 21).

That is how faith operates. It looks beyond the observable realities and counts on God’s promise. You may be looking at a pretty discouraging situation in your own life. The observable reality is not good. Perhaps there isn’t any basis for hope in what you see. God calls you to operate on the basis of faith. Faith recognizes the realities, but it rests in the promises of God.

FAITH OPENS THE DOOR TO LASTING JOY

The book of Habakkuk ends with worship. The prophet has asked his questions; God has given His promise and called the prophet to faith. Then in chapter 3 Habakkuk begins to worship as he remembers the faithfulness of God, and it leads him to one of the great confessions of faith in the Old Testament.

Habakkuk looks up to God, and he prays, ending with a confession of complete confidence:

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. (3:17–18)

This confession of faith from a prophet who has struggled to make sense of the evils around him reminds us of Job’s worship on the day of his suffering. It is one of the high-water marks of Old Testament faith.

Habakkuk discovered a joy that did not depend on what was happening around him. He described the worst of all imaginable circumstances, and then told God, “Even if everything goes wrong and all hell breaks loose, here is my position: I will not operate on the basis of sight, but on the basis of faith. I will rest in Your promise, and I will find my joy in knowing that You are my Savior.”

Habakkuk’s joy was based on the assurance that even when the Babylonians overwhelmed the city of God, the Lord was in control. He had grasped that history moves under the plan of God and is heading for the day when all evil will be overthrown and brought to nothing.

This joy does not depend on what is happening in the market or who is in the White House. We should pray for fig trees to bud and grapes on the vine and sheep in the pen and cattle in the stall, but our joy does not depend on these unpredictable things. Habakkuk discovered a joy that is rooted in God and in the certainty that His purpose will be fulfilled. That gave him stability, and he was able to worship God with joy at a time when evil was advancing in the world!

What do you know about this kind of faith?

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

Six hundred years later Jerusalem, the same city where Habakkuk had once agonized over the evil around him and which the Babylonians later destroyed, had been rebuilt—just as God had promised. By the time of Jesus’ birth, it was a bustling metropolis; the Babylonian Empire was long gone. However, another empire, based in Rome, had risen to usurp Jerusalem’s autonomy. The evil of the one did not seem very different from the evil of the other.

Rome seemed like Babylon by another name. In Christ’s day, it was still hard to get justice, which was now in the hands of a politically motivated judge named Pontius Pilate.

Watch the scene: A couple of false witnesses take the stand in court and tell lies to an already prejudiced jury. Why would God allow that? Soldiers stand in a circle around a man whose hands are tied. They strike Him and spit upon Him and place a crown of thorns on His head. It looks rather like the violence and destruction that Habakkuk saw. Why would God allow that?

Come and see an innocent man nailed to a cross. As He dies in agony, He cries out, “My God, my God, why…?” God allowed evil to have its day and used that evil to accomplish His own purposes.

In his book Making Sense out of Suffering, Peter Kreeft says, “Calvary is judo; the enemy’s own power is used to defeat him.”[1] That is a brilliant analogy. God takes the power of evil and uses its own momentum to bring about its own downfall. Satan’s end becomes God’s means.

Satan’s end becomes God’s means. Of course, sight would never tell you that.

Of course, sight would never tell you that. Even the disciples operated on the basis of sight, and so all they could perceive was the Son of God agonizing in death. They all forsook Him and fled. The women did better and stayed, along with John by the cross, but all they saw was the death of their hopes and the end of their joy.

But when faith looks at the cross, it sees more than a terrible evil. Faith sees God at work and believes His promise. Faith sees that this was why Christ came into the world. Faith reckons that if God has said Christ will save His people from their sins, then even His death must be for that purpose.

At the most personal level, I have to say that faith is better than sight. Here’s why: If I do a careful analysis of my life in the light of the Law of God, sight says that I have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. That fact is not only observable to me, but also to my wife and to everybody who knows me well. It is the truth about all of us. There is no one righteous, not even one.

But faith goes deeper than sight. Faith rests on the promise of God. Faith says “Christ died for my sins” and believes God’s promise that “there is… no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1) because on the cross, He took our sin so that we could be forgiven and reconciled to God. This faith in Christ brings lasting joy. I can say with Habakkuk, “I will rejoice in God my Savior.”

That’s why Paul took up the words of Habakkuk, “the righteous shall live by faith.” In the light of the Cross, this means not just that faith is the way for people who long for righteousness to get through this life, but that faith is the way in which those who long for righteousness will enter the life to come.

If you follow the Bible story to its end, you will discover that Babylon appears again in the book of Revelation. The old Babylonian Empire collapsed centuries before the birth of Christ. Since then, history has seen a whole line of great powers rise and fall. They all seem like Babylon by another name. The Bible uses the name Babylon to sum up the rising and falling powers of this world in their arrogance and defiance of God.

During the final years of John’s life, while the apostle was in solitary confinement on the Isle of Patmos, God gave him a glimpse of things to come. In Revelation, John tells us what he saw: “Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!” (Revelation 18:2). Gone! Finished! John glimpsed what God had promised to Habakkuk!

Then, John saw Christ descend from heaven in all His glory, and he heard what sounded like a great crowd shouting, “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!” (Revelation 19:6–7).

UNLOCKED

The Bible teaches us that there is such a thing as evil. It is ugly and destructive; it always brings pain and sorrow. The power of evil was unleashed in the world when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God in the Garden of Eden. Ever since that time, man has tried to shake free from its grip, but deliverance from evil is beyond our power. Governments may and must restrain it, but we cannot get free from it. Only God can deliver us from evil.

But we live in a world that has rejected the God of the Bible. Even in our own society, there are many attempts to remove God from public life. We ask the Deliverer to leave, and then when evil is unleashed, we wonder why He seems so far away.

God will destroy all evil. In the end it will not stand. That was God’s promise on the day sin entered the world (Genesis 3:15), and it is the great hope that is presented in the gospel. But God gives us the freedom to choose whether we want to live in a world without evil. If we do, we must be delivered from the evil within us as well as the evil around us.

Christ has come to deliver us from evil. He breaks its power in our lives when we come to Him in faith, but He allows its power to remain in the world that rejects Him. That tension makes us long for the day when Christ will return and evil will be no more.

Until that day, God calls us to walk by faith and not by sight. We are to look beyond the latest disaster or atrocity. The Cross reminds us that even the greatest evil cannot thwart the purpose of God, and faith anticipates the day of God’s final victory.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Almighty God,

I come to You in grief and sadness because of the evil that I see at work in the world. Help me to hate what is evil and cling to what is good. Help me to be vigorous in fighting against evil wherever I see its presence in my thoughts, words, actions, or intentions.

Help me to operate on the basis of faith and not on the basis of what I see around me. Thank You that Christ has come into the world to deliver us from evil. Help me always to place my confidence and my trust in Him. Amen.

NOTE

1. Peter Kreeft, Making Sense out of Suffering (Ann Arbor, Mich.: Servant, 1986), 132.

17

Hope

MALACHI 4

Is there

any hope?

DISCOVER

why no religion can lead you to God.

LEARN

why the Old Testament cannot be God’s final word.

WORSHIP

as you see how the whole Bible story points us to Jesus Christ.

AUDIENCES who enjoy live theater go for several reasons, including the actors, the directors, and even the music. Some like good storytelling, as the plot and characters unfold over time. If the Bible were presented as a condensed drama, it would unfold in two parts, like a two-act play.

Act one of this great drama would be the Old Testament. In real time, it spans more than a millennium—about 1,600 years from Abraham to Malachi. So by the end of the long story of act one, we are quite ready to spill out into the foyer for an intermission, before we come back to see what happens in act two.

As we look back over act one, the whole of the story has been about a problem and a promise. The problem was presented to us at the beginning of the story, when the first man and woman—created by a loving God who surrounded them with good things—wanted something else. Adam and Eve had no experience of evil, and they felt that their lives would be more complete if they knew something about it.

There wasn’t much opportunity for evil in the paradise of God, but God gave them one command, and disobeying that was their first experience of evil.

LIFE OUTSIDE THE GARDEN

Their sin had immediate consequences. First it changed the nature of their relationship with God. God had appeared to them, taking a form in which He could walk with them in the garden. They had enjoyed fellowship with God and entered into conversation with Him.

But after the first sin, Adam and Eve hid from the Lord when He came into the garden; they did not want to be near Him. The Lord had to call to Adam and draw him out of hiding, and by the end of the day, Adam found himself outside of the garden. God no longer appeared to him. Adam knew God, but he could not see God or hear His voice. He was alienated from God.

Men and women are alienated from God; we do not experience life as Adam and Eve knew it.

Adam and Eve’s experience of life changed that day. God had given them a beautiful relationship. They had been the perfect match. Their love for each other was a mirror of the love of God for them. They were at ease together, and their trust in each other was complete. But the knowledge of evil changed all that. Adam blamed his wife for what had gone wrong, his wife blamed the serpent and the serpent didn’t have a leg to stand on! For the first time, suspicion developed between the man and the woman. They discovered that the knowledge of evil was not a onetime event, it was now a power within them.

God told them what the future would hold. There would be a great battle with this evil. It would run through every generation and across every culture. Life in this world would never be as it had been in the paradise of God.

Sin changed their prospects for the future. There was this terrible matter of the curse. God said to the serpent, “Cursed are you.” God was saying, “You will be utterly destroyed. All that you have done will be brought to nothing.”

Then God turned to the man. But (as we saw in chapter 2 of volume 1 of Unlocking the Bible Story) God immediately deflected the curse from Adam and onto the ground: “Cursed is the ground because of you” (Genesis 3:17, italics added). Adam must have wondered what the ground had done! What he deserved, the ground sustained.

God diverted the curse away from the man so that his life could be spared and room made for him to be reconciled to God. But the point of the curse was clear. Evil would ultimately be destroyed, and the great problem for Adam and his children was that this evil was now within them.

Adam and Eve were driven out of the garden and cherubim guarded the way back into the paradise of God, along with a flaming sword that represented the judgment of God. There was no way back into the presence and the blessing of God except through this judgment in which they would be utterly destroyed.

This is the great problem that runs right through the Bible story. Men and women are alienated from God; we do not experience life as Adam and Eve knew it in the garden, and there is this dreadful curse that hangs over every person born into the world.

That was all back at the beginning of act one of this great drama of the Bible story. Now we come to Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament. Malachi was the last of the Old Testament prophets. He spoke the Word of God around the time when Nehemiah led a small community of people back to Jerusalem to rebuild the city walls. Malachi gives us a fascinating insight into what life was like in that community.

After Malachi, there was an intermission. Nothing significant happened in God’s story for four hundred years and the next prophet to appear on the scene was John the Baptist. So as we come to the end of the Old Testament story, it’s worth asking for an update: Where are we with regard to the problem that was presented at the beginning of the Bible story?

AN ARGUMENT THAT IS GOING NOWHERE

The question is where do things stand in the relationship between God and His people after all these years of alienation from God? Malachi does not give us an encouraging answer.

There is a pattern that runs through the book in which God makes a statement, but His people will not accept what He says. It is as if an argument develops between God and His people, rather like a counseling session in which one rather petulant person is unwilling to accept the truth of anything that the other person says.

The book of Malachi opens with God affirming His love for His people.

“I have loved you,” says the LORD. (1:2)

That seems a reasonable statement when you think that He brought them out of Egypt, gave the promises, and restored them from exile, but God’s people will not accept that. It is as if they fold their arms in defiance and say, “How have you loved us?” (1:2).

As you read through the book of Malachi, it is clear that there is an argument going on between God and His people. God is seeking to restore the relationship with His people, and so He raises the issues that have caused the relationship to break down. That is the only way in which a relationship can be restored: The issues that have caused offense must be brought to light and dealt with honestly. But God’s people are in denial about the problem.

Have you ever seen an argument in which one person digs in and will not admit any responsibility for what’s wrong? Those who have attempted to restore a broken relationship will know what this is like. If you have one party who is reaching out to make peace and the other party is unresponsive and in denial about the problem, then you face an uphill struggle. That’s what is happening here.

DENIAL, DENIAL, DENIAL

God raises an issue with the priests. They were supposed to order the worship of God and supervise the sacrifices. God says that they show contempt for His name. But the priests won’t accept this. Instead, they wanted to know, ’How have we shown contempt for your name?” (v. 6). God explains the problem. He is raising the issue because He wants to bring resolution and to restore the relationship. “You place defiled food on my altar.” But the priests will not accept this either. Instead they ask, “How have we defiled you?” (v. 7).

This has all the marks of a discussion that is getting nowhere, but the pattern runs right through the book. Denial, denial, denial. God raises the issue of repentance with the people. “‘Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,’ says the LORD Almighty.” The response has the note of petulance about it: “How are we to return?” (3:7).

God raises the issue of tithes. “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.” The response is predictable: “How do we rob you?” (3:8).

Then God points out that the people speak about Him harshly. “‘You have said harsh things against me,’ says the LORD. ‘Yet you ask, “What have we said against you?’” (3:13).

Over the years, I have sat through some pretty sad conversations, but this one just about takes the cake! God is reaching out to His people. He tells them that He loves them. He wants to restore the relationship with His people, and so He raises the issues so that they can be resolved, but time after time, His people take the posture of denial and fold their arms in defiance toward God, and that’s where the Old Testament ends!

This story that began with a man and a woman in fellowship with God ends with men and women alienated from God, in denial of the problem, unwilling to take any responsibility, and unable to do anything about it.

THE PAIN OF A BROKEN HOME

If that was the story of man and woman’s relationship with God, what about the story of their relationship with each other in marriage? In the Old Testament, that story began with joy, but it ends in tears. In the garden, Adam and Eve had enjoyed perfect happiness, but at the end of the Old Testament, Malachi says,

The LORD is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant. …“I hate divorce,” says the LORD God. (2:14–16)

I never met a person who, on their wedding day, thought or hoped that they would one day stand in a divorce court. It must be one of the most painful experiences in all the world. But as God spoke to the culture of Malachi’s time, it was clear that marriages were breaking and tearing apart. The joy of shared hopes and dreams for the future were ending in the tears of broken promises.

That is the story of the Old Testament. It began with a man and a woman sharing the joy of a perfect life together in the garden, and it ends with men and women in the divorce court, unable to sustain a relationship of faithfulness and love. That’s the tragedy of our world.

The breaking of marriages had devastating effects on the children. That’s why in Malachi 4 God spoke about a day when the hearts of the fathers will be turned to the children and the children to their fathers (v. 6). The fact that God says this tells us that the whole family unit was falling apart. Dads had lost heart for their children. Sons and daughters didn’t care about their parents. Families lived without love. Long stories of accumulated wrongs developed without forgiveness penetrating. What began with joy, ended in tears.

PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE

While the key word of Malachi is hope, the last word in the Old Testament is not nearly so encouraging. God speaks about someone who will come and “turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse” (4:6; italics added).

God’s curse on evil hangs over over the whole book of Malachi. Consider just these two verses: “I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings” (2:2). “You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me” (3:9). God’s curse is on all evil.

So when we come to the end of the Old Testament, we have not come very far in dealing with the problem of alienation from God, the hardness of the human heart, or the curse that hangs over men and women. The problems that began in the garden are written all over the book of Malachi, right up to the last word.

THE UNFULFILLED PROMISE

Though the problem of sin’s curse pervades the Old Testament, the Bible story is also about a promise. Remember, on the very day when evil entered into the world, God promised that someone would be born of a woman who would crush the serpent’s head. He would destroy the evil one and all his works. This victory would come at great cost. While this person would crush the serpent’s head, the serpent would bite His heel (Genesis 3:15). So deliverance from evil would involve great pain and suffering.

God never goes back on a promise, and after seventy years in exile, a small group of people [rebuilt]… Jerusalem.

Right from the beginning of this great drama, then, we are looking for someone who will overcome the power of evil and deliver the human race from our predicament.

In the course of time God appeared to Abraham and said, “I will bless you and through you all the nations of the earth will be blessed.” Isaac was born, and then Jacob (later renamed Israel), and from them, God raised up a great nation. These people were oppressed by great evil in Egypt, but God brought them out and made a covenant with them. “I will be your God and you will be My people.”

Moses led them out of Egypt and Joshua led them into Canaan, but no deliverer had appeared to save them from their sinful selves. Then God gave a special promise to David, the second king of Israel. A king one day would be born into David’s line whose kingdom and reign would last forever (2 Samuel 7:13). But after the time of David, most of the kings were a great disappointment. One king after another led the people down the wrong track. Instead of worshiping the Lord, God’s people imitated the worship and the lifestyle of people around them, and the result was that evil became rampant even among the people of God.

So God drew a line in the sand. Nebuchadnezzar took the brightest and best of God’s people into exile in Babylon, and the city of Jerusalem with its temple and its palace was utterly destroyed.

Where was hope? It was there all the time. God never goes back on a promise, and after seventy years in exile, a small group of people went back to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. God sent Malachi the prophet to remind them, not only of the problem, but also of the promise.

“The sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.” (4:2)

God was telling the people that there would be healing for the problem that had run all the way through human history. Evil had gained a grip on the world. Even God’s people were imprisoned by it. But the day would come when God’s people would experience the freedom that calves enjoy when they are released from the stall. But at the end of the Old Testament, we are still looking for that promise to be fulfilled.

TIME FOR THE INTERMISSION

So the great drama of act one is complete, and it is time for the intermission. What a first act! The relationship with God that began with fellowship ends in alienation. The experience of life that was filled with joy is now marked with tears. The prospect of everlasting life, which was there in the garden, has now been eclipsed by a curse that hangs over men and women on account of sin. A great promise has been given, but it has not yet been fulfilled, and that is where the Old Testament ends.

So the intermission comes, and we all spill into the foyer to reflect on the first half. We sidle up to a large group of people standing in the foyer as they talk about what they have seen in act one.

“Some of that was a bit heavy,” says a large man as he lights up his pipe.

“Some of it made me want to cry,” says a delicate lady with a glass in her hand.

“I hope that act two has a happier ending than this,” adds a third.

“Well, it must,” says someone else in the group. “All the way through there have been promises and pointers; something’s going to happen soon, I’m telling you.”

“Well, whatever it is, it ain’t happened yet,” says Bob, rather impatiently. “Nothing has happened in the whole of act one that has dealt with the basic problem.”

“What do you mean nothing has happened? We’ve had the Law, and the sacrifices; we’ve had kings and priests; we’ve seen the cloud of God’s presence in the temple …”

“Yes, but the main problem in the story has not been solved,” Bob replies. “They are alienated from God, their whole experience of life is spoiled, and they have this dreadful curse hanging over them. The story won’t have a happy ending unless that problem is solved!”

The bell rings for the end of the intermission, and the group all file back to their seats in the theater for act two.

DON’T MISS ACT TWO!

Suppose that someone in the audience leaves the theater during the intermission. They have seen act one, but they never see act two. They leave the theater with an unsolved problem and an unfulfilled promise.

When you come to the end of the Old Testament, with all its laws, priests, and sacrifices, you are left asking, “What will it take to end this alienation from God? What will it take to change the human heart? And what will it take to remove the dreadful curse that hangs over every person born into the world?”

There are many people today who think that “all religions lead to God.” But the Old Testament says precisely the opposite. It teaches that no religion can bring us to God, including the Old Testament religion itself! Today, many people miss the second act. They embrace the Old Testament but they do not know how God has dealt with sin’s curse by a final sacrifice.

As we close Malachi and the Old Testament, it should be obvious that we have a major problem. We have sinned against God. We have broken His laws. We have become alienated from Him, and the curse of evil hangs over us.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHRIST

That is why Jesus Christ had to come into the world. He came to do what no religion could ever do. He came to solve the problem and fulfill the promise. You could go to church, say your prayers, and try to live a moral life, but without Christ you cannot be reconciled to God. That is why His coming into the world is the greatest thing in all human history. He can change your heart, He can take away the curse that hangs over you, and He can reconcile you to God. The Old Testament is an unfinished story. It shows us our need of Christ.

No wonder heaven erupted with joy when Jesus was born into the world. It was the greatest event in all of human history. Christ came into the world in order to give His life as a sacrifice for sin. By His death, He bridged the gap of alienation between man and God. Since He is God in human flesh, Jesus Christ is the meeting place of man and God in His own nature, and through His death, He opened the way in which our sins can be forgiven and we can be reconciled to God.

Christ also bore the curse. Just as God diverted the curse away from Adam, He is ready to divert the curse away from you. But the curse is real and it has to go somewhere. So Jesus came, and as the apostle Paul explained, Christ

redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” (GALATIANS 3:13)

Jesus bore the curse of God. The Son of God did what nobody else could do: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24). His death exhausted the punishment for sin, and on the third day, He rose from the dead so that we may enter into everlasting life.

Thanks to Christ’s sacrifice, those who turn to Him will never experience the wrath of God, because He has taken it for them. He has reconciled men and women to God, and He will bring them to everlasting life.

The story that began in the garden will not end in tears. It will end with more joy than Adam and Eve could ever have known in the garden. It will end with a city populated by all those who have been redeemed by Christ. It will be more than the paradise Adam and Eve knew, because we will be free not only from the presence of sin but also from the possibility of sin. We will see God and enter into life in all its fullness forevermore.

UNLOCKED

This chapter has addressed a huge question. Is there any hope for broken lives and for a fallen world? The Old Testament story makes it clear that there is no hope in religion or in laws or in any kind of human structure or program. God demonstrated that through the story of His people over a period of sixteen hundred years.

But all of that was to prepare us for Christ. God destroys false hopes so that we may find our true hope in His Son, who answers the problem of sin and fulfills the promise of God.

In this chapter, I have asked you to think about the story of the Bible as a great drama and to imagine yourself in the audience. But you are also in the play. The Bible is the great drama of the human race. It is our story, and your life is caught up in it. You are not a spectator; you are one of the reasons Christ came into the world.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Gracious Lord,

Thank You for showing me my need of Christ and for sending Your Son into the world. Thank You that through His death I am reconciled to You. Thank You that He bore the curse that otherwise would have fallen on me because of my sin. Thank You that He is changing my heart.

I praise You for Your grace and power, and I thank You that I can see them at work in my life.

Through Jesus Christ. Amen.

You Can Do It!

Can you imagine the insight and joy gained from reading the entire Bible? In as little as 15 minutes a day, The One Year Bible will guide you through God’s Word with daily readings from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs.

Begin reading The One Year Bible from cover to cover and experience the spiritual growth and communion with God that come from daily Bible reading. Available in the clear, accurate New Living Translation. Also available in the NIV and King James Version.

Available wherever Bibles are sold.

READING THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR

January 1

Genesis 1:1–2:25

Matthew 1:1–2:12

Psalm 1:1-6

Proverbs 1:1-6

January 2

Genesis 3:1–4:26

Matthew 2:13–3:6

Psalm 2:1-12

Proverbs 1:7-9

January 3

Genesis 5:1–7:24

Matthew 3:7–4:11

Psalm 3:1-8

Proverbs 1:10-19

January 4

Genesis 8:1–10:32

Matthew 4:12-25

Psalm 4:1-8

Proverbs 1:20-23

January 5

Genesis 11:1–13:4

Matthew 5:1-26

Psalm 5:1-12

Proverbs 1:24-28

January 6

Genesis 13:5–15:21

Matthew 5:27-48

Psalm 6:1-10

Proverbs 1:29-33

January 7

Genesis 16:1–18:15

Matthew 6:1-24

Psalm 7:1-17

Proverbs 2:1-5

January 8

Genesis 18:16–19:38

Matthew 6:25–7:14

Psalm 8:1-9

Proverbs 2:6-15

January 9

Genesis 20:1–22:24

Matthew 7:15-29

Psalm 9:1-12

Proverbs 2:16-22

January 10

Genesis 23:1–24:51

Matthew 8:1-17

Psalm 9:13-20

Proverbs 3:1-6

January 11

Genesis 24:52–26:16

Matthew 8:18-34

Psalm 10:1-15

Proverbs 3:7-8

January 12

Genesis 26:17–27:46

Matthew 9:1-17

Psalm 10:16-18

Proverbs 3:9-10

January 13

Genesis 28:1–29:35

Matthew 9:18-38

Psalm 11:1-7

Proverbs 3:11-12

January 14

Genesis 30:1–31:16

Matthew 10:1-23

Psalm 12:1-8

Proverbs 3:13-15

January 15

Genesis 31:17–32:12

Matthew 10:24–11:6

Psalm 13:1-6

Proverbs 3:16-18

January 16

Genesis 32:13–34:31

Matthew 11:7-30

Psalm 14:1-7

Proverbs 3:19-20

January 17

Genesis 35:1–36:43

Matthew 12:1-21

Psalm 15:1-5

Proverbs 3:21-26

January 18

Genesis 37:1–38:30

Matthew 12:22-45

Psalm 16:1-11

Proverbs 3:27-32

January 19

Genesis 39:1–41:16

Matthew 12:46–13:23

Psalm 17:1-15

Proverbs 3:33-35

January 20

Genesis 41:17–42:17

Matthew 13:24-46

Psalm 18:1-15

Proverbs 4:1-6

January 21

Genesis 42:18–43:34

Matthew 13:47–14:12

Psalm 18:16-36

Proverbs 4:7-10

January 22

Genesis 44:1–45:28

Matthew 14:13-36

Psalm 18:37-50

Proverbs 4:11-13

January 23

Genesis 46:1–47:31

Matthew 15:1-28

Psalm 19:1-14

Proverbs 4:14-19

January 24

Genesis 48:1–49:33

Matthew 15:29–16:12

Psalm 20:1-9

Proverbs 4:20-27

January 25

Genesis 50:1—Exodus 2:10

Matthew 16:13–17:9

Psalm 21:1-13

Proverbs 5:1-6

January 26

Exodus 2:11–3:22

Matthew 17:10-27

Psalm 22:1-18

Proverbs 5:7-14

January 27

Exodus 4:1–5:21

Matthew 18:1-22

Psalm 22:19-31

Proverbs 5:15-21

January 28

Exodus 5:22–7:25

Matthew 18:23–19:12

Psalm 23:1-6

Proverbs 5:22-23

January 29

Exodus 8:1–9:35

Matthew 19:13-30

Psalm 24:1-10

Proverbs 6:1-5

January 30

Exodus 10:1–12:13

Matthew 20:1-28

Psalm 25:1-15

Proverbs 6:6-11

January 31

Exodus 12:14–13:16

Matthew 20:29–21:22

Psalm 25:16-22

Proverbs 6:12-15

February 1

Exodus 13:17–15:18

Matthew 21:23-46

Psalm 26:1-12

Proverbs 6:16-19

February 2

Exodus 15:19–17:7

Matthew 22:1-33

Psalm 27:1-6

Proverbs 6:20-26

February 3

Exodus 17:8–19:15

Matthew 22:34–23:12

Psalm 27:7-14

Proverbs 6:27-35

February 4

Exodus 19:16–21:21

Matthew 23:13-39

Psalm 28:1-9

Proverbs 7:1-5

February 5

Exodus 21:22–23:13

Matthew 24:1-28

Psalm 29:1-11

Proverbs 7:6-23

February 6

Exodus 23:14–25:40

Matthew 24:29-51

Psalm 30:1-12

Proverbs 7:24-27

February 7

Exodus 26:1–27:21

Matthew 25:1-30

Psalm 31:1-8

Proverbs 8:1-11

February 8

Exodus 28:1-43

Matthew 25:31–26:13

Psalm 31:9-18

Proverbs 8:12-13

February 9

Exodus 29:1–30:10

Matthew 26:14-46

Psalm 31:19-24

Proverbs 8:14-26

February 10

Exodus 30:11–31:18

Matthew 26:47-68

Psalm 32:1-11

Proverbs 8:27-32

February 11

Exodus 32:1–33:23

Matthew 26:69–27:14

Psalm 33:1-11

Proverbs 8:33-36

February 12

Exodus 34:1–35:9

Matthew 27:15-31

Psalm 33:12-22

Proverbs 9:1-6

February 13

Exodus 35:10–36:38

Matthew 27:32-66

Psalm 34:1-10

Proverbs 9:7-8

February 14

Exodus 37:1–38:31

Matthew 28:1-20

Psalm 34:11-22

Proverbs 9:9-10

February 15

Exodus 39:1–40:38

Mark 1:1-28

Psalm 35:1-16

Proverbs 9:11-12

February 16

Leviticus 1:1–3:17

Mark 1:29–2:12

Psalm 35:17-28

Proverbs 9:13-18

February 17

Leviticus 4:1–5:19

Mark 2:13–3:6

Psalm 36:1-12

Proverbs 10:1-2

February 18

Leviticus 6:1–7:27

Mark 3:7-30

Psalm 37:1-11

Proverbs 10:3-4

February 19

Leviticus 7:28–9:6

Mark 3:31–4:25

Psalm 37:12-29

Proverbs 10:5

February 20

Leviticus 9:7–10:20

Mark 4:26–5:20

Psalm 37:30-40

Proverbs 10:6-7

February 21

Leviticus 11:1–12:8

Mark 5:21-43

Psalm 38:1-22

Proverbs 10:8-9

February 22

Leviticus 13:1-59

Mark 6:1-29

Psalm 39:1-13

Proverbs 10:10

February 23

Leviticus 14:1-57

Mark 6:30-56

Psalm 40:1-10

Proverbs 10:11-12

February 24

Leviticus 15:1–16:28

Mark 7:1-23

Psalm 40:11-17

Proverbs 10:13-14

February 25

Leviticus 16:29–18:30

Mark 7:24–8:10

Psalm 41:1-13

Proverbs 10:15-16

February 26

Leviticus 19:1–20:21

Mark 8:11-38

Psalm 42:1-11

Proverbs 10:17

February 27

Leviticus 20:22–22:16

Mark 9:1-29

Psalm 43:1-5

Proverbs 10:18

February 28

Leviticus 22:17–23:44

Mark 9:30–10:12

Psalm 44:1-8

Proverbs 10:19

March 1

Leviticus 24:1–25:46

Mark 10:13-31

Psalm 44:9-26

Proverbs 10:20-21

March 2

Leviticus 25:47–27:13

Mark 10:32-52

Psalm 45:1-17

Proverbs 10:22

March 3

Leviticus 27:14—Numbers 1:54

Mark 11:1-25

Psalm 46:1-11

Proverbs 10:23

March 4

Numbers 2:1–3:51

Mark 11:27–12:17

Psalm 47:1-9

Proverbs 10:24-25

March 5

Numbers 4:1–5:31

Mark 12:18-37

Psalm 48:1-14

Proverbs 10:26

March 6

Numbers 6:1–7:89

Mark 12:38–13:13

Psalm 49:1-20

Proverbs 10:27-28

March 7

Numbers 8:1–9:23

Mark 13:14-37

Psalm 50:1-23

Proverbs 10:29-30

March 8

Numbers 10:1–11:23

Mark 14:1-21

Psalm 51:1-19

Proverbs 10:31-32

March 9

Numbers 11:24–13:33

Mark 14:22-52

Psalm 52:1-9

Proverbs 11:1-3

March 10

Numbers 14:1–15:16

Mark 14:53-72

Psalm 53:1-6

Proverbs 11:4

March 11

Numbers 15:17–16:40

Mark 15:1-47

Psalm 54:1-7

Proverbs 11:5-6

March 12

Numbers 16:41–18:32

Mark 16:1-20

Psalm 55:1-23

Proverbs 11:7

March 13

Numbers 19:1–20:29

Luke 1:1-25

Psalm 56:1-13

Proverbs 11:8

March 14

Numbers 21:1–22:20

Luke 1:26-56

Psalm 57:1-11

Proverbs 11:9-11

March 15

Numbers 22:21–23:30

Luke 1:57-80

Psalm 58:1-11

Proverbs 11:12-13

March 16

Numbers 24:1–25:18

Luke 2:1-35

Psalm 59:1-17

Proverbs 11:14

March 17

Numbers 26:1-51

Luke 2:36-52

Psalm 60:1-12

Proverbs 11:15

March 18

Numbers 26:52–28:15

Luke 3:1-22

Psalm 61:1-8

Proverbs 11:16-17

March 19

Numbers 28:16–29:40

Luke 3:23-38

Psalm 62:1-12

Proverbs 11:18-19

March 20

Numbers 30:1–31:54

Luke 4:1-30

Psalm 63:1-11

Proverbs 11:20-21

March 21

Numbers 32:1–33:39

Luke 4:31–5:11

Psalm 64:1-10

Proverbs 11:22

March 22

Numbers 33:40–35:34

Luke 5:12-28

Psalm 65:1-13

Proverbs 11:23

March 23

Numbers 36:1—Deuteronomy 1:46

Luke 5:29–6:11

Psalm 66:1-20

Proverbs 11:24-26

March 24

Deuteronomy 2:1–3:29

Luke 6:12-38

Psalm 67:1-7

Proverbs 11:27

March 25

Deuteronomy 4:1-49

Luke 6:39–7:10

Psalm 68:1-18

Proverbs 11:28

March 26

Deuteronomy 5:1–6:25

Luke 7:11-35

Psalm 68:19-35

Proverbs 11:29-31

March 27

Deuteronomy 7:1–8:20

Luke 7:36–8:3

Psalm 69:1-18

Proverbs 12:1

March 28

Deuteronomy 9:1–10:22

Luke 8:4-21

Psalm 69:19-36

Proverbs 12:2-3

March 29

Deuteronomy 11:1–12:32

Luke 8:22-39

Psalm 70:1-5

Proverbs 12:4

March 30

Deuteronomy 13:1–15:23

Luke 8:40–9:6

Psalm 71:1-24

Proverbs 12:5-7

March 31

Deuteronomy 16:1–17:20

Luke 9:7-27

Psalm 72:1-20

Proverbs 12:8-9

April 1

Deuteronomy 18:1–20:20

Luke 9:28-50

Psalm 73:1-28

Proverbs 12:10

April 2

Deuteronomy 21:1–22:30

Luke 9:51–10:12

Psalm 74:1-23

Proverbs 12:11

April 3

Deuteronomy 23:1–25:19

Luke 10:13-37

Psalm 75:1-10

Proverbs 12:12-14

April 4

Deuteronomy 26:1–27:26

Luke 10:38–11:13

Psalm 76:1-12

Proverbs 12:15-17

April 5

Deuteronomy 28:1-68

Luke 11:14-36

Psalm 77:1-20

Proverbs 12:18

April 6

Deuteronomy 29:1–30:20

Luke 11:37–12:7

Psalm 78:1-31

Proverbs 12:19-20

April 7

Deuteronomy 31:1–32:27

Luke 12:8-34

Psalm 78:32-55

Proverbs 12:21-23

April 8

Deuteronomy 32:28-52

Luke 12:35-59

Psalm 78:56-64

Proverbs 12:24

April 9

Deuteronomy 33:1-29

Luke 13:1-21

Psalm 78:65-72

Proverbs 12:25

April 10

Deuteronomy 34:1—Joshua 2:24

Luke 13:22–14:6

Psalm 79:1-13

Proverbs 12:26

April 11

Joshua 3:1–4:24

Luke 14:7-35

Psalm 80:1-19

Proverbs 12:27-28

April 12

Joshua 5:1–7:15

Luke 15:1-32

Psalm 81:1-16

Proverbs 13:1

April 13

Joshua 7:16–9:2

Luke 16:1-18

Psalm 82:1-8

Proverbs 13:2-3

April 14

Joshua 9:3–10:43

Luke 16:19–17:10

Psalm 83:1-18

Proverbs 13:4

April 15

Joshua 11:1–12:24

Luke 17:11-37

Psalm 84:1-12

Proverbs 13:5-6

April 16

Joshua 13:1–14:15

Luke 18:1-17

Psalm 85:1-13

Proverbs 13:7-8

April 17

Joshua 15:1-63

Luke 18:18-43

Psalm 86:1-17

Proverbs 13:9-10

April 18

Joshua 16:1–18:28

Luke 19:1-27

Psalm 87:1-7

Proverbs 13:11

April 19

Joshua 19:1–20:9

Luke 19:28-48

Psalm 88:1-18

Proverbs 13:12-14

April 20

Joshua 21:1–22:20

Luke 20:1-26

Psalm 89:1-13

Proverbs 13:15-16

April 21

Joshua 22:21–23:16

Luke 20:27-47

Psalm 89:14-37

Proverbs 13:17-19

April 22

Joshua 24:1-33

Luke 21:1-28

Psalm 89:38-52

Proverbs 13:20-23

April 23

Judges 1:1–2:9

Luke 21:29–22:13

Psalm 90:1–91:16

Proverbs 13:24-25

April 24

Judges 2:10–3:31

Luke 22:14-34

Psalm 92:1–93:5

Proverbs 14:1-2

April 25

Judges 4:1–5:31

Luke 22:35-53

Psalm 94:1-23

Proverbs 14:3-4

April 26

Judges 6:1-40

Luke 22:54–23:12

Psalm 95:1–96:13

Proverbs 14:5-6

April 27

Judges 7:1–8:17

Luke 23:13-43

Psalm 97:1–98:9

Proverbs 14:7-8

April 28

Judges 8:18–9:21

Luke 23:44–24:12

Psalm 99:1-9

Proverbs 14:9-10

April 29

Judges 9:22–10:18

Luke 24:13-53

Psalm 100:1-5

Proverbs 14:11-12

April 30

Judges 11:1–12:15

John 1:1-28

Psalm 101:1-8

Proverbs 14:13-14

May 1

Judges 13:1–14:20

John 1:29-51

Psalm 102:1-28

Proverbs 14:15-16

May 2

Judges 15:1–16:31

John 2:1-25

Psalm 103:1-22

Proverbs 14:17-19

May 3

Judges 17:1–18:31

John 3:1-21

Psalm 104:1-23

Proverbs 14:20-21

May 4

Judges 19:1–20:48

John 3:22–4:3

Psalm 104:24-35

Proverbs 14:22-24

May 5

Judges 21:1—Ruth 1:22

John 4:4-42

Psalm 105:1-15

Proverbs 14:25

May 6

Ruth 2:1–4:22

John 4:43-54

Psalm 105:16-36

Proverbs 14:26-27

May 7

1 Samuel 1:1–2:21

John 5:1-23

Psalm 105:37-45

Proverbs 14:28-29

May 8

1 Samuel 2:22–4:22

John 5:24-47

Psalm 106:1-12

Proverbs 14:30-31

May 9

1 Samuel 5:1–7:17

John 6:1-21

Psalm 106:13-31

Proverbs 14:32-33

May 10

1 Samuel 8:1–9:27

John 6:22-42

Psalm 106:32-48

Proverbs 14:34-35

May 11

1 Samuel 10:1–11:15

John 6:43-71

Psalm 107:1-43

Proverbs 15:1-3

May 12

1 Samuel 12:1–13:23

John 7:1-30

Psalm 108:1-13

Proverbs 15:4

May 13

1 Samuel 14:1–14:52

John 7:31-53

Psalm 109:1-31

Proverbs 15:5-7

May 14

1 Samuel 15:1–16:23

John 8:1-20

Psalm 110:1-7

Proverbs 15:8-10

May 15

1 Samuel 17:1–18:4

John 8:21-30

Psalm 111:1-10

Proverbs 15:11

May 16

1 Samuel 18:5–19:24

John 8:31-59

Psalm 112:1-10

Proverbs 15:12-14

May 17

1 Samuel 20:1–21:15

John 9:1-41

Psalm 113:1–114:8

Proverbs 15:15-17

May 18

1 Samuel 22:1–23:29

John 10:1-21

Psalm 115:1-18

Proverbs 15:18-19

May 19

1 Samuel 24:1–25:44

John 10:22-42

Psalm 116:1-19

Proverbs 15:20-21

May 20

1 Samuel 26:1–28:25

John 11:1-54

Psalm 117:1-2

Proverbs 15:22-23

May 21

1 Samuel 29:1–31:13

John 11:55–12:19

Psalm 118:1-18

Proverbs 15:24-26

May 22

2 Samuel 1:1–2:11

John 12:20-50

Psalm 118:19-29

Proverbs 15:27-28

May 23

2 Samuel 2:12–3:39

John 13:1-30

Psalm 119:1-16

Proverbs 15:29-30

May 24

2 Samuel 4:1–6:23

John 13:31–14:14

Psalm 119:17-32

Proverbs 15:31-32

May 25

2 Samuel 7:1–8:18

John 14:15-31

Psalm 119:33-48

Proverbs 15:33

May 26

2 Samuel 9:1–11:27

John 15:1-27

Psalm 119:49-64

Proverbs 16:1-3

May 27

2 Samuel 12:1-31

John 16:1-33

Psalm 119:65-80

Proverbs 16:4-5

May 28

2 Samuel 13:1-39

John 17:1-26

Psalm 119:81-96

Proverbs 16:6-7

May 29

2 Samuel 14:1–15:22

John 18:1-24

Psalm 119:97-112

Proverbs 16:8-9

May 30

2 Samuel 15:23–16:23

John 18:25–19:22

Psalm 119:113-128

Proverbs 16:10-11

May 31

2 Samuel 17:1-29

John 19:23-42

Psalm 119:129-152

Proverbs 16:12-13

June 1

2 Samuel 18:1–19:10

John 20:1-31

Psalm 119:153-176

Proverbs 16:14-15

June 2

2 Samuel 19:11–20:13

John 21:1-25

Psalm 120:1-7 |

Proverbs 16:16-17

June 3

2 Samuel 20:14–21:22

Acts 1:1-26

Psalm 121:1-8

Proverbs 16:18

June 4

2 Samuel 22:1–23:23

Acts 2:1-47

Psalm 122:1-9

Proverbs 16:19-20

June 5

2 Samuel 23:24–24:25

Acts 3:1-26

Psalm 123:1-4

Proverbs 16:21-23

June 6

1 Kings 1:1-53

Acts 4:1-37

Psalm 124:1-8

Proverbs 16:24

June 7

1 Kings 2:1–3:2

Acts 5:1-42

Psalm 125:1-5

Proverbs 16:25

June 8

1 Kings 3:3–4:34

Acts 6:1-15

Psalm 126:1-6

Proverbs 16:26-27

June 9

1 Kings 5:1–6:38

Acts 7:1-29

Psalm 127:1-5

Proverbs 16:28-30

June 10

1 Kings 7:1-51

Acts 7:30-50

Psalm 128:1-6

Proverbs 16:31-33

June 11

1 Kings 8:1-66

Acts 7:51–8:13

Psalm 129:1-8

Proverbs 17:1

June 12

1 Kings 9:1–10:29

Acts 8:14-40

Psalm 130:1-8

Proverbs 17:2-3

June 13

1 Kings 11:1–12:19

Acts 9:1-25

Psalm 131:1-3

Proverbs 17:4-5

June 14

1 Kings 12:20–13:34

Acts 9:26-43

Psalm 132:1-18

Proverbs 17:6

June 15

1 Kings 14:1–15:24

Acts 10:1-23

Psalm 133:1-3

Proverbs 17:7-8

June 16

1 Kings 15:25–17:24

Acts 10:24-48

Psalm 134:1-3

Proverbs 17:9-11

June 17

1 Kings 18:1-46

Acts 11:1-30

Psalm 135:1-21

Proverbs 17:12-13

June 18

1 Kings 19:1-21

Acts 12:1-23

Psalm 136:1-26

Proverbs 17:14-15

June 19

1 Kings 20:1–21:29

Acts 12:24–13:15

Psalm 137:1-9

Proverbs 17:16

June 20

1 Kings 22:1-53

Acts 13:16-41

Psalm 138:1-8

Proverbs 17:17-18

June 21

2 Kings 1:1–2:25

Acts 13:42–14:7

Psalm 139:1-24

Proverbs 17:19-21

June 22

2 Kings 3:1–4:17

Acts 14:8-28

Psalm 140:1-13

Proverbs 17:22

June 23

2 Kings 4:18–5:27

Acts 15:1-35

Psalm 141:1-10

Proverbs 17:23

June 24

2 Kings 6:1–7:20

Acts 15:36–16:15

Psalm 142:1-7

Proverbs 17:24-25

June 25

2 Kings 8:1–9:13

Acts 16:16-40

Psalm 143:1-12

Proverbs 17:26

June 26

2 Kings 9:14–10:31

Acts 17:1-34

Psalm 144:1-15

Proverbs 17:27-28

June 27

2 Kings 10:32–12:21

Acts 18:1-22

Psalm 145:1-21

Proverbs 18:1

June 28

2 Kings 13:1–14:29

Acts 18:23–19:12

Psalm 146:1-10

Proverbs 18:2-3

June 29

2 Kings 15:1–16:20

Acts 19:13-41

Psalm 147:1-20

Proverbs 18:4-5

June 30

2 Kings 17:1–18:12

Acts 20:1-38

Psalm 148:1-14

Proverbs 18:6-7

July 1

2 Kings 18:13–19:37

Acts 21:1-17

Psalm 149:1-9

Proverbs 18:8

July 2

2 Kings 20:1–22:2

Acts 21:18-36

Psalm 150:1-6

Proverbs 18:9-10

July 3

2 Kings 22:3–23:30

Acts 21:37–22:16

Psalm 1:1-6

Proverbs 18:11-12

July 4

2 Kings 23:31–25:30

Acts 22:17–23:10

Psalm 2:1-12

Proverbs 18:13

July 5

1 Chronicles 1:1–2:17

Acts 23:11-35

Psalm 3:1-8

Proverbs 18:14-15

July 6

1 Chronicles 2:18–4:4

Acts 24:1-27

Psalm 4:1-8

Proverbs 18:16-18

July 7

1 Chronicles 4:5–5:17

Acts 25:1-27

Psalm 5:1-12

Proverbs 18:19

July 8

1 Chronicles 5:18–6:81

Acts 26:1-32

Psalm 6:1-10

Proverbs 18:20-21

July 9

1 Chronicles 7:1–8:40

Acts 27:1-20

Psalm 7:1-17

Proverbs 18:22

July 10

1 Chronicles 9:1–10:14

Acts 27:21-44

Psalm 8:1-9

Proverbs 18:23-24

July 11

1 Chronicles 11:1–12:18

Acts 28:1-31

Psalm 9:1-12

Proverbs 19:1-3

July 12

1 Chronicles 12:19–14:17

Romans 1:1-17

Psalm 9:13-20

Proverbs 19:4-5

July 13

1 Chronicles 15:1–16:36

Romans 1:18-32

Psalm 10:1-15

Proverbs 19:6-7

July 14

1 Chronicles 16:37–18:17

Romans 2:1-24

Psalm 10:16-18

Proverbs 19:8-9

July 15

1 Chronicles 19:1–21:30

Romans 2:25–3:8

Psalm 11:1-7

Proverbs 19:10-12

July 16

1 Chronicles 22:1–23:32

Romans 3:9-31

Psalm 12:1-8

Proverbs 19:13-14

July 17

1 Chronicles 24:1–26:11

Romans 4:1-12

Psalm 13:1-6

Proverbs 19:15-16

July 18

1 Chronicles 26:12–27:34

Romans 4:13–5:5

Psalm 14:1-7

Proverbs 19:17

July 19

1 Chronicles 28:1–29:30

Romans 5:6-21

Psalm 15:1-5

Proverbs 19:18-19

July 20

2 Chronicles 1:1–3:17

Romans 6:1-23

Psalm 16:1-11

Proverbs 19:20-21

July 21

2 Chronicles 4:1–6:11

Romans 7:1-13

Psalm 17:1-15

Proverbs 19:22-23

July 22

2 Chronicles 6:12–8:10

Romans 7:14–8:8

Psalm 18:1-15

Proverbs 19:24-25

July 23

2 Chronicles 8:11–10:19

Romans 8:9-25

Psalm 18:16-36

Proverbs 19:26

July 24

2 Chronicles 11:1–13:22

Romans 8:26-39

Psalm 18:37-50

Proverbs 19:27-29

July 25

2 Chronicles 14:1–16:14

Romans 9:1-24

Psalm 19:1-14

Proverbs 20:1

July 26

2 Chronicles 17:1–18:34

Romans 9:25–10:13

Psalm 20:1-9

Proverbs 20:2-3

July 27

2 Chronicles 19:1–20:37

Romans 10:14–11:12

Psalm 21:1-13

Proverbs 20:4-6

July 28

2 Chronicles 21:1–23:21

Romans 11:13-36

Psalm 22:1-18

Proverbs 20:7

July 29

2 Chronicles 24:1–25:28

Romans 12:1-21

Psalm 22:19-31

Proverbs 20:8-10

July 30

2 Chronicles 26:1–28:27

Romans 13:1-14

Psalm 23:1-6

Proverbs 20:11

July 31

2 Chronicles 29:1-36

Romans 14:1-23

Psalm 24:1-10

Proverbs 20:12

August 1

2 Chronicles 30:1–31:21

Romans 15:1-22

Psalm 25:1-15

Proverbs 20:13-15

August 2

2 Chronicles 32:1–33:13

Romans 15:23–16:9

Psalm 25:16-22

Proverbs 20:16-18

August 3

2 Chronicles 33:14–34:33

Romans 16:10-27

Psalm 26:1-12

Proverbs 20:19

August 4

2 Chronicles 35:1–36:23

1 Corinthians 1:1-17

Psalm 27:1-6

Proverbs 20:20-21

August 5

Ezra 1:1–2:70

1 Corinthians Psalm 27:7-14

Proverbs 20:22-23

August 6

Ezra 3:1–4:24

1 Corinthians 2:6–3:4

Psalm 28:1-9

Proverbs 20:24-25

August 7

Ezra 5:1–6:22

1 Corinthians 3:5-23

Psalm 29:1-11

Proverbs 20:26-27

August 8

Ezra 7:1–8:20

1 Corinthians 4:1-21

Psalm 30:1-12

Proverbs 20:28-30

August 9

Ezra 8:21–9:15

1 Corinthians 5:1-13

Psalm 31:1-8

Proverbs 21:1-2

August 10

Ezra 10:1-44

1 Corinthians 6:1-20

Psalm 31:9-18

Proverbs 21:3

August 11

Nehemiah 1:1–3:14

1 Corinthians 7:1-24

Psalm 31:19-24

Proverbs 21:4

August 12

Nehemiah 3:15–5:13

1 Corinthians 7:25-40

Psalm 32:1-11

Proverbs 21:5-7

August 13

Nehemiah 5:14–7:60

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Psalm 33:1-11

Proverbs 21:8-10

August 14

Nehemiah 7:61–9:21

1 Corinthians 9:1-18

Psalm 33:12-22

Proverbs 21:11-12

August 15

Nehemiah 9:22–10:39

1 Corinthians 9:19–10:13

Psalm 34:1-10

Proverbs 21:13

August 16

Nehemiah 11:1–12:26

1 Corinthians 10:14-33

Psalm 34:11-22

Proverbs 21:14-16

August 17

Nehemiah 12:27–13:31

1 Corinthians 11:1-16

Psalm 35:1-16

Proverbs 21:17-18

August 18

Esther 1:1–3:15

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Psalm 35:17-28

Proverbs 21:19-20

August 19

Esther 4:1–7:10

1 Corinthians 12:1-26

Psalm 36:1-12

Proverbs 21:21-22

August 20

Esther 8:1–10:3

1 Corinthians 12:27–13:13

Psalm 37:1-11

Proverbs 21:23-24

August 21

Job 1:1–3:26

1 Corinthians 14:1-17

Psalm 37:12-29

Proverbs 21:25-26

August 22

Job 4:1–7:21

1 Corinthians 14:18-40

Psalm 37:30-40

Proverbs 21:27

August 23

Job 8:1–11:20

1 Corinthians 15:1-28

Psalm 38:1-22

Proverbs 21:28-29

August 24

Job 12:1–15:35

1 Corinthians 15:29-58

Psalm 39:1-13

Proverbs 21:30-31

August 25

Job 16:1–19:29

1 Corinthians 16:1-24

Psalm 40:1-10

Proverbs 22:1

August 26

Job 20:1–22:30

2 Corinthians 1:1-11

Psalm 40:11-17

Proverbs 22:2-4

August 27

Job 23:1–27:23

2 Corinthians 1:12–2:11

Psalm 41:1-13

Proverbs 22:5-6

August 28

Job 28:1–30:31

2 Corinthians 2:12-17

Psalm 42:1-11

Proverbs 22:7

August 29

Job 31:1–33:33

2 Corinthians 3:1-18

Psalm 43:1-5

Proverbs 22:8-9

August 30

Job 34:1–36:33

2 Corinthians 4:1-12

Psalm 44:1-8

Proverbs 22:10-12

August 31

Job 37:1–39:30

2 Corinthians 4:13–5:10

Psalm 44:9-26

Proverbs 22:13

September 1

Job 40:1–42:17

2 Corinthians 5:11-21

Psalm 45:1-17

Proverbs 22:14

September 2

Ecclesiastes 1:1–3:22

2 Corinthians 6:1-13

Psalm 46:1-11

Proverbs 22:15

September 3

Ecclesiastes 4:1–6:12

2 Corinthians 6:14–7:7

Psalm 47:1-9

Proverbs 22:16

September 4

Ecclesiastes 7:1–9:18

2 Corinthians 7:8-16

Psalm 48:1-14

Proverbs 22:17-19

September 5

Ecclesiastes 10:1–12:14

2 Corinthians 8:1-15

Psalm 49:1-20

Proverbs 22:20-21

September 6

Song of songs 1:1–4:16

2 Corinthians 8:16-24

Psalm 50:1-23

Proverbs 22:22-23

September 7

Song of songs 5:1–8:14

2 Corinthians 9:1-15

Psalm 51:1-19

Proverbs 22:24-25

September 8

Isaiah 1:1–2:22

2 Corinthians 10:1-18

Psalm 52:1-9

Proverbs 22:26-27

September 9

Isaiah 3:1–5:30

2 Corinthians 11:1-15

Psalm 53:1-6

Proverbs 22:28-29

September 10

Isaiah 6:1–7:25

2 Corinthians 11:16-33

Psalm 54:1-7

Proverbs 23:1-3

September 11

Isaiah 8:1–9:21

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Psalm 55:1-23

Proverbs 23:4-5

September 12

Isaiah 10:1–11:16

2 Corinthians 12:11-21

Psalm 56:1-13

Proverbs 23:6-8

September 13

Isaiah 12:1–14:32

2 Corinthians 13:1-13

Psalm 57:1-11

Proverbs 23:9-11

September 14

Isaiah 15:1–18:7

Galatians 1:1-24

Psalm 58:1-11

Proverbs 23:12

September 15

Isaiah 19:1–21:17

Galatians 2:1-16

Psalm 59:1-17

Proverbs 23:13-14

September 16

Isaiah 22:1–24:23

Galatians 2:17–3:9

Psalm 60:1-12

Proverbs 23:15-16

September 17

Isaiah 25:1–28:13

Galatians 3:10-22

Psalm 61:1-8

Proverbs 23:17-18

September 18

Isaiah 28:14–30:11

Galatians 3:23–4:31

Psalm 62:1-12

Proverbs 23:19-21

September 19

Isaiah 30:12–33:9

Galatians 5:1-12

Psalm 63:1-11

Proverbs 23:22

September 20

Isaiah 33:10–36:22

Galatians 5:13-26

Psalm 64:1-10

Proverbs 23:23

September 21

Isaiah 37:1–38:22

Galatians 6:1-18

Psalm 65:1-13

Proverbs 23:24

September 22

Isaiah 39:1–41:16

Ephesians 1:1-23

Psalm 66:1-20

Proverbs 23:25-28

September 23

Isaiah 41:17–43:13

Ephesians 2:1-22

Psalm 67:1-7

Proverbs 23:29-35

September 24

Isaiah 43:14–45:10

Ephesians 3:1-21

Psalm 68:1-18

Proverbs 24:1-2

September 25

Isaiah 45:11–48:11

Ephesians 4:1-16

Psalm 68:19-35

Proverbs 24:3-4

September 26

Isaiah 48:12–50:11

Ephesians 4:17-32

Psalm 69:1-18

Proverbs 24:5-6

September 27

Isaiah 51:1–53:12

Ephesians 5:1-33

Psalm 69:19-36

Proverbs 24:7

September 28

Isaiah 54:1–57:14

Ephesians 6:1-24

Psalm 70:1-5

Proverbs 24:8

September 29

Isaiah 57:15–59:21

Philippians 1:1-26

Psalm 71:1-24

Proverbs 24:9-10

September 30

Isaiah 60:1–62:5

Philippians 1:27–2:18

Psalm 72:1-20

Proverbs 24:11-12

October 1

Isaiah 62:6–65:25

Philippians 2:19–3:3

Psalm 73:1-28

Proverbs 24:13-14

October 2

Isaiah 66:1-24

Philippians 3:4-21

Psalm 74:1-23

Proverbs 24:15-16

October 3

Jeremiah 1:1–2:30

Philippians 4:1-23

Psalm 75:1-10

Proverbs 24:17-20

October 4

Jeremiah 2:31–4:18

Colossians 1:1-17

Psalm 76:1-12 |

Proverbs 24:21-22

October 5

Jeremiah 4:19–6:15

Colossians 1:18–2:7

Psalm 77:1-20

Proverbs 24:23-25

October 6

Jeremiah 6:16–8:7

Colossians 2:8-23

Psalm 78:1-31

Proverbs 24:26

October 7

Jeremiah 8:8–9:26

Colossians 3:1-17

Psalm 78:32-55

Proverbs 24:27

October 8

Jeremiah 10:1–11:23

Colossians 3:18–4:18

Psalm 78:56-72

Proverbs 24:28-29

October 9

Jeremiah 12:1–14:10

1 Thessalonians 1:1–2:8

Psalm 79:1-13

Proverbs 24:30-34

October 10

Jeremiah 14:11–16:15

1 Thessalonians 2:9–3:13

Psalm 80:1-19

Proverbs 25:1-5

October 11

Jeremiah 16:16–18:23

1 Thessalonians 4:1–5:3

Psalm 81:1-16

Proverbs 25:6-8

October 12

Jeremiah 19:1–21:14

1 Thessalonians 5:4-28

Psalm 82:1-8

Proverbs 25:9-10

October 13

Jeremiah 22:1–23:20

2 Thessalonians 1:1-12

Psalm 83:1-18

Proverbs 25:11-14

October 14

Jeremiah 23:21–25:38

2 Thessalonians 2:1-17

Psalm 84:1-12

Proverbs 25:15

October 15

Jeremiah 26:1–27:22

2 Thessalonians 3:1-18

Psalm 85:1-13

Proverbs 25:16

October 16

Jeremiah 28:1–29:32

1 Timothy 1:1-20

Psalm 86:1-17

Proverbs 25:17

October 17

Jeremiah 30:1–31:26

1 Timothy 2:1-15

Psalm 87:1-7

Proverbs 25:18-19

October 18

Jeremiah 31:27–32:44

1 Timothy 3:1-16

Psalm 88:1-18

Proverbs 25:20-22

October 19

Jeremiah 33:1–34:22

1 Timothy 4:1-16

Psalm 89:1-13

Proverbs 25:23-24

October 20

Jeremiah 35:1–36:32

1 Timothy 5:1-25

Psalm 89:14-37

Proverbs 25:25-27

October 21

Jeremiah 37:1–38:28

1 Timothy 6:1-21

Psalm 89:38-52

Proverbs 25:28

October 22

Jeremiah 39:1–41:18

2 Timothy 1:1-18

Psalm 90:1–91:16

Proverbs 26:1-2

October 23

Jeremiah 42:1–44:23

2 Timothy 2:1-21

Psalm 92:1–93:5

Proverbs 26:3-5

October 24

Jeremiah 44:24–47:7

2 Timothy 2:22–3:17

Psalm 94:1-23

Proverbs 26:6-8

October 25

Jeremiah 48:1–49:22

2 Timothy 4:1-22

Psalm 95:1–96:13

Proverbs 26:9-12

October 26

Jeremiah 49:23–50:46

Titus 1:1-16

Psalm 97:1–98:9

Proverbs 26:13-16

October 27

Jeremiah 51:1-53

Titus 2:1-15

Psalm 99:1-9

Proverbs 26:17

October 28

Jeremiah 51:54–52:34

Titus 3:1-15

Psalm 100:1-5

Proverbs 26:18-19

October 29

Lamentations 1:1–2:19

Philippians 1:1-25

Psalm 101:1-8

Proverbs 26:20

October 30

Lamentations 2:20–3:66

Hebrews 1:1-14

Psalm 102:1-28

Proverbs 26:21-22

October 31

Lamentations 4:1–5:22

Hebrews 2:1-18

Psalm 103:1-22

Proverbs 26:23

November 1

Ezekiel 1:1–3:15

Hebrews 3:1-19

Psalm 104:1-23

Proverbs 26:24-26

November 2

Ezekiel 3:16–6:14

Hebrews 4:1-16

Psalm 104:24-35

Proverbs 26:27

November 3

Ezekiel 7:1–9:11

Hebrews 5:1-14

Psalm 105:1-15

Proverbs 26:28

November 4

Ezekiel 10:1–11:25

Hebrews 6:1-20

Psalm 105:16-36

Proverbs 27:1-2

November 5

Ezekiel 12:1–14:11

Hebrews 7:1-17

Psalm 105:3745

Proverbs 27:3

November 6

Ezekiel 14:12–16:41

Hebrews 7:18-28

Psalm 106:1-12

Proverbs 27:4-6

November 7

Ezekiel 16:42–17:24

Hebrews 8:1-13

Psalm 106:13-31

Proverbs 27:7-9

November 8

Ezekiel 18:1–19:14

Hebrews 9:1-10

Psalm 106:32-48

Proverbs 27:10

November 9

Ezekiel 20:1-49

Hebrews 9:11-28

Psalm 107:1-43

Proverbs 27:11

November 10

Ezekiel 21:1–22:31

Hebrews 10:1-17

Psalm 108:1-13

Proverbs 27:12

November 11

Ezekiel 23:1-49

Hebrews 10:18-39

Psalm 109:1-31

Proverbs 27:13

November 12

Ezekiel 24:1–26:21

Hebrews 11:1-16

Psalm 110:1-7

Proverbs 27:14

November 13

Ezekiel 27:1–28:26

Hebrews 11:17-31

Psalm 111:1-10

Proverbs 27:15-16

November 14

Ezekiel 29:1–30:26

Hebrews 11:32–12:13

Psalm 112:1-10

Proverbs 27:17

November 15

Ezekiel 31:1–32:32

Hebrews 12:14-29

Psalm 113:1–114:8

Proverbs 27:18-20

November 16

Ezekiel 33:1–34:31

Hebrews 13:1-25

Psalm 115:1-18

Proverbs 27:21-22

November 17

Ezekiel 35:1–36:38

James 1:1-18

Psalm 116:1-19

Proverbs 27:23-27

November 18

Ezekiel 37:1–38:23

James 1:19–2:17

Psalm 117:1-2 |

Proverbs 28:1

November 19

Ezekiel 39:1–40:27

James 2:18–3:18

Psalm 118:1-18

Proverbs 28:2

November 20

Ezekiel 40:28–41:26

James 4:1-17

Psalm 118:19-29

Proverbs 28:3-5

November 21

Ezekiel 42:1–43:27

James 5:1-20

Psalm 119:1-16

Proverbs 28:6-7

November 22

Ezekiel 44:1–45:12

1 Peter 1:1-12

Psalm 119:17-32

Proverbs 28:8-10

November 23

Ezekiel 45:13–46:24

1 Peter 1:13–2:10

Psalm 119:33-48

Proverbs 28:11

November 24

Ezekiel 47:1–48:35

1 Peter 2:11–3:7

Psalm 119:49-64

Proverbs 28:12-13

November 25

Daniel 1:1–2:23

1 Peter 3:8–4:6

Psalm 119:65-80

Proverbs 28:14

November 26

Daniel 2:24–3:30

1 Peter 4:7–5:14

Psalm 119:81-96

Proverbs 28:15-16

November 27

Daniel 4:1-37

2 Peter 1:1-21

Psalm 119:97-112

Proverbs 28:17-18

November 28

Daniel 5:1-31

2 Peter 2:1-22

Psalm 119:113-128

Proverbs 28:19-20

November 29

Daniel 6:1-28

2 Peter 3:1-18

Psalm 119:129-152

Proverbs 28:21-22

November 30

Daniel 7:1-28

1 John 1:1-10

Psalm 119:153-176

Proverbs 28:23-24

December 1

Daniel 8:1-27

1 John 2:1-17

Psalm 120:1-7

Proverbs 28:25-26

December 2

Daniel 9:1–11:1

1 John 2:18–3:6

Psalm 121:1-8

Proverbs 28:27-28

December 3

Daniel 11:2-35

1 John 3:7-24

Psalm 122:1-9

Proverbs 29:1

December 4

Daniel 11:36–12:13

1 John 4:1-21

Psalm 123:1-4

Proverbs 29:2-4

December 5

Hosea 1:1–3:5

1 John 5:1-21

Psalm 124:1-8

Proverbs 29:5-8

December 6

Hosea 4:1–5:15

2 John 1:1-13

Psalm 125:1-5

Proverbs 29:9-11

December 7

Hosea 6:1–9:17

3 John 1:1-15

Psalm 126:1-6

Proverbs 29:12-14

December 8

Hosea 10:1–14:9

Jude 1:1-25

Psalm 127:1-5

Proverbs 29:15-17

December 9

Joel 1:1–3:21

Revelation 1:1-20

Psalm 128:1-6

Proverbs 29:18

December 10

Amos 1:1–3:15

Revelation 2:1-17

Psalm 129:1-8

Proverbs 29:19-20

December 11

Amos 4:1–6:14

Revelation 2:18–3:6

Psalm 130:1-8

Proverbs 29:21-22

December 12

Amos 7:1–9:15

Revelation 3:7-22

Psalm 131:1-3

Proverbs 29:23

December 13

Obadiah 1:1-21

Revelation 4:1-11

Psalm 132:1-18

Proverbs 29:24-25

December 14

Jonah 1:1–4:11

Revelation 5:1-14

Psalm 133:1-3

Proverbs 29:26-27

December 15

Micah 1:1–4:13

Revelation 6:1-17

Psalm 134:1-3

Proverbs 30:1-4

December 16

Micah 5:1–7:20

Revelation 7:1-17

Psalm 135:1-21

Proverbs 30:5-6

December 17

Nahum 1:1–3:19

Revelation 8:1-13

Psalm 136:1-26

Proverbs 30:7-9

December 18

Habakkuk 1:1–3:19

Revelation 9:1-21

Psalm 137:1-9

Proverbs 30:10

December 19

Zephaniah 1:1–3:20

Revelation 10:1-11

Psalm 138:1-8

Proverbs 30:11-14

December 20

Haggai 1:1–2:23

Revelation 11:1-19

Psalm 139:1-24

Proverbs 30:15-16

December 21

Zechariah 1:1-21

Revelation 12:1-17

Psalm 140:1-13

Proverbs 30:17

December 22

Zechariah 2:1–3:10

Revelation 12:18–3:18

Psalm 141:1-10

Proverbs 30:18-20

December 23

Zechariah 4:1–5:11

Revelation 14:1-20

Psalm 142:1-7

Proverbs 30:21-23

December 24

Zechariah 6:1–7:14

Revelation 15:1-8

Psalm 143:1-12

Proverbs 30:24-28

December 25

Zechariah 8:1-23

Revelation 16:1-21

Psalm 144:1-15

Proverbs 30:29-31

December 26

Zechariah 9:1-17

Revelation 17:1-18

Psalm 145:1-21

Proverbs 30:32

December 27

Zechariah 10:1–11:17

Revelation 18:1-24

Psalm 146:1-10

Proverbs 30:33

December 28

Zechariah 12:1–13:9

Revelation 19:1-21

Psalm 147:1-20

Proverbs 31:1-7

December 29

Zechariah 14:1-21

Revelation 20:1-15

Psalm 148:1-14

Proverbs 31:8-9

December 30

Malachi 1:1–2:17

Revelation 21:1-27

Psalm 149:1-9

Proverbs 31:10-24

December 31

Malachi 3:1–4:6

Revelation 22:1-21

Psalm 150:1-6

Proverbs 31:25-31

Moody Press, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute, is designed for education, evangelization, and edification. If we may assist you in knowing more about Christ and the Christian life, please write us without obligation: Moody Press, c/o MLM, Chicago, Illinois 60610.

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR UNLOCKING THE BIBLE STORY

Unlocking the Bible Story flows from the pen of a pastor who understands how important it is to encourage God’s people to read and discover the power of the Bible. Colin Smith has written a practical tool to facilitate the wonderful adventure of reading and understanding the Bible. I recommend that every pastor and church consider deepening their Bible knowledge by utilizing this tool that has produced incredible results in the church Pastor Smith leads.

WILLIAM HAMEL

PRESIDENT, EVANGELICAL FREE CHURCH OF AMERICA

“… touches the deepest concerns of our hearts.”

DR. GREGORY L. WAYBRIGHT

PRESIDENT, TRINITY INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

Colin Smith’s Unlocking the Bible Story is a significant work. In fact, I’m convinced it will make a lasting contribution to God’s people regardless of age or ethnicity.

At first glance the Bible appears to many people as a puzzle, with parts that are not easily assembled. Here is a simplified explanation for understanding and learning to love the Scriptures. My colleague Colin Smith capably serves up a pleasing and satisfying literary meal that merits thoughtful consumption in our day of biblical starvation.

HOWARD G. HENDRICKS

DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR

CHAIRMAN, CENTER FOR CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP DALLAS THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

Unlocking the Bible Story explores the mountain peaks of Scripture, helping us trace the Bible’s story line from beginning to end. I promise, it does unlock the Bible, showing us the unity of God’s revelation. Best of all, it shows that Christ is the central theme, as the biblical narrative moves from one event to another. Excellent for those who want to “get into” the Bible.

ERWIN W. LUTZER

SENIOR PASTOR, MOODY CHURCH

“Excellent for those who want to ‘get into’ the Bible.”

This is a satisfying and insightful overview of Scripture that tells “the old, old story” in a fascinating way. Even seasoned Bible students will find their eyes opened and their hearts warmed as they read it.

WARREN WIERSBE

AUTHOR AND CONFERENCE SPEAKER

UNLOCKING THE BIBLE STORY

VOLUME 3

Colin S. Smith

Moody Publishers

Chicago

© 2002 by COLIN S. SMITH

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Smith, Colin S., 1958–

Unlocking the Bible Story/by Colin S. Smith

p.cm.

ISBN 0-8024-6545-5

1. Bible—Criticism, interpretation, etc.   I. Title.

BS511.3.S65.2002

221.6—dc21                                                      2001056268

ISBN: 0-8024-6545-5

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Printed in the United States of America

For Andrew and David,

with the prayer that your lives

will be for the glory of God.

CONTENTS

Introduction

1 Fulfillment

2 Repentance

3 Kingdom

4 Disciples

5 Lord

6 Hell

7 Miracles

8 Born

9 Tempted

10 Transfigured

11 Crucified

12 Risen

13 Ascended

14 Coming

15 Father

16 Son

17 Spirit

18 Christ

19 Power

20 Gentiles

Reading the Bible in

One Year

INTRODUCTION

At last! Two thousand years after God promised to bless the nations of the world through a descendant of Abraham, Jesus Christ was born.

So it is with a sense of anticipation that we open the pages of the New Testament to discover how God will deliver His people from evil and bring us into a relationship with Himself in which we know His presence and His blessing. This volume will take you to the heart of the Bible story.

The four Gospels introduce Jesus, recording His life, teaching, miracles, death, and resurrection. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John will show us how Jesus offers Himself as the one in whom we may find forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with God, and the power to live a new life.

When a story is reported in many newspapers, we would expect to find considerable repetition of the central facts, and some information that would be unique to one source. That is precisely what we find in the four gospels. They are all drawn from eyewitness accounts of the life of Jesus, and together bear witness to the central facts of His life, death, and resurrection. But each of the Gospels makes a unique contribution to the story.

Think of a picture printed in one color, and then reproduced in two, three, and four colors. With each additional color, there is a new richness in the image. The one-color print would be sufficient to convey the image, but the four-color print brings out its full splendor. In the four gospels God gives us a full-color portrait of His Son, Jesus Christ.

In our journey through Matthew and Mark, I have chosen to focus on some central themes in the teaching of Jesus. We will discover how He fulfills God’s promises, calls us to repentance, offers us entrance to heaven, invites us to follow Him, reveals His authority, warns about the dangers of hell, and demonstrates His almighty power.

In our journey through Luke’s gospel, we focus on the main events in the life of Jesus: His birth, temptation, transfiguration, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension into heaven.

In John’s gospel we pick up the great promise of the second coming of Jesus and discover why the Gospels were written. But our central focus from the fourth gospel is the awesome mystery of the Trinity, that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This truth is of central importance to the Christian faith, and I have chosen to focus on Jesus’ clearest and most remarkable statements about the Father, the Son, and the Spirit in John chapters 14, 5, and 16.

Coming to the book of Acts, we will discover the significance of Pentecost for us today, and then trace the marvelous story of how the gospel spread from the Jews to the rest of the world.

This third volume takes us through the greatest story ever told, and it is my privilege to invite you on this journey of discovery.

1

Fulfillment

MATTHEW 1

Who is Jesus

and why did

He come?

DISCOVER

God’s “To Do list” and how it was done.

LEARN

why Christ cannot be ranked alongside Moses or Mohammed.

WORSHIP

as you see how Jesus answers the questions raised by the Old Testament.

HOW do you organize your day? Do you work to a tight schedule, or do you just take things as they come? At the start of most days, I write a “To Do list.” It gives direction and helps with setting priorities. Not that everything on my To Do list gets done! The reality is that a fair amount gets rolled onto the next day. What’s really discouraging is when the list is longer at the end of the day than it was at the beginning.

Some things on the To Do list are pretty simple: Make a call, write a letter, or follow through on a decision. Other things are more extensive: Write an essay or prepare a presentation. When the list is complete, it’s time to stop planning and start working.

The real joy of a To Do list comes later in the day, when you draw a heavy line through each item and mark it “Done.” There’s nothing quite like the satisfaction of knowing that everything you planned to do is complete.

GOD’S “TO DO LIST”

In volumes 1 and 2 of Unlocking the Bible Story, we discovered God’s amazing promises. God told the prophets what He would do. You can think of the prophets as announcing God’s “To Do list.”

Of course, God’s To Do list does not arise from obligations that are laid on Him. Nobody can tell God what to do. God’s To Do list arises from commitments that He has made freely and voluntarily. God has promised to do certain things, and because God is always faithful to His word, these things must be done. By the end of the Old Testament story, it’s quite a list.

The New Testament opens by reminding us of the people to whom God made His greatest promises. Matthew arranged the genealogy of Jesus in three groups of fourteen generations, beginning with Abraham, David, and the exile, respectively. In this way, he focused readers on three points during the Old Testament genealogy where God’s greatest promises were made. Matthew wanted us to know that the coming of Jesus was the fulfillment of all that God had promised to do.

A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham. (MATTHEW 1:1)

Jesus is introduced as “the son of Abraham.” Two thousand years before Jesus was born, God promised that His blessing would flow through Abraham to every nation. “I will bless you … and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:2–3).

Abraham wondered how this could be since he had no children. But God stepped in and caused Abraham and Sarah to have a child in their old age. The birth of Isaac was a miracle, but God’s blessing did not come to the world through him. So the promise to Abraham remained on God’s To Do list.

Jesus is also introduced as “the son of David.” God had spoken to David about a descendant who would build a house for God’s name. God promised to establish that Son’s throne and kingdom forever. Then God added, “I will be his father, and he will be my son” (2 Samuel 7:13–14).

David’s son Solomon built a magnificent temple for the glory of God. But Solomon did not fulfill God’s promise. His temple was eventually destroyed, and his kingdom certainly did not last forever. So this whole business of building a permanent house and establishing a throne was added to God’s To Do list.

Matthew’s third focal point in the genealogy is the Exile.

There were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ. (V. 17)

Some of God’s greatest promises in the Old Testament are associated with the Exile. When His people faced their darkest hour, God promised that He would make a new covenant and give His people a new heart (see Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36). He promised to create a community of people who would live according to His Law, not out of obligation but because of an inner desire. These promises were made about six hundred years before the time of Jesus, and during those centuries they remained on God’s To Do list.

Despite all that God had done for His people through the Old Testament story, God’s greatest promises were still unfulfilled. God’s blessing was still to come to the nations, the kingdom that would never end was still to be established, and the hearts of the people were still to be renewed. By the end of the Old Testament story, there was a long list of things to be done.

GETTING GOD’S TO DO LIST DONE

Matthew then tells us how the birth of Jesus Christ came about (in verses 18 and following). Mary was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph did not know what to make of this until one night God spoke to him through a dream. He saw an angel, who told him not to be afraid. He was to call Mary’s child Jesus because this child would “save his people from their sins” (v. 21). Then Matthew tells us,

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet. (v. 22, EMPHASIS ADDED)

In other words, when Jesus Christ came into the world, the things God had said He would do were done.

As you read through the Gospels, you find the same point repeated again and again. We are told about how Joseph took Mary and the child to Egypt when Herod was searching for the child with the intent of destroying Him. Matthew explains that this “fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Out of Egypt I called my son’” (Matthew 2:15). It was as if the event had been on God’s To Do list, and now it was done.

Then the young family moved to a town called Nazareth. Matthew explains that this “fulfilled what was said through the prophets: ‘He will be called a Nazarene’”(v. 23). Done!

At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus moved from Nazareth to Capernaum, which is in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali. Matthew reminds us that this was “to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah” (Matthew 4:14). Done!

“This happened that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”

Luke tells us about the first public event in the ministry of Jesus. He came into the synagogue and read from the prophet Isaiah. “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then Jesus rolled up the scroll, returned it to the attendant, and took His seat. Everyone in the synagogue stared intently; then Jesus announced, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:18–19, 21, emphasis added).

“What God has promised is now being done—by Me!” He had declared. No wonder the people were astonished at His teaching!

The theme of God’s promises being fulfilled runs throughout the Gospels. The detail is staggering. Even the enemies of Jesus, who had every interest in showing that He did not fulfill the prophecies of the Old Testament, found themselves playing their part in demonstrating that He did!

When Judas betrayed Jesus, the chief priests gave him thirty pieces of silver, which he used to buy a field. Matthew reminds us that this fulfilled what God had spoken by Jeremiah the prophet (Matthew 27:9).

When Jesus was on the cross, the soldiers took His clothes and divided them between them. But Christ had a seamless robe, and they decided to draw lots and give it to the winner. John wrote that “this happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said, ‘They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing’” (John 19:24).

Later, the soldiers came to break the legs of the three who were being crucified. They did this to hasten the process. They broke the legs of the two thieves who were crucified with Jesus, but when they came to Jesus, they found that He was already dead. So they did not break His legs but instead thrust a spear into His side. Again, John noted that, “These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: ‘Not one of his bones will be broken,’ and, as another scripture says, ‘They will look on the one they have pierced’” (19:36–37).

THE PORTRAIT ON A DIFFERENT WALL

This theme of fulfillment is important for those who question whether Jesus really is the Savior God had promised from the beginning of time. Jesus Himself was in no doubt about it. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17).

If you want to know who Jesus is, you need to understand that He is altogether different from the Old Testament prophets, or indeed from any other religious leader who has ever lived.

A friend of mine recently attended a seminar on religious education in which he was told that Judaism stops with Moses, Christianity stops with Jesus, and Islam stops with Mohammed. The assumption was that Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed could be compared, as if their portraits belonged together on the same wall.

Many people see Jesus as another great figure in the line of religious history. They see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Jesus, Paul, and others continuing into contemporary times as belonging to a “class” of great religious teachers. As people view this “gallery,” they draw different personal conclusions about who is the greatest.

But Jesus cannot be placed alongside the prophets, or alongside any other religious teacher. The prophets announced God’s promises. Every time they spoke, God’s To Do list became longer! If Jesus were another prophet, He would be limited to announcing more things that God would one day do. His coming would contribute nothing to getting them done.

Of course, there have always been people who thought of Jesus as one of the prophets (see Matthew 16:14), but Jesus made it clear that we must not understand Him in this way. “I have come to fulfill the prophets,” He said. Jesus did not come to make God’s To Do list longer. He came so that God’s To Do list would be done!

God … has fulfilled His promises through Jesus Christ.

Opponents of Christianity like to suggest that it is a new religion invented by a man called Jesus who lived a mere two thousand years ago. But the Bible story goes back to the beginning of time. It tells us what God has said He would do, and it tells us that He has fulfilled His promises through Jesus Christ.

This is the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. The prophets announced God’s promises of blessing for all nations, a kingdom that will never end, and a new heart for God’s people, but only Jesus Christ was able to fulfill them. His portrait belongs alone on a different wall.

GETTING OUR TO DO LIST DONE

Once we understand the uniqueness of Jesus, we will be able to grasp what He has done more clearly. When Jesus announced what would be accomplished through His ministry, He made it clear that He came to fulfill not only the Prophets but also the Law.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” (MATTHEW 5:17–18)

If the prophets represent God’s To Do list, then the Law—all the commands given to Moses, including the Ten Commandments—represents our To Do list. In the Law, God tells us what He requires us to do. Jesus makes it clear that He did not come to abolish the Law. The Law of God will stand until heaven and earth disappear, and that hasn’t happened yet!

So it would be a grave mistake to think that God was concerned about the Law and righteousness in the Old Testament, but that somehow He changed His focus and switched to grace and forgiveness in the New Testament. The whole Bible is one story. God has always been gracious and forgiving, and His Law stands forever.

The Law of God is still our To Do list. But Jesus says that He has come to “fulfill the Law.” In other words, He came to move the Law from the To Do list to the Done list. He does this in three ways: in His life, by His death, and through His people.

BRINGING THE LAW TO LIFE

The Law is not an arbitrary set of moral rules but a written description of God’s character and glory. As we saw in volume 1 of Unlocking the Bible Story, the reason we should not lie is that God is truth. The reason we should not commit adultery is that God is faithful. The reason we should not murder is that life is the gift of God.

The Law tells us what God is like and describes His calling for our lives. Jesus came to live the life that God has put on your To Do list. He lifted the words of God’s Law off the page and expressed them fully in His perfect life. That is why Jesus could say, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being,” the Scripture says. This is why Paul wrote that we see “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (Hebrews 1:3; 2 Corinthians 4:6).

In the Law, God told us how we are to live in this world. He said, in essence, “This is your To Do list.” Consider the long list of names at the beginning of Matthew’s gospel. Not one of them fulfilled the Law of God. But when Jesus came, it was done.

PAYING OFF SOME OLD DEBTS

The Law does more than tell us the kind of life God requires. It also announces the consequences of sin. This is why the Bible talks about the curse of the Law. The soul that sins will die.

Throughout the Old Testament story, God repeatedly postponed this condemnation. When Adam disobeyed in the garden, God was gracious to him, and although he was excluded from Paradise, his life continued. Abraham told lies about his wife, but he remained a friend of God. David committed adultery, and yet he remained on Israel’s throne. Isaiah confessed to being a man of unclean lips, but he was still used as a prophet. None of them came under the condemnation of God announced in the Law.

Why? The reason cannot be that their sin didn’t matter, because the whole point of the Law is that it does. “The soul who sins will die” (Ezekiel 18:4 NASB). And Christ says that God’s Law will stand even when heaven and earth pass away (Matthew 24:35).

The answer is that throughout the Old Testament God held back the condemnation of the Law. He put off the Day of Judgment. He didn’t cancel it, but He did postpone it. God said, in effect, “We will deal with that later.” He put the whole matter of dealing with the consequences of human sin on His To Do list.

The windows in our shopping malls are regularly filled with advertisements enticing us to buy. Often you will see a poster saying, “Nothing to pay until January of next year.” It sounds wonderful—Why, it’s virtually free!—and it is, until the letter arrives in January of next year announcing that the time for payment has come. The payment was not canceled; it was only postponed. At some point the bill has to be paid.

Throughout the Old Testament, the sacrifices reminded God’s people that there would come a time when something had to be done. But the consequences of sin remained like an accumulating debt that one day would have to be paid.

Then Jesus came. “I have come to fulfill the Law,” He said. That meant not only that He would fulfill everything the Law required in His life, but also that He would bear the condemnation of the Law in His death.

This is why He had to go to the cross. God’s time for dealing with the consequences of sin had come. On the cross, Jesus bore the consequences of human sin in His own body (see 1 Peter 2:24).

All that remained “to do” … has been accomplished fully … by Jesus Christ.

The judgment and condemnation described in God’s Law were poured out on Him, and when He had absorbed it fully, He cried out in a loud voice, “It is finished!” At that moment, dealing with sin was struck off God’s To Do list because, for all His people, it was done.

Done!

This is why we do not offer sacrifices. The communion service is not a new sacrifice, as if our sin still needed to be dealt with, but a reminder that through the death of Jesus, it is done. This is why we do not need a temple but have direct access to God by the Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ. It’s done!

All that remained “to do” throughout the entire period of the Old Testament has been accomplished fully and finally by Jesus Christ. In the words of Jonathan Edwards:

Though millions of sacrifices had been offered, yet nothing was done to purchase redemption before Christ’s incarnation…. But as soon as Christ was incarnate, the purchase began. And the whole time of Christ’s humiliation, till the morning that he rose from the dead, was taken up in this purchase. Then the purchase was entirely and completely finished. As nothing was done before Christ’s incarnation, so nothing was done after his resurrection to purchase redemption for men. Nor will there ever be any thing more done to all eternity.[1]

A NEW DESIRE AND A NEW DIRECTION

As we follow the Bible story, we will discover still another way in which Jesus fulfills the Law. The apostle Paul wrote:

What the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. (ROMANS 8:3–4)

Jesus came to bring you into a new life in which you will begin to fulfill the Law of God. He died to bring you out of condemnation, and He lives to lead you into a righteous life.

Over the years, I have noticed a pattern in the things that get pushed to the bottom of my To Do lists. They are the things I don’t like and the things I feel I can’t do. That is exactly our problem when it comes to the Law of God. By nature, we don’t like it, and we can’t do it, so our first instinct is to leave it on the list of good intentions for another day.

Jesus came to save us from that. He came to make you the person God always intended you to be. He will do that by giving you a hunger and thirst for righteousness and with that new desire, the power of the Holy Spirit so that your life may move in the direction of the Law of God.

When I was fourteen, our family went for a vacation in the town of Torquay in England. The accommodation was poor, the beaches were crowded, and it was one of those vacations that just didn’t work out well. I remember traveling home in the backseat of the car. None of us was happy, and at one point I remember saying a very foolish thing. “Dad,” I said, “I don’t ever want to go to that town again.”

My mother pointed out that this was the sort of thing that one might regret saying. She was right. Six years later, I met a girl from that town. I fell in love with her and married her. At the age of twenty, I said to my mother, “I want to go to Torquay.” I’ve enjoyed going there ever since!

When God’s Spirit begins to work in your life, you will have a new hunger and a thirst for righteousness. You will begin to own the Law of God as your To Do list. You may be a long way from doing it fully, but you will discover a new desire to grow in it. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Matthew 5:6). They have come to want what God wants for them, and their desire will be satisfied.

Jesus died to save us from the condemnation of the Law. He lives to lead us into new lives in which we fulfill the Law by the power of the Holy Spirit. Christ accepts us as we are, but He never leaves us as we are. It is the purpose of God to make us righteous so that we will reflect His glory in a life that fulfills the Law of God.

If you roll the story of the Bible forward to the end, you learn that on the last day Christ will stand before the Father and say, “Here am I, and the children God has given me” (Hebrews 2:13). We shall not only see Christ, but we will be like Him. The day is coming when God will take you off His To Do list. He will look at you and He will say, “Done!”

UNLOCKED

Jesus cannot be compared to the Old Testament prophets or the prophets of any other religion. The prophets announced what God required and what God would do. Jesus came to fulfill what God requires, and to accomplish what God said He would do. He fulfills both the Law and the Prophets by delivering what God promised through them. All that God had placed on His “To Do list” is done through Jesus Christ.

Christ fulfills the Law in three ways: (1) by living a life that perfectly reflected everything that God requires of us in His Law; (2) by absorbing the condemnation of the Law for our sin through His death on the cross; and (3) by making it possible for us to live a new life in line with the Law of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. He came to demonstrate the Law to us. He died to fulfill the Law for us, and He lives to fulfill the Law in us.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Almighty Father,

Thank You for every one of Your promises, and for the knowledge that every one of them will be fulfilled. Thank You for sending Jesus Christ so that in Him everything You promised would be done.

Thank You for the life of Jesus in which all that You are is perfectly expressed. Thank You for the death of Jesus, in which the condemnation of my sin is fully absorbed.

Help me by the power of Your Spirit to grow in the new life that is Your purpose for me. Strengthen my desire to live according to Your Law, and for Your glory, as I look forward to the day when Your work in me will be done, through Jesus Christ. Amen.

Note

1. Jonathan Edwards, A History of the Work of Redemption, vol. 1 of The Works of Jonathan Edwards (Edinburgh, Scotland: Banner of Truth, 1974), 572.

2

Repentance

MATTHEW 3

What does it

mean to repent?

DISCOVER

the secret of real and lasting change.

LEARN

why repentance continues throughout the Christian life.

WORSHIP

because Jesus has opened the kingdom of heaven.

ON March 16, 1978, a supertanker called the Amoco Cadiz ran aground off the coast of Brittany, France, and lost its entire load of nearly a quarter of a million tons of crude oil into the Atlantic Ocean. Oil was swept onto more than 130 beaches, and some of them were covered with oil up to a foot deep.

The damage was incredible. Over 30,000 seabirds died; 230,000 tons of crabs, lobsters, and other fish perished. That, plus the destruction of rich oyster and seaweed beds, devastated the fishing economies of the local communities.[1]

When a disaster like this happens, there are multiple problems. In the months that followed, there were legal proceedings. There was a price to pay; in this case, a judge in Chicago awarded damages of $85.2 million to the affected French towns. But there was also a problem of pollution on the beaches. A clean-up operation had to be mounted to restore what had been so dreadfully damaged.

The story of the Amoco Cadiz can help us to understand the multiple effects of the great disaster of sin and the different dimensions of God’s clean-up operation that the Bible calls salvation. Most Christians understand that there is a penalty to pay for sin, and that Jesus paid this for us in His death on the cross. But salvation also involves a clean-up operation to deal with the damage caused by sin in our lives.

Think about the beauty of a line of sandy beaches. Think about crystal clear water supporting the life offish, plants, and birds. Now picture crude oil pouring from a stricken vessel. That’s what sin does. It pollutes and destroys.

When Christ came to save us, He had to pay the penalty for our sins by His death on the cross. But that is not enough—He must also deal with the effects of sin within us. Salvation involves restoring the beauty that has been devastated by sin.

This is where we ended the first chapter. Jesus came to demonstrate the Law to us and to bear the condemnation of the Law for us. But there is a third dimension that is often forgotten: He came so that the Law should be fulfilled in us, and if God’s Law is going to be fulfilled in our lives, it’s going to mean change. Big change!

TIME FOR A CHANGE

When the angel announced the birth of Jesus, he did not say, “You shall call his name Jesus, because he will forgive his people for their sins.” He said, “You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21, emphasis added).

To “save” people from their sins means to bring them out of their sins. It means delivering them from every dimension of this disaster. If Christ delivered us from the condemnation of sin without delivering us from its power in our lives, it would be like paying the fine for the Amoco Cadiz but doing nothing to clean up the beaches. That would be ridiculous. Anyone who thinks that salvation is forgiveness without change is completely mistaken. Salvation is much more than forgiveness and a free ticket to heaven. Christ came to make you the person God wants you to be.

One of the greatest errors among Christian people has been to divide the Bible as if we had one book in which God’s interest was in issuing commandments and calling people to a holy life, and another alternative book in which God’s interest was in issuing free tickets to heaven.

That would be a complete misunderstanding of the Bible. It has always been God’s purpose to deliver His people from sin and lead us into a holy life. The whole Bible is one story. God’s grace is written all over the Old Testament, and His call to a holy life is written all over the New. That call was central to the message of John the Baptist and Jesus.

ECCENTRIC PREACHER DRAWS A CROWD

By any standards John the Baptist must have been an eccentric kind of a preacher. His personal style was rather strange. “John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey” (Matthew 3:4).

His choice of avenue was also rather strange. We find him preaching in the desert. I guess that would solve some parking problems on Sunday mornings, but you wouldn’t expect to find much of a congregation in such a desolate place!

The remarkable thing is that people came out to hear him. “People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan” (3:5).

Clearly some kind of spiritual awakening happened during John’s ministry, and people were willing to travel to be part of it. They were tired of the placid words they heard from other preachers of the day. They were hungry for truth, and they knew that when they heard John speak, they were hearing the Word of God.

Jesus said that people went into the desert to hear John because he was a prophet (see Matthew 11:7–9). There was a certain courage and integrity in John the Baptist that was powerfully attractive. He was absolutely fearless. He gave the same message to the king as he did to the people in the desert. John told Herod that he had to repent. Herod didn’t like the message, and he ordered John imprisoned and later had him beheaded. Jesus commended John as the greatest of the prophets.

John’s message was very simple: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” (3:2). What God has promised since the beginning of time is about to happen. “So you need to change!” John was saying.

When Jesus began to preach, His message was exactly the same, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” (Matthew 4:17). Peter preached the same message on the Day of Pentecost, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). The apostle Paul also proclaimed the same truth. “I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus” (Acts 20:21).

Repentance is fundamental to the gospel. It is the first thing that Jesus Christ says, and if we do not understand this, we will not be able to enter into anything else.

AN OPEN DOOR OF OPPORTUNITY

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” (MATTHEW 3:2)

The message of John and Jesus gives us the most marvelous motivation for repentance. Throughout human history, heaven had been closed to men and women. The cherubim and the flaming sword barred the way into the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve had known the blessing and presence of God.

Access to heaven had been cut off for Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and the prophets. God was gracious to them and made great promises to them, but when they died, they joined a long line of people waiting for God’s promise to be fulfilled.

Now, at last, God was about to open up access to heaven through the coming of Jesus Christ. In effect, John was saying, “The promise men have longed for throughout history is about to be fulfilled. This is a moment of golden opportunity, and if you want to grasp it, you are going to have to change. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

LIVING IN A NEW KINGDOM

Notice that John described heaven as a kingdom. A kingdom is a place under the rule of a king. If you want to be in the kingdom of heaven, you have to submit yourself to the rule of the King of heaven.

For thirty-eight years of my life, I was not subject to the laws of the United States of America, for the simple reason that I was living in Great Britain. I was outside the laws of America and I was outside its blessings.

Then, in 1996, I was invited to come to the United States and serve as senior pastor of the Arlington Heights Evangelical Free Church in Illinois. When I came, I was immediately released from an old set of laws I used to be subject to in Great Britain, and I became subject to a whole new set of laws in America.

I have to admit that some of the new laws are difficult for me, like driving at incredibly low speeds on open roads. But I have found from experience that if I am stopped by a police officer, it simply will not do for me to say I am operating under the laws of Her Majesty, the queen! The officer would properly point out that if I want to operate by another set of laws, I had better go back to the place where those laws hold sway.

Many Christians are confused at this point. They have the idea that as long as they believe certain things about Jesus Christ, all is well. That is exactly the error that James addressed when he pointed out that “even the demons believe” in God, and they tremble when they think about Him (James 2:19)!

The blessings of the kingdom of heaven are available to all who will receive them. The borders of heaven have been thrown open. Immigration to this kingdom is open to all who will come from north, south, east, or west. But if you would come to the kingdom where Christ reigns, you must place yourself under His authority, and John was saying, “That means you will have to change. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near. You cannot have the benefits of the kingdom if you will not bow to the King.”

A CHANGE OF DIRECTION

The word repent means “change.” Repentance is a change of mind that results in a change of behavior.

Jesus illustrated the meaning of repentance through a story He told about a man who had two sons (see Matthew 21:28–32). The father told the first to go and work in the field. The son refused, but later he changed his mind and went. The father also told the second son to go and work in the field. He agreed to go, but then he changed his mind and stayed at home. Both of them repented; they changed their minds and their behavior (though only the first changed for the good).

Jesus explained that this was what was happening when John the Baptist preached. People who had resisted God’s commandments changed their minds and did what they had previously refused to do. There was a fundamental change in their response to the commandments of God.

THE POWER OF CONFESSION

It is important to notice that this change did not remain a private matter in the mind of the individual. “Confessing their sins, they were baptized by [John] in the Jordan River” (Matthew 3:6).

This does not mean that the people confessed all of their sins publicly. That would clearly be inappropriate. A good rule is that confession should normally be at the level of the people who are affected by an offense. If I have sinned in my thoughts, I should confess to God alone. If I have sinned in words or actions against one person, I should also confess to him. If my actions have affected many people, then many need to know about my repentance.

These people were moving out of denial, which in some cases had been going on for many years. John’s ministry brought them to the place where they were ready to say, “I am a person who needs to be forgiven,” and that’s where change begins.

Matthew tells us that the Pharisees and Sadducees came to look at what was happening in this spiritual revival, but they did not feel the need to be forgiven or to be baptized. They never discovered repentance, and they went home unchanged.

This must have caused great sadness for John. He warned them about their smugness and complacency. “Do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father’” (v. 9). Relying on your heritage while you refuse to repent is a sure formula for spiritual disaster.

It worries me when people speak about how they have tried to live a good life. Not that I don’t think it’s true; I am sure it is. It worries me because words like these often come from a mind that has never seen the need for Jesus Christ.

Repentance begins when we get out of the denial that causes us to think of ourselves as fundamentally “OK” and come to the place of saying, “I am a person who needs to be forgiven. I am therefore a person who needs Jesus Christ, and the forgiveness that flows from His cross.” It’s strange that many people who have been in church for years find that the hardest thing to say.

HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW

Repentance goes beyond our thoughts and beyond our words to a change in our behavior. John was clear about this:

“Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” (v. 8)

Fruit is visible, and repentance will show up in a visible change in what you do. Luke gives us some additional information about the response to John’s preaching. As the crowd listened to his message, they were clearly moved by what they heard and wanted to know what they should do (Luke 3:10).

They probably thought that he would tell them some things they could change when they got home. But John stunned them with a call to immediate action. The crowd was in the desert. Some of them would be cold and some would be hungry, so John called on the others to share their clothing and food (v. 11). In effect, he said, “Here’s what you can do. Some of you over here have two coats. Find someone without a coat and give him one of yours. Others have a large picnic hamper. Find someone who has no food and share your meal with him or her.”

This was on-the-spot teaching and discipleship. The whole thing was so alive, so dynamic. Repentance is not an intention to lead a new life in the future; it begins now, as you step out in obedience to God in your immediate situation.

Repentance is also specific. Tax collectors asked John what they should do, and John told them, “Don’t collect any more than you are required to.” Soldiers asked him what they should do, and he told them, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay” (vv. 12–14).

The application to specific cases was different, but the principle was the same: Do what you have to do to bring your life into line with the commandments of God. That’s repentance. It comes from a change of mind about your response to God, and it works through different patterns of behavior.

DON’ T EVER STOP CHANGING

Repentance should never be limited to a onetime event. Many Christians see repentance as an initial act, which is completed at the beginning of the Christian life, a kind of gateway that we pass through and then leave behind. God’s call to repent is immediate and specific; but it is also continuing.

Many Christians know that Martin Luther nailed ninety-five theses to the door of the cathedral at Wittenberg, Germany, but not so many know what those theses said. The first of the Ninety-five Theses made that simple point. When Jesus Christ said that we should repent, He called us to an entire lifetime of repentance.

Theologian and Bible expositor James Packer helps us to understand this when he writes, “Repentance means turning from as much as you know of your sin to give as much as you know of yourself to as much as you know of your God…. As our knowledge grows at these three points so our practice of repentance has to be enlarged.”[2] Grow in the Christian life, and you will see things in yourself that you never saw before. God is gracious and He will show us our sins slowly. If He showed them all at once, we would be devastated.

The Christian life is a journey of discovery. As we come to know more about God, we will discover more about ourselves, and our repentance will become deeper, touching areas that were hidden from us before.

THE MINISTRY OF MATCHMAKING

John’s message led people to the point where they saw the need for change and had a desire for it. But he could not give them the power they needed to follow through. When John was faced with an audience of people who knew that they needed to change, he told them that they should go to Christ.

“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry.” (v. 11)

John was a great leader because he knew the limitations of his own ministry. “I can baptize you with water. I can help you express your desire to live a new and different life,” he was saying. “I can counsel you, I can encourage you, but I cannot give you the power to change. What I can tell you is that someone is coming after me, and He will give you that power.”

When Jesus began to preach, John identified Him as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). And of course, when he did that, those who had been following John left him and became followers of Jesus, which is exactly what he wanted them to do. So this great preacher ended up with no personal following, but his ministry was the means of many coming to Christ. John did what God had called him to do, and then he cleared the stage. He did not draw people to himself; he told them to go to Jesus.

My wife, Karen, and I have friends in England who have been happily married for twenty years and have three delightful children. They represent our one successful attempt at matchmaking. I was speaking at a youth leader’s conference, and we persuaded the two of them to join us for the weekend.

She had an eye on him but he, lacking confidence, found that hard to believe. So we seized this ministry opportunity. She was saying to Karen, “I really like him, but I don’t think he is interested.” He said to me, “I really like her, but I don’t think I have a chance.”

“Ask her for a date,” I said confidently. “Tell her what you feel. I can tell you on good authority that if you do, you will get a good response.”

Finally it happened. I have no idea what he said to her, but it obviously met with an enthusiastic response. Frankly the precise words he used didn’t actually matter all that much. The important thing was that he made it clear he wanted her in his life, and that was exactly what she felt about him.

After that, we faded from the picture. That’s the ministry of John the Baptist. He knew that the only way to a new life was to go personally and directly to Christ and ask Him for it.

I can tell you … Christ will welcome you.

I’ve spoken to people who are rather like my friend when it comes to approaching Christ. They say that they wouldn’t know what to say in a prayer.

The precise words that you use are not important. There is no formula. Tell Him you are a sinner. Tell Him what your sins are. Tell Him you need to be forgiven. Tell Him that you need His power if you are to change. Pursue Him as you would pursue a lover.

I can tell you on good authority that Christ will welcome you. He promised, “Whoever comes to me I will never drive away” (John 6:37; see also Matthew 11:28). He also said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). God will meet with you.

Talking to a pastor, counselor, or Christian friend can be helpful, but it can never be a substitute. They may encourage you, they may answer your questions, they may even tell you what will happen if you go to Christ, but at the end of the day you have to make that move, and nobody else can do it for you.

DRENCHED IN THE LIFE OF GOD

John the Baptist told the people what would happen if they came to Christ.

“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (v. 11)

The word baptize means to dip, plunge, or immerse. The Holy Spirit is, of course, the Spirit of God, so when John said, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit,” he was saying that Jesus will drench you in the life of God.

This baptism [is] like fire…. It purifies and it destroys.

If you go to Christ, there will be a divine invasion of your life. The Holy Spirit of God will take up residence in you. He will be poured out in you. Like water saturating, there is no place that He will not go.

John also described this baptism as being like fire. Fire does two things. It purifies and it destroys. Our God is a consuming fire, and when Jesus pours out the Spirit, the rubbish in our lives gets burned up.

Try to picture John and Jesus standing some distance apart with their followers around them. John baptizes with water. Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit. John is able to help people express their desire for a new life. Jesus gives them the power to live a new life. John cannot give the Spirit. Jesus can.

Now read the following testimony. It’s the sort of thing one hears in church quite often. Read carefully, and ask yourself whether there is anything in what this person says to indicate that he or she has received what Christ offers:

“I was brought up in a Christian family and attended church since I was very young. When I was about sixteen years old, some of my friends were going to a Christian camp and I decided to go along and see what was happening.

“As I listened to the speaker—he was great—I began to realize that there was a lot wrong with my life. I really wanted to change, so I prayed a prayer of commitment to God. Since then things have been different. It hasn’t always been easy, but today I am being baptized to show that I want to live a life that is pleasing to God and then to be with Him in heaven.”

There is nothing distinctively Christian about that testimony. This person has said nothing about Christ and nothing about the Holy Spirit.

This person is in exactly the same position as those who gathered around John.

“Brought up in a Christian family” (religious background).

“Went to camp and heard a great speaker” (sounds rather like hearing John in the desert).

“Began to realize there was a lot wrong with my life and wanted to change” (just like John’s audience).

“Today I’m being baptized to show that I want to live a life that is pleasing to God.” (That’s what the people who were baptized by John would have said.)

This person is standing with John. He or she hasn’t experienced anything more than John has to offer. He is confessing that he needs to change and wants to change, but nothing more.

There are many people like this in churches today. They have a religious background and have made some kind of commitment, but they have never sensed their great need of Christ and never come to Him. As a result, they have never experienced the life of God invading their soul. They think they have what the Bible offers, but they have missed its heart. They are living in the world of the Old Testament, and Jesus came to deliver us from that. John would say to them, “Go to Christ, and He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

UNLOCKED

Repentance is a change of mind that results in a change of behavior. It is motivated by the fact that God has opened up the borders of heaven and extended an open invitation to all who would like to live under His blessing and rule. Heaven is a kingdom, so entering it means becoming subject to the laws of the King.

God’s Spirit is able to break the power of sin in our lives and lead us in a new direction that is pleasing to God. God gives us His Spirit when we come to Jesus Christ in repentance and faith.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Gracious Father,

My great desire is to live under Your authority as a citizen of Your kingdom.

Help me by the power of Your Spirit to grow in that new life. Show me hidden sins that I had not seen before. Deliver me from the blindness that keeps me from seeing the truth about myself. Show me more of Your glory so that I may worship You more fully, through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.

Notes

1. “Historic Environmental Events: Amoco Cadiz Oil Spill Disaster,” on the Internet at www.lexisnexis.com/academic/3cis/cist/eanet/history.htm. Accessed on 10 May 2002.

2. J. I. Packer, Keep in Step with the Spirit (Old Tappan, N.J.: Revell, 1984), 104.

3

Kingdom

MATTHEW 13

If Christ’s

kingdom has

come, why is

there so much

evil in the world?

DISCOVER

the mystery of God’s kingdom.

LEARN

the secret of patience in serving Christ.

WORSHIP

because the full value of what God has done for you in Christ has not yet been revealed.

IT’S time to pause and ask some honest questions. That’s what John the Baptist did when things didn’t make sense.

Remember, John had announced that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. He had told his audience that Christ would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. He had the highest expectations as he anticipated the coming of Jesus; and when Jesus began His ministry, John identified Him as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

John must have wondered what would happen next. No doubt he lay on his bed at night thinking about the privilege of actually being alive at the very time when all that God had promised was about to be fulfilled. No doubt many of the promises ran through his mind, promises such as men will turn “their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks,” and they will not “train for war anymore…. Sorrow and sighing will flee away…. The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 2:4; 51:11; Habakkuk 2:14). John must have wondered what the morning would bring.

FAITH HAS ITS QUESTIONS

But then something happened that must have shaken John to the core. He was arrested and thrown into prison, and when that happened, the man who had preached with such great faith found himself surrounded with doubts and questions.

If Jesus really is the Christ, then why is this happening to me? As John languished in jail, he began to wonder if he had gotten it all wrong.

So he sent messengers to Jesus with this question: “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” (Matthew 11:3).

You can see the point of his question. If God was fulfilling His promise through the coming of Jesus, then He was doing it in a pretty strange way.

We have similar questions today. If God’s promises are true, what are we to make of the war, violence, corruption, and greed that are rife in the world? As we look at the church, what are we to make of the compromise, sin, confusion, and complacency that are so prevalent? When I look at my own life, how am I to make sense of the ongoing battle with indwelling sin and the struggle to live a godly life?

If God is doing everything that He promised through the coming of Jesus, then He seems to be doing it in a pretty strange way. There is a mystery to this kingdom.

We need to understand this mystery or we will drown in confusion, discouragement, and even despair. And we can understand it, for Jesus Himself declared, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 13:11 NASB).

THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER … AND THE BOMBER

He told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed.” (MATTHEW 13:3)

Jesus told a story about a farmer who tossed seed on different kinds of ground. The story is so familiar that we may be in danger of missing the point. So here’s my alternative parable that may help us to see the power of Jesus’ story more clearly. It’s called the parable of the bomber.

A certain bomber went out to drop his bombs. He flew over an evil city with many kinds of buildings. Some of the buildings were of wooden construction, so when the bombs hit them they were immediately flattened. Other buildings were built from concrete reinforced by steel. They looked as if nothing would move them, but when the bombs hit them, they crumbled like powder too. In fact, everywhere the bombs were scattered the buildings were completely destroyed.

After the bomber had finished his work, he flew over the city to take photographs. No matter where the bombs fell, the effect was exactly the same. Bomb craters covered the ground like bubble wrap. Rubble was strewn everywhere. Enemy activity was reduced to zero. The bomber’s mission was accomplished.

Afterward, the disciples asked, “What is the meaning of the parable of the bomber?”

And He said to them, “The bombs are the ministry of the Word of God. The buildings are the evils of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Some evils are deeply entrenched, and strongly reinforced. But wherever the Word of God comes, evil is reduced to nothing!”

I sometimes wish that Jesus had given us the parable of the bomber. But He didn’t! He gave the parable of the sower, because God works by sowing seeds, not by dropping bombs.

Christ is telling us that the will of God gets done in people’s lives not by earth-shattering explosions but by the quiet teaching of the Word of God. It will be like a gardener sowing seed. The seed will not grow everywhere, but where it is received, it will produce an abundant harvest.

THE POWER OF PATIENCE

I have to admit that there are times when I find this frustrating. I wish that we could send a team of missionaries to an unreached people group and know for sure that when the Word was preached, the culture would be transformed, the darkness dispelled, the corruption ended, and faith in Christ born so that the whole community would become worshipers of Jesus. But God works by sowing seeds, not by dropping bombs.

When I think about America, I wish we could see our culture transformed. I wish that abortion was unneeded and unwanted now. I wish that divorce would end and families would be happy and secure. I wish that we would be delivered from the postmodern delusion that truth is whatever an individual happens to think. I wish that we would all know the living and true God and fall before Him in worship. But God works by sowing seeds, not by dropping bombs.

The problem with sowing seed is that it takes patience. It’s not a very spectacular work, and things don’t look very different when you are finished sowing than they did when you started. It’s just the same old plowed field. The bomber can look at the immediate effects of his work, but the sower can’t.

If you teach Sunday school for an hour on Sunday morning, or pray with your children at home, or share an encouragement with a neighbor, you will sometimes wonder if your work makes any difference. Remember that you are sowing seed.

Jesus made it clear that a great deal of the seed is unproductive. Some fall on the path or among thorns or in rocky places and nothing of lasting value comes from it. But the Word of God is living seed. It has life in it! And where that Word takes root, there will be a harvest. So keep sowing God’s truth.

HARVEST IS COMING

As John languished in prison, he must have wondered why God was not bringing in the harvest. No doubt he was thinking about that winnowing fork that would separate the wheat from the chaff (see Matthew 3:12), and hoped that Christ would wield it soon and separate John from Herod!

That day of justice will come, but before God harvests His field, it has to be sown. Jesus makes it clear to the disciples that this is their ministry. When the seed is grown, God will announce the harvest, and then Christ will separate the wheat from the chaff, gathering the one into His barns and casting the other into the fire.

So be encouraged! Keep receiving the Word with faith and obedience. Keep believing His Word and hiding it in your heart. Keep asking Him to give you strength to do what He says. You will change and you will grow.

There may be times when you feel discouraged in ministry and feel like giving up. You dreamed of making an impact, but the work has been tougher and the progress has been slower than you thought. Keep sowing the Word. Keep watering it with your prayers. Keep putting it out there, and God will bring a harvest.

Recently, I spoke with a friend in England. She has been praying for her son who has been rebelling against the Lord for fifteen years. I have prayed for the lad many times, and so I was interested to know what was happening. “How is it with your son?” I asked.

She told me that they had talked the previous week, and he had said, “Just give me time.” Time! This is after fifteen years! I could feel my own frustration and disappointment rising. But then his mother said, “I’m just continuing to trust in God and look for what He will do.”

God has called us to plant seeds, not to drop bombs.

Here was a woman who understood what it means to sow seeds, and not to drop bombs. That’s what ministry is like in this world.

I have found this truth liberating. I cannot change the world; only God can do that. God has called us to plant seeds, not to drop bombs. Sowing takes humility and faithfulness, but it is something that with His help we can do. When we look at the great tides of opposition to the gospel in our own culture and other cultures, we may often feel overwhelmed. That’s why it is important to grasp that God has called us to plant the living seed of God’s Word, knowing that God will make it grow.

SABOTAGE IN THE FIELD

“The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.” (MATTHEW 13:24–25)

Jesus told a second story to help us understand the mystery of the kingdom. In this story, the seed that is sown is people, and the field is the world (v. 38). Jesus is telling us that God plants His people in the world.

But Christ speaks about another sower who comes into the field at night. He is an enemy who wants to sabotage the work of the gardener, so he sows weeds in the gardener’s field.

The following morning nobody knows what has happened. In fact, for a long time it is difficult to distinguish the wheat from the weeds. But when the wheat sprouts, and the heads form, it becomes obvious that an enemy has been at work in the field. At this point, the gardener’s servants want to pull out the weeds. But the gardener refuses. “Let both grow together until the harvest” (v. 30). Then the whole field will be cut down, and the wheat will be separated from the weeds.

If you are going to grasp the mystery of the kingdom, you need to know that there are two sowers, and they are sowing different kinds of seed. God is sowing His people in the world and bringing a great harvest, but the Enemy is also at work, sowing his weeds; and Jesus is saying, “Let both grow together until the harvest.”

We live in the tension of a world where two kinds of seed are growing. The work of two sowers is in evidence. Christ has come, and God is doing what He promised. But the Enemy is still at work, and his weeds are also growing. God has determined that this is how it will be until the harvest.

Even the weeds play their part in God’s purpose.

Have you ever wondered why God does not pull up the weeds now? Sometimes we wish that He would and wonder why He does not. After all, God is able to stop the work of the Enemy and to bring his weed-sowing activity to nothing, so why does He not do that now?

Jesus’ parable reminds us that even the weeds play their part in God’s purpose. How can you love your enemies if there are no enemies to love? How can we reconcile our differences if there are no differences to reconcile? How can we overcome our fears if there are no fears to overcome? How can we know the comfort of God if we have never shed tears?

The greatest battles of our lives are the struggles in which Christ makes us the people He wants us to be. Christ tolerates the world, the flesh, and the devil because they are useful to Him. They are the anvils on which kingdom character is painfully hammered out within us. They are the heat in which gold is refined, the obstacles on which we climb, the pressure in which we demonstrate that we truly love Christ.

BURIED TREASURE

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.” (vv. 44–46)

Jesus used a third picture to help us understand the mystery of the kingdom. What God is doing is like treasure buried in a field. That is very different from treasure on display. God’s kingdom is not like the crown jewels on display in London for everybody to come in and admire. His kingdom is like treasure that is hidden in a field, and that means that many people pass it by without ever knowing they are missing something of infinite value.

Jesus spoke about a man who finds this treasure. Perhaps he is hired to plow the field, and suddenly his plow hits something hard. He almost falls over it, so he gets down and digs around in the dirt wondering what it is. Then he realizes that he has just stumbled on buried treasure.

What should he do? Jesus said that he will cover it up and then sell everything he has to buy the field. Notice Christ said the man will do it with joy.

People who sell all that they have usually do so because they are bankrupt. It is the most miserable thing. So folks in the market must have wondered why this man, who was selling everything, wore a grin from ear to ear! He couldn’t stop smiling, because he knew that he had stumbled on the opportunity of a lifetime.

Of course, the marvelous thing was that even after he had signed the papers to buy the field, he still did not know the full value of what he had found. But he knew it was worth more than anything and everything else in his life.

The priceless treasure of Christ’s kingdom is ours, but the day is still to come when it will be dug up and each piece laid down and its true value fully known. Right now, the full glory of what we have in Jesus Christ is hidden from view. But when He comes again, the treasure chest will be opened, and we will gasp as we see for the first time the full value of what He has done for us.

The parable of the buried treasure reminds us that although God’s kingdom has already come, there is also a sense in which it is still future. That creates a tension, and understanding that tension is one of the most important keys to the Christian life.

TENSION AND BALANCE

The tension runs through many of Jesus’ statements about the kingdom. When He cast out demons, Christ announced this as evidence that “the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Matthew 12:28), but at the Last Supper He spoke about how He would not drink of the cup again until He drank it in the kingdom of God.

Luke explained that Jesus told the parable of the talents because people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once (Luke 19:11). Jesus’ story made it clear that there would be a long interval between the time when the master gave talents to his servants and the time when he would give them their reward.

God’s kingdom is both a present reality through the coming of Jesus and a future hope that awaits His return. It has come, but we are to pray that it will come.

So we live in this tension of knowing God and yet struggling with many mysteries: of growing in holiness and yet battling with sin; of praying for healing and yet living with suffering; of rejoicing in the growth of the church and yet weeping over its shortcomings; of being thankful for God’s grace in the world and yet longing for the day when Christ shall come and sin will be no more.

Many of the questions we struggle with boil down to the difficulties of living with this tension. Why did God not heal my friend’s cancer? How could that scandal have happened in the church? Why is it so difficult to live the Christian life?

These questions are all asking how we can believe that God’s kingdom has come when our world is so troubled, and that was precisely the question John the Baptist was struggling with when he sent messengers to Jesus. John needed to know if he had been right in identifying Jesus as the Christ. If God’s kingdom had come, why was he in prison?

Jesus sent messengers back to John with this message: “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me” (Matthew 11:4–6).

God’s kingdom has come, and it is advancing.

Jesus was saying, “God is at work, John. Sure, the weeds are still growing, but don’t let that cause you to stumble. God hasn’t pulled up that old weed Herod yet, but don’t lose faith because of that. The weeds will grow with the wheat until the harvest. Then Christ will burn the weeds, and gather the wheat into His barns.” That is the way that God has chosen to build His kingdom, and Jesus said, “Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.”

It’s not easy to live in the tension between what God has done and what He will do when Christ returns. This is where many people stumble. What we have in Jesus Christ now is more valuable than any of us can fully grasp, but it is only a foretaste of what is to come.

When Christ returns in glory, sin will be no more; sickness will be gone, and the church will be everything Christ calls her to be. Until that time, God calls us to sow the seed of His truth, knowing that He will make it grow even in a field where the enemy is planting many weeds.

God’s kingdom has come, and it is advancing. Those who belong to Christ will face many difficult circumstances, and live with many unanswered questions, but belonging to this kingdom is like owning a field with buried treasure, and one day we will discover its full value.

UNLOCKED

God has chosen to grow His kingdom slowly by planting the living seed of His Word in the lives of people. He calls us to sow that seed patiently and persistently and promises that although it will not grow everywhere, there will be an abundant harvest.

Christ reminds us that an enemy is also at work, planting weeds in God’s field. God has chosen to allow the weeds to remain until Christ returns. We live with the tension of knowing that God’s kingdom has come, and yet we are waiting and longing for its coming.

What we have now is only a foretaste of what is to come. Like a man who has come into possession of buried treasure, we are truly rich in Christ, but only when Christ returns will we discover the full value of our treasure.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Gracious Father,

Help me to see where You are at work in my life, in the church, and in the world, and to rejoice in all that I see You doing. Help me to be patient, as I groan over the effects of sin, disease, and evil and long for Your coming. Make me faithful in sowing the seed of Your Word, and keep my eyes focused on the day that is coming when Christ will come, and faith will be turned to sight, and sin will be no more.

Help me to grow where You have planted me, and to live for Your glory. Through Jesus Christ my Lord I pray. Amen.

4

Disciples

MATTHEW 28

How can we

make disciples?

DISCOVER

why the first disciples immediately followed Jesus.

LEARN

why the world hates Christ and His followers.

WORSHIP

as you see the glory of Jesus.

THROUGHOUT the church there is a new interest in discipleship. Many are tired of shallow decisions to “believe in Jesus” that do not bear fruit in lives that are significantly different from the world. There is a new awareness that Christ did not call us to log decisions but to make disciples.

It is all too easy to slip into an unbalanced and unbiblical presentation of the gospel that makes it sound like a low-cost insurance policy providing protection against eternal disasters for the one low price of believing in Jesus: “All you have to do is say the prayer, raise your hand, sign on the dotted line, and heaven is yours.”

The gospel has too often been reduced to something like the “Get out of jail free” card in a game of Monopoly. In this version of Monopoly, the player receives a “Get out of hell free” card if he lands on the “church” square and follows the instructions. The result is seen in “Christians” who are little different from the world, show no obvious submission to the King, and are dangerously certain about everlasting life.

Jesus undermines such complacent confidence. The first word of His preaching was “Repent” (Matthew 4:17), and He didn’t mean “Say sorry.” He meant “Turn around and move in a different direction.”

In the Sermon on the Mount, He said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). Then He spoke about seed that falls into the shallow soil and springs up quickly but then, when the pressure comes, withers away; and seed that falls among thorns and is quickly choked by worry or wealth (Matthew 13:20–22).

True faith is like a tree laden with the fruit of obedience. That’s why Paul wrote about the obedience that comes from faith (Romans 1:5). Faith is the means by which our lives are joined to Christ so that His life begins to flow into us and through us so that we will bear fruit. Where there is no fruit of obedience, there is no spiritual life.

When we listen to the Gospels seriously, it is clear that Jesus is calling people to a different kind of life. The first call of the gospel is not to believe in Jesus, but to follow Him. If we settle for something less than this, we miss authentic Christianity. So we must discover what it means to be a disciple.

WALKING THE WARDS

The word disciple was in common use at the time of Jesus. It literally meant “to go somewhere with someone.”[1] Disciples were rather like junior doctors following a consultant on his rounds through a hospital. The way young doctors learn is by observing and then by participating in what the consultant is doing. They walk the wards of the hospital.

When Jesus called the first disciples, He said, “Come, follow me” (Matthew 4:19). He was inviting them to a personal loyalty in which their lives would be bound up with His. When Christ appointed the Twelve, His first priority was that “they might be with him” (Mark 3:14). A disciple of Jesus is first and foremost a person marked by a distinctive loyalty to Christ. He or she is one of Christ’s people. But why should we follow Jesus?

THE SECRETARY ON THE SECOND FLOOR

Imagine that you are a secretary working on the second floor of a large multinational corporation in the city. You have a pile of work beside you, and you are rushing to meet several deadlines.

As you are hacking away on your keyboard, a stranger walks into the office. You have never seen him before. He wanders around the desks like he owns the place, and your colleagues are getting a bit annoyed.

Then he arrives at your desk. He stops, waiting for you to look up from your screen, and when you do, he says, “Follow me.”

I want to suggest to you that there is not the slightest likelihood that you are going to get up, leave your computer, and follow him. In fact, your most likely reaction is going to be to call security. You are going to say, “Excuse me, but who do you think you are?”

But let’s rerun that scene, with one additional piece of information. The stranger walks into the office. You have never seen him before. But as he enters, the receptionist scribbles a note on a piece of paper, which is quickly passed from one secretary to another and eventually comes to you. The note says, “It’s the CEO!” He has never visited the second floor before; in fact this is the first time he has ever been in the building. It is, after all, a multinational company. But the receptionist is quite sure it’s him, and nobody doubts that she is telling the truth.

It doesn’t bother you now that he walks around like he owns the place because, of course, you know that he does! And when he stops at your desk and says, “Follow me,” you get up and you leave your computer because you recognize his authority and you know that whatever he wants you to do is a higher priority than anything you were doing before.

THE COMPELLING CHRIST

It must have been something like that with the first disciples. John the Baptist had identified Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and when Christ came to the first disciples, they recognized His authority. There was something about Him that they found irresistibly compelling, and when He said, “Follow me,” they followed Him.

John gives us the key to discipleship at the beginning of his gospel, when he writes, “We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

They followed Jesus because they saw His glory. Of course, they did not know or understand everything about Him at the beginning, but John (like the receptionist) had identified Him, and the first disciples knew enough to see that if they did not follow Christ they would miss the greatest opportunity of their lives.

As they followed, they saw more and more of His glory. He stilled the storm, healed the sick, cast out demons, fed five thousand people, and raised the dead. The strange thing was that other people saw Jesus do the same things, but they never saw His glory. All they saw was a remarkable man whose works could be included in a book about the unexplained.

When Christ was born, wise men and shepherds saw His glory, but the innkeeper, whose home was the venue of the greatest event in the history of the human race, only saw one more child born into an overcrowded world.

There was an occasion when Jesus invited a young man to follow Him (Matthew 19:16–22). He didn’t do it. The immediate problem was that he had money and did not want to leave it behind, but the deeper problem was that he never saw the glory of Christ. He was given an opportunity to walk with the Son of God, something millions who have lived since would have given anything and everything to experience, but he did not see the glory of Jesus, and his life went on exactly as it had before.

The same thing happens in churches every Sunday. Crowds gather for worship, and some see His glory. Others hear the same music, read the same Scripture, and hear the same sermon but return home with nothing more than a religious duty fulfilled.

The Bible tells us the reason for this: “The god of this age [the devil] has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:4). Satan keeps people from seeing the glory of Jesus. He must have his work cut out to obscure such a radiant light, but this is what he is up to.

To use our analogy from the office, he will be quite happy if the staff on the second floor believe that there is a CEO, just so long as they never meet him or follow him.

MORE THAN A MILLION DOLLARS

From time to time I have the opportunity of talking with people who tell me that they feel frustrated with their spiritual life. The conversation often goes something like this:

“So tell me: What’s the problem?”

“Well, my spiritual life feels dead and dry; it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. Other people seem to be getting something out of it, but that doesn’t seem to be happening for me.”

“Talk to me a little about Christ.”

“What do you mean?”

“Tell me what He means to you. Tell me what He has done for you.”

“Well, I know all that stuff about He died on the cross …”

“Hold on a minute. You just rushed over the most amazing thing in the world like it was as common as tea! Suppose that you had a grandfather who died and left you a million dollars. If I asked you to tell me about him, you would sit forward in your seat and say, ‘Oh, he was a great man!’ You would tell me about what he did, and how he made his fortune, and then you would say with a smile, ‘And of course when he died, he left me a million dollars. What he did has changed my life—his gift paid off the mortgage, enabled me to start my own business, and secured my retirement. Everything that I am enjoying today flows from what he did for me.’”

Keep this in mind: A million dollars is nothing compared with what Jesus Christ has done for you. He has paid your debt, given you a new purpose, and secured your future for eternity!

Jesus died not just for sin in general but for your sin in particular.

He took the guilt of your sin. He dealt with the charges against your name. Picture your sins as being written on pieces of paper and stuffed into a file that is marked with your name. God has taken all the charges against you and refiled them under “Christ.” On the cross, Jesus died not just for sin in general but for your sin in particular. There was a long list of offenses against us, and He “took it away, nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14).

When I came to Christ, God emptied all the damning records in my file into the file marked with the name of Christ. On the last day, when God opens the file of my offenses, it will be empty, not because there have been no offenses, but because the records have been removed.

The God who gave the Law on Mount Sinai took human flesh and was born under the Law. The One who said that it would take a sacrifice of blood for there to be peace with God took flesh and shed His own blood. Then on the third day He rose again and ascended into heaven. Now He invites you to follow Him. When you do, He will pour out the Holy Spirit into your soul so that the life of God will be within you, giving new life, direction, and power in your inner being.

Do you see the glory of this?

“SHOW ME YOUR GLORY”

One day, Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Then Jesus said something very significant: “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven” (Matthew 16:15–17).

This was not something that Peter had worked out for himself. Of course he had thought about the claims of Jesus and the miracles he had seen, but Jesus made it clear that there was something beyond the process of reason and deduction going on. God had opened Peter’s eyes. The Father had given him the ability to see Jesus’ glory.

Spiritual sight is the gift of God. If you don’t have it, ask Him for it. Many people have never seen His glory, including some who attend church. For them, learning the Bible is like learning the history of the French Revolution at school. (I didn’t enjoy that!) Prayer seems like leaving voice mail on a disconnected line. (I’m not sure that is possible, but you know what I mean.) The result is that obedience seems like a joyless chore to be postponed if at all possible.

If that’s where you are, tell Him that you don’t see and ask Him to open your eyes. Pray that you will see the glory of Jesus. That’s what Moses did at a crisis point in his life. He knew that he could not go on without knowing the presence of God with him, and he prayed, “Show me your glory” (Exodus 33:18). Moses felt, “I can’t move forward unless You do that.” And God did.

Don’t rest until God opens the eyes of your heart, and gives you some glimpse of the glory of His Son. When you see His glory, you will want to follow Him.

HOW TO MAKE DISCIPLES

“Go and make disciples of all nations.” (MATTHEW 28:19)

I have read many books on discipleship and discovered many valuable things. Books on discipleship often emphasize the importance of small groups, spiritual disciplines, and accountability. I have no doubt that all these things are important. But behind and above them all is this whole matter of seeing the glory of Christ. You can be in a small group, practice spiritual disciplines, and be held accountable and still never see His glory.

If the church is to make disciples, our first priority must be to declare the glory of Jesus. It is not enough for us to promote a general faith in God or to announce a biblical set of moral values. The specific task of the church is to proclaim the Lord Jesus Christ in such a way that by the power of the Spirit there will be a community of people who are captivated by Him. That’s where discipleship begins.

OUR MODEL OF MINISTRY

When Jesus called the first disciples, He said, “I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). He was saying, “Place your life in My hands, and I will make something of it—something of eternal value.” I’m glad it’s in that order. Some people have the idea that they have to make something of their lives before they offer themselves to Jesus, but Christ accepts us as we are and promises to make something of us.

Disciples are active participants in the ministry of Jesus. We are “God’s fellow workers” (2 Corinthians 6:1). I love the way Christ uses an analogy from their world of fishing and gives it a whole new dimension; they will be “fishers of men.” He will take what you can do and use it in a whole new way in His kingdom.

Jesus trained the first disciples in ministry rather like a kindergarten teacher might show a young child how to write. The teacher draws beautiful vowels that sit like plump fruit on the line. The child watches the way in which these letters are formed and then copies them on the lines below.

That’s exactly what you find Jesus did with the disciples. He showed compassion to people who were lost like sheep without a shepherd; He calls each of us to follow His example. As His Spirit flows into you, you will begin to feel compassion for a lost world. You will break free from the insularity of the world around you and begin to feel the heart of God for lost people.

Men and women who have followed Christ have changed the world.

When Jesus met a woman many people were ready to condemn, He reached out to her in love and showed her a whole new way of life. He calls us to follow Him, and when His Spirit flows into us, we will learn to show the same kind of grace.

On the other hand, when Jesus spoke with a young man who wanted to add eternal security to his self-centered lifestyle, Christ refused to compromise the challenge of the message. And when His Spirit is in us, we will find the courage to follow Him. We will not shape the message to suit the felt needs of the individual.

Men and women who have followed Christ have changed the world. Some disciples of Jesus have noted that He healed the sick. They have heard Him say, “Follow Me,” and they have established hospitals in His name.

Others have noticed that He fed the hungry. They have heard Him say, “Follow Me,” and they have established famine relief programs and launched agriculture projects in His name. Still others have noticed that children came to Him and He did not turn them away. They have heard Him say, “Follow Me,” and they have established orphanages and schools in His name.

We are to show Christ to the world. Many will see nothing beyond the ministry that is offered, but some eyes will be opened to see the glory of Jesus.

THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP

Following Jesus will be costly. There is no escaping this theme in the Bible. Jesus announced that He was going to Jerusalem to suffer, and then He called His disciples to follow Him. When the disciples heard this, they were extremely reluctant. Peter tried to persuade Jesus to pursue a less costly plan, but Jesus told him the problem. “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men” (Matthew 16:23).

Jesus refused to hide the cost of following in the small print of His invitation. “If anyone would come after me,” He said, “he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (v. 24). He told His disciples plainly that He was sending them out like sheep among wolves (Matthew 10:16). “If the world hates you,” He said, “keep in mind that it hated me first” (John 15:18).

The world will never tolerate the exclusive claims of Jesus Christ. It has a definite opinion about Him, and it is not favorable.

Christ claimed that we cannot know God without Him (Matthew 11:27), and that insults our pride. He claimed that we are incapable of coming to God unless He brings us (John 14:6), and that emasculates our strength. He claimed the right to tell us what is right and what is wrong (John 5:27), and that restricts our freedom.

Our culture would crucify Him again today … on talk shows.

That’s why they crucified Him. And our culture would crucify Him again today. Of course we would not do it with wood and nails; we would crucify Him on talk shows. Can you imagine what any of our talk show hosts would make of Jesus saying, “I am the way, the truth, and the life”? Can you imagine the lampooning? The world hates Christ. It has no room for His exclusive claims, and it will not look kindly on His disciples either.

If you follow Christ, you will have to take up a cross. He is on a collision course with the world, the flesh, and the devil, and if you follow Him, you will find yourself in conflict with all three. If you follow Christ, you will find yourself out of step with the thinking of our culture. Only those who have seen His glory will be ready to pay this price.

In the West, we have benefited from a culture that has been gentle toward the Christian faith for a long time. But that gentleness is fast eroding. So we must count the cost of following Christ, because increasingly our choice will be to abandon His distinctive claims or be regarded as bigots.

If we would settle for general statements about God, the world would have no problem with us. But that is one thing we cannot do, because He said, “Follow Me.” We are followers of the Crucified One. The incredible thing is that even as He was crucified, some saw His glory.

FOLLOWING ALL THE WAY

The cross was not the final destination for Jesus; if it was, the call to follow Him would be impossible. The way Jesus found strength to face the cross was to look beyond it. He endured the cross “for the joy set before him” (Hebrews 12:2). He did not look at the cross; He looked through it.

Remember that the word disciple literally means to go somewhere with someone, and Christ tells us where He is going. After His death and resurrection, He ascended to take His place at the right hand of the Father. And He says to His disciples, “Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be” (John 12:26).

At the end of the Bible, John was given a vision of the day when that promise will be fulfilled. Those who have followed Christ will be gathered with Him, and John says, “They follow the Lamb wherever he goes” (Revelation 14:4). On the last day, when you see Jesus, you will be so glad that you followed Him, whatever the cost.

UNLOCKED

There is only one motivation that will ultimately be strong enough to sustain a man or woman in following Jesus, and that is that they see His glory.

The challenge of following Christ is great, and the price can be high. If we are to make disciples, we must make much of Jesus. It was this compelling vision of His greatness and glory that led the first disciples to forsake everything and follow Him. The power of that vision is no less compelling today.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Gracious Lord,

Thank You for calling me to follow You and for Your promise to make something of my life that will be for Your eternal value. Show me Your glory so that I may be faithful in following You however difficult and whatever the cost.

Thank You that the path on which You lead me ends in Your presence. Give me grace to follow all the days of my life so that Your life may be seen in me and Your work may be done through me. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Note

1. Colin Brown, gen. ed., The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975), s.v. “disciple.”

5

Lord

MARK 4–5

Can I accept

Jesus as Savior

without owning

Him as Lord?

DISCOVER

why the lordship of Jesus is central to the gospel.

LEARN

why Christ is waiting as well as reigning.

WORSHIP

because all of Christ’s enemies will be placed under His feet.

HAVE you ever thought about the difference between a grocery store and marriage?

A grocery store is set out for choice. You make your selection as you go around with your cart, choosing what you want and leaving what you don’t. You are under no obligation.

A marriage is different. Imagine a young couple at a premarital counseling session. He says that he likes her eyes but not her hair. He appreciates her interest in her sport but not her interest in music. He would like to spend time with her on Tuesdays and Thursdays but not on Mondays and Fridays. There is a serious problem! Marriage is all about taking a person as he or she is, for better, for worse; for richer, for poorer; in sickness and in health. It is a commitment to love whatever happens.

Some people think of the Christian life like a visit to the grocery store. They open the Bible and they go through the “aisles” to view what is most appealing. They find some things they would like: Forgiveness! Peace! Joy! Heaven!

Other “aisles” don’t seem so attractive. One has a large sign saying, “Forgive others even as God in Christ forgave you;” another says, “Be holy because God is holy.” The religious shopper does not feel a need for these things and so passes by.

The Bible never describes the Christian life as a visit to the grocery store, but it does describe the Christian life as a “marriage” in which two parties commit to each other just as they are.

Christ will receive you as you are, and you must receive Him as He is. Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord, and that is how you must receive Him. You cannot divide Him in two.

I have often heard people say that they have “received Christ as Savior, but never made Him Lord.” The assumption is that we can somehow separate the Savior from the Lord; that we can have faith without repentance, blessings without commands, or forgiveness of sin without the pursuit of holiness.

That is a fundamental misunderstanding of the gospel. We cannot receive what He offers and at the same time resist what He commands. All through the Scriptures, Christ is presented to us as Lord and Savior. We can never separate the one from the other. Indeed, as we will discover, it is the fact that Jesus is Lord that makes it possible for Him to be Savior.

JUNKYARD WARS

When I was around five years old, my father took me on a number of occasions to a junkyard outside Edinburgh. The place was filled with scrap cars and trucks, and it was a marvelous place for a child with a vivid imagination to play.

Dad used to go there to get spare parts that he needed for our car. The system was simple: You could strip pieces that you needed off the cars, and then pay for them at the gate as you left. The problem was that some people were in the habit of throwing parts over the perimeter fence, walking past the gate without paying, and then picking up the stuff in the wasteland outside.

So the owners cleared a “no go” area around the inside of the fence and ran a rail about three feet off the ground around the perimeter. They brought in Alsatian guard dogs, which were leashed to the railing, so that they could patrol around the entire perimeter. As long as you did not go within a few feet of the fence, you were perfectly safe.

I enjoyed going to the junkyard with my father. One day he was taking a speedometer from a wrecked car, and while he was working, I found a truck and climbed up into the cab. I was lost in an imaginary world of truck driving, when suddenly one of the Alsatian dogs broke free from its chain and came bounding toward me.

I don’t think that I have ever been more terrified in my life. I was quite convinced that I would be completely savaged by this aggressive and overwhelmingly powerful animal. I screamed as any small child would, and I remember seeing my father rushing over from where he had been working. He grabbed a stick, and after a struggle, he subdued the dog.

He saved me by subduing the dog. The fact that he was able to exercise authority over the dog was the reason he was able to deliver me from its power.

Christ is able to save us from our enemies precisely because He is able to exercise authority over them and subdue them. It is the fact that He is Lord that qualifies Him to act as Savior. That is why Scripture says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13).

Jesus could not be Savior if He were not Lord. So let’s take a look at what He is Lord over, and what He is therefore able to save us from. We’ll come to the Scriptures in a moment, but let’s start with the newspaper.

THE DOGS OF HUMAN DARKNESS

Over time, your newspaper becomes a catalog of what we sometimes call “natural disasters.” In one recent year alone, newspapers recorded a massive earthquake in India, a mud slide in Honduras, a volcanic eruption in Congo, and massive flooding in Mozambique. This is the world in which we live. No wonder the Bible says that the whole earth is groaning as if it were in a kind of labor pain (Romans 8:21–22).

The catalog of human evils is also painful to recount. I think of school shootings, gangland murders, crazed killers, and the men of violence whose distorted minds care nothing for their own lives or the lives of other people. Every time it happens, we ask, “How could we have stopped it, and how can we make sure it never happens again?”

The catalog of illnesses is no less alarming. For all the wonders of medical science, for which we are profoundly grateful, we live with the incurable injury, the irreversible condition, and the terminal disease. Billions of research dollars still find us with no cures for dozens of cancers, heart diseases, AIDS, and much more. Our hospitals are never short of business, and for many people, the ten most dreaded words of all time are “I’m sorry, there’s nothing more I can do for you.”

Which brings us to the last and the most obvious of the dogs of human darkness, death itself. The Bible talks about death as the last enemy, and anyone who has been near it with a loved one knows what a terrible enemy it is.

Watch any international news bulletin this week and you will find that it is dominated by these four dimensions of human darkness: disasters, the violent atrocities committed by deranged people, the effects of sickness and disease, and death.

These are the dogs of human darkness. They snarl at us, and when they come near, they bring terror to our lives. They have stalked every generation and every culture. They do not pay respect to boundaries of race, religion, gender, or wealth.

For all the joys of this life, we find ourselves asking, “Who shall deliver us?” “Who has the authority to subdue the destructive powers that bring such darkness?”

The answer to each dimension of darkness is the same: Jesus Christ. He is Lord.

LORD OVER NATURAL DISASTERS

Early in his gospel, Mark records four stories that illustrate the authority of Jesus over the dogs of human darkness. Mark shows us that Jesus is Lord, and this is why we can trust Him as Savior. The disciples learned this in stages. Every time they discovered a new dimension of His authority, they discovered a new sphere of His salvation.

It all began one evening, when Jesus told the disciples to row over to the other side of the lake. They did what He asked, and halfway across the lake they found themselves caught in a sudden storm.

Storms of this sort were not unusual in the area, and the disciples had made their living on the lake, so they would have seen a few in their time. They knew how to handle a boat, but on this occasion they were absolutely terrified. “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” (Mark 4:38). They were picturing their obituaries in the following day’s newspaper.

If the boat had gone down, the Galilee Gazette (or its first-century equivalent) would have had a familiar ring about it.

FREAK STORM CLAIMS 13 LIVES

Thirteen people died last night when a freak storm hit Lake Galilee. Meteorologists had failed to predict the weather system. Those who died included several local fishermen along with a former tax consultant, a religious teacher, and other unidentified friends. Eyewitnesses said the weather changed without warning. Rescue crafts were launched but were unable to identify any survivors.

We have all read similar reports many times.

The disciples were facing a life threatening natural disaster, and they must have been astonished at what happened next.

He [Jesus] got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” (vv. 39–41)

Think of the possibilities! If He can subdue a storm, what about a volcano, a mudslide, a tornado, or a hurricane? If He is Lord over nature, then He can save us from its destructive power.

LORD OVER THE DEMONS

When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. (5:2)

When they got to the other side of the lake, they were immediately confronted by a man who was out of his mind. He lived among the tombs, and night after night he would cry out and cut himself with stones (v. 5).

This man was clearly public enemy number one. People in the area would lock their doors at night because of him. You wouldn’t want to leave your children playing alone in a park in case he came around. This man cared little for his own life and nothing for the lives of others. He was extremely dangerous.

The local authorities had tried all that they could to contain the problem. “He had often been chained hand and foot.” But when they threw him in jail, he “tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him” (v. 4). So the whole community lived in the shadow of violence, and nobody knew what to do about it.

The community had tried everything, and nothing had worked.

Every time there was another outbreak of violence, people would come up with their suggested solutions. “They need stronger chains at the jailhouse,” or in our case today, “We need tighter gun laws or longer prison sentences.” But the community had tried everything, and nothing had worked. The threat remained. Every night the locals would hear this man crying out on the hills. It couldn’t have been easy to sleep.

This man had a family (v. 19). His wife and children must have gone through a thousand agonies as his self-destructive outbursts became worse. Eventually, when it got to the point where it was no longer safe to have him in the home, their hearts must have reached a point of despair.

The Bible is very clear that there were evil spirits (or demons) behind these great outbreaks of violence. This is not the case with every violent or self-destructive person, but it was the case with this man. Jesus described the devil as a thief who comes “to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10), and where stealing, killing, and destroying are most rampant, there his activity is most directly to be discerned.

Jesus came to this community where people lived under the shadow of this darkness. He commanded the evil spirits to leave the man and enter a herd of pigs. As soon as the people in the town heard, they came out to see what had happened, and they found the man who had been possessed by the demons “sitting there, dressed and in his right mind” (Mark 5:15).

Think of the possibilities! If Christ can pacify the man who was a terror to this community, what about the deranged gunman or the suicide bomber? Imagine how it would be if each of them were restored to a right mind. If He is Lord over the demons, He can deliver us from their destructive power.

LORD OVER DISEASE

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. (vv. 24–25)

When Jesus returned across the lake, a large crowd was waiting. In the crowd was a woman who had suffered from a chronic and disabling illness for twelve years. She had spent all that she had in consulting various doctors, but in spite of their efforts, her condition was no better. In fact, it was worse. Her condition was beyond the frontiers of medical science in her time. She was suffering from an incurable disease.

She had heard about Jesus and joined the crowd that was following Him. In her condition, she would not have been able to move quickly, but crowds move slowly, and so she managed to push her way forward until she was just behind Jesus. She felt that if she could just reach Him, she would be healed. Finally she managed to touch Him, and immediately she was aware of a physiological change in her body. Mark reports, “Her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering” (v. 29).

Think of the possibilities! If He can cure diseases that are beyond the frontiers of medical science, what about cancer or AIDS? If He is Lord over disease, He can deliver us from its destructive power.

LORD OVER DEATH

While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher any more?” Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” (vv. 35–36)

Jairus’s daughter was just twelve years old. Her father had sent for Jesus, but the large crowd around Him and the time He spent with healing the woman had delayed His arrival, so that by the time Jesus came to the house, the wake had begun.

Jesus sent the mourners out of the house. Only the girl’s father and mother, along with Peter, James, and John, remained with Jesus and the dead girl in the home. Jesus took the girl’s hands. He said, “‘Talitha koum!’ (which means, ‘Little girl, I say to you, get up!’). Immediately the girl stood up and walked around” (vv. 41–42).

Her parents stood watching in absolute amazement, and in a delightful touch, Jesus said to them, “Give her something to eat.”

WHY DOESN’T HE DO IT?

Jesus is Lord over all the dimensions of human darkness. He is able to subdue the dogs of disaster, the demonic, disease, and even death. He is Lord over these enemies of the human race, and that is why He is able to save us from their destructive power. After thousands of years of human history marred by these enemies, here at last is someone who can deliver us.

So why doesn’t He do it?

If Christ has the power to deliver us from these deadly enemies, why does He not exercise that authority? Many Christians can point to wonderful stories of healing, or deliverance from danger, or exorcism of demons, but anyone with a newspaper knows that the world still suffers from disasters, disease, death, and the madness of violent men.

Why?

Mark gives us the answer in the story of the demon-possessed man.

Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man—and told about the pigs as well. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region. (vv. 16–17)

You would think that when Christ had delivered the town from public enemy number one, they would say, “Please stay.” Imagine what Christ might have done about other problems in the area. But they asked Him to go.

It is important to grasp this. They were pleading with Jesus to leave. Pleading! “Please leave this area. We have seen what You did, but we don’t want You here. This is not where You should be. Please go.”

Jesus gave the explanation on another occasion. “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19).

His name is not welcome in public.

Things haven’t changed. Our culture has increasingly taken the position that we don’t want Jesus around here either. Of course, many people have no problem with religious people exercising their freedom to worship as they choose, but as far as the country at large is concerned, the prevailing consensus is that we do not want Jesus here.

His name is not welcome in public unless it is placed alongside a list of alternatives. The suggestion that He is Lord is unacceptable because that would imply that He had authority over everyone, and we couldn’t possibly have that—not here!

So Jesus left the area of the Gerasenes. What else would you expect? He does not force Himself on a community that does not want Him. But what will happen to the boy if the one who is able to subdue the dog leaves the junkyard?

There is only one way to make sense of your newspaper, and that is to read it alongside these words: “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him” (John 1:11).

THE DAY THE DOGS BROKE LOOSE

Follow the gospel story, and you will find the same pattern of Jesus showing His power and then being rejected until eventually it leads to a cross, which was the ultimate expression of a community saying, “Go away.”

When Christ was crucified, all the dogs of human darkness broke loose. Nature convulsed: “The earth shook and the rocks split.” The demonic powers of hell were loosened as never before: Jesus described it as “[the] hour—when darkness reigns” Matthew 27:51; Luke 22:53). The suffering He endured in His body was beyond description, but it was foretold in part by the prophets. “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint…. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth…. Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet” (Psalm 22:14–16).

Then He entered death itself.

REIGNING AND WAITING

But this is not the end of the Bible story. On the third day, He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. The Father said to Him, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet” (Hebrews 1:13).

Right now, He is reigning. He is on the throne with all power and authority given to Him. But He is also waiting until the Father God places all His enemies under His feet. That time has not yet come. The reigning and waiting are not in conflict. “He must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:25–26).

We are living in the middle of this period. Jesus Christ is Lord. All power and authority are given to Him. But while He has power over all His enemies, He has not yet used that power to put all His enemies under His feet.

So we continue to live in a dangerous world that suffers under the curse of disasters, demons, disease, and death. But we do belong to the kingdom of Jesus Christ, who is Lord over these enemies, and we wait with Him for the day when He puts all these enemies under His feet.

God gave the apostle John a glimpse of that day in a vision recorded for us in the book of Revelation. John saw that the sea was like glass (see Revelation 4:6). There’s no doubt in my mind that he would immediately have recalled the storm on the lake. God was showing him that the ravages of nature would be subdued.

Then John saw the devil and his angels cast into the lake of fire. God was showing him that all demonic activity will cease. John saw the dead raised to life. They were filled with inexpressible joy as they entered God’s city, and John heard a voice saying, “There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

The message to John and to us could not be clearer. “You will face many storms throughout your life in this world,” John was saying. “You will see the enemy at work, and you will shed many tears over disease and death. But Jesus is Lord over all these dogs of human darkness, and He will subdue them. The day is coming when they will be no more.”

Until that day, Jesus has work for us to do. When He left the area of the Gerasenes, the man who had been delivered from the power of evil spirits wanted to get in the boat and go with Him. But Jesus refused. He said, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you” (Mark 5:19).

Christ sent him back to be light in a culture that didn’t want Jesus. The man returned to his family, and he was able to share the story of what Jesus had done for him in the ten cities on that side of the lake.

That’s our calling. Christ will not force Himself upon our culture, but He sends us back as light in a dark place. As long as we are on earth, we will share in the sorrow that comes from the continuing activity of the great enemies of the human race. But we belong to a King who will subdue these enemies, and we wait with Jesus for the day when He will take His power and reign. Then the dogs of human darkness will be subdued forever. Lord Jesus, come quickly!

UNLOCKED

The good news is not just that Jesus is Savior; it is also that Jesus is Lord. In fact, it is precisely because He is Lord over the great enemies of the human race that He is able to save us from them.

The great invitation of the gospel is to give up our resistance to the lordship of Christ and receive His salvation. “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13). The Lord who is our Savior invites us to come to Him.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Gracious Father,

I confess that often I have claimed Your promises while resisting Your commands. Forgive my arrogance, and help me to place the whole of my life under Your sovereign rule.

Help me to share what Christ has done for me so that others may crown Him as their Lord and enter into His salvation. I look for the day when He will place all His enemies under His feet. Thank You that I will be among His people on that day through the powerful work of my Deliverer, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

6

Hell

MARK 9

What is hell

and how can

I avoid it?

DISCOVER

Jesus’ teaching about hell.

LEARN

the meaning of the worm and the fire.

WORSHIP

because Christ experienced hell so that you should never know what it is like.

SOMETHING remarkable happened at school when I was fourteen years old. I had been speaking to a friend about Christ and invited him to a rally where he heard the gospel. At the end of the meeting, he made a commitment to Christ.

This caused some interest in our class, and over the next few months, two other members of the class also professed faith. We used to wear red stickers with Christian slogans (it seemed cool at the time), and as the red stickers multiplied, the gospel became a topic of discussion. Those were exciting days.

One conversation stands out in my memory. I had been talking about the gospel with a lad in our school class and had emphasized the promise of eternal life in heaven. “I’m not interested in being with the holy crowd in heaven,” he said. “I’d rather enjoy the party in hell.” I have heard that response several times since, and it has caused me to think more deeply about the Bible’s teaching on the subject of hell.

I do not find it easy to speak or write about hell. A large part of me would rather avoid the subject altogether, but we are committed to unlocking the Bible, and the Bible makes it clear that every person who has ever lived will one day see Jesus Christ and personally experience either heaven or hell.

CARTOONISTS AND BRIMSTONE PREACHERS

Heaven and hell are beyond our comprehension in this life. The danger is therefore that we either trivialize them by descending into fanciful speculations or ignore these awesome realities altogether.

Cartoonists have done a great deal to trivialize hell. Colorful imaginations have depicted devils in red tights, stoking fires with pitchforks. Some serious Christian art has gone in the same direction, and some preachers have fallen into the trap of preaching in a way that has amounted to a kind of psychological terrorism.

Many people have reacted to this speculation, and the result is that today the subject of hell is often completely ignored. This is a great mistake. God has revealed all that we need to know in His Word. There are promises to believe and warnings to heed. We need both.

God’s salvation is about … where you will spend eternity.

Many people miss the power of God’s warning not by denying what God says about hell but simply by ignoring it. If a church does not speak honestly and openly about the eternal destiny of human beings, the focus of its message will soon undergo a subtle change. The emphasis will be on coming to Christ to find a more fulfilling or satisfying life.

But this is not the heart of the gospel. Jesus Christ came into the world to bring us from death to life. He died to deliver us from hell, and to bring us into everlasting life in His presence. God’s salvation is about more than your experience of life; it is about where you will spend eternity.

I believe in hell primarily because it was taught clearly by Jesus Christ. I do not believe that Jesus was a manipulator of people’s minds and emotions. I do not believe for a moment that Jesus embellished the joys of heaven, or that He exaggerated the pains of hell. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and therefore I have to take every word that He spoke with equal seriousness. If you want to be a Christian, so do you; it’s part of following Him.

UNDER A STORM CLOUD

Nobody ever spoke more clearly or powerfully about the love of God than Jesus. But Jesus also spoke in the clearest terms about God’s implacable hostility toward evil. “Whoever rejects the Son will not see life,” He said. “God’s wrath remains on him” (John 3:36).

Notice Jesus didn’t say that on the last day God’s wrath would suddenly come, but rather that it would “remain.” The wrath of God toward sin is like a great storm cloud that hangs over us. It stays there unless and until it is taken away.

Jesus came into the world to take this judgment from us. He will do this for all who will come to Him in faith. But where He is rejected, the storm cloud of God’s wrath remains.

The rest of the Bible story bears witness to God’s relentless hostility toward all evil. God determined to destroy evil, and on the day Adam sinned in the garden, God pronounced a curse on the serpent. The evil he had introduced into the human race would not stand.

Throughout the Bible story, we have seen sin growing and God cutting it back. At the end of the story, God will destroy it altogether. When John was given a glimpse of this future judgment of God, he saw that the enemies of God would “drink of the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath” (Revelation 14:10).

THE PLACE OF PUNISHMENT

Jesus spoke about hell as a place of punishment. He described a man who went to hell and said that “he was in torment” (Luke 16:23). The book of Revelation uses the same word and speaks about God’s enemies being “tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb” (Revelation 14:10). John adds that “the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night” (v. 11). These are frightening words, but they are God’s words, and so we must take them seriously, and consider what they mean.

Hell is a place of punishment, where God’s justice is fully known. This world is riddled with injustice at every level. People who have been responsible for unspeakable evils have never been brought to face the evil for which they are responsible. Adolf Hitler would be one example, but there are many others who have slipped, by death, beyond the reach of justice in this world. And even with those who are living, the international community continues to struggle over how to bring justice to war criminals who have committed unspeakable atrocities.

But God has set a day of judgment from which nobody can escape. All secrets will be revealed, and there will be no evasions. The dead will be raised, and the wicked will be brought to face their own sins, as they stand before the judgment of God.

As awful as this is, it is something for which we should be thankful. It is for this reason that God urges us to leave vengeance in His hands. He will settle every score. “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord” (Romans 12:19). God will execute perfect justice with total knowledge. All evil will be brought to light by God.

DEGREES OF PUNISHMENT

God’s justice is perfect, and that means that nobody will be punished for a sin he or she did not commit. The punishment experienced in hell by a person who rejects the Son of God will be a direct reflection of the particular sins committed by that individual.

Just as there are degrees of reward in heaven, so there will be degrees of punishment in hell. Jesus referred to this on at least three occasions. He spoke about a city that would not receive the good news, and He said, “It will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town” (Matthew 10:15). Receiving the good news brought a new level of responsibility and accountability.

In the same way, Jesus spoke about the people of Bethsaida, Korazin, and Capernaum (Matthew 11:20–24). Most of His miracles had been performed there, and yet these towns rejected Him. Jesus spoke of the responsibility these people had in the light of what they had seen. Again, He said, “It will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you” (v. 24).

On another occasion, Jesus distinguished between a servant who knew what his master wanted him to do and a servant who did not have that knowledge. Jesus said, “That servant who knows his master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows” (Luke 12:47–48). Jesus was making it clear that the greater the light we have received from God, the greater our responsibility to respond in obedience.

Other passages in the Bible also point in the direction of degrees of punishment in hell. The letter to the Hebrews speaks of the severe punishment of those who knowingly trample the Son of God under foot (Hebrews 10:29), and Paul says, “You are storing up wrath against yourself” (Romans 2:5).

This is an important truth, because there are some who imagine that having chosen the wrong path, they might as well take their chances, cut loose, and live wildly. Their logic is that if they are already headed toward hell, they might as well indulge the pleasures of sin to the maximum extent.

That is a desperate mistake. God will punish sins in hell with perfect justice. A person in hell would give anything to have committed even one less sin.

THE PUNISHMENT FITS THE CRIME

Some readers may be asking, Are any sins so serious as to deserve the punishment of hell? This is an important question, because it goes to the heart of the justice of God.

When we are considering what an appropriate punishment for sin would be, we have to consider not only the nature of the sin but also the person against whom it has been committed. The greater the person who is sinned against, the more severe the penalty for the offense will be.

My colleague Dave Gruthusen uses a helpful analogy to explain this truth to students in their early teens.[1] Suppose that a middle-school student punches someone else in his class on the nose. The matter is reported to his teacher, and he is given a detention. But suppose that during the detention he punches the teacher on the nose. The consequences are greater; he will be suspended from the school.

Now suppose that on the way home, the boy’s father is stopped by a policeman who issues a ticket for speeding. The boy becomes angry with the policeman and punches him on the nose. Now he finds himself in jail. Some years later, he joins a crowd to see the president of the United States of America. As the president passes, the boy lunges forward attempting to punch the president on the nose. He is shot dead by the Secret Service.

In each case, the offense is the same, but the penalty is different. The greater the person against whom the offense is committed, the more severe the penalty for the offense.

It is a serious thing to offend against our neighbors, or against the laws of the land, but it is a much more serious matter to offend against God. Our sins are offenses against almighty God. That is why they are serious and bring such desperate consequences.

Jesus gave us two descriptions of what these consequences will be like when He spoke about a “worm” and a “fire.”

THE WORM

“It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where ‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’” (MARK 9:47–48)

Some years ago, a severe storm destroyed three beautiful trees in our yard. One of them had become diseased, and when it fell, the extent of the damage was revealed. Worms had eaten away a large part of the inside of the trunk. Once the tree fell, the worms were exposed. We had never known that they were there.

Worms eat away on the inside. That’s true of the woodworm, the tapeworm, or any other kind of worm.

Jesus spoke about a worm that never dies in hell. Notice that this worm belongs to the person in hell. Jesus uses a personal pronoun. It’s not “the worm;” it’s “their worm.” Jesus is speaking of something personal and internal to every person in hell.

Given that worms eat away on the inside, it seems clear that Jesus was talking about something that eats away the inside of an individual in hell. He is talking about the conscience. There is nothing more crippling than a bad conscience that nags away and never rests. Jesus said that in hell, the sinner’s “worm” will never die.

This is important because many people go through this life with a minimal experience of conscience. My father was in the police force for thirty years. What surprised him most was that often people who had committed dreadful acts seemed to have a minimal understanding of what they had done, even after long periods in prison.

Consciences will be fully activated in hell.

The conscience can be seared or stifled, and those who do the greatest evil are sometimes the least sensitive to wrong they have done. I have often spoken to people who have chosen an obviously sinful path but told me that since they made their choice, they felt at peace.

It will not always be so. Consciences will be fully activated in hell. Every sinner in hell will see his own life for what it is. Denial will be futile. Sinners will be unable to block out the knowledge of their own sins and their own responsibility. They will have twenty-twenty vision. We will see things as they are both in heaven and in hell. This is part of the justice of God.

In Psalm 51, David wrote, “I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me” (v. 3). He had lived in denial about his sin for some time, but God brought him to the point of facing what he had done. God will bring every person who has ever lived to that point. He will do this either by bringing us to repentance in this life, or by showing the full horror of sin in hell itself.

In hell, the unbeliever’s sin will always be before him. He will be in hell, but hell will also be in him. Those who loved sin will see it for what it is, and share God’s abhorrence of it. This will be part of God’s ultimate triumph and vindication.

THE FIRE

“The fire is not quenched.” (v. 48)

There has been a great deal of discussion about the meaning of this fire that is not quenched. Often things that are unclear in one part of the Bible are illuminated by another part of the Scriptures. In the book of Revelation, John was told that the wicked would be punished “in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb” (14:10). The Son of God is present when the wicked are punished.

When Jesus spoke about the fire that is not quenched, He was speaking about the presence of God. Hell is sometimes described by Christian preachers as eternal separation from God, but it may be more biblical to warn of the danger of the eternal presence of God. Nobody can escape the God of the Bible.

The psalmist faced the awesome truth of God’s inescapable presence when he said, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there” (Psalm 139:7–8).

Nobody can ultimately escape from God.

Many people spend their whole lives resisting the claims of God and seeking to put as much distance as they can between themselves and the Lord, and it is of very little value to tell such individuals that they will spend eternity outside the presence of God. That has been their choice in life and it would be their choice for eternity. They are like my high-school friend who thought that the company of the wicked in hell would be much more attractive than eternity in the presence of God.

But nobody can ultimately escape from God. When Paul wrote that the wicked will be “shut out from the presence of the Lord” (2 Thessalonians 1:9), he meant that they will be excluded from enjoying God’s presence in the New Jerusalem.

Every eye will see Him. The righteous will see God in His beauty. The wicked will see God in His fury. Jonathan Edwards, perhaps the most famous American preacher on this serious subject, said that God will be the hell of one and the heaven of the other.

When Jesus spoke about the fire that is not quenched, He was referring to God’s presence. God revealed His presence to Moses and Elijah through fire. Malachi spoke of God as being like a refiner’s fire, and the writer of Hebrews described God as a consuming fire. That is why it is a fearful thing to fall into His hands.

In hell, sinners will have a full knowledge of themselves and a full knowledge of God. They will see their sins clearly, and they will know God clearly too. Perhaps the greatest pain of hell will be to know that there is a God of love, and yet to know that the opportunity of enjoying Him is past and gone forever.

Sin will be seen for the folly that it is. God will be known in the beauty of His holiness. Nobody will deny God’s existence in hell. Nobody will promote sin, or commend ungodliness. In this sense, even God’s enemies will bow before Him.

HELL ON THE CROSS

The Bible’s teaching on hell takes us to the very heart of the Bible’s message. Jesus Christ came into the world so that you should never know what hell is like. He opened the way of escape for us by entering hell Himself on the cross.

Jesus was crucified at the third hour of the day (Mark 15:25), and for three hours, He suffered the mockery of men who despised Him. Then something wholly unexpected happened. “At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour” (Mark 15:33).

In these hours of darkness, Christ became our sin bearer. God “laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). Martin Luther put it clearly when he said, “Our most merciful father, seeing us to be oppressed and overwhelmed with the curse of the law, and so to beholden under the same that we could never be delivered from it by our own power sent his only Son into the world and laid upon him all the sins of men saying: Be thou Peter that denier; Paul that persecutor, blasphemer and cruel oppressor; David that adulterer;… and briefly, be thou the person which hath committed the sins of all men; see therefore that thou pay and satisfy for them.”[2]

Christ became the guilty one in the eyes of the Father. He committed no sin, but on the cross He bore the guilt of the sins of the world, and for this reason He began to experience the full force of the Father’s judgment on sin poured out on Him. The storm cloud that loomed over us broke over Him.

In these hours of darkness, Christ entered the depths of His suffering. The comfort of the Father’s love was taken from Him. He knew what it was to be shut out of the enjoyment of the relationship He had always known with His Father, and He cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). In Luther’s words, God was forsaken by God.

In the darkness, Christ entered into all the dimensions of hell. Bearing our sins, He experienced the worm, and bearing God’s judgment, He experienced the fire.

We may now know, we cannot tell what pains He had to bear; But we believe it was for us He hung and suffered there.[3]

Jesus endured hell on the cross so that you should never know what it is like. God is just, and He will never punish the same sin twice. If Christ has taken your sin, then God will not, and even cannot, punish you for it. That is why there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. The cloud of judgment that once hung over me has burst over Him. He entered hell in my place.

Christ has done this for you, and He invites your response. He calls you to turn to Him in faith and repentance, asking Him to be your Savior and beginning that pathway of following Him as your Lord.

UNLOCKED

The teaching of Jesus makes it clear that sinners in hell will know the full horror of their sin and live with that knowledge. They will also know God, but they will be excluded from enjoying His presence.

God has sent His Son into the world so that you should never know what hell is like. He experienced hell on the cross as He bore our sins and was cut off from the comfort of the Father’s presence.

He invites us to come to Him, whatever our sins, and offers pardon, forgiveness, and release from condemnation. Turn to Him in faith and repentance.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

If you have never taken that step of trusting Jesus Christ, use this prayer to come to Him now.

Lord Jesus, I believe that You died to take my sins and my punishment. I see that You did that to save me from hell, and I am truly grateful. I ask that Your death will cover my sins, and that You will deliver me from hell and bring me into everlasting life in heaven.

I trust You as my Savior and bow before You as my Lord. I ask for Your strength as I begin to follow You. Show me my sins and help me to turn from them and to live a new life for Your glory until I see You and enter the joy of Your presence. Through the name of the Lord Jesus, my Savior, I pray. Amen.

Notes

1. Dave is the middle-school pastor at Arlington Heights Evangelical Free Church. I am grateful for his insightful analogy and for his permission to use it.

2. Martin Luther, Epistle to the Galatians, 272; as cited in James Stott, The Cross of Christ (Leister, England: InterVarsity, 1986), 345.

3. Cecil Frances Alexander, “There is a Green Hill Far Away,” verse 2.

7

Miracles

MARK 12

How can

I believe

in miracles?

DISCOVER

how your worldview filters what you believe.

LEARN

Jesus’ teaching about the resurrection.

WORSHIP

because the living God is at work in the world today.

When I was young, I was quite convinced that Santa Claus came down the chimney on Christmas Eve. It wasn’t difficult to find evidence for my belief. On Christmas Eve, we would hang our stockings and then leave out two plates, one with some cookies for Santa and the other with some peeled carrots for the reindeer. In the morning, the stockings were filled with presents, the carrots were gone, and only a few crumbs from the cookies remained on the plate, clear evidence that Santa had enjoyed our cookies before going on to visit the homes of other children.

Given my assumptions about Santa, the evidence all pointed one way. But eventually, I made some new discoveries, and from then on I had a different explanation for the filled stockings, vanishing carrots, and strategically placed cookie crumbs.

A worldview is a set of beliefs through which we filter information. It’s like a software program running in the mind. Our worldview helps us to sort out what we receive as true and what we reject as false. And, of course, a worldview can be wrong, like my childish conviction regarding Santa Claus. A false worldview can blind your eyes to the truth.

It’s not easy to change your worldview. Once we have grasped hold of a set of convictions, it is difficult for us to hear anything to the contrary. At one time, people believed that the earth is flat and that the sun moves around the earth. When someone discovered that the earth is round and rotates around the sun, it was very difficult for him to “unlearn” their old assumptions.

A SAD WORLDVIEW

The Sadducees held a worldview that made it very difficult for them to hear Jesus even when He spoke directly to them. There was one fundamental conviction buried deep in the mind of every Sadducee. As Mark reported,

The Sadducees … say there is no resurrection. (12:18)

They didn’t believe in any resurrection, and that is why they were sad (you see)!

This put them in dispute with the Pharisees, who did believe in a future resurrection. The Pharisees also believed in heaven and hell, but the Sadducees had a different brand of religion. As far as they were concerned, when you are dead, you are dead.[1] The book of Acts tells us that “the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all” (Acts 23:8).

There’s a pattern here. No resurrection, no angels, and no spirits. The Sadducees did not like anything that smacked of the supernatural. The Bible speaks of angels as ministering spirits (Hebrews 1:14). But the Sadducees did not buy any of that. As far as they were concerned, the only power available is the power inside you.

If you had asked a Sadducee for advice, he might have said, “Live for today. You only get one ride down the slide of life. If it doesn’t happen for you here, it isn’t going to happen anywhere else. And don’t go looking to angels or spirits to help you. That’s just an emotional crutch for weak people to lean on. Life is what you make it.”

That was the Sadducees’ worldview, and if you take off a Sadducee’s robes and give him an Armani suit, take away his scrolls and give him a cell phone, and take him out of the temple and give him a job in the city, you have the picture of the twenty-first-century Sadducee.

His worldview is clear. “Don’t look beyond the grave, because that cannot be known, and don’t look to heaven for help, because it’s all up to you.”

Many of these modern Sadducees are to be found in church, just as their first-century counterparts were found in the temple. They are good, upright, and successful people, with sharp minds but blind eyes.

“BEAM ME UP, SCOTTY”

One day a group of the Sadducees came to Jesus with a question about the resurrection. They had debated this issue with the Pharisees many times and knew the questions that worked best in their argument, so they decided to try one of these out on Jesus.

They began by reminding Jesus about the Old Testament law of levirate marriage. This law said that if a man died without children, his brother must assume the care of the wife and raise children in his brother’s name. The point of the law was, of course, to ensure the continuation of the line of Israel, which was central to the purpose of God.

The Sadducees then told a story about seven brothers. The first one died with no children, so the second brother took responsibility for the wife. Then the second brother died, and the third one stepped up to the plate, and so on. By the time it came to the seventh brother, he must have known that this woman was the kiss of death. Sure enough, he went the way of all the others, and last of all, this remarkable woman died.

Now the Sadducees come to their question.

“At the resurrection whose wife will she be?” (MARK 12:23)

This is the Star Trek view of the resurrection. Captain Kirk says, “Beam me up, Scotty!” Kirk then disappears from view, only to rematerialize looking exactly the same but in a different place.

That’s how the Sadducees thought about a future resurrection and, of course, that’s why they rejected it. If the life of heaven were simply a continuation of this life as it is in another place, it would be horrendously complicated. Life creates so many anomalies that it would be impossible for it to continue in the same way after death.

Christ made this point clear when He said,

“When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.” (v. 25)

In heaven, our relationships will no longer be exclusive. There will be no death, so there will be no need for procreation. Of course, for those who are happily married, this sounds like bad news because a happy marriage and the gift of children are among the greatest joys that God has given in this life, and so it is hard for us to imagine life without them.

But that is why God says that it has not entered into the mind of man “what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). Marriage and family are among God’s greatest gifts in this fallen world. Wait till you see what God has prepared for the redeemed world. It is as if God would say to us, “You ain’t seen nothing yet!”

WHEN YOU ENTER HEAVEN

When you enter heaven, you will know yourself to be there. Just as you are conscious of yourself being at a particular place on a given date as you read this book, so there will come a time when you are conscious of yourself being in the presence of God. You will be able to say to yourself, “I’m here.”

You will also know God just as He knows you, and in the same way as you will know yourself to be there, you will know others who you love to be there also. But the life of heaven will not be a direct continuation of life as we know it here.

When you plant a bulb in the ground, what comes out of the ground is not a massive bulb, but a flower. When you enter into heaven, you will know yourself to be there, but you will not be the same. You shall be like Him, when you see Him as He is (see 1 John 3:2).

The Sadducees rejected the resurrection because they did not understand it. They created a caricature and then pronounced it ridiculous. Their first problem was that they did not know the Scriptures (Mark 12:24). But there was a second issue.

DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF GOD

“Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?” (v. 24)

Jesus’ words to the Sadducees could hardly have been more direct. He said, in effect, “The fundamental assumption on which you are building your lives is wrong, and the reason for this is that you do not know the God of the Bible!”

Now the Sadducees believed in god. Jesus’ point is that the god they believed in is not the God of the Bible, and that was why they had difficulty believing in resurrection. The god they believed in would not—and could not—do such a thing.

C. S. Lewis points out that this is precisely the problem for many people today.

The sort of God conceived by the popular “religion” of our own times would almost certainly work no miracles…. Speak about beauty, truth and goodness, or about a God who is simply the indwelling principle of these three, speak about a great spiritual force pervading all these things, a common mind of which we are all parts, a pool of generalized spirituality to which we can all flow and you will command generalized interest.[2]

Do you recognize this kind of language in our daily TV talk shows? A generalized spirituality into which we can all tap is very popular.

But the temperature drops as soon as you mention a God who has purposes and performs particular actions who does one thing and not another, a concrete, choosing, commanding, prohibiting God with a determinate character. People become embarrassed or angry…. The popular religion excludes miracles because it excludes the “living God” of Christianity and believes instead in a kind of god who obviously would not do miracles.[3]

That’s precisely where thousands of people are today. They would say that they believe in god, but they would never expect the god they believe in to do anything in their lives. Praying to such a god would be like a child writing to Santa; it would merely be a way of expressing a wish. Nobody would expect anything to happen. Such a god is little more than a symbol of our aspirations. We might describe him as a gentle whisper, the ground of our being, or an inner voice, but this is not the God of the Bible.

Jesus had shown that the problem for these Sadducees lay in their worldview. The reason they did not believe in the resurrection was first, that they did not understand the teaching of the Bible, and second, that they did not know the God of the Bible.

THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB

So Jesus’ first step in reaching out to them was to introduce them to the living God.

“Have you not read … how God said to [Moses], ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?’” (v. 26)

If you want to know God, you need to know what He has revealed about Himself. This is why we are committed to learning the Bible story. God has made Himself known to particular individuals, and that revelation is recorded in Scripture. When God describes Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, He is saying to us,

“If you want to know what I am like, look at how I acted in the lives of these men. Look at what I did, and then you will know who I am.”

Look at what God did in Abraham’s life. Abraham was brought up worshiping idols, but God intervened to call him. God came down from heaven and made Himself visible to Abraham. He said, “Leave your country and your people … and go to the land I will show you” (Acts 7:3). So when God says, “I am the God of Abraham,” He is telling us that He is the God who intervenes in human lives to call men and women to follow Him.

Look at what He did in Isaac’s life. As a young man, Isaac watched as his father Abraham bound him to an altar on Mount Moriah. Can you imagine how Isaac must have felt? He was about to become a sacrifice when God spoke to Abraham in an audible voice. “Don’t touch the boy!” God intervened to save Isaac by providing a substitute. Isaac was released, and an animal was bound to the altar in his place. The animal died, but Isaac’s life was spared. So when God says, “I am the God of Isaac,” He is telling us that He is the God who steps in to save His people.

God’s dealings with Jacob show us that He never gives up on His people. Jacob lived a twisted life of lies and deceit and ran from both his family and God. One night, the angel of the Lord appeared to Jacob and wrestled with him. God had pursued Jacob through the troubled path of his life, and now God appeared and struggled with Him. That struggle changed Jacob. At the beginning, he was resisting God, but as the struggle continued, Jacob’s hip was wrenched out of its socket. He could no longer stand up, and he found himself clinging to the Lord, desperate to know His name and to discover His blessing.

He is the living God, … the God who calls and saves and fights.

So when God says, “I am the God of Jacob,” He is reminding us that He is a God who fights for His people. He is not a vague spirit standing aloof from the universe. A gentle breeze does not wrestle with a man and leave him with his hip dislocated from its socket! He is the living God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who calls and saves and fights. He is the God who steps in to change things.

Once you know the God of the Bible, miracles don’t seem so strange.

TWENTY-FIRST-CENTURY SADDUCEES

There are thousands of people today who are just like the Sadducees. They are deeply religious. They say that they believe in God, but the god they believe in is a quiet breeze, a still small voice, a feeling best touched at weddings and funerals, a point of reference useful in inaugurations of presidents, a symbol worth mentioning on the back of a dollar bill.

The Sadducees then, and now, have their reasons for choosing this quiet god rather than the living God of the Bible. Sometimes we are not sure if we want the living God.

C. S. Lewis wrote:

An impersonal God well and good. A subjective god of beauty, truth and goodness, inside our own heads still better. A formless life-force surging through us, a vast power which we can tap best of all. But God himself, alive, pulling at the other end of the cord, perhaps approaching at infinite speed, the hunter, king, husband—that is quite another matter.[4]

Imagine a group of children playing “burglars.” In the middle of their game, they hear a sound and suddenly realize that a burglar is really there! We are happy to talk about our search for God, but as Lewis noted, “supposing we found him. Worse still, supposing he had found us!” With this God we have to be ready for anything. Certainly we should not be surprised if through the course of history He reveals Himself by breaking out of the normal routine in miracles.[5]

Once you know who the God of the Bible is, you have crossed a line in the sand. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is free to do whatever He chooses. Christ came so that the Sadducees and their modern counterparts should have the opportunity of knowing the living God who calls, saves, fights, and raises the dead.

TAKE THE CAR, NOT THE TRAIN

There is more than one way to commute into Chicago. You can drive the car, or you can take the train. Thousands of people travel by both means every day, and it’s the same, boring routine. The train takes you down the line, stopping at all the same stations. You drive the car down the expressway, past all the same landmarks. The whole thing is entirely predictable.

That’s how God has ordered the world. He holds the planets on regular courses, causes the sun to rise at predictable times, and makes things grow in consistent patterns. Science is able to observe these patterns. They are regular, just like the morning commute.

But there is one important difference between taking the train and driving the car. Suppose you are a passenger in the train and one morning you decide that you want to follow a different route. There is no way in the world you can do that, because you are only a passenger.

But if you are in the car, and you decide for some extraordinary reason that after twenty-five years of going down the same road, you are going to go by another route, you are at absolute liberty to do so, because you are the driver.

Here’s the question. Is God like a passenger in the train, or is He like the driver of the car? Is God imprisoned in a closed system of the universe in which He has no alternative but to follow the tracks of natural law, or is God, despite the regularity of His actions, at liberty to do something completely different if He chooses?

The Sadducees said that God rides the train. Jesus said that God drives the car.

We can be thankful that God chooses to drive predictably. But if He should choose to do something completely different, He is at absolute liberty to do so.

Once we know the God of the Bible, miracles don’t seem so strange.

GOD’S THREE GREAT INTERVENTIONS

God does not shake miracles out evenly over human history. In the Bible story, miracles cluster around the key events in God’s plan of salvation for the world. When human history is over and we look back on all that God has done, three great miracles will stand out from all the rest.

The first will be the great intervention in which the Son of God took human flesh and became a man. God normally gives life through the union of a man and a woman, but on this one occasion He stepped in and caused a virgin to conceive. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob can do that, and He did. The story of the Incarnation is a great mystery in itself, but it makes sense of everything else in the New Testament. Once we understand who Jesus is, His miracles will not surprise us.

If the Son of God has come into the world, is it really strange that He would display His glory in the most ordinary human situations by turning water into wine and feeding five thousand people?

And if the living God should take our flesh and then lay down His life, entering into death, would it be so strange that He should rise from the dead? A gentle breeze wouldn’t do that, but when you know the God of the Bible, the Resurrection is really not so strange.

Real Christianity is a resurrection.

God’s second great intervention is often called conversion. This is when God breaks into the life of an ordinary person bringing him or her to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

We are spiritually dead until God makes us alive in Jesus Christ. Real Christianity is not about turning over a new leaf or about realizing your potential. Real Christianity is a resurrection. It is about God pouring the life of His Spirit into your soul and making you alive with Christ. It is about God stepping in to make things different.

The Sadducees were convinced that there was no point in looking for help or power outside of yourself. But the God of the Bible tells us that the only way in which we can live a life that is pleasing to Him is by the power of His Spirit at work within us.

God’s final great intervention will come when Jesus Christ returns in power and glory. The dead will be raised, wickedness will be judged, and God will create a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

UNLOCKED

You need to know two things if you are to believe in miracles. The first is the Scripture and the second is the power of God. The God of the Bible takes the initiative and intervenes. He created the world, and He has come down to make Himself known. This living God is all powerful, and nothing is impossible for Him. When we know the God of the Bible, miracles will not seem strange.

As we come to know this God who makes Himself known to us in Scripture, we are faced with challenging questions. If it was the case that you are ultimately accountable to this God who calls and saves and fights and commands, how would you have to change? If it was the case that God is able to give life to your soul and speak strength into those who call upon Him, would you ask Him to do it?

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Almighty Father,

I bow before You, the living God, in worship, adoration, and praise. You are the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thank You that You have made Yourself known as my Creator and Savior through Jesus Christ. Thank You that You are able to breathe new life and strength into me, and to make me a new creation in Christ.

Open many eyes to see Your glory. Deliver many from the weak idols of our own creation who can do nothing.

Thank You that You have already set the day for Your ultimate intervention when Your Son, Jesus Christ, will return in glory. Thank You that by Your grace I may be among Your people on that day, through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.

Notes

1. The Jewish historian Josephus wrote, “While Pharisees believe that souls have an immortal vigor in them, the Sadducees take away the belief in the immortal soul, the Sadducees believed that when the body died, the soul dies as well. Cited in John Stott, Christ the Controversialist (Downers Grove, Ill.: Inter Varsity Press, 1974), 50.

2. C. S. Lewis, Miracles (Glasgow: Colins, 1947), 85.

3. Ibid.

4. Ibid., 98.

5. Ibid.

8

Born

LUKE 1

Why is Jesus

different from any

other person who

has ever lived?

DISCOVER

God’s incredible journey.

LEARN

why the birth of Jesus is different from other miraculous births in the Bible.

WORSHIP

because God has come to us in Jesus Christ.

IMAGINE that you are living on a large and beautiful island and that your home is located near a magnificent beach that stretches for miles.[1] Life is good on the island, and you are happy to be there.

From time to time, you have been able to explore the island, and you have been fascinated to find people with many different cultures. All the islanders are surrounded by the ocean, and over the years, they’ve held many discussions about what may lie beyond the horizon. But nobody has ever left the island, and so nobody knows. The discussions never really get anywhere, and since most people have full and busy lives, they aren’t that interested.

The island is breathtakingly beautiful, and some islanders have spent many hours studying the wildlife, plants, weather systems, and rock formations. Islanders have also paid a great deal of attention to cultivating family life. Seminars have been held on how to have a healthy island marriage and how to bring up island kids. The land has all kinds of resources to help people develop in body, mind, and spirit.

You and the other islanders are all descended from castaways who were washed onto the island after a great disaster that happened many years ago—so long ago that many residents know little or nothing about it. In recent years, there has been a growing number of islanders who deny that there ever was a shipwreck. They dislike the idea of being descended from castaways and prefer to think of themselves as “natural islanders” who have always been there.

Besides, if the islanders were descended from castaways, it would mean that they were never intended to be on the island, but in some other place, and since there is no other place on the horizon, that seems rather self-defeating.

At the center of the island looms a high mountain with what looks like a crater at the top. One thing that has worried some people is the thought that it may be a volcano. At times the mountain seemed to throw up some ash, and there are stories of some people who got too close at the wrong time and were burned. But the horrendous scenarios of obliteration that have been predicted by some have never happened, and most people have come to the conclusion that they never will.

MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE

Early one morning, as you are out strolling on the beach, you see a reflection in the sand. As you look more closely, you notice that a green bottle has been washed up on the shore, and inside there is a message: “Help is coming.”

Strange. You have never seen anything like this before. “Help”? What kind of help could possibly be needed on the island? you wonder.

A few weeks later, you see another bottle, with another message: “Help will arrive soon!” This is really strange, you think. Two bottles with the same message. Where could they have come from?

Your curiosity is aroused, and so you begin to walk the beach regularly, looking for bottles. Sure enough, you find another, and then another, all with a similar message. “Help is coming.” “Help will be with you soon.” “I am sending help.”

The discoveries are strangely unnerving. After all, you are living on an idyllic island and are enjoying a very full and satisfying life. But the notes in the bottles keep suggesting that there is some kind of problem. You don’t know what the problem is, and you can’t imagine what it could be.

You decide to tell your neighbor Bill about the bottles. After all, he also walks the beach; perhaps he has found some too.

“Bill, have you seen any bottles on the beach?”

“No. Why?”

“Well, a few weeks ago I found one, with a note inside. I didn’t think much about it, but then I found others. The strange thing is that there seems to be one consistent message in all of them. I’m beginning to think someone is out there beyond the horizon, and they are trying to communicate with us. Whoever he, she, or it is, they are telling us that we are in some sort of danger here, and they obviously have a plan to do something about it.”

“Oh, that sounds rather fanciful to me,” says Bill. “It is much more likely that the messages were written by some kids further round on the island. If they threw the bottles out to sea, it’s quite possible that the tide washed them back in. You don’t want to worry about a few messages in a bottle!”

But somehow you can’t get the bottles and their message out of your mind: “Help is coming.”

THE ISLANDERS’ PROBLEM

The story of the islanders can help us grasp the big picture of the Bible story. Like an islander descended from castaways, you are not where you were meant to be. God created you to know Him, enjoy Him, and live in His presence. But there was a great disaster. Sin ruptured the relationship between man and God, and our first parents were driven out of Paradise. After they sinned, they found themselves in a fallen world which, for all its beauty, had a curse hanging over it.

But right from the beginning, God promised that help would come. Over hundreds of years God repeated that same message through the Old Testament prophets. “Don’t despair; I am sending help. Someone will come to rescue you from the danger that you do not yet fully understand.”

Our problem is not about finding fulfillment on the island; it is that the island will be destroyed. The island on which you were born is not where you ultimately belong, nor where you can remain forever. You were born for the mainland that you have never seen, but the only way you can get there is if someone comes from the mainland to rescue you.

That is why Jesus Christ came into the world. He has come from the mainland of heaven to the island of this world. He is the help that God promised at the beginning of the Bible story. He has come to save you from the destruction that will one day come on this world and bring you into an eternal life on the “mainland.”

GOD TAKES THE INITIATIVE

God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. (LUKE 1:26–27)

The birth of Jesus was entirely at the initiative of God. Mary was a young woman, preparing for marriage to a man named Joseph. She was a virgin. God had chosen her as the one who would bring Jesus Christ into the world, and He sent the angel Gabriel to announce this to her. “The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus’” (vv. 30–31).

Mary did not see how she could possibly have a child, given the fact that she was a virgin. The angel’s answer takes us to the heart of the greatest and most wonderful mystery in the Bible.

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” (v. 35)

Mary’s child would be born as the result of a direct initiative of God. Joseph had nothing to do with it. He was an outsider, a passive observer to the whole miraculous event. If God had not told him what was happening, he would not have had the faintest idea. God completely bypassed him; He made no contribution whatsoever.

The Bible contains other stories of miraculous births. Abraham and Sarah had longed for a child, and Isaac’s birth was a miracle, because they were both well past the age of conceiving children. The same miracle of conception happened for Elkanah and Hannah (who was barren) when Samuel was born, and for Zechariah and Elizabeth (who was past childbearing years) in the birth of John the Baptist.

Each of these children was born as a result of a special intervention of God. But in each case, God worked through the union of a father and a mother. But Mary was a virgin; Joseph had absolutely nothing to do with the child she bore. Not only did he have no union with her before the child was conceived, but Joseph had no union with her until the child was born (Matthew 1:25).

God acts…. God took the initiative.

The life in Mary’s womb came to be there through a creative miracle of God that is beautifully described in the angel’s words to Mary: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.”

It is significant that the angel did not tell Mary to do anything. All she was told was that God would do something. God acts; Mary is entirely passive. God took the initiative. Mary’s privilege was that God’s greatest miracle would take place in her body.

God takes the initiative throughout the Bible story. He does not wait for us to save ourselves. That would be like waiting for the islanders to mount their own rescue. Human history has thrown up many remarkable leaders. The Old Testament is full of them. But God did not wait for a deliverer to arise from the human race; He sent His Son to the human race. God the Son became a man, taking flesh from the Virgin Mary.

GOD’S INCREDIBLE JOURNEY

The New Testament teaches three foundational truths about the identity of Jesus: (1) He is God, (2) He is man, and (3) He is holy.

The angel announced to Mary that her child would be “the Son of the Most High” and “the Son of God” (vv. 32, 35). In Matthew’s gospel, He is described as “God with us” (1:23). The apostle Paul explained that Christ was “in very nature God, [but He] did not consider equality with God something to be grasped.” Instead He “made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness” (Philippians 2:6–7).

Speaking of Jesus’ birth, Paul said, “He was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor” (2 Corinthians 8:9). Before He was born of the Virgin Mary, God the Son already enjoyed the most marvelous life. This is something that you could not say about any other person.

Before He was born in the stable, He shared the life of God.

Your life began when you were conceived in your mother’s womb. Before that moment you did not exist. God used the union of your father and your mother to bring you into being. Before that, you were not, and without that, you would not have been.

But with Christ, it is different. His life did not begin in the Virgin’s womb. Before He was born in the stable, He shared the life of God. He was there in the beginning. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). This Word is the Son of God who took human flesh and was born of the Virgin Mary. The one who has always shared the glory of the Father came to us. He did not arise out of the human race by the union of a father and a mother, but He came as a gift to the human race.

This is of great importance, because only God can reconcile man to God. The Old Testament was full of prophets, priests, and kings, who were men and women just like us. They all belonged to the island. None of them had any means of reaching the mainland. The only way in which the islanders could be delivered was for someone to come from the mainland.

Think of an air-sea rescue. Suppose you are in a dinghy on the water, and you need to be rescued. There’s a rope in the dinghy, but you cannot use it to climb up to the helicopter. Salvation has to be from the top down so someone who is secured at the top is lowered on the winch, and by embracing him you are lifted with him to the position from where he came. Salvation has to be from above. Only God can save. We cannot climb up, for the simple reason that we have nothing to climb on!

But Christ has come to us from the mainland. He came on an incredible journey from heaven to earth, and in Him, God is reaching out to every person on this planet.

THE MYSTERY THAT MAKES SENSE OF EVERYTHING ELSE

Once we have grasped that Jesus is God, it is every bit as important for us to grasp that He is a man. He took human flesh and was born as one of us, entering and sharing our life. He became an islander. This is the mystery that makes sense of everything else.

The fact that Jesus is a man is as important to our salvation as the fact that He is God. God the Son came from heaven because only God can reconcile man to God. But He became man, because only man can bear the punishment for man’s sin.

Nothing like this had ever happened before or has happened since. In the Old Testament, there were many occasions when God appeared in a visible form. As we saw in the opening chapter of Unlocking the Bible Story, volume 1, these appearances are called theophanies. Right from the beginning of time, God was reaching out so that men and women could know Him. In the Garden of Eden, God took on a visible appearance and actually walked with Adam and Eve in the garden. Later, the Lord appeared to Abraham and ate a meal with him. But these appearances were only temporary.

The theophanies could be compared to an actor dressing up or putting on a disguise. When the show is over, the actor takes off his costume and leaves the theater. But the birth of Jesus is entirely different. Here, the Son of God took human flesh to Himself. He did not cease to be God, but He became a man.

If God became man in Jesus, it all begins to fit.

Theologian James Packer expresses the wonder of this:

The Word was made flesh. God became man. The Divine son became a Jew; the almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, unable to do more than lie and stare and wriggle and make noises, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child. And there was no illusion or deception in this; the babyhood of the Son of God was a reality. The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets….

The incarnation is in itself an unfathomable mystery, but it makes sense of everything else that the New Testament contains.[2]

In the words of C. S. Lewis, “We believe that the sun is in the sky at midday in summer, not because we can clearly see the sun (in fact we cannot) but because we can see everything else.” [3]

You will never be able to fathom how God could become man, but when you believe that He did, you will not find it difficult to understand His claims, His miracles, or His resurrection. Everything else in the New Testament revolves around this one miracle. If God became man in Jesus, it all begins to fit.

If Jesus is “God with us,” no one should be surprised that He claims to be the way to God or that He tells us there is no other way. If He has come from heaven, we may be astonished that He would allow His enemies to nail Him to a cross, but it will not surprise us that He should rise from the dead. Once you know who He is, what other outcome would you expect?

And if He is the help that God has promised since the beginning of time, you can be confident that He is able to do in your life what no other person and no other teaching could ever do.

THE HOLY ONE: A NEW KIND OF HUMANITY

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” (v. 35, EMPHASIS ADDED)

Jesus Christ is like us in every respect except one. He is holy. This means that He did not at any time commit a single sin. But it means more than that. He was holy in His thoughts, in His intentions, and in His character. His nature was holy. He was not drawn to sin, and He had no inner propensity to sin. There has never been anybody else in human history about whom this could be said.

The apostle Paul was a good man who desperately wanted to live a holy life. He was born into a privileged family and educated in the finest schools. His parents gave him everything he could want, except for one thing. They could not give him holiness. He discovered from his inner struggles that the nature he inherited from his parents was far from holy.

When Paul tried to pursue a holy life, he found himself struggling upstream. There was a battle going on inside him, and for a long time, he did not know how to get deliverance from it.

We saw in volume 1 of Unlocking the Bible Story that sin is a power. When Adam sinned, it changed his nature. He became a different kind of man, and he passed that on to his children. Parents pass on many good things to their children, but holiness is not one of them. We do not have that in us.

What was born was not holy, and what was holy was not born until Jesus Christ came into the world. Christ broke the chain of the sinful nature, and when He was born there was, for the first time since Adam, a holy human being in the world.

[Jesus’] holiness opens up a whole new world of hope for us.

We have become so used to fallen humanity that it is difficult for us to imagine a human being who is not subject to sin and death. “To err is human,” we say, as if erring were inseparable from being human. When someone dies, we sometimes talk about them “going the way of all flesh,” as if death and flesh were inseparable. Like the islanders who have never seen the mainland, we are so used to our condition that we find it almost impossible to imagine anything else.

But Jesus is the pioneer of a new kind of humanity. His holiness opens up a whole new world of hope for us. His purpose in coming into the world was to “[bring] many sons to glory” (Hebrews 2:10). We see that glory in Him. He was human and did not err. He committed no sin. When He entered death, it was only because He chose to, and it had no power over Him.

Jesus blazes the trail of a new humanity that will be holy, free from sin, and thus no longer subject to death. This has always been the purpose of God. Christ began where His people will end. He entered at birth what His people will enter at our death, and this is the life that He offers to you. When you see Him upon His return, you will be like Him, holy and rejoicing in God’s presence as you enter all that God has prepared for His redeemed people.

When Paul confessed his struggles with his sinful nature, he asked the question, “Who will deliver me?” Thank God there is an answer to that question: Jesus Christ our Lord! (See Romans 7:24–25.) He will begin to deliver you when you come to Him. He will begin to make you holy by the power of His Spirit, and when you are in His presence, what He has begun will be complete.

UNLOCKED

Every child ever born has arisen from the human race by the union of a father and a mother, except for the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the gift of God the Father to the human race. He is God in the flesh, “God with us.” He is the help promised by God since the beginning of time.

Stand back and see the magnificent sweep of God’s saving work. God the Son came on an incredible journey. He took human flesh to Himself and was born of a virgin. He came down, lived among us, and went to the cross to bear our sin. As God, He was reconciling man to God. As man, He was bearing God’s punishment for man. The Son of God became Son of man so that the sons and daughters of men might become the sons and daughters of God.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Almighty Father,

As I consider this greatest miracle that Your Son should take flesh to become my Savior, I bow before You in worship and wonder. Thank You for sending Your Son on that incredible journey. Thank You that forgiveness and reconciliation and eternal life are all ours in Him. Thank You that having taken our flesh, He lives to be our Savior forever.

Help me to live for His glory, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Notes

1. Original idea adapted from a piece in Eugene Petersen, Working the Angles (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987), 139 ff. Petersen adapted it from an essay/parable by Walker Percy, The Message in a Bottle (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1975).

2. J. I. Packer, Knowing God (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1973), 53, 54.

3. C. S. Lewis, Miracles (Glasgow: Colins, 1947), 14.

9

Tempted

LUKE 4

Was Jesus

really tempted?

DISCOVER

why Jesus faced the power of temptation more than we ever will.

LEARN

how Adam’s sin affects us, and why we should be grateful!

WORSHIP

because Christ has broken the power of the enemy.

THE major multinational companies that dot the downtowns of Seattle, Sioux Falls, San Antonio, and dozens of other metropolises across America typically can be spotted by their impressive skyscrapers, each containing a huge block of offices. Throughout each towering building, thousands of computers are linked together on a network.

Imagine that an enemy decided to sabotage the entire operations of one of these companies. What would he do? He could simply devise a deadly computer virus which, once loaded into the server, would transfer itself to every machine on the network. The virus would gradually corrupt the programs on each computer in such a way that, although some parts would work reasonably well, nothing would work as it used to.

Now suppose the computer geeks are called in, but nobody can find an antidote for the virus. Valuable work is lost, records are unavailable, and permanent loss looms ahead. Left unchecked, the whole system will be destroyed from within.

One virus can corrupt every terminal because all the machines are networked together. The enemy does not need to personally visit every terminal in the building because the network spreads the virus for him, and his objective is achieved.

But now suppose one computer is not linked to the network. While all the other machines in the office are corrupted, the one stand-alone machine remains free from the destructive power of the virus.

If the enemy wants to destroy this machine, he will have to come to the place where it is located and attack from the outside what he could not corrupt from the inside. Since he cannot access this computer via the network, he may resort to a more primitive method of destruction—like attacking it with a baseball bat.

NO VIRUS FOUND

The computer that is not connected to the network can help us to understand how Jesus is fully human and yet free from the corrupting power of sin that affects every other member of the human race.

In the last chapter we saw that God the Son took human flesh and was born of the Virgin Mary. Jesus is God, He is man, and He is holy. He is like us in every respect except that He is without sin. Sin had no connecting point to Him. He had no propensity toward sin in His nature.

The Bible tells us that the human heart is desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9 KJV). But Christ’s heart was different. There was nothing deceitful or wicked in Him. The Bible also tells us that when we are tempted, we are enticed by our own evil desire (James 1:14). But Christ did not have evil desires. He is the Holy One of God. It is important to understand this clearly, because if Christ were not holy, then He would not be God and He would not be in a position to offer His life as a sacrifice for sin.

Christ took human flesh and became a man, but He did not take fallen human flesh. The humanity He took was like the humanity with which Adam and Eve were originally created.

This raises the question of whether the temptations of Jesus were real. We struggle with sin in our nature, and if Christ did not have a sinful nature, how can He know our struggle?

The answer to that question is found at the beginning of the Bible story. When Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, they walked with God and enjoyed His presence. They were holy, and they were tempted. In the garden, temptation did not come from within them but from outside them through a direct assault by the enemy. That is how it was in the temptations of Jesus.

It’s rather like the difference between subverting a computer network through a virus that spreads to every terminal, and a direct attack on a machine that is not connected to the network and is not infected with the virus.

After the first couple fell into sin, our enemy the devil did not waste his energy in his attempts to destroy God’s work. The “virus” of original sin is usually all that he needs to achieve his objectives.

Satan did not appear directly to Jacob, Moses, or David. He just relied on the network. The virus of sin was already in them. Jacob lied to fulfill his ambition. Moses lost his temper and murdered an Egyptian. David was captivated by another man’s wife and committed adultery.

But where the tactics of sabotage fail, the Enemy has to use another approach. He has to come out into the open and marshal his forces for a direct assault.

LAUNCHING A DIRECT ASSAULT

The Bible tells us about two occasions when he did this: with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and with Christ in the wilderness. Let’s look first at Satan’s attack in the garden.

Satan had observed the creative genius of God in giving the man and woman the capacity to be holy and to love God freely. It was enough to make the Enemy sick. Ever since he had been driven out of heaven, he had been energized by his hatred of God and driven by a consuming desire to destroy the work of God. He hated the sight of God’s glory, and now that glory was reflected in people made in His image. As if that was not enough, it was the purpose of God that they should have children. “Go forth and multiply,” God had said. But if their children reflected the glory of God, it would not be long before the whole earth would be filled with His glory.

So Satan came into the garden to our first parents and launched a cunningly disguised assault on their holiness. As we saw in volume 1, he used three primary strategies.

First, the Enemy came to Eve with a question. “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1). His aim was to introduce confusion in her mind about the Word of God.

Then the Enemy made a promise. “You will not surely die” (v. 4). Now he was trying to encourage presumption by assuring Eve that the judgment God had spoken about would not actually happen.

Finally, the Enemy appealed to Eve’s ambition. “You will be like God,” he said (v. 5). “Think what you can become,” Satan was saying. “Life would be so much more interesting if you could decide what is good for yourself rather than depending on God. Wouldn’t you like to be His equal?”

All these temptations came from outside. At that time, Adam and Eve were able to sin and able not to sin. They sinned. They disobeyed the single commandment of God and ceased to be holy.

THE SPREAD OF THE VIRUS

If this were just an ancient story, it wouldn’t be worth our interest, but what happened in the garden has a direct consequence in your life and mine today. As the apostle Paul wrote,

Through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners. (ROMANS 5:19)

Human beings are not like pebbles on a beach; we are like leaves on a tree. We are not disconnected units; we are one family, and we are descended from one stock.

If the root of the tree is diseased, then the disease will spread to every part of the tree. Adam’s sin affected all who came from him. The disease flows from the root, and the blight of sin appears on every leaf of the human tree.

As I write, my home country of Great Britain is still recovering from a massive outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. As soon as the disease is found in one member of a herd, the whole herd is destined for slaughter: From one infected cow, the whole herd can be lost.

That’s why the apostle Paul wrote, “In Adam all die” (1 Corinthians 15:22). This is the tragedy of the human race. When Adam sinned, he sinned as the head of the human race, and his sin has brought death to the whole herd. To change the analogy, through his sin, a virus has entered into the human network, and communicated itself to every terminal that is added to the network through the generations. And there is no fire wall.

The virus in the network has changed everything. Adam and Eve were no longer holy. Their children never knew what it is to be holy. They discovered that sin was not an isolated event, but now had become an inner propensity—a desire that had taken root in their nature. As the years of history rolled forward, they saw what God meant when He said to Adam that sin leads to death.

When sin entered the world, God made two announcements to the Enemy. First, there would be a continuing battle. God said, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers” (Genesis 3:15). In every generation, men and women would try to rise above the power of evil. They would fight it, and have some victories, but they would never be wholly free from its power.

And so it was. That’s why the sacrifices continued throughout the Old Testament. Year after year, the high priest came into the Most Holy Place knowing that he needed a sacrifice for his own sins and the sins of the people.

The tree was diseased. The herd was infected. The virus had corrupted every terminal. The race was under the condemnation of God. “In Adam all die.”

But the ongoing conflict would not be the end of the story. God made a second announcement—a promise actually. A Deliverer would appear one day to crush the head of the enemy. Some day another man would triumph where Adam had failed.

PANIC IN THE OPERATIONS ROOM

If the creation of Adam set alarm bells ringing in hell, what did the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ do? I love to think of the panic in hell when, after thousands of years of human history, what they could only have seen as God’s “threat” was fulfilled.

Remember that the devil is not omniscient. He does not know all things. Imagine the panic in hell’s operations room …

“Sir, reports are coming in of an as yet unidentified life that has been born into the world.”

“What do we know about Him? Is He human?”

“Confirmed positive. He is definitely human.”

“Well, then, let’s use the usual channels at work in his nature.”

“Confirmed negative! The usual channels are not at work in his nature. He is holy!”

“What? How come He has not inherited the nature that all the rest of them have?”

“He is born of a virgin. He is not part of the network. He is made like them in every respect, but does not appear to suffer from their disease.”

“Call research—we need to know what’s going on up there!”

A few minutes later the demon returns to relay the findings.

“Research reports that what’s going on up there fits disturbingly well with what they call ‘the enemy’s book of threats.’ This could be the initiative that we have feared, sir. What should we do?”

“Our best hope is to eliminate Him. Send someone to have a word with King Herod. If he fails, I will be forced to confront Him directly. We will employ the same strategies we used in the garden. They are well tested and extremely effective, and besides, they do not depend on the subject having a sinful nature. Maintain the operations room at the highest alert.”

Herod proved ineffective, and so the enemy had no alternative but to resort to the strategy he had used in the garden: a direct personal attack. For the first time since the Garden of Eden, there was a confrontation between the Enemy and a Man with a sinless human nature.

STALKING THE ENEMY

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. (LUKE 4:1–2)

Notice how God always takes the initiative. The Spirit of God led Christ into the desert. Christ was stalking the Enemy. He came to confront Satan and to destroy his work. The first step in His public ministry would be to confront the Enemy and to triumph where Adam failed. So He went looking for him.

Satan’s strategies in the desert were the same … confusion, presumption, and ambition.

Despite the devil’s direct approach on both the first man and the Son of Man, the circumstances in which Adam failed and those in which Christ triumphed contain marked contrasts. Adam and Eve were tempted in a garden; Christ was tempted in a desert. Adam and Eve’s hungers were fully satisfied in the garden; Christ had been fasting for forty days, and His hunger was raging. Adam had the company of his wife Eve; Christ was completely alone.

Yet Satan’s strategies in the desert were the same as those he had used in the garden: confusion, presumption, and ambition.

AN ATTEMPT AT CONFUSION

The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.’” (VV. 3–4)

Satan’s first strategy was an attempt to create confusion in the mind of Jesus about His own identity. “If you are the Son of God,” the tempter began.

“Are You really sure about that?” Satan was asking. “If God is Your Father, He doesn’t seem to be taking very good care of You. Take matters into Your own hands—turn these stones into bread.”

AN ATTEMPT AT PRESUMPTION

The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God … throw yourself down from here.” (v. 9)

Now the Enemy switched tack and used an alternative argument. Consistency is not his strongest point. Instead of questioning Christ’s identity, he now affirmed it and attempted to use Christ’s security as the divine Son as the basis of a second temptation.

The devil’s argument went like this: “Let’s accept that You are the Son of God. Given, then, that God is Your Father, You can be absolutely confident that He will take care of You in every circumstance. So You can do anything You want. You could attempt things that other people wouldn’t dream of. You could throw yourself off high buildings and God’s angels would float You to the ground. So go ahead … Do it!”

AN ATTEMPT AT AMBITION

The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor … if you worship me, it will all be yours.” (vv.5–7)

Obedience to the will of God would be incredibly costly for Jesus, and Satan used this in the third temptation. “Think of what obedience to the Father will cost You—the loss of Your own life! There must be an easier way.”

Satan knew from God’s words in the garden that Christ had come to crush his head, so Satan was doing what any general would do when faced with overwhelming opposition. He offered a truce. Satan was happy to offer his support to Christ in any project He chose except the full obedience to the Father.

Satan would have been happy for the Pharisees and Sadducees to give Jesus their full support. He would have done his part to deliver Judas as Jesus’ greatest fan. He would have settled for a world filled with the teaching Jesus, just so long as Christ would not proceed with the Father’s plan that would lead to a confrontation in which Satan would be crushed, and the people he had enslaved for so long would be set free by the ultimate sacrifice.

But Jesus was not negotiating. The strategy that worked so well in the garden failed completely in the desert. Where Adam collapsed in defeat, Christ rose in triumph. The battle lines were drawn.

FACING TEMPTATION’S FULL FORCE

When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time. (v. 13)

The Enemy launched everything he had in his assault against our Lord Jesus Christ, but he could not break Him. After he had exhausted every strategy he knew, he was left with no alternative but retreat.

Christ faced the full power of temptation. Although He had a sinless nature, the temptation He faced was greater than we will ever know.

Imagine three airmen flying jets over enemy territory during a war. They are shot down, captured, and then taken by the enemy for interrogation. One by one they are brought into a darkened room.

The first airman gives his name, rank, and serial number. They ask him for the positions of his forces. He knows that he must not give this information, but he also knows that the enemy is cruel, and eventually they will break him. So why go through all that? He tells them what he knows.

The second airman is brought in. He also gives his name, rank, and serial number, and they begin to pump him for information. He is determined not to give in. So the cruelty begins. Eventually it overwhelms him. He breaks and tells them what he knows.

Then the third airman comes in and gives his name, rank, and serial number. “You will not break me,” he says.

“Oh, yes we will. We have broken every man who has ever come into this room. It is only a matter of time; you’ll see.”

The cruelty begins, but he does not break. It is intensified, and still he does not break. So it is intensified again, until it becomes unbearable, but still he does not break.

Finally there comes a point where they have tried everything they know. “It’s no use,” they say. “He is not like any other person we’ve had in this room. We can’t break him.”

Which of the airmen faced the full force of the enemy?

The only one to know the full force of the enemy’s assault is the one who did not break. So don’t ever think that Christ’s temptations were less than yours. Only Christ knows the full power of temptation, because only Christ has withstood the full force of the Enemy’s assault.

Don’t ever think that Christ’s temptations were less than yours.

Adam capitulated early. Some of the heroes of the Old Testament put up a good fight, but at some point, all of them broke. When Christ faced the enemy, Satan threw everything he knew at the Savior. But at the end, Christ stood triumphant and the enemy had no alternative but to leave Him, hoping that in the future, there might be another more favorable opportunity.

Eventually the Enemy concluded, “We can’t break Him; it looks like we will have to kill Him.”

PLUGGING INTO THE NETWORK

We saw earlier that Adam’s failure had consequences for every person who has ever lived. His sin became like a virus running through the human network. But the New Testament makes it clear that just as we are all descended from Adam, and in that way networked to him, so it is possible, by faith, for men and women to be “networked to Christ” or, as the Bible puts it, “united with Him.”

Just as the consequences of Adam’s failure in the face of temptation flow to us through our union with him, so the consequences of Christ’s triumph over temptation will flow to us through our union with Him. Paul drew the parallel in Romans 5:19: “Just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.”

Paul called Christ “the second man” (1 Corinthians 15:47) and “the last Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45). The first man sinned in the garden, and the result was the condemnation of the whole human race. Years of human history recorded in the Old Testament demonstrated conclusively that none of Adam’s descendants was able to overcome the power of sin.

But God did not leave us there. The Son of God took our human flesh and became another Adam. This second man confronted our enemy, and just as the first Adam’s failure spelled death for all his family, so the last Adam’s triumph spells life for all his family.

THE POWER OF THE NETWORK PRINCIPLE

As in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. (1 CORINTHIANS 15:22)

The whole of human history revolves around two men, Adam and Christ. The whole human race is networked to Adam, and so we all suffer from the disease called sin, which leads to death. If God had left us there, we would be without hope. In Adam all die.

But God decided to build another network—a network of those who are united with Jesus Christ. They are joined to Him not by physical birth, but by a new birth through the Holy Spirit.

Just as the consequences of Adam’s sin run through his network, bringing corruption and death to all his descendants, the consequences of Jesus’ righteousness run through His network, changing the eternal destiny of all who are joined to Him.

If you don’t like computers, change the analogy. God has decided to plant another tree, and by faith you can be grafted onto it so that the life of Jesus will flow into you, as the life of a vine flows into its branches. Or recall the herd and its diseased cow: God has decided to gather another herd that will be free from the disease that condemned the herd descended from Adam.

God’s “network principle” is terrible when we consider Adam’s sin, but it is wonderful when we consider Jesus’ righteousness. God’s network principle means that one man’s triumph can open the door of everlasting life for many, on the single condition that they are joined to Him.

You and I are both in Adam by nature. Are you “in Christ” by faith?

When we come to Jesus in repentance and faith, the Holy Spirit joins us to Him. Of course we are still in Adam—we have a sinful nature, we live in this fallen world, and one day we will die. But when you come to Jesus, the most important thing is that you are “in Christ,” and that means that you will share in His triumph.

Of course, there is a great deal of repair work that needs to be done in us. But when you are in Christ, God begins His work of restoring you.

One day that work will be complete. Then all that was corrupted will fall away. Even your body will be transformed and equipped for everlasting life.

Don’t go through life telling yourself what a miserable failure you are. If you are in Christ, hold your head high. You are a child of God, a member of His family. The Holy Spirit is in you. His righteousness makes you righteous before God, and when you see Christ, you will be like Him.

Oh loving wisdom of our God when all was sin and shame

a second Adam to the fight and to the rescue came.

Oh wisest love that flesh and blood, which did in Adam fail,

should fight again against the foe, should fight and should prevail.

—JOHN HENRY NEWMAN “PRAISE TO THE HOLIEST IN THE HEIGHT”

UNLOCKED

The Bible makes it clear that Christ was “tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). The difference between the temptations Jesus faced and ours is that we are tempted by our own evil desire (James 1:14). Sin already resides within us. This was not true of Jesus. In His case, temptation came directly from the devil whom He confronted in the wilderness.

This does not mean that Christ’s temptations were less than ours; in fact, they were greater. Christ stood against the full force of everything the enemy was able to throw at Him—and triumphed.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Almighty Father,

Thank You for the triumph of the Lord Jesus Christ over all the power of the enemy. Thank You that the reign of sin and death has been broken, and that all who belong to Christ are set free.

Help me to see where sin has gained a hold in my life and to gain victory over it by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thank You that one day I will be free not only from sin’s guilt and power but even from its presence. Until then sustain me in the battle, for Christ’s sake. Amen.

10

Transfigured

LUKE 9

How can

I come to

terms with the

cost of the

Christian life?

DISCOVER

how Christ resolved a major disagreement with the disciples.

LEARN

about the magnificent future that lies ahead of every Christian believer.

WORSHIP

as you catch a glimpse of the glory of Jesus.

THE disciples had been with Jesus for nearly three years. They had seen His miracles, heard His teaching, and now Jesus discerned the moment had come to tell them what lay ahead.

He began by asking them a question about their culture. “Who do the crowds say I am?” (Luke 9:18). Jesus did not ask this because He needed the information. He was not doing market research on current opinion. The point of the question was to see if the disciples had understood their own culture.

They rose to the occasion and explained the three popular views about Jesus. “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life” (v. 19). John the Baptist was a great moral teacher, Elijah was a worker of miracles, and the prophets stood in the presence of God to bring His Word to His people.

Many people in our culture today put Jesus in one of these three categories. The world’s view of Jesus never changes, and disciples of Jesus today still confess their faith against the background of a culture that sees Jesus as a great moral teacher, a man endued with supernatural power, or a prophet through whom God speaks.

Then Jesus asked a second question: “Who do you say I am?” Having established the prevailing view of the culture, Jesus wanted to know if the disciples thought that He fitted into any of these three categories.

Peter stepped forward and said the one thing that his culture was not prepared to hear. “You are,” he said, “the Christ of God” (v. 20). Peter was convinced that Jesus was the One the whole of the Old Testament had been pointing to. As he had watched Jesus and listened to Him, he had become persuaded that Jesus could not be slotted into the neat categories of a moral teacher, a wonder-worker, or a prophet. The prophets all pointed to someone who was to come. But Jesus did not point to anybody else. He was the One whom the prophets had been pointing to.

This was a great breakthrough in the disciple’s understanding. Jesus said, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven” (Matthew 16:17), and then He went on to tell them more of what lay ahead.

ARGUING WITH JESUS

“The Son of Man,” He said, “must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life” (Luke 9:22).

Peter was outraged at this suggestion. Having grasped who Jesus was, Peter found the idea of His suffering and dying to be unthinkable. He took Jesus aside and began to rebuke Him. “‘Never, Lord!’ he said. ‘This shall never happen to you’!” (Matthew 16:22). This was a sharp exchange. The other disciples must have stood frozen to the spot wondering what would happen next.

“Jesus turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men’” (Matthew 16:23). There must have been a deathly silence.

Peter’s great confession of faith was immediately followed by an argument in which Peter acted not as Jesus’ disciple but as His adversary (that’s the meaning of the name Satan). Peter became a stumbling block to Jesus, and Christ had to put that stumbling block behind Him.

There is no indication that this tense exchange was resolved. Jesus went on to tell the disciples plainly that if they were serious about following Him, they would also have their share of suffering. “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). But Peter remained utterly opposed to the idea of Jesus’ suffering and dying.

EIGHT DAYS OF SILENCE

When a sharp disagreement is unresolved, a tension remains in the air, and it seems this is how it was between Jesus and the disciples for a whole week after Peter rebuked Jesus.

Luke skips over eight days in the life of Jesus and the other gospel writers do the same.[1] Matthew and Mark refer to six days. Luke is counting the first and the last days while the others only count the days in between. But the fact that three of the gospel writers record this period of silence indicates that it was significant.

Throughout these days, we may assume that there was a continuing distance between Jesus and the disciples. These were probably among the saddest days in the life of Jesus. There was silence for a whole week. Not one word is recorded. There was tension and estrangement as Jesus moved forward in a direction the disciples did not want to go. He was determined to go to the cross; they were equally determined that it should not be so.

Bible expositor G. Campbell Morgan wrote about the “desolate days in which He realized, and they proved, their present incapacity for fellowship with Him in suffering. He was moving in sublime loneliness to His Cross.”[2]

During the week of silence, the disciples must have wondered what the future held. Like those disciples, we experience times in the Christian life where we follow Christ without a glad heart, because we don’t like the direction He is taking us. So it is important for us to see how Jesus dealt with the problem.

A GLIMPSE OF THE FUTURE

After eight days, Jesus broke the silence. He took Peter, James, and John on a prayer retreat. They climbed a mountain together, and when they arrived at the top, Jesus gave these frightened and discouraged men a glimpse of the future.

As [Jesus] was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. (9:29)

As Jesus prayed, His appearance changed so that the disciples saw Him as He would appear in the future. His face shone, and His clothing dazzled (see Matthew 17:2; Mark 9:2). We call this event the Transfiguration. Jesus was showing His disciples the glory that He would enter after His death and resurrection.

An awesome brilliance radiated from Him, and it is clear that Peter, James, and John were at the limits of vocabulary to describe how He looked. Mark recorded Peter’s recollection, saying that Jesus’ clothes appeared “whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them” (Mark 9:3).

The radiance and glory that the disciples saw when Jesus was transfigured is remarkably similar to the description John gave when He saw the glory of the risen Christ in a vision. He saw that Christ’s face was like “the sun shining in all its brilliance” (Revelation 1:16). John saw the same glory that Jesus had revealed to him on the top of the mountain when He was transfigured.

The three disciples needed to see this. In the next few days, they would see the face of Jesus battered, bruised, scourged, and beaten. He would be so disfigured as to become unrecognizable. A crown of thorns would be forced onto His head, and after six hours hanging on a cross, the light in His face would go out, and His eyes would be darkened in death. The disciples needed to know that this would not be the end, so Jesus gave them a glimpse of the future.

The Transfiguration is full of significance. Peter understood what Jesus was saying about the cross (that is why he objected to it so violently), but he did not understand what Jesus said about the Resurrection. He thought that the death of Jesus would be a meaningless exercise in pointless suffering.

Every person who has ever lived will see His glory.

The Transfiguration revealed the glory that lay beyond the cross. There would be pain and suffering in Jerusalem, but Jesus wanted the disciples to see where the story would end. They would see Jesus rejected. He would die in ignominy. But that would not be the end of the story. They needed to see the glory that lay beyond the cross.

This glimpse of the future is of great importance when Christ leads us on a painful path. You need to know where the story will end. Christ’s kingdom will not dwindle into failure. You are part of a kingdom that will never end. The path on which Christ leads you may be painful, but it does lead ultimately to glory.

We do not serve a weak or ailing Christ who is unable to stop the tide of secularism and pluralism in our world. We serve the risen Lord of Glory who sovereignly moves history forward toward its climax when His own glory will be revealed.

So when you see Jesus rejected, don’t ever imagine that is the end. When you hear the world say, “We will not have this man to rule over us,” don’t ever imagine that you have heard the final word. When you find that His work seems to be set back and you don’t understand it, remember the glory that lies beyond the cross.

History is moving toward the day when Jesus Christ will appear in glory. And through all the suffering and darkness of this world, God is moving toward the moment when His Son will be revealed and every person who has ever lived will see His glory.

YOU CAN BE TRANSFIGURED TOO!

Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. (vv. 30–31)

Here is something really amazing. Two men appeared in glorious splendor, and they shared in the glory that was radiating from Jesus. This is full of wonderful significance for us. When Jesus gave the disciples a glimpse of the future, they saw that Jesus would be exalted in glory, and that other human beings would share in that glory as well!

This must have been absolutely staggering to the disciples. They had seen something of the glory of Jesus in the miracles, but who would have imagined that ordinary human beings could be transfigured into glory?

Moses and Elijah were both great men, but they both had their failures. Moses had a murder on his record and was unable to enter the Promised Land because of another failure at a later point in his life. Elijah had seen one of the greatest miracles in the Old Testament (calling down fire onto Mount Carmel), but at one point he regarded his ministry as a failure and lost faith in the ultimate victory of God.

Yet here were these two men, centuries after they had died, sharing in the glory of Jesus. This is telling us something important about our future.

YOUR IDENTITY WiLL NOT END AT DEATH

God created you for eternity. You will never cease to exist and you will never become somebody else. The Bible emphasizes the continuity between this life and the next. Moses is still Moses, Elijah is still Elijah, and you will still be you.

The disciples immediately recognized Moses and Elijah. We are not told how they knew who these men were. They certainly hadn’t seen photographs of them! But God caused them to know the identity of people from earlier centuries who they had never met.

Sometimes people ask if we will know one another in heaven. Of course! We will know others, because identity continues in heaven and because God’s great purpose is to gather a great community of His people to share the joy of His presence. One of the greatest joys of heaven will be to see God’s reflected glory in one another.

TALKING ABOUT THE CROSS

They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. (v. 31)

It is fascinating that when Moses and Elijah talked with Jesus, the one subject of their conversation was His departure. They knew that it was through His suffering that they would be given a permanent share in the glory of Jesus. Indeed it is through His death and resurrection that all who believe are given the incredible privilege of sharing His glory.

Peter had no understanding of this. He had opposed Jesus’ plan to go to Jerusalem and lay down His life, but Moses and Elijah understood that this was how God’s promises would be fulfilled. They knew that their share in Christ’s glory depended on His going to Jerusalem and giving His life on the cross. So they spoke with Jesus about it.

This conversation must have been a great comfort and encouragement to Jesus, especially after the eight days of strained silence in which the disciples had continued to resist Jesus’ plan. Now Moses and Elijah ministered to Jesus as they affirmed what He was doing. When they spoke about His departure, they must have rejoiced with Him in the glory that lay beyond it and would come through it.

The Transfiguration gave the disciples a glimpse not only of the future for Jesus but also for them and for all His people. The disciples may have to take up their cross, but as followers of Jesus, they will also share in His glory.

This is the future for every Christian. Paul speaks about how God has called His people through the gospel so that they might “share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 2:14). Perhaps John was thinking about how Moses and Elijah shared in the glory of Jesus when, years later, he wrote, “We know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).

THE OVERWHELMING CLOUD

While [Peter] was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. (v. 34)

The cloud is very significant, because it represents the presence of almighty God. In the Old Testament, the pillar of cloud signified God’s presence with His people.

The disciples would have been familiar with this. Now, at the climax of this story, God Himself enters on the scene.

Can you imagine being on the top of a mountain as this thunderous and terrifying cloud moves toward you, and then envelops you? It is hardly surprising that the disciples were terrified, as they “entered the cloud.”

When God came down to meet with Moses at Mount Sinai, He spoke in an audible voice. Now the audible voice of God was heard again.

The heart of the Bible story [is] the Father has made Himself known through the Son.

A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” (v. 35)

This invisible God whose presence was hidden in the cloud cannot be known directly. But He does want us to know Him, and He tells us that we may know Him by listening to His Son, whom He has chosen.

This takes us to the heart of the Bible story. The Father has made Himself known through the Son. “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known” (John 1:18).

If we try to understand God directly, He will always be mysterious to us. I have met people who say that they cannot understand God, and of course they are right! You can’t understand God, but you can come to know Him if you will listen to what He says to you through His Son, Jesus Christ. This is how He makes Himself known.

That was precisely the problem for the disciples. They had heard the words of Jesus about the Cross and had refused to listen. Peter thought that he had a better handle on the ways of God, and during the eight days of silence he had resisted what God was showing him through the words of Jesus. Now he found himself enveloped in the cloud in the presence of the Almighty who said to him, “This is My Son; listen to Him.”

Peter had resisted the word of Jesus about the Cross, and had tried to stand in His way. But now Peter’s resistance was overwhelmed as first Moses and Elijah affirmed Jesus’ plan to go to Jerusalem, and then God Himself spoke in an audible voice and told Peter to stop promoting his own ideas and start listening to what the Son of God was saying.

There may be times in your life when you find it very difficult to understand what God allows, and you find yourself resisting His purpose. In all your questions, doubts, and fears, God would point you to Jesus Christ and say, “This is My Son; listen to him.”

CRINGING AND STANDING IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD

When the cloud rested on the mountain and enveloped the disciples, they reacted as any human beings would when confronted with the presence of God. They were terrified. Matthew reported that they could not even stand up; they fell with their faces to the ground, clinging to the grass in terror as the presence of God passed over them (Matthew 17:6).

I have heard people with grievances against God saying that they will have a few things to say to God when they see Him. It won’t be like that. Peter fell facedown, and you would have done the same.

As the disciples lay terrified on the ground, something wonderful happened. “Jesus came and touched them. ‘Get up,’ he said, ‘Don’t be afraid’” (Matthew 17:7). This is very similar to the other occasion when John saw the glory of the risen Christ in heaven. He fell at the Lord’s feet as if he were dead, and again, Christ placed His hand on him and said, “Do not be afraid” (Revelation 1:17).

The disciples must have been profoundly grateful that Jesus was with them when they entered the cloud of God’s presence. One day, you will enter the presence of God. If Jesus is with you, you will be able to stand in the presence of God with nothing to fear.

This takes us to the heart of the message of the Bible. This awesome, hidden, and sometimes frightening God points you to His Son so that through Him you may be able to stand in God’s presence.

The future is in the hands of God, and three things are absolutely certain: Christ will be glorified. He will share His glory with His people; and through Him, we can stand in the presence of God.

COMING DOWN THE MOUNTAIN

When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. (v. 36)

Then the cloud vanished, Moses and Elijah disappeared from view, and they saw Jesus just as He had been before. Peter, James, and John had to return to the rest of the disciples and live by faith, not by sight.

As they went down the mountain, they must have had a different attitude toward the difficulties that lay ahead. To be a disciple of Jesus seemed the greatest privilege that anyone could know in life, whatever the cost. The way ahead may be hard, but they had seen a glimpse of the glory that lay beyond the Cross.

UNLOCKED

The Transfiguration reminds us of where the Bible story ends. It is a glimpse of the future. After His death, Jesus would be exalted in glory. Those who follow Him will share in that glory with Him. There is no greater encouragement when we feel the cost of following Christ than to look ahead, and see where this painful path will end.

The path of discipleship may be costly, but it does lead to glory.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for giving me a glimpse of the glory of Jesus, and for the knowledge that, in Your great mercy, I will one day share in it.

I do not find it easy to take up my cross and follow Your way. I confess that like Peter, I sometimes resist You when Your way seems to be costly. Help me to find strength and courage as I look to the glory that lies ahead. Help me to live in the light of that and find joy in following You whatever the cost.

Thank You for making it possible for me to stand in Your presence without fear and with great joy, through Jesus Christ. Amen.

Notes

1. See Luke 9:28; Matthew 17:1; Mark 9:2.

2. G. Campbell Morgan, The Crises of the Christ (Old Tappan, N.J.: Revell, 1936), 217.

11

Crucified

LUKE 23

What did the

death of Jesus

accomplish?

DISCOVER

how the death of Jesus is the centerpiece of the whole Bible story.

LEARN

the significance of Jesus’ words from the cross.

WORSHIP

because in His death, Christ has splintered the gates of hell.

SOME years ago, I spent time with a missionary who was working among a primitive tribe in northern Thailand. He had gone there to teach the good news of Jesus Christ. Having gained acceptance, he built his own house in the tribal village and began to learn their language.

Try to picture yourself in his position. You are trying to communicate the gospel to people who worship the spirits of their ancestors. One night, you are sitting beside a campfire with the tribal chief, and he says to you, “Tell us, why have you come here?”

This is the opportunity you have been waiting for. You want to explain the message as clearly as possible, and so you take a deep breath and say, “Well, let me put it like this: ‘God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’”

You have quoted John 3:16, some of the greatest words ever written, and you have accurately stated the heart of the gospel. But there are some problems with your communication.

The tribal chief does not know who God is. He worships his ancestors. So when you say, “God,” he thinks of his grandmother. She also loved the world; in fact the tribal chief cannot think of anybody who loved life more! And when you say, “God gave his Son,” the tribal chief thinks about his grandmother having a son who was his father, and he understands that this is the way in which life has continued in the tribe for years; one generation gives birth to the next. And when you talk about “eternal life,” the tribal chief is already quite sure that his grandmother is alive and well in the world of spirits, indeed that he offers her worship and hopes that she will afford him some protection.

So the tribal chief smiles and thanks you for coming. “But,” he says, “we already know all this!”

I asked my missionary friend how he went about explaining the message of Christ in a way that these people would understand. “It’s very simple,” he said. “We tell them the Bible story.”

He began by explaining who God is, how He made the world, and how He therefore owns the world and everything in it, including us. He explained how the first man and woman broke God’s commandment, and as a result were driven from His presence. Then he took the villagers through the Old Testament story, explaining the life God calls us to lead, the sacrifices that were needed because we fail to keep His Law, and God’s great promise to send help.

All of this built anticipation that when God finally did whatever He was going to do, it would involve the shedding of blood in a sacrificial death. From there, he told the story of how God Himself came into the world, taking our flesh and went to the cross to die for our sins.

“You have to explain the framework before they can understand the message,” he said.

Postmodern America is very different from the jungles of Thailand, but we encounter some of the same problems in communicating the gospel. There was a time in this country when you could reasonably assume that an educated person would have a working knowledge of the main stories of the Bible. But that is no longer the case. The challenge of communicating the gospel has changed.

SPIRITUAL LIFE IN TWO GENERATIONS

If we want unchurched people to understand the significance of the death of Jesus, we have to explain the Bible story. Let’s take an example. Keith’s parents brought him to Sunday school from his early childhood years. He discovered what happened in the Garden of Eden, learned about Moses, and especially liked the story of Elijah on top of Mount Carmel.

By the time he was eighteen, Keith knew about the God of the Bible; he also knew the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. Of course, this did not make him a Christian. In fact, when he was eighteen, he left the church and told his parents that he no longer believed in God.

In his more honest private moments, Keith would admit to himself that the reasons for his unbelief were complex. He knew the laws of God, but he had chosen a different path, and he found that the best way of living with that tension was to sweep God away from the horizons of his life.

But Keith could not erase the knowledge of God from his mind. When he said that he did not believe in God, it was the God of the Bible that he did not believe in. Even his unbelief was defined by the knowledge of God that was imprinted in his mind.

Twenty-five years later, Keith formed a friendship with Dave, a Christian colleague at work. Dave invited him to a meeting where he heard the story of the Cross. The message of the love of Christ reaching out to those who despised Him awoke something inside Keith. Memories of God were rekindled, and he began to feel strangely drawn to return to the God he had known, but then denied.

Keith has a daughter, Lisa, who is at college. She has hardly been in church, except for a few family occasions when her grandparents were in town. Lisa hardly knows anything about the Bible, but she will tell you that spirituality is important to her. She is drawn to meditation, and says that it helps her get in touch with herself.

If you ask Lisa how she knows right from wrong, she will say that her conscience tells her. “If it feels wrong, you shouldn’t do it,” she says, “but if it feels right, then who’s to tell you otherwise?”

With regard to the future, Lisa believes that we all go on forever, though nobody can know what this will be like. One day, Lisa is invited by a friend to a Christian meeting at her college campus. She hears the message of John 3:16, just as her father had: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Where the Bible story is not known, the Cross will not be understood.

But she does not know who God is, and she cannot imagine why anybody should perish. So she finds it very difficult to make sense of the message. She assumes it is all a metaphor, a way of saying that God loves us all and wants us to have a wonderful life. She says that she really enjoyed the evening. She has heard the gospel, but like the tribal chief, she has not begun to understand it.

Where the Bible story is not known, the Cross will not be understood.

The Cross is God’s answer to the problem presented in the Bible story, and if we have not seen the scale of the problem, we will not be able to grasp the magnificence of the solution. That is why it is so important to unlock the Bible story.

THE STORY OF THE CROSS

The Gospels record the story of the Cross with great restraint.

When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. (LUKE 23:33)

Calvary is Eden in reverse. In the garden, God pronounced man guilty. At the Cross, man pronounced God guilty. In the garden, God pronounced the sentence of death on man. At the Cross, man pronounced the sentence of death on God. God had driven man out of His garden; now man would drive God out of His city.

The Cross reveals the full extent of human sin. Sin began in the garden but it did not end there. In our human nature, there is a deep resistance toward God. It is in our nature to hate Him. In the story of the Cross, this hatred reaches its full expression.

Jesus hung on the cross for around six hours. It was the third hour (9 A.M.) when they crucified Him (Mark 15:25), and darkness covered the land from the sixth hour to the ninth hour (Luke 23:44). These were six hours of unrelieved and excruciating suffering. All of the gospel writers focus our attention on what happened during those six hours. Luke records three events that take us to the heart of the story.

FORGIVENESS RELEASED

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (V. 34)

When God pronounced sentence on the first sin, Adam must have thought that the judgment of God was going to fall on him directly. But, as we saw in chapter 2 of the first volume of Unlocking the Bible Story, God diverted the curse onto the ground.

The principle is clear. Sin always leads to God’s judgment. But in His great mercy, God allows the judgment to be diverted away from the sinner and to strike somewhere else so that room is created for reconciliation.

We saw the same principle in the story of Moses. When God was giving the Ten Commandments at the top of Mount Sinai, His people were busy breaking them around a golden calf on the plain below. The sin of the people caused God to remove His presence from them, so Moses went up the mountain to see what he could do about obtaining forgiveness.

He asked God if it would be possible for the consequences of their sin to fall on him. “Please forgive their sin—but if not, blot me out of the book you have written” (Exodus 32:32).

It was a remarkable offer, but not one that God could accept. Moses had his own sins, so he could not bear the sins of others. Instead, God allowed that a lamb could be sacrificed and, for the time being, His judgment would be restrained. The death sentence was diverted onto the animal, and in this way, God’s mercy was extended to the people. Justice for the people’s sin would be postponed for another day, and in the meantime, God’s presence would return to them.

The same principle is seen in the story of Elijah. The priests of Baal had led many people away from obedience to God, and the time had come for God to reveal His awesome power. A large crowd was gathered around an altar at the top of Mount Carmel. Elijah prayed, and God’s fire fell from heaven. When fire falls, people get burned, and if you had been in the crowd, you would have been quite certain that your final moment had come.

But God targeted His fire, and it struck the sacrifice on the altar. Not one of the people were burned, even though some were standing only a few feet away (see 1 Kings 18:20–39).

God was teaching the principle that runs right through the Bible. Where there is sin, God’s judgment must fall, but God is merciful and diverts His judgment to another place—the ground, the sacrifice, and the altar—so that those who would otherwise be consumed by it may be spared. God was building all this into the minds of His people so that we would be able to understand what was happening at the cross.

Man’s sin reached its full horror and its most awful expression at Calvary.

Man’s sin reached its full horror and its most awful expression at Calvary. Not only had we disobeyed God’s commandments and defied God’s name, now we were crucifying God’s Son.

If there was ever a moment in human history when God’s judgment had to fall, this was it. But Jesus cried out, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

Christ was isolating Himself under the judgment of God. He knew that judgment would come, but He cried out to the Father, “Don’t let it fall on them. Let it fall on Me, and on Me alone. Let Me be the lightning rod for Your judgment on their sin. Allow Me to be the sacrifice that is consumed, but don’t let Your judgment fall on them.”

I sometimes wonder what must have gone through the minds of angels as they watched what was happening on that cross. No doubt they gasped in wonder when they saw the Son of God take human flesh as He was born into the world.

Now they saw that flesh torn by a whip. They saw thorns embedded in His brow, and nails piercing His hands and feet. Surely the eyes of angels must have been fixed on the throne of God, waiting for justice to be done. Now surely the judgment of God would be poured out on this human race. But then Jesus cried out, “Not on them, just on Me. Let Me be isolated under the judgment of God.”

God’s judgment for human sin is poured out on Jesus.

Just as God had spared Adam when the curse fell on the ground, and just as God spared the crowd on Mount Carmel when the fire struck the sacrifice, so God spared those who stood around the cross as His judgment for their sin fell on Jesus.

This is the heart of the gospel. Jesus stands under the judgment of God for sins that have been committed against Him. The victim asks that He may bear the sentence for the crime. Christ asks the Father to divert the punishment away from His enemies, and He absorbs it in Himself. That is how forgiveness is released.

God’s judgment for human sin is poured out on Jesus. He bears it on the cross, while those who crucified the Son of God stand in the darkness unaffected by it.

When Christ prayed, “Father, forgive them,” His prayer included the priests who condemned Him, the crowds who mocked Him, the soldiers who crucified Him, and the disciples who deserted Him. But it extended further. It included the Old Testament believers who had waited for Him and all those in every generation who would come to Him.

When Jesus isolated Himself under the judgment of God, His prayer was sufficient for every sin of every person who would come to Him. And if His prayer could cover the sins of those who nailed Him to the cross, then it will cover every sin you have committed or could commit. The Son of God took the punishment for your sins so that it would be diverted away from you and onto Him.

PARADISE OPENED

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”

But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” (23:39–43)

Sin led to our first parents being driven out of Paradise. Adam and Eve had enjoyed a wonderful relationship together and with God. In the cool of the day, the Lord God walked with them in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:8). There was no suspicion, only trust; no fear, only love; no pain, only joy.

But when they chose the knowledge of evil, they could not stay in Paradise. They were driven out of the garden, and there was no way back. The entrance was guarded by cherubim and a flaming sword.

The Old Testament story emphasizes this exclusion. When the tabernacle and then the temple were set up with a holy place at the center, a heavy curtain was draped in front of the holy place. God said that He would appear in a cloud there, but ordinary people could never enter.

The Old Testament story raises one fundamental question: How can men and women get back into the Paradise that Adam lost?

The Old Testament contains no explicit answer to that question, only the promise that God would find a way to restore paradise. Men and women of faith believed that God would do something, but since they lived before He did it, all they could do was rest in His promise. They died in faith, waiting for God’s promise to be fulfilled. As far as we can tell from the Old Testament, they went to a kind of waiting room, until Christ should come.

Then Jesus Christ came into the world with good news. “The kingdom of heaven is at hand,” He said. “God is about to open access to His kingdom, and citizenship will shortly be made available to all who will come.”

Now, three years later, He goes to the cross and finds Himself in the company of two men who had made a tragic waste of their lives. They had pursued lives of crime, and the long arm of the law has finally caught up with them. They are paying the price, and their sad lives are ebbing away.

The criminals have no fear of God, and even in death, they join the crowd in heaping abuse on Jesus. But then something happens in the soul of one of them. He knows that death is drawing near, and it seems to dawn on him that in just a few moments, he may find himself in the presence of God.

This man … was about to enter the greatest joy a human being can ever know.

“Don’t you fear God?” he says to his friend. Then he turns to Christ and says, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus turns painfully toward him and says, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise” (vv. 40, 42–43).

This man’s life had been a series of disastrous choices, but Jesus promises him an immediate translation, through death into a life of undiluted joy in the immediate presence of God.

The awful suffering that the thief was enduring would soon be past, and then he would enter eternity. But he would not face the condemnation of God, because Jesus was taking that for him. Before the day was over, Jesus would usher this man into the presence of God. Suddenly this man, for whom the world now held nothing, found that because of Jesus he was about to enter the greatest joy a human being can ever know.

When Jesus died, God gave one more sign that the way back into His presence and His blessing was now open. “The curtain of the temple was torn in two” (v. 45). Matthew adds that it was torn from top to bottom, almost as if God had reached down and personally torn it apart.

When Jesus died, heaven was opened for all who would come.

The curtain was, of course, the great symbol of exclusion from God’s presence. Cherubim were embroidered into the curtain, as a reminder of the cherubim who blocked the way back into Paradise after Adam and Eve were driven out. Now it lay limp and torn on the floor. When Jesus died, heaven was opened for all who would come.

It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. (v. 44)

Jesus had suffered the judgment of men. Now He would endure the judgment of God. As Jesus entered into the heart of His sufferings, God kept the sun from shining.

Christ entered all the dimensions of hell while He was on the cross. In the hours of darkness, He bore our guilt, endured God’s wrath, and suffered the taunting of evil. He endured all this alone, without the comfort of His Father’s presence. That is why He finally cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46).

But then, the darkness passed. The storm was over. The judgment poured out on Christ was exhausted, fully spent. And at the end of the three hours of darkness, Jesus cried out, “It is finished.”

DEATH SUBDUED

Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” (23:46)

After three hours, the darkness cleared. The Son was no longer forsaken by the Father. He no longer bore the guilt of our sins. Sin had been dealt with. Justice had been satisfied, and Christ had bound the enemies in the valley of death for all His people.

Now all that remained was for Him to lay down His life. It was not a torturous process of wrenching the soul from His body. He placed His Spirit in the Father’s hands.

Finally, the battle is over. The victory is won.

The last words of Jesus were not uttered with an exhausted sigh but “with a loud voice.” There is a note of triumph here. He has released forgiveness to all who will receive, opened paradise for all who will come, drawn the sting of death, and bound the enemies who lurk in the valley. He has completed everything that the Father has given Him to do. It is finished.

On the third day, He rises from the dead. A few weeks later, on the Day of Pentecost, Peter begins to preach the Christian message: “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36).

He is the one who brings God’s salvation to you. He has cleared the enemies from the valley of death. He has opened paradise. He has borne the sentence of death for our sins and offers forgiveness to all who will come to Him in repentance and faith.

Don’t push Him away. Come to Him and receive what He has purchased for you. Receive the gift of God by faith and make it your own. Understand the power and the promise of these words:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (JOHN 3:16)

UNLOCKED

Everything that God had promised to do since the beginning of time was accomplished through the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. The whole of the Bible story has been preparing us to understand the meaning and significance of His death.

When Jesus died on the cross, He offered Himself as the sacrifice for our sins. Our sentence was passed onto Him. He bore our judgment in our place. In this way He opened the way back into paradise. Bearing our sin, He has opened the way for us to be righteous before God. Having been forsaken by the Father, He has opened the way for us to be reconciled to God. Having entered our hell, He has opened the way into heaven for all who will come to Him.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Gracious Father,

Thank You that Jesus suffered and died on the cross for me. Thank You that He bore the sentence of death for my sins, and that through His death Your mercy reaches me. Thank You that He has opened paradise, so that through His death, I may enter everlasting life in Your presence. Thank You that He was alone in the darkness so that I should never face darkness alone.

I am the sinner for whom Jesus died. Gladly I trust Him as my Savior, and receive by faith the amazing gifts that He has purchased for me. Receive my worship in Jesus’ name. Amen.

12

Risen

LUKE 24

What can the

resurrection

of Jesus mean

for me?

DISCOVER

how the first visitors to the tomb knew that Jesus had risen.

LEARN

why the Christian message is not “Jesus is alive” but “Jesus is risen.”

WORSHIP

because Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.

It must have been that old Monday morning feeling, as the three women made their way to the tomb. Their holiday, of course, was Saturday, the Sabbath, and it had been a miserable one. Now they had to face the first day of the week. Back to the routine, back to grinding out a living. Even after the greatest tragedies, life has to go on.

They had started early because they wanted time to cherish the memory of Jesus, who had died two days earlier, before they moved on to other things. These women were part of a group who traveled with Jesus and the twelve disciples (see Luke 8:1). They were from rural Galilee in the north of Israel, and they clearly had a deep commitment to Christ.

There was “Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out” (Luke 8:2). She must have had a remarkable story. For years, her life had been controlled by demonic powers. If you had met her at that time, you would have seen a woman who was driven by compulsive patterns of behavior that were beyond her own control. But Christ had set her free. He took authority over the evil powers that were destroying her life, and from that time forward, she was a devoted follower of Jesus.

Then there was “Joanna the wife of Cuza, the manager of Herod’s household” (v. 3). Interesting: the manager of the king’s household held a high-level position. Cuza was at the center of life in the royal palace, and Joanna was at his side.

The Gospels give us an insight into what was going on in the palace. John the Baptist had the courage to tell Herod that his relationship with his brother’s wife was wrong. Herod responded by putting John in prison, and eventually had him beheaded. All that had happened after a party at which a young girl danced for the king, and who do you think would organize a party for the king? The manager of Herod’s household.

Pilate tried to avoid taking responsibility for Christ by sending Him to Herod’s palace. Yet here we find Joanna, the wife of Herod’s household manager, in the inner group of Jesus’ followers. Evidently she had come to know Jesus in Galilee and she had joined the group and followed Him to Jerusalem.

It was these same women, Mary Magdalene and Joanna, who came to the tomb along with Mary the mother of James on the first day of the week (24:10).

LOVE WITHOUT FAITH

“Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’” Then they remembered his words. (vv. 6–8)

The women had heard Christ speaking about what would happen on the third day. On at least three occasions, He had specifically told them that He would rise from the dead.

They had heard His words, but it is quite clear that on this first day of the week, they did not expect anything unusual to happen. Their journey to the tomb was motivated by love, but it was absolutely devoid of faith. Whatever faith they had in Christ before had been overwhelmed by the darkness of Calvary. Faith was extinguished, and all that was left was love. So they went to the tomb with spices to anoint His dead body.

It is possible to have great love for Christ and absolutely no faith. These women believed in Christ’s cause. They gave their money to support it. They had a deep love for Christ. But they were traumatized by the horrible reality of His excruciating death that they witnessed just two days before, and now they felt that death was stronger than His promise. Faith was gone; all that was left was love.

Today, many people have a deep affection for Christ but find it hard to believe. Having learned about the Christian faith, they were drawn to Christ and began to follow Him. But then they experienced great darkness in a personal tragedy, or in some great evil that was done, and somewhere in the darkness they stopped believing.

This has been a struggle for many who have served their country on the field of battle. The trauma of seeing the unspeakable cruelty and suffering of war has led some to say with sadness that they can no longer believe. The pain seems to extinguish the possibility of faith.

That was the position of these women on the first Easter morning, and it is the position of many today. Perhaps, like these women, you have seen unspeakable cruelty and suffering, and you simply cannot come to terms with it. In the darkness, faith has been extinguished and all that is left is love. You still attend church because there is affection for Jesus in your soul. You wish that it all might have been true, but the wish is filled with sadness and doubt.

LOST FOR AN EXPLANATION

They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus…. They were wondering about this. (vv. 2–4)

When the women arrived, they found that the rock in front of the tomb had been moved. When they went into the tomb, they found that it was empty. The women had absolutely no idea what to make of this. They were confronted with evidence, but they were lost for an explanation. The empty tomb left them “wondering.”

It is important to notice that they did not immediately jump to the conclusion that Jesus had risen from the dead. When we have discussions about “what we should make of the empty tomb,” we should remember that the first visitors had no idea how to answer that question.

When they found the body was missing, Mary did not say, “I have this feeling that He must have risen from the dead,” and Joanna did not reply, “You know, I have that feeling too. I think you must be right.” The thought did not even occur to them.

So how did they know what happened?

God told them.

GOD GIVES THE EXPLANATION

While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!” (vv. 4–6)

God called two angels and said, “Go and tell them what I have done. These women love My Son, but there is no way in the world that they are ever going to work out what happened. Go tell them.”

Suddenly the women became aware of “two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning” standing beside them. The other gospel writers identify them specifically as angels. Luke gives us a description. They looked like men and yet they were clearly not men because of the radiance of their appearance. They were given the privilege of announcing the greatest news the world has ever heard: “He has risen!”

A Christian is a person who has come to believe God’s explanation of His own action. Christian faith rests entirely on grasping and believing what God tells us He has done. We have seen this pattern throughout the Bible story.

When Adam breathed his first breath and became aware of himself as a living being, he had no means of knowing who he was until God told him. God explained what had happened. Adam was made in God’s image and for His glory.

When the Virgin Mary conceived a child, there was no way that she could have known what was happening to her. So God sent the angel to explain what was about to happen. It was the same with the shepherds and the wise men. How could they possibly have known that the child in a manger was God in human flesh? Without God’s explanation through the angels and the star, they would never have known what was happening.

It was the same with the death of Jesus. Many people saw Him die, but few understood the significance of the Cross. But God tells us that on the cross, Christ bore our sin and endured our punishment, laying His life down as a sacrifice so that justice would be satisfied and we may receive mercy.

It was the same for the women at the tomb on the first day of the week. They would never have worked out what had happened for themselves. God told them. Christian faith does not rest on feelings, impulses, or personal insights. It is believing God’s explanation of events, given to us in the Scripture: “He has risen!”

“RISEN” MEANS THAT DEATH IS DEFEATED

The word “risen” is full of significance, telling us first that death is defeated.

From the first sin in the Garden of Eden, death has been relentless. The apostle Paul wrote that “death reign[s]” (Romans 5:14, 17). It is like a tyrant exercising a reign of terror over the human race. Nobody can escape it. Everybody is subject to its awful cruelty.

In the Old Testament story, there were many great men of faith. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David all believed God’s promise, but death got every one of them.

What happened when they died?

We can be quite certain that they did not enter condemnation or judgment. They had trusted the Savior who was to come and looked for the sacrifice that would be made. They died before He came, and so we should think of them as waiting. They continued in a shadowy existence, separated from this life but unable to move forward into the presence of God. Death brought them to a place where there was a way in but no way out. They were stranded in a kind of “no man’s land” with nothing to do but wait.

When I was around kindergarten age, my class at school had a pet mouse. On the weekends each of us had the opportunity to take the mouse home. Eventually my turn came, and one bright Saturday afternoon I brought the mouse outside into the sunshine.

I decided to bring several of my toys outside to make things more interesting for the mouse. One of them was a bright red double-decker London bus, about one foot long by six inches high.

The mouse found the red bus fascinating and before I knew it had climbed inside, run up the stairs, and was working its way along the top deck, clambering over the little plastic seats, and poking its nose out of the spaces for the windows.

This was tremendous entertainment, until it reached the front of the bus. Then we had a problem. The mouse couldn’t move forward, and it couldn’t go back. It was completely stuck.

Of course, I tried everything, including cheese at the back of the bus, but the poor animal had no room to turn. There was no way out.

I can still remember the sense of panic. What could I tell the rest of the class on Monday morning? “Sorry, the mouse is imprisoned in a London bus, but we can still feed it through the window!”

I remember my father saying, “There’s only one thing to do, son. We’ll have to destroy the bus!” And sure enough, he did. He took a knife and cut the roof open, and the mouse was free.

I can’t tell you what a relief that was. But my bus was never the same. It really was rather curious: a bright red London bus with half the roof missing. Of course, this made it even more interesting for the mouse. It could now go in the door, climb up the stairs, and come out through the roof.

When Jesus died, He cut a hole in death itself.

Before, the bus had been like a dead end. There was a way in but no way out. Now, the mouse could go in knowing that there was also a way out. There is all the difference in the world.

From the time of Adam to the time of Christ, death had a way in but no way out. People went into death, but they could not emerge from it. But when Jesus died, He cut a hole in death itself. He changed its nature so that when I come to that moment of death, it will not be like entering a prison; it will be like going through a passage that leads right into the presence of God. There’s all the difference in the world.

Before Christ, people went into death. But Christ went through death. Death could not keep its hold on Him. He is risen, and in His resurrection, He has destroyed the holding power of death. “Risen” means that death is defeated.

“RISEN” MEANS THE WHOLE PERSON WILL BE REDEEMED

The message of Easter is not that Jesus is alive. That is true, of course, but Easter tells us much more. The message of Easter is that Jesus has risen!

It is worth thinking about the difference. The Son of God was alive in heaven before He ever took human flesh. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). He was not only alive but actively engaged in the work of the Godhead in creating and sustaining the world. The Son of God has life in Himself, and nobody can take it from Him. All this was true of Him before He took human flesh.

So why did He not simply leave the crucified body in the tomb and return to the Father? After all, it was only flesh and bone. Why did He bother with it?

The angels could still have appeared on Easter Sunday morning and said, “Now look, His body is here in the tomb, but you don’t need to worry, because although you can see His body lying here, His Spirit is with the Father in heaven. He is alive, and He hears your prayers, and He is able to help you.”

After all, when a Christian person dies, is this not precisely what we say at the funeral service? We bury the body. We know exactly where it is. We visit the graveside. But then we say, “Even though we know the body is here; nevertheless, the soul of the person is with the Father in heaven.”

But the message of Easter is not that Jesus is alive in the presence of the Father. It is that Christ is risen! Do you see the difference? God has determined to redeem every part of you. Not just your soul, but your soul and body together.

[After] death … body and soul [will] be reunited in the power of a new life.

God has made human beings in a wonderful way. He created angels as souls without bodies. He created animals as bodies without souls. But He created men and women as a unique integration of body and soul together.

That is why death is such a terrible enemy to us; it is the separating of the soul and the body that God has joined together. It is the undoing of our very nature.

The survival of the soul without the body would mean only part of us being saved, and that would not be a victory over death. Since death is the separating of soul and body, the only way in which death can be defeated would be for body and soul to be reunited in the power of a new life.

While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” (vv. 36–39)

The Bible places great emphasis on the physical nature of the Resurrection. When Christ appeared to the disciples, they thought that they were seeing a ghost, so Jesus drew their attention to His hands and His feet and invited them to touch Him. “A ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have,” He said.

Jesus wanted them to know that what they were seeing was more than the spirit of Christ in a visible form. The flesh that lay in the tomb had been raised. When Jesus said, “It is I” (v. 39), He did not mean that a part of Him had survived death and lived on, but that the whole of Him had come through death and triumphed over it.

When Christ returns in glory and gathers all His people in His presence, every believer will be there, not only in mind but also in body. It is not just some spiritual capacity within you that will enter heaven. You will be there rejoicing in the presence of God. God has determined to redeem not just a part of you but the whole of you. And if we would believe more clearly in the resurrection of the body, we would have a much greater anticipation of the life in heaven.

TAKING A VIRTUAL VACATION

Suppose you have planned the vacation of a lifetime in Hawaii, but just before you are due to take the trip, you fall down the stairs and break just about every bone in your body. In good cartoon style, you wind up in the hospital, bandaged from head to toe, with a thermometer sticking out of your mouth.

There is absolutely no possibility of your going to Hawaii. Your body is simply not up to it. But you have a friend who is a wizard with computers, and he says, “Don’t worry; I’m going to take you there anyway. You’ll have the time of your life. I’ll take you on a virtual tour of Hawaii on the Internet.”

So he brings his laptop computer and sets it up on the bed in front of you. And sure enough, you can see Honolulu. You can view it from different angles. Then he gives you a pair of headphones and, sure enough, you can hear the sounds of the ocean. Then he produces his latest accessory—virtual smells. He places a little pad on your collar, and you can actually smell the flowers as you see them on the screen.

Your friend is excited about all this, and you are grateful that he has gone to all the effort. You thank him for his trouble.

“It’s so beautiful,” you say. “I just wish that I had been able to go.”

“What do you mean?” he asks. “You have gone! You saw Hawaii, heard its sounds, and smelled its scents. What more could you want?”

Your friend is a computer geek, so you humor him and let him go. Whatever he says in his fancy world of computers, you know that you ain’t been there! And the reason that you haven’t been there is that your body is stuck there in the hospital. You may go there in your mind, or your imagination, or via the Internet, but if you do not go there in your body, you haven’t really gone.

The Resurrection tells us that heaven is not some kind of spiritual experience; it is not a mind game, like a virtual tour. It is not that some spiritual capacity within you survives death to continue in an existence that is a shadow of the life you knew before. That’s what the Old Testament believers had while they were waiting for the coming of Jesus.

It was not a part of Christ that ascended to the Father. It was the whole of Christ that ascended to the Father: mind, soul, spirit, and body. “It is I,” He said to the disciples, “not a part of Me, but the whole of Me.”

He is risen! “Risen” means that death is defeated. “Risen” means the whole person will be redeemed.

“RISEN” MEANS WE WILL ALL BE CHANGED

When the body of Jesus was raised, it was also changed. Christ’s flesh was raised, but it was also adapted to be appropriate for everlasting life. This was something that had never happened before.

There had been other examples of life returning to a dead person. Jairus’s daughter, the son of the widow at Nain, and Lazarus had all been brought back to life by the power of Jesus.

These were wonderful miracles. But Lazarus came out of the tomb exactly as he had gone into it. I guess he might have been a few pounds lighter, but he was essentially the same! He carried on the process of aging at the point where he had left off, and then at some point, the poor fellow had to go through the whole miserable business of dying all over again. Jairus’s daughter and the widow’s son also would age and eventually die. Death was delayed but not defeated.

But when Christ was raised, His body was no longer subject to aging, sickness, or death. The resurrection body is not subject to pain or disability. It was His flesh, but it was transformed and adapted for eternity.

This is the glorious future that awaits every Christian believer. God has not prepared some kind of compensation package like a reduced pension plan for those who are unable to continue life on earth. He has sent Jesus Christ to redeem the whole of you, body and soul, and in the resurrection He will adapt your body even as He is preparing your soul for eternal life in His presence.

WAIT TILL EVERYBODY’S READY

The gift of the resurrection body is so wonderful that God holds it in reserve until the day when He will gather all His children together.

That’s what it was like on Christmas morning when I was a child. We always had presents when we woke up early on Christmas morning. Stockings were hung beside the fire, and in the morning we were all eager to go into the living room and open the gifts. But we weren’t allowed to go into the room until everybody was standing together at the door. Then, when everybody was ready, we all went in.

I think of Christian loved ones who have died. They are in the presence of Jesus, consciously enjoying the glory of His presence. That is far better than anything they could know here. But God has another gift for them and for us that He is keeping for the day when Jesus Christ returns to gather His whole family together.

When Christ comes, our Christian loved ones who are already in His presence will come with Him (see 1 Thessalonians 4:14). Then “the dead in Christ will rise” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). In other words, the souls of those who are with Jesus will be reunited with risen bodies adapted for everlasting life.

At the same time, believers who are still alive will be “caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever” (v. 17). We will experience the same transformation in which our bodies are adapted for everlasting life. The gift will be given to the whole family together. Then all the faces of God’s children will light up as together we enter all that He has prepared for us.

UNLOCKED

The resurrection of Jesus changes the face of death for all His people. Death is no longer a prison, but a passage into the immediate presence of God. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies” (John 11:25). The life that Jesus was talking about is more than a spiritual experience. God will redeem every part of you, including your body.

When Christ returns, all of His people will have new bodies, like the resurrection body of Jesus.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Almighty Father,

Thank You that when Jesus died, He changed the nature of death for all His people. Thank You that He is risen and that, by faith in Him, I will also rise. Thank You that when Your people die, what lies ahead is far greater than what lies behind.

Help me to live in the joyful anticipation of all that is to come. Through Jesus Christ my Lord I pray. Amen.

13

Ascended

LUKE 24, ACTS 1

Why were the

disciples filled

with joy when

Jesus left them?

DISCOVER

the significance of the resurrection appearances.

LEARN

how Jesus defends you against accusations in heaven.

WORSHIP

because Christ’s people always live under His blessing.

AS everybody who has ever said a long-term good-bye knows, however well you are prepared, it’s never easy when you actually come to the moment. I went through that experience repeatedly in 1995 before our move from Great Britain to the United States. We knew that we would keep in touch with friends, but it would not be the same as being physically present.

People have different ways of saying good-bye. I particularly remember the last time I was with one of my good friends. We had spent the day teaching a course together as we often did, and afterward we talked and reminisced about many things that we had shared over a period of about ten years.

Then it was time to go. He took what seemed like a deep breath, stretched out his hand, and said, “Well, Colin, good-bye.” Then he turned on his heels in military style, got into his car, and roared off down the street. That’s how the English do it!

It was somewhat more moist with the family as we gathered at Glasgow International Airport. We were well prepared, and everyone was agreed that the move was the right thing. But we were emigrating, so we would no longer be physically present, and however well you are prepared to say good-bye, when the moment comes it is never easy.

That’s why I found the description of Jesus’ ascension to contain some of the most surprising words in the whole Bible.

THE JOY OF PARTING

When he [Jesus] had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. (LUKE 24:50–52, EMPHASIS ADDED)

I found those final words surprising. In fact, this has to be one of the most unexpected phrases in the Bible. If we had heard that family and friends had thrown a party as soon as our plane had taken off, we would have found that rather strange. So what are we to make of the disciples’ joy when Jesus left them?

The disciples’ joy is all the more strange when we remember that Jesus had spoken to them about His leaving during the Last Supper. At that time, they were horrified by the idea. But now, when it happens, we find them filled with joy!

Something must have happened so that what they once dreaded now became a reason to celebrate. Our aim in this chapter is to discover what that was.

BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT

After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days. (ACTS 1:3)

Although the gospel of John comes between them, Luke and Acts are two volumes of one book, so there is a natural link between the end of Luke’s gospel and the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles. Acts begins where Luke ends—with the ascension of Jesus. By putting the two accounts together, we get a fuller picture of what was happening.

The physician Luke, who wrote both books, tells us that after the Resurrection Jesus appeared to the disciples during a forty-day period. The first reason for these appearances was to give “many convincing proofs that he [Jesus] was alive.” It was important that the resurrection of Jesus should be established beyond reasonable doubt. So Christ appeared to them not once or twice, but repeatedly.

Putting the accounts in the Gospels and 1 Corinthians together, Christ appeared to the disciples (either as a group or to one or two of them) on at least nine different occasions. Once Christ appeared to a group of more than five hundred people, most of whom were still living at the time Paul wrote about it and were able to bear witness to the truth of his account (1 Corinthians 15:6).

After the Ascension, however, the appearances stopped. Their sudden ending is one of the clear evidences that they were actual events in which Christ appeared. They were not a projection in the mind of the disciples. Hallucinations fade gradually; they don’t stop suddenly. These appearances were not wish fulfillment for those who believed. Jesus had risen, and He wanted His people to know that He is alive.

KINGDOM BUSINESS

He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. (v. 3, EMPHASIS ADDED)

The resurrection appearances were not only to give convincing proof that Jesus was alive, but also to prepare the disciples for the kingdom work that lay ahead.

Over a period of forty days, Jesus taught the disciples and brought them to a new level of understanding. Previously, they had thought of the Cross as an unmitigated disaster. Now, they saw that everything had happened exactly as God had planned it.

Christ was not with them constantly throughout those forty days. He appeared to them, taught them, and then He disappeared. In this way, Christ began to wean them away from dependence on His physical presence. For three years they had been used to talking with Jesus directly, face to face. They had witnessed His miracles, heard Him speak, and asked Him their questions.

Their faith was built on sight. But now things would be different. They would have to learn to walk by faith without sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). So over a forty-day period, Jesus introduced them to this, and gradually they became used to trusting Him without seeing Him. From this time on, that would be how kingdom business would be done.

THE END OF THE APPEARANCES

After the forty days, Jesus led the disciples out of Jerusalem and up the Mount of Olives that overlooked the city. They were retracing the route they had taken some weeks earlier when Christ had entered Jerusalem to the acclaim of crowds on Palm Sunday. Jesus had come into the city to face the horrors of His crucifixion, but now all that was behind Him. He walked away from Jerusalem knowing that He had accomplished everything He came there to do.

Then He ascended into heaven and they saw Him go (Acts 1:9). On other occasions when Christ had appeared, He had simply vanished. But on this occasion they saw Him go. This was the end of the resurrection appearances to the disciples. The evidence had been given, the training was complete, and now Jesus was returning to the Father.

THE RAPTURE OF JESUS

He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. (v. 9, EMPHASIS ADDED)

You can be certain that when Luke tells us about a cloud, he is not giving a report on the weather conditions in Jerusalem forty days after Easter! The Bible is one story and God has tied His story together in a wonderful way.

Though God is invisible (nobody has ever seen God), He wants to make Himself known to His people. So throughout the Old Testament God gave certain visible signs of His presence. When God’s people were in the desert, the visible signs that He gave them were a pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud. When the people saw the cloud, they knew God was with them. Similarly, when Solomon built the temple, God gave His people a visible sign of His presence—the cloud again filled the temple. Solomon explained the meaning of this to the people. God had come down among them; He was present in the cloud (see Leviticus 16:2; 1 Kings 8:10–13).

Significantly, when Christ was transfigured and the disciples saw His glory, the cloud came down on the mountain. The disciples fell on their faces, because they knew that they were in the immediate presence of almighty God.

Now Jesus is taken up, and as the disciples look up, what do they see? The cloud! Literally translated, Acts 1:9 reads, “He was taken up … and a cloud hid him from their sight.”

Christ was received into the cloud. Could anything be clearer than this? The same Christ who had come from the Father was now returning to the Father, and having finished His work, He is received by the Father, represented in the cloud. This was what filled the disciples with joy. Jesus had not simply disappeared into the sky; He was taken up into the cloud.

God reached down and snatched Him up.

The Bible is such a wonderful book. It is so profound that it exhausts the most brilliant mind, but it is so simple that a young child can understand. You could draw this in pictures. The cloud represents the presence of God. Where the cloud is, God is. When Jesus ascends, He is taken up into the cloud. He is received right into the presence of God.

Notice that Jesus was “taken” into the cloud. God reached down and snatched Him up. Just as the Father had raised Him from the dead, so now the Father received Him into His presence.

A MAN IN HEAVEN

Think about the significance of Jesus entering heaven. For the first time since Adam was expelled from the garden, there was now a Man in the presence of God. The Lord Jesus Christ not only assumed our humanity on earth, He has also taken our humanity into heaven. No wonder the disciples were filled with joy!

Can you imagine the celebration of Christ’s entrance into heaven? Angels had seen Adam driven out from the presence of God. Now heaven erupts as, for the first time, a Man walks right into the presence of God!

Adam was expelled from God’s presence, and as a result, all his children were alienated from God. Christ is welcomed into the Father’s presence, and as a result, all His children will be welcomed by the Father. The first Adam led us all out. The last Adam leads us all in. No wonder the disciples went back to Jerusalem with joy.

GET A GOOD ATTORNEY

When Christ ascended into heaven, the disciples knew that He was exactly where they needed Him to be. It is far more important that Christ should represent us in heaven than that He should be physically present with us on earth.

Suppose that you are in prison on a charge that carries the death penalty if convicted. You need a good attorney, the very best you can get.

As you get to know your attorney, you find that he is not only a skilled lawyer, but he is also a man of great compassion. When he visits your cell, you find his presence comforting. You build a relationship, and you find that you can talk to him about how difficult life is on the inside.

All that is of great value. But of course, what you need from your attorney most is not comfort in the cell but an effective performance in the court. My greatest need, as a sinner, is not comfort on earth but defense in heaven. I need a representative who will speak to the Father on my behalf, an advocate who will plead my case in heaven. So when Christ ascended into heaven, He went to the place where I most need Him to be. John explained, “We have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One” (1 John 2:1).

There are many ways of getting through this life with success and happiness, but what use will that be if on the last day you find that almighty God has a case against you and you have no effective defense?

The apostles were filled with joy because they understood that, having entered heaven, the ascended Christ was able to speak to the Father on their behalf.

The apostle Paul speaks about this in Romans 8:34. “Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”

IN THE COURTROOM

Imagine yourself standing in the dock in the courtroom of heaven: Satan, your accuser, has a case to present against you. Let’s face it, someone wanting to accuse you or me of not shaping up to the Law of God wouldn’t find it hard to make a case against us.

The courtroom is filled with angels, who rise as God the Father takes His place as the Judge. Then the diabolical prosecutor takes his papers and begins to stride around the court as he presents his case against you. The sum of it is that you are guilty of sin and that you should be condemned.

He begins by stating that you were born in sin and that your nature is corrupt. Then he proceeds with allegations about particular sins committed when you were young. He follows your life story, identifying moments of weakness, cowardice, complacency, pride, pettiness, and greed. You cringe as you listen and find yourself thinking of other things that he may use in his case against you and fearing what may happen if he brings them to light.

Finally, he clinches his argument by appealing to the weakness of your faith. He points out that even though you may have professed to be a believer in Christ, your faith was often weak, and you had many doubts. His case is so compelling that you find yourself shaking and wondering how there could be any hope.

“I have here a full pardon…. It was purchased by My own blood.”

Then Jesus steps forward. He takes His brief in hand and begins to argue in your defense. “My client admits that every word spoken by the prosecution is true. We do not contest any of the charges, nor do we claim any mitigating circumstances. My client is guilty as charged.”

“But,” He continues, “I have here a full pardon that is signed by God’s own hand. It was purchased by My own blood.” Then stripping off His robes, He shows His hands and His side.

The accuser has no answer to that. His whole case against the believer crumbles and will be thrown out of court. Our defense is not that we are without sin but that Christ has died for our sins. Our sins have already been judged at the Cross, and once a charge has been dealt with, it cannot be brought again.

Aren’t you glad that when we fail, we are no longer faced with the daily question of what we have to do to get right with God, what sacrifice to make, what offering to bring?

The hymn writer C. L. Bancroft pictures it well:

Before the throne of God above I have a strong and perfect plea,

A great high priest whose name is Love, who always lives to plead for me.

My name is printed on His hand, my name is written on His heart;

I know that while in heaven He stands, no one can tell me to depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair, and tells me of my guilt within,

Upward I look and see Him there who made an end of all my sin.

Because the sinless Savior died, my guilty soul is counted free;

For God, the just, is satisfied to look on Him and pardon me![1]

The disciples rejoiced because they knew that Christ was right where they most needed Him to be.

THE BLESSING THAT NEVER ENDS

When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. (LUKE 24:50–51)

As anybody who has lost a loved one knows, last impressions usually make a powerful impact on the mind. The last impression the disciples had of Jesus was full of significance.

Luke tells us that Jesus lifted up His hands and blessed the disciples. Can you imagine what this must have been like? Try to imagine yourself kneeling down, as Christ lifts His hands and begins speaking the blessing of God into your life.

In the Old Testament story, the blessing was of great importance. It was much more than kind words expressing best wishes for the future. Jacob was prepared to deceive his father to get his blessing, because the blessing was a prophetic statement of what God would do through a person’s life. When Isaac’s blessing was given to Jacob, it was irreversible. God’s hand would be on Jacob and his children, and this man would be used to fulfill the purposes of God. That’s what Jacob had wanted.

But now we come to something far greater. Christ raises His hands over the disciples and imparts His blessing to them. God’s anointing would be on them, and they would be used to fulfill the purposes of God.

Luke tells us that “while he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven” (v. 51). The last glimpse the disciples had of Jesus was with His hand raised blessing them. He hadn’t finished! This blessing is His unfinished work. He is still doing it. If we ask what Jesus is doing for His people now, the answer is that He is continuing the work He was doing when He left them; He is still blessing His people.

The ascension speaks to us both of the completed work and the continuing work of Christ. His completed work is the work of offering a sacrifice for sin. He cried out from the cross, “It is finished.” Then He ascended to the Father, and the Bible says that “after he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven” (Hebrews 1:3).

“He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”

The priests in the Old Testament never sat down. There was a table and a lamp in the tabernacle, but there was no chair. The absence of a chair was full of significance. It was a visual reminder that the priest’s work never ended. There was always another sacrifice to be made for another sin. They literally never sat down. Their work must have been exhausting.

But Christ’s work is finished. There is no more sacrifice to be offered, no more atonement to be made, nothing more that needs to be done to placate the wrath of God and release forgiveness to His people. That work is complete, and that is why Christ sat down.

But there is also a work that continues. The unfinished work of Christ is to bless His people, and it will go on until He returns. “He always lives to intercede” for us (Hebrews 7:25). As He sits at the right hand of the Father, He continues what He was doing when the Father took Him up into the cloud. He pours out His blessing into the lives of His people. No wonder the disciples went back to Jerusalem with joy.

THE PROMISE OF HIS PRESENCE

“Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” (ACTS 1:4–5)

After Christ ascended into heaven, His presence was with His disciples by the Holy Spirit. Jesus would no longer be visible to them, but His presence would be just as real as when they could see Him. This new situation offered one wonderful advantage: The presence of Jesus would now be with all of them, in every place at the same time.

Of course, this was not possible while Christ was on earth. He took our flesh, and human flesh can only be in one place at any given time. Even after the Resurrection when Christ was able to appear and disappear, there is no indication that He was in more than one place at one time.

Over the previous three years, there were times when Christ was away from even His closest disciples. On one occasion, they faced a storm on the lake and Christ was with them, but there was another occasion when they faced a storm on the lake and Christ was not with them; He was back on the shore (Matthew 8:23–27; 14:22–33).

When Jesus took Peter, James, and John up the mountain and they saw the Transfiguration, the other nine disciples were at the bottom of the mountain, trying to help a boy who was possessed by demons. Christ was not with them, and they found themselves in all kinds of trouble!

Now Jesus tells the disciples that they are to be His “witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). As they are sent out into ministry, they will be scattered across the face of the earth, but Christ will be with each of them in every place (Matthew 28:19–20).

This is what Christ was referring to when He said, “It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7). After the Ascension, they did not have the visible presence of Jesus with them, but they had the Spirit of Jesus in them.

So the presence of Christ is with us in the cell as well as in the courtroom. Our advocate operates in two places at the same time. The Lord Jesus Christ is at the right hand of the Father, and at the same time the Spirit of Jesus is present in the heart of the believer. The Son of God represents us to the Father, and the Spirit of God represents the Father and the Son to us.

This is Christ’s promise to every one of His children. Jesus is with you by His Spirit, and He will never leave you nor forsake you. Are you beginning to see why the Ascension was such a cause for celebration?

THE PROMISE OF HIS RETURN

“Men of Galilee … why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go.” (ACTS 1:11)

God’s promise is that just as Jesus was snatched up into the cloud, so when He returns, we will be caught up to meet Him in the air. The Ascension is the model for the rapture of the church. What happened to Jesus in His ascension will happen to us when He comes in glory.

No wonder Luke recorded that the disciples were filled with joy! What they had just seen happen to Jesus would one day happen to them. Of course, the disciples all died long ago, and Christians are still waiting for the great day when Christ will come again. But, as we saw in the last chapter, every Christian will be part of that day. Those who have already died will not miss out, but they will all be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

So the disciples “went back to Jerusalem with joy.” They were just a handful of people, and they faced a monumental task, but they knew that Christ was where they needed Him to be, at the right hand of the Father. Whatever they faced, they knew that they were living under the blessing of God and that they could count on the promise of His presence and His coming.

UNLOCKED

The disciples were filled with joy when Jesus left them, because they knew that He had returned to the Father. This meant that, for the first time in human history, there was a Man in heaven. The disciples knew that Jesus would represent them before the Father and act as their counselor or advocate there.

The last glimpse they had of Jesus was while He was still blessing them, and so they returned to Jerusalem knowing that, although they could no longer see Him, they would live under His continued blessing. They also understood that just as He had been taken up to heaven, the day would come when all His people would be caught up to meet Him in the air.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Gracious Father,

Thank You that Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is my Savior and that He sits at Your right hand. Thank You that He defends me from all accusations and that I live under His blessing. Thank You that He is coming again and that when He does I will ascend into Your presence as He snatches me up.

Help me to live in the light of that day with the confidence of one whose sins are forgiven, and whose destiny is secure. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Note

1. C. L. Bancroft, “Before the Throne of God Above;” adapted.

14

Coming

JOHN 14

What is the

practical value

of the second

coming of Jesus

for my life today?

DISCOVER

how Jesus helps us when we have to handle devastating news.

LEARN

about the home Christ has prepared for all His people.

WORSHIP

because you have a glorious future with Jesus Christ.

THE Bible story is like a necklace in which many pearls are joined together on a string. Just as a necklace falls and rises, the Bible story shows us the magnificent sweep of God’s plan for history. The story begins at a high point in the Garden of Eden, where God made everything good. But there was a great disaster when sin entered the world, and we have followed the downward sweep of man’s rebellion against God to its lowest point, when men nailed the Son of God to a cross.

God set His greatest pearl at this lowest point in history. In the darkness of Calvary, God did His greatest work. The Cross was not only the greatest expression of human sin; it was also the greatest outpouring of the love and grace of God.

But the necklace doesn’t end at the lowest point. It not only falls; it also rises. Christ rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. He sends His Spirit and builds His church. He will come again, appearing in glory, and when He does, He will bring His people into their ultimate destiny in the new heaven and the new earth.

The great pearl of the Cross is not only tied back to the problem of our sin, it is also tied forward to our final destiny. If someone were to cut a necklace, the pearls would fall to the floor. You could pick up a few pearls and keep them, but that would not be the same as owning the necklace.

Many Christians have gathered a few disconnected pearls of God’s truth, but they have not grasped the magnificent sweep of God’s plan for history. They know about the Cross and may believe that this is how God deals with our sins, but they have not seen that through the death and resurrection of Jesus, God will bring all His people into His presence and glory.

God has been working to a definite plan throughout the entire history of the human race. The Cross is the center point, but it is not the end point of God’s plan. The Bible story began when God walked onto the stage of human history, revealing Himself as the Creator of everything that exists. It will end when God reveals the glory of His Son, Jesus Christ, and ushers in a new creation that will be home for all His people.

THE DINNER WHERE EVERYTHING SEEMED TO GO WRONG

Jesus spoke about His second coming often, but never more clearly than on the night before He died. Significantly, Jesus spoke most directly about His return when the disciples were deeply shocked by a series of unthinkable events. As we follow the story of that evening, we will discover the importance of the second coming of Jesus in our struggle to live the Christian life today.

The Passover was the greatest celebration of the year, and Jesus had been looking forward to this last opportunity of time with His disciples before He went to the cross.

Early in the evening, Jesus shocked His friends by saying that someone at the table would betray Him. One after another they began to say, “Lord, is it me?”

Nobody said, “Lord, is it Judas?” It is quite clear that he was trusted and respected. Nobody imagined that he would do such a thing. After all, they had put Judas in charge of the money, and you don’t give a man your money unless you trust him completely.

Eventually Peter prompted John, who was sitting next to Jesus as they reclined at the table, to ask Him whom He was speaking about. Jesus said, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread” (John 13:26). Then He dipped a piece of bread in a dish and offered it to Judas. Can you imagine that moment? The whole group must have been looking at Judas. What would he do?

Judas had already planned to betray Jesus. He had taken the money offered by the chief priests for his help, but now the final decision was made in his mind. Judas reached out and took the bread. He made his choice.

John tells us that “as soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him” (v. 27). Notice the order of events. Satan entered into a mind that had been fully opened to his activity. Then, Judas went out and John says, “It was night.”

How do you carry on a dinner party after that?

There was more bad news to come. Jesus said, “My children, I will be with you only a little longer” (v. 33).

Can you picture the expressions on the faces around the table when Jesus said this? These men had left everything to follow Christ. They had staked everything on Christ and built their whole lives around Him. The last three years had been the best because of Him. And now, after just three years, He told them that He would be with them only a little longer.

To be told that the person who means most to you in the world will only be with you for a little while longer is one of the hardest experiences a human being can endure. This was what the disciples faced at the Last Supper. They must have wondered what kind of future they would have without Jesus with them.

STANDING ON THE BRINK OF FAILURE

Peter could not bear to think of being separated from Christ. He reacted to Jesus’ announcement of the unthinkable by announcing that he would lay down his life for Jesus. But Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? I tell you the truth, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!” (v. 38).

There had never been a day when the disciples had to deal with news like this. In a matter of a few moments in one evening, they discovered that a trusted leader would betray the Savior, Jesus Himself would be taken from them, and His leading disciple would make a total denial of his faith before the night ended.

WHEN YOU HEAR DISASTROUS NEWS

What Jesus said next must have seemed absolutely staggering.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled.” (JOHN 14:1)

How could Jesus possibly say this in the light of all that had just happened? The disciples must have been staggered by His words. I can imagine several of them saying, “Jesus, You tell us that Judas is bailing out, that You are about to leave, and that Peter’s testimony will collapse, and then You say that we are not to be troubled?”

Imagine a church meeting where the congregation gathers for a few items of business. The chairman opens the meeting in prayer, and then says that he has three important news items to share.

“First, I have to announce, with regret, that our senior pastor is leaving in a few days’ time. Second, you should be aware that the church treasurer has resigned, and at this point we are not quite sure what he has done with the money. Third, our senior elder has denied the faith and no longer wishes his name to be associated with the church.”

The congregation is reeling at this triple announcement of disastrous news, but the chairman continues with his announcement. “I know that some of you may have some questions,” he says, “but the first thing I want to say is, ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled!’”

There may be a time in your life when you face disastrous news. What do you do if there is a scandal in the church and someone betrays the trust you have placed in him or her as Judas did? What do you do when a leader whose example you have looked up to shows himself to have feet of clay like Peter? And how do you cope when the person around whom you have built your life is no longer with you?

TRUSTING IN THE DARKNESS

It was common in the time of Jesus for people to recline at a low table when they ate, but by this point in the evening, I cannot imagine that anyone was reclining. After all that had happened, everyone would be sitting bolt upright. Jesus looked around the room, His piercing eyes looking deep into the souls of every one of His eleven disciples. “Here’s what I need you to do right now,” He was saying. “Trust God! Trust in Me!”

Jesus was not asking them to take a blind leap of faith. They had seen His miracles, heard His words, confessed their faith, and walked with Him for three years. Now they had to lean into all that they knew of Jesus. It was time to draw deeply on what they had said they believed. In this moment of great darkness, Christ called them to trust what He had taught them in the light.

Then, having called them to exercise faith, Jesus began to speak to them about the future.

ONE HOUSE WITH MANY ROOMS

“In my Father’s house are many rooms.” (v. 2)

When Jesus spoke about His Father’s house, the disciples must have wondered what that had to do with Judas’s defection, Christ’s departure, and Peter’s denial; but Jesus had asked them to trust Him, and so they listened carefully.

Many older Christians remember this verse from the King James version of the Bible, which reads, “In my Father’s house are many mansions,” and there have been a number of hymns that take up the theme of having a mansion in the sky or over the hilltop. This has led many people to a picture of heaven as an upmarket housing estate with extremely large buildings on generous lots of gently rolling countryside. Others, who think they have lived less worthy lives, have the idea that they will find themselves in second- or third-class heavenly accommodation—a heavenly equivalent of a garden shed!

There really is no basis for this in the Bible. Jesus spoke about one house with many rooms. The picture He was using was of one great extended family being brought into the Father’s home. It was not that everyone would be given a building plot, but that all of God’s family would be together in the Father’s house.

There was a special irony in Jesus speaking about the many rooms in His Father’s house. When Jesus was born, there was no room for Him in Bethlehem. The innkeeper had a small house and every room was taken. I cannot help but think that there must have been a smile on the face of Jesus as He was telling His friends, in effect, “Now don’t worry; when you come to My home, it won’t be as it was when I came to your home! You won’t find it overcrowded like Bethlehem when I came. In My Father’s house are many rooms!”

God will move in with you until one day you move in with Him!

Jesus used the same word again later that evening, when He said, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (v. 23). Literally Jesus said, “We will room with him.”

Jesus was telling the disciples that God would “room” with them by the Holy Spirit until He came again, and then they would “room” with God. God will move in with you until one day you move in with Him!

Jesus emphasized the absolute certainty of the disciples’ future in heaven. “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you.” This is the candor of Jesus. If the future of the disciples were in any doubt, He would have told them. But the fact is that they had a magnificent destiny ahead of them, and it is for this reason that they were not to be troubled, but were to put their trust in Christ even when the bottom seemed to be falling out of their world.

Having described the Father’s house, Jesus went on to explain how they would get there.

THE WAY TO THE FATHER’S HOUSE

“I go to prepare a place for you.” (v. 2 KJV)

Jesus’ promise to prepare a place for His followers does not mean that Christ was going to heaven to get the place organized for our arrival! If God can create the cosmos out of nothing, and hold the moon and stars on their courses, He can certainly get heaven organized for believers with a single command.

When Jesus said that He was going to prepare a place, He was telling the disciples that the place would be prepared by His going. Jesus was about to go to the cross. He was going to die, be buried, rise, and finally ascend to heaven.

It is through Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven that the place for all His followers is prepared. His death and resurrection have made the place ready and reserved a block booking for all who would believe.

That is why His disciples are not to be troubled by the fact that He is being taken from them. It is through His going to the cross that the way will be opened up for them to enter into the home that Christ has described.

“I WILL COME AGAIN”

“If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (v. 3)

Jesus was about to endure indescribable suffering on the cross, and it was in this way that reservations would be made in the Father’s house for all His people. Since He would pay such a price for the reservations, the disciples could be absolutely certain that Jesus would bring them into the Father’s home. The logic of Jesus’ words is powerfully persuasive: “If I go … I will come back and take you to be with me.”

Jesus was saying, “If I go through the agony of death and then rise on the third day and ascend into heaven, all for the single purpose of preparing a place for you, then is it conceivable that I would not bring you there?”

If I were to spend my life savings on a priceless ring, it is inconceivable that, having written out the check and made the purchase, I would then leave the ring on the counter. Having paid the price, the ring would become my treasured possession, and I would bring it home.

This is why Jesus told the disciples that they were not to be troubled but rather to trust in Him. They had seen Judas leave, they had heard that Peter would fail, and they had been told that Jesus would be taken from them. They felt that their world was falling apart, but it was not.

Jesus was going to prepare a place for them, and they could be absolutely confident that He would bring them home.

TWO WAYS OF GOING HOME

There are two ways in which Christ’s people may enter into the Father’s house. One is to die before Christ comes; the other is to live until Christ comes. Christ will bring every believer into the presence of the Father either one way or the other.

It really doesn’t matter which way it happens, because either way, it is Christ who is taking you. If you die, Christ will take you into His presence without the body. If you are alive when He comes, He will take you into His presence in the body. He could choose to take any one of us at any time, in either way. The important thing is that Christ will gather all His people together to share in His final victory.

When the Roman army came back from a military campaign, there was always a procession of triumph through the streets of the city. The Romans wanted to make it clear the victory of the army was also the victory of every citizen. So when the army returned, they would set up camp outside the city while the preparations were made for the great celebration. At that time anyone who was a Roman citizen could come out of the city and join the soldiers in the camp.

Then when the time for the procession came, the citizens would form a procession behind the army. They shared in the glory of the homecoming, because the triumph of the army was the triumph of every citizen.

You will reflect His glory for all eternity.

That is how it will be on the last day. The citizens of God’s kingdom will be called out to join the King in preparation for His triumphal entry at the close of history. Then every eye will see Him. “Every knee [will] bow … and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10–11). His people will confess this to their everlasting joy. His enemies will confess this to their everlasting regret.

We tend to think of some people as very near to eternity. If someone is very old or sick, we may visit the person and then say quietly, “He doesn’t have very long.” But actually that is true for all of us. I do not know how long I have before Christ will come, or before He will call me home. This didn’t scare the disciples; it brought them comfort. We are not to be troubled, because He is coming again.

One day you are going to look into the face of Jesus Christ and you will reflect His glory for all eternity. He died and rose and ascended into heaven to make that possible, and He will come again to bring you into all that He has prepared for you. That is His promise; it is absolutely certain.

AN UNFINISHED PROJECT

Over the last few weeks, I have been working on a home improvement project. We are remodeling a bathroom, and it isn’t finished yet.

There are some bare studs, and a few pipes are exposed. Some areas have unfinished drywall, and there is a hole in the ceiling for a new light. Some areas are better than they were; others are still to be tackled. The place is functional, but nothing is as it finally will be.

When my wife comes into our bathroom and looks at the state of the place, I remind her that she is looking at an unfinished project, and that it will not always be like this. I say to her, “Do not let your heart be troubled. Trust me.”

God’s plan for redeeming the world is in process, but it is not yet complete, and there will be times when life looks like a jumbled mess. That is how it was for the disciples at the Last Supper, and it is often the same for us.

We find ourselves asking “Why?” and some answers are not given to us this side of heaven. But Jesus says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” Remember that you are looking at an unfinished project. What you see now is not as it will be.

When I look in the mirror, I am looking at an unfinished project. God has given His Spirit to every believer. The new life has already begun in us. But we still battle with the pull of the flesh, and we are not yet what we shall be. Like Peter, we have our failures as well as our successes. But it will not always be like this. Christ is coming, and on the day He appears, you will be everything God has made you to be, so do not let your heart be troubled.

UNLOCKED

Jesus comes to us in the devastating crises of life and invites us to trust Him. He reminds us that we are not looking at the finished picture. Through His death and resurrection, He has prepared a place for us. Christ will come again, and when He does, we will be caught up to meet Him and then we will be forever with the Lord.

The second coming of Jesus is one of the most important and practical truths that we need to grasp for living the Christian life today. Christ could come at any time and may well come in our lifetime. But even if He does not, the truth of His second coming is still of vital importance.

There will be times when we are faced with devastating news. We may wonder what God is doing and what the future holds. But Jesus tells us that we are not to let our hearts be troubled. He invites us to trust Him and lean on what He has revealed about Himself. God’s work in us and in the world is an unfinished project, but it will be brought to completion when Jesus Christ returns in glory.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Almighty Father,

Thank You for the glorious hope of the second coming of Jesus Christ in glory. Thank You that when He comes, all His people will be caught up to meet Him and in that moment made like Him. Help me to live in the anticipation of His coming.

Help me to trust You in the things that I cannot understand. And when life seems to be a mess, help me to remember that Your work is an unfinished project, and that You always complete what You have begun. Help me to live in confident hope, until my faith is turned to sight, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

15

Father

JOHN 14

What does it

mean to know

God as Father?

DISCOVER

the mystery of the Trinity.

LEARN

why we can only come to the Father through Jesus.

WORSHIP

because through Jesus, we are adopted into the family of God.

THE old pastor’s brow was furrowed as he peered over his half-moon spectacles at the scattered congregation and began the message he had been pondering all week. “First,” he said slowly, “I am going to search the unsearchable. Then,” he said with increasing confidence, “I am going to explain the unexplainable. And finally …” He paused as he searched for the words. “I’m going to unscrew the inscrutable!”

I’m not so ambitious, and it is with a sense of awe that I begin to write about the most distinctive but also the most difficult doctrine in the whole of the Christian faith: There is one God, and He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Nobody can understand the nature of God. This should not be surprising. I assume that fish have a very limited understanding of human nature, and in the same way, it is beyond the range of human ingenuity to figure out the mystery of the nature of God.

You can’t run a high-tension voltage through a flashlight. It does not have the capacity to hold that kind of charge. In the same way, the human mind does not have the capacity to comprehend the nature of God.

But God has revealed Himself to us, and even though we cannot know Him fully, we can know Him truly. In the Old Testament, God reveals that He is one. In the New Testament, God reveals that He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

GOD IN THREE PERSONS

The Old Testament raises some questions about the nature of God that are not resolved until God reveals Himself more fully in the New Testament. For example, at the Creation God says, “Let us make man in our image” (Genesis 1:26). One of the Hebrew words that is used for God is in the plural. Why would God use a name that has plurality built into its grammar when He tells us so clearly and distinctively that He is one?

The Bible tells us that God is love. But love needs an object. Who did God love before the Creation, when nothing existed except God Himself? God has always been love, and before anything else ever existed, that love was shared among the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

In the Old Testament, God said, “I am.” In the New Testament, God was saying, “I am the Father, I am the Son, and I am the Holy Spirit.” If we are going to know God, we must come to know Him as Father, Son, and Spirit. If we do not know Him in this way, we do not know Him as He is.

SATURATED IN THE LIFE OF GOD

This is not just a matter of knowledge but also a matter of experience. At the end of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus tells His disciples that they are to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19).

The word baptize literally means “to dip” or “to drench.” In the early church, believers were baptized in rivers. They were either plunged under the water or water was poured over their heads. Either way, they emerged extremely wet! Jesus said that baptism was to be given “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” The Christian life is all about being drenched in the Father, plunged into the Son, and soaked in the Spirit. That’s what baptism symbolizes.

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit permeate every part of a believer’s life. You cannot separate one from the other. The Spirit draws you to the Son, the Son brings you to the Father, and the Son pours out the Spirit into your heart. You cannot know the Father apart from the Son or the Son apart from the Spirit.

So while we may not be able to understand the nature of God, we must grasp what is revealed about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit if we are to know God as He is.

FIXING THE ANCHOR POINTS

We may summarize what God has revealed to us in three statements.

First, there is one God. This is clear in both the Old and New Testaments. God says, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4). There is “one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all” (Ephesians 4:5–6). Christians do not believe in three Gods. There is one God.

Second, God is three persons. It is important to say that the word person is not used in the Bible; neither is the word trinity. There is no place in the Bible where we read, “God is three persons.” But within the limitations of human language, person is the best word that we can use to describe the identity of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.

The distinct identities of the Father, Son, and Spirit are written all through the New Testament. The Father sends the Son (Galatians 4:4). The Son prays to the Father (John 17:1). The Spirit glorifies the Son (John 16:14), and the Son sends the Spirit (Acts 2:33).

The three persons of the Godhead are not to be confused. The Father did not die on the cross. The Son did not send Himself into the world. The Spirit did not rise from the dead. There is one God, and God is three persons.

Third, each person is fully God. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Spirit is God. Christ said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30), and He talked about the glory He shared with the Father before the world began (John 17:5). And when Christ spoke about sending the Holy Spirit, He was not talking about an alternative to His own presence; He was promising that His presence would be with the disciples, even though He was returning to the Father (John 14:16–18). If the Spirit was with them, Christ was with them; and if Christ was with them, the Father was with them (John 14:23).

There is one eternal God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The Father is God, the Son is God, the Spirit is God, but there are not three Gods. There is one eternal God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The more you think about this, the more staggering it gets.

All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given,

The Son and Him who reigns with them in highest heaven,

The one eternal God, Whom earth and heaven adore;

For thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.[1]

THE PROBLEM WITH ANALOGIES

Through the centuries, people have used analogies to try and explain the nature of God. I have never found any of them very helpful. It seems to me that if there were an analogy in the natural world that would help us grasp the nature of God, then God would have put it in the Bible. The fact that He didn’t is significant.

So beware of analogies of the Trinity. They usually help us to see one part of the truth, but at the same time they distort or obscure something else. Some people use the analogy of one person playing three different roles. For example, I am a husband and a father and a pastor. But the analogy falls short because there is only one person fulfilling these three roles. God exists in three persons; the Father is not the Son, and the Son is not the Spirit.

Others use the analogy of water existing as ice, water, and steam. The problem here is that the same water cannot be ice, water, and steam at the same time. But right now, the Son is seated at the right hand of the Father and the Spirit dwells in the hearts of believers. These things are true simultaneously.

Perhaps the best-known analogy was used by Saint Patrick in Ireland. He spoke about the three leaves on one shamrock. The problem here is that each leaf is only part of the shamrock, and not the whole of the shamrock. The persons of the Trinity are not “part of God.” Each one is fully God. “In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9). Christ is not some kind of “cutting” as if part of God came to earth, while the remainder stayed on in heaven. Christ is God with us!

Beware of analogies of the Trinity. They appear to suggest a solution, but they always do so by obscuring part of the glory of what is revealed.

MIST ON THE MOUNTAIN

There is a mountain in Scotland I love to climb. We often take a trip there as a family when we are on vacation. I have climbed it in all kinds of weather conditions, including drifting snow, and it is absolutely magnificent. But there is one occasion I will never forget.

As we were climbing, a mist came down and surrounded us. We thought about turning back, assuming that there would be nothing to see from the top, but we decided to continue and eventually climbed out of the mist. The sky was clear, and the view was magnificent. When we got to the top, we looked down on the blanket of mist that had settled over the town in the valley below.

We couldn’t see the town, but we could see everything above. We could see people walking on other hills and sheep on the high ground. We couldn’t see into the mist, but we could see everything outside of the mist.

I have found that picture helpful when thinking about the mystery of the nature of God. There is a little town called Truth. It is shrouded in mist, and we cannot see into it. I cannot explain to you how one God can exist in three persons. I have to confess humbly that I am gazing into a mystery that is beyond my comprehension.

But at the same time, I can clearly identify what lies outside the town called Truth. For example, if someone says that Christ is less than God, or that there are many gods, I can immediately see from the Scriptures that this is outside the boundaries of truth. The mist covers the town itself, but that which is outside the town can be clearly seen.

I cannot describe the mystery of the truth, but I can clearly identify teaching that is outside of the truth, and that is something the church must always do.

HOW TO RESPOND TO A MYSTERY

The nature of God is a mystery, but it is not a contradiction. If Christians believed both that there is one God and there are three Gods, that would be a contradiction. Or if we believed that there are three persons and there is one person, that would be a contradiction. But to say that there is one God who exists in three persons is not a contradiction; it is a mystery.

There are a number of places in the Bible where we are presented with a mystery, and it is important to know how we should and shouldn’t respond.

First, don’t turn away from a mystery. Some people instinctively throw up their hands and turn away from anything they cannot understand, as if something that cannot be understood could not possibly be true. They miss the unfathomable splendor of the glory of God.

Second, don’t try to explain a mystery. You can’t put “understanding the nature of God” on your To Do list and expect that one day some publisher will bring out the book that will explain it all, so that you can cross it off your To Do list and say, “It all makes perfect sense to me now; I don’t know why I didn’t see it before.” God will never let you get there, because if you did, you would cease to worship.

After twenty years of marriage, my wife often seems to know what I’m thinking and can anticipate what I’m going to say. It happened the other day, and she said, “I knew you would say that. I’ve been married to you over twenty years, and I’ve figured you out.”

That’s an interesting and rather intimidating phrase. “I’ve figured you out.” And she has; I can’t deny it. After twenty years there isn’t much mystery left! It’s getting harder to spring a surprise. There isn’t much she doesn’t know about me and what there is isn’t much worth knowing!

Let [the mystery] lead you into worship.

God has revealed Himself in such a way that we may truly know Him, but we will never come to the point where we have “figured Him out.” Even in heaven, when you see God as He is, you will be lost in wonder and love and praise. You will look into the face of God, and you will find yourself filled with more wonder than ever before, and you will spend all eternity enthralled with the mystery of His glory.

The way to respond to a mystery is to let it lead you into worship. That should always be our response to the mystery of the nature of God.

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty!

All Thy works shall praise Thy name in earth and sky and sea;

Holy, Holy, Holy! Merciful and Mighty!

God in three Persons, blessed Trinity![2]

COMING TO GOD THE FATHER

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (JOHN 14:6)

Suppose you want to visit the president of the United States. It would be difficult, because he is not easily accessible, but there are a number of possible approaches that you might try.

The reason that there are many ways to the president of the United States is that there are many people near to him. For example, if you knew his wife, she could bring you to him. If you knew his father or mother or brother, the person might arrange a meeting. Or if you knew the secretary of state, the press secretary, or the chief of staff, he might grant you access.

There are many ways to the president of the United States, because there are many people next to him. But who is next to God the Father?

Jesus makes it clear that nobody is next to the Father except the Son. The Son is the only one who has seen Him and who knows Him (Matthew 11:27; John 6:46). It follows that He is the only one by whom we can come to the Father. John wrote, “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known” (1:18). Only the one who is next to the Father can bring you to the Father.

JESUS’ FATHER AND YOUR FATHER

“In my Father’s house are many rooms.”(JOHN 14:2)

“If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well.” (v. 7)

“On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.” (v. 20)

It is very significant that when Jesus spoke about the Father, He regularly spoke about “My Father.”

Jesus distinguished clearly between His own relationship with the Father and that of the disciples. “I am returning to my Father and your Father” (John 20:17, emphasis added). Why did He not say, “Our Father”?

There is only one occasion when Christ used the phrase “Our Father” referring to God, and that was when He was teaching His disciples how they should pray. In the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9–13), He told them that they should say, “Our Father.” There was never an occasion when Christ referred to His relationship with the Father and that of the disciples in the same way. The distinction is always preserved.

This is the highest privilege … to know God as our Father.

The good news is not that God is everybody’s Father. The good news is that Christ knows God as His Father, and for that reason, He is able to bring us to know God as our Father as well.

This is the highest privilege offered in the gospel—to know God as our Father. God offers more than forgiveness. That is our greatest need, but it is not our highest privilege. God acquits us in the court where He presides as Judge, but He also adopts us into the family where He is Father. “When the time had fully come, God sent his Son … to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons” (Galatians 4:4–5).

Christ is the one and only Son of God, but He took our flesh, making us His brothers. If we receive Him, God the Father will adopt us into His family so that we may become sons and daughters of God!

This is more than a name or status; it is a living experience. God sends His Spirit into our hearts so that we cry, “Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15). The Spirit confirms within our hearts that we are indeed God’s children so that we can live in the enjoyment of it.

If we want to know what a relationship with God the Father looks like, we must begin by looking at what it means for Jesus to call God His Father. If we can grasp what it meant for Him to know God as His Father, then we will be able to grasp what it will mean for us to know God as our Father as well.

SUBJECT TO THE FATHER’S AUTHORITY

Christ invites us to a relationship in which we are subject to the Father’s authority. You can’t miss this in the life of Jesus. He placed Himself under the authority of the Father. He brought glory to the Father by completing the work that the Father gave Him to do (John 17:4). He said, “My food … is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work…. I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me” (John 4:34; 6:38).

The whole of His life was aligned with the Father’s purpose, and that was never seen more clearly than in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Christ said, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). If it were possible to fulfill the Father’s purpose without the awful pain of the cross, that would have been Jesus’ choice, but if the Father’s purpose required Him to go through this agony, He was ready.

If we would come to the Father, the first question is whether we are ready to be subject to His authority. That was the big decision the prodigal son had to face (see Luke 15:11–24.) He had resisted his father’s authority for a long time. Then there came a point where his father’s house seemed very attractive. But before he could return, he had to decide if he was ready to be subject to his father’s authority.

The reason some people know little of the Father’s love is that they are continually resisting His authority, and nobody can enter the relationship Jesus offers like that.

When you say, “Our Father,” it will not be long before you are saying, “Your will be done.” Christ brought these two things together in the Garden of Gethsemane. He submitted Himself to the will of the Father even when that was indescribably painful. Are you ready for that?

It is very significant that the first time the most intimate word “Abba” is used in the New Testament is not from the lips of an ecstatic worshiper but from the agonized voice of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:36).

To know God as Father is to be subject to His authority. The Christian life does not begin with me deciding I would like to go to heaven, but when I come to the place of saying, “Not my will but Yours be done.”

ENJOYING THE FATHER’S LOVE

Submitting to the Father’s authority may sometimes be painful, but it is the gateway into experiencing the Father’s love. The Father loves the Son, and Jesus offers to bring us into that love. “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you,” He said (John 15:9). Think of how the Father loves the Son. Jesus speaks of experiencing that love before the world began (John 17:24).

Jesus brings us into the Father’s love, and it is the special work of the Holy Spirit to let us know that we are loved. The Spirit pours out the love of God into our hearts (Romans 5:5). Love is not something that we believe, but something that we experience. It is a wonderful gift to be enjoyed.

This is a sensitive issue for some people. I was privileged to be raised in a happy family and thank God for a loving father. The security and love I knew makes me sensitive to the pain of those who did not know that privilege.

Sometimes folks whose experience of family life has been painful suggest that talking of God as Father is unhelpful and misleading. If that’s how you feel, I have a question for you. How do you know that your experience of your father was a bad one?

You know because God has placed within your heart a sense of what a father should be. The very fact that you can identify your disappointment is an indication that you have a sense of what “ought to be.” God put that sense there.

Ask the Holy Spirit to pour out the Father’s love in your heart.

Christ has come to bring you into a relationship in which you know the unfathomable love of God the Father to His children. Christ will bring you into the family of God as a wanted, loved, and welcomed child. The Holy Spirit will bond you to the Father so that you know you are secure in His love.

This kind of assurance does not always come immediately in the Christian life. Paul regularly prayed that Christians would experience more of God’s love (Ephesians 3:18–19). Sometimes our pain numbs us to the warmth of God’s love for a time. But this is what a relationship with God the Father looks like. Don’t settle for anything less. Believe God’s promises. Ask the Holy Spirit to pour out the Father’s love in your heart. Go on asking. You will receive.

SHARING THE FATHER’S GLORY

Jesus said to the Father, “I have given them the glory that you gave me” (John 17:22). Before the Son of God came into the world, He shared the Father’s glory (John 17:5), and when He came into the world, the glory of the Father was revealed (John 1:14). When Christ brings us into a relationship with the Father, He brings us into that glory.

This is the highest privilege of the Christian’s relationship with God. Jesus brings us into a relationship with the Father in which we submit to His authority, enjoy His love, and share in His glory.

There are times when it may be costly to submit to the authority of the Father, but Paul reminds us that this is “not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).

John revels in the privilege of this relationship. “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us,” he declares, “that we should be called children of God!” And then he reminds us of what this means: “When he appears, we shall be like him” (1 John 3:1–2).

Christ is not ashamed to call us His brothers (Hebrews 2:11). He brings us under the Father’s authority and into His love. Eventually, Christ will bring us into the Father’s presence. He will stand before the Father with us and say, “Here am I and the children You have given me.”

UNLOCKED

Knowing God as Father is not natural for us. As descendants of Adam and Eve, we are born in alienation from God and need to be brought into a relationship with Him. This is why Jesus Christ has come into the world. He has come from the Father’s side to make Him known and to bring us to the Father.

For Jesus to know God as His Father meant submitting to His authority, enjoying His love, and sharing His glory. When Jesus invites us to come to the Father through Him, He is inviting us into the same kind of relationship.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Almighty Father,

I bow before You with awe and wonder as I contemplate Your greatness and Your glory.

Thank You for making Yourself known to me through Your Son Jesus Christ, and for making it possible for me to call You Father. Help me to live in a growing awareness of Your everlasting love for me. Create within my heart a deeper love for You. Help me to live in submissive and joyful obedience to Your will, and so to offer worship that is in Spirit and in truth, until the day when I see Your glory, through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.

Notes

1. Martin Rinkart, trans. Catherine Winkworth, “Now Thank We All Our God,” verse 3.

2. Reginald Heber, “Holy, Holy, Holy,” verse 4.

16

Son

JOHN 5

Why is it so

important that

Jesus is God?

DISCOVER

what it means for Jesus to be the Son of God.

LEARN

how you can be sure about your salvation.

WORSHIP

because God has made Himself known through His Son, Jesus Christ.

My birth certificate announces that I am the son of George and Violet Smith, born on April 27, 1958, in a small hospital in Edinburgh, Scotland. The hospital has now been turned into an old people’s home, and so there is a distinct possibility that I could end my days where I began!

I became a father in 1986, when my son Andrew was born. Before I had a son, I could not have been described as a father. It is the birth of a son or daughter that makes a man a father or a woman a mother.

When did God become Father? The answer is that He has always been Father. He is the everlasting Father, and His nature never changes.

When did Christ become the Son? The answer is that He has always been the Son. He is the eternal Son, and His nature never changes.

The Father was never without the Son, and the Son was never without the Father. God did not gain a Son when Jesus was born. God sent His Son, who was already at the Father’s side, into the world to be born of the Virgin Mary. Christ did not begin to exist in the Virgin’s womb. Before He took our flesh, God the Son shared the Father’s glory, the Father’s life, the Father’s activity, and the Father’s love.

The Son has always been with the Father, and the Son has always been equal with the Father. There is no ranking of Father, Son, and Spirit in order or priority or importance.

The Bible makes it clear that the Son is equal with the Father; He is “in very nature God.” However, He did not count this “equality with God something to be grasped” (Philippians 2:6). He placed Himself at the disposal of the Father and took on the form of a servant. For the purpose of our salvation, the Son subordinated Himself to the Father and became obedient to Him, not because He was less than the Father but because the Father and Son chose that it should be so. Being equally God, the Father and the Son assumed different roles in accomplishing our salvation.

On one occasion, Jesus said to His disciples, “If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I” (John 14:28). This is like me saying, “The president of the United States is greater than I.” When I say that, I don’t mean that the president is more human than I. I mean that he has a far more exalted position or role.

Similarly, when Jesus said, “The Father is greater than I,” He did not mean that the Father is more divine than the Son, but that the Father had a more exalted position, a fact that was very obvious since at that point Jesus was about to take the lowest position as He went to the cross.

So Christ was saying to His disciples, “If you loved Me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, because that means that I am returning to share His exalted position.”

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

When I use the word son, I am speaking about someone who was born when I was twenty-seven years old. I existed before my son Andrew, and could have continued to exist without him. But God the Father was never without God the Son, and God the Son was never without God the Father. The relationship of this Father and Son has no beginning and no end. So it is quite clear that when God speaks about His “Son” in the Bible, He is using the term in a quite different way.

The word son is used in two ways in the Bible. It can mean a dependent relative (Isaac was Abraham’s son), but it can also mean a reflected nature.[1]

In the ancient world, life followed a very simple path: If you were a boy, you did what your father did, and if you were a girl, you followed in your mother’s footsteps. Your father or mother would show you what you needed to know. As you watched them, you would learn how things were done, and then you would do them.

If it were like this today and your father was a plumber, you would be a plumber as well. Indeed, if your father was a good plumber, the chances are you would be a good plumber too. If your father was a bad plumber, the chances are your work would spring leaks all over the place. The character of the father’s work is normally reflected in the work of the son. As the old saying goes, “Like father, like son.”

NAMES THAT TELL A STORY

In the ancient world, names described character. If a person was really wicked, someone might describe him as a “son of Belial.” The name meant that the person showed such unusual wickedness that he reflected the character of the devil himself; it was as if the devil were his father.

In 1 Samuel 2:12 we are told that “the sons of Eli were sons of Belial” (KJV).[2] Notice that the word son is used in two completely different ways in the one verse. These men were Eli’s dependent children, but the character they reflected was not Eli’s, but the devil’s. It is not a very complimentary description.

On a more positive note, God referred to Israel as His “son.” He said to Pharaoh, “Let my son go, so he may worship me” (Exodus 4:23). The Hebrew people were descended from Abraham, but God called them to reflect His holiness and to express His character in the world, so God called them His son.

The same was true of the king. Psalm 2 was used at the coronation of a king in Israel. God said, “You are my Son; today I have become your father” (Psalm 2:7). This meant that from that day, God was calling the king to reflect His dignity and glory among the people. The kings of Israel and Judah were called to be “Godlike,” sons of God. Most of them made a pretty poor job of it.

In the New Testament, we read about a man called Joseph, whom the apostles called Barnabas. The name Barnabas means “Son of Encouragement” (Acts 4:36). Barnabas was a nickname, and it’s not difficult to imagine why the apostles gave it to him. They saw that Joseph was a great encourager, and so they called him “Son of Encouragement.” He was encouragement personified, encouragement in human flesh.

Jesus used the word son in the same way in the Sermon on the Mount. “Blessed are the peacemakers,” He said, “for they will be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). God is the great peacemaker, and people who make peace are reflecting His character and activity. They are doing what God does, and so they are called “sons of God.”

So when the Bible describes Jesus as “the Son of God,” the word Son does not mean that He is a “dependent relative” of the Father, but that He exactly reflects the nature of the Father. He is everything that God is, in the flesh.

The full glory of what it means for Jesus to be the Son of God is opened up for us in John chapter 5, where Jesus makes two remarkable statements.

DOING THE FATHER’S WORK

Jesus [said,] “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” (v. 19)

First, Jesus tells us that His activity is limited to what He sees the Father doing. “The Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing” (v. 19). Christ is saying that He never does anything that is outside the range of what the Father would do.

I wish that I could say that everything I do is a reflection of the activity of God, but of course, I can’t. If that were true, I would be perfect. Yet that is exactly what Jesus is saying. “You will not find a single thing in My life that is outside of the range of the activity of God.”

Then Jesus makes a second statement that is even more astonishing. “The Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does” (emphasis added).

Not only is all of Jesus’ activity a reflection of the activity of God, but all of God’s activity also finds its reflection in Jesus.

In other words, Jesus is saying, “Everything that I do reflects what the Father does, and everything the Father does is reflected in what I do.”

We may do some things that reflect what God does. We may love or forgive or make peace, and in that limited sense, we may reflect the nature of the Father. But there are some things that God does that we can never do. When did you last make a universe?

Only God gives life. Only God raises the dead. Only God is in the position to pronounce final judgment. These are God’s things, and Jesus tells us that He does them.

WOMB, TOMB, AND DOOM

“Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son…. I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.” (vv. 21–22, 25)

The church I serve recently completed a building extension. When the work was completed, keys were distributed. There was quite a bit of discussion about who should have which keys. Keys are interesting because they reflect authority. If you have the keys to a place, you have the right of access to it.

Only God gives life, … raises the dead, and … pronounces final judgment.

Some keys belong to God alone. They are the keys of womb, tomb, and doom. Only God gives life, only God raises the dead, and only God pronounces final judgment.

But Jesus says, “Whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does” (vv. 19–20). Jesus holds all of the Father’s keys in His hand.

Jesus is speaking to people who were amazed at the miracle they had just seen as Jesus healed a man who had been paralyzed for thirty-eight years. But Jesus tells them that they should not be surprised. The Son is simply doing a few of the things that the Father does. And Jesus promises that they would see Him doing greater things than healing a crippled man.

Jesus does everything that God does, and that means that He will raise the dead and pronounce final judgment (vv. 21–22). These are God’s things, and Christ says that they are His things. They belong as much to the Son as they do to the Father.

THE SON WHO HAS LIFE IN HIMSELF

“As the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself.” (v. 26)

God has given us the wonderful gift of life, but we do not have life “in ourselves.” Our lives are the gift of God to us through our parents. Without them, we would not be.

Only God has “life in himself.” He is the only being whose existence does not depend on anybody else.

Jesus’ statement helps us to gaze with wonder into the mystery of the Trinity.

Notice that Jesus did not say, “The Father has life in himself and the Son has life in himself.” That would mean that there are two gods, both with life in themselves. Nor did Jesus say, “The Father has life in himself and he has granted the Son to have life.” That would mean that the Son was a created and dependent being just like you and me.

Jesus said, “The Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself.” The Father has always had life in Himself, and the Son has always had life in Himself, but there is one life. The Father and the Son share in the one eternal life of God.[3]

Put all this together and you will begin to see the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Everything about the Son reflects the Father, and everything about the Father is reflected in the Son. The Son holds all the Father’s keys and does everything the Father does. The Son has life in Himself, and He is able to give life to all who come to Him. He will one day raise the dead and pronounce final judgment on all people.

The New Testament places great stress on this teaching about the identity of Jesus: He is God with us. As we will see, this truth is of central importance for three reasons: If the Son is not God, (1) we could not know the Father, (2) the Cross would be an act of cruelty, and (3) we could never be sure of our salvation.

KNOWING GOD: A GUESS OR A REVELATION?

On one occasion, Philip expressed his deep longing to know God. He said to Jesus, “Show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus replied, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:8–9).

I have a brother in England. He is like me in some ways but very different in others. There is no way I could say to you, “If you have seen me, you have seen my brother,” because even though we come from the same parents, we are entirely different. To know me is not to know my brother.

If the Son was not God, then we would not know the Father. The best we could say would be that someone who was with the Father and in some ways is like the Father has come to tell us about Him.

If anyone ever tells you that the Son is not fully God, that person has removed the possibility of knowing God. How else could the invisible God be known?

If the Son is close to God but not God, then we are left guessing about what God is like. We can assume that Jesus is like the Father in some respects, but how could we know which ones? And if the Son is not God, then, by definition, He must in some ways be different from God. In what ways is He different? If the Son is not God, then we do not know the Father.

But the central claim of the gospel is that the Son is one with the Father. “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known” (John 1:18).

Jesus is not a companion of God who can tell us about Him. He is God with us. Whoever has seen Jesus has seen the Father. As the apostle Paul wrote, “God … [gave] us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). How else could the invisible God be known?

THE CROSS: AN ACT OF CRUELTY OR A GIFT OF LOVE?

If the Son is not God, the Cross would be an act of cruelty, not a gift of love.

The Bible tells us that the Father laid the guilt and the punishment for our sins on the Son. Think about that. If the Son is not God, then the Cross was an act of utter cruelty on the part of God.

If the Son is not God, it means that God picked on some person in His creation and poured out on Him what everyone else deserved. What kind of justice is that?

If the Son is not God, He was victimized by the Father—sentenced for crimes He did not commit. If the Son is not God, the Cross was the greatest miscarriage of justice in history, and not just by Pontius Pilate—it would be the ultimate miscarriage of justice by God Almighty. If the Son is not God, we would have to rewrite Romans 5:8: “God demonstrated his injustice in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

GOD’S ETERNAL PURPOSE

God had always planned to redeem men and women from the clutches of sin. The Bible speaks about God’s eternal purpose (Ephesians 3:11). Before God created the world, He knew the choice that Adam and Eve would make and the disaster that would follow. But God had planned to redeem men and women out of this fallen world so that they would share His eternal glory forever.

That plan involved a great cost. It would mean God giving Himself, and that self-giving would be the ultimate display of His own nature and His own glory.

God’s self-giving would involve all the persons of the Trinity. One would be the giver, one would be the gift, and one would bring the gift to all who would receive.

Here is the great mystery: … God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ.

Before the world began, the Father said, “I will be the giver.” The Son said, “I will be the gift,” and the Spirit said, “I will bring the gift to all who will receive.” The Father would send the Son; the Son would come and lay down His life. The Spirit would deliver this priceless gift and make it yours.

If you are trying to evaluate the difficulty of the role of the Father and the Son, think about Abraham and Isaac climbing Mount Moriah. Which of them had the easier part to play? The one who would give up his son, or the one who would lay down his life? The question is unanswerable. The Father and the Son were locked together in a mystery of self-giving and sacrifice at infinite cost.

Here is the great mystery: As the Father gave the Son and the Son laid down His life, God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ. When the Father poured out the judgment for sin upon the Son, God was bearing the wrath of God.

That is why Romans 5:8 actually reads, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (emphasis added). The Father demonstrates His love in giving the Son. The Son demonstrates His love by becoming the gift. The Spirit demonstrates His love by opening our hearts to receive this gift.

The Cross was not the act of a cruel and vindictive God. It was the outpouring of love by the God who chose to redeem His enemies at infinite personal cost. And the reason it is so is that the Son is God.

SALVATION: BEING SURE OR HOPING FOR THE BEST?

If the Son was not God, you could never be sure of your salvation.

I phoned my credit card company recently because I wanted to change my card into a new one that had some extra benefits. “Can I do this over the phone?” I asked.

The assistant was very helpful and assured me that I could.

I spent about fifteen minutes on the phone answering every question imaginable and a few more, but at the end she assured me that I would have the new card within a few days.

A few days later I received a letter.

Dear Colin Smith,

Thank you for your recent inquiry regarding your credit card account. Unfortunately we are unable to change your account as you requested.

If you would like to change your account, please contact our customer service at the telephone number listed above.

If you have any questions or if we can help you in any other way, please call us. Serving you is very important to us, and we appreciate your business.

The letter came from the financial services adviser, though he didn’t bother to sign it.

Now you know what has happened here. Some poor telephone operator has been overruled! From the information I gave her, she sincerely believed that my account could be changed over the phone, so she led me through the process and assured me that all was well.

But she was overruled by a higher authority who presumably told her that she had no right to make such rash promises to me, and that what she had told this “Smith fellow” in Arlington Heights was quite beyond her authority and that she should send the appropriate letter immediately and without fail!

Now, what if it was like that with Christ? If the Son is not God, there is always the possibility that however well intentioned, He may ultimately be overruled by a higher authority.

If the Son is not God, we have to face the distinct possibility that we might arrive at heaven’s gate only to be issued an unsigned letter from a higher authority informing us that the heaven we hoped for is currently not available, and that we had better begin some entirely new application process for which we may or may not qualify.

Christ presides over the supreme court of the universe There is no higher authority.

If the Son is not God, then we have an attorney acting for us, but at the end of the day everything depends on whether he can persuade the judge.

But suppose that the Father entrusted all judgment to the Son (John 5:22). Suppose that the Son is in very nature God. Then, if the Son said, “You are forgiven,” you would be forgiven!

Christ presides over the supreme court of the universe. If He settles your case, there is no other place of appeal. There is no higher authority. There are no other proceedings. There can be no overruling.

RESPONDING TO THE SON

When you have seen who the Son of God is, faith will be the most natural thing in the world. When Jesus revealed His true identity, He invited people to trust Him. His words in John 5 are emphatic:

“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” (v. 24)

You can put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. In His hand He holds the key to your destiny. He offers you eternal life. He promises that if you will believe His words and believe the Father who sent Him, you will not be condemned. That’s His promise and He will never be overruled. Do you believe Him?

When you see who the Son of God is, your response will also be one of worship. Jesus said, “The Father … has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father” (vv. 22–23). Those who honor Him begin a new life, “by faith in the Son of God, who loved [us] and gave himself for [us]” (Galatians 2:20).

UNLOCKED

Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He shares the Father’s nature and glory; He is the image of the invisible God, “the exact representation of his being” (Hebrews 1:3). This teaching runs throughout the New Testament and is of foundational importance to the whole Christian faith.

Jesus is God with us, and for this reason we can truly know the Father in Him. His death on the cross is the ultimate demonstration of the love of God for us. On the cross, God was bearing the wrath of God. God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ. The deity of the Lord Jesus Christ is also the basis of our assurance of salvation. The Father has trusted all judgment to the Son; there is no higher authority. His word is final.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

You can use the following words to reflect on the glory of the Son of God, and express your worship to Him:

You are the everlasting Word, the Father’s only Son;

God in the flesh now seen and heard, You’re heaven’s best loved one.

But the high mysteries of Your Name, not even angels know;

All that’s in God is seen in You, living with us below.

In You we see the face of God, whose nature is concealed;

You know the Father; through You alone, the Father is revealed.

In all the joy of heaven’s bliss, the center is God’s Son,

Through time and through eternity, we’ll sing of what You’ve done.

Worthy O Lamb of God art Thou

that every knee to You should bow.[4]

Notes

1. I gladly acknowledge my debt to Professor Don Carson for his work on the “Son language” of the New Testament. See especially D. A. Carson, The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2000), 31ff.

2. The New International Version translates the verse “Eli’s sons were wicked men; they had no regard for the LORD.”

3. I am again indebted to Don Carson for this point, particularly in The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God, 37–39.

4. Adapted from the hymn “Thou Art the Everlasting Word,” Josiah Condor (1789–1855).

17

Spirit

JOHN 16

Who is the Holy

Spirit and what

does He do?

DISCOVER

how the Holy Spirit delivers the gift that Christ has purchased for us.

LEARN

how to recognize the work of the Holy Spirit.

WORSHIP

because God is at work throughout the world by the Holy Spirit.

IMAGINE a man who is fabulously wealthy. His name is Stavros, he is a Greek shipping magnate, and over the years he has amassed billions of dollars.

One day Stavros dies, and his lawyer opens the will. It’s a very lengthy document, running to hundreds of pages. The lawyer already knows the contents because he was there when the will was written. He knows that Stavros chose to distribute his wealth to many people.

The beneficiaries of Stavros’s will are all over the world. Every one of them has to be found and told about the legacy, and, according to the terms of the will, every one of them has to be brought to Stavros’s home in order to receive what has been promised to them. The lawyer has his work cut out for years to come.

The Bible tells us that through His death, Christ has purchased a marvelous inheritance for us. Through His death and resurrection, He has opened the way for sinful men and women to be reconciled to God and to enter everlasting life. The will of God has been signed by the Father and sealed by the blood of Christ. But what has been signed and sealed still needs to be delivered.

It is one thing for a gift to be offered; it is another thing for that gift to be received. And all that Jesus Christ has done will be useless and of no value to us until we receive what He offers.

So how can the will of God, signed by the Father, and sealed in the blood of Christ be delivered to us? The answer is, “By the Holy Spirit.”

The Holy Spirit brings what Jesus has accomplished on the cross and applies it personally to us. He takes what Christ has made possible for all people and applies it to your particular case.

Without the Spirit of God, salvation would [be only] a theoretical possibility.

If the Son of God had not come, you could not be saved. If the Spirit of God had not come, you would not be saved. Without the Spirit of God, salvation would remain a theoretical possibility, but it would never become a reality for any of us. If there were no Holy Spirit, nobody would arrive in heaven. Without the Spirit, all that Jesus has done would be like a will that was never read, a gift that was never received, an inheritance that was never made known.

So when we talk about the work of the Holy Spirit, we are right to the center of the Christian faith. It is the Spirit who brings us to Christ, and it is the Spirit who keeps us in Christ.

Jesus highlighted three distinctive activities of the Spirit: disturbing, illuminating, and indwelling.

GOD’S DISTURBER OF THE PEACE

“When [the Holy Spirit] comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.” (JOHN 16:8)

People in the world of business know that you can’t sell what people don’t want to buy. That’s a fundamental rule of the marketplace. You may have the most marvelous widget, but if people can’t see a need for your widget, then you don’t have much hope of success.

Christ offers us forgiveness of sin, righteousness from above, and deliverance from the judgment to come. The problem is that most people do not feel that they need what Christ offers.

This is nothing new. The Gospels tell us about an occasion when Jesus was approached by a successful businessman who wanted to know what he had to do to have eternal life. When Jesus spoke to him about the Ten Commandments, he said that he had kept them all since his youth.

He was absolutely sincere. “You don’t understand,” the businessman was saying. “You’re not talking to a lowlifer who has trashed his life. You’re talking to a highly successful, upwardly mobile achiever, and I’ve kept all of these commandments since my youth.”

He wasn’t suggesting that he was perfect. No sane person thinks that. But he was not aware of any obvious sin in his life, and he felt that he was making a commendable effort to walk the right path. As he looked at his own life, his honest opinion was that overall he measured up to the Law of God rather well He expected to have eternal life; he just wanted to be sure.

It is very interesting that the first thing Christ did with this man was to expose his need. He said, “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me” (Mark 10:21).

In a moment, the man saw himself for the self-centered person he was. His whole view of himself as someone who measures up to what God requires was completely blown apart, and he saw for the first time that he knew nothing about the love of God.

Jesus had to illuminate this man’s need because the man would never progress until he discovered his need of Christ.

Think about opening a can of paint. You would probably use a screwdriver or some other kind of lever to pry the lid open. Round the edge of the can there is a rim that functions as a pivot for the lever. If there were no rim, you would not be able to pry the lid open. There would be nothing for the lever to pull on. A lever has to pull on a pivot.

The gospel is like a lever, and it depends on a sense of sin as its pivot. If a person has no sense of sin, the gospel will have no “pull” in that person’s life. The gospel is addressed to the sense of sin, and where that does not exist, it is like a lever without a pivot.

[The Spirit’s] first work is to disturb by convincing us of sin, righteousness, and judgment.

The gospel will only have its effect in our lives if the Holy Spirit creates a sense of sin within us, and that is why His first work is to disturb by convincing us of sin, righteousness, and judgment.

If it were not for the Holy Spirit, we would never see our need for Jesus. Indeed, it is frightening to observe that as a man’s deeds grow more evil, his capacity for denial often seems to increase. The more a person engages in sin, the easier it gets to live with it, and those who continue longest in patterns of sin are least sensitive to the sinfulness of their behavior.

FALSE GUILT … AND TRUE GUILT

I recently watched a film about the Nuremberg trials. After the Second World War, the Allies set up a legal process for trying war criminals of some of the most horrendous crimes, and the hearings were held in the town of Nuremberg, Germany. The highest-ranking defendant was Hermann Göring.

What was truly staggering, as the story unfolded, was that when survivors of the most appalling violence were brought forward and film of the concentration camps in all of their horrors was shown, Göring could still not see that the cause that he had supported had been wrong. He felt that there was good justification for what he had done and that there was no good reason for judgment to be passed upon him.

We hear a great deal today about false guilt. False guilt is an inappropriate feeling of guilt over something that we did not do and for which we were not responsible. There is nothing useful about false guilt. It is a snare of the enemy, and we need to expose it so that we can be free from it.

But there is such a thing as true guilt, and true guilt needs to be embraced. True guilt relates to sins we have committed, righteousness we have not fulfilled, and judgment that is due on account of these things. True guilt is about facing reality and taking responsibility. A person who never discovers his or her true guilt will continue down the path of sin and never find reconciliation to God.

There is a huge gulf between what we are and what God calls us to be. When the Holy Spirit enables us to see ourselves clearly, we will quickly realize that righteousness is far beyond our reach and that without Jesus Christ we would be liable to the judgment and the condemnation of God.

The first work of the Holy Spirit is to show us what’s wrong, so that we will see our need and be ready to listen to the gospel. This is never comfortable. Nobody likes to be wakened when they are sleeping, but if there is a fire in your house, you will be deeply thankful to the person who wakens you. You may be angry at first, but as soon as you realize the danger you are in, you will be grateful.

GOD’S THREE ALARM CLOCKS

Karen and I have three alarm clocks in our bedroom. The first one to go off wakens us gently with music. The second is set for a few minutes later and is more disturbing. We have it set in case we sleep through the first one. The third is set later still and is a last resort if all else fails. It makes a horrendous sound, and the day begins much better if we are up before it sounds its deafening blast.

God has three ways to intercept sin in a person’s life. You could think of them as three alarm clocks. As you consider them, think about which you would most like God to use in your case.

The first is the quiet and gentle work of God’s Spirit opening up the conscience and revealing what’s wrong to your mind so that you can change it.

If you sleep through that, the Holy Spirit may speak more loudly and directly. That’s what God did with David. The king wasn’t listening to the Holy Spirit’s prompting in his conscience, so God revealed David’s secret sin of adultery to the prophet Nathan and sent him to speak to David. David’s sin was exposed. It became public knowledge, and at that point, David turned to God in repentance. If that’s what it takes, that is what God will do.

If a person ignores God’s second alarm, his or her situation becomes perilous. That is what happened with Pharaoh. God sent Moses to him, but Pharaoh refused to listen to God’s command, even when he was confronted with it directly. He continued to harden his heart, and eventually God took direct action. Pharaoh came under the judgment of God.

Consider these three alarms: the quiet work of God’s Spirit in opening the conscience, confrontation by another person, and the direct judgment of God Almighty. Which of these three ways would you like God to use to stop you sinning? I have no doubt about the way that I want God to work in my life.

We should be deeply thankful to God for the disturbing work of the Holy Spirit, and determine to be sensitive to His voice. Those who refuse to face their sins eventually find that God has other ways of speaking.

Nothing could be more foolish than to resist the Holy Spirit when He speaks to you about your sin. God is reaching out to you in the gentlest of ways. It’s always disturbing, but this work of the Holy Spirit is a wonderful expression of God’s grace.

TURNING ON THE FLOODLIGHT

“When the Counselor comes, … the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.” (JOHN 15:26) “He [the Holy Spirit] will bring glory to me [Jesus] by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.” (JOHN 16:14)

I love to drive past our church at night when it is floodlit. The building looks magnificent, but if it were not for the floodlights, its beauty would be hidden in the darkness. I have often driven friends past the floodlit building, but I have never yet heard anybody comment on the floodlights. People always talk about the building.[1]

The second distinctive work of the Holy Spirit is to floodlight Jesus Christ. He illuminates the truth that once was obscure to us; He opens our understanding so that we see the glory of Jesus. Like the floodlight, the Holy Spirit does not draw attention to Himself; He directs our focus to Jesus Christ.

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are equally God. There is no order or rank or precedence. But for the purposes of our salvation, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit have different roles. The Father chose to be the giver, the Son chose to be the gift, and the Spirit chose to bring the gift. The Son placed Himself in the service of the Father, and the Spirit placed Himself in the service of the Son.

The Holy Spirit is heaven’s match-maker. He brings us to Christ.

The Holy Spirit has a beautiful ministry. He shows me my need of a Savior, and at the same time, He shows me that Christ is the Savior I need. Then He brings the two together.

The Holy Spirit is heaven’s matchmaker. He brings us to Christ and joins us to Christ so that everything Jesus accomplished on the cross becomes mine. He delivers the gift, signed by the Father and sealed by the death of Christ.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IS A PERSON

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever.” (JOHN 14:16)

Donald Grey Barnhouse pointed out that our English word another is ambiguous because it can mean “different” or “the same.” If I go into a shop and buy a pen, and when I get home I find that it’s a roller ball when I thought it was a fountain pen, I might take it back and ask for “another” one, by which I mean one that is different. But if I like the pen and then lose it, I might go back to the shop and ask for “another” one, by which I mean one exactly the same.[2]

Thankfully, the Greek language in which the New Testament was written distinguishes these two uses of “another,” and the word Jesus uses here to describe the Spirit as “another Counselor” is the word that means “exactly the same.”

“Over the last three years,” Jesus was saying, “I have been your counselor. But when the Holy Spirit comes, He will be everything to you that I have been.”

This tells us two very important things about the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit is to be everything to us that Christ was to the disciples, it follows that the Holy Spirit is a person and that the Holy Spirit is God.

Jesus never referred to the Holy Spirit as “it,” and neither should we. Jesus always spoke about “He” or “Him.” When speaking about the Spirit, Jesus said, “The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you” (v. 17, emphasis added).

The Holy Spirit is as much a person as the Father and the Son. So we should not think of the Spirit simply as a power or force. The Bible speaks about lying to the Holy Spirit and grieving the Spirit (Acts 5:3; Ephesians 4:30). You cannot lie to a force, and you cannot grieve a power. A burst of energy could never be to the disciples everything that Jesus was.

The Holy Spirit is a person. He speaks to us and works with us. The Holy Spirit is as much God with you as Jesus was God with the disciples.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IS GOD

The Holy Spirit has been at work from the beginning. At the creation, the Spirit of God hovered over the waters (Genesis 1:2). He was at work throughout the Old Testament, especially through prophets, priests, and kings. David asked where he should run from the Spirit or go from His presence (Psalm 139:7–10).

The Father is the fullness of God invisible. The Son is the fullness of God made flesh. The Spirit is the fullness of God with us and in us. Once again we stand in awe of the mystery of the Trinity: one God in three persons.

Notice how Jesus spoke about the unity between the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. He called the Spirit “another Counselor” (John 14:16). So the Spirit is not to be confused with the Son. They have a distinct identity. But then Jesus added, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (v. 18). In other words, where the Spirit is, Christ is.

Then Jesus said something even more astonishing. “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (v. 23). So now, we learn that where the Spirit is, both the Father and the Son will make Their home.

One thing that is absolutely clear is that you cannot know one person of the Trinity without the others. There is no such thing as knowing the Father apart from the Son. It is through the Son that the Father has made Himself known. And nobody knows the Son apart from the Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who opens our eyes to know who Jesus is, and it is the Holy Spirit who brings us to repentance and faith in Him.

“IN” AND “WITH”

“You know him [the Holy Spirit], for he lives with you and will be in you.” (JOHN 14:17, EMPHASIS ADDED)

Notice the two distinctive words Jesus used to describe our relationship with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is “with” me. That reminds me that there is the “Holy Spirit” and there is “me,” and I must never get the two confused!

Have you ever met someone who did confuse the two? You know them by their assumption that everything they say is something that God is saying. They cannot distinguish between themselves and the Spirit. It is almost impossible to reason with such a person. This error is at the root of a great deal of fanaticism, and has led to many disasters that have tarnished the church.

We must never confuse what we think and say with the mind of the Spirit. If we are wise, we will humbly allow others to test what we say. The Spirit is with me, and I often need Him to correct me.

The Holy Spirit is not a spiritual capacity within us. If that were the case, we would be alone and would have no help outside of ourselves. When Jesus says that the Spirit is “with” His disciples, He is reminding us that God Himself comes to us. He is our help and our shield. God is with you in the hardest situations of your life.

He is able to touch all the deep places of your soul.

But Jesus also said that the Spirit would be “in” His disciples. The third distinctive work of the Holy Spirit is to indwell believers. The Holy Spirit is more than a mentor who shows us what to do. We need more than advice; we need the power to change. The ministry of the Holy Spirit goes beyond the work of a counselor, pastor, or friend who may be able to shed light on problems and suggest possible ways forward. The Spirit works in us.

He is able to touch all the deep places of your soul, renewing your mind, redirecting affections of the heart, molding and reshaping the will, cleansing the imagination, and healing the memory. He can create new desires within you so that you follow Christ not out of a sense of duty but from a heart that hungers and thirsts for righteousness. He can give you the power to live a new life for the glory of God.

If you have come to faith in Jesus Christ, God’s Spirit is with you and in you (see 1 Corinthians 6:19; 12:13). There is one God and He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You can come to the Father only through the Son, and those who come through the Son have the Spirit. Indeed, it is the Spirit who draws us to the Son and shows us our need in the first place.

So don’t ever say that you can’t change. Don’t allow your enemy to talk defeat. The fullness of God is with you, in Christ, and by the Spirit. Think about the Spirit who dwells in you! The blessed third person of the Trinity is at work in you and is with you in everything you face from here to eternity.

UNLOCKED

God the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, and His ministry is central to our salvation. We could not be saved without the work of God the Son on the Cross, and we would not be saved without the work of God the Holy Spirit in our hearts. The promises that are signed by God the Father and sealed by the death and resurrection of God the Son are delivered and made effective in our lives by God the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit disturbs us so that we see our sin and grasp our need of the Savior. As He disturbs, He also illuminates, so that we can see that Jesus is precisely the Savior we need.

Then as heaven’s matchmaker, the Holy Spirit forms the bond between the believer and Christ as faith and repentance are formed in our hearts. The Holy Spirit is both with and in every Christian believer, giving us the knowledge of God’s presence and the gift of His power.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Almighty Father,

Thank You for sending Your Holy Spirit into my heart, so that I may know You and Your Son Jesus Christ.

Show me the secret sins that lurk in the dark places of my soul so that I may be able to see myself and grow in repentance. Give me a fresh and clear understanding of the love of the Lord Jesus Christ so that I may trust Him more fully and worship Him from a full and thankful heart.

Thank You that Your Spirit is with me in every situation I face. Give me a deeper appreciation of His power that is at work in me, and help me to know that I can do everything You call me to do by the power of Your Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Notes

1. I owe the illustration of the floodlight to Dr. J. I. Packer. See Packer, Keep in Step with the Spirit (Old Tappan, N. J.: Revell, 1984), 65 ff.

2. The illustration of the pen is from Donald Grey Barnhouse, Illustrating the Gospel of John (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1973), 189–190.

18

Christ

JOHN 20

What does

the name

Christ mean?

DISCOVER

the evidence for believing that Jesus is the Christ.

LEARN

why salvation does not rest on you but on Jesus.

WORSHIP

because those who trust in Jesus Christ will never be put to shame.

SUPPOSE you are in a large city and that you don’t know how to find your way to a particular destination. There are two ways in which you might proceed.

You could ask for directions. Someone might tell you that you need to catch the number 29 bus, get off at the second stop past the old cement works, take the third street on the left, go over the bridge, across the field, through the underpass, and then take the fourth block on your right.

A second approach would be to take a taxi. You would ask the taxi driver if he knows how to get to your destination, and assuming that he did, you would get in.

Now suppose, in the first case, that just after you get on the number 29 bus, the man who gave you the instructions has a heart attack and dies. This unfortunate event will make no difference to your journey because you have the instructions. All that matters, as far as your journey is concerned, is that he gave you the information before he died.

But suppose you are in the taxi, and just as you are going past the old cement works, the taxi driver has a heart attack and dies. Then you are completely stuck. You do not know the way to your destination, and the one in whom you put your trust is unable to take you there.

The heart of Christianity lies not in a set of instructions but in the ability of Jesus to take us to heaven. It is not the teaching of the New Testament that will save you; it is Jesus Christ Himself who will save you, and that is why Christianity stands or falls with Jesus’ ability to do what He promised. Everything depends on whether He is able to take us to the promised destination.

That is why the New Testament insists that if Christ is not risen, our faith is futile (1 Corinthians 15:17). We would be the most miserable people in the world, because we chose to trust our journey to one who was unable to deliver us to our destination. Everything stands or falls with Him.

Are we ready to stake our destiny on Him?

Other religious leaders have presented a program of spiritual disciplines and said, “This is the way,” but Jesus said, “I am the way.” Others have presented a body of teaching and said, “This is the truth,” but Jesus said, “I am the truth.” Others have said, “Do this and you will have life.” Jesus said, “I am the life” (John 14:6).

The world is filled with many claims, and it is not always easy to tell truth from error. So how are we to assess the claims of Jesus? He comes alongside and tells us that He can bring us to the Father and when, like the taxi driver, He invites us to “get in,” we face a decision: Are we ready to stake our destiny on Him?

This decision involves an act of trust, and since the issue at stake is your eternal destiny, it is not a decision you will want to make lightly. The Gospels were written to help you make that decision.

WHY SHOULD I BELIEVE?

“These are written that you may believe.” (JOHN 20:31)

Over the years I have met many people who have been given an inadequate answer to the question, “Why should I believe?” Some have been taught that they should believe because the church says so. The problem with this answer is that it leaves very little room for honest questions.

The result is that many people choose either to turn away from the invitation to believe or else “sign off” on certain beliefs, without those beliefs really becoming personal. “I believe what the church teaches: I’m not sure it makes a whole lot of sense, but who am I to question the church?” That hardly leads you to the kind of personal trust that Jesus invites you to place in Him.

The same thing can happen in family life where zealous parents drum Christian teaching into their children, who feel that honest questions are regarded as a sign of unbelief or rebellion. That kind of pressure to believe can lead to the conclusion of the little boy who was asked what faith was and answered, “Faith is believing what you know isn’t true.”

The story is told of a preacher who left his notes on the pulpit after a Sunday morning service. One of the board members took the opportunity to look through the pages. They were beautifully printed, and in the margins there were some notes to help with presentation. About half way through there were some strong red lines in the margin, and beside them the words, “Argument weak here; shout louder.”

The church has not been free from blame in this regard. But when you open the New Testament, you enter a different world. The apostles were not authoritarian preachers who leaned out of their pulpits and shouted loudly, “Believe, believe!” They were compassionate pastors, who laid out the evidence of what they had seen and heard of Jesus Christ so that people could look at it honestly and come to a verdict.

TRYING TO GET THE FEELING

I wish that I had a dollar for every time someone told me that they believe because they feel it. This is repeated so often; yet some spend years waiting for this feeling to happen to them.

If the church in the past has fallen into the error of trying to build faith on the bullying tactics of authoritarianism, then the church today is in much greater danger of building faith on the manipulative tactics of sentimentalism. The church in the modern world is increasingly under pressure to use techniques that induce temporary states of feeling.

The problem for many is that they have experienced warm feelings in worship, but that is all they have experienced. When they are faced with great darkness, or they are challenged with the cost of following Christ, the warm feelings fade, and there is no rock on which their faith can rest.

This is surely why the apostle Paul said that he had “renounced secret and shameful ways” and refused to have anything to do with deception or distortions of the Word of God (2 Corinthians 4:2).

God created you with a mind, a heart, and a will, and He wants to possess all of them. He seeks a relationship of integrity with His people in which a person’s mind is convinced, heart filled, and will committed.

It’s like falling in love: When you discover that special person and you know he or she is the one, your mind says so, your heart says so, and your will says so. The order may vary, but you are looking for three green lights, and if one of them is missing, there’s usually a problem.

This is where God wants to bring us. Some people are intuitive. God gains the attention of their hearts before He gains the conviction of their minds. Feeling precedes understanding. There is nothing wrong with that so long as the understanding is eventually engaged.

Others are more cerebral. They need to come to a settled conviction before the heart is opened. The heart cannot embrace what the mind will not believe. Others are activists. They want to do something and are quick to step forward and become involved. The order is not important. What matters is that the whole person becomes involved.

This is why God gives us the evidence on which faith is based in the Gospels. The Gospels present the case for Christ. They are evidence that demands a verdict.

YOU ARE THE JURY

Imagine that you are in a court of law. You are part of the jury, and the apostle John wants to present you with certain evidence. When he is finished presenting his evidence, he will be looking for you to give a verdict.

He is not like a bully attorney, trying to intimidate you. Nor is he a tearjerker, trying to gain your sympathy. He is presenting the evidence of what he has seen and heard as a direct witness over the three years he has been with Jesus. All he asks is that we hear the evidence without prejudice.

And that’s our problem. When a jury is sworn in, the key question is whether there are any ways in which they may be prejudiced with regard to the particular case that is going to be tried. You may be a very good member of the jury in one trial, but you may be highly prejudiced when it comes to another.

Many people have issues that prejudice their hearing of the evidence about Jesus. Our culture is highly prejudiced against the possibility that any one person could be the Savior of the world. Then there is prejudice in our hearts because we know that if we come to the verdict that Jesus is the Christ, it will have a major impact on the direction of our lives. So many want to be excused from the jury. “I can’t try this case,” they say. “Sorry!”

If you are not in heaven on the last day, it will not be because God has failed to provide you with evidence or opportunity. Recall John’s words about his gospel: “These are written that you may believe.”

“JESUS IS THE CHRIST”

“These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ.” (v.20, EMPHASIS ADDED)

If you were asked to summarize the core of the Christian faith in one sentence, what would you say? John boils the essence of the faith down to just four words: “Jesus is the Christ.”

It is obviously important for us to know what the name Christ means. We know that our Lord was given the birth name of Jesus, so why do we call Him Jesus Christ?

Our English word Christ comes from the Greek word Christos, which means Messiah, or “Anointed One.” “Christ” is a title referring to One promised in the Old Testament who would be anointed by God. A quick review of the people who were anointed in the Old Testament will help us to understand its significance.

Throughout the Bible story, God engages in three activities. He reveals Himself so that we may know Him, He reconciles us to Himself so that we come to Him, and He rules the world so that His purposes may be fulfilled.

In the Old Testament, certain people were “anointed” as a sign that God would use them in one of these activities. They were prophets, priests, and kings.

The prophets were anointed for God’s work of revealing. God spoke to them directly so that they could speak the Word of God to the people. Prophets were “anointed” for this task. At the end of Elijah’s life, he was told to go and “anoint Elisha” to be a prophet after him (1 Kings 19:16). Isaiah said the Spirit of the Lord had “anointed” him to preach good news to the poor (Isaiah 61:1).

The priests were anointed for God’s work of reconciling. While the prophets spoke on behalf of God to men, the priests spoke on behalf of men to God. They had the unenviable task of offering sacrifices on behalf of the people.

The ceremony for anointing the high priest is described in Exodus 29. Aaron was dressed in the high priest’s clothing and brought before the people. Moses poured oil over his head until it ran down over his beard (Psalm 133:2). It must have been a spectacular occasion. Nobody could be in any doubt that God had chosen this man and anointed him for the ministry of high priest.

The kings were anointed for God’s work of ruling. Samuel anointed David as king of Israel by pouring oil over his head. When he did this, “the Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power” (1 Samuel 16:13).

Different expectations developed regarding this Messiah, or Anointed One.

In the Old Testament, “God’s anointed one” could be a prophet who spoke God’s word, a priest who offered sacrifices, or a king who subdued the people’s enemies, but as the Old Testament story progressed, there was a growing expectation that God would one day send an anointed one par excellence into the world.

Since God’s anointed one could be a prophet, priest, or king, it is easy to understand how different expectations developed regarding this Messiah, or Anointed One. Some thought He would be a prophet; they were looking for God to send a new teacher of righteousness. Others were looking for a priest who would bring a reformation of worship. Still others, like Judas Iscariot, were convinced that the Messiah would be a freedom fighter who would lead a political uprising and deliver the people from the oppression of the Roman Empire.

Throughout the Old Testament story, God raised up prophets, priests, and kings. There was always new truth to be revealed, new sacrifices for sin to be made, and new enemies to be faced. God’s people were continually in need of God’s anointed, but increasingly, they looked for “The anointed,” the One who had been promised.

Jesus Christ is God’s Anointed One par excellence.

Then God did something absolutely staggering. He anointed His own Son to fulfill not one, but all of the Old Testament offices. The Father said to the Son, “You go and be their Prophet. You go and be their High Priest. You go and be their King.”

Jesus Christ is God’s Anointed One par excellence, and John lays out the evidence to show us that Jesus is indeed the Deliverer, promised by God since the beginning of time, who will reveal the truth, reconcile men and women to God, and defeat our greatest enemy.

Jesus Christ has given us the definitive revelation of God. He is God with us, and in Him the Father has made Himself known. In laying down His life, Jesus has made the final sacrifice that will cover the sins of all who will come to Him. Jesus has also overcome our greatest enemy and broken his stranglehold over the human race through His death and resurrection.

John sets out the evidence that Jesus is the Christ. He points to Christ the prophet, who knew the hidden truth about a Samaritan woman. She said to him, “I know that Messiah … is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he” (John 4:25–26).

“‘We have found the Messiah’ (that is, the Christ).”

John tells us about the death of Jesus. At the beginning of the gospel, John the Baptist identified Jesus as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). When John said this, one of His disciples, Andrew, began to follow Jesus. He told his brother Peter, “‘We have found the Messiah’ (that is, the Christ)” (v. 41).

John goes on to explain how Christ would take away the sins of the world. Jesus spoke of laying down His life. That’s the language of sacrifice. When Jesus died, John records His triumphant words, “It is finished” (19:30), indicating the sacrifice was complete and reconciliation between God and man was accomplished.

John also gives us the evidence that Christ is the King who delivers us from our enemies. One day Jesus came to the tomb of a friend who had died four days earlier. He said, “I am the resurrection and the life” and asked the dead man’s sister Martha if she believed this. “Yes, Lord,” she said, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world” (11:27).

Jesus asked for the stone to be rolled back and then demonstrated His authority over death by calling the dead man to come out. This King has authority over greater enemies than the Romans. He can deliver men and women from the tyranny of death and hell.

The reason that all these things were written was so “that you may [know] that Jesus is the Christ” (20:31). Jesus is the Prophet who speaks the Word of God, He is the Priest who offers the sacrifice acceptable to God, and He is the King who routs the enemies of God. He is God’s Anointed One. Jesus is the Christ.

When we know who Jesus is, we will understand what it means to have faith in Him. Jesus Christ is Prophet, Priest, and King. So believing in Him means that we trust what He says as Prophet and take His Word as the standard of truth by which all else is measured. It means that we trust Him as Priest to bring us into the presence of God. It means that we each submit ourselves to Him as King, to live under His authority and rule.

THE OUTCOME OF FAITH: LIFE IN HIS NAME

These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (v. 31, EMPHASIS ADDED)

Faith is not an end in itself. John tells us that “by believing [we] have life in his name.” Life is one of the great themes of John’s gospel, and it is important that we understand what John is talking about.

As you read this book, you are, by definition, alive. But Jesus spoke to people about another kind of life that He could give to them. He said that He had come so that men and women might have “life … to the full” (10:10). What did He mean by that?

Once again, the big picture of the Bible story will help us to understand. Jesus was speaking about the life Adam and Eve enjoyed in the garden. There they enjoyed a life free from the frustrations of age and the fear of death. They knew a wonderful partnership together, in which they pursued meaningful work, in beautiful surroundings. But most of all, they enjoyed the presence and companionship of God who came down and made Himself visible to them so that they could know Him. That was life to the full, and they lost it all when they made their disastrous choice to know about evil.

They were driven out of the garden, and afterward Adam must have known that he was living half a life. His children never experienced what their father and mother had known. All they knew was life in this fallen world, with its disease, danger, disasters, and death. Adam must have told them about the life he had known, but it would have been difficult for his children even to imagine.

When I was at high school, I taught myself to write in Braille because I had two friends who were blind. One had been blind from birth, and the other had become blind through an accident. Their experience was very different. One knew what the colors were and he knew what he was missing. You could describe things to him more easily. The other had no notion of color, except what he produced in his own imagination.

Christ came … so that you [might have] what is beyond your imagination.

That is the great difference between Adam and us. Adam had been in Paradise. He knew what it was to walk with God. He knew what life could be without the knowledge of evil. He knew that he was living half a life.

Our problem is that we have never seen what he saw. We have never experienced what he enjoyed. We find it difficult to imagine what it would be like to be free from evil and to enjoy the visible presence of God.

Christ came into the world so that you should have the opportunity of entering into what is beyond your imagination. God wants you to enjoy the life Adam knew and lost, the life that his descendants have never seen or known.

Jesus offers to take you into this everlasting life. God has anointed Him for the task. He is the Christ. The Gospels present the evidence, showing how He fulfills the role of God’s anointed Prophet, Priest, and King, and God invites you, through the Scriptures, to come to a verdict of faith. That’s why John wrote his gospel: “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (20:31).

SOMETHING MAGNIFICENT

Do you see the glory of this?

A few weeks ago, Karen and I had the opportunity of hearing the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Frank Peter Zimmerman, their guest soloist. They were playing Tchaikovsky, and it was magnificent.

The soloist played as if his bow would set his violin on fire. At the end, the audience rose in a standing ovation. It was irresistible. The applause went on and on as the artist came back to the stage and in the end, when it would not subside, he raised his violin and treated us to an encore. That brought the house down.

Then we went out for the intermission, our spirits raised high, the audience buzzing with delight. In the foyer an older man was talking with great animation to a younger woman whom I guessed might be his daughter. He seemed very upset. As they walked by us, I heard him say, “I’ve been coming here for thirty years, and I have never seen that before.” He was referring to the encore. “I don’t like it,” he said. “I can’t see any reason for it!”

We have been in the presence of something truly magnificent.

I had to restrain myself. Here was a man who had been in the presence of something magnificent, which had lifted hundreds of other people around him, and he saw nothing out of the ordinary. It was staggering.

What was wrong with the man?

As we have followed the Bible story through the Gospels, we have been in the presence of something truly magnificent. We have seen the breathtaking sweep of God’s plan in which the Son of God took our flesh, faced our enemy, laid down His life as a sacrifice, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven—all accomplished so that we may be brought into everlasting life through faith in His name.

Nothing is more tragic than for someone to be confronted with the claims of Christ and the offer of the gospel and to go away as if he or she had not heard anything out of the ordinary.

UNLOCKED

The name Christ means Messiah, or Anointed One. In the Old Testament, God anointed prophets, priests, and kings to advance His purposes in the world. They pointed forward to One who would fulfill what they could only illustrate. God had promised that there would be an Anointed One par excellence, who would speak the Word of God, offer the sacrifice acceptable to God, and rout the enemies of God.

The Gospels give us the evidence that Jesus is the Christ and show us how He uniquely fulfills the ancient roles of Prophet, Priest, and King. The centerpiece of God’s purpose for history is that God Himself took human flesh and entered the world as a man in the person of Jesus. It is through Jesus Christ that all the promises of God are fulfilled.

The New Testament declares that Jesus is the Christ and gives us the evidence for this claim so that we may come to faith in Him.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Gracious Father,

I thank You today for the magnificence and the glory of the gospel. I want to affirm my faith that Jesus is the Christ. Thank You that in all my difficulties, struggles, inconsistencies, and problems, my entering into “life to the full” does not depend on me getting everything right but on Christ taking me there.

I lift my heart in praise and adoration to bless You for anointing Your Son to be my Christ, my Savior, and my Lord. Amen.

19

Power

ACTS 2

What makes a

church alive?

DISCOVER

the significance of Pentecost for today.

LEARN

why the disciples spoke in tongues.

WORSHIP

as you see how God can use you in the work of His kingdom.

THE chairman reported that the church roll now stood at 120 members. They had not been able to obtain a building, so they were still meeting in a second-floor room that they had been able to rent in the city. There had been a lot of discussion about how they should fill a leadership position that had become vacant, but besides that, not a lot had been happening.

The task of reaching their community seemed to be beyond them. There was very little money, very few people, a lot of fear, and outside of their meeting place, a culture that had very little room for their message.

I don’t know if you have ever experienced a church like that, but that is pretty much how it was in the only church in existence at the beginning of the book of Acts. When Christ ascended to heaven, there were only about 120 believers in Jerusalem (Acts 1:15). They believed that Christ died for their sins and rose again, but they had focused essentially on themselves and their own internal organization. Nothing that was happening among them would make any difference to the world outside the doors of the church.

But Christ had spoken about an event that would change all that. In a few days, He had said, they would be “baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:5). Then, He said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (v. 8).

They did not have to wait long. Just ten days after Jesus ascended into heaven and fifty days after the resurrection, there was a festival called Pentecost. It was a celebration of the beginning of harvest and of the occasion when God came down to Mount Sinai and gave the Law to Moses. Jerusalem was crammed with visitors from many countries. Luke tells us that people had come “from every nation under heaven” (2:5).

On the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the first Christian believers. After that, things were never the same.

A SOUND LIKE THE WIND

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filed the whole house where they were sitting. (vv. 1–2)

In many ancient languages, there is one word that can mean wind or breath or Spirit.[1]In Hebrew, that word is ruach. It is one of those words that sounds like what it means. If you pronounce ruach correctly, it sounds like the rushing of the wind.

If you think about it, the sound of the wind is pretty much the same as the sound of breath, only it is much louder and it lasts longer. In the ancient world, they thought the wind was like breath on a large scale, so they used the same word for both.

Now, whenever you find something unusual in the Bible, it is usually helpful to ask, “Where have we come across something like this before?” And if we ask, “Where have we come across the sound of wind or breath before?” there are two obvious answers.

The first is at the very beginning of the Bible story, where we read about God breathing life into Adam. God shaped a lifeless corpse from the dust of the ground. It just lay there. Then God breathed into this skeletal frame. God gave Adam the kiss of life, and the first man became a living being.

Then, after the Resurrection, Jesus “breathed on [the disciples] and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” (John 20:22). Jesus was explaining what would happen on the Day of Pentecost. He was saying to His disciples, “This is what it will be like: I am going to ascend to heaven, but when I do, I will breathe my life into you from above.” Then He took a deep breath and blew it out toward them. It sounded like the rushing of the wind.

So when the disciples heard a sound like the rushing wind a few weeks later, they would immediately associate it with the sound of Jesus breathing on them, and recognize that this was the fulfillment of what Jesus had promised.

There is a wonderful parallel between God breathing life into Adam, and Christ breathing life into the church. In Genesis 2, there was a body without life. God breathed into that body, and Adam became a living being. In Acts 2, there is another body. The church is the body of Christ, but at the beginning of the book of Acts, it was also lifeless. Like the body of Adam, it was organized but dead. It remained behind closed doors, and there was nothing about it that would have an impact on the surrounding world.

But now the ascended Christ blows His breath, wind, or Spirit (remember, it’s all the same word) on them. This was not a little breath. It was the sound of a gale-force wind. God blew life into these people.

Think about an Olympic sprinter, taking in great gulps of air that pulsate through his chest as oxygen fills his lungs and energizes his body. That’s what happened at Pentecost. God breathed new life into them, and they were never again the same.

Of course, the Spirit of God had been at work in the lives of the disciples before. Jesus had sent them out in ministry. They would not have been able to do what they did without the power of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit came on many individuals in the Old Testament, anointing them for specific tasks, and the disciples’ experience before Pentecost would have been similar. But this was something entirely new. The Spirit of God was not only with them, but in them.

GREAT BALLS OF FIRE

They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. (v. 3)

Try to imagine yourself among these 120 people when this happened. What they saw at first must have looked absolutely terrifying. A great ball or a pillar of fire was coming right toward them. As the fireball came nearer, it divided into individual flames, or “tongues of fire,” so that a flame from this fire came to rest on every person in the room. The astonishing thing was that none of them was burned.

Once again, the best way to understand this is to ask where in the Bible we have seen something like it before. Where have we come across a fire that rested on something but did not burn it up? The answer: in the story of Moses and the burning bush. “The angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up” (Exodus 3:2). Then God said to Moses, “I am who I am,” and Moses realized that he was in the immediate presence of God.

As noted earlier (chapter 5 of volume 1), the fire did not depend on the bush for fuel. It was a self-sustaining fire. Fire normally depends on the fuel that it consumes. When the fuel is burned up, the fire goes out. But this fire did not depend on the bush to sustain it, and that’s why the bush didn’t burn up.

The fire in which God made His presence known was self-sustaining and it never went out. God has life in Himself. He depends on nothing and needs no one. When He revealed Himself to Moses, He chose to make Himself known through a fire that rested on a bush but did not consume it. Now, on the Day of Pentecost, God gave the same sign of His immediate presence with the first disciples. It must have been awesome.

When God appeared to Moses, he was a believing man whose life was going nowhere. He had built a successful life in Egypt and then, after some trouble, left the country and settled down into a kind of semiretirement in the desert. His life was counting for little or nothing in advancing the purposes of God in the world.

God came to him in the fire to give him a new commission. “Moses, I have something for you to do. I have heard the cries of suffering people and I am sending you to Pharaoh.” So God called this man out of his aimless retirement and gave him a ministry that turned out to be for the glory of God.

Before the Day of Pentecost, the church was like Moses in the desert. It consisted of a group of believing people who enjoyed their prayer meetings and spent a great deal of time discussing how to elect their leaders. But nothing was happening through them to advance God’s purpose in the world. Then God’s fire came down.

Try and imagine the picture with me. You look up and see the fire above you slowly descending over the middle of the room. You realize what is happening: God’s presence is coming among His people. You are filled with a sense of awe. The God who appeared to Moses is making His presence known again, and you are there in the room.

You remember that when the fire came to Moses, he was commissioned to advance God’s purpose. So you wonder whom the fire will rest on now. Your first thoughts are, It will be Peter, or perhaps James and John. Maybe it will be all three of them.

God [commissions] every believer to advance His purpose in the world.

You look up as the ball of fire hovers over the room, and then to your absolute astonishment, it separates into tongues of flame, more flames than you can count at that moment, and as the flames separate they seem to be falling toward many in the room. You look up with awe as you realize that one of the flames is coming toward you. You look around at the others in the room, and a flame of fire rests on every one of them.

God is commissioning every believer to advance His purpose in the world. The presence and power of Almighty God rests on you.

In the Old Testament, we saw prophets, priests, and kings anointed by God for ministry. The focus was on a few people who held special positions. But in the New Testament, it is completely different. God’s fire falls not only on Peter, James, and John, but also on the unnamed believers, who did not aspire to leadership positions, but who loved Jesus and wanted to follow Him. God’s Spirit rested on them, and every one had a part to play in advancing God’s purpose for the world.

THEY SPOKE IN OTHER TONGUES

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. (v. 4)

A third remarkable event followed on this extraordinary day. Suddenly and spontaneously, 120 believers found that they were able to speak in languages they had never learned.

Again, the best way to understand this is to ask where we have seen something like it before. Where in the Bible have we seen a group of people who suddenly began to speak in languages they had never learned?

That is exactly what happened at the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11; discussed in volume 1, chapter 4). Early in the Bible story, as man’s rebellion against God was gaining momentum, people decided to build a city with a tower in the area of Shinar. They wanted to provide their own security and proclaim their own greatness in a city where there would be no place for God.

It was another example of man grasping at the throne of God. He did not want to worship God or believe in God, but rather to worship himself and believe in himself.

So God came down and broke the momentum of man’s godless kingdom by introducing the confusion of multiple languages for the first time into the human race (Genesis 11:1–9).

It must have been very strange. One morning, as you arrive on the building site, the colleague you have been working with for weeks begins talking to you, and you can’t understand him. When you take your break for lunch, you find that the whole workforce is in confusion as people babble all kinds of incomprehensible sounds.

Eventually you find someone else who talks your language. You immediately identify together. “I am so glad to find somebody else who talks sense,” you say. “All the rest of these folks have gone nuts!”

All over the building site, little groups of people are gathering together, bound together by the identity of a common language. They are all coming to the same conclusion: It’s time to leave the madhouse and make a new life with people whose language they can understand. So they scatter to the north, south, east, and west. These little groups of people understood each other but they could not understand anybody else.

God used the gift of language to … advance … Christ’s kingdom.

The Day of Pentecost was exactly the opposite. People from every nation under heaven had gathered in Jerusalem (Acts 2:5), and when the Spirit of God came, the apostles found themselves spontaneously speaking in languages they had never learned, so that all the people could hear and understand the good news of Jesus Christ in their own language.

At Babel, the tongues were a judgment from God that led to confusion and people being scattered. At Pentecost, the tongues were a blessing from God that led to understanding and people being gathered together.

At Babel, God used the curse of language to slow up the advance of man’s city. At Pentecost, God used the gift of language to speed up the advance of Christ’s kingdom.

TO EVERY TRIBE AND NATION

Shortly after the disaster at the Tower of Babel, God gave a wonderful promise to Abraham. “I will bless you … and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:2–3). God’s judgment on the nations at Babel was not His final word. He determined that His blessing would come through Abraham to all the scattered peoples and language groups of the world.

On the Day of Pentecost, God’s wind blew, and His fire fell on 120 children of Abraham. God was filling these people with new life, and anointing them for ministry. These people found themselves speaking in languages they had never learned because God’s purpose was to communicate the good news of Jesus to people from every language group on the face of the earth.

On the same day, God had gathered a vast crowd from every nation under heaven. When the crowds in the city heard the sound of the wind (Acts 2:6), they headed in the direction it had come from to see what was going on. When they arrived, they found the 120 believers declaring the great things God had done in different languages.

If you had been a visitor to Jerusalem that day, you would have looked for someone who spoke your language. That’s exactly what happened. Small groups gathered around each of the believers and heard the great things God had done in their own language. It was Babel in reverse.

God had determined that people from every nation and language group would hear the good news of Jesus Christ. Language would be no barrier to the gospel. Jesus had said that when the Spirit came, the disciples would be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. In an extraordinary way, that began on the first day.

Eventually, Peter called the crowd to order. Some people had suggested that the believers were drunk. It was time to give an explanation. Peter spoke about Jesus, telling the people how He had been crucified just over seven weeks before. But God had raised Him from the dead. He was exalted at the right hand of the Father, and He had now poured out the Holy Spirit on His people. That was the explanation of what the crowd were seeing and hearing.

They understood from the beginning that this good news was for people from every nation.

Peter’s point was not lost on the crowd. If Jesus was indeed the One God had promised from the beginning of time, and the people had killed Him, what were they to do?

These people clearly believed what Peter had said about Jesus, so he told them the next step:

“Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” (vv. 38–39)

Three thousand people responded to Peter’s invitation. They understood from the beginning that this good news was for people from every nation. In the next few days, these children of Abraham would return to their homes and take the good news of Jesus to people whose language they already knew.

Just as the 120 had communicated the good news to the groups that gathered around them on the Day of Pentecost, so now the three thousand returned to their homes and began to communicate the good news of Jesus to the cities and nations from which they had come.

God took a church that was like a lifeless corpse and breathed new life into it. God’s presence came and rested on all His people, as He commissioned them to advance His purpose in the world. On the Day of Pentecost, a missionary church was born. People from many cultures came to faith in Christ and then went back to their homes to spread the gospel among their own people, so that folk from every language and culture would discover the blessing of the gospel.

WHAT HAS ALL THIS GOT TO DO WITH US?

As we have studied the Bible, we have seen several occasions when God’s presence was made known in a visible way. We call these occasions theophanies, and they are always of great importance. In a theophany, God does for some people in a visible way what He does for all His people in an invisible way.

For example, when the Lord brought Eve to Adam, He was doing in a visual way for that first couple what He does for every couple joined together in marriage. When Karen and I were married, our college professor joined our hands and pronounced that we were one. We didn’t see God joining us together: We didn’t need to. God did that once visibly for Adam and Eve so that we could understand what He does secretly and invisibly at every wedding.

It seems to me that this is how we should apply the remarkable events on the Day of Pentecost. God is teaching us through what He did once in a visible way, what He always wants to do in an invisible way among His people.

God breathes new life into His people. He does not want His church to be an inward-looking organization that functions at a merely human level, but a living body filled with the life of God.

God anoints not just a few leaders but every one of His people for ministry. The presence and the power of almighty God rest upon every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And God’s great purpose is that His blessing will flow through His people to all the nations of the earth. Every Christian and every church has a part to play in that purpose. For some people that will mean going to another culture to learn another language, so that the good news of Jesus may be known. For others, God’s call may be to find our voice in the language God has already given us.

God puts groups of people around every believer so that he or she can communicate the good news of Jesus in their language. Maybe you can speak the language of high-school students or of children. God has wired you in a way that makes it possible for you to communicate with a certain group of people. Find out who they are, get among them, and tell them about Jesus.

In looking at the Day of Pentecost, let’s not get lost in the signs or drama of the story. On several occasions, people have told me how much they enjoyed a story I told sometime previously. More than once, they have said, “I’m afraid I can’t remember the point you were trying to make, but it was a great story!” That’s always a bit discouraging. The miraculous events on the Day of Pentecost carry the same danger. It’s easy to become so interested in the power of God’s visual aids—the wind, the fire, and the tongues—that we miss the point that He is teaching us through them. Visual aids are a wonderful way of communicating, but the problem is that people can easily become so interested in the illustration that they forget the point it was given to make.

The events of Pentecost demonstrate these truths about God: He wants to breathe new life into His church; He wants to anoint and commission every believer; and He wants to mobilize the church to take the good news of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth so that God’s blessing may come to all nations. That’s what Pentecost is all about.

UNLOCKED

The life of the church depends entirely on the presence and work of the Holy Spirit. When God breathed into the lifeless corpse of Adam at the creation, Adam became a living being. In the same way it is God’s Spirit who brings spiritual life to the church.

The Holy Spirit equips and empowers all believers for service and ministry. In the Old Testament, God gifted and used some people for particular ministries, but in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit lives in and works through all believers.

The church has been commissioned to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to the nations. The Holy Spirit equips and sends out believers to communicate across cultural and linguistic barriers so that God’s people will be drawn from every tribe, language, nation, and people on the face of the earth.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for the gift of the Holy Spirit to all of Your children. Breathe Your life into me and fill me with Your Spirit. Equip me for all that You are calling me to do. Open my eyes to see the people You have placed around me, and give me courage and boldness to speak about You in a way that they can understand. Use me to advance Your purpose, and to bring Your blessing to others.

I pray for Your church. May we know Your life of Your Spirit among us and play our part together in bringing the good news of Jesus to the world. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Note

1. Leon Morris, Spirit of the Living God (London: InterVarsity, 1960), 16. Morris noted that “One of the difficulties that confronts translators from almost any ancient language is that the words for ‘spirit,’ ‘breath,’ and ‘wind’ are identical.”

20

Gentiles

ACTS 9

How has God’s

blessing come to

the nations?

DISCOVER

the unique place of the Jewish people in God’s plan for the nations.

LEARN

the origin of the name “Christian.”

WORSHIP

because God is bringing people from every culture to faith in Jesus Christ.

AS we approach the end of this third volume of Unlocking the Bible Story, it is time to look back and see where we’ve come. After sin entered the world, God promised that He would send a Deliverer. More specifically, He appeared to Abraham and said, “I will bless you … and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:2–3).

The blessing God gave to Abraham continued on his descendants, and God promised that His blessing would come through them to all the nations on the face of the earth.

In volumes 1 and 2, we followed the story of Abraham’s descendants through the Old Testament. It is the story of what God did among the Jewish people. We discovered laws for the Jews, a land for the Jews, and blessings for the Jews.

Now, in this third volume, we have followed the story of the Gospels and again have discovered that the New Testament is also a very Jewish book. Jesus Christ was born a Jew. God took human flesh from a Jewish woman. Christ said that He had come to the lost sheep of Israel. His ministry began in a synagogue, where He read the Old Testament Scriptures. He rarely ventured outside Israel.

After His death and resurrection, Christ commissioned eleven disciples. All of them were Jewish. Jesus did not choose a single Gentile.

On the Day of Pentecost, a great crowd was gathered in Jerusalem. They were all either Jewish or they were converts to Judaism (Acts 2:5). When the Holy Spirit was poured out, three thousand of them came to faith in Christ. When those Jews traveled back to their homes, they began to speak about Jesus, and as others came to Christ, they met for instruction, encouragement, and worship in the synagogues.

There are 1,094 pages in my Bible, and the story of Pentecost is recorded on page 962. With only 132 pages left in the Bible story, those of us who are not Jewish might be forgiven for asking, “Is there anything here for us?”

Up to this point the whole story has been about God’s blessing to Israel. We have seen the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham, but we have not seen much evidence of God’s promise to bless all nations through Abraham.

God’s blessing broadens out … to all nations.

There have been some signs: The story of Ruth the Moabitess being included in the line of David, or Jonah going to the people of Nineveh, or Jesus talking with the Samaritan woman. But beyond that, there is little evidence of the blessing of God reaching beyond the Jewish people. We are now 90 percent of the way through the Bible story, and the river of God’s grace is still flowing between narrow banks.

But now we come to a major turning point in the Bible story. The book of Acts tells us how the river of God’s blessing broadens out so that God’s promise to bring His blessing through the Jewish people to all nations on earth is wonderfully fulfilled.

As the number of disciples grew in Jerusalem, the Jews who had believed in Jesus faced growing opposition. The apostles were flogged and imprisoned. Then one of the young leaders among the believers was stoned to death. His name was Stephen.

While this violence was going on, a rather sinister character was standing in the background, holding the coats of those who threw the stones. His name was Saul of Tarsus. He was determined to stamp out these Jewish communities of believers in Jesus. “Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison” (Acts 8:3).

THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS

The death of Stephen sparked a wave of persecution against believers, and many of them were scattered. But Saul was not content that the believing communities should be broken up. He sought authorization to arrest these Jewish believers in other cities and bring them back to Jerusalem. The first city that he targeted for his roundup was Damascus.

It was on the road to Damascus that the risen Lord Jesus Christ intercepted Saul’s life.

As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” (ACTS 9:3–6)

This angry man was completely stopped in his tracks. The whole direction of his life turned around, and the greatest enemy of the church became its greatest evangelist. We know him better as the apostle Paul.

THE RIVER BURSTS ITS BANKS

“This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.” (V. 15)

Christ had a new commission for Paul. This Jewish believer was to bring the name of Christ to both Jews and Gentiles. Paul wrote about this commission in a letter to believers in Rome. He said, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile” (Romans 1:16).

The rest of the book of Acts tells us about the flow of this widening river of God’s blessing across cultural barriers. At first the believers who were scattered by the persecution told the message of Jesus only to other Jews. But in Antioch, some of them began to share the good news with Greeks as well (Acts 11:19–20).

The church in Antioch was breaking new ground by crossing cultural barriers with the gospel. When news of this got back to leaders of the church at Jerusalem, they sent a man called Barnabas to check out what was going on.

Barnabas, in turn co-opted Saul (Paul), and the two of them stayed in Antioch and became teachers of the large and growing multicultural community of believers there (Acts 11:22–26).

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

It was there in Antioch that the disciples were first called “Christians” (Acts 11:26). It was a nickname. That’s all.

Don’t get hung up on the name Christian, especially if you are Jewish. For many Jewish people, and indeed for many in the Muslim world, the word “Christian” represents a Western monolithic structure. Don’t let the word “Christian” be a barrier to you hearing or communicating the good news of Jesus Christ.

Remember that in the earliest times in the book of Acts, the name “Christian” was unknown. Jewish believers in Jesus told their Gentile friends the good news. The Gentile believers joined their Jewish friends as they worshiped Jesus.

Then some folks in Antioch gave them the nickname “Christian.” It simply means “followers of Christ.”

The gospel crosses cultural barriers. It belongs first to the Jews, and it came through them to the Gentiles. It is the fulfillment of God’s promise to bless Abraham and then to bless the nations of the earth through him.

As Jews and Gentiles came to faith in Jesus, they discovered that the old barriers between them were broken down and that they were truly one as they worshiped together.

The church in Antioch became a bridgehead for taking the gospel further across the Roman Empire. The church commissioned Saul and Barnabas—their two most gifted leaders—to undertake a missionary journey. They traveled widely, preaching the good news to Jews and Gentiles. Wherever they went, their practice was to preach in the synagogues. God was at work, and many Jews and Gentiles professed faith in Jesus.

UNITY IN A CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNITY

Eventually the cultural issue came to a head. There were no problems as long as only a few Gentiles professed faith in Jesus, but soon, the trickle became a flood, and some of the leaders in Jerusalem became alarmed.

The problem was that the Gentiles who professed faith in Jesus were not being circumcised and embracing Judaism. They were simply professing their faith in Jesus and being baptized.

The Jewish believers had no problem with welcoming Gentiles. Even in the Old Testament, God’s people had opened their arms to outsiders. The question was whether a Gentile could be accepted as a follower of Jesus without embracing Judaism first. Some were of the opinion that the way to Christ was open to anybody who wanted to come, but that those who came must be circumcised.

Acts tells us that “Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: ‘Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved’” (15:1, emphasis added).

These visitors were telling the young Christians at Antioch that faith in Christ was not enough for them to be saved. Something else had to be added. But as soon as you say that, you have undermined the gospel.

The first believers were now at a crossroads. The issue went to the core of their message, and the gospel itself was at stake. Had Jesus done everything that was needed to save those who would come to Him, or were other “rites of passage” necessary? Was it necessary for Gentile believers to embrace the traditions of Judaism as they came to Christ, or was it possible for Gentiles to come from their varying traditions directly to faith in Jesus Christ?

The issue was of great importance. The first believers had to decide whether God was giving the gospel to the world so that the world would be brought to Judaism, or whether God had given the gospel to the Jews so that the Jews could bring the gospel to the world.

It is not surprising that this led to a “sharp dispute” (v. 2). But the believers handled it wisely. Paul and Barnabas were appointed by the believers at Antioch to go to Jerusalem and meet with the apostles and elders there.

The issue was discussed honestly and openly in Jerusalem and the result was clear and decisive. The Jewish believers understood that Jesus Christ, their Savior, had opened the way for people from every background to come to God, and they determined not to put anything in the way.

The Council of Jerusalem was a decisive … moment in the Bible story.

That was the principle. At the same time, they wrote a pastoral letter making two points. First, those who wanted to be accepted as believers must make a decisive break with sin; patterns of sexual immorality that were notorious among the Gentiles must stop.

Second, those who wanted to be accepted as believers were asked to show sensitivity toward others in the body of Christ. In particular, where there were Jewish believers, the Gentiles were asked to refrain from food that their Jewish brothers and sisters would not eat. That was not a condition of the gospel; it was an expression of love. If Jews and Gentiles were to share fellowship together, they would have to restrain their liberty out of love for others.

The Council of Jerusalem was a decisive and wonderful moment in the Bible story. It affirmed the heart of the gospel, protected the unity of the believers, and opened the door for Paul’s mission to both Jews and Gentiles which is the focus of the rest of the book of Acts.

THE PRIVILEGE OF JEWISH PEOPLE

Paul’s commission was to carry the name of Jesus before the Gentiles and the people of Israel (9:15). This Jewish man was commissioned by Christ to bring the gospel to his own people.

Paul grasped this part of his commission with great passion. He wrote about the great privileges of the Jewish people and his deep longing that his own people would believe in Jesus.

I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel. (ROMANS 9:2–4)

Paul listed the great privileges that God has given to the Jewish people. “Theirs,” he wrote, “is the adoption as sons” (v. 4). In the Old Testament, God called Israel His son (Exodus 4:23). God has not given that privilege to any other national group: certainly not the Scots; and not the Americans either. God has blessed many nations, but there is only one nation that God has chosen to be the means of His blessing to the world and that is the Jewish nation.

Paul continued: “Theirs [are] the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises” (v. 4). Who else has known the presence of God with them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night? To which other people has the cloud of God’s glory come down?

Then Paul listed the highest privilege. “Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen” (v. 5).

If you are Jewish, … value your heritage. God has blessed you.

Gentile believers should never forget the great debt of gratitude we owe to the Jewish people. God chose to bless them first, and then to bless the Gentiles through them. Gentile believers should have a deep love for the Jewish people. God has chosen them and placed His love on them.

Some of us need to exercise much greater respect and sensitivity toward Jewish people and to recognize that through the centuries, the Christian church has created many barriers that have made it difficult for Jewish people to see Jesus.

If you are Jewish, then I encourage you to value your heritage. God has blessed you. The Bible story is all about God’s blessing on Abraham and his descendants. It is through your people that God’s blessing in Jesus Christ has come to the world. Treasure what God has given you. You are highly privileged.

PRIVILEGED PEOPLE NEED JESUS

So why does Paul say that he is in great sorrow and unceasing anguish over his own people? It is possible to be in a position of great privilege, and yet to miss out on the greatest thing God wants to give you. “With all the rich heritage of God’s blessing through the years,” Paul was saying, “my heart would break, because my own people have missed the greatest blessing of God which is in Jesus.”

The apostle Paul spoke from his own experience. He had thrown everything he had into the pursuit of an exemplary life. He had a great education, and would have held a distinguished teaching position and earned a high salary. But when Christ intercepted his life, he discovered that whatever else he had going for him seemed to fade in importance compared to the surpassing value of knowing Jesus as His Savior and Lord (Philippians 3:8).

He discovered that privilege doesn’t save anybody, and so he longed that his own people who had been so richly blessed by God should come to know Jesus.

Although I am not Jewish, I look at my own life and feel highly privileged with a stable home, a good education, and open doors of opportunity. Perhaps you feel the same. Remember that privileged people need Jesus. Perhaps you can identify with Bill in a poem I wrote about growing up surrounded by privilege.

The first time Bill had come to church he looked a bonnie lad;

His mum and dad had dressed him up in the best things that they had.

The pastor said a prayer for Bill, who smiled his little charms,

But Bill knew nothing of it as he lay there in their arms.

The prayers for Bill continued in the years that lay ahead.

In Sunday school they taught him from the Bible that he read,

And as he grew our Bill began to thrive in all the sports,

At basketball and baseball and on the tennis courts.

With confidence now growing, Bill soon did graduate,

And seeking independence went to college out of state,

His mother told him sternly, “Keep from drugs and keep from beer,

And don’t waste too much time with girls; remember your career.”

Back home some folks still prayed for Bill, but with a heavy heart,

For though he was successful and always did his part,

It seemed something was missing in his now well-ordered life,

With his brood of little children, two-car garage, and his wife.

Bill brought his kids to church, just as when he was a lad,

And he dressed them up real bonnie in the best things that they had,

And the pastor said a prayer for them as they smiled with all their charms;

But they knew nothing of it as they lay there in his arms.

As years advanced, Bill prospered, and life was not the same,

He really was quite generous with the money he did gain.

On Boards, and on the sports fields, in church, and on the track,

Bill made his contribution and gave a great deal back.

Then one day Bill’s life ended, and on that very day,

His eyes were truly opened as he heard the Savior say,

“I poured My blessings on you, as anyone could see,

But the reason that I gave them was to turn your heart to Me.”

Christ came to give His life for all who in Him put their trust,

Those who are unrighteous, and those who think they’re just.

Lay hold of Christ as Savior and call upon His name,

For those who are so privileged, need Him just the same.

DESPERATE PEOPLE CAN COME TO JESUS

Christ also commissioned Paul to carry His name to the Gentiles, and Paul wrote about their desperate spiritual condition.

Remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth … were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. (EPHESIANS 2:11–12)

That’s just about as far from God as you could get.

The desperate position of the Gentiles was illustrated by the way that the Jewish temple was set up. There were distinct areas marked off for different classes of people. The most distant area on the outside perimeter was called the “court of the Gentiles.” Then there was a separate court for women and a court for the priests. At the center was the Most Holy Place, where God’s presence was made known, but only the high priest could go there and only once a year.

GAME, SET, AND MATCH

The structure of the temple makes me think about the tennis championships at Wimbledon. When we lived in London, I enjoyed going there. At the time, you could get into the grounds late in the afternoon for five pounds (about $8.00). But that only gave you access to the outer courts. Usually that meant watching players few people had heard of. Like most other people, I wanted to get onto the center court, but for that you needed a different ticket, and they were extremely hard to find.

I succeeded in getting onto the center court on a few occasions, but I never once managed to get into the locker rooms! They are restricted to a very select group of people.

That’s how it was in the Jewish temple. There were different levels of access, and Paul reminded the Gentile believers that they were about as far away from God as it was possible to get. They were out on the perimeter. “But now,” he wrote, “in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13).

When Jesus died on the cross, the curtain in front of the Most Holy Place was torn in two from top to bottom. It was as if God reached down from heaven and ripped it apart.

That was wonderful, but if that was all that happened, it would only benefit the Jews. It would be like announcing to those on Wimbledon’s center court that they could visit the locker rooms. That would be marvelous for the privileged few who were already on Center Court, but it would only heighten the frustrations of those who were outside.

If God had done nothing more than tear the curtain, it would still leave the Gentiles outside. But Paul reminded the Gentiles that Christ has done more than tear the curtain. “For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility” (Ephesians 2:14, emphasis added).

It was as if God took a bulldozer … creating a path … into the Most Holy Place.

Christ has brought Jews and Gentiles together by destroying the dividing wall between us. Paul is talking here about the wall that separated the court of the Gentiles from the court of the Jews. So it’s not just that the curtain has been torn apart so that the Jews who were already near to God’s presence could get in. The dividing walls further out were also demolished so that those who were far off could also come all the way into the presence of God.

Think of a series of concentric walls. When Christ died on the cross, it was as if God took a bulldozer and plowed through all the walls, creating a path from the furthest horizon right into the Most Holy Place at the center. All the walls came down. All the divisions of privilege and race and gender came down, and equal access to God was opened up to all through Jesus Christ.

It’s not just the privileged Jew who may come and receive the mercy of God in Jesus Christ, but also the desperate Gentile. The person who is as far from God as it is possible to be may come. Christ has opened the way.

THE GREAT INVITATION

Paul was commissioned to take the name of Christ to the most privileged people in the world and to tell them that they must come. The Jews need Jesus. But he was also commissioned to take the name of Christ to the most desperate people in the world, and tell them that they may come. The way is open for the Gentiles to come to God through Jesus too.

Perhaps you feel about as far from God as anyone could be, and you wonder how God could ever be interested in you again.

Picture that bulldozer demolishing one wall after another and creating a path between you and the presence of God. The rubble is piled high on either side of the opened pathway. That’s what Jesus Christ has done for you. There is grace and forgiveness for the most desperate person in the world.

Paul described the background of some of the early Gentile believers in Corinth. Some were male prostitutes, some thieves, others drunkards or sexually immoral. But when they came to Christ, they were washed and they were accepted into the fellowship of believers.

Paul was commissioned to take that good news to Jews and Gentiles. As he did, God raised up communities of believers where the privileged worshiped alongside those who had been desperate, and discovered that they were one as they walked on the same path opened up by Jesus Christ. They discovered that “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

The stream of God’s blessing had burst out of its narrow banks. God’s blessing on Abraham’s descendants began to flow through them to all nations. The most privileged and the most desperate found themselves worshiping together as one at the feet of Jesus.

Your life will intersect at some point with thousands of people. Some will be very privileged. They need Jesus. Others will be very desperate. They can come to Jesus. We must tell the privileged not to presume and tell the desperate not to despair. Our mission, like Paul’s, is to carry the name of Jesus to the privileged and the desperate, and invite them to come to Him.

UNLOCKED

God has fulfilled His ancient promise to Abraham and his descendants. The gospel came to the Jews first, and through them to the nations of the world. The book of Acts traces the story of this widening stream of God’s mercy and shows us how the gospel came to the most privileged and the most desperate people in the world.

The first believers in Jesus were all Jewish, but these Jewish believers realized that God was calling them to bring the good news to their Gentile neighbors and friends. As Jews and Gentiles came to faith in Jesus, they were reconciled to each other and stood together in pursuing God’s great commission to take the good news of the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Almighty Father,

Thank You that You have fulfilled Your promise to Abraham and that Your blessing has come to the whole world in Jesus Christ. Thank You for breaking down the walls that divide us from one another and from You, and for making it possible for people from every race and culture to come to You through faith in Your Son, Jesus.

May Your blessing be poured out upon the Jewish people in a special way in this generation. May many Jews come to faith in their Savior, Jesus Christ. May Your church reach across many cultural barriers so that the gospel may come to all peoples. May Your Church demonstrate unity in Jesus Christ that crosses all barriers and divisions.

I ask all this for the glory of Jesus Christ and pray in His name. Amen.

READING THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR

January 1

Genesis 1:1–2:25

Matthew 1:1–2:12

Psalm 1:1-6

Proverbs 1:1-6

January 2

Genesis 3:1–4:26

Matthew 2:13–3:6

Psalm 2:1-12

Proverbs 1:7-9

January 3

Genesis 5:1–7:24

Matthew 3:7–4:11

Psalm 3:1-8

Proverbs 1:10-19

January 4

Genesis 8:1–10:32

Matthew 4:12-25

Psalm 4:1-8

Proverbs 1:20-23

January 5

Genesis 11:1–13:4

Matthew 5:1-26

Psalm 5:1-12

Proverbs 1:24-28

January 6

Genesis 13:5–15:21

Matthew 5:27-48

Psalm 6:1-10

Proverbs 1:29-33

January 7

Genesis 16:1–18:15

Matthew 6:1-24

Psalm 7:1-17

Proverbs 2:1-5

January 8

Genesis 18:16–19:38

Matthew 6:25–7:14

Psalm 8:1-9

Proverbs 2:6-15

January 9

Genesis 20:1–22:24

Matthew 7:15-29

Psalm 9:1-12

Proverbs 2:16-22

January 10

Genesis 23:1–24:51

Matthew 8:1-17

Psalm 9:13-20

Proverbs 3:1-6

January 11

Genesis 24:52–26:16

Matthew 8:18-34

Psalm 10:1-15

Proverbs 3:7-8

January 12

Genesis 26:17–27:46

Matthew 9:1-17

Psalm 10:16-18

Proverbs 3:9-10

January 13

Genesis 28:1–29:35

Matthew 9:18-38

Psalm 11:1-7

Proverbs 3:11-12

January 14

Genesis 30:1–31:16

Matthew 10:1-23

Psalm 12:1-8

Proverbs 3:13-15

January 15

Genesis 31:17–32:12

Matthew 10:24–11:6

Psalm 13:1-6

Proverbs 3:16-18

January 16

Genesis 32:13–34:31

Matthew 11:7-30

Psalm 14:1-7

Proverbs 3:19-20

January 17

Genesis 35:1–36:43

Matthew 12:1-21

Psalm 15:1-5

Proverbs 3:21-26

January 18

Genesis 37:1–38:30

Matthew 12:22-45

Psalm 16:1-11

Proverbs 3:27-32

January 19

Genesis 39:1–41:16

Matthew 12:46–13:23

Psalm 17:1-15

Proverbs 3:33-35

January 20

Genesis 41:17–42:17

Matthew 13:24-46

Psalm 18:1-15

Proverbs 4:1-6

January 21

Genesis 42:18–43:34

Matthew 13:47–14:12

Psalm 18:16-36

Proverbs 4:7-10

January 22

Genesis 44:1–45:28

Matthew 14:13-36

Psalm 18:37-50

Proverbs 4:11-13

January 23

Genesis 46:1–47:31

Matthew 15:1-28

Psalm 19:1-14

Proverbs 4:14-19

January 24

Genesis 48:1–49:33

Matthew 15:29–16:12

Psalm 20:1-9

Proverbs 4:20-27

January 25

Genesis 50:1—Exodus 2:10

Matthew 16:13–17:9

Psalm 21:1-13

Proverbs 5:1-6

January 26

Exodus 2:11–3:22

Matthew 17:10-27

Psalm 22:1-18

Proverbs 5:7-14

January 27

Exodus 4:1–5:21

Matthew 18:1-22

Psalm 22:19-31

Proverbs 5:15-21

January 28

Exodus 5:22–7:25

Matthew 18:23–19:12

Psalm 23:1-6

Proverbs 5:22-23

January 29

Exodus 8:1–9:35

Matthew 19:13-30

Psalm 24:1-10 Proverbs 6:1-5

January 30

Exodus 10:1–12:13

Matthew 20:1-28

Psalm 25:1-15

Proverbs 6:6-11

January 31

Exodus 12:14–13:16

Matthew 20:29–21:22

Psalm 25:16-22

Proverbs 6:12-15

February 1

Exodus 13:17–15:18

Matthew 21:23-46

Psalm 26:1-12

Proverbs 6:16-19

February 2

Exodus 15:19–17:7

Matthew 22:1-33

Psalm 27:1-6

Proverbs 6:20-26

February 3

Exodus 17:8–19:15

Matthew 22:34–23:12

Psalm 27:7-14

Proverbs 6:27-35

February 4

Exodus 19:16–21:21

Matthew 23:13-39

Psalm 28:1-9

Proverbs 7:1-5

February 5

Exodus 21:22–23:13

Matthew 24:1-28

Psalm 29:1-11

Proverbs 7:6-23

February 6

Exodus 23:14–25:40

Matthew 24:29-51

Psalm 30:1-12

Proverbs 7:24-27

February 7

Exodus 26:1–27:21

Matthew 25:1-30

Psalm 31:1-8

Proverbs 8:1-11

February 8

Exodus 28:1-43

Matthew 25:31–26:13

Psalm 31:9-18

Proverbs 8:12-13

February 9

Exodus 29:1–30:10

Matthew 26:14-46

Psalm 31:19-24

Proverbs 8:14-26

February 10

Exodus 30:11–31:18

Matthew 26:47-68

Psalm 32:1-11

Proverbs 8:27-32

February 11

Exodus 32:1–33:23

Matthew 26:69–27:14

Psalm 33:1-11

Proverbs 8:33-36

February 12

Exodus 34:1–35:9

Matthew 27:15-31

Psalm 33:12-22

Proverbs 9:1-6

February 13

Exodus 35:10–36:38

Matthew 27:32-66

Psalm 34:1-10

Proverbs 9:7-8

February 14

Exodus 37:1–38:31

Matthew 28:1-20

Psalm 34:11-22

Proverbs 9:9-10

February 15

Exodus 39:1–40:38

Mark 1:1-28

Psalm 35:1-16

Proverbs 9:11-12

February 16

Leviticus 1:1–3:17

Mark 1:29–2:12

Psalm 35:17-28

Proverbs 9:13-18

February 17

Leviticus 4:1–5:19

Mark 2:13–3:6

Psalm 36:1-12

Proverbs 10:1-2

February 18

Leviticus 6:1–7:27

Mark 3:7-30

Psalm 37:1-11

Proverbs 10:3-4

February 19

Leviticus 7:28–9:6

Mark 3:31–4:25

Psalm 37:12-29

Proverbs 10:5

February 20

Leviticus 9:7–10:20

Mark 4:26–5:20

Psalm 37:30-40

Proverbs 10:6-7

February 21

Leviticus 11:1–12:8

Mark 5:21-43

Psalm 38:1-22

Proverbs 10:8-9

February 22

Leviticus 13:1-59

Mark 6:1-29

Psalm 39:1-13

Proverbs 10:10

February 23

Leviticus 14:1-57

Mark 6:30-56

Psalm 40:1-10

Proverbs 10:11-12

February 24

Leviticus 15:1–16:28

Mark 7:1-23

Psalm 40:11-17

Proverbs 10:13-14

February 25

Leviticus 16:29–18:30

Mark 7:24–8:10

Psalm 41:1-13

Proverbs 10:15-16

February 26

Leviticus 19:1–20:21

Mark 8:11-38

Psalm 42:1-11

Proverbs 10:17

February 27

Leviticus 20:22–22:16

Mark 9:1-29

Psalm 43:1-5

Proverbs 10:18

February 28

Leviticus 22:17–23:44

Mark 9:30–10:12

Psalm 44:1-8

Proverbs 10:19

March 1

Leviticus 24:1–25:46

Mark 10:13-31

Psalm 44:9-26

Proverbs 10:20-21

March 2

Leviticus 25:47–27:13 Mark 10:32-52 Psalm 45:1-17 Proverbs 10:22

March 3

Leviticus 27:14—Numbers 1:54

Mark 11:1-25

Psalm 46:1-11

Proverbs 10:23

March 4

Numbers 2:1–3:51

Mark 11:27–12:17

Psalm 47:1-9

Proverbs 10:24-25

March 5

Numbers 4:1–5:31

Mark 12:18-37

Psalm 48:1-14

Proverbs 10:26

March 6

Numbers 6:1–7:89

Mark 12:38–13:13

Psalm 49:1-20

Proverbs 10:27-28

March 7

Numbers 8:1–9:23

Mark 13:14-37

Psalm 50:1-23

Proverbs 10:29-30

March 8

Numbers 10:1–11:23

Mark 14:1-21

Psalm 51:1-19

Proverbs 10:31-32

March 9

Numbers 11:24–13:33

Mark 14:22-52

Psalm 52:1-9

Proverbs 11:1-3

March 10

Numbers 14:1–15:16

Mark 14:53-72

Psalm 53:1-6

Proverbs 11:4

March 11

Numbers 15:17–16:40

Mark 15:1-47

Psalm 54:1-7

Proverbs 11:5-6

March 12

Numbers 16:41–18:32

Mark 16:1-20

Psalm 55:1-23

Proverbs 11:7

March 13

Numbers 19:1–20:29

Luke 1:1-25

Psalm 56:1-13

Proverbs 11:8

March 14

Numbers 21:1–22:20

Luke 1:26-56

Psalm 57:1-11

Proverbs 11:9-11

March 15

Numbers 22:21–23:30

Luke 1:57-80

Psalm 58:1-11

Proverbs 11:12-13

March 16

Numbers 24:1–25:18

Luke 2:1-35

Psalm 59:1-17

Proverbs 11:14

March 17

Numbers 26:1-51

Luke 2:36-52

Psalm 60:1-12

Proverbs 11:15

March 18

Numbers 26:52–28:15

Luke 3:1-22

Psalm 61:1-8

Proverbs 11:16-17

March 19

Numbers 28:16–29:40

Luke 3:23-38

Psalm 62:1-12

Proverbs 11:18-19

March 20

Numbers 30:1–31:54

Luke 4:1-30

Psalm 63:1-11

Proverbs 11:20-21

March 21

Numbers 32:1–33:39

Luke 4:31–5:11

Psalm 64:1-10

Proverbs 11:22

March 22

Numbers 33:40–35:34

Luke 5:12-28

Psalm 65:1-13

Proverbs 11:23

March 23

Numbers 36:1—Deuteronomy 1:46

Luke 5:29–6:11

Psalm 66:1-20

Proverbs 11:24-26

March 24

Deuteronomy 2:1–3:29

Luke 6:12-38

Psalm 67:1-7

Proverbs 11:27

March 25

Deuteronomy 4:1-49

Luke 6:39–7:10

Psalm 68:1-18

Proverbs 11:28

March 26

Deuteronomy 5:1–6:25

Luke 7:11-35

Psalm 68:19-35

Proverbs 11:29-31

March 27

Deuteronomy 7:1–8:20

Luke 7:36–8:3

Psalm 69:1-18 Proverbs 12:1

March 28

Deuteronomy 9:1–10:22

Luke 8:4-21

Psalm 69:19-36

Proverbs 12:2-3

March 29

Deuteronomy 11:1–12:32

Luke 8:22-39

Psalm 70:1-5

Proverbs 12:4

March 30

Deuteronomy 13:1–15:23

Luke 8:40–9:6

Psalm 71:1-24

Proverbs 12:5-7

March 31

Deuteronomy 16:1–17:20

Luke 9:7-27

Psalm 72:1-20

Proverbs 12:8-9

April 1

Deuteronomy 18:1–20:20

Luke 9:28-50

Psalm 73:1-28

Proverbs 12:10

April 2

Deuteronomy 21:1–22:30

Luke 9:51–10:12

Psalm 74:1-23

Proverbs 12:11

April 3

Deuteronomy 23:1–25:19

Luke 10:13-37

Psalm 75:1-10

Proverbs 12:12-14

April 4

Deuteronomy 26:1–27:26

Luke 10:38–11:13

Psalm 76:1-12

Proverbs 12:15-17

April 5

Deuteronomy 28:1-68

Luke 11:14-36

Psalm 77:1-20

Proverbs 12:18

April 6

Deuteronomy 29:1–30:20

Luke 11:37–12:7

Psalm 78:1-31

Proverbs 12:19-20

April 7

Deuteronomy 31:1–32:27

Luke 12:8-34

Psalm 78:32-55

Proverbs 12:21-23

April 8

Deuteronomy 32:28-52

Luke 12:35-59

Psalm 78:56-64

Proverbs 12:24

April 9

Deuteronomy 33:1-29

Luke 13:1-21

Psalm 78:65-72

Proverbs 12:25

April 10

Deuteronomy 34:1—Joshua 2:24

Luke 13:22–14:6

Psalm 79:1-13

Proverbs 12:26

April 11

Joshua 3:1–4:24

Luke 14:7-35

Psalm 80:1-19

Proverbs 12:27-28

April 12

Joshua 5:1–7:15

Luke 15:1-32

Psalm 81:1-16

Proverbs 13:1

April 13

Joshua 7:16–9:2

Luke 16:1-18

Psalm 82:1-8

Proverbs 13:2-3

April 14

Joshua 9:3–10:43

Luke 16:19–17:10

Psalm 83:1-18

Proverbs 13:4

April 15

Joshua 11:1–12:24

Luke 17:11-37

Psalm 84:1-12

Proverbs 13:5-6

April 16

Joshua 13:1–14:15

Luke 18:1-17

Psalm 85:1-13

Proverbs 13:7-8

April 17

Joshua 15:1-63

Luke 18:18-43

Psalm 86:1-17

Proverbs 13:9-10

April 18

Joshua 16:1–18:28

Luke 19:1-27

Psalm 87:1-7

Proverbs 13:11

April 19

Joshua 19:1–20:9

Luke 19:28-48

Psalm 88:1-18

Proverbs 13:12-14

April 20

Joshua 21:1–22:20

Luke 20:1-26

Psalm 89:1-13

Proverbs 13:15-16

April 21

Joshua 22:21–23:16

Luke 20:27-47

Psalm 89:14-37

Proverbs 13:17-19

April 22

Joshua 24:1-33

Luke 21:1-28

Psalm 89:38-52

Proverbs 13:20-23

April 23

Judges 1:1–2:9

Luke 21:29–22:13

Psalm 90:1–91:16

Proverbs 13:24-25

April 24

Judges 2:10–3:31

Luke 22:14-34

Psalm 92:1–93:5

Proverbs 14:1-2

April 25

Judges 4:1–5:31

Luke 22:35-53

Psalm 94:1-23

Proverbs 14:3-4

April 26

Judges 6:1-40

Luke 22:54–23:12

Psalm 95:1–96:13

Proverbs 14:5-6

April 27

Judges 7:1–8:17

Luke 23:13-43

Psalm 97:1–98:9

Proverbs 14:7-8

April 28

Judges 8:18–9:21

Luke 23:44–24:12

Psalm 99:1-9

Proverbs 14:9-10

April 29

Judges 9:22–10:18

Luke 24:13-53

Psalm 100:1-5

Proverbs 14:11-12

April 30

Judges 11:1–12:15

John 1:1-28

Psalm 101:1-8

Proverbs 14:13-14

May 1

Judges 13:1–14:20

John 1:29-51

Psalm 102:1-28

Proverbs 14:15-16

May 2

Judges 15:1–16:31

John 2:1-25

Psalm 103:1-22

Proverbs 14:17-19

May 3

Judges 17:1–18:31

John 3:1-21

Psalm 104:1-23

Proverbs 14:20-21

May 4

Judges 19:1–20:48

John 3:22–4:3

Psalm 104:24-35

Proverbs 14:22-24

May 5

Judges 21:1—Ruth 1:22

John 4:4-42

Psalm 105:1-15

Proverbs 14:25

May 6

Ruth 2:1–4:22

John 4:43-54

Psalm 105:16-36

Proverbs 14:26-27

May 7

1 Samuel 1:1–2:21

John 5:1-23

Psalm 105:37-45

Proverbs 14:28-29

May 8

1 Samuel 2:22–4:22

John 5:24-47

Psalm 106:1-12

Proverbs 14:30-31

May 9

1 Samuel 5:1–7:17

John 6:1-21

Psalm 106:13-31

Proverbs 14:32-33

May 10

1 Samuel 8:1–9:27

John 6:22-42

Psalm 106:32-48

Proverbs 14:34-35

May 11

1 Samuel 10:1–11:15

John 6:43-71

Psalm 107:1-43

Proverbs 15:1-3

May 12

1 Samuel 12:1–13:23

John 7:1-30

Psalm 108:1-13

Proverbs 15:4

May 13

1 Samuel 14:1-52

John 7:31-53

Psalm 109:1-31

Proverbs 15:5-7

May 14

1 Samuel 15:1–16:23

John 8:1-20

Psalm 110:1-7

Proverbs 15:8-10

May 15

1 Samuel 17:1–18:4

John 8:21-30

Psalm 111:1-10

Proverbs 15:11

May 16

1 Samuel 18:5–19:24

John 8:31-59

Psalm 112:1-10

Proverbs 15:12-14

May 17

1 Samuel 20:1–21:15

John 9:1-41

Psalm 113:1–114:8

Proverbs 15:15-17

May 18

1 Samuel 22:1–23:29

John 10:1-21

Psalm 115:1-18

Proverbs 15:18-19

May 19

1 Samuel 24:1–25:44

John 10:22-42

Psalm 116:1-19

Proverbs 15:20-21

May 20

1 Samuel 26:1–28:25

John 11:1-54

Psalm 117:1-2

Proverbs 15:22-23

May 21

1 Samuel 29:1–31:13

John 11:55–12:19

Psalm 118:1-18

Proverbs 15:24-26

May 22

2 Samuel 1:1–2:11

John 12:20-50

Psalm 118:19-29

Proverbs 15:27-28

May 23

2 Samuel 2:12–3:39

John 13:1-30

Psalm 119:1-16

Proverbs 15:29-30

May 24

2 Samuel 4:1–6:23

John 13:31–14:14

Psalm 119:17-32

Proverbs 15:31-32

May 25

2 Samuel 7:1–8:18

John 14:15-31

Psalm 119:33-48

Proverbs 15:33

May 26

2 Samuel 9:1–11:27

John 15:1-27

Psalm 119:49-64

Proverbs 16:1-3

May 27

2 Samuel 12:1-31

John 16:1-33

Psalm 119:65-80

Proverbs 16:4-5

May 28

2 Samuel 13:1-39

John 17:1-26

Psalm 119:81-96

Proverbs 16:6-7

May 29

2 Samuel 14:1–15:22

John 18:1-24

Psalm 119:97-112

Proverbs 16:8-9

May 30

2 Samuel 15:23–16:23

John 18:25–19:22

Psalm 119:113-128

Proverbs 16:10-11

May 31

2 Samuel 17:1-29

John 19:23-42

Psalm 119:129-152

Proverbs 16:12-13

June 1

2 Samuel 18:1–19:10

John 20:1-31

Psalm 119:153-176

Proverbs 16:14-15

June 2

2 Samuel 19:11–20:13

John 21:1-25

Psalm 120:1-7

Proverbs 16:16-17

June 3

2 Samuel 20:14–21:22

Acts 1:1-26

Psalm 121:1-8

Proverbs 16:18

June 4

2 Samuel 22:1–23:23

Acts 2:1-47

Psalm 122:1-9

Proverbs 16:19-20

June 5

2 Samuel 23:24–24:25

Acts 3:1-26

Psalm 123:1-4

Proverbs 16:21-23

June 6

1 Kings 1:1-53

Acts 4:1-37

Psalm 124:1-8

Proverbs 16:24

June 7

1 Kings 2:1–3:2

Acts 5:1-42

Psalm 125:1-5

Proverbs 16:25

June 8

1 Kings 3:3–4:34

Acts 6:1-15

Psalm 126:1-6

Proverbs 16:26-27

June 9

1 Kings 5:1–6:38

Acts 7:1-29

Psalm 127:1-5

Proverbs 16:28-30

June 10

1 Kings 7:1-51

Acts 7:30-50

Psalm 128:1-6

Proverbs 16:31-33

June 11

1 Kings 8:1-66

Acts 7:51–8:13

Psalm 129:1-8

Proverbs 17:1

June 12

1 Kings 9:1–10:29

Acts 8:14-40

Psalm 130:1-8

Proverbs 17:2-3

June 13

1 Kings 11:1–12:19

Acts 9:1-25

Psalm 131:1-3

Proverbs 17:4-5

June 14

1 Kings 12:20–13:34

Acts 9:26-43

Psalm 132:1-18

Proverbs 17:6

June 15

1 Kings 14:1–15:24

Acts 10:1-23

Psalm 133:1-3

Proverbs 17:7-8

June 16

1 Kings 15:25–17:24

Acts 10:24-48

Psalm 134:1-3

Proverbs 17:9-11

June 17

1 Kings 18:1-46

Acts 11:1-30

Psalm 135:1-21

Proverbs 17:12-13

June 18

1 Kings 19:1-21

Acts 12:1-23

Psalm 136:1-26

Proverbs 17:14-15

June 19

1 Kings 20:1–21:29

Acts 12:24–13:15

Psalm 137:1-9

Proverbs 17:16

June 20

1 Kings 22:1-53

Acts 13:16-41

Psalm 138:1-8

Proverbs 17:17-18

June 21

2 Kings 1:1–2:25

Acts 13:42–14:7

Psalm 139:1-24

Proverbs 17:19-21

June 22

2 Kings 3:1–4:17

Acts 14:8-28

Psalm 140:1-13

Proverbs 17:22

June 23

2 Kings 4:18–5:27

Acts 15:1-35

Psalm 141:1-10

Proverbs 17:23

June 24

2 Kings 6:1–7:20

Acts 15:36–16:15

Psalm 142:1-7

Proverbs 17:24-25

June 25

2 Kings 8:1–9:13

Acts 16:16-40

Psalm 143:1-12

Proverbs 17:26

June 26

2 Kings 9:14–10:31

Acts 17:1-34

Psalm 144:1-15

Proverbs 17:27-28

June 27

2 Kings 10:32–12:21

Acts 18:1-22

Psalm 145:1-21

Proverbs 18:1

June 28

2 Kings 13:1–14:29

Acts 18:23–19:12

Psalm 146:1-10

Proverbs 18:2-3

June 29

2 Kings 15:1–16:20

Acts 19:13-41

Psalm 147:1-20

Proverbs 18:4-5

June 30

2 Kings 17:1–18:12

Acts 20:1-38

Psalm 148:1-14

Proverbs 18:6-7

July 1

2 Kings 18:13–19:37

Acts 21:1-17

Psalm 149:1-9

Proverbs 18:8

July 2

2 Kings 20:1–22:2

Acts 21:18-36

Psalm 150:1-6

Proverbs 18:9-10

July 3

2 Kings 22:3–23:30

Acts 21:37–22:16

Psalm 1:1-6

Proverbs 18:11-12

July 4

2 Kings 23:31–25:30

Acts 22:17–23:10

Psalm 2:1-12

Proverbs 18:13

July 5

1 Chronicles 1:1–2:17

Acts 23:11-35

Psalm 3:1-8

Proverbs 18:14-15

July 6

1 Chronicles 2:18–4:4

Acts 24:1-27

Psalm 4:1-8

Proverbs 18:16-18

July 7

1 Chronicles 4:5–5:17

Acts 25:1-27

Psalm 5:1-12

Proverbs 18:19

July 8

1 Chronicles 5:18–6:81

Acts 26:1-32

Psalm 6:1-10

Proverbs 18:20-21

July 9

1 Chronicles 7:1–8:40

Acts 27:1-20

Psalm 7:1-17

Proverbs 18:22

July 10

1 Chronicles 9:1–10:14

Acts 27:21-44

Psalm 8:1-9

Proverbs 18:23-24

July 11

1 Chronicles 11:1–12:18

Acts 28:1-31

Psalm 9:1-12

Proverbs 19:1-3

July 12

1 Chronicles 12:19–14:17

Romans 1:1-17

Psalm 9:13-20

Proverbs 19:4-5

July 13

1 Chronicles 15:1–16:36

Romans 1:18-32

Psalm 10:1-15

Proverbs 19:6-7

July 14

1 Chronicles 16:37–18:17

Romans 2:1-24

Psalm 10:16-18

Proverbs 19:8-9

July 15

1 Chronicles 19:1–21:30

Romans 2:25–3:8

Psalm 11:1-7

Proverbs 19:10-12

July 16

1 Chronicles 22:1–23:32

Romans 3:9-31

Psalm 12:1-8

Proverbs 19:13-14

July 17

1 Chronicles 24:1–26:11

Romans 4:1-12

Psalm 13:1-6

Proverbs 19:15-16

July 18

1 Chronicles 26:12–27:34

Romans 4:13–5:5

Psalm 14:1-7

Proverbs 19:17

July 19

1 Chronicles 28:1–29:30

Romans 5:6-21

Psalm 15:1-5

Proverbs 19:18-19

July 20

2 Chronicles 1:1–3:17

Romans 6:1-23

Psalm 16:1-11

Proverbs 19:20-21

July 21

2 Chronicles 4:1–6:11

Romans 7:1-13

Psalm 17:1-15

Proverbs 19:22-23

July 22

2 Chronicles 6:12–8:10

Romans 7:14–8:8

Psalm 18:1-15

Proverbs 19:24-25

July 23

2 Chronicles 8:11–10:19

Romans 8:9-25

Psalm 18:16-36

Proverbs 19:26

July 24

2 Chronicles 11:1–13:22

Romans 8:26-39

Psalm 18:37-50

Proverbs 19:27-29

July 25

2 Chronicles 14:1–16:14

Romans 9:1-24

Psalm 19:1-14

Proverbs 20:1

July 26

2 Chronicles 17:1–18:34

Romans 9:25–10:13

Psalm 20:1-9

Proverbs 20:2-3

July 27

2 Chronicles 19:1–20:37

Romans 10:14–11:12

Psalm 21:1-13

Proverbs 20:4-6

July 28

2 Chronicles 21:1–23:21

Romans 11:13-36

Psalm 22:1-18

Proverbs 20:7

July 29

2 Chronicles 24:1–25:28

Romans 12:1-21

Psalm 22:19-31

Proverbs 20:8-10

July 30

2 Chronicles 26:1–28:27

Romans 13:1-14

Psalm 23:1-6

Proverbs 20:11

July 31

2 Chronicles 29:1-36

Romans 14:1-23

Psalm 24:1-10

Proverbs 20:12

August 1

2 Chronicles 30:1–31:21

Romans 15:1-22

Psalm 25:1-15

Proverbs 20:13-15

August 2

2 Chronicles 32:1–33:13

Romans 15:23–16:9

Psalm 25:16-22

Proverbs 20:16-18

August 3

2 Chronicles 33:14–34:33

Romans 16:10-27

Psalm 26:1-12

Proverbs 20:19

August 4

2 Chronicles 35:1–36:23

1 Corinthians 1:1-17

Psalm 27:1-6

Proverbs 20:20-21

August 5

Ezra 1:1–2:70

1 Corinthians 1:18–2:5

Psalm 27:7-14

Proverbs 20:22-23

August 6

Ezra 3:1–4:24

1 Corinthians 2:6–3:4

Psalm 28:1-9

Proverbs 20:24-25

August 7

Ezra 5:1–6:22

1 Corinthians 3:5-23

Psalm 29:1-11

Proverbs 20:26-27

August 8

Ezra 7:1–8:20

1 Corinthians 4:1-21

Psalm 30:1-12

Proverbs 20:28-30

August 9

Ezra 8:21–9:15

1 Corinthians 5:1-13

Psalm 31:1-8

Proverbs 21:1-2

August 10

Ezra 10:1-44

1 Corinthians 6:1-20

Psalm 31:9-18

Proverbs 21:3

August 11

Nehemiah 1:1–3:14

1 Corinthians 7:1-24

Psalm 31:19-24

Proverbs 21:4

August 12

Nehemiah 3:15–5:13

1 Corinthians 7:25-40

Psalm 32:1-11

Proverbs 21:5-7

August 13

Nehemiah 5:14–7:60

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Psalm 33:1-11

Proverbs 21:8-10

August 14

Nehemiah 7:61–9:21

1 Corinthians 9:1-18

Psalm 33:12-22

Proverbs 21:11-12

August 15

Nehemiah 9:22–10:39

1 Corinthians 9:19–10:13

Psalm 34:1-10

Proverbs 21:13

August 16

Nehemiah 11:1–12:26

1 Corinthians 10:14-33

Psalm 34:11-22

Proverbs 21:14-16

August 17

Nehemiah 12:27–13:31

1 Corinthians 11:1-16

Psalm 35:1-16

Proverbs 21:17-18

August 18

Esther 1:1–3:15

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Psalm 35:17-28

Proverbs 21:19-20

August 19

Esther 4:1–7:10

1 Corinthians 12:1-26

Psalm 36:1-12

Proverbs 21:21-22

August 20

Esther 8:1–10:3

1 Corinthians 12:27–13:13

Psalm 37:1-11

Proverbs 21:23-24

August 21

Job 1:1–3:26

1 Corinthians 14:1-17

Psalm 37:12-29

Proverbs 21:25-26

August 22

Job 4:1–7:21

1 Corinthians 14:18-40

Psalm 37:30-40

Proverbs 21:27

August 23

Job 8:1–11:20

1 Corinthians 15:1-28

Psalm 38:1-22

Proverbs 21:28-29

August 24

Job 12:1–15:35

1 Corinthians 15:29-58

Psalm 39:1-13

Proverbs 21:30-31

August 25 Job 16:1–19:29

1 Corinthians 16:1-24

Psalm 40:1-10

Proverbs 22:1

August 26

Job 20:1–22:30

2 Corinthians 1:1-11

Psalm 40:11-17

Proverbs 22:2-4

August 27

Job 23:1–27:23

2 Corinthians 1:12–2:11

Psalm 41:1-13

Proverbs 22:5-6

August 28

Job 28:1–30:31

2 Corinthians 2:12-17

Psalm 42:1-11

Proverbs 22:7

August 29 Job 31:1–33:33

2 Corinthians 3:1-18

Psalm 43:1-5

Proverbs 22:8-9

August 30 Job 34:1–36:33

2 Corinthians 4:1-12

Psalm 44:1-8

Proverbs 22:10-12

August 31

Job 37:1–39:30

2 Corinthians 4:13–5:10

Psalm 44:9-26

Proverbs 22:13

September 1

Job 40:1–42:17

2 Corinthians 5:11-21

Psalm 45:1-17

Proverbs 22:14

September 2 Ecclesiastes 1:1–3:22

2 Corinthians 6:1-13

Psalm 46:1-11

Proverbs 22:15

September 3

Ecclesiastes 4:1–6:12

2 Corinthians 6:14–7:7

Psalm 47:1-9

Proverbs 22:16

September 4

Ecclesiastes 7:1–9:18

2 Corinthians 7:8-16

Psalm 48:1-14

Proverbs 22:17-19

September 5

Ecclesiastes 10:1–12:14

2 Corinthians 8:1-15

Psalm 49:1-20

Proverbs 22:20-21

September 6

Song of Songs 1:1–4:16

2 Corinthians 8:16-24

Psalm 50:1-23

Proverbs 22:22-23

September 7 Song of Songs 5:1–8:14

2 Corinthians 9:1-15

Psalm 51:1-19

Proverbs 22:24-25

September 8 Isaiah 1:1–2:22

2 Corinthians 10:1-18

Psalm 52:1-9

Proverbs 22:26-27

September 9

Isaiah 3:1–5:30

2 Corinthians 11:1-15

Psalm 53:1-6

Proverbs 22:28-29

September 10

Isaiah 6:1–7:25

2 Corinthians 11:16-33

Psalm 54:1-7

Proverbs 23:1-3

September 11

Isaiah 8:1–9:21

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Psalm 55:1-23

Proverbs 23:4-5

September 12

Isaiah 10:1–11:16

2 Corinthians 12:11-21

Psalm 56:1-13

Proverbs 23:6-8

September 13

Isaiah 12:1–14:32

2 Corinthians 13:1-13

Psalm 57:1-11

Proverbs 23:9-11

September 14

Isaiah 15:1–18:7

Galatians 1:1-24

Psalm 58:1-11

Proverbs 23:12

September 15

Isaiah 19:1–21:17

Galatians 2:1-16

Psalm 59:1-17

Proverbs 23:13-14

September 16

Isaiah 22:1–24:23

Galatians 2:17–3:9

Psalm 60:1-12

Proverbs 23:15-16

September 17

Isaiah 25:1–28:13

Galatians 3:10-22

Psalm 61:1-8

Proverbs 23:17-18

September 18

Isaiah 28:14–30:11

Galatians 3:23–4:31

Psalm 62:1-12

Proverbs 23:19-21

September 19

Isaiah 30:12–33:9

Galatians 5:1-12

Psalm 63:1-11

Proverbs 23:22

September 20 Isaiah 33:10–36:22

Galatians 5:13-26

Psalm 64:1-10

Proverbs 23:23

September 21

Isaiah 37:1–38:22

Galatians 6:1-18

Psalm 65:1-13

Proverbs 23:24

September 22 Isaiah 39:1–41:16

Ephesians 1:1-23

Psalm 66:1-20

Proverbs 23:25-28

September 23 Isaiah 41:17–43:13

Ephesians 2:1-22

Psalm 67:1-7

Proverbs 23:29-35

September 24 Isaiah 43:14–45:10

Ephesians 3:1-21

Psalm 68:1-18

Proverbs 24:1-2

September 25 Isaiah 45:11–48:11

Ephesians 4:1-16

Psalm 68:19-35

Proverbs 24:3-4

September 26

Isaiah 48:12–50:11

Ephesians 4:17-32

Psalm 69:1-18

Proverbs 24:5-6

September 27 Isaiah 51:1–53:12

Ephesians 5:1-33

Psalm 69:19-36

Proverbs 24:7

September 28 Isaiah 54:1–57:14

Ephesians 6:1-24

Psalm 70:1-5

Proverbs 24:8

September 29 Isaiah 57:15–59:21

Philippians 1:1-26

Psalm 71:1-24

Proverbs 24:9-10

September 30 Isaiah 60:1–62:5

Philippians 1:27–2:18

Psalm 72:1-20

Proverbs 24:11-12

October 1

Isaiah 62:6–65:25

Philippians 2:19–3:3

Psalm 73:1-28

Proverbs 24:13-14

October 2 Isaiah 66:1-24

Philippians 3:4-21

Psalm 74:1-23

Proverbs 24:15-16

October 3 Jeremiah 1:1–2:30

Philippians 4:1-23

Psalm 75:1-10

Proverbs 24:17-20

October 4

Jeremiah 2:31–4:18

Colossians 1:1-17

Psalm 76:1-12

Proverbs 24:21-22

October 5 Jeremiah 4:19–6:15

Colossians 1:18–2:7

Psalm 77:1-20

Proverbs 24:23-25

October 6 Jeremiah 6:16–8:7

Colossians 2:8-23

Psalm 78:1-31

Proverbs 24:26

October 7 Jeremiah 8:8–9:26

Colossians 3:1-17

Psalm 78:32-55

Proverbs 24:27

October 8 Jeremiah 10:1–11:23

Colossians 3:18–4:18

Psalm 78:56-72

Proverbs 24:28-29

October 9

Jeremiah 12:1–14:10

1 Thessalonians 1:1–2:8

Psalm 79:1-13

Proverbs 24:30-34

October 10

Jeremiah 14:11–16:15

1 Thessalonians 2:9–3:13

Psalm 80:1-19

Proverbs 25:1-5

October 11

Jeremiah 16:16–18:23

1 Thessalonians 4:1–5:3

Psalm 81:1-16

Proverbs 25:6-8

October 12

Jeremiah 19:1–21:14

1 Thessalonians 5:4-28

Psalm 82:1-8

Proverbs 25:9-10

October 13

Jeremiah 22:1–23:20

2 Thessalonians 1:1-12

Psalm 83:1-18

Proverbs 25:11-14

October 14

Jeremiah 23:21–25:38

2 Thessalonians 2:1-17

Psalm 84:1-12

Proverbs 25:15

October 15

Jeremiah 26:1–27:22

2 Thessalonians 3:1-18

Psalm 85:1-13

Proverbs 25:16

October 16

Jeremiah 28:1–29:32

1 Timothy 1:1-20

Psalm 86:1-17

Proverbs 25:17

October 17

Jeremiah 30:1–31:26

1 Timothy 2:1-15

Psalm 87:1-7

Proverbs 25:18-19

October 18

Jeremiah 31:27–32:44

1 Timothy 3:1-16

Psalm 88:1-18

Proverbs 25:20-22

October 19

Jeremiah 33:1–34:22

1 Timothy 4:1-16

Psalm 89:1-13

Proverbs 25:23-24

October 20 Jeremiah 35:1–36:32

1 Timothy 5:1-25

Psalm 89:14-37

Proverbs 25:25-27

October 21

Jeremiah 37:1–38:28

1 Timothy 6:1-21

Psalm 89:38-52

Proverbs 25:28

October 22 Jeremiah 39:1–41:18

2 Timothy 1:1-18

Psalm 90:1–91:16

Proverbs 26:1-2

October 23 Jeremiah 42:1–44:23

2 Timothy 2:1-21

Psalm 92:1–93:5

Proverbs 26:3-5

October 24 Jeremiah 44:24–47:7

2 Timothy 2:22–3:17

Psalm 94:1-23

Proverbs 26:6-8

October 25 Jeremiah 48:1–49:22

2 Timothy 4:1-22

Psalm 95:1–96:13

Proverbs 26:9-12

October 26 Jeremiah 49:23–50:46

Titus 1:1-16

Psalm 97:1–98:9

Proverbs 26:13-16

October 27 Jeremiah 51:1-53

Titus 2:1-15

Psalm 99:1-9

Proverbs 26:17

October 28 Jeremiah 51:54–52:34

Titus 3:1-15

Psalm 100:1-5

Proverbs 26:18-19

October 29 Lamentations 1:1–2:19

Philippians 1:1-25

Psalm 101:1-8

Proverbs 26:20

October 30 Lamentations 2:20–3:66

Hebrews 1:1-14

Psalm 102:1-28

Proverbs 26:21-22

October 31

Lamentations 4:1–5:22

Hebrews 2:1-18

Psalm 103:1-22

Proverbs 26:23

November 1

Ezekiel 1:1–3:15

Hebrews 3:1-19

Psalm 104:1-23

Proverbs 26:24-26

November 2 Ezekiel 3:16–6:14

Hebrews 4:1-16

Psalm 104:24-35

Proverbs 26:27

November 3 Ezekiel 7:1–9:11

Hebrews 5:1-14

Psalm 105:1-15

Proverbs 26:28

November 4

Ezekiel 10:1–11:25

Hebrews 6:1-20

Psalm 105:16-36

Proverbs 27:1-2

November 5 Ezekiel 12:1–14:11

Hebrews 7:1-17

Psalm 105:37-45

Proverbs 27:3

November 6

Ezekiel 14:12–16:41

Hebrews 7:18-28

Psalm 106:1-12

Proverbs 27:4-6

November 7 Ezekiel 16:42–17:24

Hebrews 8:1-13

Psalm 106:13-31

Proverbs 27:7-9

November 8 Ezekiel 18:1–19:14

Hebrews 9:1-10

Psalm 106:32-48

Proverbs 27:10

November 9

Ezekiel 20:1-49

Hebrews 9:11-28

Psalm 107:1-43

Proverbs 27:11

November 10

Ezekiel 21:1–22:31

Hebrews 10:1-17

Psalm 108:1-13

Proverbs 27:12

November 11

Ezekiel 23:1-49

Hebrews 10:18-39

Psalm 109:1-31

Proverbs 27:13

November 12

Ezekiel 24:1–26:21

Hebrews 11:1-16

Psalm 110:1-7

Proverbs 27:14

November 13

Ezekiel 27:1–28:26

Hebrews 11:17-31

Psalm 111:1-10

Proverbs 27:15-16

November 14

Ezekiel 29:1–30:26

Hebrews 11:32–12:13

Psalm 112:1-10

Proverbs 27:17

November 15

Ezekiel 31:1–32:32

Hebrews 12:14-29

Psalm 113:1–114:8

Proverbs 27:18-20

November 16

Ezekiel 33:1–34:31

Hebrews 13:1-25

Psalm 115:1-18

Proverbs 27:21-22

November 17

Ezekiel 35:1–36:38

James 1:1-18

Psalm 116:1-19

Proverbs 27:23-27

November 18

Ezekiel 37:1–38:23

James 1:19–2:17

Psalm 117:1-2

Proverbs 28:1

November 19

Ezekiel 39:1–40:27

James 2:18–3:18

Psalm 118:1-18

Proverbs 28:2

November 20 Ezekiel 40:28–41:26

James 4:1-17

Psalm 118:19-29

Proverbs 28:3-5

November 21

Ezekiel 42:1–43:27

James 5:1-20

Psalm 119:1-16

Proverbs 28:6-7

November 22 Ezekiel 44:1–45:12

1 Peter 1:1-12

Psalm 119:17-32

Proverbs 28:8-10

November 23 Ezekiel 45:13–46:24

1 Peter 1:13–2:10

Psalm 119:33-48

Proverbs 28:11

November 24

Ezekiel 47:1–48:35

1 Peter 2:11–3:7

Psalm 119:49-64

Proverbs 28:12-13

November 25 Daniel 1:1–2:23

1 Peter 3:8–4:6

Psalm 119:65-80

Proverbs 28:14

November 26 Daniel 2:24–3:30

1 Peter 4:7–5:14

Psalm 119:81-96

Proverbs 28:15-16

November 27 Daniel 4:1-37

2 Peter 1:1-21

Psalm 119:97-112

Proverbs 28:17-18

November 28 Daniel 5:1-31

2 Peter 2:1-22

Psalm 119:113-128

Proverbs 28:19-20

November 29 Daniel 6:1-28

2 Peter 3:1-18

Psalm 119:129-152

Proverbs 28:21-22

November 30 Daniel 7:1-28

1 John 1:1-10

Psalm 119:153-176

Proverbs 28:23-24

December 1

Daniel 8:1-27

1 John 2:1-17

Psalm 120:1-7

Proverbs 28:25-26

December 2 Daniel 9:1–11:1

1 John 2:18–3:6

Psalm 121:1-8

Proverbs 28:27-28

December 3 Daniel 11:2-35

1 John 3:7-24

Psalm 122:1-9

Proverbs 29:1

December 4

Daniel 11:36–12:13

1 John 4:1-21

Psalm 123:1-4

Proverbs 29:2-4

December 5 Hosea 1:1–3:5

1 John 5:1-21

Psalm 124:1-8

Proverbs 29:5-8

December 6 Hosea 4:1–5:15

2 John 1:1-13

Psalm 125:1-5

Proverbs 29:9-11

December 7 Hosea 6:1–9:17

3 John 1:1-15

Psalm 126:1-6

Proverbs 29:12-14

December 8 Hosea 10:1–14:9

Jude 1:1-25

Psalm 127:1-5

Proverbs 29:15-17

December 9

Joel 1:1–3:21

Revelation 1:1-20

Psalm 128:1-6

Proverbs 29:18

December 10

Amos 1:1–3:15

Revelation 2:1-17

Psalm 129:1-8

Proverbs 29:19-20

December 11

Amos 4:1–6:14

Revelation 2:18–3:6

Psalm 130:1-8

Proverbs 29:21-22

December 12

Amos 7:1–9:15

Revelation 3:7-22

Psalm 131:1-3

Proverbs 29:23

December 13

Obadiah 1:1-21

Revelation 4:1-11

Psalm 132:1-18

Proverbs 29:24-25

December 14

Jonah 1:1–4:11

Revelation 5:1-14

Psalm 133:1-3

Proverbs 29:26-27

December 15

Micah 1:1–4:13

Revelation 6:1-17

Psalm 134:1-3

Proverbs 30:1-4

December 16

Micah 5:1–7:20

Revelation 7:1-17

Psalm 135:1-21

Proverbs 30:5-6

December 17

Nahum 1:1–3:19

Revelation 8:1-13

Psalm 136:1-26

Proverbs 30:7-9

December 18 Habakkuk 1:1–3:19

Revelation 9:1-21

Psalm 137:1-9

Proverbs 30:10

December 19

Zephaniah 1:1–3:20

Revelation 10:1-11

Psalm 138:1-8

Proverbs 30:11-14

December 20 Haggai 1:1–2:23

Revelation 11:1-19

Psalm 139:1-24

Proverbs 30:15-16

December 21

Zechariah 1:1-21

Revelation 12:1-17

Psalm 140:1-13

Proverbs 30:17

December 22 Zechariah 2:1–3:10

Revelation 13:1-18

Psalm 141:1-10

Proverbs 30:18-20

December 23 Zechariah 4:1–5:11

Revelation 14:1-20

Psalm 142:1-7

Proverbs 30:21-23

December 24

Zechariah 6:1–7:14

Revelation 15:1-8

Psalm 143:1-12

Proverbs 30:24-28

December 25 Zechariah 8:1-23

Revelation 16:1-21

Psalm 144:1-15

Proverbs 30:29-31

December 26 Zechariah 9:1-17

Revelation 17:1-18

Psalm 145:1-21

Proverbs 30:32

December 27 Zechariah 10:1–11:17

Revelation 18:1-24

Psalm 146:1-10

Proverbs 30:33

December 28 Zechariah 12:1–13:9

Revelation 19:1-21

Psalm 147:1-20

Proverbs 31:1-7

December 29 Zechariah 14:1-21

Revelation 20:1-15

Psalm 148:1-14

Proverbs 31:8-9

December 30 Malachi 1:1–2:17

Revelation 21:1-27

Psalm 149:1-9

Proverbs 31:10-24

December 31

Malachi 3:1–4:6

Revelation 22:1-21

Psalm 150:1-6

Proverbs 31:25-31

SINCE 1894, Moody Publishers has been dedicated to equip and motivate people to advance the cause of Christ by publishing evangelical Christian literature and other media for all ages, around the world. As a ministry of the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, proceeds from the sale of this book help to train the next generation of Christian leaders.

If we may serve you in any way in your spiritual journey toward understanding Christ and the Christian life, please contact us at www.moodypulishers.com.

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

—2 TIMOTHY 3:16, 17

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR UNLOCKING THE BIBLE STORY

Unlocking the Bible Story flows from the pen of a pastor

who understands how important it is to encourage God’s people to read and discover the power of the Bible. Colin Smith has written a practical tool to facilitate the wonderful adventure of reading and understanding the Bible. I recommend that every pastor and church consider deepening their Bible knowledge by utilizing this tool tha has produced incredible results in the church Pastor Smith leads.

WILLIAM HAMEL

PRESIDENT, EVANGELICAL FREE CHURCH OF AMERICA

“… touches the deepest concerns of our hearts.”

Colin Smith’s Unlocking the Bible Story is a significant work. In fact, I’m convinced it will make a lasting contribution to God’s people regardless of age or ethnicity.

DR. GREGORY L. WAYBRIGHT

PRESIDENT, TRINITY INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

At first glance the Bible appears to many people as a puzzle, with parts that are not easily assembled. Here is a simplified explanation for understanding and learning to love the Scriptures. My colleague Colin Smith capably serves up a pleasing and satisfying literary meal that merits thoughtful consumption in our day of biblical starvation.

HOWARD G. HENDRICKS

DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR

CHAIRMAN, CENTER FOR CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP

DALLAS THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

Unlocking the Bible Story explores the mountain peaks of Scripture, helping us trace the Bible’s story line from beginning to end. I promise, it does unlock the Bible, showing us the unity of God’s revelation. Best of all, it shows that Christ is the central theme, as the biblical narrative moves from one event to another. Excellent for those who want to “get into” the Bible.

“Excellent for those who want to ‘get into’ the Bible.”

ERWIN W. LUTZER

SENIOR PASTOR, MOODY CHURCH

This is a satisfying and insightful overview of Scripture that tells “the old, old story” in a fascinating way. Even seasoned Bible students will find their eyes opened and their hearts warmed as they read it.

WARREN WIERSBE

AUTHOR AND CONFERENCE SPEAKER

UNLOCKING THE BIBLE STORY

VOLUME 4

Colin S. Smith

Moody Publishers

Chicago

© 2002 by COLIN S. SMITH

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Smith, Colin S., 1958–

Unlocking the Bible Story/by Colin S. Smith

p.cm.

ISBN 0-8024-6546-3

1. Bible—Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Title.

BS511.3.S65. 2002

221.6—dc21                                                      2001056268

ISBN: 0-8024-6546-3

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Printed in the United States of America

To the pastors, board,

and congregation

of the Arlington Heights Evangelical

Free Church,

with whom it is my privilege

and delight to serve.

CONTENTS

Introduction

1 Wrath

2 Propitiation

3 Justification

4 Rejoicing

5 Grace

6 Union

7 Nature

8 Heirs

9 Weakness

10 Church

11 Light

12 Battle

13 Profit

14 Peace

15 Death

16 Intercession

17 Works

18 Fellowship

19 Lamb

20 City

Reading the Bible in One Year

INTRODUCTION

For about twelve years, my mother and father lived in a fifteenth-century castle in northern Scotland. Kilravock Castle is the home of the Rose clan, and my parents managed the castle as a guest house on behalf of Baroness Rose. Guests came from all over the world and reveled in the opportunity to stay in rooms that were steeped in history.

Every Wednesday, Baroness Rose offered a tour in which she would explain the story of the castle. For that one afternoon, the guests were asked to leave their rooms open so that the particular stories of each room could be told.

The baroness would tell about how the Bonnie Prince Charlie dined in the banqueting hall on the night before the battle of Culloden. Then, she would point out the entrance to the dungeon and reminisce about her childhood growing up in the castle. There would be stories of the baroness’s ancestors, whose paintings hung in the dining room and in the hall, and tales of how the Rose clan had gathered for feasts and banquets in the castle.

The baroness’s tour opened people’s eyes to the significance of what was around them. Without the tour, the guests in the castle would have seen the great paintings and enjoyed the comfort of the bedrooms, but they would have experienced only a small part of what they could discover.

The letters in the New Testament (from Romans to Revelation) are like guided tours in which God Himself tells us the full significance of what He has done in Jesus Christ. They do not add to the Bible story, but they bring out the full glory and wonder of it.

The book of Romans gives us a marvelous summary of God’s plan of salvation. It contains the most ordered explanation of the gospel to be found anywhere in the Bible, and it is for this reason that we have chosen to take our time in reflecting on its great themes. Romans is like the “great room” of the New Testament, and guests should not be surprised if the guide lingers in this room longer than others as he attempts to tell the great stories that are associated with it.

But now, we’ve been standing long enough at the entrance, so let’s join the tour.

1

Wrath

ROMANS 1

What is the

wrath of God

and how can

I avoid it?

DISCOVER

why God’s wrath is an aspect of His love.

LEARN

how Jesus absorbed the wrath of God for us.

WORSHIP

because there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

I HAVE been fascinated by a recent advertisement that asks, “What do you want the Internet to be?” The point of the ad is that the Internet can be used to support almost any purpose. You can use the Internet to sell things, to gather information, or as an opportunity for meeting people with similar interests. The Internet is whatever you want it to be. The only limitations are the limits of human ingenuity.

Many people think about God in the same way as they think about the Internet. They assume that, like the Internet, God is essentially a product of human ingenuity and that writings about Him have been developed by man and for man, to meet his spiritual need.

It would, of course, follow that old ideas about God would be as useless and as laughable as technology that is fifty years out of date. The Bible would be a book of mere historical interest, which may contain some useful insights but would have no more authority for us today than the writings of Plato or Alexander the Great.

If all religions were of human origin, it would also follow that no religion could claim that its teaching about God is “the truth” or that the teaching of another religion about God is false.

These assumptions have penetrated deep into our culture, with the result that for many people the fundamental question is no longer, “Who is God?” but, “What do you want God to be?”

Of course, there is something very attractive about this, because if each of us can choose what we want God to be, then we can decide that God will be in favor of everything we pursue and against everything we oppose. Such a god would be like a large-screen projection of ourselves—god created by us and in our own image.

As we have followed the Bible story, we have discovered that there is one fundamental problem with this whole approach: God Himself!

THE GOD YOU CANNOT ALTER

The Bible story is all about the living God revealing Himself to us. The God of the Bible did not arise from the religious thoughts of Moses, Isaiah, and the other prophets. These men simply recorded the revelation that was given to them.

God broke into their lives, speaking directly to them in order to make Himself known. God revealed Himself to them so that, through the Scriptures, we may come to know Him.

When God introduces Himself to us in the Bible, He says, “I am who I am” (Exodus 3:14). This is the first thing we need to know about God. He is not whoever we want Him to be: He is who He is. We cannot alter God.

I love the story of the woman who was extremely nervous about her wedding. She came to the rehearsal in a terrible state, worrying about where she should stand and the order in which things would happen.

The pastor tried to calm her fears and said to her, “Look, you don’t need to worry because it’s very simple. You walk down the aisle, you come up to the altar, and then we sing a hymn. It’s very easy. Down the aisle, up to the altar, sing the hymn. Got it?”

“Yes,” she said, “I think I can remember that.”

The following day, when the music for her entrance to the church began, she looked straight at her future husband and as she started her procession was heard to say, “aisle, altar, hymn, aisle, altar, hymn.…I’ll alter him.”

Some folks have married with that idea and it is usually the road to disaster, because while you may be able to make the Internet whatever you want it to be, you cannot make a person whatever you want him (or her) to be. Sooner or later that person will say, “Either accept me for who I am, or leave me alone, but I cannot be whatever you want.”

If that is true of us, it is certainly true of God. We can’t alter Him. It matters very little what we want God to be. The important thing is that we discover who He is.

THE GOD WHO LOVES YOU

In our journey through the Bible story, we have discovered repeatedly that God is love. That means that God is absolutely committed to seek the good of all that He has made.

The Bible also tells us that God is holy. This means that God is absolutely opposed to anything that would destroy the objects of His love. God’s holiness is a dimension of His love. You cannot love a person without, at the same time, hating that which would destroy him or her.

I will never forget being with a family who was caring for a son dying of cancer. One evening, the boy’s mother said to me, “I hate this cancer.” She said it with some venom, and understandably so. It was destroying her son, and she hated what was destroying the object of her love.

I think of another lady whose husband is an alcoholic. Over the years, alcohol has destroyed his life, and progressively it has destroyed every area of their marriage. She has remained loyal to him at great personal cost. One day she said to me, “I love him, but I hate what he has become.” Her hatred of what destroyed her husband and of what he has become is a component of her love. Indeed, the day she stops hating what he has become would be the day she stops loving him.

Love and hate are often found together as natural partners in the Bible. “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil” (Romans 12:9). These are two sides of the same coin. If we do not hate what is evil, then there is no sincerity in our claim to love. The opposite of love is not hatred but indifference. True love hates all that destroys the one who is loved.

THE GOD WHO HATES WHATEVER DESTROYS YOU

God loves the world, and that means that He hates all that destroys the world. He is absolutely opposed to anything that would destroy the objects of His love. He hates what sin has done to us precisely because He loves us.

This is why God cannot and will not leave the world as it is. To do so would be a denial of love. God loves the world—that is why He relentlessly opposes all evil. God hates evil; He cannot be indifferent to it.

THE GOD WHO IS NEVER FRUSTRATED

God’s relentless opposition to evil is good news, provided that He is able to overcome its destructive power. So we can be thankful that God is sovereign. This means that He is absolutely in control of all things. God is in a class of His own. There is no fact that He does not know, no place where He is not present, no task that He cannot accomplish, and no permission that He needs to seek.

The problem for the lady whose husband is an alcoholic is that she does not have the power to overcome what is destroying him. Her love is therefore frustrated. She has tried everything she can to separate the person she loves from the thing that is destroying him, but she can’t do it. God is able to do all things. He is able to recover the people He loves from the people we have become. His love will not be frustrated.

God is absolutely committed to seek the good of the objects of His love. He is resolutely opposed to anything that would destroy those who are the objects of His love. He is completely in control of all things. God says, “I am who I am.” He is love, He is holy, and He is sovereign.

This is not what some people would like God to be, but it is who He is, whether we like it or not. And we should be truly thankful. A god who did not love us would offer us no hope. A god who was not resolutely opposed to evil would be irrelevant, and a god who could not destroy evil would be useless in a world that suffers under the curse of its power.

WHAT MAKES GOD ANGRY?

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness. (ROMANS 1:18)

This wrath of God is not some kind of flaring rage, and we should not think of God losing control and lashing out in random acts of frustration. God’s wrath is “a holy response to the unholy, a just reaction to the unjust, a pure rejection of the impure,” wrote Stuart Briscoe.[1] God’s wrath is His strong and settled opposition to all that is evil.

It is not in God’s nature to be angry. God is love: That is His nature, and there has never been and never will be a time when He is not love. But God’s anger is different. The Bible never says that God is wrath. In fact, God is slow to anger (Psalm 103:8). The Bible story demonstrates His great patience and tolerance toward an evil world. But God can be provoked to anger, and Paul tells us that His anger is provoked by godlessness and wickedness.

A godless person is one who doesn’t want anything to do with God. A wicked person is one who refuses to obey God. The godless and wicked person is someone who says to God, “I don’t want to know You and I will not obey You.”

In order to sustain this response to God, a person must “suppress the truth” that God has revealed about Himself. Picture a man pressing down on a powerful spring. He has to put his whole weight on it to keep the spring compressed. It takes sustained energy to do that. If the man lets up for a moment, the spring will recoil.

That is the picture Paul uses. It takes energy to go on resisting God. Those who want nothing to do with God have to work hard at avoiding Him because His revelation is all around us. God has made His divine power and His glory known in the splendors of creation (Romans 1:20).

A person who does not want to know God has to close his eyes to this revelation and keep up the pretense of believing that the beauties and order of the world are products of random chance. Many people choose to believe this today because they find the alternative unacceptable. They are determined not to acknowledge the glory of their Creator because they have decided that they will not obey Him.

The reason many people do not know the God of the Bible is not that He has failed to make Himself known, but that in our godlessness and wickedness, we have chosen not to know Him.

When people respond to God by saying, “We don’t want to know You, we will not obey You, and we are going to pour our energy into patterns of belief and behavior that will keep Your truth as far from us as possible,” God reveals His wrath. He cannot be indifferent to godlessness and wickedness. God loves the world; He cannot shrug as His world destroys itself.

THE GOD WHO LETS PEOPLE GO

God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts. (ROMANS 1:24)

God gave them over to shameful lusts. (V. 26) He [God] gave them over to a depraved mind. (V. 28)

The words “wrath of God” may cause some people to think about God targeting wicked people with fork lightning or causing volcanoes to erupt over rebellious communities, but that is not what Paul tells us in Romans 1. Sometimes we may wish that God would make a direct strike on the perpetrators of torture and mass murder. One day He will, but that is rarely how God’s wrath operates in the world today.

Where an individual or a society says, “We do not want God and we will not obey God,” God expresses His wrath by allowing their choice. God “[gives] them over” (v. 24). He stands back from those who do not want Him and will not obey Him and allows them to live with the full reality of their own choice.

That is precisely what happened in the Garden of Eden. God surrounded our first parents with good gifts, but they wanted to take the place of God themselves and chose not to obey Him. The first sin in the garden was an expression of godlessness and wickedness. Our first parents suppressed the truth, they chose the knowledge of evil, and God gave them over to it.

When I first presented this message to my congregation, I brought a crystal vase into the pulpit, held it high, and asked the congregation what would happen if I gave it up. (Someone rightly answered, “You’ll get into trouble when you get home!”)

If I “gave up” the vase, it would become subject to the pull of gravity. The vase would have no way of overcoming the powers that surround it. It would fall like a stone, and it would shatter.

That is exactly what happens when God “gives up” the godless and the wicked. When the godless say, “We do not want You,” and the wicked say, “We will not obey You,” God gives them up to their choice.

When God gives people up, society goes into a kind of moral free-fall.

When God gives them up, the godless and the wicked find themselves at the mercy of powers that are greater than themselves. Paul identified these powers as “sinful desires,” “shameful lusts,” and “a depraved mind.”

If the evidence of God’s wrath being revealed in our society is that people who do not want God and will not obey God find themselves in the grip of sinful desires, shameful lusts, and a depraved mind, I cannot avoid the conclusion that the wrath of God is clearly being revealed in our nation today.

If resistance to God and His commandments increases in our society, we will find ourselves increasingly overwhelmed by evils that arise from sinful desires, shameful lusts, and depraved minds. When God gives people up, society goes into a kind of moral free-fall to its own destruction. That is precisely what happened to the Roman Empire. It is the consistent pattern of God’s judgment throughout history.

It may be that even as you read, you can see how sinful desires, shameful lusts, and a depraved mind are pulling you down. God has given you over to what you have chosen. Your only hope is that He may have mercy and save you. That opportunity is open to you today, but if you persist in the attitude that says to God, “I do not want You and I will not obey You,” the powers that hold you will lead to your destruction.

STORING UP WRATH

Do you show contempt for the riches of his [God’s] kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance? But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. (ROMANS 2:4–5)

God’s wrath is already being revealed, but only in part. History is riddled with evils that have never been brought to justice and lies that were never brought to light. Some perpetrators of evil seem to prosper through their crimes, and we wonder why God allows it to be so.

Paul says that people who refuse to turn to God in repentance are “storing up wrath.” There are many things that we may choose to store up, but wrath is not one of them. God shows great patience, kindness, and tolerance toward us. He does not treat us as our sins deserve. As we saw, He is slow to anger.

The purpose of His patience and kindness is to give us the opportunity of coming to Him in repentance. This would mean changing our whole disposition toward God, and then seeking to know Him and obey Him. Those who refuse that invitation are storing up wrath against themselves for the day of God’s wrath when His righteous judgment will be revealed.

There will be a day when God’s full hostility toward all that destroys the objects of His love will be revealed. When that day comes, the godless and the wicked will call on the rocks to fall on them (Revelation 6:16). They would rather be buried alive than face almighty God, but they will not be able to avoid Him.

God will destroy all that destroys us, and if we remain in what destroys us, then by definition we will be destroyed as well. The only hope is that there should somehow be a separation between me and the sin that would otherwise destroy me.

We have seen that God’s wrath is being revealed in part today, and that it is being stored up for the day when His righteous judgment will be revealed toward those who refuse to repent. But the Bible speaks about a third occasion when the wrath of God was revealed.

GOD’S WRATH AT THE CROSS

God displayed [Jesus] publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. (ROMANS 3:25 NASB)

God presented Jesus as the one on whom His wrath was poured out. That’s what the word “propitiation” means. God’s relentless opposition to all that destroys us was poured out on the Lord Jesus Christ when He died on the cross.

Some people might question if this was really necessary. That was precisely the question Jesus raised in the agony of His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me” (Matthew 26:39). Jesus was saying, “If there is any other way for men and women to be saved besides Your wrath being poured out on Me, then let’s not go down this road. But if this is the only way, then let Your will be done.”

And so it was. “He … did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all” (Romans 8:32). Notice the phrase: God “gave him up”! God took His hand off His Son. He let Christ fall. He dropped Him into hell for you. That’s why Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46).

[God] held Jesus accountable for all that destroys us.

Jesus had lived a perfect life. He was the very opposite of the godless and the wicked. The reason the wrath of God was poured out on Jesus was that “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us” (2 Corinthians 5:21). God found a way of separating us from our sin. He separated the sins He hates from the people He loves by laying these sins on Jesus. Then He held Jesus accountable for all that destroys us. God laid our iniquity on Him, and He endured our punishment.

I did drop the glass vase in church that Sunday morning, and it fell as it was overwhelmed by the force of gravity. It caused a few gasps of surprise! But the vase was not destroyed, because having dropped it from my right hand, I caught it a few feet from the ground with my left. I gave the crystal vase up to the power of gravity that would lead to its destruction, but I delivered it from that power by holding it up.

That’s what God does in Jesus Christ. He offers to save those who otherwise would fall to their destruction. Jesus Christ went to the lowest point so that He could lift you up. You are not like an inanimate crystal vase. You can call out to God, even as you are conscious of the power of sinful desires, shameful lusts, and a depraved mind over you. You can ask Him to save you.

You do not have the power to separate yourself from either the guilt or the power of your sin, but Jesus Christ is able to make that separation for you. That is why He went to the cross. It is through His blood that those who come to Him are brought into a right relationship with God, and it is in this way that we are saved from God’s wrath (Romans 5:9).

“There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Our sin has been condemned in Him, and dealt with at the cross. The object of the Father’s love became the object of His wrath because the objects of His wrath were also the objects of His love. The storm of God’s wrath broke on Jesus, and when it was over, the way was opened for the godless and the wicked to return to God and be delivered from His wrath.

God’s wrath is the response of His holiness and His love to evil. It is not in God’s nature to be angry, but His anger is provoked by the godlessness and wickedness of men and women who suppress the truth that God has clearly revealed. God expresses His wrath by giving people up to their own choice with the result that they become bound by the power of sinful desires, shameful lusts, and a depraved mind.

But God has sent His Son to deliver us from His wrath. When Christ died at Calvary, He endured the wrath of God for us. That is why He is able to save all who will come to Him from the wrath of God.

Almighty Father,

I bow before You in worship, grateful that You have the power and the will to destroy sin and evil forever. Thank You that You have not abandoned the world, and that You have sent Your Son, Jesus Christ, to deliver me from Your wrath. Thank You for all that He endured for me, on the cross.

Help me to take in this awesome demonstration of Your love. Fill my heart with love for You and keep me from wickedness. Hasten the day when sin will be no more, through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.

Note

1. Stuart Briscoe, Romans, vol. 1 of The Communicator’s Commentary (Dallas: Word, 1982), 40.

2

Propitiation

ROMANS 3

Why do

Christians believe

that salvation

can come

only through

Jesus Christ?

DISCOVER

why four of every five Americans don’t understand sin.

LEARN

why it was necessary for Jesus to die on the cross.

WORSHIP

because Jesus’ sacrifice satisfies God the Father.

OF all the questions I’ve been asked in more than twenty years as a pastor, there is one that comes up more than any other: “Why are evangelical Christians so insistent that Jesus Christ is the only way?”

People don’t find it difficult to understand that we believe in Jesus, but they often struggle to understand why we want to persuade everybody else to believe our way. In a world of many diverse cultures, the claim that Jesus is “the way and the truth and the life” and that “no one comes to the Father except through [Him]” (John 14:6) seems arrogant, intolerant, and offensive.

Christians need to be sensitive to this charge, because it is easy to display an arrogant spirit toward those who do not believe and to present the truth in an obnoxious way. God commands us to speak with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15). The message of Christ must be communicated in the Spirit of Christ.

But we must be prepared to give an answer, and that is the purpose of this chapter. There are good reasons for believing not just that Jesus is the only way, but that there could not possibly be any other way in which reconciliation with God could be achieved. Christians believe this not because we think that we are better than others, but because Jesus has done something that nobody else has done or ever could do.

GOING UNDER

Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. (ROMANS 3:9)

Have you ever had one of those days when you worked flat out all day, and at the end, the pile of work to be tackled was greater than when you started? It seemed as if the pressures were weighing in on you, piling up and closing over you, and you did not feel that you had the ability to rise above it. You began to feel overwhelmed, and eventually you might have even felt that you were “going under.”

That’s the picture Paul was using here. In effect, he was saying, “It makes no difference whether you are a Jew or a Gentile. We are all alike under sin.” It is worth pondering the word “all.” It crosses cultural barriers. Scots, Swedes, Norwegians, Poles, Croats, and Texans are all “under sin.” It also crosses generations. Boomers, busters, Generation Xers, and even members of the “Greatest Generation” that served in World War II and to whom the rest of us owe much “are all alike under sin.” The “all” includes people who are single, married, separated, divorced, and widowed. It embraces people at every point on the economic spectrum, from the poorer peasants in Mongolia to the richest executives in Manhattan. It includes you and me.

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law. (V. 19, EMPHASIS ADDED)

Not only are we all “under sin,” but Paul also spoke about people who are “under the law.” Sin is breaking the Law of God. This is God’s world. He is our Creator and our owner, and He writes the rules. Sin is breaking the rules that God has written.

This is important because even though Paul said that all are “under sin,” the vast majority of people do not think that this is true of them. It’s rather like driving. Most of us think that we are better than average, which of course is logically impossible!

WHO MAKES THE RULES?

In a survey published in the early 1990s, Americans were asked questions about personal values and morality. Only 17 percent defined sin as a violation of God’s will.[1] That means that 83 percent of those interviewed—four of every five citizens in the survey—did not understand what sin is. They grasped that sin is doing something “wrong,” but did not understand that it is doing something wrong as defined by God.

If each of us were free to make our own definition of right and wrong, life would be a lot easier! If it were up to me to define sin, I would omit the sins to which I am most prone. I love the story of the man who went out to try archery for the first time, and then returned claiming that he had hit the center of the target with every shot.

“How do you do that?” his friends asked.

“It’s easy. I just shoot the arrow and then I go to the tree and paint circles around it!”

The man may come home with a warm feeling that he is absolutely on target, but he is living in a fool’s paradise!

We are under the Law, and that means that God paints the target. “Shoot at this,” He says: “You shall have no other gods before me.…Do not covet.…Be holy, because I am holy.” God is the lawgiver; He defines right and wrong. We are under His laws, and sin is breaking His commandments. At its heart, sin is a personal offense against God.

THE LAW … AND THE LAWBREAKERS

The Siren and the Sign

Some people have such a negative view of God’s Law that they tune out almost as soon as the word law is mentioned. But God’s Law is good, and it is a gracious act of God to give it to us.

Picture yourself driving along a country road on a fine day. It is a wide road, and you are in an open top convertible having the time of your life, driving safely at fifty miles an hour.

Suddenly you hear a siren and see the flashing lights, so you pull over to the side of the road. A police officer comes over and writes out a ticket for speeding.

“How on earth could I have been speeding?” you ask. “I was only doing fifty miles an hour in the open country!”

“Exactly,” says the officer, “you were twenty miles an hour over the speed limit. It’s thirty here.”

“Well, that is ridiculous,” you say. “How can the speed limit be thirty miles an hour on the open country road?”

The officer produces some minutes from a local village transportation department meeting and shows it to you. “It’s quite clear,” he says. “The village authorities are especially concerned about this section of road, so it’s thirty miles per hour.”

“Well, why is there not a sign?” you say in exasperation. “I don’t live around here, so how am I supposed to know?”

“Oh, we don’t like signs in this community,” says the officer. “They appear legalistic. Besides, they are ugly and unattractive, so we just leave the road open and then when people like you come around at fifty miles an hour, we book ’em!”

Believe it: The Law is the gracious provision of God, because it tells us exactly where we are. The Law tells us that we are “under sin.” That is not good news, but at least it puts us in touch with the reality of our condition. Without that, there is no hope.

A Fish out of Water

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. (v. 19)

The Law tells us that we are sinners, but does that really matter? After all, nobody is perfect, and everybody makes mistakes. “To err is human, to forgive is divine,” the saying goes, and if it’s natural for us to fail and natural for God to forgive, why should Christians make such a big deal about this? Isn’t it obvious God will forgive our sins?

The answer is that it is not obvious at all. The natural consequence of crime is not forgiveness but punishment, and the natural consequence of sin is not that God should forgive us but that He should condemn us.

God is holy. He abhors sin and has a settled disposition of unrelenting hostility toward sin wherever it is found. It is God’s unflinching purpose to eradicate sin from His universe. He will destroy it forever. So the fact that we are “under sin” matters big time!

It is hard for us to understand the holiness of God because we are not holy. It is like asking a fish to comprehend life outside of water. When a fish is taken out of the water, its mouth begins to open, its eyes glaze over, and before long it is dead. It cannot survive in the new environment.

That is what it is like when even the best of men are taken out of their normal environment and exposed directly to the awesome holiness of God. Isaiah was the finest preacher and moral leader of his day, but when he saw the holiness of God, he said, “I am ruined!” (Isaiah 6:5). The apostle John was known as the disciple whom Jesus loved. He had reclined next to Him at the Last Supper, but when he saw the unveiled holiness of the Lord, he wrote, “I fell at his feet as though dead” (Revelation 1:17). If Isaiah and John reacted that way, what would it be like for you and me?

Sinners cannot live in the white heat of God’s holiness. When we stand in the presence of holiness, we will be silent. All the excuses and justifications that come so easily now will dry up in our mouths. Nobody will have anything to say.

This is the problem that God addresses in the Bible. If we don’t understand the problem, we won’t be able to grasp the solution. We are under sin and accountable to God. The universal sinfulness of man and the absolute holiness of God mean that condemnation, not forgiveness, would be our natural destiny. That is why God took a breathtaking initiative of mercy and grace.

TIME TO PAY UP

Keeping Up the Payments

But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. (v. 21)

God is doing something to make our wrong position right, and this “righteousness” or “way of being right” is “apart from law.” In other words, it is not a matter of God saying, “Mend your ways, get your act together, and shape up to My laws.” That would be an unbearable burden, because we do not have the ability to obey the laws of God as we ought.

But notice that though this way of being right with God is “apart from law,” it was also anticipated by the Law. The Law and the Prophets “testify to it,” or point toward it. Christ is not an alternative to the Law; He is the fulfillment of the Law. The Law was never intended to be a ladder to heaven. God gave it to show us that we need a ladder to heaven.

This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (vv. 22–24)

We will consider the word justification in the next chapter, but first, it is important to understand the ground on which this wonderful gift is offered to us. Whatever our background—Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, young or old, morally upright or utterly decadent—we are all sinners. And the one way in which sinners can come into a right relationship with a holy God is on the basis of redemption.

Redemption means erasing a debt by the payment of a price. The word was often used in the ancient world in connection with slaves. If a person went bankrupt, he or she could pay off the debts by selling oneself and giving service as a slave. A slave could be “redeemed” if someone paid off the debt that he owed.

The same was true of property. If a family went bankrupt, they would put their property up for sale and hope to find a relative who would buy it so that their debt would be paid and the property would remain in the family.

Picking Up the Bill

Suppose a woman is paying a heavy mortgage on her home and, through a change in her circumstances, is no longer able to meet the payments. In fact, her income is not sufficient to pay even the interest on the loan. After a few months, she is far behind on her payments and has no way to service the debt. As time passes the debt rises, and there is no prospect of that changing. The woman is “going under.”

Now suppose that a friend offers to pay the woman’s debt. The friend writes a check to pay the arrears and places a standing order to service the debt for the lifetime of the loan. The friend would have acted as a redeemer.

The cost to the friend is exactly the same as the amount of the debt. The friend pays what the woman owes, dollar for dollar. If you could watch the monthly transactions as money moves from the friend’s bank account to the woman’s mortgage account, you would see exactly the same amount debited from the one and credited to the other.

Paul has been explaining that we are “under sin.” We are not tracking with the payments of obedience that we owe to God, and we have no hope of doing so. We are going under. But the Bible tells us about a truly remarkable friend.

Jesus Christ came to pay our debt to God. He offers to not just pay our arrears and bring us up to date on the payments, but also to service the lifetime of the loan. This incredible benefit to us came at an awesome cost to Christ. To pay the debt of sin, He had to assume the price of sin, and that is why He died on the cross. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

Christ erased our debt by assuming it Himself, and through His death on our behalf, He released the full value of His righteousness to all His friends. It is in this way that we are released from the burden of our unpayable debt to God. Christians do not claim that they are without sin, but we thank God that our sin has been paid for by Jesus Christ our Savior, Redeemer, and Friend.

THE NIGHT OF THE PARTY

God displayed publicly [Jesus] as a propitiation in His blood through faith. (3:25 NASB)

Paul used a second word that takes us to the heart of the Christian faith, propitiation. A propitiation is a gift or payment that is offered to placate the anger of an offended person.

The best way to explain is through an illustration, so let me introduce you to Neil and Sally. Neil was in his early twenties when he began dating Sally, an attractive girl whom he met at the office. After a few months, Sally introduced Neil to her parents. It did not go well. Sally’s parents didn’t trust Neil, and there was frostiness in the air whenever he was around.

Their hesitation about Neil was understandable. Neil had a reputation for being “a bit on the wild side.” In fact, there were times when even Sally was uncomfortable with him.

One night, Neil took Sally to a party where things got a little out of hand. Neil began drinking, and by the time they drove home in the early hours of the morning, he was scarcely able to control the car. Neil drove in a blurry haze, until the unthinkable happened. The car hit a bank, careened out of control, and rolled over several times; when the vehicle came to rest, both Neil and Sally were unconscious.

Some hours later, Neil came around in the hospital. His head was thumping and his body ached as he tried to remember what happened.

“How is Sally?” he asked.

“It’s bad news,” said the doctor. “She’s paralyzed: She won’t ever walk again.”

“Can I see her?”

“No, she will not talk to you.”

Suddenly Neil was in a walking nightmare. It wasn’t long before he received a letter from Sally’s family lawyer; Sally was bringing a legal action in the light of her permanent disability.

Sally says she never wants to see Neil again, and her father says that if he ever gets his hands on Neil, he will kill him. Neil wouldn’t be surprised if he did.

Neil lies in the hospital wondering how he could have been such a fool, and how one simple action could have landed him in a situation with such desperate long-term consequences. It was just one night, but it changed everything. Neil wonders how he can live with himself, and he has no idea what to do about Sally.

SATISFYING SALLY

There are three factors in this situation:

1. There is an offense. Neil acted recklessly and irresponsibly when he decided to drive home after drinking.

2. There is an offended person. Sally is angry, and rightly so.

3. There is an offender. Neil knows he is to blame. He is deeply sorry for what he has done, but that won’t change the fact that Sally is paralyzed or the fact that her lawyers are preparing a legal action against him.

Neil hires a lawyer, and his lawyer talks with Sally’s lawyer about what it would take to settle the case. Their discussion centers on one issue: What will it take to satisfy Sally?

The point at issue is not what Neil thinks is appropriate. Neil may feel that Sally’s demands are unreasonable. He may point out that he is truly sorry. But the key question that the lawyers are discussing has nothing to do with Neil at all. It’s all about Sally, because she is the offended party.

Neil has to find a way to satisfy Sally, or he will stand before the judge in court. The issue has nothing to do with whether he is sorry. The single question on which he must focus his attention is, “What will satisfy Sally?”

Suppose that the lawyers identify a sum of money that would be acceptable to Sally, and that sum of money is paid. The payment of that money would be “a propitiation.”

A propitiation is offered to … satisfy the need for justice.

A propitiation is offered to an offended person to placate the anger of the injured party and satisfy the need for justice so that the case is settled and cannot be raised in a court of law again.

SATISFYING GOD

Our sin is, as we have seen, an offense against God. It follows that God is the one who determines what the propitiation should be. We may have all kinds of ideas about what we think is appropriate, but they are completely irrelevant. We may be truly sorry for what we have done, and that would be a good thing, but the central issue has nothing to do with our repentance. The question is, “What will satisfy God?” Everything hangs on that question.

The Bible gives us the staggering answer. “God displayed publicly [Jesus] as a propitiation in His blood through faith” (v. 25 NASB).

God the Father presents His Son, Jesus Christ, to you. He introduces Jesus and tells you that He is the propitiation. The sacrifice of His death on the cross satisfies God and placates His wrath toward our sin.

God bore the wrath of God.

Notice that God the Father presents Jesus to us. Both the Father and the Son are involved in dealing with our sin and settling our case. The Father loved the world and that is why He gave His Son. The death of Jesus is the demonstration of God’s love for us. We often think about what it cost Jesus to give His life on the cross, but what did it cost the Father to give His one and only Son for us?

There are no adequate analogies for this most profound mystery. The God whose holiness we have offended, whose laws we have broken, whose world we have spoiled, and whose wrath we have incurred, sent His one and only Son. God Himself became a man in the person of Jesus Christ, and God bore the wrath of God. God’s justice and God’s love meet at the cross as God pays the price that God requires. Through the death of Jesus, God’s anger has been placated, His justice satisfied, and in absolute justice, Holiness has reached out to grasp the hand of sinners.

ONE GLORIOUS WAY

We are now in a position to return to the question with which we began this chapter: Why do Christians insist that Jesus is the only way?

The answer is that God has presented Him as the propitiation. And if God has determined that the death of Jesus is the ground on which we may be redeemed and brought back into a right relationship with Him, what other ground can there be?

Who else would be in a position to pay our debt, or offer the sacrifice acceptable to God? If God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement, what reason is there to think that any other sacrifice would be acceptable?

God reaches out to all men and women in every culture and points us to Jesus saying, “This is My Son! He is the propitiation. Put your faith in His blood!” As the hymn writer noted,

There was no other good enough to pay the price of sin He only, could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in.[2]

And when you put your faith in His blood, you are no longer under condemnation. Christ is your propitiation. God has accepted His sacrifice. Justice has been done on your behalf through His shed blood. You will never see the wrath of God. In Christ, you have been set free to live a new life for the glory of God.

UNLOCKED

God’s Law reveals that we are all sinners and that we are accountable to God for our sins. This means that it would be impossible for us to stand in the presence of a holy God. When an offense is committed against an individual, it is the offended party who must determine an appropriate settlement. Sin is an offense against God, and so it is for God to determine the propitiation for our sins.

In His death, Jesus redeemed us, and He propitiated (i.e., satisfied) God the Father.

Redemption speaks about what the death of Jesus accomplished for us. Propitiation speaks about what Jesus achieved in His death with reference to God. It is precisely because He propitiated the Father that Christ is able to redeem us.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Gracious Father,

Thank You for presenting Your Son, Jesus, as the propitiation for my sins. Thank You that through His death, He has paid my debt and freed me from condemnation.

Thank You that You have demonstrated Your everlasting love in sending Your Son for me. Gladly, I embrace Him by faith and offer You the worship and thanksgiving of my heart, through Jesus’ name. Amen.

Notes

1. James Patterson and Peter Kim, The Day America Told the Truth (New York: Prentice-Hall, 1991), 205. An additional 11 percent defined sin as breaking the Ten Commandments, but this has to be placed alongside the alarming fact that only 13 percent of those surveyed believed in all Ten Commandments. Evidently, 87 percent of Americans choose which commandments to believe, which is another way of saying that we write our own rules rather than submit to God’s.

2. Cecil Frances Alexander, “There Is a Green Hill Far Away,” verse 4.

3

Justification

ROMANS 3

How can I

know that I

am right

with God?

DISCOVER

the amazing story of how a bad translation led to over a thousand years of confusion.

LEARN

why being right with God does not depend on your performance in the Christian life.

WORSHIP

because there is peace with God through Jesus Christ.

PICTURE yourself at Chicago’s historic Wrigley Field on a bright summer’s afternoon. A packed crowd is enjoying the baseball game, despite the fact that the Cubs pitcher is struggling. To the great frustration of the crowd, he has thrown a sequence of ten balls, walking two batters in the process, and he is beginning to look despondent.

The umpire crouches behind the catcher and trains his eye on the pitcher’s arm. The crowd groans as the umpire calls another ball, but then to everybody’s surprise, the umpire begins walking toward the mound. He puts his arm around the pitcher’s shoulder.

“I know you’re having a bad afternoon,” he says, “and it’s difficult for me to watch you throwing all these balls, so I have decided to come and help you. I would be very happy to work with you on your pitching, and I would like to start right now.”

Of course, the story is absurd. It is not the job of the umpire to improve the pitcher’s performance. That job belongs to the coach. The umpire’s task is to score the pitcher’s performance. He calls balls and strikes, and he must do this with absolute consistency, accuracy, and integrity. If he fails to do so, forty thousand spectators will want to know why.

The confusion of an umpire acting as a coach illustrates one of the greatest misunderstandings of the gospel in the history of the church, and it is to that story that we now turn.

In the last chapter, we discovered that the death of Jesus propitiates, or satisfies, the Father and redeems us. Christ absorbed the wrath that would otherwise have been directed toward us because of our sin, and He paid the price that was needed to clear our debts toward God.

Paul explains that it is on these grounds that God will freely and gladly justify all who will believe in Christ.

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. (ROMANS 3:23–25 NASB)

This third great Bible word, justification, completes the triangle of relationships among the Father, the Son, and ourselves.[1]

Christ propitiates the Father and redeems sinners, and on this basis, God freely, lovingly, and righteously justifies sinners who put their faith in Jesus. Christ’s redeeming and propitiating work on the cross was done to make it possible for you to be justified. So it is obviously important to understand justification.

THE DANGERS OF A BAD TRANSLATION

Early on in the history of the church, the New Testament was translated into Latin from the original Greek in which it was written. The Latin translation was called the Vulgate (meaning the “common” language), and it became the standard Bible of the church throughout medieval times. For over a thousand years, tomes of theological writing were produced, all of them based on the Vulgate.

The Latin word that was used in the Vulgate for our English word justified meant “made righteous.” So when the medieval theologians studied Romans 3:24, they read, “We are made righteous freely by his grace.” Similarly, when they studied Romans 5:1, they read, “Since we have been made righteous through faith, we have peace with God” (emphasis added).

This led them to the conclusion that the only way to have peace with God was to become a righteous person, and that if one ceased to be righteous, he would lose his peace with God. If you could have asked a medieval theologian, “How can I have peace with God?” he would probably have said to you, “You have to be righteous.” Indeed that is still what many people believe today.

It’s always good to ask theologians practical questions, and if I could have asked a medieval theologian one question, it would be this: “Are you righteous?” I think that would be a difficult question for our medieval friend to answer. It would be hard to say yes because Jesus warned us about the dangers of being confident about our own righteousness. But then if the answer was no, there would be no possibility of peace with God.

For over a thousand years, the church understood the Bible to teach that justification is the way in which God makes a bad person good. The medieval theologians explained that Christ gives you a spotless robe, and it is your responsibility to keep that robe clean by living according to God’s Law. If you fail, you must resort to confession and penance, and in this way, the purity of the robe can be restored.

So the central question was, “Have you preserved the righteousness given to you by Jesus Christ?” That left honest people scouring their memories in a desperate attempt to make sure that all their sins were confessed and appropriate penance performed.

That burden was crushing to many people. Think about it. If our salvation depends on preserving the righteousness that Jesus gives us, the best of us could only be agnostic about our salvation. We might say that we hope to enter heaven, but none of us could ever be sure.

Karen and I recently attended a performance of Verdi’s Requiem. It was a magnificent performance. Verdi put the words of a requiem mass to music that he thought reflected their mood. The program described the themes of the music and concluded with these words: “The music ends suspended over a void.”

That was the problem that a young monk named Martin Luther faced. Luther was a devoted Christian. He passionately desired to be right with God, and so he poured his energy into fulfilling God’s Law. He confessed every sin he could think of and fulfilled every penance he was given.

But he found the burden of trying to maintain a spotless righteousness to be more than he could bear. On one occasion he said that he hated the righteousness of God because it seemed like a standard he could not possibly attain.

When he thought of a way in which he had blotted the spotless robe, he confessed it and did penance. But even in the act of penance, he would think of other ways in which he had sinned in his thoughts, actions, words, and deeds.

Luther had a wise spiritual mentor by the name of Staupitz, who encouraged him to study the Bible. This was the time of the Renaissance, and there was new interest in studying literature in the original languages, so Luther began to study the New Testament in the original Greek. As he did, he made a fascinating discovery. Luther found that the original Greek word that we translate “justified” did not mean “make righteous” as he had been taught. It meant “declare righteous.”

CONFUSING THE COACH AND THE UMPIRE

At this point, let’s return to that summer’s afternoon at Wrigley Field and the umpire who thinks he’s a coach. The role of the coach is to improve the performance of the pitcher, but the role of the umpire is to call the balls and strikes. The two are totally different.

If we can’t tell the difference between declaring what is right, which is the job of the umpire, and making things right, which is the job of the coach, we will become desperately confused. And that was the problem for the medieval theologians. Working with the Vulgate, they confused the umpire with the coach!

Justification has nothing to do with God making us righteous. It is about God declaring whether we are righteous or not. These two things are entirely different.

God acts as both our “coach” and our “umpire,” but we must never confuse the two. It is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to develop our “game” and lead us into an effective Christian life. The Bible calls this sanctification.

But in justification, God acts as the umpire. God observes us and makes one of two calls: “Justified” or “Condemned.” Justification has nothing to do with making us better people. It is about God declaring our standing before Him.

CALLING BALLS AND STRIKES

If justification is about God observing my life and declaring whether I’m in the strike zone of righteousness or not, what hope is there of me ever being justified?

The apostle Paul gives us the marvelous answer to that question:

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (ROMANS 3:23–24)

In other words, the way God declares a person to be in the right is not on the basis of his own performance but on the basis of the redemption and propitiation that were offered by Jesus Christ on the cross. We are not justified by pitching a perfect game, but because God makes His declaration about us while He is looking at Jesus.

God justifies us not on the basis of us achieving or maintaining a perfectly righteous life, but on the basis of the perfect righteousness of Jesus becoming ours, and that happens when a living connection is formed between us and Jesus. This bond is formed by faith. That is why Paul says that God justifies “those who have faith in Jesus” (v. 26).

When you come to faith in Jesus Christ, God credits you with His righteousness. He counts the righteousness of Jesus as if it were yours. If God measured my life against His Law, He could only make one call, and that would be condemnation. That remains true of my life even after coming to faith in Christ. All our righteousness is like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6), and Paul makes it clear that nobody will be declared righteous in God’s sight by observing the Law (Romans 3:20).

PICKING UP THE TAB

When God justifies us, He does two things that are made possible only through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. First, God charges our sins to Jesus, counting them among the sins for which the Savior died; and second, God credits the righteousness of Jesus to us.

When Karen and I were married, my parents gave us our honeymoon as a wedding present. It was a wonderful gift. We enjoyed a week at a very classy hotel in the Lake District of England. It was the sort of place where you felt you would run up a bill just by walking in the door.

It was a wonderful thing to know that there were no charges for us. The free gift of a week in this marvelous place was ours because the cost was being charged to somebody else, who loved us and was willing to pay so that this gift, which we could never have afforded, could be ours.

God justifies us freely by charging our sins to Jesus. The free gift is ours because two thousand years ago Jesus picked up the awesome cost in His death on the cross. God justifies us because the charges we have incurred have been assumed and paid by Jesus. He picked up the tab. That’s why there can be no justification without redemption.

It was a wonderful thing to check out of the hotel at the end of the week and hear the concierge say, “There is no charge.” It will be an even greater thing to stand in the presence of God and hear Him say, “There is no charge.”

If it were not for the redeeming work of Jesus Christ, you could not possibly be justified. There has to be someone who pays the charges if God is to say “No charge” to sinners like you and me, and that is precisely what Jesus has done through His death on the cross.

THE “POINTS” THAT WERE NEVER EARNED

The second dimension of our justification is just as wonderful: God credits you with the righteousness of Jesus.

A few months ago, I decided to close a credit-card account that I had used over several years in Britain. I had no use for a card that would have to be paid in British pounds, so I phoned the company in England to tell them that we had moved to the States and requested that the account be closed.

The assistant seemed surprised. “Do you realize, sir,” she said politely, “that you have 2,000 points on this card?” Obviously I didn’t.

The points she was referring to were part of a system rather like frequent-flyer miles. Over a period of some years, I had accumulated these points and could, if I wished, buy British electrical goods that wouldn’t work in the States, or take a free night in one of a number of hotels, all of which are over four thousand miles away!

Pondering this predicament, I asked the assistant, “Could I give the points to someone else?”

“Oh, yes,” she said, “anyone else who has the same card. All you need to do is give us the number.”

I think my father was rather suspicious when I phoned and asked, without explanation, for his credit-card number. But for some months after that, he enjoyed the benefits of 2,000 points that he never earned.

[God] charges your sin to Christ, and He credits the righteousness of Jesus to you.

When you come to faith in Jesus Christ, God does two things: He charges your sin to Christ, and He credits the righteousness of Jesus to you. God justifies you not because of your own performance in the Christian life, but because He credits you with the righteousness of Christ. Even though I am far from righteous in myself, God counts me as righteous and accepts me as righteous because He credits the righteousness of Jesus to me. Like my father enjoying the benefits of points he never earned, I enjoy Christ’s righteousness as if it were my own. My justification does not flow from my performance in the Christian life, but from the death of Jesus on the cross.

THE IMPORTANCE OF FAITH

This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ. (v. 22)

God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. (v. 25)

[God is] just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. (v. 26)

We maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. (v. 28, ALL EMPHASES ADDED)

Since the only basis for justification is the death and resurrection of Jesus, it follows that God will justify those who are connected to Jesus Christ. This connection is formed by faith.

The moment you put your faith in Jesus Christ, God will apply all the benefits of the death and resurrection of Jesus to you. If you will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ now, you will be justified. God says so.

God justifies us when we look to Christ and believe.

This is how God justified Abraham. “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness” (4:3). That was two thousand years before Jesus was born. But Abraham believed God’s promise and trusted that God would send a Redeemer (John 8:56). God justified Abraham as he looked forward to the coming of Jesus with faith. In the same way, God justifies us when we look to Christ and believe. Faith seals a relationship between you and Christ in which the benefits of His death and resurrection flow into your life.

Imagine a young couple; we’ll call them Tom and Mary. They meet on a blind date and feel rather awkward as they make polite conversation.

“What do you do, Tom?” asks Mary.

He tells her. And then he responds, “What about yourself?” wondering why he could not come up with a more original question.

Over time, they come to know one another better and the relationship deepens. They learn about each other’s interests, background, character, values, hopes, and dreams.

Mary feels herself drawn to Tom, and Tom is drawn to her. They are falling in love. One evening, Tom pops the question, and a few months later, Mary is walking up the aisle. Together they stand in church before the pastor, who turns to Tom and asks two solemn questions: “Tom, will you have Mary to be your lawful, wedded wife? Will you love her, honor her, and keep her, in sickness and in health?” Tom says that he will.

Then Tom looks deep into Mary’s eyes and says these words: “I, Tom, do take you, Mary, to be my wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, in sickness and in health, for richer, for poorer, and to this I give you my pledge.” Then Mary responds with her own commitment: “I, Mary, do take you, Tom, to be my husband.”

SEALING THE MARRIAGE

I do not know of a better illustration of the nature of faith. Faith begins by coming to know Jesus: who He is, where He has come from, and what He is about. It begins with discovering that He is the Son of God, that He came from heaven, and that He has come to redeem sinners.

But faith is more than knowledge. The devil knows about the Son of God, and it is quite possible to learn about Jesus and be no better off than if you had never heard His name.

Faith involves a two-way commitment in which Christ receives me and I receive Him. Luther describes it as being like a marriage.

Faith … unites the soul with Christ as a bride is united with her bridegroom. By this mystery, as the Apostle teaches, Christ and the soul become one flesh. And if they are one flesh and there is between them a true marriage … it follows that everything they have they hold in common, the good as well as the evil. Accordingly the believing soul can boast of and glory in whatever Christ has as though it were its own, and whatever the soul has Christ claims as his own.[2]

The Holy Spirit conducts this marriage; indeed, He is the one who draws us to Christ in the first place. Think of it this way: It is as if two thousand years ago, the Spirit of God said to Christ, “Will You take a Scottish lad called Colin, who’ll be born somewhere in the second half of the twentieth century, and be his Savior and his Lord? Will You bear his debts? Will You offer Your life as a propitiation for his sins?”

On the cross, Jesus Christ said, “I will.”

Then on a Sunday morning in May of 1964, in a small Baptist church in Scotland, the Holy Spirit spoke to a young Scottish lad as he heard his pastor speak of how every person needs to come to faith in Jesus. I knew that I had to respond. I didn’t use these words, but in a simple prayer, I said, in effect, “I, Colin, do take You, Jesus, as my Savior and as Lord of my life.”

You possess the righteousness of Christ as if it were your own!

When the vows have been said by both parties in a service of marriage, the two become one new legal entity. Without losing their individual identities, God sees them as one. The documents are signed, the bride has a new name, and all that belongs to the one becomes the property of the other.

Think of what being joined to you meant for Jesus: The Holy Son of God had to take your sin as if it were His own. But now think of what being joined to Jesus means for you: You possess the righteousness of Christ as if it were your own!

When you come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the redemption that is possible for everyone becomes actual for you. The propitiation that is sufficient for everyone becomes efficient for you. All that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross becomes active in your own experience, and at that moment, God declares you “justified.”

I have sometimes wondered what would happen in a wedding service if one partner made his or her vow and the other remained silent and made no response. I guess that’s a pastor’s nightmare!

One thing is sure: There would be no marriage. Christ has declared His readiness and desire to be your Savior. He is ready to take your sins, and He offers you His righteousness, but the transaction is not made until, by faith, you take Him as your Savior. As in the marriage service, the response “I will” could not be simpler, but the commitment is life-changing in its significance.

UNLOCKED

You can know that you are in a right relationship with God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. God justifies sinners on the basis of the propitiation and redemption that were accomplished in the death of Jesus, and He does it for all who will come to Christ in faith. Faith unites a person with Jesus Christ in such a way that Jesus assumes our debts as if they were His own, and we are credited with His righteousness as if it were our own.

For Jesus, union with us meant going to the cross. For us, union with Christ means being set free from condemnation and enjoying a new relationship of peace with God.

Justification does not depend on your performance in the Christian life but on God applying the benefits of the death and resurrection of Jesus to your life. God does this for all who believe.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Almighty Father,

Thank You that You have not made my entrance into heaven dependent on my performance in the Christian life, but that You offer this to me as a gift through Jesus Christ. Help me to understand what it meant for Him to bear my sin at the cross. Help me to live in the joy of knowing that my sins are forgiven. Thank You for the awesome gift of peace with You through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.

Notes

1. The triangular relationship is depicted in James M. Boice, Justification by Faith, vol. 1 of Romans (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1991), 382. The diagram is adapted from his work.

2. Martin Luther, “The Freedom of a Christian,” in J. Dillenberger, Martin Luther: Selections from His Writings (New York: Doubleday, 1961), 60.

4

Rejoicing

ROMANS 5

How can I

rejoice in God?

DISCOVER

how you can be sure about eternal life in heaven.

LEARN

how to answer Satan’s “joy killing” questions.

WORSHIP

because Christ died to save you and He lives to keep you.

IMAGINE a business partnership in which every day you had to call your partner and ask if he or she still wanted to work with you. Or imagine a marriage in which you didn’t really know if your spouse loved you. One thing is certain: Either relationship may be endured; it could not be enjoyed. You cannot enjoy any relationship unless there is some security about it.

God wants you to enjoy your relationship with Him, and that means that He wants you to be secure in it. But you also have an enemy who is determined to rob you of your joy, and his primary strategy in this diabolical aim will be to undermine your confidence in God.

Our enemy often attempts this by planting “joy-killing” questions in our minds. We must learn to answer these, or it will be very difficult for us to rejoice in God.

In Romans 5, Paul has answered the questions that the enemy of our souls often raises in the minds of Christian believers. If you don’t know how to answer them, they will sap your faith, undermine your hope, and kill your joy. Satan loves to sow doubts, because he knows that if you lose your joy you will struggle in every other area of your Christian life.

So let’s follow the apostle as he traces the path that leads us through these questions to the place where we can say that we “rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:11).

ANSWERING THOSE JOY-KILLING QUESTIONS

1. Where Do I Stand Before God?

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. (vv. 1–2)

The first question is a real joy-killer: Where do I stand before God? If you are unsure about your standing before God, it will be very difficult for you to rejoice in God.

Paul answered the question in the first verse: “We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Peace with God does not mean feeling peaceful. There may be times in the Christian life when we are very troubled. Peace with God means that God holds nothing against us. The reason for this is, as we have seen, that He has charged all your sin to Jesus, and He dealt with it on the cross.

Your standing … is secure. It doesn’t vary from day to day

The case against you is closed; the hearing is over and the court is dismissed. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, there is peace with God and access to grace and the certainty of glory for every person who trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ.

That’s the transformation that takes place when you are justified. It is a miracle of God’s grace, and it brings you into peace with God. That is your standing, and it is secure. It doesn’t vary from day to day or swing with your moods, and it isn’t canceled when you let God down.

Many Christians have the idea that the Christian life begins with forgiveness but is sustained by performance. That is completely false. When we are justified, we live in the world of God’s grace. The relationship is secure, and that is the foundation of our joy in God.

2. Why Is This Happening to Me?

Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. (vv. 3–4)

When things seem to be going wrong in our lives, our enemy likes to plant a second joy-killing question: Why is this happening to me? It may be a health issue, a family problem, or some other disappointment, but the struggle makes you wonder why God would allow such a thing to happen to you.

God wants you to know that your suffering is not meaningless. It will produce perseverance, character, and hope. God will use the hardest things in your life to achieve something of infinite value. God can make the points of greatest pain in your life the place in which He creates a remarkable resemblance of Jesus Christ in you.

If you have understood that the whole of this life is a preparation for eternity, this will not be disappointing to you. God’s purpose is not just that you will be in glory, but that glory will be in you.

If you can see that, then you will be able to rejoice in God even through the hardest days of your life. You may look up to God through your tears, but you will be able to say, “Thank You that this is not the end, but only a painful passage on the way to all You are preparing for me.”

3. Does God Really Care?

God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (v. 8)

To many people, it is not immediately obvious how the death of Jesus is a demonstration of the love of God. After all, there are many things that God could give us that might seem a more relevant expression of His love. If the Bible said, “God demonstrates His love for us in this, that He gave us a cure for cancer,” we would have no doubt about the relevance of the message. We can think of several ways in which God might demonstrate His love for us, but Jesus dying on a cross is not one of them.

Imagine a couple sitting in a car on a moonlit night near Niagara Falls. He puts his arm around her shoulder and whispers in her ear, “I love you.”

She looks up at him suspiciously. “Do you really? I sometimes wonder.”

“All right,” he says, “I’ll prove it.” And with that, he gets out of the car, walks the final two hundred feet to the edge, and with one huge leap, throws himself over the side. As he falls down into the abyss, he screams out, “I love you …”

For the bemused girl, this is an unforgettable experience! But it is not a demonstration of love at all; it is a demonstration of utter stupidity! The man’s death is of no value to the woman.

Likewise, the death of Jesus is of no value to us unless it achieved something for us. That is exactly what the Bible teaches. As we have seen in the last two chapters, through the death of Jesus the debt of our sin was paid and the wrath of God was propitiated.

God has demonstrated His love for us in giving the greatest gift at the point of our greatest need. Suffering brings many mysteries and unanswered questions, but when you are tempted to wonder if God really cares for you, you can do nothing better than look at the cross, and contemplate the wounds and the sufferings of Jesus. Then reflect on the fact that all this was for you. When you see the love of God for you in Christ, you will rejoice in God.

4. How Can I Be Sure I Will Make It to Heaven?

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! (vv. 9–10)

A fourth joy-killing question underlies these verses, and in some ways it is the toughest question of all: How can I be sure I will make it to heaven?

Imagine that you have planned the trip of a lifetime. The tickets are booked, your passport is checked, and the reservations have been made. You are set and ready to go, and all you need to do is to get to the airport.

There must be about a thousand things that could still possibly go wrong! You could get sick the night before you leave. You could break your leg as you come down the stairs. A storm could make a tree fall across your driveway so that you are unable to leave. It doesn’t take much imagination to multiply the horrendous scenarios that could occur!

So there is this terrible possibility that although the bills are paid, the reservations are made, and your bags are packed, you still might not make it because of something that went wrong at your end.

When it comes to travel, we take these small risks in our stride, but when it comes to our eternal salvation, the stakes are so much higher that even the slightest element of uncertainty would be enough to rob us of our joy.

Satan loves to remind us of the many hazards that lie on the long and difficult path of the Christian life. “I wouldn’t get too excited about this hope of glory yet; there is a long way to go. You say you have become a Christian, but I’m not sure if you can keep this up! You’ll probably encounter some temptation that is just too strong. It’s one thing to start; it’s another to finish. Who knows what may blow your faith out of the water?”

These are important questions. I can think of several people who have at one time professed faith in Jesus Christ but have since turned away and don’t even profess to be Christians anymore. How do I know that will not happen to me? We need to know how to answer this fourth joy-killing question, because if we are not able to anticipate heaven with confidence, we will quickly lose our joy in God.

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! (v. 9)

When we are justified, we know that we have peace with God, but how can we be sure that this peace will hold good on the last day when the wrath of God is revealed?

“Justified by his blood”… is one of the most important phrases in the entire Bible.

The answer to that question lies in the words “We have now been justified by his blood” (v. 9). This is one of the most important phrases in the entire Bible. It tells us the basis of our security, and if we can grasp its meaning, it will help us to rejoice in God.

God justifies us on the basis of the redemption and propitiation accomplished in the death of Jesus on the cross. Peace with God is not based on anything in me at all. It is grounded in something entirely outside of me: the blood of Jesus.

THE CONFUSION OF MISPLACED CONFIDENCE

You may think this sounds terribly obvious, but I wish I had a dollar for every time I have spoken with a Christian who doesn’t understand it. If you were asked how you know that you will be in heaven on the Last Day, how would you answer? Here are the top three answers given by confused Christians. None of them is the answer given by the apostle Paul!

Question: How do you know that you will be in heaven on the Last Day?

Answer number one: I love Christ.

That’s great. And I don’t doubt for a moment that the person saying this is a Christian. But the test of loving Jesus is that we obey His commandments, and the fact that we don’t obey His commandments perfectly shows that we do not love Him perfectly. Our love for Christ may be real, but it is mixed up with a great deal of love for ourselves. And our love for Christ at its best is only a faint reflection of His love for us. It is true that I love Christ, but my love for Him is hardly a ground for confidence when I stand in the presence of God on the Last Day!

Answer number two: I have made a commitment.

That’s wonderful. But what happens if your commitment to serving Christ weakens? What happens if in ten years’ time your enthusiasm wanes? Does that mean that your chances of entering heaven will diminish too?

People who think that their level of commitment, activity, or enthusiasm for Christ is the basis for entering heaven will soon find themselves living under an intolerable burden of trying to maintain that zeal at what they see as the appropriate level. And of course, whatever they do, their level of commitment could always conceivably be higher! Believers who think like this are on a path to spiritual burnout.

Answer number three: I have faith.

That’s marvelous. But how strong is your faith? Are there not times when you struggle with doubt? Many people have fallen into the error of putting their faith in their faith! But since their faith is never entirely free from questions, anxieties, doubts, or fears, they are never quite sure if their faith is enough.

I am not questioning the Christian standing of many people who might answer in these ways. The problem is that often Christian people have become confused about the proper ground of assurance before God, and so they miss out on a whole dimension of rejoicing in God.

THE PROBLEM WITH THE LITTLE WORD “I”

Did you notice the one common factor in these three confused answers? They all begin with the fatal little word “I.” “I love Christ;” “I am committed;” “I have faith.” And the problem with anything that begins with “I” is that it is never complete, never what it might be, and never what it should be.

“I” am a sinner in the process of being restored. God’s work in me is truly begun, but it is not yet complete. So while it is wonderfully true that I love Christ, am committed to serve Christ, and have faith in Christ, not one of these things is what they might be or what, one day, they will be. My faith, service, and love for Christ are real, but they are not perfect. They are all in the process of being cultivated, like living seeds that are planted but are still growing.

CONFIDENCE IN CHRIST ALONE

We are not yet what we will be, and that is why we can never find a basis for security or confidence before God through anything in ourselves. There is only one solid ground of assurance, and it is nothing to do with me: It is the blood of Christ. We are “justified by his blood.”

All the labor of my hands can’t fulfil Your law’s demands:

Could my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow,

All for sin could not atone; You must save and You alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Your cross I cling:

Naked, come to You for dress, Helpless, look to You for grace;

Foul, I to the fountain fly: Wash me, Savior, or I die.[1]

It is important to understand that the phrase “justified by faith,” or “justified through faith” (Romans 3:28; 5:1; Galatians 2:16; 3:24), is a kind of shorthand. We are justified by Christ through His blood applied to us when we put our faith in Him. But the justifying thing is the blood of Christ. Faith is simply the means by which this justification comes to me. God does not invite me to have faith in my faith, but to have faith in Christ.

In the words of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones,

It is not faith that saves us. What saves us is the Lord Jesus Christ and His perfect work. It is the death of Christ upon Calvary’s cross that saves us. It is His perfect life that saves us. It is His appearing on our behalf in the presence of God that saves us. It is God putting Christ’s righteousness to our account that saves us. This is the righteousness that saves; faith is but the channel and the instrument by which His righteousness becomes mine.…Faith is nothing but that which links us to Christ and His righteousness.[2]

So if you want to cultivate assurance and joy in God, the question you should be asking is not, “How strong is my faith?” or “How warm is my heart?” or “How deep is my commitment?” Instead you should ask, “Is the blood of Jesus Christ rich enough and strong enough to wash away every sin and to cover every weakness, failure, and inadequacy of my life from this point until the day I arrive in the presence of God?”

The answer to that question is, “Absolutely, without question, yes!”

Since our standing before God is not based on anything in us but rather on the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, we can be absolutely confident that all will be well on the Last Day, because our salvation will rest, then as now, not on us but on Him. No wonder Paul said, “We also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 11). We rejoice because our final salvation rests not on our performance in the Christian life but on the blood of Jesus Christ.

JESUS WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU

If, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! (v. 10)

Romans 5:10 includes two key phrases: “Reconciled … through [his] death” and “saved through his life.” The Christ who died to save you lives to keep you. That’s why you don’t need to worry about what the future holds. Jesus will be with you in every circumstance, and He will bring you through.

Some people have the mistaken idea that God reconciles us to Himself in Jesus and then stands at a distance from us throughout the rest of our Christian lives like a sports coach with a clipboard, who never seems satisfied with our performance and perpetually holds over us the threat of being dropped from the team!

No, God is for you and with you and in you by His Spirit. The Lord Jesus Christ died to reconcile you to the Father, and He lives to bring you to heaven. If you were reconciled by His atoning death, don’t you think that you will be kept by His risen life? That’s our security.

When I fear my faith will fail, Christ will hold me fast! When the tempter would prevail, He can hold me fast! I could never keep my hold, Christ must hold me fast! For my love is often cold, He must hold me fast! He’ll not let my hope be lost, Christ will hold me fast; Bought by Him at such a cost, He will hold me fast![3]

The Bible does not give us a “sign on the dotted line” kind of security that keeps us looking back to the day we made a commitment to Jesus. That’s not where we should focus our attention. It gives us a look-to-Christ kind of security that keeps our eyes fixed “on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). Christ died to save you: He lives to keep you and because He is with you, your salvation is secure.

Later in the New Testament, the apostle Peter wrote about the security of our salvation, calling it “an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:4–5).

God keeps an inheritance in heaven for us, and He keeps us until the day we will receive it. Think of Christ holding the inheritance in one hand and you in the other. Both are secure because they are in His hands, and on the Last Day, He will bring the two together. No wonder Paul says, “We also rejoice in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

UNLOCKED

You can rejoice in God because through Jesus Christ, you have peace with God, you live in God’s grace, and one day you will fully reflect His glory.

Since your life is in the hand of God, you can be confident that God is working out His purpose even in the darkest days of your life. Your suffering is not accidental, meaningless, or out of control. It is the place where God will form the image of Christ in you.

God has demonstrated His love for you in the death of Christ on the cross, and His love is poured out into your heart by the Holy Spirit. God’s love will never leave you, even when you face the mystery of many things that you cannot understand.

You can look to the future with confidence because the Christ who died to save you lives to keep you. Your final salvation does not rest on your performance in the Christian life; it has been sealed by the blood of Christ, and knowing this, you can “rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Gracious Father,

I come before You with thanksgiving and praise, as I ponder Your magnificent gift to me in Jesus Christ. Thank You that You have not left my eternal future in doubt but have made it secure so that I can already anticipate its joy. Thank You that Your love surrounds me, and that You can use the hardest things in my life to make me more like Jesus.

Help me to find my joy in You, and to live with a spirit of praise and thanksgiving that rises above the circumstances of my life. Thank You that Christ has begun His saving work in my life and that He always completes what He begins. Help me to keep my eyes fixed on Jesus.

I ask this in His name. Amen.

Notes

1. Adapted from Augustus Montague Toplady, “Rock of Ages,” verses 2–3.

2. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans: An Exposition of Chapters 3:20–4:25 (Edinburgh, Scotland: Banner of Truth, 1970), 120.

3. Ada R. Habershon, “He Will Hold Me Fast.”

5

Grace

ROMANS 5

How can I

overcome the

power of sin?

DISCOVER

how God’s grace makes change possible.

LEARN

why forgiveness and moral instruction won’t save us.

WORSHIP

because grace reigns through Jesus Christ.

WORLD history has been dominated by the rising and falling of great kingdoms. Early in the Bible story, Egypt dominated the world. Later it was Assyria, then Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. In more recent times, we have seen the rise and fall of an Ottoman empire, a British empire, and a Soviet empire.

The Cold War saw the emergence of two superpowers vying for position. Now, the United States is the world’s sole superpower. Who will be next? Will it be a consolidated Europe? A rising China? A resurgent Russia? Or even, conceivably, India?

In this chapter, we are going to learn about two superpowers. They are not political or geographical. They are spiritual. These two superpowers operate across every culture and in every generation. In fact, every person who has ever been born belongs to one of these two empires.

Paul introduces them to us in Romans 5:21, where he tells us about the reign of sin and the reign of grace.

Just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (ROMANS 5:21)

A CHOICE AND A POWER

Sin reigned. (v. 21)

Most Christians, and many others besides, would accept without question that sin is a choice. We are comfortable with the fact that we make choices every day, and we like to think that most of them are reasonably good ones. We might also have the humility to admit that we occasionally make bad choices, and we may even be willing to call these bad choices sin.

But the Bible makes it clear that sin is a bigger problem than our making a few stupid mistakes. Sin is more than a choice; it is a power. That’s why Paul talks about sin reigning. Reigning is a power word. The Bible is telling us that sin was in control.

When I shared this message with my congregation, I asked them to imagine that we were all heading off for the vacation of a lifetime on a Pacific island. I now have the pleasure of inviting you to join us! We gather at the airport and board the plane. Most of us, of course, are traveling in economy class. But a few of us have managed to get seats in business class. And a very few are in the lap of luxury, in the first-class seats.

The journey begins with a smooth takeoff. We enjoy the food and the in-flight entertainment, until suddenly an alarm sounds. Smoke fills the cabin, and then, to our absolute horror, three masked gunmen appear. We quickly realize that the unthinkable has happened: The plane has been hijacked and we are all hostages.

Most of us are economy hostages. Some are business-class hostages. A few have the distinction of being first-class hostages. But we are all in exactly the same position. The hijackers are in control: They have assumed power. And they are determining the destiny of the plane. There’s nothing any of us can do about it.

That’s what reigning means. When the Bible says, “Sin reigned,” it means that sin had invaded our world and our experience. It took charge and directed our ultimate outcome and destiny. Sin was in control.

FROM KUWAIT TO LILLIPUT

Let’s take a different analogy. Suppose you are living in Kuwait, and it’s the fall of 1991. You get up one morning, turn on your radio, and hear reports of an invasion. You look out your window and, sure enough, tanks are rolling up the street. You are absolutely terrified, but there is nothing you can do about it. Your country has been invaded. An alien power has marched in and has taken authority. You are now living under tyranny. An enemy is reigning.

A third analogy comes from the story of Gulliver’s Travels. Gulliver came to the town of Lilliput, where the people were so tiny that Gulliver was a massive giant in comparison. During his visit, Gulliver became tired, and while he was asleep, the little men of Lilliput set to work. Climbing over his body like ants on a rock, they tied him with thousands of tiny threads.

The individual threads had very little strength, but cumulatively they had great power, so that when Gulliver woke up, he could not move. The little people had taken him captive.

These pictures may help us to understand what the Bible means when it says that “sin reigned.” Sin is not simply a choice. It is a power that has taken control in our world and in our experience. Sin may seem innocuous at times, but its many threads are too strong to break.

WHO’S TO BLAME?

Through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners. (v. 19)

Sin’s reign of terror began through the disobedience of one man. We have followed the story of how God placed Adam and his wife, Eve, in a perfect garden where they had been given every good gift to enjoy. Adam was surrounded by the blessing of God, but he chose to disobey the one commandment God had given. He was soon to discover that his choice became a power within him. He was not able to get free from sin because it became a propensity, an inclination, in him.

Adam was not the person he had been before, but the most terrible thing of all for him must have been that sin took control in the lives of his children as well.

Adam lived through the nightmare of seeing his children do things he would never have done. Adam’s first son, Cain, murdered his brother, Abel. Adam must have wondered: What have I done? I thought that sin was just a choice, something I could try for a while, but it is a power, and neither I nor my son can get free from it. I made a choice, and that choice has unleashed a destructive power that is beyond my control.

Sin is a power. It is a ruling empire. And the reason that sin has become established in this authoritative position goes back to the activity of one man.

UNDERSTANDING THE NEWSPAPER

Sin reigned in death. (v. 21)

Surely one of the most dreadful phrases in the Bible is this: “Sin reigned in death.” The final outcome of this tyranny of sin over the human race was death. To return to our analogies, God is telling me that the final destination to which the hijacker called sin would take me is death. The final outcome of sin’s hostile invasion of our lives is death. The final result of being bound in sin is death.

When death comes, it doesn’t make any difference at all whether you were traveling first class, business, or economy. At the point of death, it makes no difference whether you were a pauper on the streets of Calcutta or Lady Diana in Paris. When death comes, there is nothing that any of us can do about it.

Resistance to death may succeed for a while, but eventually death takes us all. Its tyranny is cruel and relentless.

Paul’s teaching about the reign of sin helps us to understand the newspaper. We read and hear about school shootings, military takeovers, massive drug cartels, broken homes, financial fraud, and we say to ourselves, “This is not how things should be.” So why is the world like this?

God’s answer to us is, “You’re right. This is not how the world should be, and the reason it’s like this is that it has been invaded by an enemy. You are living under a tyranny. Sin reigns.”

While we can all avoid some sin, none of us can avoid all sin.

If sin were simply a choice, we could all choose to have happy homes, strong families, peaceful nations, and contented hearts. But sin is a power, and that’s why our dreams are always beyond our reach.

That does not, of course, mean that we’re all as bad as we could be or that the world is as bad as it could be. God is gracious in restraining some of the worst effects of sin. But it does mean that we cannot get free from this power. While we can all avoid some sin, none of us can avoid all sin.

WHY DID I DO THAT?

The fact that sin is a power also helps me to understand myself. There are a couple of lines from a song by DC Talk that I find very insightful.

What’s going on inside of me? I despise my own behavior.[1]

Have you ever felt like that? Perhaps you said something and then immediately regretted it, and you thought, Why on earth did I say that?

We are often a mystery to ourselves. David experienced that and asked, “Who can discern his errors?” (Psalm 19:12). Paul addressed the same mystery in Romans 7, when he described the frustration of a man who wanted to do good but didn’t get it done, and then wanted to avoid evil, but found himself drawn into it. There is only one explanation of this mystery, and that is that sin is a power.

MORE THAN FORGIVENESS

If sin were simply a choice, all we would need from God would be forgiveness and the Law. We would need forgiveness because we have all made foolish choices, and we would need the Law to guide us into better choices in the future. But what help is the Law to a man who is under the power of sin?

To return to our hijacked flight analogy, the Law is like the pilot telling you to deplane while the hijacker is standing by the door with a gun. The instruction is of little value if you are not at liberty to fulfill it. Similarly, if you’re in Kuwait and under attack, what use is it to hear that you and your fellow citizens should exercise your freedom if you are living under the tyranny of an occupying army? You can’t exercise your freedom because you have lost it! And what if you saw Gulliver tied down by thousands of threads? There is no point in telling him that he should get moving. He can’t get up, because he is bound.

This is why Paul emphasized the limitations of the Law (8:3). The Law can’t save us because sin is a power. If God forgave our sins and left us with a set of moral instructions, we would not be saved. Forgiveness and Law won’t do it because sin is a power.

This is the great limitation of moral instruction. It’s a good thing for us to give moral instruction to our children in our homes and schools, but the greatest problem for our children is that they lack the power to overcome the pull of sin within their own lives. Good moral teaching won’t do that. The only answer to the power of sin is the superpower of grace.

GRACE RULES!

Where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (5:20–21)

These verses draw a parallel between the two superpowers of sin and grace. Sin is a power; it flows from one person and it leads to death. In the same way, grace is a power; it also flows from one person, and it leads to everlasting life.

When Paul describes grace here, he is not talking about a kindly attitude. He is talking about a power. Just as sin has exercised its devastating power in human experience, grace now breaks in to deliver us from its tyranny.

If we were held hostage by a hijacker, we would not be looking for sympathy from the FBI. We would need them to storm the plane. If we were living in Kuwait during the Iraqi invasion, we would not be looking to the Allies for moral support, we would be asking them to mount a massive operation that would result in our liberation. If, like Gulliver, we were bound, we would not be looking for words of encouragement but for someone to come with a knife and set us free.

Paul is telling us that this is how grace operates. Grace is a power. It is more than forgiveness. The gospel is about the power of grace breaking the power of sin. It is the spiritual equivalent of overpowering the hijacker, driving out the intruder, and setting the prisoner free. Grace takes control. It lays hold of us and puts us in an entirely different position.

GRACE FLOWS FROM ONE PERSON

Just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. (v. 19)

The whole of the Bible story is about a conflict between the power of sin and the power of grace. Grace always has the initiative. It has the first and the last word.

Grace plants a garden in Eden and puts the man and the woman in this place of blessing.

Then sin invades in the form of a serpent.

Grace responds by promising the destruction of the Evil One.

Sin bites back as evil and violence multiply down through the generations in the early part of the Old Testament story.

Grace intervenes as God calls Abraham.

Sin strikes back as Abraham’s grandchildren beat up Joseph and leave him for dead in a pit.

Grace overrules by bringing Joseph to a position of responsibility in Egypt so that all his family are saved.

Sin seizes the opportunity and makes them slaves in Egypt.

Grace delivers them from Egypt and makes a covenant between God and His people.

Sin intrudes as they dance around the golden calf in an orgy of sin.

You can follow the story all the way through the Old Testament. It is like a tussle between the power of sin and the power of grace in which neither is able to land a decisive blow. But all the way, grace is establishing its position and preparing its plan for the decisive assault on sin and its author, the devil.

The battle reached its fiercest intensity when Jesus Christ came into the world. Once again, grace takes the initiative.

Grace takes human flesh and comes to us in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Sin strikes immediately as Herod tries to kill the child.

Grace finds a safe place for the holy Child in Egypt.

Satan is forced into the open as he tempts Jesus to sin.

Grace triumphs and Satan has to retreat.

Grace moves forward, and as He does, a blind man sees, a lame man walks, and a distraught family receives their daughter back to life. Demons are expelled, hungry people fed, and a few privileged people see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

And then sin strikes, as a crowd, armed with swords and clubs, comes to arrest Jesus.

Sin stirs up the crowd, who cry out, “Crucify him!” The department of justice says they don’t know what truth is, and when they nail Him to a cross, Jesus says, “This is your hour—when darkness reigns” (Luke 22:53).

Christ rose from the dead: Grace is reigning.

After six hours, they took Him down from the cross and laid His dead body in the tomb, and it seemed as if sin reigned in death. But on the third day, the tomb was empty. Sin couldn’t touch Him, so death couldn’t hold Him. Christ rose from the dead: Grace is reigning.

There is a man over whom sin has no power and over whom death has no hold.

He is not a hostage to sin; He is able to release the hostages. He is not under sin’s tyranny; He is able to liberate us from its oppression. He is not bound; He is able to cut us free.

DRIVING OUT THE OCCUPYING ARMY

When Christ saves you, He sets you free from the tyranny of sin. Grace invades your life, and Christ flies His flag over you. You will still have many struggles with sin, but “sin shall not be your master” (Romans 6:14). One day you will pass through death, but it will have no hold over you. For the believer, death is not sin’s final triumph, but our final liberation.

Grace puts you in an altogether different position. Sin is still a powerful enemy, but when Christ invades your life, sin does not reign over you. You belong to Christ. Grace reigns where sin once ruled, and two flags cannot be planted on the same ground. Sin and grace may both be present in the same place, but they cannot both be reigning. Where grace plants its flag, sin no longer reigns.

Sin will still be a menace to you, but you are no longer under its rule. There is all the difference in the world between a menacing neighbor and an occupying army.

CUTTING THE CORDS

Many Christians feel defeated. They understand that God loves them and that Christ died for them, but their problem lies in habits of thought or patterns of behavior that have become ingrained over many years. They have tried to change, but they have lost heart.

They think of grace as God smiling down on them benignly, rather like a helpless parent who has no idea of how to control a fractious child.

We all know from experience what the power of sin can do to us. We feel its pull, and we may have felt defeated by it, but God is telling us about the power of grace. This power is greater than the power of sin, and God’s grace sets prisoners free.

Think about Gulliver tied down by thousands of tiny threads. Now try to picture someone cutting the cords that bind him. It may take a long time to cut all the threads, but every stroke of the knife brings greater freedom.

That’s a great picture of how God’s grace works in our lives. Having forgiven our sins and planted His flag in the ground of our lives, Christ sets to work to set us free.

Grace always brings hope.

Grace changes a man or woman. Paul experienced that in his own life. He tells us that he had once been an angry, violent blasphemer. But when God’s grace invaded his life, he was completely changed.

I don’t think that Paul was ever quite able to get over the fact that having once been the most violent opponent of the church, he ended up being an apostle. When he wrote about that, he said, “I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect” (1 Corinthians 15:9–10). God’s grace in your life will not be without effect either. Grace always brings hope.

THE DESTINY OF THE PLANE

When sin hijacked our lives, it was leading us on a course to death. But when Jesus Christ storms the plane of your life, He takes the controls and sets a new course that leads to everlasting life. Grace brings us to eternal life. As Paul noted,

Just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (ROMANS 5:21)

That’s the future for the whole church. You can think of the church as being like a planeload of Christian believers whose lives have been invaded by the Lord Jesus Christ. Sin will not determine the ultimate destiny of God’s people. Grace will do that, because grace reigns.

On the Last Day, the whole church will be spotless and without blemish. Christ’s people will be everything He has called us to be. And until that day, God’s grace will keep you.

Through many dangers, toils, and snares

I have already come;

’Tis grace that brought me safe thus far,

And grace will lead me home.[2]

UNLOCKED

Sin is like a hijacker taking control of human lives and holding us hostage. It is a powerful intruder into God’s universe, and where it takes control, it leads to death. Adam and Eve opened the door to this evil power, and ever since, the human race has lived under its tyranny. Our problem goes deeper than foolish choices; we need to be liberated from the power of sin.

God’s grace invades human lives through Jesus Christ. This grace is much more than God’s kindness; it is His liberating power. When Jesus Christ seizes control of our lives, He determines a new destiny for us in everlasting life. He breaks the tyranny of sin and begins the work of setting us free. Sin is still your enemy, but it is no longer your master. Grace reigns through our Lord Jesus Christ.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Almighty Father,

Thank You that in Jesus Christ You have given me much more than forgiveness and instruction. You saw my need and have sent Your Son to set me free. Thank You that His grace is greater than the power of sin. Thank You that because His grace reigns in my life, I can be victorious in my struggle with sin and confident about my final destination.

Help me to know that sin is no longer my master. Sustain me in my struggle and keep me from believing the lies of the Enemy. Thank You that Your grace has brought me through many struggles and that Your grace will bring me home.

Thank You for planting the flag of Your grace in my life, through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.

Notes

1. DC Talk, “In the Light,” from the CD Jesus Freak (Virgin Records, 1995). “In the Light,” by Charlie Peacock. © 1991 Sparrow Song/BMI. All rights administered by EMI Christian Music Publishing. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

2. John Newton, “Amazing Grace,” verse 3.

6

Union

ROMANS 6

What is the

motivation for

living a

Christian life?

DISCOVER

what it means to be “in Christ.”

LEARN

the authority of your new position.

WORSHIP

because you are a new creation in Jesus Christ.

THREE couples met at college. Pete and Mary, Tom and Sandra, and Dave and Linda all became good friends, but after graduation, each couple settled in a different part of the country. Before saying good-bye, however, they agreed to have a reunion after twenty-five years; and they made a covenant that when they met, they would tell the truth about their lives.

Twenty-five years later the great day came. As they arrived at the agreed location, the first thing that they noticed was the graying hair and the extra weight. The three couples enjoyed being together, and after a good meal they settled down to hear the truth about each other’s lives.

Pete and Mary went first. The others noticed that they had arrived separately and wondered why. “We moved in together after college,” said Pete. “We felt that marriage wasn’t for us, but we wanted to be together, and so we decided to see how things would work out. The truth is, we got on each other’s nerves, and in the end we decided that we couldn’t live together, and so we went our separate ways.”

Then it was Tom and Sandra’s turn. They had a long discussion during their journey about what they would say. “We agreed to tell the truth,” said Sandra. “What are we going to say?”

Sandra told the others how she and Tom married after college. Now they have a beautiful home and three fine children, all of whom have graduated from college themselves. “Everything seems so good,” she said, “but the truth is that it’s not. There’s no doubt about our commitment, but there is a whole dimension missing.

I feel as if this marriage is an empty shell.” She looked up at Tom and their eyes met. He had never heard her say this before, but now that she had, he felt strangely relieved. “It’s the truth,” he said.

Then it was Dave and Linda’s turn. “We married straight after college,” said Linda, “and we have had our struggles. We had three kids close together, the money was tight, and sometimes we thought we would both go crazy.”

“I’ve had a real problem with anger,” Dave admitted, “and that has put great strain on our relationship. But we weathered some storms, and over the years we have become closer and closer. We promised to tell the truth, and the truth is that we are closer now than we have ever been in our lives.”

Three relationships—one that’s like an open door, one that’s like an empty shell, and one that is a growing union. Which of these would be a picture of your relationship with God?

OPEN DOORS AND EMPTY SHELLS

Some people would like to have an open-door relationship with God, in which they may come to Him when they feel they need Him without making any long-term commitment. But God doesn’t enter that kind of relationship. God makes covenants. He says, “I will be your God and you will be my people.” The relationship God makes with His people may come under great strain, but God never goes back on His covenant. There will never come a time when God will tire of you and turn away. He has no open-door relationships. He makes a covenant and invites us into a binding agreement.

But that’s only half the story. Tom and Sandra had a committed, secure relationship, but that’s all they had. Their relationship was a dimension short of what both of them wanted. They had made a legal covenant, and they honored it. But the relationship was deeply dissatisfying to both of them. It seemed like an empty shell.

That is not the kind of relationship that God seeks with us either. He will never bring us into His covenant without at the same time invading our lives with His love. He is not only the God of the covenant; He is the God of covenant love, and an empty-shell relationship is a dimension short of God’s purpose for us in Jesus Christ.

God’s love is expressed in His commitments, and His commitments are an expression of His love. That’s why the Bible uses the picture of a growing, healthy marriage to describe the relationship God establishes with His people through Jesus Christ.

A good marriage is both legal and relational. It is both a binding agreement and an intimate union. It is given to promote deep security on the one hand and deep affection on the other. Pete and Mary had no security. Tom and Sandra had no affection. God wants to bring us into a relationship of covenant love in which we enjoy the security of knowing that He will never leave us and the intimacy of sharing His life.

In the last two chapters, we learned about the security of the believer’s relationship with the Lord. We are justified by the blood of Christ, and therefore we can rest in the security of knowing that we will be saved from God’s wrath on the Last Day. Grace reigns in the life of the believer, and grace will determine our final destiny. That’s our security. The grace that brought us safe this far will also lead us home.

FACING THE INEVITABLE QUESTION

When we discover that grace reigns, there is one obvious question that may come to our minds. Paul puts it like this:

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? (ROMANS 6:1)

If it is the case that God, in Jesus Christ, has made a covenant with me, and that by His grace my eternal destiny is secure, does that not leave me in the position of being able to sin without consequence?

Many people feel that it is dangerous to teach the security of our salvation in Jesus Christ because it may have the effect of making Christian people lazy. After all, what is the point of praying, giving, or serving if I already know that my eternal destiny is secure?

This is an extremely important question, and we should not be afraid of it. It is a question that arises out of the nature of the gospel itself. The teaching of Romans 5 leads directly to the question of Romans 6: “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?” And if this question has never occurred to us, it is probably a sign that we have not understood or at least not reflected deeply on the free gift of God’s salvation in Jesus Christ. When you understand the teaching of Romans 5, you will inevitably ask the question of Romans 6. And we need to know how to answer this question, because it goes to the heart of our motivation for living the Christian life.

MORE THAN A CONTRACT

What would you think of a man who knew that his wife was absolutely committed to him and said to himself, My marriage is secure, and therefore I don’t need to bother about caring for my wife? There is something despicable about that. It is a travesty of the high calling of marriage.

The central point in Paul’s teaching in Romans 6 is that God invites us into a relationship that is both secure and intimate. It is secure because God makes a covenant with us and He never goes back on His word, but it is also intimate because it involves “union” with Jesus Christ.

Jesus spoke about this union when He said, “I am the vine; you are the branches” (John 15:5). Just as the sap rises from the vine and flows into the branches, so the life of Christ will flow from Him into His people. This is much more than a legal transaction in which your sins are forgiven and your passport is stamped for heaven. This is the life of God entering into you. It’s hard to imagine a more intimate picture.

A DAY AT THE DRIVING SCHOOL

Some months ago, I am ashamed to say, I offended against the rules of the road and was duly stopped by a uniformed officer, who issued a penalty in the form of a ticket. I was out on a country road and failed to slow sufficiently as the road passed through a small town.

I have to say that I felt very bad about it, especially as the officer explained that this offense would be on my driving record. But then, he announced that the state of Illinois had provided a way in which something could be done about this. “You can take the class,” he said. “It will take you four hours, but then all record of this offense will be removed. In fact,” he said, “it will be as if this had never happened.” I truly wished that it had never happened, and so I decided to take the class, and am glad to be able to report that my driving record is clean.

Now think about the way in which this system works. I don’t know it from the inside, but we can reasonably assume that one day a rather tired administrator yawned as he or she scrolled through a long list of all the “Smiths” living in Illinois to find the wretched one against whose name an offense should be recorded.

Then, a few weeks later, perhaps the same administrator would have the laborious task of scrolling through the same list for the purpose of pressing the delete button and erasing all record of the offense.

The whole process was legal, which is good, because I don’t want somebody making an issue of it again in three years’ time; but at the same time, it is profoundly impersonal. No relationship is involved.

There are many people in churches who think about the gospel in this way. They have understood that Christ died for their sins, and that when they believe in Jesus, God’s record of their sins is erased, but that is all that they have grasped. And if that is all you have grasped, you may have about as much love and feeling toward God as I have for the computer operator who erased my offense but whom I have never met.

Salvation is not an arm’s length transaction.

If you think of salvation purely as a process in which sins are deleted from the record and passports are stamped for heaven, and it is all at a distance, you will never understand or be able to enter into worship. You may be committed, but your relationship with God will feel like an empty shell, and you will probably be disappointed.

Christ died to bring you into more than that. Forgiveness of sins and entrance into heaven is only half of the gospel. Christ died not only to clear your sin record, but also to bring you into a relationship with God. Salvation is not an arm’s length transaction performed by an unknown heavenly administrator. It is God reaching out to establish a relationship of love, an intimate union in which you come to know Him, love Him, and serve Him. That is why this teaching about being “in Christ” is so important.

DISCOVER WHO YOU ARE!

Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? …If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. (vv. 3, 5)

The word “baptized” literally means plunged, immersed, or saturated. Paul tells believers that they are “baptized into Christ.” When a person comes to faith in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit makes a connection between the death of Jesus two thousand years ago and your life today. You are plunged into Him, and the benefits of His death and resurrection flow into your life.

Many churches symbolize this by baptizing believers in water that completely covers them. It’s a powerful picture of that fact that we have been immersed in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit brings the believer into a deep spiritual union with Christ that is formed through the bond of faith. The believer is “in Christ” (see, for example, Romans 8:1; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 5:17).

Being baptized into Christ’s death means that the person you were before ceases to exist. I find it helpful to think of it like this: There once was a fellow by the name of Colin Smith, and certain things were true of him. Because he was descended from Adam, he was under the reign of sin, he was alienated from God, and he was powerless to do anything about it. If he had stayed in that condition, he would have ended up under condemnation. But that fellow no longer exists. He died. He went down with Jesus at the cross. That’s what Paul means when he says, “We died with Christ” (Romans 6:8).

But it doesn’t end there. Paul also wrote about being “united with [Christ] in his resurrection.” When the Holy Spirit plunged me into Christ, He brought a whole new person into being. This new person, who also goes under the name of Colin Smith, is under the reign of grace. He is a child of God, and his destiny is everlasting life. The Spirit of God lives in this person. He has been raised up to live a new life to the glory of God the Father (v. 6:4).

This is so much more than turning over a new leaf.…This is a new creation.

This new person still fails in many ways, but no matter how often he fails, he cannot ever revert to the person he was. That person is dead and gone forever. He has ceased to exist. This is the consistent teaching of the New Testament. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). “You died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).

This is so much more than turning over a new leaf, or making a decision. This is a new creation in which the life of Christ flows into the Christian believer by the power of the Holy Spirit.

THE SOCKS AND THE TROUSERS

Consider the difference between a pair of socks and a pair of trousers. You know what happens when you put a pair of socks in the wash? One of them gets lost. I am amazed at the capacity of socks to separate. The problem, of course, is that there is nothing that unites them together.

Thankfully, trousers are different. Over the years I have put plenty of trousers in the wash, but I never once had a pair come out with one leg missing. They are joined together; they are intrinsically one!

Some people have the idea that the blessings of God are like the socks. They think of God throwing out isolated blessings, like forgiveness or everlasting life, from heaven. But God’s blessings do not come to us like that. He has chosen to unite all the blessings of salvation together in one. He offers us one blessing: Jesus Christ. That’s why Paul says that God “has blessed us … with every spiritual blessing in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). All of the blessings of salvation come to us in Jesus Christ, and none of them comes to us apart from Him.

Forgiveness is found in Him, eternal life is found in Him, holiness is found in Him, and victory over sin is found in Him. These gifts are all joined together inseparably in Him. If you are in Him, all of these blessings are yours. If you are not in Him, none of them are yours.

Being “in Christ” means that the person I used to be has truly ceased to exist.

In Romans 6, Paul was writing to Christian believers. And he told them, “Don’t you know that you have been baptized into His death and resurrection? Don’t you see that being a Christian is much more than a decision to believe and a passport to heaven?” Forgiveness and everlasting life are wonderful gifts, but they come to us “in Christ,” and being “in Christ” means that the person I used to be has truly ceased to exist. God has brought a whole new person into being by the power of His Spirit, and the purpose of this new person’s life is to live for the glory of God.

There are two dimensions to the gospel: a legal dimension, in which God forgives our sins and cancels our guilt, and a relational dimension, in which we are brought into a new life. These two wonderful gifts are joined together and can never be separated because they are both found “in Christ.”

ENJOYING YOUR FREEDOM IN CHRIST

For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. (v. 14)

The problem some people face is that although they are in Christ, it takes a while for their feelings to catch up with this new reality. That’s not surprising: Old habits die hard.

Imagine a child who has been mistreated; we’ll call him Tommy. He is raised in a children’s home where the harsh regime is that little boys should be seen and not heard. Wardens pace up and down the dining hall between the long tables, and every time a child speaks a heavy hand comes down across the back of the child’s head. Tommy soon learns to eat very quietly.

One day the abuses in the children’s home are discovered, and Tommy is placed in the care of new parents who adopt him into their family. When Tommy comes to their table, he sits with his head down and doesn’t say a word.

The new parents know about how Tommy was treated in the past, and so they talk with him about it. “Tommy, we know that for a long time bad things happened every time you spoke at the table. But you are in a different place now. You are with us. We want to hear you talk, Tommy, and nothing bad is going to happen to you.”

Tommy listens as the other children in the family speak at the table and notices that nothing bad happens to them. Then one day, Tommy says, “Could you pass the salt?” He flinches as he says it, but nothing bad happens. He has no need to fear. The next day, he talks again, and gradually he discovers something that has been true since he joined the family: He is under a new reign. The old regime is gone. Gradually, he becomes at ease with the family, and eventually he enjoys talking at the table. Tommy was free from the old regime the day that he was taken out of the children’s home. But it took time for Tommy’s feelings to catch up with the new reality.

When we discover the reality of our position in Christ, we will begin to enjoy our relationship with God, and we will discover what it is to worship.

ADJUSTING TO YOUR NEW POSITION

Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.…Offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life. (vv. 12–13)

Paul is not suggesting that the power of temptation will be eliminated. Christians still face a lifelong battle with sin, and it’s a real struggle. But whereas the old person was destined for defeat in the battle, you are now positioned for victory. Your new identity opens up the most marvelous possibilities.

This is the opposite of what many people believe today. Even some Christians have bought into the popular view that we are all wired in certain ways as if the mind and heart operated by some independent power over which we have no control. “That’s just the way I am,” they say, as if there were nothing they could do about it.

That was your condition without Christ! But that person died! Now you are risen with Christ. The life of God has invaded your soul. You have power! Sin shall no longer be your master.

The life of God has invaded your soul. You have power!

Imagine that you have been working for the same boss for thirty years. Every morning when you go to work, you check in with Fred, and he tells you what he wants you to do. You get on well enough with Fred. Sometimes you doubt his judgment, and you wonder if he really understands the job that needs to be done, but if you question what he says, he gets angry and tells you that he is in charge. So you have learned to do things Fred’s way.

Then one day, the chairman of the company comes in to see you. He says that he has big plans for you and wants to bring you into a new level of the management structure. Next Monday you will have a new position and will operate from a new office upstairs.

You arrive on Monday morning, and as you enter the elevator, it suddenly dawns on you that from today, Fred will be accountable to you!

Over the next weeks, two things are likely to happen.

First, Fred will have a distinct tendency to go on telling you what to do. He has done that for thirty years, so he has become used to that pattern, and he will have no hesitation in coming into your new office and telling you what he thinks you should do. Fred will always think of himself as your boss, even though that is no longer the case.

Second, you will have a distinct tendency to listen to Fred and do what he says, even though you are no longer accountable to him. You have responded to Fred as your boss for so long that it’s hard to break the habit.

After six weeks in your new position, the chairman comes to see you in your office. “I am delighted that you are in this new position,” he says, “but there is a problem we need to talk about. You are listening too much to Fred. If we had wanted him in charge, we would have given him the job, but we gave it to you. You have to learn to put him in his place. Fred will always make suggestions, but you are under no obligation to pursue them. We have given you authority, and you need to use it. From now on, he does what you tell him, not the other way around.”

Discovering the authority of your new position in Christ is one of the most important keys to living the Christian life. Sin was your master, but that is no longer the case when you are in Jesus Christ. So don’t let sin reign over you. When temptation comes, deal with it as you would deal with someone who is subject to you. Half the battle is knowing that you have the authority to do that.

UNLOCKED

A Christian is a person who has been united with Christ in His death and resurrection. The person he or she was before has ceased to exist, and a new person has come into being. The new person has many struggles and fails in many ways, but being a new creation, he or she loves Christ and desires to live for the glory of God.

The motivation to live a Christian life does not come from a set of rules or obligations, but from an inner desire that flows from the believer’s union with Christ.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Almighty Father,

Thank You for Your covenant love that has made it possible for me to know You through Jesus Christ. Thank You for making me a new person in Jesus Christ, and for the privilege of knowing His life flowing in me by the power of the Holy Spirit. Help me to live the new life that You have given me to Your glory and honor, through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.

7

Nature

ROMANS 7–8

What power do I

have for living a

Christian life?

DISCOVER

why the Christian life is a winnable war.

LEARN

how Christ pays sin’s penalty and breaks sin’s power.

WORSHIP

because God gives the power of His Spirit to all His people.

It had been some years since John first used drugs at a party. He had tried marijuana and thought he wouldn’t do it again. But he did, and then some weeks later he tried something stronger. He had a hard time admitting that he was hooked, but his friends knew that was the truth.

Then one day John was caught in possession. The police pressed charges, and the court set a heavy fine. There was a penalty to pay, but John had no money.

After a lot of heart searching, John’s mother paid the fine on his behalf, but afterward she wondered if she had done the right thing. “I’m afraid that by paying the fine, I’m just enabling him to continue his habit,” she said.

She’s right. John still faces the problem that he is an addict. The drugs are exercising a power in his life, and if he is to be “saved,” that power must be broken.

When Adam and Eve committed the first sin, there were two long-term consequences. Sin brought a penalty against them, and it became a power within them. So when God saves us through Jesus Christ, He saves us from both sin’s penalty and its power. These two dimensions of our salvation run all the way through the Bible story.

When David offered his prayer of repentance in Psalm 51, he said, “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow” (v. 7). He knew that he needed to be washed and forgiven. But then he went on to pray, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” He recognized that there was a power in him that led him to do what he did, and that unless that power was broken, he’d soon end up going down the same track again.

Throughout the Bible story, God promised to deal with both of these issues. God promised forgiveness when He said, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean,” but He also promised deliverance from sin’s power: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees” (Ezekiel 36:26–27).

THREE CHARACTERS YOU SHOULD KNOW

In the book of Romans, the apostle Paul explained more about how God has done this. To help us understand his teaching, I want to introduce three characters. Their names are Hostile, Helpless, and Hopeful. Try to decide which one you identify with most. Then we will see what God has to say to each of them, and to us.

Hostile: No Desire and No Ability

The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. (ROMANS 8:7; SEE ALSO VERSE 5)

Paul speaks about a person whose mind and nature are hostile to God. So we are going to call him Hostile.

We have already met Hostile several times in the Bible story. The first time was in the story of Adam and Eve’s two sons, Cain and Abel.

Cain brought an offering that he thought would be pleasing to God, but God did not accept it. So Cain became angry. He was hostile toward God, and his hostility was deflected onto his brother who loved God. Cain’s anger became so intense that eventually he killed his brother, and he spent the rest of his life on the run both from his family and from God.

Pharaoh was hostile. God said, “Let My people go, so that they may worship Me,” but Pharaoh refused to recognize the authority of God over his life. He was unwilling to submit to the Word of God, and he became hostile.

Later in the Bible story, we came across a king by the name of Jehoiakim. He was sitting in his palace beside an open fire. He asked for the Word of God to be read to him. One of the palace officials read from the scroll, and when he finished reading the section, Jehoiakim cut what he had read from the scroll with his knife and threw it into the fire. Then he asked for more to be read, and he did the same thing until the whole of the scroll was destroyed. That’s hostile!

Of course, Hostile’s greatest day, as he saw it, was the day that we call Good Friday, when Jesus was brought before a crowd of people, and they were asked what should be done with Him. They cried out, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” There was real feeling there, and it was hostile!

At one time, Paul himself was Hostile. In the early days of the Christian church, he led a furious persecution of Christian believers. He supported the stoning of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Then he launched a mission to destroy the church. He was “breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples” (Acts 9:1). That’s hostile!

Then, when he was traveling on the road to Damascus, the risen Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him and said, “Why are you persecuting Me?” (see Acts 9:3–6). Paul’s violent anger against Christians was actually a reflection of a deeper rage against Christ.

Many kind and respectable people are Hostile when it comes to the things of God.

You won’t have to look too far to meet Hostile in our society today. He gets very angry about public mention of God. The idea that there is a God in heaven who created us and to whom we are all ultimately accountable is deeply offensive to him. He finds the suggestion that there is one God who has laws that apply to all people at all times in all places outrageous.

You may have noticed that many kind and respectable people are Hostile when it comes to the things of God. A conversation can be quite civil until the name of God comes up. Then, it is as if a switch is triggered, and a deep hostility within the soul is opened up.

Some people in church are deeply Hostile to God. Psychologists talk about people who are passive aggressive. My best understanding is that they are very angry but equally determined not to do anything about it. So they bottle their anger, press it down, and go through life like a pressure cooker. They are usually very pleasant and highly unpredictable. You can be like that toward God. Some people are “spiritually passive aggressive,” that is, they harbor a deep resentment toward God and determine to do nothing about it.

Hostile has neither the desire nor the ability to follow God’s Law.

Helpless: Desire Without Ability

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate I do. (ROMANS 7:15)

In Romans 7, we meet another character, whom we will call Helpless. The big difference between Helpless and Hostile is that while Hostile hates God’s Law, Helpless loves it. “I agree that the law is good,” he says (v. 16). That is something that Hostile would never say; he hated God’s Law and wanted nothing to do with it. But Helpless loves God’s Law, and he wants to keep it. “In my inner being I delight in God’s Law.…I have the desire to do what is good” (vv. 22, 18).

The problem for Helpless is that he isn’t able to do what he wants to do, and, of course, that’s why we are calling him Helpless! Though he delights in God’s Law, he acknowledges, “Another law [is] at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin” (v. 23, emphasis added). “I want to fulfill the Law of God,” he is saying, “but I find that it is beyond my power. It is as if I am in chains.”

Helpless is a mystery to himself. “I do not understand what I do,” he says (v. 15). This man is a prisoner. He does not do what he wants to do, and he ends up doing what he never intended. He can’t help himself. This leaves him feeling absolutely miserable. “What a wretched man I am!” he says. “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (v. 24).

Helpless… agrees with the Law of God, [but] he lacks the ability to do it.

We have met Helpless many times in the Bible story. When Moses announced the laws of God to the people of Israel, they all said, “We will do everything the LORD has said” (Exodus 19:8). It’s a wonderful statement, but they found it harder than they thought to live up to their good intentions.

When they arrived in Canaan, Joshua gathered the people for a service in which they renewed their promises to God (Joshua 24). Joshua challenged them to choose whom they would serve. The people said, “We will serve the Lord.” The desire was one thing; the ability to follow through on it was another.

The problem for Helpless is that while he agrees with the Law of God, he lacks the ability to do it.

A man agrees that adultery is wrong but finds his mind filled with adulterous thoughts. A woman agrees that coveting is sin, but when she sees a friend who has something that she wanted but doesn’t have, she is surprised at her own thoughts and ashamed of them. Another man believes that those who have faith should not worry, and yet he finds himself filled with fear. He does not understand himself. He says, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this?”

In the earlier chapters of Romans, Paul had been arguing that the Law can’t take away the penalty of sin. Now he is explaining that the Law can’t break the power of sin either. He tells us that the Law was “powerless” because it was “weakened by the sinful nature” (8:3). The Law tells us what to do, but since we don’t have the power to do it, the Law leaves us Helpless.

Hopeful: Desire with Ability

Those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. (8:5)

In Romans chapter 8, Paul introduces us to a third character, whom we will call Hopeful. Like Helpless, Hopeful wants to live in a way that is pleasing to God. The difference between them lies in the area of ability.

Paul tells Hopeful to “put to death the misdeeds of the body” (v. 13). That is precisely what Helpless could not do! He says, “I’m a prisoner!” He doesn’t have the ability to overcome the Enemy.

But Hopeful is in an entirely different position. He has the desire to fight against sin in his life, but he also has the ability to prevail, and the reason is that the Spirit of God lives in him.

Hopeful and Helpless face the same struggles. They feel the power of the same temptations. The difference between them lies not in the battle but in the outcome. Helpless faces inevitable defeat; Hopeful faces ultimate victory.

PEARL HARBOR: HOPE IN AN OVERWHELMING FORCE

When Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941, Winston Churchill was at Chequers, the British prime minister’s country retreat. On hearing the news, he called President Franklin Roosevelt, who confirmed what had happened.

“It’s quite true,” Roosevelt said, “they have attacked us at Pearl Harbor. We are all in the same boat now.”

Churchill recorded his thoughts as he went to bed that night.

No American will think it wrong of me if I proclaim that to have the United States at our side was to me the greatest joy.…So we had won after all! Yes, after Dunkirk; after the fall of France … after seventeen months of lonely fighting and nineteen months of my responsibility in dire stress. We had won the war. England would live; Britain would live! … How long the war would last or in what fashion it would end no man could tell, nor did I at this moment care.…Many disasters, immeasurable cost and tribulation lay ahead, but there was no more doubt about the end. All the rest was merely the proper application of overwhelming force.… I went to bed and slept the sleep of the saved and thankful.[1]

The war would drag on for another four years. It would continue to be a bitter struggle, but even in December 1941, Churchill could say, “We had won after all.” The outcome was certain.

During the London Blitz of 1940, Churchill had been Helpless, but now he was Hopeful. The difference lay in the involvement of an overwhelming force. That is the difference between Helpless and Hopeful. Helpless knows that he is beaten. Hopeful knows that he has an overwhelming force with him. The difference between them lies in the presence of the Holy Spirit.

The problem with Helpless is that he is limited to the range of his own ability. That’s why he finds the Christian life impossible. In Romans 7, Helpless says nothing about Christ, or about the Spirit. He only talks about himself and his own limited abilities, which are insufficient to fulfill the Law of God.

But Hopeful knows that the Holy Spirit is with him and in him. This is the “Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead.” That’s an overwhelming force! Now, Paul says the power of this same Holy Spirit is living in you (8:11).

You might think that knowing the power of the Holy Spirit working in your life must be a special kind of experience known mainly by pastors, saints, and martyrs. But Paul makes it clear that this is the normal Christian life. When you come to Christ, He gives you His Spirit. He enters a grand alliance with you. Salvation in Christ and the gift of the Spirit are inseparable. You cannot have the one without the other. “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ” (8:9). Period.

If you belong to Christ, the Holy Spirit is with you and in you. You are not Helpless, so don’t talk as if you were. God has placed you in an entirely new position, “in Christ.” You will face the same battles as you did before, but there will be a different outcome: “Sin shall not be your master” (6:14).

The Christian life is possible for you, by the power of the Holy Spirit who is at work within you. Many battles are still ahead. They will be fierce, and some terrible defeats may occur. Churchill spoke of “many disasters, immeasurable cost and tribulation,” but the outcome was already sure. All the rest was merely the proper application of overwhelming force.

WHO ARE YOU?

Which of our three friends do you identify with? Hostile, Helpless, or Hopeful?

It’s important to answer this question accurately, because you can’t take the next step forward in your spiritual life until you know where you are. The directions to any destination depend upon your starting point.

It’s also important to understand this when we have opportunity to offer spiritual help to other people. If you want to help somebody take a next step forward with the Lord, the first thing you need to know is whether they are Hostile, Helpless, or Hopeful. God has specific instructions for each of these characters, and they are quite different. Hostile, Helpless, and Hopeful are in entirely different positions, and we will not help them if we give the wrong set of instructions.

God’s Word to Hostile: “Repent!”

If you are Hostile, God says, “I love you.” As Paul wrote, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). God has loved you through all your struggling, resisting, and fighting against Him. He loves you still, even in your hostility. God says to Hostile, “You are fighting an unwinnable war. You are biting the hand that feeds you.”

God offers an amnesty to those who are Hostile. He offers peace. He invites you to lay down your arms and offers you the opportunity to repent. Repentance is giving up your resistance to God. God invites you to surrender to Him. Lay down your arms now! Come over and be at peace with Him. Jesus Christ came into the world and went to the cross so that those who were once God’s enemies could become His friends.

God’s Word to Helpless: “Come!”

God’s word to Helpless is quite different. If Helpless comes into my office and I tell him to repent, I will not help him. He already wants to do what is right. His problem is that he doesn’t have the power.

In Romans 7, Helpless cries out in despair, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (v. 24). God has an answer to his question: Jesus Christ! “Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (v. 25).

If you are Helpless, God is saying, “Jesus Christ will deliver you! The Christian life is not about you doing your best to keep My Law. The Christian life is about My power entering your soul to break the power that has been ruling over you. Christ will deliver you. Remember, ‘Sin shall not be your master’ ” (6:14).

Come to Christ in faith. Tell Him that you cannot live this life on your own. Tell Him that you need the power of His Holy Spirit so that you will have the ability as well as the desire to live a new life. Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find.

God’s Word to Hopeful: “Fight!”

Hopeful has come to Christ. The Spirit of God lives within him, and the final outcome of his life is secure. All that remains is the proper application of overwhelming force, and that means that Hopeful needs to fight.

God tells Hopeful to put to death the misdeeds of the body by the power of the Spirit (8:13). “Start an intentional battle against sin that remains in you, Hopeful. Learn to fight, and don’t say that you are Helpless. You’re not! The Spirit of God is within you. Christ has put you in a position to fight.”

Are you making the proper application of overwhelming force? Can you identify specific sins on which you are launching an intentional assault at this point in your life? Are you praying about them? Have you formed a strategy for change, knowing that the power of the Spirit has been given to you to make this possible? Are you feeding on the Word of God to strengthen your soul for battle? Are you building relationships with other Christians for strength and encouragement?

THE ENEMY’ S PROPAGANDA

During the Second World War, there was a propagandist called Lord Haw-Haw. He would broadcast to Allied troops, and his message to Hitler was always the same: “You’re finished; you can’t win.”

We have an enemy who does exactly the same thing. He comes to the Christian, especially when we have failed, and says, “You’re finished. You never were any good, and you never will be. You’re a loser. You are my prisoner, and there is no way out for you.”

Remember that the Enemy will try to confuse you about your position. The Evil One loves to tell Hopeful that he is really Helpless. Many of his greatest successes come from that kind of propaganda. The only answer to the Enemy’s lies is the truth. When you know the truth, it will make you free.

Some Christians have believed his lies. Their heads are down, and they feel defeated. They have become convinced that they can do nothing, and they have given up assaulting the Enemy’s positions because they have no hope of success. They have concluded that certain sins are simply too strong for them to overcome.

“The power of sin is too strong for me. I’m Helpless,” they say.

“Well, if you are Helpless, you must come to Christ. He will deliver you.”

“But I have come to Christ.”

“Well then, the Spirit of God lives in you. You are not Helpless.”

Don’t let the Enemy chase you around in circles. Identify your position, and then follow God’s instructions.

If you are Hostile, repent! God’s love reaches out to you.

If you are Helpless, come! Christ will deliver you.

If you are Hopeful, fight! The Holy Spirit is within you. You will face many battles, but the outcome is certain.

UNLOCKED

The power that you have depends entirely on your spiritual position. Without Christ, the Christian life is beyond your power. But when you come to Christ in faith, He gives you His Spirit, and that puts you in an entirely different position.

You will face many struggles and will have defeats as well as victories, but you are not alone in this battle: The Spirit of God is within you, and that is what makes the Christian life possible. The Christian life is all about the proper application of overwhelming force. Never say you are Helpless when the Spirit of God lives in you.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Gracious Father,

Thank You that through Jesus Christ, You have made a way for Your enemies to become Your friends. Thank You that Christ has come not only to pay sin’s penalty but also to break sin’s power. Thank You that You have made the Christian life possible by the power of Your Spirit.

Help me to make a proper application of His power in my struggles and so to prevail, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Note

1. Winston Churchill, The Grand Alliance, vol. 3 of The Second World War (London: The Reprint Society, 1954), 475–77. Italics added.

8

Heirs

ROMANS 8

What does it

mean to be led

by the Spirit

of God?

DISCOVER

the future for planet Earth.

LEARN

the art of self-examination.

WORSHIP

because God has made you His heir through Jesus Christ.

IMAGINE a priceless work of art, hanging in a gallery. One night, an intruder defaces the painting on the wall. He scrawls graffiti over it. Then he takes brightly colored paint—scarlet, yellow, and blue—and splats it on the face of the canvas until the colors run down the surface of the painting, mingling together and all but obscuring the masterpiece from view.

The next day, the artist sees what has happened to his greatest work and is heartbroken. The painting still has intrinsic value, but it is of little use in the gallery in its present condition. It has been defaced, and it needs to be restored. The process of restoration will take months, perhaps years, and it will be costly. But the artist chooses to make that investment, because this painting is his masterpiece.

Men and women are the masterpieces of God’s creation. We were made in the image and likeness of God. The masterpiece has been defaced with sin’s ugly scrawl, but God has determined to restore His greatest work. The process of restoration begins with men and women, but eventually the whole creation will be restored.

THE DISTINCTIVE MARK OF SONS

If by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. (ROMANS 8:13–14)

As we have seen in the last two chapters, Paul has been setting out the position of the Christian believer. When you are “in Christ,” you are not helpless. God has put you into a position where you are able to fight against the power of sin. We are able to put to death the misdeeds of the body by the power of the Holy Spirit who is with us and in us. This is a long campaign with many setbacks, but it will end in ultimate victory for all of God’s people.

Paul tells us why it is so important for us to fight this battle, “because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” Notice the word “because.” If I say, “You should read this chapter because it will help you to grasp your future destiny,” the second half of the statement is an explanation of the first.

Paul is saying that the reason you must “put to death the misdeeds of the body,” is that “those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” In other words, the distinctive mark of the sons of God is that they follow the leading of the Holy Spirit into battle against the misdeeds of the body; they wage war against the sins that lurk in their flesh. That is how you know a son or daughter of God. It is the distinguishing mark of the members of God’s family.

SHOWING THE FAMILY LIKENESS

As we discovered in volume 3 of Unlocking the Bible Story, the Bible uses the word son to define relationships and to describe character. When the Bible says that Isaac was the “son of Abraham” or Jesus was the “son of David,” the word son is defining a relationship. But when Barnabas is described as the “Son of Encouragement” (Acts 4:36), the word son is describing character.

This is how we are to understand the Bible’s description of Adam as “the son of God” (Luke 3:38). Adam was created in the image and likeness of God; he reflected something of God’s glory.

God called the people of Israel to be His sons. Through Moses, He said to Pharaoh, “Israel is my firstborn son.…Let my son go, so he may worship me” (Exodus 4:22–23). God called Israel His sons because He called them to reflect His character. That is why they were given the Ten Commandments, which all reflect the character of God. God’s sons were to live by these laws so that His glory would be seen among the nations.

God wants His character and likeness to be reflected in your life.

The Old Testament story shows how God’s people turned out to be a son who is very unlike the Father. They did not reflect the Father’s glory, and so the Father sent someone who did. God Himself took human flesh in Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God par excellence. He is the image of the invisible God, and the exact representation of His being. “Anyone who has seen me,” Jesus said to Philip, “has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

Now we come to something that I find absolutely astonishing. If it were not stated clearly in the Bible, it would never have entered my mind that such a thing would be possible. The apostle Paul takes up the same language and talks about us being “sons of God.” Think about that! God wants His character and likeness to be reflected in your life.

So how is this going to happen?

LET’S PLAY BLANKETY BLANK

For many years, one of the popular game shows on British television was called Blankety Blank. It was a rather silly game in which contestants had to fill in missing words from a sentence. It’s sometimes a good game to play with familiar phrases from the Bible, because it helps us to see the significance of great truths that we might otherwise miss.

So let’s play Blankety Blank with Romans 8:14: “Those who (blankety blank) are sons of God.” If you had never seen this verse before, how would you fill in the blanks?

Perhaps you would say, “Those who receive Christ are sons of God.” You would have good biblical basis for that answer. The apostle John wrote that “to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). But that is not what the apostle Paul wrote here.

The question in Romans 8 is not, “How do you enter God’s family?” but “How do you become a person who reflects the likeness and glory of God?” Remember that’s what being a son of God is all about. Will that happen by saying a prayer or making a decision? No. “Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (v. 14). That is how you will reflect the image and likeness of God.

The Spirit will lead you into battle against the sins that have dug themselves into your life. He will lead you to fight them, and through His overwhelming power you have the ability to put them to death.

Paul is talking about a marvelous possibility in your life. Those who are led by the Spirit of God into an intentional onslaught against the sins that hide within us will be marked by an increasing likeness of God Himself; they will be sons of God.

Don’t you think that is an incredible prospect? God created Adam in His own image and likeness. But that likeness was defaced and the resemblance distorted when sin entered the world. But God has determined to restore the likeness in His people.

Imagine watching the restoration of a defaced painting. Gradually, you see the original image appearing. Slowly, the shades of original color become visible, and what was once an ugly mess begins to look like a masterpiece. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. That is where He is leading us.

WAGING WAR IN THE DESERT

The world will never see the likeness of God in us unless we put to death the misdeeds of the body. God is using the language of warfare here, so let’s reflect on that picture, and imagine ourselves on the field of battle in a desert.

About a mile ahead of you, the enemy has dug into certain positions, and you have been charged to reclaim that ground. Obviously, the enemy is not going to stand on top of his bunker, waving a flag and inviting you to fire at him, so your first task is to identify the enemy’s positions.

The Art of Self-Examination

This is why the art of self-examination is so important in the Christian life. Paul says, “A man ought to examine himself” (1 Corinthians 11:28; see also 2 Corinthians 13:5). We are to identify the positions that sin may have taken up in our souls so that we may launch an assault against these positions in the power of the Holy Spirit.

To change the analogy, if you visit a doctor for a health check, he or she will run specific tests for known diseases to see if any of them can be detected in your body. That is precisely how we are to approach the campaign against sin in our lives. You have to get specific.

God has given us a checklist of what we are to look for when we examine ourselves. We know the checklist as the Ten Commandments. Here are some examples of questions you may use to identify sins in your life as you examine yourself in the light of God’s commandments in Exodus 20.

Commandment: “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.”

Questions:

• Have I become flippant or casual about the things of God?

• Does God carry weight in my life?

Commandment: “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.”

Questions:

• How does my use of time reflect the place I have given to God in my life?

• When in the last week have I given God my conscious focused attention?

• Could a man sustain a quality relationship with his wife on that kind of basis?

Commandment: “You shall not murder.”

Questions:

• What has made me angry this week? (Remember that Jesus related this commandment to the issues of anger.)

• How have I responded?

• Have I forgiven, or has it gone down to a root of bitterness?

• Am I angry with anybody now?

• Is there anything I can do that would promote reconciliation?

Self-examination is an important discipline in the Christian life. This is how you identify the sins’ “positions.” And you can be certain that no matter how long you have been a Christian, the Enemy will always be attempting to dig new trenches and establish new positions in your life.

The Power of Intentional Action

When you have identified a particular sin’s position, launch an intentional assault. Apply the overwhelming power of the Spirit to the specific area in which the Enemy has a foothold.

Many Christians … have taken a passive approach to the Christian life.

If you identify pride in your soul, determine with God’s help to humble yourself in your thoughts, words, and actions. If you identify a relationship that may lead you into sin, distance yourself from it. If greed is establishing a bridgehead in your soul, then start giving until, with God’s help, the power of greed is broken. If fear has taken root in your soul, launch an assault on it by specific prayer and meditation on the promises of God.

The trouble with many Christians is that they have taken a passive approach to the Christian life. They are waiting for God to make them holy, not realizing that God is calling them into battle. God has put us in the position of being able to wage war against sin’s positions by the power of the Holy Spirit, but we have to be intentional about identifying the target and planning the assault.

God’s promise is that as you engage in this warfare, you will prevail, and you will increasingly reflect the image and likeness of God. “Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”

HEIRS OF GOD

Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. (v. 17)[1]

Here is something even more wonderful! God’s purpose is not only that every believer should reflect His image and likeness, but also that as children of God, we should be His heirs.

When we talk about “heirs” or “inheritances,” we usually think about money. But the word can also be used in connection with position and responsibility. For example, imagine a company called “Smith & Son Widgets.” Someone by the name of Smith has developed a marvelous widget that proves so useful that the company becomes a multinational corporation.

It is Smith’s plan that one day his son will take responsibility for the entire company, and so from early on in his life, Smith grooms his son and prepares him for the position that will one day be his. This is not always easy for the Smith junior, but he has been born to and is destined for a position of enormous privilege and great responsibility.

God is preparing His sons and daughters for a position of great privilege and responsibility, and the process of preparation is not always easy. That is why Paul speaks about sharing in Christ’s “sufferings in order that we may share in his glory” (v. 17). But whatever the difficulties of this period of preparation, they “are not worth comparing with the [overwhelming] glory that will be revealed in us” (v. 18). Then Paul describes the position for which we are being prepared.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Talking with the Animals

The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. (v. 19)

As we have seen, the sons of God are those who reflect the image and likeness of God, and Paul tells us that the creation is waiting eagerly for them to be revealed.

When Paul talks about the creation here, he is not talking about the angels or about people. Angels were not subjected to frustration, and unbelieving people do not long for the sons of God to be revealed. He is talking about the inanimate creation: fields, trees, rivers, mountains, birds, fish, plants, and animals.

Paul says all of them are “groaning as in the pains of childbirth” (v. 22). The reason for this is that the creation was “subjected to frustration” in the hope and anticipation that one day the creation itself would be “liberated from its bondage to decay” (vv. 20–21). Even now the creation is longing (literally, “craning their necks”) for this great event which will take place when the sons of God are revealed.

Let’s give the inanimate creation a voice and listen to what it has to say. After all, if Doctor Dolittle could talk to the animals, why shouldn’t we listen to them!

Representatives from God’s creation have gathered together in a focus group, to tell their story. In the group there is a river, a field, a few trees, a sandy beach, an elephant, a lion, and a host of other animals, along with a couple offish, a few birds, and a swarm of insects.

It’s difficult to get any order established because they are all groaning and complaining. The river is unhappy because there hasn’t been enough rain. The beach is not happy because the wind has been provoking the sea and making it angry. A few antelope are complaining about the way in which the lions are exercising a reign of terror. The crows are complaining that the mosquitoes have been carrying the West Nile virus, and the mosquitoes are blaming the river for moving too slowly. It’s quite clear that nobody is happy!

Eventually, they calm down and we call them to order.

“Have you always been this unhappy?” we ask.

“Oh no,” says the river. “When God made me, I was sparkling pure and clean. I was fed by the rains and I never dried up.”

“Yes,” says the lion, “and God satisfied me with food so that I did not need to tear the other animals apart.”

The others all agree. “Yes, when God made us,” they say, “everything was good.”

“Well, what went wrong?” we ask.

“It was man,” says the buffalo in a rather gruff voice.

“How so?”

“God put Adam in charge of all of us,” says the field. “He told the man and the woman to fill the earth and subdue it.”

“Yes,” says another of the animals, “God put the man in charge of us as well. In those days we came to the man and he gave us our names.”

“It was like paradise,” says the lark.

“It was Paradise,” says the eagle.

“So what went wrong?”

“Well, Adam and his wife wanted to know about evil.”

“Yes,” says the serpent, “I’m afraid I’m a bit to blame there. I don’t know what happened. It seemed as if I was taken over by a great power from outside of the garden, and I spoke. I’ve never done that since, until today, of course!”

“After they got their knowledge of evil, everything changed for them and for us,” says the field. “When God came to deal with them, we expected that He would curse them and leave us in peace. But what He did gave us the greatest shock of our lives. Instead of cursing Adam, He cursed us! He said to Adam, ‘Cursed is the ground because of you.’”

“ ‘What did we do?’ we asked. We have been laboring under this curse ever since.”

“You’ve no idea what it has been like for us,” adds the elephant. “Our family has been slaughtered and butchered for ivory.”

“Men have fought their wars over us,” says the beach, and the field agrees. “They have soaked us with their blood.”

And now the whole group begins groaning about what it has been like to live with the curse under the government of man with all his sin.

We begin to despair with them, but then the eagle speaks up, and everybody else settles down and listens.

“But this is not the end of the story. God has promised that the curse will be removed,” the eagle explains. “He promised to deliver the man and the woman from the power of sin. When He has removed sin from them completely, we are next. That’s why we are all waiting eagerly for the sons of God to be revealed.”

Creation’s Story

The creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. (v. 21)

This is creation’s story. God made man a little lower than the angels and placed everything under his feet (Psalm 8:5–6). But man was not able to maintain his position. We do not see everything subject to man as God intended it should be (Hebrews 2). Man’s government of the world has been woefully lacking. It has left the creation groaning, longing for deliverance and waiting for a change of government.

The whole creation is looking forward to the day when the sons of God will be revealed. The curse will be removed, and the created order will be placed under the care of men and women who reflect the image and likeness of God.

Jesus … will say, “Here am I and the children you have given me.”

That’s why Jesus Christ has come into the world. As the image of God, He is the One in whom the whole creation finds its hope. He came to bring many sons to glory, because it is God’s purpose to lead men and women back to the glory from which we have fallen.

So God sends His Spirit into all His people, and the Spirit leads us into battle against sin, so that we become people in whom the likeness and image of God can be increasingly seen.

Then, on the Last Day, the work will be complete and Jesus will stand before the Father, and He will say, “Here am I and the children You have given Me.” He will be the first of many brothers who will all reflect the image and the likeness of God.

The whole creation is waiting for this, because when the sons of God are revealed, “the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.”

When God’s final purpose is fulfilled, there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and it will be the home of righteousness (2 Peter 3:13). The Old Testament prophets anticipated the joy of creation when the curse is removed. Isaiah spoke of how the wolf and the lamb would live together and the trees of the fields would clap their hands (11:6; 55:12).

The ultimate destiny of the Christian is not a shadowy existence in some vague spiritual half-life in heaven, but paradise restored. You will walk with God as Adam did in the garden, and enjoy the delights of God’s new creation.

Are you a son or daughter of God? If you are not sure, notice that the way to be an heir of God is to be a joint heir with Jesus Christ. It is by faith in Him that you come into this marvelous relationship of being a child of God. Christ will bring you into this position. “To all who received [Jesus], to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). That’s where you begin.

If you are a child of God, are you living like a son or daughter? Does your life have the marks of following the leading of the Spirit in an intentional assault on the positions sin has taken up in your life? That’s how God’s reflected glory will be increasingly seen in you, and the whole creation is waiting for the day when that will be brought to completion.

UNLOCKED

God’s ultimate purpose in the life of every Christian believer is to restore His image and likeness so that we may reflect His glory. The Holy Spirit is given to the believer for this purpose. It is for this reason that the Spirit will lead us into battle against the “misdeeds of the body.” Engaging in the struggle against the power of sin and temptation is the distinctive mark of the sons and daughters of God.

God will progressively restore His likeness in His children, and when the work is complete, the sons of God will be revealed. The whole creation will be renewed, and a new heaven and earth will be placed under the stewardship of a restored humanity, and God will be glorified forever.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Gracious Father,

Thank You for the awesome privilege of being adopted into Your family through faith in Your Son, Jesus Christ. Thank You that You are always at work to restore Your image and likeness in me. Thank You that You have chosen to prepare me to share in the inheritance of all Your children. Thank You for what we will be and for the new heaven and earth that will be the home of righteousness.

Help me to follow the leading of Your Spirit in the battle against hidden sins. Open my eyes to see the sinful attitudes that lurk within me. Show me the words that displease You and the actions that grieve Your Spirit. Help me to grow in self-awareness and to be intentional in assaulting the areas of my life where Your likeness cannot yet be seen.

Make me a son or daughter who brings pleasure to Your heart and may be trusted in Your service, through Jesus Christ. Amen.

Note

1. It is interesting that Paul moves from speaking about sons in verse 14 to children in verse 17. The difference is, of course, maturity. It may be that Paul uses the word “children” in Romans 8:17 because the Christian’s inheritance does not depend on maturity. As soon as you are born of the Spirit into the family of God, you become an heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ.

9

Weakness

2 CORINTHIANS 12

What does

true spirituality

look like?

DISCOVER

the challenge of living outside your comfort zone.

LEARN

how God hides unusual opportunities in painful situations.

WORSHIP

because when you are weak, Christ’s power will rest on you.

PICTURE yourself as a guest at a conference for Christian leaders from around the world. They have gathered for just one day, and miraculously, the apostle Paul has skipped over two thousand years to join them.

The day opens with an opportunity to share points for prayer and praise. The first to speak is a pastor. “We’ve seen phenomenal growth in the church since we introduced our new program of evangelism,” he reports. “We have never seen anything quite like it.”

The next to speak is from a missionary society. “We are praising the Lord that in the last year we have recruited over three hundred new missionaries. We are now working in seventy-nine different countries. The Lord is blessing the work, and we are seeing an unprecedented response.”

A third member of the group describes his organization’s new headquarters in California. “The budget is over thirty million dollars,” he says, “and we have raised the money in six months. We have never seen money come in like this. We are praising God.”

The next one in the circle is the apostle Paul. The other members of the group turn to him expectantly. “What about you, Paul? Have you got anything you want to share with us today?”

There is a long pause, as Paul thumbs his chin. “I’m not really sure what to say, because, you see, I have a testimony, but I can’t really share it: I’ve been praying about a problem that I have, but the Lord hasn’t answered as I had hoped. And to be honest, in my ministry recently, I have been feeling out of my depth. Sometimes I feel this whole thing is beyond me.”

There is a deathly hush in the room. Nobody knows what to say, and some in the group are beginning to wonder if Paul is as spiritual as they had previously thought.

If you can’t imagine the great apostle saying that, read 2 Corinthians 12. Paul had been heavily criticized by some men he describes as the “super-apostles” (2 Corinthians 11:5). These teachers thought that Paul was weak, and claimed to have a level of spiritual life that was higher than anything he had known. The “super-apostles” promoted themselves and their teaching in the church Paul had planted in Corinth. Their grand claims brought confusion to the church, and so Paul wrote a letter to remind the believers at Corinth what true spirituality looks like.

Many people have the idea that really spiritual people are those who are always able to discern what God is doing in their lives, whose prayers are always answered as they had hoped, and who seems to always be on top of the challenges they are facing. But as we will see, Paul paints a very different picture. His honesty is like a breath of fresh air in our culture where we are often quick to report our triumphs and slow to acknowledge our struggles.

THE TESTIMONY THAT WAS NEVER SHARED

I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven.…He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell. (2 CORINTHIANS 12:1–2, 4)

Paul is talking about himself here, even though he speaks in the third person. We know that because he tells us about his “thorn in the flesh” and explains that this was given in order to keep him “from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations” that were given to him (v. 7). Since Paul lived with the thorn, it follows that it was Paul who received the revelations.

God had given Paul a remarkable vision of heaven. It was so awesome that Paul did not know whether he experienced this in the body or out of the body (v. 2). Either way, he had been in the presence of God and had glimpsed what every Christian will one day experience.

Paul could easily have used his spiritual experience as a way of establishing spiritual authority. He could have said, “You folks had better listen to me because I have seen heaven, and that’s more than any of you have done.” But he refused to do that. “Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say” (v. 6).

Christ warned the disciples about spiritual leaders who would be like wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15–23). Like the “super-apostles,” they would make impressive claims, and their ministries would show impressive results. But Jesus made it clear that the test of any leader would lie not in claims or results but in truth and action. “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.…By their fruit you will recognize them” (vv. 18, 20).

It is wise to be cautious about those who are always announcing their latest remarkable spiritual experience. The “super-apostles” did this because they wanted to make an impression. Paul went the opposite way. He refused to share the intimate details of his spiritual experience because he did not want people to think more highly of him than they should. That’s an unusual perspective. But it is profoundly Christian.

A THORN IN THE FLESH

To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 CORINTHIANS 12:7–9)

A lot of ink has been used in speculation about Paul’s thorn in the flesh. Suggestions include malaria, depression, epilepsy, an unusual temptation, or even blindness. The truth is that we don’t know.

Paul connected the “thorn in the flesh” with his remarkable revelation, and so we can assume that he had been suffering from this affliction for fourteen years. We can also be confident that this was a serious affliction. Paul was no stranger to suffering. On five occasions he had endured thirty-nine lashes. On three occasions, he had been beaten with rods, and on one occasion, he had been stoned (11:24–25). The prospect of thirty-nine lashes would be enough to make some folks quit the ministry, but not Paul. He was no wimp. He was a man of extraordinary courage, and he certainly would not have made a big deal of the thorn if it were only a minor irritation.

If you had a thorn in your flesh, you would be aware of it every time you moved. You would not be able to do anything without wincing as the thorn buried itself deeper into your flesh. Perhaps that’s a picture of a painful issue in your life: You can’t escape it; whatever you do, you are aware of it, and it has been like that for years.

Paul responded to this situation with prayer. When something is troubling us, that is always the right thing to do. Looking back over a period of fourteen years, Paul could identify three particular periods of time when he determined to make this a focal point of his intercession. No doubt he fasted and prayed with great intensity. “I pleaded with the Lord,” he wrote. I wish I could have heard the apostle Paul pouring himself into prayer like that.

CLAIMING THE VICTORY?

Notice that there was every reason to expect that God would answer Paul’s prayer request positively. Paul described the thorn in the flesh as “a messenger of Satan.” If Satan was involved in this, surely God would bind the Enemy and deliver the apostle from it.

But apparently it is not as simple as that, because while Paul describes the thorn as a messenger of Satan, he also tells us that it was “given” to him, and clearly he means that it was given by God!

Some years ago, the church I served in London had the opportunity of being involved in the last Billy Graham Mission to London. The climax of the mission was a great rally held at the national soccer stadium in Wembley. The stadium was packed and it was a wonderful evening, but typically for London, the weather was awful. Just before Billy Graham began to preach, there was a severe thunder and lightning storm. Some of the choir got wet, and there was a delay before the preaching could begin.

A friend of mine was responsible for security by one of the exits, and so he caught some of the comments people were making as they left the stadium at the end of the evening. “It was fascinating,” he told me later. “First you would hear people coming out saying, ‘My goodness, the devil fairly had a go tonight. All that thunder and lightning, just before Billy Graham was about to preach.’ But then you would hear others coming out saying, ‘Wasn’t that wonderful! God was demonstrating His power in thunder and lightning just before the preaching of the gospel began!’ ”

Simplistic explanations of complex events [lead to] doubtful interpretations.

Some years ago, my mother was in a car accident. Her injuries were minor, but the injuries required her to be in the hospital for a short time. She was visited the in hospital by two Christians in the same afternoon.

The first one said, “This is an attack of the devil upon your ministry.” Later, another Christian believer sat by the same bedside and said, “The Lord knows that you need a break from the demands of your ministry, and that is why He has allowed this to happen.” It was a confusing afternoon!

Whenever we offer simplistic explanations of complex events, we end up with doubtful interpretations.

Satan caused great suffering and loss in Job’s life, but behind the devil’s activity was the sovereign hand of God, who used this suffering to lead Job into a new understanding of His Creator and Redeemer.

We find the same principle in the story of Joseph. His brothers acted despicably when they sold him to be a slave. But God knew all about it and wove their evil act into His purpose of bringing Joseph to Egypt so that the whole family would be preserved through a prolonged famine. When Joseph met his brothers years later, he was able to say, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good” (Genesis 50:20).

THE PAIN AND THE PROMISE

Consider the Cross: Wicked men nailed Jesus to a piece of wood. Jesus said, “This is your hour—when darkness reigns” (Luke 22:53). But then Peter tells us that this happened “by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge” (Acts 2:23). Nobody had the power to take Jesus’ life from Him: He chose to lay it down (John 10:18). Indeed, it was for this very reason that He came into the world.

We need to keep these things in mind when it comes to accidents, diseases, and opposition to the gospel on the mission field. Let’s not be those who give simplistic explanations to things that God has kept as mysteries.

Paul pleaded with God for relief from the thorn in the flesh, but God chose not to give him what he asked for. There may be times when God’s word to us is, “You are more useful to Me with this thorn than without it.”

When I read about Paul praying three times that God would take a thorn out of his flesh, it made me think about Jesus praying three times in the Garden of Gethsemane. “Father, if it be possible, take this cup from Me.” God did not take the cup from Him, and our salvation hinges on the fact that Jesus accepted the Father’s answer.

When Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, an angel came and strengthened Him (Luke 22:43). And when Paul prayed, God gave Him a particular promise: “My grace is sufficient for you.” The man or woman who walks with God will often know what it is to draw strength from that promise and to discover that God has a purpose in the hardest things in life just as much as in the best.

There will be times when God does not give you the answer that you are looking for to your prayers, but you can be certain that when you seek Him in prayer, He will always give you the strength you need. The mark of true spirituality is not that God gives you everything you ask, but that you walk with Him when He does not.

LIVING OUTSIDE YOUR COMFORT ZONE

I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses.…For when I am weak, then I am strong. (12:9–10)

I have heard many testimonies over the years in which Christians have spoken about how they used to feel weak but now they are strong. But that’s not what Paul is saying here. His experience of weakness is in the present tense, it is continuing, and he is not expecting it to change.

This seems surprising given what we have learned about the overwhelming power of the Holy Spirit being with and in the believer. Why would Paul say that he felt weak? Was he lacking faith? Had he forgotten that God was with him?

It certainly was not that Paul was an inadequate character who wasn’t able to handle the challenges of life. We have already noted his extraordinary courage. By any standards, Paul was one of the most remarkable men who ever lived.

Paul experienced weakness for one simple reason: God had given him an overwhelming task. “Besides everything else,” he said, “I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak?” (2 Corinthians 11:28–29). God had put the apostle in situations that pushed him well beyond the boundaries of his own comfort zone. He knew what it was to feel utterly, unbearably crushed, such that at one point he “despaired even of life” (2 Corinthians 1:8).

Weakness … is precisely where we discover His strength holding us up.

Perhaps you have known this in your own experience. If God gives you the weight of an incredibly demanding task, there will be times when, like Paul, you may feel crushed by it, and you will begin to experience what Paul calls “weakness.”

I was twenty-two years old when I began to serve as the senior pastor of the Enfield Evangelical Free Church in London. The responsibility of pastoral ministry felt overwhelming to me; it still does.

I had sought the counsel of wise friends and mentors and was greatly encouraged by a letter I received from one of my teachers at seminary. Two lines from the letter are printed in my memory:

If you take on this task, you will find that you are out of your depth, and you will find that you prove God in ways that you never thought possible.

That has been my experience, and I think it is what Paul is talking about here. Weakness is when you know that you are out of your depth. And that is precisely where we discover His strength holding us up.

Shortly after beginning to serve in pastoral ministry, I discovered an article by Richard Bauckham on Paul’s weakness that has been a continuing help to me. Bauckham speaks powerfully to our culture when he writes,

Even without the physical dangers of Paul’s career, anyone who throws himself into the work of Christian ministry of any kind with half the dedication of Paul will experience the weakness of which Paul speaks: the times when problems seem insoluble, the times of weariness through sheer overwork, the times of depression when there seem to be no results, the emotional exhaustion which pastoral concern can bring on—in short, all the times when the Christian minister or worker knows he has stretched to the limits of his capacities for a task which is very nearly, but by God’s grace not quite too much for him. Anyone who knows only his strength, not his weakness, has never given himself to a task which demands all he can give. There is no avoiding this weakness and we should learn to suspect those models of human life which try to avoid it. We should not be taken in by the ideal of the charismatic superman for whom the Holy Spirit is a constant source of superhuman strength. Nor should we fall for the ideal of the modern secular superman: the man who organizes his whole life with the object of maintaining his own physical and mental well-being, who keeps up the impression of strength because he keeps his life well within the limits of what he can easily cope with. Such a man is never weak because he is never affected, concerned, involved or committed beyond a cautiously safe limit. This was neither Jesus’ ideal of life nor Paul’s. To be controlled by the love of Christ means inevitably to reach the limit of one’s abilities and to experience weakness.[1]

Those who choose to live within cautiously safe limits cannot discover the strength in weakness that Paul is talking about here. Nor can those who are sure and confident in their own ability. At some point, God will take you outside your comfort zone. Then you will begin to feel what Paul calls “weakness.”

So this weakness is not something to be afraid of or ashamed of. It is one of the most significant opportunities in your Christian journey. Paul says that he “delights” in it, because this was where Christ’s power had rested on Him. It will be the same for you. Jesus did not live within cautiously safe limits. Jesus wept, and He was crucified in weakness. If you follow Him, He will lead you outside your comfort zone. You will experience weakness, and Christ’s power will rest on you.

TRUE SPIRITUALITY

How would you regard a Christian man who said that he could not easily describe what God was doing in his life; that he had been praying about a major issue for a long time and that God had not answered as he hoped; or that he felt pushed out of his depth in ministry and was experiencing weakness?

Would you say that he should go for some special counseling, or might you recognize that he was expressing authentic spirituality, and that this is often what it is like to walk with Jesus Christ?

In effect, Paul was saying, “The ‘super-apostles’ speak of their great visions, and it sounds marvelous, but I refrain from sharing mine, because I don’t want you to think more of me than you should. They claim that all their prayers are answered, but I have to tell you that I have discovered the grace of God in the things He has withheld. They speak a great deal about their competence, but I have to tell you that I feel my weakness.”

Never imagine that your feeling of weakness means that you are out of the will of God. If you wait until you feel confident before you move forward in what God is calling you to do, you may never get to it. When Jesus says, “Follow Me,” He calls us beyond ourselves and leads us outside our comfort zones. A person who knows only his strength and not his weakness has not followed far.

THE PARABLE OF THE PIT

There are discoveries of God’s grace you can only make in situations of weakness. Here’s a simple parable to make the point.

You are told that you will live in a pit for one week, and then you will never return there. During that time in the pit, you are to use your waking hours to make a life and a future.

You are lowered into the pit. It is dark, damp, and it smells. You feel around; the walls are slick, yet sharp, like glass. You cut your finger. You think, What can I do here to make a life and a future?

Some gems of God’s grace … can only be mined in the darkness.

After you settle down, depression comes over you in this darkness. The one thing that sustains your hope is that you know you will only be in the pit for a week, and that you will never be there again.

You count hours, and you count days. Finally the day of relief comes, and you are lifted out from the pit. Your ordeal is over. You will never go through that again. There’s a spring in your step as you run from the pit, but as you look back, you stop and stare at a sign. You can hardly believe what you are reading. You have just spent a whole week in a diamond mine!

There are some gems of God’s grace that can only be mined in the darkness. God has hidden them in the places we would rather not have been. If you are going through this experience of weakness, determine that you will not come out of it empty-handed.

THE MAN WITH NO SECRET

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. (v. 9)

It is very likely that when you feel weak, God may do things through you that He would never have done at any other time. Perhaps the reason for that is that it becomes most obvious that the power is from Him, and then He gets the glory for what is achieved. Paul discovered that God’s presence and power rested on him in his weakness. There was no other explanation of what happened through a ministry in which the apostle so often felt overwhelmed and inadequate.

One of the highlights of my first visit to India was the joy of meeting a man in his late seventies by the name of Pastor Joseph. He was not an impressive-looking man. He had poor eyesight, and his only education came from his wife, who had taught him to read when he became a Christian so that he could discover the Bible.

Pastor Joseph has planted ten churches, all in Hindu or animist villages where there had previously been no Christian witness whatever. At the time I visited, there were around a hundred believers in each of these churches.

I felt in awe of this man’s ministry, but it never occurred to me to ask him what his secret was. It was very obvious that he didn’t have one! The power of God had rested on him in his weakness, and something remarkable happened as a result.

In Christian ministry, strength that knows itself to be strength is actually weakness, and weakness that knows itself to be weakness, in God’s hand, is strength.

God delights in putting us into situations in which we know that we are out of our depth so that we will learn to depend on Him. When you experience weakness, Christ’s power will rest on you, and it will be obvious that what you accomplish has been done by God.

UNLOCKED

True spirituality is marked by humility. Those who walk with God most closely will not seek to impress others with their spirituality. They will feel their own weakness not because they are inadequate people but because they have followed the call of Christ beyond their own comfort zone. They will discover that God holds them up and uses them in their weakness for His glory.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Gracious Father,

I come to You in my weakness and ask that Your Spirit may rest upon me. Deliver me from the fear of moving outside of my comfort zone, and help me to be ready to discover what You can do when I am out of my depth. Deliver me from living within cautiously safe limits, and use me for Your glory whatever the cost. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Note

1. Richard Bauckham, “Weakness—Paul’s and Ours,” Themelios 7 (April 1982): 4–6.

10

Church

EPHESIANS 3

What is the

purpose of

the church?

DISCOVER

what God will teach the angels through the church.

LEARN

how God breaks down barriers.

WORSHIP

because Christ will make His church radiant.

WHAT is the first thing that comes to your mind when you read the word church? Stained glass windows? Organ music? Suits and ties? Robes? Candles? Weddings? Funerals? Appeals for money? Long sermons? Sweaty preachers?

I have spoken to many people who are drawn to Jesus Christ, but don’t think much of the church. C. S. Lewis described the problem brilliantly in The Screwtape Letters, a series of imaginary letters written from a senior tempter to a junior apprentice, setting out potential strategies for undermining a Christian’s faith. One of them centered around the church.

One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners. That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy. But fortunately it is quite invisible to these humans. All your patient sees is the half-finished, sham Gothic erection on the new building estate. When he goes inside, he sees the local grocer with rather an oily expression on his face bustling up to offer him one shiny little book containing a liturgy which neither of them understands, and one shabby little book containing corrupt texts of a number of religious lyrics, mostly bad, and in very small print.

When he gets to his pew and looks around him he sees just that selection of his neighbours whom he has hitherto avoided. You want to lean pretty heavily on those neighbours. Make his mind flit to and fro between an expression like “the body of Christ” and the actual faces in the next pew.…Provided that any of those neighbours sing out of tune, or have boots that squeak, or double chins, or odd clothes, the patient will quite easily believe that their religion must therefore be somehow ridiculous.[1]

WHO NEEDS THE CHURCH?

Our Enemy has been very successful with these tactics. We live in a highly individualistic society, and it is not always easy to see where the church fits in. What is the point of the church? Some people say that the church exists for worship, but I can worship on my own or with a few friends. Students can gather on campus to worship, so why do we need the church?

Others say that the church exists for evangelism, but the best evangelism is done on a personal basis. Evangelism flows out of relationships, so if I witness to Christ where He has placed me, why do I need the church? Besides, there are many fine Christian organizations that have been established for the purpose of evangelism and are extremely effective and sometimes more attractive than the church.

It is sometimes said that we need the church for fellowship. But if you build some deep relationships with a small group of Christian friends, you will find a level of personal fellowship and prayer support there that you can never know in the larger crowd of a larger congregation. So why do we need the church?

The thief on the cross has entered paradise through faith in Jesus, and he didn’t know the first thing about the church, so why should it not be the same for us?

A Barrier or a Blessing?

The problem goes deeper than the question of relevance. There are those who say their faith has been wounded by the church. A pastor failed them, a congregation divided and the church became a battlefield, or someone spoke or behaved offensively—and it has been a barrier ever since.

It is much easier today to make a case for commitment to Christ than commitment to the church. Christ is awesome, majestic, and compelling; the church seems so human, ordinary, and sometimes a little bit dull. Christ is pure; the church is sometimes deeply and tragically stained.

It is important to face these questions honestly. The New Testament does. The apostles never suggested that the early churches were little colonies of heaven on earth. The New Testament letters speak about problems of sexual misconduct, legal wranglings, doctrinal errors, division over personalities, exaggerated claims about spiritual experiences, selfishness, lack of compassion, legalism, authoritarianism, pride, manipulative leaders, abuses of power, and misappropriation of funds. The list is depressing, but the honesty is refreshing.

Saints and Sinners

Churches are communities of sinners who are in the process of being restored, yet they include some who profess faith but will not be in heaven on the Last Day. Judas sat at the communion table with Jesus. Jesus is not taken in by the empty profession of those who use their claim to follow Christ as a cloak to cover their own indulgence. Not everyone who claims that Jesus is their Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. On the Last Day some preachers, lay leaders, and members of the church will find themselves outside of God’s kingdom. Christ will say to them, “I never knew you” (Matthew 7:23).

If we follow the example of the apostles, we will have an appropriate humility when we speak about the church. God sees its failures and so does the world, and it does us little good to pretend that they don’t exist. It will be difficult for unbelieving people to take us seriously if we can’t see what is obvious to them.

But alongside the rigorous honesty that confesses and addresses the sins of the church, the Scriptures give us a vision of the church that we desperately need to recover. When you see it, you will discover a new sense of joy and privilege in belonging to the body of Christ.

GOD’S ETERNAL PURPOSE

[God’s] intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. (EPHESIANS 3:10–11, EMPHASES ADDED)

This is one of the most astonishing statements in the whole Bible. Paul is telling us that God’s purpose has always been to display His wisdom to a vast audience in heaven, and the way He is doing this is through the church.

Notice that the church is not an afterthought tacked on to God’s plan toward the end of the Bible story. The church was always in the mind and heart of God, and if we want to understand why, the place to begin is back in the Garden of Eden.

Fractured Families and Divided Communities

When God placed Adam in the garden, everything was good with one exception. God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). When God created Eve and brought her to Adam, it was the beginning not just of marriage, but also of community.

When they chose to know about evil, they were alienated from God and from each other. Adam blamed his wife for what had gone wrong, and the Bible tells us that they knew they were naked. From the moment sin entered the world, there was a distancing, tension, defensiveness, and even suspicion in the first human relationship.

As we follow the story from the first couple to the first family, we find anger and resentment driving people apart. Cain’s hatred toward God was reflected in a growing hatred toward his brother that led to the world’s first murder. Cain separated from the family and built a city. He needed walls around his family because after the murder of Abel, there was a deep division, and Cain was afraid that another branch of the family would try to settle the score.

As generations passed, a fractured family gave birth to divided communities, and before long, the whole earth was filled with violence. So God brought the Flood and cut a violent society back to one family. Noah and his family emerged from the ark with an opportunity to begin a whole new society, but Noah carried the seeds of sin within him, and before long sin was growing again.

Confusion and Isolation

As communities emerged and grievances multiplied again, many people felt the need for some kind of collective security. They migrated eastward and settled at a place called Babel, where they built a city with a tower (11:3–4).

History is the story of our alienation from God and … each other.

At the heart of their project was a deep rebellion against God. They wanted to make a name for themselves. So God came down and confused their languages. People were alienated from each other as little clusters of people who shared a common language spread out across the face of the earth and developed differing cultures that became increasingly isolated from each other.

Sin separated us from God and from each other. It has brought conflict and division at every level of society, from the first relationship between two people, through the first family to the divergence of communities and the hostility of nations. History is the story of our alienation from God and our alienation from each other.

A Place of Reconciliation

Throughout the course of history, God has been advancing a plan in which He would reconcile many to Himself and, at the same time, reconcile them to each other.

God said to Abraham, “I will bless you … and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (12:2–3). We followed the story of Abraham’s descendants through the Old Testament, but it was not clear how God’s blessing on them would be the means of His blessing to all nations. There was a “mystery” about this that would only be revealed when God would send His Son, Jesus Christ (Ephesians 3:4–6).

When Christ came into the world, He was born to the line of Abraham. He came to the Jews first, but He also brought the good news of God’s grace to Gentiles. After Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Day of Pentecost. The church was established.

On that Day of Pentecost, God had gathered in Jerusalem a representative crowd of Jews and converts to Judaism from “every nation under heaven” (Acts 2:5). This was so significant that Luke took time to list some of the nationalities. They included people from Egypt and Libya, representing the African peoples. There were also Asians and Arabs. The Europeans were also represented by people from Rome.

God is bringing together people from every culture making them one in Jesus Christ.

God had gathered representatives from all over the known world. The people groups who had been scattered at Babel were now gathered in Jerusalem. God poured out His Holy Spirit, and on that day three thousand people put their faith in Jesus Christ (2:41).

God was beginning His new creation. He was drawing people from all over the world to faith in Christ, and gathering them into a new community—called the church—which from the very first day crossed the barriers of race, language, and culture.

Throughout the history of the world, man has tried to achieve this kind of unity. He is always trying, but he will never succeed. But God is bringing together people from every culture and every generation, making them one in Jesus Christ. Think about it! Jew and Arab, black and white, young and old, rich and poor. They were all there on the Day of Pentecost, and as they came to faith in Jesus Christ, God brought them together in a new community.

Distinctions of race, color, gender, education, and economic status are rendered superfluous when men and women from every background come to see that their one way of being right with God is through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Bowing before Him, we discover a profound unity with each other that transcends everything that makes us different.

Break Down the Barriers!

In God’s new community, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28; see also Colossians 3:11). The Holy Spirit baptizes all who believe into one body (1 Corinthians 12:13). God brings us together in Jesus. He makes us one as He reconciles us to Himself.

Let’s get specific:

- I’m a Scotsman and proud of it, but I have more in common with a Bedouin woman who loves Christ than a Scotsman who does not.

- A Christian professor of astrophysics has more in common with an illiterate believer than with a fellow academic who does not know Christ.

- A multimillionaire who knows Christ has more in common with the poorest believer in India than with friends in the yachting club who know nothing of Christ.

- Christian high school students have much more in common with an old man who listens to Brahms and Mozart and knows Christ than their friends who do not love Christ. And the old man who listens to Brahms and Mozart has more in common with the Christian youngster whose jeans hang off his waist, who listens to heavy rock music, and who loves Christ than with his like-minded friends at Symphony Center who have never seen their need of a Savior!

The distinctions of culture, race, education, social standing, income, gender, and generation exist only for time. The unity of God’s people is for eternity. It makes the angels gasp. And that is what Paul is talking about when he says that God is putting His wisdom on display for a vast audience in heaven through the church. We will gasp at the wisdom of God too when we see the full extent of the diversity of God’s people gathered as one in Jesus Christ across cultures and generations and made perfect in heaven.

UNITY AND DIVERSITY ON SUNDAY MORNING

Let’s take this down to the level of a local church gathering for worship on a Sunday morning. If angels gasp at the way God gathers people together from diverse backgrounds, is this not also glorifying to God in a local congregation?

I have always had great difficulty with the idea of a church having a clearly defined target audience. I know that every church has its own culture and that this both attracts and repels, but that is a reflection of our limitations rather than our success.

God is glorified by unity across diversity.

There is little doubt that “like attracts like,” and the easiest way to grow a large church is to establish a profile of “the kind of person we are trying to reach.” The problem with this approach is that while it may succeed in attracting large numbers, it obscures one of God’s greatest purposes in the church, which is to bring people from totally different backgrounds together so that they may discover and demonstrate that, despite all their differences, they are truly one in Jesus Christ.

God is glorified by unity across diversity. There is nothing surprising to the world or to angels about a narrow band of people gathering together for worship because they like the same kind of music, or a group who gather together because they are at ease with each other socially. That looks to the world, and probably to the angels, suspiciously like a religious version of the golf club.

But when people come together across the great divides of generation, race, class, and education to worship and serve Christ, the angels gasp. Even the world has to sit up and take note, because only God could do that.

CINDERELLA WILL GO TO THE BALL

Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. (EPHESIANS 5:25–27)

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who had a wicked stepmother and two ugly stepsisters. She was made to work in the kitchen and used to sit in her ragged clothes among the cinders, and so they called her Cinderella.[2]

One day the king invited all the maidens in the land to a grand ball in the palace. He wanted his son, the prince, to fall in love and to marry. The ugly sisters were taken to the ball, but Cinderella had no dress to wear, and she was left at home.

Then the fairy godmother touched her with the wand, and Cinderella’s rags were turned into a beautiful dress. The mice turned into horses, and the pumpkin turned into a carriage. But only until midnight.

When Cinderella arrived at the ball, she captivated the prince’s heart, and they danced until midnight when she had to leave. Cinderella ran from the ballroom, but as she did, one of her glass slippers fell off.

The prince was determined to find the woman he loved and ordered that the slipper be tried on the foot of every maiden in the land, and that the one on whose foot it fitted should be brought to the palace.

Now let’s pause the story and think about Cinderella sitting at home. She is dressed in rags, despised by the ugly sisters and oppressed by the wicked stepmother. But her destiny is a life of joy in the palace.

That’s a wonderful picture of the church. It sometimes looks a bit ragged. There are some rather ugly brothers and sisters who despise her and count her as of little value. There are parts of the world where a wicked stepmother persecutes the church and imprisons her leaders. But Christ loves the church, and He will bring her to His palace.

This is the unique privilege of the church. I thank God for the many parachurch agencies and ministries that God has raised up, but it is important to remember that they are only valuable inasmuch as they build up the church. There won’t be any Bible colleges, radio ministries, or missionary societies in heaven. Only the church.

BLITZ THOSE ZITS!

The church is the bride of Christ, and Christ will present her to Himself. And when He does, the church will not be in rags and tatters. She will be beautiful, radiant, “without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” (v. 27).

There are very few pictures of me during my teenage years. I hid from the camera because of acne! At around the age of sixteen, I went to see a herbalist about the problem and was rather disconcerted when he said, “Now, listen here, laddie; if this is what you are like at sixteen, what will you be like at twenty-one?” This was not a very encouraging start, but warming to his task, he explained that the impurities needed to be brought out, and prescribed a medicine that had to be taken in large doses four times a day.

Sure enough, it made the situation worse! Great lumps started appearing on my neck and the side of my face. He seemed to regard this as success. I almost despaired!

Sometimes the church is like that, but the day is coming when the church will be without spot, stain, or blemish. There will be no zits on the bride’s face on the wedding day! And there will be no wrinkles either. If spots are the pain of our youth, then wrinkles are the pain of our old age. Wrinkles speak of tiredness and weariness; they are the marks of carrying a load for a long time. But Christ says that on the Last Day there will be no wrinkles on His church.

The church is a community of sinners in the process of recovery, but her destiny is glorious, and on the Last Day she will be beautiful.

CHRIST LOVES THE CHURCH

Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. (v. 25)

It is wise to be very careful about how you speak of someone who is loved. A number of years ago I was invited to conduct a wedding in a beautiful church in the bride’s hometown in England. The couple had asked for me to preach a sermon during the service, and I was happy to do so, much to the chagrin of the photographer, who was used to services being over in about fifteen minutes.

He was standing outside pacing back and forth. I know this because my wife had taken our boys, who were very young at the time, into the foyer. Eventually, the photographer came up to Karen and said, “Who is that man who is going on and on in there?”

“Oh, that’s my husband,” she said with style.

I understand that the photographer’s face quickly turned to a fairly bright shade of red, until Karen was kind enough to relieve his embarrassment.

Be very careful how you speak about the church, because Jesus Christ loves the church and He gave Himself for her. Those who criticize the church may find themselves embarrassed when they stand in His presence and discover just how much He loves her.

When you know that Christ loves the church, you will begin to love the church too, even with her wrinkles and blemishes. And when you know that Christ gave Himself for the church, you will look for ways in which you can give yourself for the church too.

You can start by asking, “How can I be most useful in building the church of Jesus Christ? How can I contribute to God’s work of reconciling people from every background to Himself and to each other through Jesus Christ?”

UNLOCKED

Salvation from sin involves being reconciled both to God and to each other. God reconciles us to Himself in Christ as He gathers men and women from every background in His church. This is something that causes angels to gasp. It is a display of the wisdom and glory of God. The church has many responsibilities, but this is its ultimate purpose.

The church as we see her is often far from glorious and sometimes seems unattractive and ineffective. But the church is the bride of Christ. Christ loves her. He has given Himself for her, and He will bring her to His home to share His life forever-more. It is an awesome privilege to belong to the body of Christ.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

After Paul set out God’s purpose for the church, he described his own prayer for the body of Christ. You can make it your own.

“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (EPHESIANS 3:14–19).

Notes

1. C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (New York: Macmillan, 1961), 16.

2. Michael Griffiths used the story of Cinderella as an analogy of the church in his book Cinderella with Amnesia (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1975).

11

Light

EPHESIANS 4–5

Who is the light

of the world?

DISCOVER

how God calls you to be a light in a dark place.

LEARN

how it is possible to live in the light of God’s presence.

WORSHIP

as you consider the awesome radiance of God’s dazzling glory.

RECENTLY National Geographic magazine devoted an entire issue to the subject of light. As always, the photography was stunning and the commentary fascinating. “Scientists,” the writer noted, “don’t fully understand what light is or what it can do.…Modern physics has sliced the stuff of nature into ever smaller and more exotic constituents, but light won’t reduce. Light is light—pure, but not simple. No one is exactly sure how to describe it.”[1]

Light can take many different forms, from the soft glow of a candle to the devastating power of a laser. Light is gentle and healing, but it can be devastating and destructive. We place a jaundiced baby under a lamp, and we develop awesome weapons using the intense application of light.

It is not surprising that many ancient cultures worshiped the sun. They did not know God, but at least they perceived their dependence on light and felt that the appropriate response to its source was worship.

When the living God introduces Himself to us in the Bible, He tells us that He said, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3). The Bible tells us that “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all,” and that God is One “who lives in unapproachable light” (1 John 1:5; 1 Timothy 6:16). We have seen this as we have followed the Bible story. When God revealed His immediate presence to men, they were overwhelmed by the sheer brilliance and intensity of light surrounding them.

When Moses saw the Lord, he could not look directly on the brightness of God’s presence. He could only look at what seemed like a sparkling pavement under his feet. When God’s presence was revealed to Isaiah, all he could describe was the train of God’s robe filling the temple. Ezekiel’s vision of the glory of God was the same. He looked up to see a sparkling platform on which God’s throne was placed, but beyond that the light was too intense to see, the glory too great to comprehend.[2]

HIDING FROM THE LIGHT

There was a time when Adam and Eve were at home in this light. They were comfortable in the radiance of God’s immediate presence as they walked with Him in the garden. But when they sinned, they ran for cover. They looked for the shadows and hid themselves among the trees (Genesis 3:8). Having chosen darkness, they did not want to come into the light, so they remained in hiding. Sin makes us reluctant to come near to God, and incapable of standing in His presence.

Most parents know how difficult it can be to get the kids up on a dark winter’s morning. When our children were young, I often wakened them with a hearty shout of, “Morning! Rise and shine!” but they did not like my turning on the light. When I did, they would hide under the blankets.

The light that was quite comfortable for them the evening before was now disturbing because they had become used to the darkness. That’s how it was for Adam. The man who was once at ease in the light of God’s presence would now do everything he could to avoid it. He ran for cover and hid in the trees, hoping that God would not find him.

Jesus said, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed” (John 3:19–20). That’s where sin takes us.

The idea that all men and women are engaged in a sincere search after God is a complete fallacy. Our first instinct is the same as Adam’s: People in the darkness are reluctant to come into the light.

LIFE IN A DARKER WORLD

When our first parents were expelled from the garden, they went out into a darker world, in which the light of God’s immediate presence would not be known. And when God chose to reveal the brightness of His glory, those who saw it were overwhelmed by the brilliance of light. Like children under the blankets, they found the radiance of God’s glory more than they could bear.

More than two hundred years ago, Thomas Binney wrote “Eternal Light,” a hymn that conveys the weight of this problem. It was often sung in church during my childhood years, and although its words demand careful thought, the richness of its message is well worth the effort.

Eternal Light! Eternal Light!

How pure the soul must be,

When, placed within Thy searching sight,

It shrinks not, but with calm delight

Can live and look on Thee.

The spirits that surround Thy throne

May bear the burning bliss;

But that is surely theirs alone,

Since they have never, never known

A fallen world like this.

O how can I, whose native sphere

Is dark, whose mind is dim,

Before the ineffable appear,

And on my naked spirit bear

The uncreated beam?

Thomas Binney lived long before the discovery of laser lights, but he grasped the terror of a naked spirit being exposed to the uncreated beam of the light of God. He knew that a sinner could only shrivel up in the awesome presence of God. Binney’s question cries out for an answer, and that takes us to the heart of the Bible story.

VEILED GLORY

The God who lives in unapproachable light veiled His glory, took human flesh, and was born as a human baby. When the Gospel writers announced the coming of Jesus into the world, they repeatedly explained His coming in terms of light.

John said, “The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world” (1:9). Matthew explained that “the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned” (4:16).

A Glimpse of His Glory

When Jesus went to the temple in Jerusalem, He said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

Some time later, Jesus took Peter, James, and John to the top of a mountain. The presence of God came down, and Jesus was transfigured. The veil was taken away, and they caught a glimpse of His glory.

Dazzling light seemed to radiate from Jesus. The Gospels record that His clothes were “whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them” (Mark 9:3). John must have recalled that experience when he said, “We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). John knew that he had seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Some years later, a man by the name of Saul saw the same glory and was blinded by the intense light of the immediate presence of the risen Lord Jesus Christ. He fell to the ground, and then he heard the voice of the Son of God: “I am Jesus” (Acts 9:5). The glory of Jesus was no longer veiled. He shares the glory of the Father, and Saul was overwhelmed by the dazzling brightness of the risen Lord Jesus Christ in precisely the same way as Moses, Isaiah, and Ezekiel were overwhelmed by the dazzling glory of God in the Old Testament.

At the end of the New Testament, the apostle John was given a glimpse of the glory of the risen Christ. He tells us that “his face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance” (Revelation 1:16). The radiant light was so intense that John fell at His feet as if he were dead.

His Glory Veiled

The Son of God shares the Father’s glory (John 17:5). But He put a veil over this glory so that it would be possible for us to know Him and come to Him. “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; hail the incarnate Deity!”[3]

The intense light of God’s presence came among us in Jesus Christ. And when He came, He opened the way for people who walked in darkness to live in the light.

In his great hymn, Thomas Binney asked how it would be possible for a person who had lived in darkness to bear the intense light of the presence of God. He gave the answer in these words:

There is a way for man to rise

To that sublime abode:

An offering and a sacrifice,

A Holy Spirit’s energies,

An advocate with God.

Jesus is the way in which a man or woman can live in the light of the presence of God. We can come to God through His offering and His sacrifice. We come in the power of the Holy Spirit, who is the gift of God to all who put their faith in Jesus.

THE DARKNESS AT CALVARY

The story of the Cross is filled with light and darkness, reminding us of the choice between the two. When Judas went out from the Last Supper, the Scripture tells us that “it was night” (John 13:30). The phrase is full of significance. Later, Judas came to the Garden of Gethsemane along with a crowd armed with swords and clubs. Jesus said to them. “This is your hour—when darkness reigns” (Luke 22:53).

He said this because they were about to crucify “the light of the world” (John 8:12; 9:5), and if you put out the light, then you will be in darkness. That is why there was darkness over the whole land for three hours when Jesus was hanging on the cross. God put out the light. He would not allow natural light to shine while men had chosen this darkness.

But the darkness did not reign forever. On the third day, Christ rose from the dead and ascended to heaven. It is through faith in Him that men and women who have become used to the darkness may be made ready for entrance into the light of God’s presence.

REFLECTING GOD’S NATURE

You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light. (EPHESIANS 5:8)

When we have grasped the awesome revelation of the light of God’s glory, we will be able to see the significance of Paul’s astonishing statement that Christian believers are “light in the Lord.”

One of the limitations of the English language is that we use the same word you when we are referring to an individual or a group, except in the southern states, where the distinction is preserved by the delightful expression “y’all.”

On my first visit to the United States, some friends from the South took me to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. The waitress introduced herself with what seemed to be her standard greeting: “Y’all for grits?” Having just arrived from Britain, I wondered what language she was speaking. After receiving a translation from my friends, I was delighted to discover what grits is and who y’all are!

When Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus, he addressed them as a group. He was saying, “Y’all were once darkness, but now y’all are light in the Lord.”

Notice that the problem was not just that these believers had been in darkness but that darkness had been in them. The problem is in our nature, as well as our environment. “You were darkness.” Sin darkens our minds, diminishes our capacity for feeling, and disables our wills so that we cannot get free from evil by the exercise of choice (see Ephesians 4:18–19). Sin put out the light in us, and our greatest problem is not the darkness around us but the darkness in us.

Now the light of God’s presence has come into us.

But now, through the gospel, a remarkable change has taken place in the lives of Christian believers. Paul says, “Now you are light in the Lord.” It is not just that God has brought us into the light; He brought the light into us!

What had happened to these believers was more than a change of environment, it was a change of nature, and of course that is our greatest need because that is where our greatest problem lies.

Now the light of God’s presence has come into us. God puts His light in His people so that we may shine in a dark world. So when Paul writes to the church at Ephesus, he says, “Y’all are light in the Lord.” Jesus taught the same truth to the disciples: “Y’all are the light of the world” (see Matthew 5:14). It was not just that the disciples had seen the light: Christ put His light in them so that they would be light in a dark world.

Strobe Lights in the Study

Some time ago, a few kind people decided to give a face-lift to my office. They asked if I had any suggestions about what might be done, and my one request was for more light. My wish was granted, full, pressed down, and running over! There are enough halogen bulbs in my office for a night game at Wrigley Field.

This created something of a problem during the summer, when heat from the lights caused the temperature in the office to rise well above comfort level. I decided that the answer was a ceiling fan. But when it was installed, it created another problem. When the fan rotated, the blades clipped the beams of light, turning my office into something resembling a discotheque!

This caused great amusement for the staff, but it seemed somewhat inappropriate, and so we have found the answer: A simple half turn on the bulbs nearest the fan has put them out of action. Losing their connection, they lose their ability to shine. Everything depends on the connection.

Christ is the Light of the World, and when we get connected to Him through faith, His life flows into us and we will shine. Jesus said, “Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light” (John 12:36). If the life of Christ is in you, you will shine.

Y’all Must Shine

Living as children of the light means being different from the darkness that surrounds us, and Paul has given us specific examples of what that looks like.

Each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. (EPHESIANS 4:25)

In a world of hype, exaggeration, ludicrous claims, and downright lies, let your “yes” be yes and your “no” mean no (Matthew 5:37). Then you will be light; people will soon discover that they can trust what you say. That’s why keeping our word is so important. It’s part of being the light. That’s what y’all must do.

In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry. (4:26)

One of the extraordinary features of television drama is the “exit line.” It is astonishing how many conversations end with a sharp line that is spoken as somebody “exits” a situation. I guess it’s a good way to transition from one scene to another on television, but it is a dreadful way to live. The exit line has become part of the darkness of our culture where a disagreement usually leads to a separation. That’s why it is so important for us to work at resolving relational problems in the church. It’s part of being the light.

He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need. (V. 28)

There is a certain kind of person who approaches life by asking, “What is the minimum that I have to do?” That’s part of the darkness, and God calls His people to be different. Do something useful. Be industrious, look to see how you can make the greatest contribution to your company, your home, your family, and you will be light.

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs. (V. 29)

The world is a dark place, and God has put us where we are to be lights.

Words have great power either to build up or to tear down. We cannot avoid hearing dark words of criticism, cynicism, pride, or fear, but God calls us to make sure that we are not the source of them. If our speech has the effect of building others up, then we will be light in a culture where so many words are aimed at tearing other people down.

Don’t ever expect the world to shine for you. God calls you to shine for the world. The world is a dark place, and God has put us where we are to be lights. That’s the challenge for the whole church. If Paul could visit your church and speak with a southern accent, he would say, “Y’all are the light! Y’all are the people who claim to know that eternity itself is secure. Y’all have the Holy Spirit of God in you, and Y’all live in a dark place. Now live as children of the light!”

A Candle in the Dark

If you take a candle outside in the middle of a summer’s day, its light will not be impressive. But if you light a candle in a dungeon, its flame will change the whole environment. The greater the darkness, the more effective the light.

God may have put you in a dark place. If you are the only Christian in your family or your colleagues at work are unsympathetic to your faith, you might easily feel discouraged.

Perhaps you work with people who “are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God,” who have lost all sensitivity and are now giving themselves over to sensuality. That’s precisely Paul’s description of the darkness (vv. 4:18–19). The way God has chosen to break into this darkness is by placing His lights there, and you are that light.

My parents were children in Edinburgh during the Second World War. My mother lived in Leith, where there are still some shipping docks, and so that area was a natural target in the nighttime bombing raids.

It was essential that the city lights could not be seen by incoming planes, and so each family was required to cover their windows with “blackouts.” Wardens would patrol the streets, and if they saw a chink of light coming through a window, they would shout, “Get those lights out!”

Never underestimate the importance of your light in a dark place. When everything else is dark, even the smallest light can be seen for miles.

One of my favorite films is Apollo 13, the story of NASA’s extraordinary achievement of bringing the crew of their severely damaged spacecraft safely home. At one point in the film, a news program shows an interview recorded with Jim Lovell, played by Tom Hanks, before the Apollo mission began. Lovell was asked if he could think of an example of an emergency that he has been in before, and he replied,

I remember one time I’m in a Banshee at night in combat conditions, so there’s no running lights on the carrier. My radar had jammed, and my homing signal was gone because someone … was using the same frequency and was leading me away from where I was supposed to be. And I’m looking down at a big black ocean.

I flip on my map light and suddenly “zap”—everything shorts out right there in my cockpit. My instruments were gone, my lights were gone, and I can’t even tell what my altitude is. I know I’m running out of fuel, and so I’m thinking about ditching in the ocean.

I looked down there, and in the darkness there is this green trail, like a long carpet that’s just laid down right beneath me, and it was the algae; it was that phosphorus stuff that gets churned up in the wake of a big ship. It was leading me home. If my cockpit lights had not shorted out, I would never have been able to see that. You never know what events are going to transpire to get you home.[4]

God may have placed you in the darkness so that He may use your light as the means of bringing someone in the darkness home.

LIVING IN THE LIGHT

If you belong to Jesus Christ, then the light is in you, and the day is coming when you will be in the light. In the book of Revelation, John saw a beautiful city bathed in light. There is no night there, and the city does not need the light of lamps or the sun, because God is its light (Revelation 22:5).

The wonderful thing is that the Christian believer will be at home in that light. The last of C. S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters contains a marvelous description of the death of a Christian from the devil’s point of view. Screwtape laments a junior tempter’s failure as the Christian passed into the immediate presence of God, and then writes, “What is blinding, suffocating fire to you, is now cool light to him.”[5]

The radiance of God’s immediate presence will be either suffocating fire or cool light to every person who has ever lived. Those who have come into God’s light through Christ will be at home in His presence. But those who have hidden from God in the darkness will find the light of His presence unbearable and will shrink from it.

Cool light or suffocating fire: What will the presence of God be for you?

UNLOCKED

Jesus Christ is the Light of the World. In Him, the light of God’s presence has come among us. God dwells in unapproachable light, and so the glory of Jesus was veiled when He took our flesh and was born into the world.

Through His sacrifice at Calvary, Christ has made it possible for men and women who have become accustomed to the darkness to come into the light. Jesus makes it possible for us to live in the light of God’s presence.

But your salvation is more than coming into the light; it is the light coming into you. God dwells in His people by the Holy Spirit, so that His people can be His light in the world. This is why it is of critical importance that we live as children of the light. Christ has put His light in us, so that the church will be the light of the world.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Almighty Father,

I bow before You in worship and in awe. You live in unapproachable light. Even the angels cover their faces in Your presence. Thank You for opening the way for me to enter the light of Your presence through Your Son, Jesus Christ. Thank You that He veiled His glory when He came into the world, so that we could come near to You through Him.

Thank You for the gift of Your Holy Spirit living in me so that the light of Christ can be seen in me. Help me to live as a child of the light in this dark world, and use this light to reach others who are still in darkness, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Notes

1. Joel Achenbach, “The Power of Light,” National Geographic, October 2001, 5, 8.

2. The encounters involving Moses, Isaiah, and Ezekiel are found in Exodus 24:9–10; Isaiah 6:1; and Ezekiel 1:22, 26, respectively.

3. Charles Wesley, “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing,” from verse 3.

4. Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger, Lost Moon (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1994); as quoted in the film Apollo 13; screenplay by William Boyles, Jr, and Al Reinert (Universal Pictures), 1995.

5. C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (New York: Macmillan, 1961), 159.

12

Battle

EPHESIANS 6

Why is the

Christian life

such a struggle?

DISCOVER

Satan’s primary strategies for subverting Christian believers.

LEARN

the significance and relevance of the armor of God.

WORSHIP

because Christ has triumphed over your enemy.

FOR years, when I was growing up in Scotland, I watched the Olympic Games, astonished by the extraordinary haul of gold medals taken by the United States of America. Since coming here, I have discovered the explanation. The commitment to achieve success in sports in this culture is unbelievable.

My eldest son, Andrew, is a sophomore in high school and runs cross-country. He trains two hours every day and races twice a week. Part of the runners’ commitment is that after their own race, they stay to support and encourage the varsity team. Encouraging each other is part of the commitment. It’s little wonder they are good!

One thing drives the pursuit of excellence in our culture: The desire to win. There are other schools and other teams; they are also training. They also want to win. If we are to succeed, we need to offer our very best.

If there was no opposition, the situation would be entirely different. When I was young, we sometimes went out for what we called a “kick around.” A kick around is when you don’t have enough players for a real game, so you just practice kicking and passing the soccer ball. There are no goals and no opposition.

There are some distinct advantages to a kick around. You don’t have to be fit, and it doesn’t require a high level of commitment. You can celebrate imaginary goals, and when you have had enough, you can pack up and go home.

How would you describe your Christian life? Does it have the discipline of a committed athlete, or does it look more like a kick around? The difference will boil down to one thing. Have you understood that in your Christian life you are up against powerful opposition?

THE ENEMY

Our struggle is … against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (EPHESIANS 6:12)

When you became a Christian by turning in repentance and faith to Jesus Christ, four things happened. First, you were brought into a new relationship with God in which your sins were forgiven and your condemnation was removed. Second, you became a new creation as God’s Holy Spirit invaded your life. Third, being a child of God, you became part of His family, the church. And fourth, you provoked the attention of an enemy, whose set purpose is to oppose and destroy the work of God.

We met this enemy at the very beginning of the Bible story, when he came to Eve in the form of a serpent. Having rebelled against the authority of God Himself, his great objective is to destroy the work of God and that is why, when God began a new work in your life, you took on a new significance for him.

Paul has already spoken about this enemy. “You were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of … the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient” (Ephesians 2:1–2). Satan used to be your master. He had you where he wanted you: unresponsive to God, moving in the way that the world is moving. But then God made you alive with Jesus Christ, and when that happened, your old master became your new enemy.

Having lost you, his immediate objective is damage control. Satan is determined that you should not pose any further threat to his kingdom. He will therefore do everything in his power to make you ineffective and unproductive in your Christian life. Becoming a Christian is not the end of your battles; it is the beginning of a new warfare.

PEOPLE ARE NOT THE PROBLEM

Our struggle is not against flesh and blood. (V. 12)

Your primary problem is not with people. Obviously people do cause problems in our lives, and so we tend to assume that if we can get free from certain people, our struggles will be over, but that is never the case.

The biggest problem in any marriage is neither the husband nor the wife. The most divisive person in the church does not have his or her name on the database. The biggest barrier to your making progress in the Christian life is not the wounds you have suffered or the defeats you have endured; there is recovery from all these things. Your biggest problem is one to which many Christians give the least attention. It is the problem of your unseen enemy.

If we think about the struggle the church faces in proclaiming the gospel, it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that our struggle is against certain groups of people. Whenever we fall into the error of identifying an individual or group of people as the problem, it is wise to pause and remind ourselves that they are not the enemy; they are the victims of the Enemy. The Enemy has taken many people hostage. He has blinded their eyes, and he keeps them bound. Our objective is not to fight the hostages but to rescue them.

HOLY WAR?

Christians are never called to a jihad, or holy war. Christ’s kingdom is not of this world, and it cannot be advanced by force or by conquest. “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood.”

The New Testament makes a clear and important distinction between church and state. God has trusted the state with responsibilities for administering justice and restraining evil. Rulers do not bear the sword for nothing. They are God’s servants, “agent[s] of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer” (Romans 13:4).

That is why most Christians have upheld the right of the state to wage war, and when they have judged that to be in pursuit of a just cause, have given their support and have been ready to take up arms.

In the Old Testament, God was fulfilling His purposes through a nation, and the leaders of that state had the same responsibilities to restrain evil and pursue justice as our state does today. So it should not surprise us that there are a number of wars in the Old Testament, where God called the nation of Israel to restrain evil and pursue justice.

But in the New Testament, it is quite different. Christians are never called to take up arms in the name of Christ. It may be legitimate for Christians to take up arms in the name of their country, for the purposes of restraining evil, but Christ’s kingdom can never be advanced by either military or political force.

THE BATTLEFIELD

Having identified the Enemy, we now turn to the battlefield, which is a lot closer than many people think. The primary battles of your life will be fought in four areas: your mind (Ephesians 4:22ff.), your home (5:22–6:4), your work (6:5–9), and your church (4:1–16). These are the areas in which your Enemy will launch his main attack; they are the areas you must be most careful to defend. This is where we need to be “strong in the Lord.” The spiritual armor is the equipment we need for maintaining a pure mind, a strong family, a God-honoring career, and a healthy church. This is where the real battle is fought.

THE BATTLE

Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. (6 :11)

Put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. (v. 13)

Stand firm then. (v. 14, ALL EMPHASES ADDED)

The first objective of your warfare is to stand. This is so important that Paul uses the word four times to make the point clear. The Enemy is going to come against you and try to push you back to a position in which your life will count for very little in the advance of Christ’s kingdom.

The primary way in which Satan does this is through the use of “schemes.” During the Second World War, a woman sewing army uniforms in the north of England would have said that she was fighting Hitler, even though she never actually came within a hundred miles of him, or ever saw him directly.

Our enemy is the devil, and he is a created being. He is not present everywhere, he does not know all things, and he does not have all power. These things belong to God alone. So the Enemy normally works through two infrastructures, which the Bible calls “the world” and “the flesh.” While we may rightly say that we are engaged in a great battle against the devil, the reality is that we are normally contending with what Paul calls his “schemes.” So it is important to know what these schemes are (see 2 Corinthians 2:11).

THE ARMOR

The best way to learn about Satan’s schemes is to consider the armor God has given to defend us against them. We can be certain that the armor God gives will cover every area in which we may be attacked. The armor will help us to identify the devil’s schemes, and show us how to stand against them.

Debunking Deception (The Belt of Truth)

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist. (v. 14)

We have already seen that deception was Satan’s first scheme in the garden. He confused Eve to the point where she thought she was doing good when, in reality, she was disobeying the Word of God. This is one of Satan’s most successful schemes.

A woman spends the morning at Bible study, but when her husband comes home, she may be cold, aloof, and distant. She thinks that she is pleasing God because she is studying the Bible, but she is blind to the lowering temperature of her marriage.

A man may be involved in ministry, but at work he is arrogant, overbearing, and unpleasant to people under him. He thinks that he is pleasing God because he is involved in ministry, but he is blind to the way in which he is losing his testimony at work.

You must build specific disciplines into your spiritual life … to avoid deception.

The Enemy has a thousand ways of keeping our attention away from the main issues. He will be quite content for us to pray and study and serve the Lord just so long as we do not discover what he is really up to. Our enemy hides his work in a fog of unreality in which a man thinks himself spiritual while actually he is living in defeat at the very point where the Enemy is waging the battle. That’s the heart of deception.

There is only one way to stand against this deception, and that is to put on “the belt of truth” (v. 14). Paul is not talking about the truth of the Bible here. That comes later, when he speaks about “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (v. 17). The belt of truth is the truth David spoke about when he said, “Surely you desire truth in the inner [being]” (Psalm 51:6).

Putting on the belt of truth is an intentional action. You must build specific disciplines into your spiritual life if you are to avoid deception: Practice self-examination; ask God to search you and show you your own heart. Use the Bible as a mirror. Don’t lie to yourself. Learn to listen to close friends and wise counselors who will speak the truth to you and hold you accountable.

Review your thought life regularly. Are your thoughts predominantly negative, critical, or self-centered? Can you see lust, greed, or envy in your heart? Do your thoughts reflect faith in God, or have you given way to despair?

Review your home life. How have you shown love to your spouse in the last week? Have you been attracted to anyone besides your spouse? How did you respond? If you are single, how are you contributing to the lives of the family and friends God has placed around you?

Review your reputation at work. How do people experience you? What is their impression of you? Review your influence within the life of the church. How are church people experiencing you? Are you building them up? Are you angry with anybody?

Questions like these will help you to avoid deception and get in touch with the truth.

The belt was used to tie up the tunic, before putting on the other pieces of armor. Without the belt, the rest of the armor would be useless because you could easily trip on your own tunic and fall without even being attacked. The picture would be comical if it were not so tragic. Too many Christians are ineffective because they live in the shallowness of an unconsidered life.

Combating Compromise (The Breastplate of Righteousness)

… with the breastplate of righteousness in place. (v. 14)

One of Satan’s favorite ways of leading us into compromise is by suggesting that God’s standards are only ideals.

God says: “Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.”

We respond: “Well, we all know that’s how it should be in an ideal world.”

God says: “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths.”

We respond: “Well, yes, that’s something we can work toward.”

God says: “Get rid of all bitterness.”

We respond: “Yes, but I have good reason to be angry.”[1]

The Enemy will be happy if we regard God’s commands as ideals that we should work toward rather than instructions we should obey. There is a big difference. One of my tutors at college pointed out the distinction by saying, “It is a standard in this college that the students do not beat up the faculty, and the day people start talking about that being an ideal, I’m out of here!”

A person who calls God’s standards “ideals” has opened the door to a compromised life. That’s the Enemy’s scheme, and the only defense against it is the breastplate of righteousness. And again, you need to be intentional about putting it on.

The breastplate of righteousness is not referring to the righteousness of Christ that is counted as ours when we come to faith in Him, but the daily, personal choices we must make to do what is right.

It is the choice to get rid of bitterness so that you can be light in a world that is full of bitterness. Or the choice to pay back money that is owed even when that is costly. Or the cost to tell the truth even when it is uncomfortable.

Without intentional choices of righteousness, your testimony will not be credible. This is where the battle is fought, and it is a great struggle. It is not surprising that Paul says, “Be strong in the Lord!” The only way to prevail in the battle against compromise is to determine what is right before God, and make the choice to do it irrespective of the cost.

Kicking Complacency (The Shoes of the Gospel)

… and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. (v. 15)

The Enemy’s goal is very simple: to use our natural love of comfort to keep us from doing anything that might cause significant damage to his kingdom.

Do you see signs of the Enemy using this strategy in your life? Have you ever felt that your own personal comfort was becoming more important than the calling of God?

The only way to stand against this scheme is to put on the shoes of the gospel. Shoes are for movement. And Paul links that movement with the gospel. Putting on the shoes means that I have to become intentional about asking, “How can I best contribute to the advance of the gospel in this world?”

If that question seems remote to you, it may be a sign that the Enemy has already had considerable success with this strategy in your life. The Enemy is happy to see the church in slippers. They are comfortable wear for those who have no intention of going outside. God calls us to take off the warm slippers and put on the hard-wearing boots because our calling is not to sing songs by the fireside but to take the gospel to every people.

Avoiding Isolation (The Shield of Faith)

In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. (v. 16)

The Roman soldier protected himself with two kinds of shields. He held a small, around one on the forearm. It was important in hand-to-hand combat, but it would not offer much protection against a volley of flaming arrows. Paul was referring to a larger rectangular shield used by the Roman army. It was around four feet high and two feet wide, rather like a modern police riot shield, but covered with leather so that it would extinguish the enemy’s pitch-covered fiery arrows.

Bind together with other believers around you, under the protective cover of faith.

The Romans developed the idea of the phalanx, in which a small group of soldiers would stand together and arrange the shields so that they formed a protective cover around the whole group, rather like the shell of a tortoise.

Remember that Paul is talking to the church here. He is telling us, “Y’all are to take the shield of faith.” This is very important. When the day of evil comes and you find yourself under special attack, you are to bind together with other believers around you, under the protective cover of faith.

The Gospels record a wonderful story about four men who brought their friend to Jesus. They climbed onto the roof of the house where Jesus was teaching, made a hole in the roof, and lowered their friend to the feet of Jesus. You can’t fault their initiative, imagination, or determination. Luke records that “when Jesus saw their faith, he said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven’” (5:20). Never underestimate the degree to which God may bless you through the faith of others who care for you.

Satan wants you isolated in the battle. He would like to have you and I fighting a losing battle against attacks in our minds and in our homes that nobody else knows about.

God never intended you to fight alone. Take the shield of faith. Share the struggle with someone you trust who will stand with you.

Overcoming Discouragement (The Helmet of Salvation)

Take the helmet of salvation. (v. 17)

It is one thing to start; it’s another to finish—the Enemy has time on his side. If you are to sustain a lifetime of useful service to Jesus Christ, you will need to overcome discouragement. There will be times when the results of your work will be disappointing. Prayers won’t seem to be answered as you hoped, and you will find yourself facing problems to which there is no obvious answer. Tiredness will cloud your judgment and you may begin to despair. Paul knew about that experience personally (2 Corinthians 1:8–9).

Paul was writing to believers, so when he wrote about taking the helmet, he was not inviting them to come to Christ for salvation. They had already done that. The New Testament talks about salvation in the present and the future tense. Paul was writing about the hope of salvation as a helmet (1 Thessalonians 5:8), and it’s that confident expectation of final victory that he is speaking about here. When the immediate prospects look bleak, take time to meditate upon the final outcome.

A student struggling through his or her studies for exams would do well to think about graduation day. That was Paul’s regular practice. He placed his present sufferings alongside the glory that would ultimately be revealed, and he concluded that it was well worth the cost of staying in the battle every time. “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:17–18; see also Romans 8:18).

That’s how you stand: with rigorous personal honesty, uncompromised personal integrity, and total commitment to the advance of the gospel in all circumstances, joined together in the fellowship with other believers and confident of the final outcome of the battle. When the armor is in place, you will stand. And if you are standing, you will be in a position to go on the offensive, using “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17).

THREE STRIKES AND YOU’RE OUT

Our Enemy’s defeat comes in a series of three strikes. Strike one took place at Calvary, where the Lord Jesus Christ disarmed the powers of evil (Colossians 2:15). He blew open the kingdom of darkness to give a way out for all who believe. Satan’s power to hold the captives was broken at the Cross. This does not mean that he has conceded defeat or that his activity has ended. But Christ has inflicted a fatal wound on the Enemy.

Strike two comes through the ministry of the church. Jesus said, “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (Matthew 16:18). He didn’t mean that the gates of hell would be advancing against the church, but that the church would be advancing against the gates of hell, and that as the light of the gospel spread around the world, people would be saved and hell itself would be on the retreat.

That has been the story of the church over the last two thousand years. As the church takes the light of the gospel from generation to generation and from culture to culture, men and women are brought out of Satan’s kingdom and into the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:13).

That’s why we need to stand in the battle. It is only as believers stand against the devil’s schemes that they will be in a position to advance on Satan’s kingdom using the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and the ministry of prayer in the Spirit.

Strike one: The Enemy’s power is broken. Strike two: His territory is invaded. And strike three will be when Jesus Christ returns in glory. He will overthrow the Enemy with “the breath of his mouth” (2 Thessalonians 2:8). The apostle John describes what will happen: “The devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever” (Revelation 20:10). That’s strike three, and you don’t need me to tell you, “Three strikes, and you’re out!”

The Christian life is a struggle because you have an enemy who works through the infrastructures of “the world” and “the flesh” to subvert the Christian and make him or her ineffective. To stand against him, we need to put on the full armor of God. Our objective in doing this is to stand against the Enemy, knowing that if we stand, we will then be in a position to advance against his kingdom with the offensive weapons of the Word of God and prayer.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Almighty Father,

I confess that I often think that my greatest struggles are with other people. Thank You for showing me that my greatest struggle is against my unseen enemy. Strengthen me in the battle against this enemy. Open my eyes so that I may see clearly and so put on the belt of truth. Help me to choose what is right rather than what is easy. Deliver me from seeking my own comfort when I am surrounded by a world of need. Help me to stand with others and strengthen their faith in You.

Keep me from discouragement, and help me to rejoice in the ultimate victory that will be mine through my Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Note

1. Commands adapted from Ephesians 6:26, 29, 31.

13

Profit

PHILIPPIANS 3

How can I invest

my life wisely?

DISCOVER

your greatest investment opportunity.

LEARN

how God gives and uses your desire for gain.

WORSHIP

because you are rich in Jesus Christ.

THERE is something fascinating about the stock market. Frantic traders on the floor or in front of computer screens trade with profits and losses that can move by thousands of dollars in a matter of seconds. Every day fortunes are made and fortunes are lost.

For most of us, the gains and losses are less dramatic. Perhaps you look up the price of a stock or fund in the paper. If it has gone up, you wish you had put in more. If it has gone down, you wonder why you did not hold on to what you had.

Now picture the whole world as one massive trading floor. Every day, as you go into this world of opportunity, you are investing. You have been trusted with a precious resource called life, and every day you are given the opportunity to invest in it. How should you make that investment? What should you add to your life portfolio?

As you consider the endless choices before you, you know that as in any market, some investments will increase in value, and other investments will decrease in value. So you walk around bewildered by the dazzling array of choices.

Americans live in the world’s most sophisticated society. We face choices galore: careers, sports, home improvements, relationships, entertainment, churches, vacations, and, yes, investments. The options seem endless, and it is not easy to know how we should invest our lives.

THE DESIRE FOR GAIN

All of us have a strong desire to invest our lives wisely. Nobody wants to trash his or her life. We want to make the best of it and, at the end, to feel that what we have invested in has lasting value. The reason we feel this is that God has made us with a desire for gain.

When my family settled in Arlington Heights, Illinois, several friends gave us good advice that helped us to find our way around the area. One member of our congregation had advice to offer on where to find a good deal on clothing. He seemed rather tentative about making the suggestion. “I don’t know if you are the kind of folks who like to find a bargain,” he said.

What an extraordinary question to ask a Scotsman! Have you ever met somebody who doesn’t like to find a bargain? Perhaps he thought that a pastor would be so into making sacrifices that he would prefer to pay the highest possible price! Give me a break!

The desire for gain is deeply imbedded in us all. God put it there.

Jesus appealed openly and unashamedly to our desire for gain. “Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:20). He is appealing to people who want to gain a maximum return on the investment of their lives, and He is saying, “Let Me tell you how to do it.”

Jesus also spoke powerfully about guarding against unacceptable losses. “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). There are some losses you can’t afford to take.

Even the cost of taking up the cross is a sacrifice with a view to ultimate gain.

Jesus also told a parable about how we should invest our lives. Three servants were trusted with resources by their master. When their master returned, the servants who made wise investments and showed a profit were commended. The servant who wasted his opportunity to invest was punished (Matthew 25:14–30).

You may be wondering how all this talk about gain fits with the words of Jesus about the cost of following Him. The Bible never hides the cost of following Jesus. Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). Dietrich Bonhoeffer summed up the cost when he said, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”

But we have quoted only half of Jesus’ statement. Immediately after speaking about the cost, He said, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it” (v. 25). Even the cost of taking up the cross is a sacrifice with a view to ultimate gain. Jesus wants to show you how you can invest your one journey through life in such a way as to gain the maximum return. His appeal is to your own self-interest.

C. S. Lewis made this point powerfully:

If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are halfhearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered to us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the seaside. We are far too easily pleased.[1]

THE GREATEST CRASH IN HISTORY

The whole Bible story is about making up for an incredible loss. God filled the world with good gifts for our first parents to enjoy. Then an enemy came, and in one day, paradise was lost. It was the greatest crash in all of human history. The market of this world has been severely depressed ever since. Nothing in this world is what it was or what it might have been.

The Bible story is about how paradise will be restored, and life as God wants us to know it regained. Jesus Christ came into the world so that we may have life to the full (John 10:10). There is an enemy who has come to steal, kill, and destroy, but Christ has come to recover our losses and restore the priceless gifts of God.

PAUL’S EARLY INVESTMENTS

The apostle Paul had a great deal to say from his own experience about gains and losses. In Philippians 3, he sets out his life portfolio.

Building a Portfolio

If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee. (PHILIPPIANS 3:4–5)

Paul was born into a position of great privilege. He was, as we say in Britain, “born with a silver spoon in his mouth.” Right from the beginning, he had certain advantages and opportunities.

Paul seized his opportunities and turned them into achievements as he trained under Gamaliel to become a Pharisee (Acts 22:3). This was a wonderful opportunity, and it put him on a fast track to success in his chosen career. It must have been something like going to Harvard.

In Paul’s day, the Pharisees were among the most respected people in the land. They were intellectuals, and they had huge influence over the development of culture. They were regarded with the kind of awe that we give to sports stars today.

As for zeal, persecuting the church. (V. 6)

Paul poured his energies into the pursuit of an exemplary life and was highly respected for it. He was climbing the career ladder. His commitment and his passion were noted, and he was trusted with one of the most politically sensitive issues of the day: curbing the growth of the Christian church.

Not only was he trusted with this task, he was given considerable authority to get the job done. That’s why he says that his zeal was persecuting the church. He was the kind of man who could be trusted with the most difficult jobs.

So here is a man who had everything going for him. He was sincere, passionate, and committed. He had position, achievement, and power. His life portfolio was full.

The Moral Dimension

As for legalistic righteousness, faultless. (V. 6)

Paul was interested in more than a successful career. He was a deeply moral man and had been very careful about his moral choices. When he stated that he was faultless with regard to legalistic righteousness, he was not claiming that he was perfect, but that he always lived by the rules of the Pharisees. He gave his full effort to the pursuit of this moral life, and so he said, “If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more” (v. 4).

We sometimes think of the “flesh” in connection with human behavior at its worst, but the word flesh is also used in the Bible to describe human effort at its best, and that is its meaning here.

Having poured himself into the pursuit of a highly successful moral life, Paul was looking forward to being appropriately rewarded by God for his efforts. If I can put it in a contemporary setting, he probably thought that the Last Day would be like the Oscars’ night in Hollywood, where the great ones are gathered so that their achievements can be recognized.

The great crowd gathers, dressed in style. Each one smiles as the highlights of his or her life are flashed on the screen. An angel calls out the nominations, and an archangel opens the white envelope: “And the winner in the pursuing an exemplary life category is… Saul of Tarsus.”

Many people believe that if their lives are marked by success and permeated with morality, they will end up on God’s “congratulation list” and be eligible for an eternal reward. That is exactly what Paul felt, and his life portfolio was pretty impressive: position, achievement, power, and along with that, a deeply moral and exemplary life. Many people spend their whole lives trying to assemble that kind of portfolio.

DISCOVERING WHAT IS REALLY PROFITABLE

But then something happened in this man’s life that changed everything. One day, while he was on a journey to Damascus, the risen Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him. A light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground, and he heard the voice of Jesus Christ speaking to him by name. He knew he was in the presence of overwhelming power and glory, and that the person speaking to him could destroy him in a moment.

“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” (ACTS 9:4–5)

This was devastating! Far from God’s presence being a party of congratulation, Paul found himself in the sand, overwhelmed by the awesome holiness of the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

Having poured himself into the pursuit of an exemplary life, and having considered himself a candidate for great rewards, he could only fall prostrate before the awesome holiness of the risen Lord, whose claims and cause he had pledged himself to destroy. He saw righteousness in the face of Jesus, and he thought to himself, If that is righteousness, then I will never make it.

He … realized that his life portfolio was filled with the wrong stock.

At that moment, his whole view of life changed completely. He caught a glimpse of what it would be like to stand in the presence of God on the Last Day, and realized that his life portfolio was filled with the wrong stock. His position, achievement, and power were of no use to him on the Damascus road, and they would be of no use when he slipped through the curtain of death and entered the immediate presence of almighty God. On the road to Damascus, he discovered that what finally matters is not how we do against a system of rules, but how we relate to one Person, Jesus Christ.

A Devastating Loss

I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ. (v. 8)

About thirty years later, Paul wrote the letter of Philippians. He looked back on the years since that remarkable day on the Damascus road and reflected on his gains and losses. “Let me tell you about my life portfolio now,” he said.

Clearly, what he held had taken a severe battering: This man, who stood in a position of privilege, had been disowned by his people. Gifted with a brilliant mind, he had spent the last thirty years making tents. Entrusted with the power to imprison others, he now found himself imprisoned and chained to a guard even as he wrote.

After thirty years, his life portfolio was devastated. Everything he had held was gone. “For Christ’s sake,” he said, “I have lost all things.” Paul was not suggesting that if you become a Christian, you will lose your career, your acceptance amongst other people, and influence. That’s not true for everybody, but it was the case for Paul. He was saying, “This is what happened to me. For Christ’s sake, I have lost everything that used to be in my portfolio. But,” he was saying, “I don’t care about that. I’ve discounted what I have lost. It’s not an issue for me. I consider everything a loss,” he said, “compared with the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord for whose sake I have lost all things.”

“So what’s in your life portfolio now, Paul?” we ask.

“For the last thirty years, I’ve been investing heavily in a new kind of stock,” he replies. “Let me tell you about it.”

A New Kind of Investment

…that I may gain Christ. (v. 8)

I want to know Christ. (v. 10)

In effect, Paul was saying: “The great passion and investment of my life has been to get more of Jesus Christ. I want to gain Christ [v. 8], and I want to know Christ [v. 10]. That’s what I’ve been investing in for the last thirty years.

“I have also realized the value of His righteousness. I want to be found in Him not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the Law but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith [v. 9].

“I have also been investing heavily in the day of resurrection [v. 11]. I caught a glimpse of the future on the Damascus road. I know that I will soon stand in the awesome presence of Christ, and I’m trying to live my whole life in the light of that reality that lies ahead. That’s why I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection, and whatever suffering is involved for me in following Christ I will gladly embrace in order somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

“My life portfolio is now … loaded toward the resurrection.”

When Paul used the word “somehow,” he was not expressing doubt over whether he would share in the resurrection, but only about how it would happen for him. He did not know whether he would pass through death into the presence of Christ, or whether he would be alive when Christ returns. But either way, Paul had invested his life with a view to the final resurrection.

The apostle was saying, “Don’t feel sorry for me on account of what I have lost. My position, achievement, and power would be of no value to me on the Last Day. My life portfolio is now filled with Christ and His righteousness. It is loaded toward the resurrection, and I wouldn’t trade that portfolio for the world.”

There is one driving ambition behind this new investment of Paul’s life: gain. He wrote from prison, where he did not have two coins to rub together, and he was convinced that what he had in Christ was worth more than all he had lost.

Insider Information

Imagine for a moment that you were given a glimpse of the stock market in five years’ time, and you knew that your information was absolutely accurate. What would you do?

Suppose you saw that the stock in which your pension fund lies would lose half of its value in five years? And suppose you saw that some presently unfancied stock would soar in value over the next five years?

You would move as much as you possibly could out of what is going down and into what you know is going up. You’d invest heavily in what will rise in value, and you would make a killing. You would regard your glimpse of the future as the opportunity of a lifetime.

The day you die, the value of this portfolio goes through the roof!

Paul had seen the future. The risen Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him on the road to Damascus, and he caught a glimpse of what it will be like on the Last Day. Then, he understood that what was in his life portfolio would be of no use to him. He needed Christ, His righteousness, and His resurrection, whatever the cost. He saw that everything else went down, and he calibrated his life accordingly.

That’s why he could say, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). Paul had discovered that knowing Christ and His righteousness and His resurrection is of supreme value now, but the day you die, the value of this portfolio goes through the roof!

Some time ago, a friend of mine was in a large hospital ward in England for a major operation. There were about a dozen patients in the ward; their beds lined either side. One night, the person in the bed next to him died while my friend was asleep. The body was taken away, and when my friend woke in the morning, the curtains were around the area where this man had been. Two nurses were behind the curtain, sorting out the effects that were left in the locker, so that they could be returned to the family.

My friend awoke, and the first words he heard were those of a nurse saying, “A gold watch, a radio, two books, a silver pen …”

What do you have that will be of value to you when you die?

We are surrounded by many people who are afraid to die. The reason for their fear is that they know everything they have will be lost to them the moment death comes. Paul invested his life in such a way that the day he died would be an incredible gain.

One day the market will be closed, and the opportunities of investing your life will be over. God will call “time,” and then we will, as it were, cash in the investment of our lives.

Jesus said that among the people who were outside the presence of God on that day, there would be weeping and gnashing of teeth. When they open up their life portfolio, the position, achievement, and power they held will be like stock that has lost its value. It will be worthless. A person outside will weep and gnash his or her teeth saying, “If only I had Christ, if only I had His righteousness, if only I had entrance into the resurrection, I’d give anything to be holding that stock now.”

There will come a day when everybody will want what the Christian believer has. The Bible speaks about people who were tortured for their faith refusing to be released. Why? Because to have Christ and His righteousness and to be headed for the resurrection is more valuable than any blessing that could be known in this life.

EVALUATING YOUR LIFE INVESTMENTS

What do you have in your life portfolio? Of what value will that be when you stand in the presence of Jesus?

Jesus told a powerful story about a pearl merchant. The man had been trading pearls all his life, and then one day he saw a pearl unlike any other that he had seen before. It was a pearl of great price. Because he was skilled in his trade, he knew its value, and so he went away and he sold everything that he had in order to obtain it (Matthew 13:45–46).

You have … the opportunity to invest your life heavily in Jesus Christ.

I have met many people who held back from following Jesus because they were worried about the cost. They looked at the cost and not at the value. It will cost you to know Christ, and to have His righteousness, and to share in His resurrection. It will cost your pride, and it will cost you your sins. Beyond that I do not know what it will cost you. It may be that God will indeed bless you with a wonderful career, great prosperity, and opportunities to use all that’s trusted into your hand for His kingdom and for His glory. Or it may be that doors will be closed to you and opportunities denied because of the name of Jesus.

The apostle Paul invites you to measure the cost against the value. “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ, for whose sake I have lost all things.” To be found in Him is of infinite value, and to die without Christ is the ultimate loss.

Today the market is open, and you have the invitation and the opportunity to invest your life heavily in Jesus Christ.

UNLOCKED

The Bible makes it clear that we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10). Paul was given a glimpse of what it would mean to stand before the presence of God, and from that time on, he knew that his greatest need was for Christ and His righteousness, and his greatest opportunity was to invest his life in living for the glory of the Lord.

God gives us the incredible opportunity of knowing the future so that we may be able to invest our lives wisely in the light of it. The Scriptures tell us specifically about the things that Christ will reward. They include

- praying and fasting (Matthew 6:6, 18)

- having compassion for the vulnerable (Matthew 25:34–40)

- bearing insults and being excluded (Luke 6:22–23)

- loving your enemies (Luke 6:35)

- giving generously (Luke 6:38)

- hospitality that cannot be repaid (Luke 14:12–14)

- enduring pressures in ministry (2 Corinthians 4:17–18)

- performing quality work for your employer (Colossians 3:23–24)

- keeping faith through trials (1 Peter 1:6–7)

- being faithful to the truth (2 John 1:7–8)

These are great investment opportunities. God tells you what will be rewarded, so go figure how you should live your life.

The greatest loss that any person could experience would be to stand in the presence of God without Jesus Christ and His righteousness, and therefore be unable to participate in the resurrection to everlasting life. Knowing Jesus Christ as your Savior and serving Him as your Lord is worth any cost, because nothing is of greater value.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Gracious Father,

Thank You for the great privilege of knowing You through Your Son, Jesus Christ. Thank You for telling me in advance about the day when I will stand in Your presence, so that I can live in the light of it.

Help me to remember the true value of knowing Jesus when it is costly for me to honor His name. Deliver me from seeking short-term gains that would be long-term losses. Help me to accept short-term losses that will be long-term gains. Help me to live a sacrificial life joyfully, through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.

Note

1. C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996), 26.

14

Peace

PHILIPPIANS 4

How can I know

peace when I

am surrounded

by trouble?

DISCOVER

how to begin praying.

LEARN

how to cultivate the peace of God.

WORSHIP

as you learn to rejoice in God.

WE have deadlines to meet, prices to beat,

And margins that keep getting tighter.

Business is rough, you have to be tough;

To survive here you must be a fighter.

We have battles to fight, E-mails to write

And phones that never stop ringing.

The house needs some care, the van needs repair,

And the children always need bringing.

We have bills to be paid, plans to be made,

And jobs that we find to be taxing.

We have children to feed and gardens to weed;

There isn’t much time for relaxing.

The future’s unclear, the end may be near,

And the pressures we face never cease.

We live life at a pace, with competition to face,

So what can we know about peace?

While the idea of peace seems attractive, it often seems remote. Like an undisturbed day in a lounging chair by a lake with a good novel, we may hope to experience it occasionally, but the rest of the time we have to live in the real world, which is not so peaceful.

Even as you read this book, you may be engaged in some kind of interpersonal conflict. You may wish that you weren’t, but the fact is that you are, and it is not easy to see how you can have peace. In addition to conflicts at work and at home, we have already seen that every Christian is involved in a spiritual battle in which we need to put on the whole armor of God. Our struggle against sin never ends, so how is it possible to have peace?

Jesus spoke directly to this issue. He said to His disciples, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.” But immediately He went on to say, “In this world you will have trouble” (John 16:33). So the peace Jesus is speaking about is not the absence of conflict or trouble. Christ made it clear that the disciples would have peace and trouble at the same time.

How can you have peace at the same time as you experience trouble? There can hardly be a more relevant question in our hassled lives and our troubled world. Before we look at what Paul says about peace, it is important to understand the pressures he was experiencing when he wrote about it in this letter.

LIVING WITH UNRESOLVED CONFLICT

The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (PHILIPPIANS 4:7)

The peace Paul speaks about is not the absence of conflict. He begins Philippians 4 by appealing to two ladies in this church who had fallen out and couldn’t get along with each other. Their names were Euodia and Syntyche, though they are probably best remembered as “Onerous” and “Soon Touchy”!

These two battle-axes had apparently been slugging it out for some time, and there is just a hint of exasperation when Paul says, “I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord” (v. 2). The apostle longed for these ladies to resolve their differences, but at the time he wrote, that was a long way from happening. When Paul wrote about peace, he was struggling to resolve a longstanding interpersonal conflict in the church.

THE PAIN OF A BROKEN HEART

For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. (3:18)

The work of building the church of Christ is hard enough without the added burden of people who profess to be Christians tearing it down. Paul gave his life to planting churches. It was his normal practice to go to cities where the gospel had not been preached, present the gospel, and then gather those who believed into churches. Often after he left a city, other teachers would arrive and undermine the church as they advanced their personal agendas.

The pain that this brought to the apostle is evident from the fact that when he wrote about the activity of these false teachers and thought about the damage they were doing to the church, he broke down in tears. Paul was writing with a broken heart.

THE PROSPECT OF A VIOLENT DEATH

Paul wrote the letter to the Philippians from prison. He was chained to a guard as he wrote (1:13–14), and he was facing the prospect of death by execution in Rome.

So this was not an academic theologian writing theoretical ideas about peace in an ideal world. Paul was an imprisoned pastor, facing the prospect of a violent death, writing with a broken heart to a congregation of ordinary people who were dealing with interpersonal conflict.

The peace that Paul spoke about in this letter is certainly not the absence of trouble. He had discovered a peace that you can know in the cutthroat world of business, in a home with young children, through times of great insecurity, and even in the face of death.

THE WAY THINGS OUGHT TO BE

The Hebrew word for peace is the beautiful word shalom. It is one of the most common greetings in the Hebrew language. Shalom means “May things be the way they ought to be.”

Paul described God as the “God of peace” (4:9). That means that everything in God is exactly as it ought to be. There is nothing disordered, out of place, out of control, or out of character in Him.

When God created the world, it was marked by shalom. God saw that everything was good, just as it ought to be. The man and the woman walked with God; they were in harmony with each other and experienced great joy and satisfaction, just as it ought to be.

But when sin entered the world, the shalom of God’s creation was broken in three places. God’s purpose is to restore the shalom where it has been lost: first, in our relationship with Him; second, in our relationships with each other; and third, in our own hearts.

THREE PILLARS OF PEACE

You may find it helpful to think of God’s peace resting on three pillars: (1) getting right with God, (2) showing gentleness to others, and (3) learning how to pray. When these three pillars are established in your life, you will experience “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, guarding your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” And you will experience this peace even in the middle of trouble.

1. Getting Right with God

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! (4:4)

Peace begins by coming into a right relationship with God. Without this foundation, it is impossible to have shalom in your life. That was Adam’s problem when he went into hiding after he disobeyed God’s command in the garden.

If you played hide-and-seek as a child, you will recall how your heart thumped when the person who was looking for you came close to the place where you were hiding. Can you imagine what that was like for Adam when the Lord came looking for him? It must have been his first experience of fear. Shalom was broken, and he was afraid that God would find him. That is not as things ought to be.

Francis Thompson describes his own experience of hiding from God in his poem “The Hound of Heaven.”

I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;

I fled Him, down the arches of the years;

I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways

Of my own mind; and in the midst of tears

I hid from him.[1]

That takes a lot of energy! As long as a man is hiding from God, he cannot be at peace. That is why God says, “The wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest … ‘There is no peace,’ says my God, ‘for the wicked’” (Isaiah 57:20–21).

The great invitation of the gospel is to come out of hiding and surrender into the loving arms of God. Christ came into the world to make things as they ought to be between God and you. You do not need to continue fighting an unwinnable war of disobedience toward God. You can come out of hiding and be reconciled to God. You can have shalom with God through Jesus Christ.

Paul knew that things were as they ought to be between God and him because of the Lord Jesus Christ. He had peace with God through the blood of Christ. As we saw in the last chapter, Paul discovered that this gift is of greater value than anything else in this world, and so even though he wrote out of a broken heart and faced the prospect of violent death, he was able to rejoice in the Lord.

The starting point of shalom is that things are the way they ought to be between you and God. That happens when you come out of hiding, give up your rebellion against His commands, put your trust in His Son, Jesus Christ, and submit to His rule over your life.

2. Showing Gentleness to Others

Let your gentleness be evident to all. (v. 5)

In a fallen world, it is simply not possible for things to be right in every relationship. Conflict will end when Jesus Christ returns, but that day has not come yet. When Jesus said, “Love your enemies,” He clearly implied that we would have some enemies to love. We may wish that everything would be as it should be with every person we know in this world, but it will not be so. There are some things we do not have the power to change. Conflict is a two-way street, and sometimes there are crazy drivers on the other side of the road.

The Bible recognizes this, and it never suggests that you need to resolve every conflict in your life before you can experience the peace of God. But God does call you to be a peacemaker. God says, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (Romans 12:18).

Paul gives us a wonderful insight on how to pursue the path of peace in fraught relationships when he writes, “Let your gentleness be evident to all.”

Notice that Paul dealt with pursuing peace in our relationships before he dealt with finding peace in our hearts. This is the exact opposite of the popular psychology and spirituality offered in many talk shows. The secular approach always begins with “me.” The idea is that I need to be at peace with myself, and when I have found my own peace, then I can deal with relationships, and then maybe think about God.

That is completely upside down, and Scripture turns it the right way up. The Bible always begins with God. True peace begins by getting right with God through faith in Jesus Christ. There can be no peace for a person who is hiding from God. When we have that foundation, the next priority is the pursuit of peace in our relationships with others. How can we know peace in our hearts if we are causing pain to others? Jesus made it clear that if you come to prayer or worship and remember that your brother has something against you, you should leave your gift at the altar and go reconcile with your brother (Matthew 5:23–24). Putting things right with other people comes before the spiritual exercises of worship and prayer.

The apostle Peter made the same point in the context of marriage. He told husbands to be careful how they treat their wives, so that nothing would hinder the husbands’ prayers (1 Peter 3:7). If a man is inconsiderate toward his wife and then comes to a prayer meeting, he is wasting his time, because his prayers will be ineffective; they will be “hindered.” Spirituality must never be used as a kind of cloak to cover up harsh attitudes toward other people.

If you want to know peace in your heart, you have to approach it indirectly. It rests on the pillars of getting right with God and pursuing peace with others. That is why Paul dealt with this matter of our relationships and attitudes to others before he came to speak about our prayers and the peace of God in our hearts.

Gentleness is the shock absorber of the Spirit.

After twenty years of driving in Britain, one of the most striking features of American cars, for me, is the quality of the suspension. When I first drove our Oldsmobile van, I remember thinking that it was like floating on air. But after six years, sixty thousand miles, and innumerable Chicago potholes, the suspension is not quite so good.

While the van was being serviced recently, I asked the mechanic who keeps us rolling what he thought might need to be done to the van in the coming year. “You might want to think about replacing the shock absorbers,” he said. “It will give you a smoother ride.”

The shock absorbers provide some “give” between the road and the vehicle. They cushion the harshness of travel, and they play an important role in softening what would otherwise be an uncomfortable ride.

Gentleness is the shock absorber of the Spirit. We live in a harsh world, where there is a great deal of conflict, and the apostle says, “Let your gentleness be evident to all.”

The problem is that as we travel over the potholes of life, we can easily become like the shock absorbers in my van—rigid, rusted, and with no “give”—and as we go through this world, we transmit the harshness that we experience to other people. The apostle says, “Don’t be like that. Cultivate gentleness to everybody. Show some ‘give.’ Be a shock absorber as you move through life. Determine when you take some knocks that you will not pass them on. Take pleasure in protecting others from pain even if it means absorbing it yourself.”

One way to cultivate gentleness in a situation of conflict is to try and think of every reasonable defense you possibly can for the other person’s behavior. Imagine yourself defending their position. Do your best to think of extenuating circumstances. Bend over backward to identify something good in their behavior or in their motives. You will be amazed at how much this softens your spirit.

Years ago, I heard a pastor tell a story about a deacon in his church who became extremely difficult. The man became a pain to the pastor, and his colleagues found it hard to understand how he could be so obtuse.

Some time later the man died, and it was discovered that he had suffered from a tumor on his brain, which, judging from its size, must have begun around the time that his behavior began to change. I recall the pastor saying, “If I had known that one fact more, it would have changed my attitude.”

The rightness of your cause never justifies harshness in your spirit.

Let your gentleness be evident to all. Work at being a peacemaker, and where there are conflicts that you cannot resolve, work toward the position where you can honestly say, “Lord, You know that I have done everything that I can think of to go the extra mile for peace.”

A few weeks ago, I was speaking with a Christian leader who had participated in a live televised debate with someone advocating an extremely liberal and anti-Christian position. It was a tense situation as arguments flew back and forward in the cut and thrust of debate. “I won the debate hands down,” he said. “I demolished every argument she put up.”

Later, he showed a video of the debate to his son who had not seen the program, and asked him what he thought. There was a long silence.

“Tell me what you think,” he said. “I want to know.”

“You won the argument, Dad, but you didn’t show her Jesus.”

The rightness of your cause never justifies harshness in your spirit. When our spirits become rigid, we lose our peace, because the peace of God that passes understanding rests on this foundation: “Let your gentleness be evident to all.”

3. Learning How to Pray

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. (v. 6)

When the power of anxiety mounts an assault on the citadel of your heart, … pray

Prayer is the key to addressing your worries, and it is the third pillar on which the peace of God rests. Worry is a mighty power. It grips the mind, the imagination, and the heart. It is especially productive at night, and it thrives in the soul of a person with an expansive imagination. If you do not fight against it, anxiety will take you captive and make you a slave to fear.

One thing you should never do is to tell an anxious person not to worry! That’s never any help, and, of course, Paul does not do that here. Instead, he gives us a practical strategy for fighting back against the power of anxiety. When the power of anxiety mounts an assault on the citadel of your heart, the way to fight back is to pray.

That one word, pray, will cause some readers to lose interest, because they are convinced that they have tried this and that it doesn’t work. When people tell me that they have already tried prayer, I am reminded of the little boy who said after his first day at school that it was fine but that he didn’t think it was worth going back again.

As we look at the apostle’s teaching, ask if you have really prayed about the things that worry you in the way the apostle describes here. Prayer is not an exercise in worrying on our knees. It is quite possible to think we have prayed when in reality we have done nothing more than panic, adding the words “Father” at the beginning and “Amen” at the end.

THREE WEAPONS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST ANXIETY

Paul uses three words to describe the way we are to fight back against anxiety: prayer, petition, and thanksgiving.

1. Prayer

Prayer is the general word that describes entering the presence of God and filling your mind with the knowledge of who He is. This is where you begin. Don’t start by telling God all your worries. Fill your mind with the truth about God. Focus on His greatness and glory. Let a sense of who He is fill your soul.

If you are preparing a meal, you may choose to marinate the meat. You take a piece of duck, immerse it in orange juice, and leave it there for a long time. The process of marinating allows the flavor of the juice to permeate the meat.

That’s what Paul is talking about here. Fill your mind with the truth about God so that it marinates into the recesses of your mind. God is sovereign. God is good. God is for you. God is with you. God’s purposes never fail. True prayer begins as you allow these truths to soak into your mind. That is one reason why it is helpful to link prayer and Bible reading together. As you receive God’s truth, you will be helped to pray effectively.

2. Petition

Petitions are specific requests that we bring before God.

You might find it helpful to think of anxieties as being like a large bag carried on your shoulders. We are not always entirely sure of what is worrying us, and we are often afraid to look inside the bag and find out. The only way to fight back against worry is to open the bag.

Take that great burden off your back and open it up. Look at what is inside. Face your fears. Bring them out of the darkness where they thrive. Put them into words and bring them to God. That’s petition.

Tell God your worries. Spell out your “what ifs” to Him. Identify them clearly, however strange they may sound when you put them into words. Keep in mind the greatness of God as you unpack the bag. That’s why marinating your mind in the truth comes first. You need to know that God is great enough to handle the darkest fear in the corner of the bag.

3. Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving expresses confidence in God. It says to God, “I know that You are with me, and I know that You are for me; so whatever happens, I trust You, and I am grateful that my life is in Your hands.” Thanksgiving brings a balanced perspective to prayer. It reminds us of the abundant goodness of God.

Without thanksgiving, prayer can easily descend into a shopping list of needs that we present before God. God wants to hear our requests, but He also invites us to count our blessings. King David gave us an example of this when he said, “Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits” (Psalm 103:2).

God’s blessings are more in number than the sand on the seashore, and there is no way that we can remember them all. But that’s no reason to forget them all. Cultivate the practice of intentionally bringing to mind the great things that God has done for you. Thanksgiving will refresh your soul and bring joy to the heart of God.

COLLAPSING THE TOWER

The peace of God rests on three pillars: our peace with God through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ; our pursuit of peace with others, as our gentleness is evident to all; and the ministry of prayer, in which we lift our anxieties to God.

When the three pillars are in place, “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). This is the promise of God.

When I brought this message to my congregation, I showed them some brightly colored bricks, which I then built into a tower. Next, I placed a gift on the tower. Then I pulled out several bricks, with the obvious result that the tower collapsed, and the gift had no place to rest.

The reason many Christians do not experience the peace of God is that they have neglected the foundations on which this gift rests. If we are hiding from God in the shadows, or dealing with other people harshly, or have neglected the discipline of authentic prayer in our lives, the tower collapses, and the peace of God will have no resting place in our lives.

Many people in our anxiety-ridden society are looking for peace, but they want it instantly and are not interested in the foundations on which it rests. Peace is the fruit of the Spirit. It is the outcome of a life lived before God, in which you show gentleness to others and lift your anxieties to God in prayer. As you cultivate these things, you will know the peace of God even in the middle of extraordinary trouble. That is the promise of God.

Paul wrote with a chain on his hand and many burdens on his heart, but he was able to say from his own experience that “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

UNLOCKED

The peace of God is a gift enjoyed by those who have come into a right relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ, who are showing grace toward others, and who are learning to lift their anxieties to God in prayer. This peace passes understanding because it is the gift of God.

Those who seek peace directly rarely find it. Those who seek peace by building the foundations on which it rests will find, perhaps to their surprise, that this gift is increasingly evident in their lives.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Gracious Father,

Thank You that everything is exactly as it ought to be with You. Nothing escapes Your notice, and nothing is beyond Your control. You know exactly what You are doing.

Thank You that I can know a right relationship with You through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Help me to find my joy in You, especially when I cannot find joy in my circumstances. Help me to show gentleness to others, and teach me to pray with thanksgiving. I bring my anxieties before You. (Take time to name them.)

I rest in Your promise to give a peace that passes understanding. Guard my heart and my mind, through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.

Note

1. Francis Thompson, “The Hound of Heaven,” The Everyman Book of Victorian Verse, Donald Thomas, ed. (London: Everyman, 1993), 149.

15

Death

HEBREWS 2

What will happen

when I die?

DISCOVER

why the devil desperately wants to keep you alive.

LEARN

how the death of Jesus changed death for us.

WORSHIP

because to be away from the body is to be at home with the Lord.

SOME years ago, I came to know a man who had emigrated from England to South Africa. He came to the church I pastored at in London on several occasions when he was visiting his elderly mother who was in a nursing home in the area. She had lost her memory and hardly knew who he was. When he came, one of our families gave him hospitality and then began visiting his mother.

One day I had a phone call from him. “My mother has died,” he said. “Could you take the funeral? I really can’t afford the expense of coming again. If you could do this for me, I would be really grateful. Someone from the nursing home will come, and perhaps you could invite some friends from the church. There won’t be anybody else. But I should tell you that I have a daughter. She’s on the road working her way around the world. The last I heard she was in Europe, and if I can get word to her, she might be able to come. She is a bit different; you’ll see.”

Sure enough, when I arrived at the cemetery, there were about half a dozen friends from the church and someone from the nursing home. The man’s daughter was also there, in torn jeans, with spiky hair and body piercings. I was wearing my dark suit, and I think that the woman and I must have looked a rather odd couple as we walked together to the graveside.

“It’s good you were able to come today,” I said, trying to strike up some conversation.

“Well, I didn’t have much choice!”

“Did you ever meet your grandmother before?”

“Nope!”

Talking about family didn’t seem to be getting anywhere, so I decided to ask her about her tour.

“You’re traveling round the world,” I said. “Tell me about it.”

Suddenly her eyes brightened. She began to enthuse about the Great Barrier Reef, trekking in the Himalayas, and a journey up the Khyber Pass. She had visited places of unusual danger and explored them alone, sleeping rough, and finding temporary work for long enough to pay for the next ticket.

“When will you get home?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe sometime next year.”

“What motivated you to do this?”

“I want to see life!” she said, with conviction.

“Well, I guess in a way you are seeing part of it today,” I said.

I will never forget the change that came over her as we got near to the graveside. She had never been at a funeral before, and something about it just seemed to make her freeze. She grabbed me by the arm, as if confiding in me.

“I’ve got to tell you,” she said, “this really freaks me out. I’ve never had to face anything like this!”

It struck me as surprising that a woman who had the courage to travel through the Khyber Pass alone would find the funeral of a relative she had never met so disturbing. But death has a way of making us lose our nerve.

DENIAL, PANIC … AND REALITY

Recent figures indicate that around five thousand people die in America every day. Some die in hospitals, some of old age, some in car accidents, but before today is through, another five thousand will have died, and tomorrow it will be the same. Life is fragile, and death is one reality that none of us can ultimately avoid.

Many people find the subject of death so uncomfortable that they prefer not to think or speak about it. In earlier generations, it would not have been unusual for children to witness the death of older members of their families and often of younger brothers and sisters too. Death was part of their experience; it was unpleasant but not unfamiliar territory.

Today, death seems remote to many people. We live in a make-believe world in which we kid ourselves that if we take our vitamins, exercise daily, and watch our diet, the future will be a cloudless horizon, in which we will continue to be healthy, wealthy, and wise.

Even the friendly life insurance salesman tiptoes quietly around the dream so as to make his sale without awakening us to reality. “If anything should ever happen to you …,” he says, as if death were the most unlikely eventuality.

While some respond to the fear of death by denial, others engage in a flurry of activity aimed at increasing their health and safety. Wise people take precautions against danger, but I have found it interesting that often the more precautions people take, the more fearful they become.

The problem with the fear of death is that it is the fear of something that is absolutely certain. It is like sitting in the garden and fearing that the leaves may fall from the trees. They will; nothing is more certain! There is only one way to deal with fear, and that is to face it openly, which is the purpose of this chapter.

THE GREAT LEVELER

Twenty years ago, I was privileged to be part of a vast crowd in Westminster Chapel, London, for the memorial service for the great preacher Martyn Lloyd-Jones. On the back of the program were some words from a sermon he had preached the Sunday after King George VI died in 1952.

Death is the great leveler. We all have to face death; none are exempt from death. What you saw as headlines in your newspapers last Wednesday will soon be said of you. The heading was “The king is dead.” The day is coming when someone will turn to somebody else and say that about you.

Death is the great leveler that brings us all to the same position. We are all equal at that point. Kings and the highest in authority here take their place with all others. We come face-to-face with God who is “the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.” The great question is not how do we face this life and world, but how do we face death, how do we face eternity, how do we face God, how can we stand in the presence of His Majesty?

When you can answer that question, you will be released from slavery to fear. Indeed, this is why Jesus came into the world. The writer to the Hebrews tells us, “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (2:14–15).

When Jesus died, He changed the nature of death for all His people. We’ll look first at what happened when Jesus died, and then at what happens when a Christian dies.

WHAT HAPPENED WHEN JESUS DIED?

He suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. (V. 9, EMPHASIS ADDED)

Consider the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus was in great agony of soul. He said, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow” (Matthew 26:38). Overwhelmed! This was the only time that Jesus used that word. Nothing else had overwhelmed Him, but as He looked toward His death, He said, “Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me” (v. 39). It seems clear that Jesus looked at this “cup” with consternation and was appalled at the thought of what He was about to experience: He would soon “taste death for everyone” (Hebrews 2:9).

Since that time, there has been a long line of Christian martyrs: men and women who have died for their faith in Jesus Christ. The extraordinary thing is that when you read their stories, you often find something quite different.

Come with me to Oxford, England. The year is 1555, and two men stand before a court on charges arising from their faith in Jesus Christ. Their names are Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer. They refuse to recant their confession of faith and are sentenced to be tied to a stick and burned.

As they are brought out, Latimer says to Ridley, “Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.”[1] Were Ridley and Latimer more courageous than Jesus? Or was Jesus’ cup filled with suffering that Ridley and Latimer never knew?

Tasting a Double Death

The Bible speaks about death in two dimensions. The first, physical death, is the familiar event that happens to five thousand people in America every day. But the Bible also speaks about “the second death” (Revelation 2:11; 20:6, 14; 21:8). This is the judgment of God that will be poured out on the Last Day.

Jesus spoke about the two dimensions of death when He said, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).

A Christian believer will never see the second death.

Jesus experienced both the first death and the second death at the same time. When He died on the cross, two things were happening simultaneously. First, wicked men were pouring out their hatred on the Son of God. They used a cross as their instrument of torture because they judged a quick execution to be too good for Him. They wanted to see Him suffer.

But at the same time, Christ was bearing the wrath of God. God laid our sins on Jesus and poured out the judgment that was due to our sins on Him. So when we read that “by the grace of God he [tasted] death for everyone,” it means He tasted both dimensions of death together.

He died in sin; not His own sins, but the sins of the world that were counted as His. He faced the wrath of God. He was alienated from God in His suffering. That is why He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Surrounded in darkness, He entered into all the dimensions of death, and in this way He drew the sting of death.

A Christian believer will never see the second death. Christ endured that so that you should never know what it is like. Ridley and Latimer endured excruciating physical suffering in their deaths, but they never knew anything of the cup that was so overwhelming to Jesus.

Our Savior faced death as nobody else before or since has faced it: He endured death in both its dimensions simultaneously. And if the prospect of that double death was so horrendous to Jesus, what must it have been like in reality?

Death Without the Sting

Death is still a dark valley, but Christ has swept the enemies out of the valley, so that death for the Christian is no longer an entrance into God’s judgment, but a passage into God’s presence. That’s why Ridley and Latimer could face death with such courage. They knew that they faced death without the sting.

In the words of John Calvin, “Thus by engaging with the power of the devil, the fear of death, and the pains of hell, he gained the victory, and achieved a triumph, so that we now fear not in death those things which our Prince has destroyed.”[2]

Death is still a dark valley, but its nature has been changed for the Christian. You will never taste death as Christ tasted it. That’s what Jesus meant when He said, “I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death” (John 8:51). On another occasion He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (11:25–26).

Death will not leave you asking, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” It will bring you to the point of saying, “My God, how wonderful You are,” as you see Him face-to-face. Death will not mean separation from the Father but entrance into His presence.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A CHRISTIAN DIES?

I have often had the privilege of visiting a Christian who knows that he or she is terminally ill, and of speaking with the individual about the journey that lies ahead. On several occasions, a person has said, “I’m not afraid of death; I am afraid of the process of dying.”

That’s understandable. While many people die peacefully, some endure a great struggle, and that process can be frightening even for a person who knows that their eternal destiny is secure. It is helpful to think about what will happen when you come to that moment of departure from this life.

They Thought They Saw a Ghost

The phone rang on a Friday morning while I was studying to prepare the message on which this chapter is based. One of my colleagues on staff at our church shared the news that Mark Lovett, a young doctor from our congregation, had died following an operation for lung cancer. He was just twenty-eight years old. Later that day I had the opportunity to speak with Mark’s wife, Alyssa, and his father, Rod. I will never forget our conversation, and am grateful for Rod’s permission to share his story.

“My son Mark was a doctor,” he said, “and I am a surgeon, so we both knew that there was a chance he might not come out of this operation. I said to him, ‘Mark, we need to remember our verse.’ ”

Rod reminded Mark of the occasion when the disciples were in a boat on the lake. Jesus was not with them because He had taken time alone to pray. The wind was strong, and the disciples were straining at the oars to keep the boat on course. Then, late in the night, Jesus went out to meet them, walking on the water.

Try to imagine yourself in the boat with the disciples. You look out over the water into the darkness, and you see a figure walking toward you on the water. What would you have thought? It’s not surprising to me that the disciples were terrified. The Gospels tell us that “when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified.” Then Jesus spoke to them: “ ‘Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid’ ” (Mark 6:49–50). He climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed.

Coming to Take Us Home

That’s a great picture of what happens for the believer at the moment of death. Jesus is coming to take you home. The experience itself may be a frightening one. Some Christians die peacefully and seem to have a strong sense of heaven being opened. Others die with a great struggle and, like the disciples, experience great fear even though Jesus is near.

If you have had the experience of being with a Christian loved one who died in great trauma, it may have made you wonder if all was well. Remember the disciples straining at the oars, and their terror as they wondered what was happening to them. That didn’t matter. The important thing was that in their moment of fear, Jesus was coming to take them home.

I have tried to imagine what it must have been like for Mark at age twenty-eight, when Jesus came to take Him home; and then what it will be like for me. I am glad to know that when the moment of death comes for me, Jesus will take me home. I hope that when that time comes, I will remember the words of Jesus that brought strength to Rod and Mark: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

The Devil’s Disaster

I don’t think that what happens to a Christian at the moment of death has ever been more powerfully described than by C. S. Lewis at the end of his book The Screwtape Letters. The book is a description of the Christian life from the devil’s point of view, so everything is upside down. The death of a Christian is, as Lewis points out, a disaster for the devil because the believer is translated immediately into the presence of Christ, and any hope that the Enemy may have had of subverting him or her is gone forever.

The Screwtape Letters is set during the Second World War, and in the last chapter a Christian, who the tempters have been working on unsuccessfully, is killed by a bomb. The frustration of the tempters is the mirror image of the joy of the believer.

Just think … what he felt at that moment; as if a scab had fallen from an old sore, as if he were emerging from a hideous, shell-like tetter, as if he shuffled off for good and all a defiled, wet, clinging garment.…

It is misery enough to see them in their mortal days taking off dirtied and uncomfortable clothes and splashing in hot water and giving little grunts of pleasure—stretching their eased limbs. What, then, of this final stripping, this complete cleansing?

The more one thinks about it, the worse it becomes. He got through so easily! No gradual misgivings, no doctor’s sentence, no nursing home, no operating theater, no false hopes of life; sheer, instantaneous liberation. One moment it seemed to be all our world; the scream of bombs, the fall of houses, the stink and taste of high explosive on the lips and in the lungs, the feet burning with weariness, the heart cold with horrors, the brain reeling, the legs aching; next moment all this was gone, gone like a bad dream, never again to be of any account.[3]

Lewis then describes how the Christian sees the angels, and then:

He not only saw Them; he saw Him. This animal, this thing begotten in a bed, could look on Him. What is blinding, suffocating fire to you, is now cool light to Him, is clarity itself, and wears the form of a man.…

All the delights of sense, or heart, or intellect, with which you could once have tempted him, even the delights of virtue itself, now seem to him in comparison but as the half nauseous attractions of a raddled harlot would seem to a man who hears that his true beloved whom he has loved all his life and whom he had believed to be dead is alive and even now at his door.[4]

THE MOMENT OF ARRIVAL

Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. He says, … “Here am I, and the children God has given me.” (vv. 11–13)

The Bible gives us another wonderful picture of what death will be like for the believer. Viewed from this side, it is Christ coming to take us home, but viewed from heaven, it is the moment of arrival.

The day of your death will … be … only the beginning of all that God has prepared.

When you arrive in heaven, you will not stand alone in the presence of God. Jesus Christ will stand beside you and present you to the Father. He has promised that if you confess Him before men, He will confess you before His Father in heaven (Matthew 10:32).

You can be certain that when you stand in the presence of God, Jesus will speak for you. He will not be ashamed to call us His brothers. He will gladly identify Himself with all His people. He will stand with us before the Father and say, “Here am I and the children God has given me.”

On that day, His word will be the one thing that matters. Entrance into everlasting life will not depend on you getting everything right in life. None of us has done that. Christ will confess you before the Father, and He will usher you into the joy of everlasting life. That’s His promise, so what is there to fear? The day of your death will not be the end but only the beginning of all that God has prepared.

UNLOCKED

For the Christian believer, death is the moment of translation into the presence of Christ. Death is the point at which Christ brings you into His presence, and then He announces you before the Father. You will not receive the gift of the resurrection body until the day Christ returns, and then all believers will receive that gift together. But you will enter immediately and consciously into the presence of Christ, in triumph and in unspeakable joy.

All this is made possible for us because Christ has endured the second death. He drew the sting of death, and He changed its nature for all His people. The experience of dying may be frightening, but Christ will walk with you through it, and He will bring you home. The Christian can say with assurance, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4).

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Almighty Father,

Thank You for the mighty victory that Jesus Christ has accomplished through His death on the cross. Thank You that His death has changed the nature of death for all His people. Thank You for the knowledge that when the moment of my departure comes, You will meet me and bring me home. Thank You for the glorious prospect of Christ announcing my arrival in Your presence. Gladly I confess Him as my Savior and Lord.

Give me strength to confess Him boldly and joyfully until the day when He will confess me in Your presence, for Christ’s sake. Amen.

Notes

1. John Foxe, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs (Springfield, Pa.: Whitaker, 1981), 309.

2. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans. Henry Beveridge (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1958), 2.16.11.

3. C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (New York: Macmillan, 1961), 156–57.

4. Ibid., 159–60.

16

Intercession

HEBREWS 7

What is Jesus Christ

doing now?

DISCOVER

how Jesus prays for you.

LEARN

how Christ makes your prayers effective.

WORSHIP

because Christ will receive your sacrifice of praise.

THERE are two dimensions to being a mother: an initial event in which a woman gives birth to a child and an ongoing process in which she cares for the child. If you are a mother, you know what this is like. You are absolutely exhausted after the labor you have endured to bring a new life into the world. Within a few moments, the nurse thrusts the tiny bundle of life into your arms and says, “Now you have to feed him!” Whatever happened to delegation?

The initial painful act of giving birth and the continuing work of caring for a child are woven together in the experience of a mother.

If we ask what it means for Jesus to be our Savior, the answer is that this also involves a completed act and a continuing work. The completed act was the excruciatingly painful event that took place once for all time at Calvary. The continuing work is His ministry of care, protection, and nurture, and we call this Christ’s intercession.

The book of Hebrews was written to a group of believers who were finding that the Christian life was more difficult than they had expected it to be. They had suffered some hard knocks since they came to faith in Christ. Some had been put in prison, and others had their homes raided or their property confiscated. They had become pretty discouraged, and some were feeling that they couldn’t take any more.

The book of Hebrews was written to bring encouragement to these believers. It explains Christ’s completed work on the cross and His continuing work in heaven, helping us to understand both what Jesus did for us then and what He is doing for us now. And it reminds us that the key to persevering through difficulties is to fix our eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2).

TIME TO TAKE OFF THE ROBES

Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office. (7:23)

In the Old Testament, the high priest held one of the most important positions in the land. An alien arriving from another planet, knowing absolutely nothing about the Bible, would immediately understand the importance of the high priest simply from the robes that he wore. Bedecked with jewels engraved with the names of the tribes of Israel and with a turban on his head, the high priest looked like royalty on a state occasion.

There were, of course, many high priests throughout the time of the Old Testament story, because as Hebrews 7:23 points out, death prevented them from continuing in office.

The Old Testament records the moving story of how the role passed from Aaron, the first high priest, to his son Eleazar (Numbers 20:22–29). God spoke to Moses and Aaron, telling them that Aaron was about to die and that he would not enter the Promised Land. Then God gave them instructions about how Aaron’s son Eleazar was to assume the role of the high priest.

Moses, Aaron, and Eleazar climbed the mountain of Hor, in full view of the whole community of God’s people. Aaron was wearing the high priest’s robes and must have looked distinctly overdressed for climbing. It must have been quite a sight to watch the old man go up the mountain along with his brother and his son.

At the top of the mountain, hidden from the view of the people, Moses removed Aaron’s robes and put them on his son Eleazar. Then Aaron died at the top of the mountain.

Imagine yourself in the crowd waiting for their return. Someone shouts, “They’re coming back!” You look to the mountain and see only two men returning. You can clearly identify the high priest’s robes, so you assume that one of them is Aaron, but as they come closer, you realize that it is Eleazar. There is a new high priest. The son has taken his father’s role.

Aaron exercised an important ministry, but death prevented him from continuing in office. The time came when his robes of office were taken from him and passed to a successor. There were many high priests, because each one needed to be replaced when death prevented him from continuing his work.

A HIGH PRIEST’S WORK WAS NEVER DONE

Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. (v. 27)

The high priest had a pretty tough job. The Old Testament sacrifices were offered for specific sins, and since there were always new sins, there was a constant need and demand for new sacrifices. It was never finished.

Today we use the phrase “a woman’s work is never done.” In the Old Testament you could certainly say that a high priest’s work was never done. The Old Testament Law required that if a person sinned unintentionally, he or she must come to the priest with a goat as a sin offering (Leviticus 4:27–31). The priest would then pour the blood of the animal around the base of the altar of burnt offering, remove the fat from the animal, and burn the carcass on the altar. Some job! I am truly thankful to be called as a New Testament pastor and not an Old Testament priest!

The priest could never sit down … because his work was never done.

Some jobs involve a lot of repetition and can become extremely boring, but the work of the priest must have been about as repetitive as they come. Imagine a priest at the end of a hard day’s work offering prayers and sacrifices. It’s three minutes to five, and he is just about to go home when John Doe turns up with his scrawny goat and announces that he has sinned unintentionally. Not again!

The priest asks John what he has done this time. It is a familiar routine. The priest offers the sacrifice, and John goes back to his tent, but the priest knows that it won’t be long before John is back again with another goat.

The relentlessness of the high priest’s work in the Old Testament was illustrated by the way the tabernacle was designed. The main area was where the priests operated. There was a lamp, a table with some bread, but no chair! The priest could never sit down in the tabernacle because his work was never done.

There were many priests and many sacrifices, and the work of offering them continued day after day, and generation after generation; it was never finished.

THE ROCKS AND THE BAG

But now God has done something absolutely magnificent in Jesus Christ. God has given us one high priest who lives forever. “Because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood” (Hebrews 7:24). There will never be a time when the robes are taken from Him because He is unable to continue in office. He has been through death; He has splintered its gates; He has conquered its power; and He lives in the power of an endless life. The ministry of this high priest continues forever.

And this high priest has sacrificed for the sins of His people once for all (v. 27). In the Old Testament, the priests offered one sacrifice for one sin. But Jesus has offered one sacrifice for every sin. And after His death, resurrection, and ascension, “he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven” (1:3). He sat down because His work of offering the sacrifice for sin was completed. No other sacrifice for sin would ever be needed again.

Think of your sins as being like rocks that you carry in a large pack on your back. In the Old Testament, every time you felt the weight of a rock in the bag, you would go to the priest, who offered a sacrifice for that particular sin. Every time you committed another sin, you had to go back to the priest and you needed another sacrifice.

The Old Testament priests were taking rocks out of the bag: Jesus takes the bag off your back! He deals with all our sin by separating it from us. His one sacrifice of Himself covers all the sins of all His people. He has dealt with the whole sin issue fully, finally, and completely by taking our sins—past, present, and future—and nailing them to the cross (Colossians 2:14). That is why, when He died, He cried out, “It is finished” (John 19:30; cf. Matthew 27:50).

The reason there is no condemnation for me in Christ Jesus is not that there are no rocks in my bag, but that the bag itself has been lifted from my back. Jesus took it from me. He carried it and dealt with it fully and finally at Calvary.

Many people in churches live as if they were still in the Old Testament era. When they sin, they feel as if they come under condemnation. So they go to a priest, and they feel that they need a new sacrifice.

The Bible makes it clear that if we claim to be without sin, we are deceiving ourselves (1 John 1:8). Your bag is never free from rocks. You may not even be aware of some of them, but they are there. The Christian believer is never wholly free from sin in this life. No matter how deeply we reach into the bag, we can never empty it completely. There is always another rock.

Christ has set us free by removing the burden from our back. As we saw in chapter 6, this does not mean that we become complacent about the rocks. God calls us to deal with the sin in our lives. But your salvation does not depend on you emptying the bag. It depends on Christ removing the bag from your back. There is all the difference in the world.

My sin—O, the bliss of this glorious thought,

My sin not in part but the whole,

Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul![1]

CCHRIST’S CONTINUING WORK

Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. (v. 25)

The writer now moves the focus of our attention from the completed work of Christ for us on the cross, to His continuing work for us in heaven.

Many Christians have a good understanding of what Christ has done for us in the past through His death on the cross, and of what He will do for us in the future when He comes again in power and glory. They are clear about what He has done for us yesterday, and confident about what He will do for us tomorrow, but confused about what He is doing for us today.

Christ died to save you, but He also lives to keep you. It is through Christ’s continuing work of intercession that we are sustained through every pressure, kept through every temptation, and will eventually be brought triumphantly into glory.

1. Praying for Us

Jesus “always lives to intercede for [us].” That means, first, that He speaks to the Father on your behalf. He represents you and brings the specific needs that you have, and the particular situations that you are facing, before the Father.

There is a beautiful illustration of this in the Gospels. Jesus knew that Peter would come under great pressure after Jesus was arrested. He told Peter, “Before the cock crows, you will deny Me three times.” Peter was sure he was up to the challenge of following Jesus, but Jesus knew that His leading disciple would fail badly. Jesus said to Peter, “Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail” (Luke 22:31–32).

Notice Jesus didn’t say He had prayed that Peter would not fail, but that Peter’s faith would not fail. God can use our failures as well as He can use our triumphs. Jesus was saying, “Peter, the bad news is that you are going to come under great pressure. The Enemy is going to attack you, and he will put you through the mill. But here is the good news: I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail.”

And, of course, that’s exactly what happened. Peter found himself afraid and embarrassed after Jesus’ arrest. Satan really worked him over, and Peter failed big time. And that would have been the end of Peter’s story. But it wasn’t. The reason? Christ had prayed for him, and Jesus’ prayers are always answered.

That’s why when Peter reached his lowest point and blew his testimony, his failure did not become a quitting point, but an occasion to discover the mercy of God. On the third day, Peter was among those who came to the tomb and discovered the risen Lord, his faith renewed. A few days later, the Lord restored him and commissioned him for ministry.

Christ intercedes for you, and all the resources of heaven are His.

What Jesus did for Peter is a wonderful picture of what He continues to do for you. Christ prays for you. We have to be careful about the way in which we think about this; we are not to imagine Jesus on His knees in heaven agonizing in prayer as He did in the Garden of Gethsemane. He is seated on the throne, in the position of power, and His word is the angels’ command.

Jesus spoke to His disciples about days when they would be handed over to local councils and brought to trial before governors. He told them not to worry about what they would say because “at that time … it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (Matthew 10:19–20).

Christ would give His people the words that they needed, and what the Son commanded in heaven, the Spirit would deliver on earth. This is a wonderful comfort when you face situations in which you do not know what to do. Christ intercedes for you, and all the resources of heaven are His.

On one occasion, Jesus spoke to a man with a withered hand, and told him to stretch out his hand. By definition, that was the one thing that the man could not possibly do. But when Jesus told him to do this, He released the power to do it, and the Bible tells us that the man stretched out his hand (Matthew 12:13). The intercession of Jesus makes a world of difference. This is what makes the Christian life possible.

Jesus Christ, your great High Priest, is aware of every circumstance of your life. Nothing escapes His attention. He speaks with authority in the presence of the Father, and His word releases the resources of heaven for the pressures and temptations you face today.

I wonder what Jesus is praying for you right now. That your faith may not fail? That you will be sustained under a great burden? That you will face up to an issue of sin and deal with it? It is marvelous to know that Christ intercedes for you. He will bring you through every circumstance of life. He lives for that very purpose.

2. Making Our Prayers Effective

One of my greatest struggles in prayer is that my prayers often seem to be weak and ineffective. I sometimes find that I am not sure what to ask. I feel that I lack insight to understand what is best, and sometimes I wonder if my feeble prayers can really make any difference. Perhaps you have felt the same way.

This is why Jesus told us to pray in His name. That means much more than tagging on the words “in Jesus’ name” as a kind of formula at the end of our prayer.

Every Christmas and Easter, our church choir and orchestra put on a series of concerts. It is a wonderful opportunity to invite friends and neighbors to the church, and the tickets usually go quickly. Just before our Easter concert this year, Karen and I got into a conversation with a waitress at a restaurant where we were eating and, finding that she enjoyed orchestral music, invited her to the concert.

I didn’t have any tickets, so I gave her my card and suggested that she tell the usher that I had invited her. My name doesn’t carry a lot of weight, but it is enough to get you into one of our concerts! The name of Jesus carries weight in heaven, and when we pray in the name of Jesus, our prayers will be heard.

In His name, [your prayers] carry weight in heaven.

My home country of Scotland is known for several things, and unfortunately one of them is whiskey. It is fascinating even for a lifelong teetotaler like myself to see how this venomous stuff is made. Whiskey is made by a process of distilling in which liquids are separated as they boil and condense at different temperatures. What is distilled is so potent that a wise man would never touch it.

Now, think of that picture in relation to your prayers. They may seem very feeble, but Jesus distills them down so that they come to have a power and potency in heaven that is different from anything you could ever have imagined on earth.

The apostle John was given a vision of this. He saw that something happened to the prayers of God’s people when they ascend to heaven. In the vision, the prayers were mixed with incense in heaven and then fire fell on the earth (Revelation 8:3–5). That is a wonderful picture of what happens when you pray in the name of Jesus. Christ receives your weak prayers and distills them so that, in His name, they carry weight in heaven and have effect on the earth.

We need this ministry of Jesus because our prayers are a mixture of many things. The Holy Spirit is involved every time you pray. He authors prayer within the Christian. Your prayers may arise from a genuine desire for the glory of God and may include some profound insights into God’s purposes. But they may also include a great deal of confusion, a dash of selfishness, and some misunderstanding. Our prayers are always a strange mixture.

But when your prayers ascend to heaven, Christ distills, or purifies, them, so that they carry more weight in heaven than you could ever imagine on earth. That’s true of the simplest prayer of the youngest Christian, and the most incoherent prayer of someone who feels that he’s not even sure his words are making a lot of sense.

That’s why you should never hold back from praying because you feel that you don’t know what to say, or because you do not feel very articulate, or because you feel that your prayers are inadequate.

Earlier this week, a lady expressed her frustration over prayer to me. “I don’t know if I’m saying my prayer right,” she said. I told her not to worry about it, because Christ distills weak and confused prayers.

All that matters is that you are coming to the Father through His Son, Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God will help you, and you don’t need to worry about getting it right. Your prayers will be heard because of Jesus.

3. Representing Us in Heaven

Christ’s continuing ministry as our High Priest in heaven means not just that He prays for us and that He makes our prayers effective but also that He represents us before the Father.

Your High Priest will never forget your name.

In the Old Testament, the high priest wore a sleeveless, fine-linen garment decorated with gold, blue, purple, and scarlet and called the “ephod.” Over the garment hung a breastplate studded with precious stones engraved with the names of the tribes of Israel. When the high priest walked into the tabernacle to offer prayers for God’s people, the ephod was a beautiful symbol of his bearing the names of the people next to his heart and bringing them by name into the presence of God.

Jesus does in reality what the high priest could only illustrate. He knows your name—it is written on His heart—and He represents you in the presence of the Father.

Your High Priest will never forget your name. He knows you, and He lives to make intercession for you. Your name is known in heaven. That’s why Christ’s people will receive a rich welcome there. You will not be a stranger. Your reservation is ready, and your arrival is keenly awaited.

God uses another picture to impress this on our minds:

Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. (ISAIAH 49:15–16)

These words were written centuries before the death of Jesus, but His crucifixion explains the full significance of their meaning. Nails pierced His hands when He died to save you. How could He ever forget you?

A mother has an incredibly strong bond with the child she bears. The pain of bringing the child to birth becomes the foundation of a life in which she cares for the needs of her child. How could a mother forget the child she bore?

Some mothers may neglect their children or be unable to care for them, but Christ can never forget the children He has brought to spiritual birth through the agony of His death on the cross. He always lives to make intercession for them. The completed and the continuing work of Christ are the basis of our security and confidence. Christ died to save us and He lives to keep us.

Before the throne of God above I have a strong and perfect plea;

A great High Priest, Whose name is Love: He always lives to plead for me.

My name is written on His hands; my name is written on His heart.

I know that while in heaven He stands, no one can say to me, “depart.”[2]

UNLOCKED

Jesus Christ has completed the work of offering Himself as the sacrifice for our sins. He now engages in His continuing work as our intercessor in heaven. This means that He speaks on our behalf in the presence of the Father. Christ prays for you, and His prayers are answered. It is for this reason that you can be sure that you will be given all that you need in any circumstance that you face in life. Christ knows you and will never forget you. Nothing in your life escapes His notice, and your ultimate good is the constant focus of His attention.

Christ also receives your prayers, and He distills or purifies them so that they carry more weight in heaven than you would ever have thought on earth. Since we have such a great High Priest in heaven, we should not hesitate to come to God in prayer. We know that when we come to Him, we will receive mercy and we will find grace to help us in our time of need.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Almighty Father,

Thank You that the Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son and my Savior, is now seated at Your right hand in heaven. Thank You that He represents Me in Your sight and makes even this prayer acceptable to You. Thank You that He knows everything about me, and that what He commands, Your Holy Spirit delivers.

Thank You that my name is written on the hands of Christ, and that through Him I always find mercy. Thank You that He is never too busy to care and never unable to help. Help me to live in the confidence of discovering that I can do all that You call me to do, through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.

Notes

1. Horatio G. Stafford, “It Is Well with My Soul,” verse 3.

2. Adapted from Charitie Lees Bancroft, “Before the Throne of God Above,” verses 1, 2.

17

Works

JAMES 2

Can a set of

beliefs save me?

DISCOVER

God’s ultimate purpose for your life.

LEARN

how true faith always brings change.

WORSHIP

because when you see Christ, you will be like Him.

SOME years ago, the daughter of one of the leaders in the church I served in London was involved in a terrible accident. Joy was in her midtwenties and had been on vacation in a trailer park in the south of Europe. A gas bottle exploded, and she was trapped inside the trailer.

Remarkably she managed to open the door and stumble clear of the inferno, but by the time Joy escaped, her burns were so severe that she was barely alive.

She was taken to a local hospital, but the facilities were desperately inadequate. It soon became apparent that her condition was well beyond the abilities of the local medical staff, and arrangements were made to fly her back to Britain. Joy was admitted to a hospital in East Grinstead, which has the finest facilities and the highest reputation for treating severe burns.

I will never forget the first time I traveled to East Grinstead to visit Joy in the intensive care ward where she lay for several weeks. I wasn’t prepared for what I saw. Joy’s face had been completely destroyed. She was unrecognizable.

The process of her recovery took many months. Restoring Joy’s face took many operations, involving painful skin grafts. She had to learn to walk again, and for a long time she was unable to use her hands. But she pulled through, and I will always remember the evening when she was able to stand before the congregation and tell her story.

Joy’s story has helped me to grasp the heart of the gospel. After her accident, Joy needed two things: First, she needed to get to a surgeon who could help her, and second, she needed a long process of reconstructive surgery.

The Bible tells us that we were made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26). If you had looked at the first man and the first woman, you would have seen a reflection of what God is like in them. Of course, Adam and Eve were not like God in every respect. They did not know everything, they could not be in more than one place at any given time, and they were not all-powerful. They could not, for example, create planets simply by speaking the word; only God Himself could do that.

But God made them in His image and likeness, and they really did reflect the image and character of God. You could see it in their creativity in naming the animals, their work in cultivating the garden, and their love for God and for each other. There were no lies to confuse their minds, no hate to pollute their hearts, and no greed to bend their wills. They found pleasure in doing the will of God.

Even the devil himself would have had to admit that the image and the glory of God were clearly reflected in them. It was an image that he hated and was determined to destroy.

IN NEED OF SPIRITUAL SURGERY

What followed was a great disaster. Sin “defaced” the image of God in the man and the woman, so that it was scarcely recognizable.

Angels who had rejoiced in the way Adam and Eve reflected the image and likeness of God must have wondered, as they watched the unfolding story of human history, how such beauty could have been so horribly mangled.

The Bible story is about how this image and likeness of God can be restored in men and women. If this is to happen then, like Joy after her disaster, we must be brought to the physician who can restore not our faces, but our souls. We will need to undergo a long process of spiritual surgery in which our minds, hearts, and wills are renewed.

The process will be painful at times, but the image and likeness of God will be restored in us. This is why Jesus Christ came into the world. He came to save His people from the devastating effects of sin. He came to restore what was lost and destroyed.

SEVEN DEADLY SINS

The letter of James deals with one of the most common misunderstandings of the Christian faith. From earliest times in the life of the church, some people have regarded the Christian faith as nothing more than a set of beliefs. They believe in God, they believe in Jesus, they believe in the Holy Spirit, and they believe in heaven. But apart from these beliefs, there is nothing distinctively Christian about their lives; nothing that shows the restoration of the image of God in them.

James had been observing some of these “believers.” No doubt, since he was the brother of our Lord, he would have traveled around to the churches, and it seems that as he did, he noticed certain disturbing patterns of behavior. He lists seven in his letter.

1. Some people treated those who had money in a way that was quite different from the way they treated others who did not (2:1–13). They cultivated friendships that would benefit them and showed little interest in those who, they thought, had little to offer. James must have pondered how different that was from the example of Jesus.

2. Some in the churches were pretty volatile and couldn’t control their tongues (3:9–10). He had heard some of them cursing, and he found the way that they spoke about other people to be deeply disturbing (3:1–12).

3. Many in the churches engaged in quarreling (4:1–3). The basic reason for this was that too many people wanted to get their own way; they ended up butting heads because they were determined to pursue their own agendas.

4. Some folks in the churches seemed to be incredibly arrogant; their whole demeanor spoke of their own sense of importance (4:6–10). There was little evidence in them of the repentant spirit that comes before Christ with nothing to offer and everything to receive

5. Some “believers” spoke unkindly about their brothers and sisters in Christ (4:11–12). Perhaps as James visited the churches, he met some who seemed to enjoy telling him about the deficiencies of other members of the congregation.

6. There were some visionaries who were so confident about their plans and strategies for the future that they showed little evidence of a daily dependence on God (4:13–16).

7. A few people in the churches failed to make good on the debts they owed (5:4). They withheld wages that should have been paid to workers in their businesses. They participated in worship, but they lacked financial integrity.

James had seen all these things in the churches he visited. They are all still with us today. James had observed people who believed the doctrines of the Christian faith, yet the basic orientation of their lives seemed to be exactly the same as the world. It centered around three words: I, me, and mine.

“FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS DEAD”

If you have traveled the Christian road for any length of time, you probably have met someone who feels alienated from the Christian faith because of the behavior of someone who claims to be a Christian.

That’s why the message of James’s letter is so important. James was deeply disturbed by what he had seen of people who professed faith but showed no evidence of a changed life. Having failed to understand God’s purpose of restoring His image and likeness to us, they had trivialized the Christian faith by reducing it to a set of beliefs.

These folks could affirm that they “believed in God the Father, maker of heaven and earth, and in His Son Jesus Christ … and in resurrection of the body and life everlasting,”[1] but what they believed made no discernible difference to the way that they lived. The result was that they became a religious version of what they had been before.

James wrote as a pastor who was deeply concerned about people who were confident about their spiritual health and yet had shown little evidence of spiritual life. He set out a simple message that we all need to hear:

Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. (2:17)

Faith without deeds is useless. (v. 20)

Faith without deeds is dead. (v. 26)

A set of beliefs that makes you a religious version of what you were before is useless to you and dangerous to everybody else. There is no saving power in a faith that does not lead to a changed life (v. 14).

TRUE FAITH BRINGS YOU TO CHRIST

True Christian faith brings a person to Jesus Christ. This is one of the most important points for us to grasp in communicating the gospel at the present time.

The world rightly objects to the notion that certain people will be saved just because they happen to believe the right things. After all, Muslims have certain beliefs, Hindus have different beliefs, and Buddhists are different again. Then there are the Christians and a host of others. “So how,” we are often asked, “can any sane person possibly think that one group will be saved just because they happen to have the ‘right’ beliefs?”

It is not faith that saves us; it is Christ who saves us.

The next time somebody challenges you with that question, tell the person he is absolutely right. We do not believe that faith has some magical or mystical power to save people. We do not believe that we are taken into heaven by certain beliefs.

Now you may be thinking, Wait a minute; doesn’t the Bible say we are justified by faith? Doesn’t it say, “Whosoever believes in Jesus will not perish but have everlasting life”? Yes. But it is not faith that saves us; it is Christ who saves us.

Faith is simply the way in which we come to Christ. It is the way you receive what Christ gives. It is like a hand opened to receive. “Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” Paul wrote (Romans 5:1 NASB, emphasis added). It’s not our faith that justifies, it is Christ in whom we have placed our faith who justifies. Faith is the way that we receive what He gives.

On one occasion, a notorious woman came to Jesus and poured perfume over His feet and wiped them with her hair. Jesus said to her, “Your faith has saved you.” But the reason her faith saved her was that her faith brought her to Christ!

It was the same with the men who brought their friend to Jesus, lowering the lame man through the roof. Their faith caused them to bring their friend to the feet of Jesus so that He could heal him.

Faith has no intrinsic saving power within itself. Faith simply brings us to the One who can save us. Faith, as it were, places us in the hands of the physician who can heal us.

THE LONG FLIGHT HOME

Think about Joy languishing in a small country hospital in southern Europe after her accident. She had no prospect of recovery and she did not have long to live. Then she was flown to England. The flight saved her life. But when we say that, we understand that it saved her in the sense that it brought her to the physician in the East Grinstead hospital who was able to treat her condition. The flight saved her only in the sense that it brought her to the doctor.

Faith is like the flight that brings us to Christ. But the reason I will enter heaven on the Last Day lies not in my faith. It lies in Christ. Faith is simply the way I come to Christ, who saves me.

The central claim of Christianity is not that we have a better set of beliefs. It is that Jesus Christ is able to do what nobody else who has ever lived can do. He can restore the image of God in you. He can reconstruct what sin has devastated in your life. He can rebuild your life. No one else can do that.

The doctor at East Grinstead Hospital could do what was impossible for the local hospital in southern Europe. I suppose someone might say that it was offensive to the local hospital to fly the patient to Britain, but would you have hesitated? If your body needed radical surgery, you would do all kinds of research on the abilities of different physicians. Then you would place yourself in the hands of one you trust with your life.

There is all the difference in the world between saying that you believe in Jesus, and signing yourself over to Him for radical spiritual surgery. James’s point is that simply holding certain beliefs about God is of no saving value whatsoever. The demons are all too well aware that God exists, and that His Son, Jesus Christ, was born of a virgin, and that He died on the cross and rose on the third day, and that He sent the Holy Spirit, and that He is coming again to judge the living and the dead. They know all that, and they tremble when they think about it (2:19)!

But one thing they will never do is come to Christ and say, “Lord Jesus, do Your surgery on me. Reconstruct my life in Your image. Deal with my selfishness and pride and reshape my life in Your image.” Faith is placing yourself in the hands of Christ to do whatever He has to do to restore the image and likeness of God in you.

Have you come to Christ in that way, or are you among those who have reduced Christianity to a set of beliefs but have never placed themselves in the hands of the Great Physician for major reconstructive surgery? A set of beliefs will never save you. True faith brings you to Christ.

CHRIST CHANGES ALL WHO COME TO HIM

When you place yourself in the hands of a surgeon, you sign release papers giving him or her the authority to do whatever is necessary to treat your condition. Faith places no restrictions on Christ. It says, “Do whatever You have to do to restore the image and likeness of God in me.”

Christ holds two wonderful gifts in His hands for all who will come to Him. In one hand, He holds the gift of forgiveness, purchased by His death on the cross. In the other hand, He holds the gift of a new life in the power of the Holy Spirit. He never gives the one without the other.

Christ will never forgive you without changing you. If you want to be forgiven, you have to embrace Christ. If you embrace Christ, you place yourself in His hands for radical surgery.

Saving faith means … coming to Christ believing that He can do it.

Joy was in the hospital for months. The surgeon’s work on her must have seemed unending. Most of it was very painful. But gradually, over time, her face was restored. Each time I saw her, she looked better than she did before. The image was being renewed, and there was an increasing beauty shining out from her.

When you place your life in the hands of the Great Physician, He will renew you in the image of your Creator (Colossians 3:10). The process takes a lifetime and it is often painful, but Christ will restore the image and likeness of God in you, and when you see Him, you will be like Him (1 John 3:2).

Jesus described what the reflected image of God looks like in a human life in one word: love. “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength’… [and] ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ ” (Mark 12:30–31).

A set of beliefs will not save you. Saving faith means seeing your need of radical restorative surgery and coming to Christ believing that He can do it. A person with faith places himself or herself in the hands of Christ with no restrictions.

When you do that, He will begin to work on you. The process will be long, slow, and sometimes painful. But it will change you, and over time, the reflected image and likeness of God will be increasingly seen in you.

TAKE A SPIRITUAL HEALTH CHECK

The Scriptures warn us against the dangers of presuming on our spiritual health. We are to examine ourselves to see whether we are in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5). We are to remember that if anyone says that he loves God “yet hates his brother, he is a liar” (1 John 4:20). The man or woman “who says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he [Christ] commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (2:4).

Nothing is more tragic than the blind and empty self-confidence of a person who is confident of his or her salvation while showing no evidence of spiritual life. Most sensible people go to the doctor for a checkup on a reasonably regular basis. You make an appointment because you want to make sure that everything is well. If something is wrong, you want to be in a position to do something about it before it gets serious.

If you do that with your body, why would you not do it with your soul?

Examine yourself in the light of the seven sins of the book of James, and where you find disease in your soul, place yourself in the hands of Christ. Ask Him to restore His beauty in you. Then, begin to look for ways to reflect the image of Christ in the brokenness of the world around you.

GOD’S ULTIMATE PURPOSE

Restoring the image and likeness of Christ is a lifelong process. Progress is the key. If you can examine yourself and not be aware of any shortcomings, that is probably a sign of spiritual blindness rather than spiritual health!

Discovering hidden sins that we had not seen before can be alarming, but it is a normal feature of the Christian journey. You will never get beyond it, so be patient, and don’t become discouraged. God deals with us gently and reveals our sins gradually. A growing sensitivity to our sins is a sign of spiritual growth.

God’s ultimate purpose is that His glory will be reflected in you.

During one of my visits with Joy over her long process of recovery, she told me that she looked in the mirror every day. She studied her face to see how it was being restored. She was often discouraged because she found it difficult to see any progress. The healing was so gradual that it was almost impossible to discern on a daily basis. Because I only visited periodically, I was able to see the change much more clearly. Her progress between each of my visits seemed remarkable. She didn’t seem so sure, but it was obvious to me.

The process of restoring the image of Christ takes a lifetime. The day we are discharged from the hospital will be the day we enter the presence of Christ in heaven. But while the progress is slow, it is also sure. “We, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

God’s ultimate purpose is that His glory will be reflected in you. That process is already begun in Christ, and when He returns, it will be complete. When we see Him, we will be like Him, and one of the great joys of heaven will be seeing the glory of God reflected in one another.

Are you ready to place yourself unconditionally in the hands of Jesus Christ, to do whatever is necessary, however painful, to restore the image of God in you?

UNLOCKED

Anyone who thinks that Christianity is a matter of adopting a set of beliefs that gives you a passport out of hell and into heaven has completely misunderstood the message of the Bible. God’s ultimate purpose is that you should reflect His glory, and He does this in Jesus Christ.

Faith is the way that we come to Christ and place ourselves in His hands so that He may restore the likeness of God in us. This is a lifelong and often painful process of change.

The evidence of true faith will be seen in changes of behavior. These changes will include compassion for the poor, control of the tongue, resolving conflict, and paying bills on time, to take just a few examples from James’s letter. Where there is true faith, the fruit of the Spirit will begin to grow. The growth may be gradual, but true faith always bears fruit in works because faith brings us to Christ, who receives us as we are but never leaves us as we were. A set of beliefs never saved anybody. Christ will save you; He will restore the image and likeness of God in you.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Almighty Father,

Thank You that my life is in the hands of Christ and that He will make me everything You created me to be. Thank You that everything lost through the destructive power of sin in the world will be restored and that all of Your people will reflect Your glory.

Help me to examine myself in the light of Your Word, and open my eyes to see where the surgery of Your Spirit is most needed in my life. Teach me to be patient through this long process of restoration, and give me a joyful spirit as I anticipate the completion of Your work in me, through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.

Note

1. These words are taken from the Apostles’ Creed.

18

Fellowship

1 JOHN 1

What does

fellowship with

God look like?

DISCOVER

the place of confession in the Christian life.

LEARN

the unmistakable evidence of walking with God.

WORSHIP

because you have fellowship with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.

MOVING toward the climax of our journey through the Bible story is like trekking through the Himalayas. You are surrounded by breathtaking snow-covered mountain peaks. You look at one and think that it is magnificent. Then you see another that is higher, and then another that is greater still.

We have seen many breathtaking peaks in the Bible story, but in this chapter we come to the highest of them all. John will show us the Mount Everest of Christian experience. “Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3). There is nothing greater or higher than this in all of the Bible story. Fellowship with God is our greatest privilege on earth, and it will be our highest joy in heaven.

This has been the theme of the Bible story from the beginning. God breathed into Adam. So in his first moment of conscious existence, Adam was staring into the face of God. God put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and He visited them there, taking on a visible form and walking with them in the garden. God was cultivating a relationship with them, and they had the opportunity of cultivating it too.

Fellowship is sharing a common life and a common purpose. It is “doing life together,” and in the garden, Adam and Eve “did life” with God.

We have followed the story of how sin broke this fellowship. Our first parents chose the knowledge of evil, and there is no place for evil in the presence of God. The man and the woman were alienated from God. Outside the garden, they no longer saw the face of God. He did not come to them or talk with them.

But the severed relationship was not the end of the story. From the day sin entered the world, God has been at work to bring men and women back into fellowship with Himself.

God gave His people two wonderful gifts that made this possible. First, God gave them the sacrifices. God is holy, and if sinful men and women were to have fellowship with Him, something would have to be done about sin. The sacrifices pointed toward what God would do by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to deliver us from sin’s condemnation. This is the negative side of our salvation; it is what we are saved from.

We are saved from our sins for a life of fellowship with God.

Then God gave His people the commandments. They represent the positive side of our salvation; what we are saved for. God saves us from sin in order to bring us into a life in which we love Him. We reflect that love by obeying Him as we honor our parents and remain faithful in marriage, truthful in speech, prompt in our payments, and content with what God has given to us. We are saved from our sins for a life of fellowship with God.

FINDING A TASTE FOR FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD

When God was giving these commandments to Moses at the top of Mount Sinai, His people rebelled and made a golden calf. This caused a breech in the relationship, and God said to the people that they could go up to Canaan, but His presence would not go with them.

God was offering them a life of freedom and prosperity in a land of abundance, and the only thing that would be missing would be the presence of God with them. But when God’s people heard this, they began to mourn. They were cut to the heart, because they had seen something of His glory and they could not face the thought of life without Him (Exodus 33:3–4).

They knew that even the freedom and abundance of life in Canaan could not satisfy the hunger in their souls if God were not with them.

So Moses went up the mountain and said to God, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here” (v. 15). If it came to a choice, they would rather have God without Canaan than Canaan without God.

Would you have made that choice?

Even in the Old Testament, God’s people understood that the greatest thing possible for a man or woman in this life and in eternity is to walk in fellowship with God. They had experienced His presence with them, and having tasted fellowship with God, they knew that they could never be satisfied without it.

Rediscovering a taste for fellowship with God is one of the greatest needs of our time. It is not unusual, in my experience, to hear testimonies of people who have professed faith in Christ that appear to amount to little more than a desire to avoid hell resulting in a decision to “accept Jesus.” The decision is announced with the smugness of a person who has just picked a winner at the races.

A. W. Tozer described our situation powerfully in these words:

The doctrine of justification by faith—a Biblical truth … has in our time fallen into evil company and been interpreted by many in such a manner as actually to bar men from the knowledge of God. The whole transaction of religious conversion has been made mechanical and spiritless. Faith may now be exercised without a jar to the moral life and without embarrassment to the Adamic ego. Christ may be “received” without creating any special love for Him in the soul of the receiver. The man is “saved,” but he is not hungry nor thirsty after God.[1]

Jesus defined eternal life as a relationship with God. If we asked a hundred people to complete the sentence, “This is eternal life …” many would say, “to be in heaven,” or “to never die.” But Jesus said, “This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3).

The whole purpose of the gospel is to bring us out of condemnation and into this fellowship with God. This has always been central to the purpose of God. If you do not have fellowship with God, you have missed what the Bible is all about.

THE DANGER OF BEING DECEIVED

It is clear from John’s letter that some folks in the early church were deceived over this whole matter. They claimed to have fellowship with God when they were walking in darkness (1 John 1:6). They lived a double life, and their claim was empty. Others genuinely thought they had fellowship with God, but they did not. John tells us that these folks had deceived themselves and the truth was not in them (v. 8).

Luke recorded the story of an occasion when Mary and Joseph visited the temple in Jerusalem. They made the journey from their home in Nazareth every year, and Jesus traveled with them.

No doubt the family were part of a larger group with many children, uncles, aunts, cousins, and friends. As they were returning from Jerusalem, they thought that Jesus was with them. Everybody made that assumption, but some way down the road they realized that He wasn’t there. He had remained at the temple where He was asking and answering questions.

It would be a terrible thing to go through life thinking that Jesus is with you, and to find on the Last Day that He never was. John makes it clear that this is an area in which some people are deceived. Jesus also spoke about this in the Sermon on the Mount: “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Matthew 7:22–23). Here are people who had exercised power and no doubt impressed many with their ministries, but knew nothing of fellowship with God. Jesus says that He does not know them.

It is hard to imagine anything more terrible than to be deceived over your own spiritual condition, and that is why John’s letter is so important. John explains how you can know that you have fellowship with God.

A GARDEN IN THE COUNTRY

Some years ago my parents bought a home in the Scottish countryside for their retirement. It sits on about two acres of land, and they are finding a great deal of pleasure in cultivating the garden.

When they bought the property, it was like a wasteland. In front of the house was an impenetrable swamp. At the back, a broken path lay crumbled and overgrown. The perimeter was unfenced, and animals would wander through, destroying the plants. The whole place lacked cultivation. It was a mess, but they loved it, and in their minds they saw what it could become; so they bought it.

Over the past ten years, they have taken pleasure in working toward their objectives of making the garden beautiful and productive. They have made many remarkable changes that have transformed the appearance of the garden. The swamp has been excavated and transformed into a large pond. The old path has been broken up and destroyed. A new lawn had to be prepared and sown. A perimeter fence has been put around the entire area to keep out rabbits and other animals that destroyed the vegetables. The evidence of the gardener at work can be clearly seen.

The transformation of this overgrown field into a beautiful garden has involved both a purchase and a process. They purchased the land because they wanted to make it beautiful. They paid a price for the land because they saw what it could become, and every year when we visit, we see the evidence of what has been done to bring their vision to reality.

John tells us about the flowers to be cultivated and the weeds to be pulled.

We were sitting looking out on the garden last summer, and I said, “This place looks magnificent. I can hardly believe what you have achieved here.”

“Oh, there’s still a lot to do,” my father responded. “A gardener’s work is never done.”

Think of your life like a garden. There are flowers to cultivate, and there are weeds to pull. The garden is a living thing; it is never static. The flowers and plants are always growing, and the work of pulling weeds is never done. The garden is always a work in process; it is never complete. But where the gardener is at work, the evidence can be clearly seen. John tells us about the flowers to be cultivated and the weeds to be pulled.

FLOWERS TO CULTIVATE

“God is light; in him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). It follows that if we are to have fellowship with God, we must walk in the light. John explains that this means pursuing obedience, growing in love, and holding to the truth.

If you look in the life of a person who is in fellowship with God, you will see these three flowers growing in his or her life. You may not see them everywhere, but they will be clearly planted, and they will be growing.

Obedience

We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. (2:3)

The first sign of an authentic relationship with God is that we obey His commands. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey what I command” (John 14:15). John makes the point even more clearly when he puts it in the negative.

“The man who says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:4). If obedience is growing, it is a sure and certain sign of the work of the Gardener, because this is what He cultivates in the lives that He owns. But if obedience is not growing, there is little reason to think that the garden belongs to God.

Love

Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. (2:10)

Loving your brother is the second evidence of walking in fellowship with God. Again, John makes the point even more clearly by putting it in the negative. “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness” (v. 9).

If love is not growing, there is little reason to think that the garden belongs to God. John talks about people who claim to have fellowship with God (1:6), but without love, the claim is empty. There may be a brightly colored neon sign saying, “This garden belongs to God,” but if you don’t see love growing there, you can be pretty sure that God is not the gardener.

Truth

If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.…Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. (4:15; 5:1)

Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. (2:22–23)

The clearest and most objective test of fellowship with God is a person’s response to Jesus Christ. Truth takes deep root where God is the Gardener, and the one sure evidence of God’s work in a person’s life will be their clear confession that Jesus is the Son of God. John makes it clear that a person who denies this truth does not have fellowship with God. He may think that he does, but he does not. The distinctive mark of a life under the ownership of God is a clear confession of faith in Jesus Christ, His Son.

Where God is at work in a person’s life, the flowers of obedience, love, and truth will all be clearly seen. God has no gardens in which these flowers do not grow. They are the indisputable evidence of the Gardener at work.

They may not be growing in every part of the garden, and they may not be flourishing at the beginning of the Christian life in the abundance that you may expect to see later on. But wherever the Gardener is at work, you will find them planted and growing. They are the seeds that God plants in every garden that He owns.

WEEDS TO PULL

It is very significant that immediately after John speaks about walking in the light, he says, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1:8). There are weeds as well as flowers in all of God’s gardens. No Christian is ever totally free from sin in this life, and John makes it clear that the person who thinks that his or her life is like a weed-free garden is deceived.

John identifies some of the weeds that need to be pulled when he writes about sinful cravings, the lust of the eyes, and boasting about what we have or do (see 1 John 2:16). These weeds can spread quickly, and their roots can go deep. If they are allowed to continue growing, they will destroy the garden of your life.

One of the clear evidences of a person coming into the light is that they are able to identify their sins more clearly, and so they become intentional about weeding them out.

My folks have been working their garden for years, and they are still pulling weeds. The weeds are not the same sort as they were pulling at the beginning, but the work of pulling weeds never ends. Some weeds grow because a root remains in the ground. Others grow because seed has blown in from the fields. The weeds are a constant challenge, and if they are left, they will quickly take over the garden and choke the flowers.

Walking in fellowship with God does not mean that everything in your life is as it ought to be, but that you are intentional about identifying the sins in your life and pulling them out. When we walk in the light, we begin to see sins that previously were hidden in the darkness, and when we see them, we are able to confess them to God.

The mark of those who walk with God is not that they are without sin but that they make it their business to confess sin. If you feel that you have no sins to confess, it may be a sign that you are walking in darkness and you are deceived about your spiritual condition. A person who can’t identify weeds won’t make much of a gardener. When you see the weeds in your life, you will discover how much you need the Master Gardener.

That was Ray’s story. He came to our church some years ago because his children were involved in the youth program. He began to study the Bible in a small group, but there was one thing that he just couldn’t get: He couldn’t see that he was a sinner. Ray had lived a good life. He didn’t cheat on his wife, or on the government. He had a code of ethics, and so he found it difficult to see how he could possibly be a sinner.

Then one day, on the train going to work in the city, Ray said to God, “All right, Lord, if You say that I am a sinner, I’m a sinner, and I want Jesus Christ as my Savior.” As soon as he came to that point, it was as if his mind opened. As he believed what God had said, God showed Ray the sinner he was. He saw his sin, more than he wanted to. Things long forgotten came back to his memory, and he began to see jealousy, envy, and pride for what they are. That was the turning point for Ray. Once he saw his need of a Savior, it was easy to turn his life over to Christ.

THE SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE OF CONFESSION

God calls us to a life of repentance, not to a one-time act. The Scriptures speak to believers about confessing our sins in the present tense. The apostle John does not say, “If we confessed our sins …” as if he were referring to something that may have happened twenty-five years ago, but “If we confess our sins.”

Identifying and confessing our sins to God is a normal part of the Christian life. The defining marks of a man or woman who has fellowship with God is that obedience, love, and truth are being cultivated in his or her life, and that the weeds of sin are regularly being pulled as they are confessed to God.

The ability to identify our sins and confess them to God is one of the most important keys to growing in fellowship with Him. My mother has a sharp eye for weeds in the garden. She knows a weed as soon as she sees one and is quick to spot them growing among the plants. Often as she walks up the path in the garden, she will stop and say, “That’s a weed,” and pull it.

That’s the skill we need to develop in our Christian lives. We must learn to identify our sins so that they can be pulled. Ask for God’s light to shine into your life so that you may see what He sees. Like the gardener identifying the weeds, each of us must develop the art of examining our own life and naming our sins. “That’s pride.…That’s greed.…That’s selfishness.…That’s hardness of heart.…That’s disloyalty … That’s a lie.…That was stealing.”

A man who walks in fellowship with God … sees his own sins and confesses them.

John is not just talking about confessing sin in a general sense. He is talking about identifying specific sins. You and I must look to see where the weeds are today, and we must identify them so that they can be pulled.

We do not need to be afraid of confessing our sins, because God is “faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1:9). The word faithful reminds us that there will never be a time when God refuses to forgive a sin that you confess to Him, and the word just reminds us that God’s forgiveness is not arbitrary. God forgives on the basis of the death of Jesus Christ at Calvary. His sacrifice means that forgiving sins is the right thing for God to do.

John does not mean that God will only forgive sins that are individually confessed. None of us could ever hope to itemize all of our sins. John’s point is that the evidence of a man who walks in fellowship with God is that he is not in denial about his sin. He sees his own sins and confesses them.

Surprisingly, some church people make a great deal of effort to explain how good they are. A lady with whom I spoke recently spent twenty minutes explaining what a good person she is. I’m still not sure why she wanted to do that, but I suspect that she was in denial about her sin and dead scared of facing even the possibility.

Many people carry the deep-seated idea that if God knew what they were really like, He would blitz them out of existence. But God already knows everything about you, and He loves you as you are. This is why He sent His Son into the world. The Cross makes it possible for men and women to come out of this denial and to come before God honestly saying, “You know what I am; make me what You want me to be.” That’s the most liberating experience in the world.

THE PERFECTIONIST’S PROBLEM

Perfectionists usually find it difficult to grasp this wonderful truth. Friends of ours recently moved to a new home that needs remodeling. It is larger than their previous home, and when they moved, I commented on the opportunity they would have to entertain guests in their new home. “Oh, it will be years before we are in a position to have guests,” they said. They had decided that it would be inappropriate to invite anybody into their home until it was exactly as they wanted it to be.

That’s the mentality some folks have toward fellowship with God. They feel that they can’t know fellowship with God until everything in their lives is as they want it to be. They are working on preparing an impressive display for God, and of course they never get there.

You don’t have to be perfect before you can have fellowship with God. This is one of the most liberating truths in the whole of the Bible, and it lies at the heart of the gospel. God does not say to us, “Make the garden of your life beautiful and then I will make it Mine.” He says, “I will make the garden of your life Mine, so that I may make it beautiful.” God works in imperfect lives. He takes on lives that are like overgrown, ugly fields and makes them beautiful.

UNLOCKED

God is ready to enter your life regardless of its present condition. But when He takes ownership of a life, He always does two things: He plants the flowers of obedience, love, and truth, and He starts pulling the weeds of sin. These are the marks of walking in fellowship with God.

The evidence that God is the Gardener of your life is that the flowers are being cultivated and the weeds are being pulled. This is how you know that the garden belongs to God.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Gracious Father,

Take my life and make it fruitful and productive. Help me to cultivate the flowers of obedience, love, and truth, and open my eyes so that I may become skilled in spotting the weeds of sin and pulling them up. Give me patience and perseverance as You continue Your work in my life. May the beauty of Jesus Christ be seen in my life. I ask this in His name. Amen.

Note

1. A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God (Camp Hill, Pa.: Christian Publications, 1948), 12–13.

19

Lamb

REVELATION 4–5

Who can

take God’s

purpose from

vision to reality?

DISCOVER

the gospel in pictures.

LEARN

why Christ is the center of heaven’s worship.

WORSHIP

with the host of heaven around the throne of the Lamb of God.

IMAGINE that you are flown by helicopter to a remote group of tribal people. Your task is to describe electricity to them. Your problem is that they live in a Stone Age culture.[1] They have never seen wires, let alone appliances, and you have to find a way of describing something that is beyond the range of anything they have experienced or imagined. Where would you begin?

You can’t talk to these people about volts, amps, or ohms, and if you did, you would completely fail to communicate. So you look for some points of connection in their world and use them as pictures to try and communicate what would otherwise be completely beyond their range of comprehension.

They know nothing about wires, but they are familiar with vines, and so you attempt to describe electrical cables by speaking about vines that join together and come to your house. They cannot understand the power of current, but they are familiar with the power of spirits, so you describe electricity by saying that it is a power like a spirit flowing down the vines. Finally, you try to describe an electric bulb by saying that the vines are joined to a light that is like a small star in your house, so that there may be light in your home even when it is dark outside.

Obviously electricity is not a spirit, wires are not made of wood, and a light bulb is not a star, but using pictures and analogies like these is the only way you can communicate something which otherwise would remain completely beyond their frame of reference.

God uses many images to communicate with us in the book of Revelation. This is not because God is making it difficult for us to understand, but because the pictures are the only way in which we can grasp at least some sense of the glory of heavenly things. The only alternative would be for God to tell us nothing at all.

The book of Revelation is marvelous for visual learners. It gives us the gospel in pictures and uses multiple images to communicate truth. Often, one image is layered on top of another. For example, we are told about beasts covered with eyes (Revelation 4:6). Then we are told that one of these creatures was like a lion. Did you ever see a lion covered with eyes?

I once saw the work of a man who attempted to draw this. It was grotesque and completely missed the point. What John saw was probably more like a modern video where one image after another flashes before you. No one image can convey the glory of heaven, so they are layered one on top of another.

A DRAMA IN THREE LOCATIONS

The book of Revelation is like a great drama played out on three locations: the church, the world, and heaven. The opening chapters contain seven letters of counsel to churches. The letters are not very encouraging. The churches were a very long way from being perfect, and they were struggling under great pressure.

Then chapters eight to eighteen describe events that will take place on earth. These chapters are not very encouraging either. They describe terrible tribulations that will come on the world, a progressive unleashing of the power of evil in the last days before the final triumph of Jesus Christ. So a large part of this book is taken up with the pain of the church and the plight of the world. If that is all you see, you will be desperately discouraged. The tide of evil often seems very strong and the church seems very weak.

The apostle John was well aware of this. He had given leadership to several churches in Asia Minor and was now imprisoned for his faith on the island of Patmos. It couldn’t have been easy for John to hear what Christ had to say about the churches John had led. Imagine if you had served in several churches through your lifetime and Christ said that one had left its first love, another was asleep, and another was neither hot nor cold and that Christ was about to spit that church out of His mouth! (See Revelation 2:4; 3:2–3, 15–16.)

It couldn’t have been easy for John to hear about the tribulations that would come in the world either. In prison on the island of Patmos, John must have felt that there was enough tribulation going on already.

Many Christians have become discouraged because they see what is happening (or not happening) in the church and what is going on in the world, but they do not see what is happening in heaven. That’s why our focus in these final two chapters will be on the glimpses we are given in Revelation of heaven. When you see what is happening in heaven, it will change your whole perspective about what is happening on earth and in the church.

A GLIMPSE OF HEAVEN

The Throne

After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. (4:1–2, EMPHASIS ADDED)

There is no point of reference for God’s throne. It is not under a tree or beside a bush. It has no height, depth, breadth, or length, no beginning or end. It is just there.

When John saw heaven opened, he was confronted not by mansions or by streets of gold, but by a throne. Everything else in heaven takes its point of reference from this throne. We are told about things around, in front of, or encircling the throne, but everything in heaven finds its place with reference to the throne of God.

John saw someone sitting on the throne. We have noticed several times in our journey through the Bible story that when men were given a vision of God, they could only describe the brightness of the glory of His presence. It was the same for John. He says, “The one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian” (v. 3). Jasper was a clear-colored precious stone, so we might describe what he saw as a diamond. Carnelian was red in color, so we might have called it a ruby.

The throne of God is breathtaking in its beauty and awesome in its power.

Precious stones reflect a whole spectrum of color. John saw a dazzling display of brilliant light as it would be reflected in sparkling jewels. He saw a kaleidoscope of brilliant light. Think of a laser light show, and you will get the picture.

Around the throne there was a rainbow; not like the half-circle rainbow that is familiar to us, but a whole circle framing the throne in even more colors of dazzling light (v. 3). The throne of God is breathtaking in its beauty and awesome in its power.

The apostle Paul explained that God “lives in unapproachable light,” and that no one has seen Him or can see Him (1 Timothy 6:16). God “wraps himself in light as with a garment” (Psalm 104:2). So it should not surprise us that when John saw the One who sits on the throne of the universe, all he was able to glimpse was the sparkling radiance of brilliant and unapproachable light.

Immortal, invisible, God only wise, In light inaccessible hid from our eyes.[2]

Surrounding the throne were twenty-four elders. “They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads” (Revelation 4:4). The title “elders” might lead us to think they were men, but it is more likely that they were angels. Later we find them speaking about how the Lamb purchased men from God. These elders distinguish themselves from the human beings, so it is best to regard them as the highest order of the angelic creation.

The twenty-four elders guard the throne of God, just as the cherubim guarded the entrance to the Garden of Eden. They are like an entourage or retinue who attend to royalty. The Bible speaks of a host of attendants who surround the throne of God and do His bidding (Psalm 89:6–7; 1 Kings 22:19), and in his vision John saw the highest of these dressed in white with crowns on their heads. The crowns do not speak of some separate authority that they hold because they lay their crowns before the throne (Revelation 4:10), indicating that the source of all authority and power comes from God alone.

Thunder and Lightning

From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. (v. 5)

Suddenly, this glorious scene became quite terrifying. The beautiful and awesome light that radiated from the throne of God was the source of a terrifying thunderstorm. When God came down to Mount Sinai, the mountain was burning with fire, and even Moses trembled with fear (Hebrews 12:21). John saw something similar here. The laser lights radiating from the throne had dazzled his eyes, and the thunder and lightning must have filled him with fear.

He … glimpsed the brilliant light … of the One who is awesome beyond description.

Between John and the awesome throne in the distance was “what looked like a sea of glass” (Revelation 4:6). John would immediately have thought about God’s people standing beside the Red Sea after their escape from Egypt. It took a miracle to get them from where they were to where they wanted to go. God parted the waters of the Red Sea, and they walked through on dry ground.

Now John saw that if men and women were to come into the presence of God, it would take another miracle, greater even than the parting of the Red Sea. There would have to be a new exodus, another parting of the waters before sinful men and women could come back into the presence of God.

Then John saw four living creatures, who seemed to be even nearer to the throne of God than the twenty-four elders. Like the seraphs in Isaiah’s vision (Isaiah 6:1–3), they covered their eyes with their wings, and they never stopped saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come” (Revelation 4:6–8).

This was John’s first glimpse of heaven. He saw the throne in heaven and glimpsed the brilliant light of the presence of the One who is awesome beyond description.

The Scroll

Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. (5:1)

Scrolls were made of papyrus strips laid horizontally like lines on a page. They were joined together by other strips on the back that ran vertically, and when the whole thing was glued together, you had a sheet of papyrus. These sheets were joined together into a scroll. Two sticks were attached to the ends, and the scroll was rolled up from both ends and sealed with blobs of wax in the middle.

Normally you would write only on the inside of a scroll where the strips were horizontal. It would not be easy to write on the vertical strips on the outside; but if, for example, it was important to have all of the information relating to a legal transaction in one place, you could use both sides.

The scroll that was written on both sides is a picture of everything that God has planned for the world. God holds this one scroll in His hand. There is nothing else to be written beyond this. The entire purposes of God are contained here.

All the way through the Bible story, God has promised to destroy evil and to restore men and women into His presence. This is the whole purpose of God. But notice that this purpose of God was sealed. In the ancient world, a will was sealed with wax until the one who wrote it died. Then the seals would be slit, and the person who opened the seal would execute the will.

John saw the plan of God for His creation, but it was sealed with seven seals. The will of God had been declared but not yet executed. It was written but had not yet been brought into effect.

Then a mighty angel issued a challenge to John and the whole universe: “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” (v. 2).

In order to open the scroll, a person would have to cross the sea of glass. He or she would have to withstand the thunder and lightning that radiated from the throne, and approach the blinding brilliance of the throne of God. Then, having taken the scroll from the hand of God, the person would need the authority to put everything that God has planned into practice.

No one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll. (v. 3)

Who can execute the will of God and bring its purpose into effect? John tells us that “no one in heaven” could do it. This was beyond the ability of the cherubim or the seraphim. “No one … on earth” could do it. John knew there was no way he could come close. And “no one … under the earth” could do it. “Under the earth” is a quaint way of referring to people who are dead. Abraham could not have done this, nor could Moses or David, or Isaiah or Mohammed or Krishna or Buddha or any other religious leader from any period of human history.

No one in heaven, on earth, or under the earth was in a position to effect the purpose of God to destroy evil and restore men and women to His presence.

When John saw that no one could bring the purpose of God to pass, he wept (v. 4). You may have felt the same sorrow over this world, because it is so far from what God purposes it to be, and there may be times in our personal lives when we feel the same pain. Physical weakness, personal loss, or the ongoing grind of temptation can leave us longing to see the final purposes of God opened and God’s will brought into effect. The angel’s question is the greatest question of human history, and it takes us to the heart of the Bible story.

The Lamb

Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. (vv. 5–6)

Now one of the elders introduces the One who is able to bring the purpose of God into effect in the world. He is described first as a lion and then as a lamb. The best way to understand this is to look at a hologram. You probably have one on your credit card, and if you move the card in the light, you will see different three-dimensional images emerging. No one image is sufficient to describe the glory of the One who emerges from the throne of God.

This Person, who now becomes the focus of the whole vision, emerges from the throne. He comes out from the dazzling light. His origin is not with us, on this side of the sea of glass. He comes from the inscrutable light of the throne.

He is described as “the Lion of the tribe of Judah.” Although He emerges from the throne of God, He is identified with a human tribe. Then the elder tells John, “He has triumphed.” It appears that He had engaged in some kind of struggle. The nature of that struggle is reflected in the fact that this Person was also depicted as a Lamb with its throat cut.

A slaughtered lamb spoke of sacrifice, and so the elder was showing John in this montage of pictures that the One who emerged from the throne of God and entered human history as a Jew engaged in a struggle in which He laid down His life as a sacrifice.

The Lamb bears the marks of death, but He is very much alive and stands triumphant in the presence of God. The lamb has seven horns, the symbol of perfect power, and seven eyes, a picture of complete knowledge. John watched as He approached the throne of God.

THE WORSHIP OF HEAVEN

When Heaven Erupts with Worship

He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. (v. 7)

This Person emerged from the throne of God. He came across the sea of glass and took His place among men and women as the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He engaged in a great struggle in which He laid down His life, but He emerged victorious, and now He does what no other person in heaven or on earth or under the earth could do: He crosses the sea of glass, approaches the throne of God, from where He came, and takes the scroll from the hand of the Almighty.

When He does, the whole of heaven erupts in worship.

And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb.…And they sang a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” (vv. 8–10)

The old song of worship (recorded in Revelation 4:11) focused on the glory of God’s handiwork in creation. But the new song is all about the work of Jesus Christ in redemption. Christ is able to open the seals and execute the will of God because of His death and resurrection. Through His sacrifice and victory, all the purposes of God will be fulfilled.

This is already happening as Christ brings people from every tribe and language and people and nation. He makes them one in His kingdom, and He brings them across the sea of glass and past the terrifying thunder and lightning so that they may approach the throne of God and live in His presence.

This is why later in Revelation we read that there is no more sea (21:1). For those who are purchased by Christ’s blood, there is no longer any thunder and lightning coming from the throne of God, and nothing to separate them from His presence.

John saw … a renewed creation, … united in harmony and in worship.

Praises of Angels … and All Creation

The praise doesn’t end with the living creatures and the elders; it is taken up by a vast company of angels. John wrote, “Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand” (5:11). That’s over a hundred million, but the main point seems to be that it is more than anyone could hope to count!

In a loud voice they cry out, “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain” (v. 12).

Angels had filled the sky with worship when He took flesh and was born into the world. Now as they see what He has achieved in His death and resurrection, they cannot restrain their praise. He is “worthy,” they say, “to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise” (v. 12).

But the praise extends even beyond the angels. John saw a day when a renewed creation, no longer red in tooth and claw, will be united in harmony and in worship.

I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” (v.13)

The old order of things has passed away. All things have become new. This world that has been so long under the curse is at last set free, and the whole creation rejoices because the curse is removed.

John was languishing in prison on Patmos because of his testimony to Jesus. But a day would come when no one would resist the rule of Christ. The old order of things that has resisted Him for so long will pass away, and God will make everything new.

The seals have not yet been broken. Christ has not yet come in power and glory to destroy His enemies and take His power to reign. But the scroll is in His hand and so the future is secure. Every one of God’s purposes will be accomplished through Him.

UNLOCKED

It does not take much intelligence to discover that the world in which we live is far from the way God made it and from what God purposes it to be. The Bible is full of promises of a better world, and the central question of history is, “Who can bring them to reality?” History has given up many visionaries, both religious and secular, who have dreamed of or promised a better world, but the promise remains to be fulfilled.

Jesus Christ will fulfill God’s promise. He stands apart from any other person who has ever lived and is uniquely qualified to take the scroll of the purposes of God and bring them into effect. He is able to do this by virtue of His death and resurrection, and He is already advancing His work as He gathers a kingdom of people from every nation. All human history is leading up to the day when He will return in glory and take His people into the presence of God. Then He will deal with evil, and finally, He will establish a new heaven and a new earth, in which God will be glorified as His people enjoy Him forever.

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Almighty Father,

You are enthroned in splendor and surrounded in glory. The eternal light of Your presence is too bright, and Your awesome judgments too great for me to draw near to You.

Thank You for opening the way for me to come across that sea of glass into Your presence in faith and prayer, and one day to enter Your glorious presence and stand before You, through Jesus Christ my Lord. In worship and awe, I bow before Your throne in worship and glorify You in exalting the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ. He is worthy of all glory, honor, and praise.

Thank You that Your eternal purpose to overthrow evil and restore men and women to live in the blessing of Your presence will be accomplished through Jesus Christ. Help me to live in the confident expectation of the day when He will return in glory and bring me, with all Your children, across into the awesome glory of Your presence.

Notes

1. I owe this analogy to Don Carson. See From Triumphalism to Maturity (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1984), 139.

2. Walter Chalmers Smith, “Immortal, Invisible,” from verse 1.

20

City

REVELATION 21–22

Where will I

spend eternity?

DISCOVER

the joys of God’s new heaven and earth.

LEARN

how you can be part of God’s ultimate purpose.

WORSHIP

because God will make all things new.

Think about the way a pearl necklace hangs from a woman’s neck. It falls and then it rises so that the first and last pearls in the string sit next to each other, divided only by the clasp. When the clasp is undone and the necklace is stretched out, the first and last pearls seem far apart, but when they are joined by the clasp, they are brought closely together.

The Bible story begins in a garden, ends in a city, and all the way through points us to Jesus Christ. The garden and the city may seem a long way apart. But like the pearls on a necklace, God has brought them remarkably close together.

The Bible begins with God creating the heavens and the earth. It will end with God creating a new heaven and a new earth, where His people will enjoy life as they always dreamed it might be but never imagined it could be. This is the magnificent sweep of the Bible story.

A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. (REVELATION 21:1)

We can easily understand why God would make a new earth, but why would God make a new heaven?

Before there was ever rebellion on earth, there was rebellion in heaven. Satan wanted to ascend to the throne of God, and he was cast out of heaven. In the story of Job, we saw that the angels had to listen as Satan blasphemed the name of God, suggesting that a man could not love God for His own sake, but only because of the good gifts that He gave. So it is clear that the possibility of evil existed both on the earth and in heaven.

But now John saw that evil had been consigned to destruction forever, and that God had shaped a new heaven and a new earth, free not only from the presence of evil but even from its possibility.

John saw that the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Human history as we know it had been brought to a close, and those whom God had redeemed from every generation and culture waited to see what God had prepared for them.

John noticed that “there was no longer any sea” (v. 1). We saw in the last chapter that the sea speaks of all that separates man from God. That’s gone. In the book of Revelation, the sea also gives rise to the evil monsters who have stalked human history. They are all gone too.

Then John says that he saw a “new earth.” These two words are highly significant. “New” means that it will be wonderfully different. “Earth” means that it will be strangely familiar. The destiny of the Christian believer is not a dreamlike existence in an imaginary world. God will reshape, re-create, replenish, and renew the whole earth. The apostle Paul said, “The creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).

The Resurrection teaches the same truth about ourselves. We will have new bodies. The resurrection body will be different in that it will not be subject to aging, sickness, or death. But it will be a body, enabling us to live on the new earth that will be the home of righteousness.

The joys of the new heaven and earth are beyond anything that we can imagine, but God uses three wonderful pictures to give us at least some inkling of what lies ahead for His people. They are the city, the bride, and the garden.

JERUSALEM, JERUSALEM

I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. (v. 2)

At this point in the story, the cities of world history have all been laid bare in the fervent heat of God’s judgment. London, Chicago, Jerusalem, Cairo, Peking, Moscow, Baghdad, Bangkok, and Calcutta are all gone! The earth has been laid bare. (See Hebrews 1:10–12, 2 Peter 3:10.)

Now John saw a city coming down from heaven. As he looked at its radiance and brightness, he recognized its outlines, just as you would recognize the skyline of Chicago or New York in a picture. Jerusalem! It was unmistakably familiar to him.

John knew the city of Jerusalem well. He had looked over it from the Mount of Olives many times. He had been there when Christ had wept over the city, and when Jesus had been driven outside its walls to be crucified, and when the Holy Spirit came on the first believers. Now he saw the city again, familiar and yet strangely new.

Jerusalem is full of significance in the Bible story. God told His people that they were not to worship at any place of their choosing. God would choose the place, and He would put His name there (Deuteronomy 12:5–7). Then God would come to this place and meet with His people.

In the course of time, King David discerned that Jerusalem was the place, and so he brought the ark of the Covenant, which had been the place where God met with the people on their travels in the desert into the city. Later, David’s son Solomon built a temple in the city, and the ark was brought to the Most Holy Place at the center of that temple. The cloud of God’s glory came down and filled the temple. Jerusalem was the place where God would come down and meet with His people. But the access was limited to the high priest, who would come into the Most Holy Place as the people’s representative once a year.

Taking the Measurements

The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. (21:15–16)

The new city of Jerusalem is vast: twelve thousand stadia. That’s about one thousand four hundred miles, or about the distance from New York to Houston—and it’s that distance square! The area covered would be about three-quarters the size of America or five times the size of Great Britain. It is overwhelming.

John has already seen that God’s redeemed people are more than anyone could number. God has a place for every one of His people.

God’s Holy Place

Notice that the measurements are not just length and breadth but also height. This is a city in three dimensions, and it is as high as it is broad and long. In other words, it is a perfect cube.

John would have seen the significance of this immediately. When Solomon built his temple, the ark was brought into the Most Holy Place, where the cloud of God’s immediate presence came down. When the Most Holy Place was built, it was constructed in a perfect cube, thirty feet long, thirty feet wide, and thirty feet high (1 Kings 6:20). The old Jerusalem had a holy place, where the presence of God came down. The New Jerusalem is a holy place, where God’s presence will remain.

In the old Jerusalem, one room was filled with His glory. In the New Jerusalem, the whole city will be filled with His glory. That is why there is no temple (Revelation 21:22). The whole place is one massive temple, filled with the glory of God’s presence. The whole place has become holy, and a vast crowd of men and women, more than anyone could number, are able to live in the light of God’s presence. That’s why a loud voice comes from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men” (v. 3).

John has seen the dazzling brilliant light of the presence of the invisible God on the throne. But now that throne has come down into this city. All of God’s people have access to Him, and they live in the light of His glory. That’s why there is no need for the sun and why there is no night (vv. 23–25).

The Old Testament story ended with a curse, but at the end of the New Testament, the curse is undone. “No longer will there be any curse” (22:3). The old order of things has passed away, and God has made everything new.

THE BRIDE AND THE PROSTITUTE

I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. (2 1: 2)

No one picture is sufficient to convey the glory of what God has in store for His people. What John saw must have been like a hologram in which one image changes to another.

The city speaks of a vast community of people in the presence of God. But you can be lost in a city, and so God gives us the more intimate and personal picture of a bride. You will never be lost in a crowd in the New Jerusalem. You will know Christ, and you will walk with Him.

The book of Revelation is like the tale of two cities, and both of them are represented in John’s vision by women. Earlier, John saw the city of Babylon (Revelation 18), another manifestation of the old Tower of Babel, reminding us that throughout human history right up to the end of time man has continued in his defiance of God. That city was represented by the image of a prostitute. Now John saw the New Jerusalem, and this city is represented by the image of a bride.

There is all the difference in the world. The prostitute sells herself; the bride gives herself. The prostitute is motivated by greed; the bride is motivated by love.

The two cities remind us that the world is divided between those who trade their lives for the things of this world and those who give themselves freely to the Lord who loves them. Picture the shocking contrast between these two women projected simultaneously onto a split screen. The prostitute sits on a garbage heap, destitute and filthy. Unclean birds fly around her head, and her soul has become a haunt for evil spirits (Revelation 18:2–3). She has memories of heady days when she was the desire of the rich and famous men, but nobody wants her now.

At the same moment, another woman is about to begin her procession. She is dressed in white, and her face is radiant. Ahead of her waits One who loves her more than words can tell. The bride of Christ now steps forward to the sound of trumpets. She knows that this is the moment of her destiny.

The bride and the prostitute give us a picture of the eternal destiny of every person who has ever lived. Your eternal destiny will either be one of delight or of desolation. It will either be everlasting love or everlasting loss. There is nothing in between.

PARADISE RESTORED

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. (22:1–2)

Up to this point in the vision, John had viewed the New Jerusalem from the outside. But now he was invited to come inside. As he entered, the picture changed again, and—no doubt to his absolute astonishment—John saw a garden!

John must have gasped as he realized the significance of what he was seeing. The Bible story began in a garden. There was a river in that garden, and trees. One of them was the Tree of Life. As John entered the city in his vision, he would have seen what it was immediately. Paradise restored!

This new paradise is even more glorious than the one Adam lost. At the beginning of the Bible story, we discovered four gifts that made the lives of our first parents rich in Eden. Now, at the end, the same gifts are restored and surpassed in God’s new garden city. God’s people (1) enter the paradise He has created for them, and there they begin a life in which they (2) fulfill the purpose for which they were made, (3) enjoy the relationships God has given, and (4) live in the glorious presence of the Lord.

Let’s briefly consider the joys of this new paradise.

1. Tasting a Better Life

When you compare the new garden with the old Eden, the most significant difference is the tree that is missing. There is no Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in God’s new garden city. Evil can no longer be known there. This garden is free not only from its presence but even from its possibility.

In the old Eden, the man and the woman were not able to eat from the Tree of Life. But now there is free access to the Tree of Life. The Tree of Life bears twelve different crops of fruit, ready to pick every month. Winter never comes. The variety of fruit speaks of the riches of life continually replenished in the presence of God. Eternity will never be dull.

The greatest joys of this life are like pointers to the greater delights of God’s new creation. The pleasures of God’s new garden city will surpass anything Adam knew in the Garden of Eden. You will taste fruits Adam never tasted and enjoy pleasures Adam never knew.

2. Fulfilling God’s Original Mandate

His servants will serve him.…They will reign for ever and ever. (22:3, 5)

In the first garden, Adam served God by ruling, or reigning, over the animal kingdom. The animals came to Adam to be named. He stood in authority over them. But when the Serpent came, he did not maintain his rule. Along with his wife, he became subject to the lies of the Serpent, and that’s been the human story ever since. But now God’s people are restored to a position of serving and reigning. Thankfully, this does not mean that we will all have jobs in government administration! That does not seem to me to be an attractive view of the future.

When John described our reigning “for ever and ever,” he was telling us that life will be ordered and brought under your control. You will no longer be subject to the tyranny of time, piles of paperwork, and all that goes with them. You will no longer be swept away by unpredictable tides of emotion or impulses of the will or deceptions of the mind. You will no longer endure dysfunctional relationships. Every relationship will be all that it can be, and you will no longer be subject to danger or death.

Your life will be ordered, your work fulfilled, and your relationships whole. Life itself will be brought under your control, and you will be free to fulfill all the purposes of God.

3. Living in a Reconciled Community

It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west.…

On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. (21:12–13, 25–26)

John saw twelve entrances to the new garden city. The gates faced north, south, east, and west in equal number. People were coming into the city from every direction. There will be people from China in the East, Russia in the North, Africa in the South, Europe and America in the West.

The old Eden was enjoyed by just one man and one woman, but now a great crowd that no one can number were streaming in through the gates to this new paradise of God. God has redeemed these people out of the tragedies and agonies of human history and brought them into greater joy than could ever otherwise have been known.

4. Enjoying the Presence of the Lord

No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face. (22:3–4)

Not even Moses was given the privilege of seeing the face of God. All he saw was the afterglow as the glory of God passed by. He caught a glimpse of the trail of the glory of God (Exodus 33:18–23). It was impossible to see the Lord and live. Even John the apostle found the dazzling light of the throne of God to be overwhelmingly awesome. But now, God’s people are brought to the position where they are able to live in His presence. They will see His face.

God’s presence in this city is its greatest blessing. In the Garden of Eden, God would come down and make Himself known at certain times. He walked with the man and the woman in the cool of the day. God came into the garden as a visitor. He did not want to impose Himself on the man and the woman, but to give them the opportunity of choosing a relationship of faith and obedience with Him. So He came and walked with them, cultivating that relationship.

But now God has gathered a vast community of people whose minds have been illuminated by His truth and whose hearts have been melted at the cross of Jesus. Their wills have been directed by the power of the Holy Spirit, and they have come to love God freely. So God is no longer a visitor. God’s throne comes down into the city so that God’s people may live in His presence and enjoy Him forever. The Lord announces this with a note of triumph: “Now the dwelling of God is with men” (Revelation 21:3).

THE ULTIMATE BLESSING

Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. (22:14)

When John heard these words, he was languishing in prison. He was a lonely old man, and his horizons were bleak. This world held little for him.

Then God opened up a wonderful glimpse of heaven, and at the end of it, He reminded John that he was truly blessed. God was saying to the apostle and to us, “You are blessed because you have been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ. You are blessed because you have the right to the Tree of Life. You are blessed because one day the pain you know right now will be behind you and you will go through the gates and enter into the city where there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, and God will wipe every tear from your eyes.” If you belong to Christ, this is your destiny, and you are blessed. That is something to remember on the hardest days of your life.

PHOTOGRAPHS AND MEMORIES

I’m grateful that my wife, Karen, enjoys putting photograph albums together. They are a wonderful record of our lives. We experience life in different places at different moments of time. When I look through the photograph album, I remember, “Yes, I was there then.” As you read the end of this book, you are in a particular place at a moment in time. You know yourself to be here, now.

The moment will come when you will know yourself to be there. And when you are there, you will be there forever.

UNLOCKED

The question of where you will spend eternity is more important than any other issue you will face. The whole of the Bible story is about how God has opened the way into everlasting life through Jesus Christ for all who will come to Him in repentance and faith. The Bible story ends with the greatest invitation you will ever receive:

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. (v. 17)

The marvelous thing about John’s vision of the city is that all its gates are open. John saw an angel at each gate (21:12), reminding us, of course, of the beginning of the Bible story where the cherubim and a flaming sword guarded the entrance to the Tree of Life. There was no way back into the presence of God.

But now Jesus Christ has come, and the sword of God’s judgment has been broken on Him. Now the angels stand by the gates not to forbid entrance but to provide a welcome for all who will come.

The Spirit and the bride invite you to come. The bride is the church. If you have not yet come to faith in Jesus Christ, it is more than likely that there is a Christian somewhere who has been praying and longing that you will do so. It is my privilege to speak for the bride, and I invite you to come.

The Lord Jesus Christ has come into the world for you. He has gone to the cross and opened up the way to everlasting life. He offers all this to you, but you must come! What is it in your life that is so good that you would hold on to it at the expense of this?

Enter by repentance and faith into what Jesus has opened up for you. Come and receive the life that He offers to you. Come to Him, because His people will enter into this marvelous city.

Alongside the invitation of the bride, the Holy Spirit also says, “Come.” God wants you to be part of this, and He invites you. Jesus Christ died to open these gates for you. God will not force eternity in His presence on you, but He wants you to enjoy His blessing and presence forever, and He invites you to come. Do not stand at a distance from the priceless gift God offers to you. Come!

PAUSE FOR PRAYER

Gracious Lord,

I come to receive by faith what You offer to me in Jesus Christ. I ask that You will make me a citizen of Your kingdom, and that one day Christ will lead me into the place He is preparing for all His people.

Thank You that this is His promise for all who believe and, therefore, that it is His promise to me. Help me to live for Your glory until that day dawns, in Jesus name. Amen.

You Can Do It!

Can you imagine the insight and joy gained from reading the entire Bible? In as little as fifteen minutes a day, The One Year Bible will guide you through God’s Word with daily readings from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs.

Begin reading The One Year Bible from cover to cover and experience the spiritual growth and communion with God that come from daily Bible reading. Available in the clear, accurate New Living Translation. Also available in the NIV and King James Version.

Available wherever Bibles are sold.

January 1

Genesis 1:1–2:25

Matthew 1:1–2:12

Psalm 1:1-6

Proverbs 1:1-6

January 2

Genesis 3:1–4:26

Matthew 2:13–3:6

Psalm 2:1-12

Proverbs 1:7-9

January 3

Genesis 5:1–7:24

Matthew 3:7–4:11

Psalm 3:1-8

Proverbs 1:10-19

January 4

Genesis 8:1–10:32

Matthew 4:12-25

Psalm 4:1-8

Proverbs 1:20-23

January 5

Genesis 11:1–13:4

Matthew 5:1-26

Psalm 5:1-12

Proverbs 1:24-28

January 6

Genesis 13:5–15:21

Matthew 5:27-48

Psalm 6:1-10

Proverbs 1:29-33

January 7

Genesis 16:1–18:15

Matthew 6:1-24

Psalm 7:1-17

Proverbs 2:1-5

January 8

Genesis 18:16–19:38

Matthew 6:25–7:14

Psalm 8:1-9

Proverbs 2:6-15

January 9

Genesis 20:1–22:24

Matthew 7:15-29

Psalm 9:1-12

Proverbs 2:16-22

January 10

Genesis 23:1–24:51

Matthew 8:1-17

Psalm 9:13-20

Proverbs 3:1-6

January 11

Genesis 24:52–26:16

Matthew 8:18-34

Psalm 10:1-15

Proverbs 3:7-8

January 12

Genesis 26:17–27:46

Matthew 9:1-17

Psalm 10:16-18

Proverbs 3:9-10

January 13

Genesis 28:1–29:35

Matthew 9:18-38

Psalm 11:1-7

Proverbs 3:11-12

January 14

Genesis 30:1–31:16

Matthew 10:1-23

Psalm 12:1-8

Proverbs 3:13-15

January 15

Genesis 31:17–32:12

Matthew 10:24–11:6

Psalm 13:1-6

Proverbs 3:16-18

January 16

Genesis 32:13–34:31

Matthew 11:7-30

Psalm 14:1-7

Proverbs 3:19-20

January 17

Genesis 35:1–36:43

Matthew 12:1-21

Psalm 15:1-5

Proverbs 3:21-26

January 18

Genesis 37:1–38:30

Matthew 12:22-45

Psalm 16:1-11

Proverbs 3:27-32

January 19

Genesis 39:1–41:16

Matthew 12:46–13:23

Psalm 17:1-15

Proverbs 3:33-35

January 20

Genesis 41:17–42:17

Matthew 13:24-46

Psalm 18:1-15

Proverbs 4:1-6

January 21

Genesis 42:18–43:34

Matthew 13:47–14:12

Psalm 18:16-36

Proverbs 4:7-10

January 22

Genesis 44:1–45:28

Matthew 14:13-36

Psalm 18:37-50

Proverbs 4:11-13

January 23

Genesis 46:1–47:31

Matthew 15:1-28

Psalm 19:1-14

Proverbs 4:14-19

January 24

Genesis 48:1–49:33

Matthew 15:29–16:12

Psalm 20:1-9

Proverbs 4:20-27

January 25

Genesis 50:1—Exodus 2:10

Matthew 16:13–17:9

Psalm 21:1-13

Proverbs 5:1-6

January 26

Exodus 2:11–3:22

Matthew 17:10-27

Psalm 22:1-18

Proverbs 5:7-14

January 27

Exodus 4:1–5:21

Matthew 18:1-22

Psalm 22:19-31

Proverbs 5:15-21

January 28

Exodus 5:22–7:25

Matthew 18:23–19:12

Psalm 23:1-6

Proverbs 5:22-23

January 29

Exodus 8:1–9:35

Matthew 19:13-30

Psalm 24:1-10

Proverbs 6:1-5

January 30

Exodus 10:1–12:13

Matthew 20:1-28

Psalm 25:1-15

Proverbs 6:6-11

January 31

Exodus 12:14–13:16

Matthew 20:29–21:22

Psalm 25:16-22

Proverbs 6:12-15

February 1

Exodus 13:17–15:18

Matthew 21:23-46

Psalm 26:1-12

Proverbs 6:16-19

February 2

Exodus 15:19–17:7

Matthew 22:1-33

Psalm 27:1-6

Proverbs 6:20-26

February 3

Exodus 17:8–19:15

Matthew 22:34–23:12

Psalm 27:7-14

Proverbs 6:27-35

February 4

Exodus 19:16–21:21

Matthew 23:13-39

Psalm 28:1-9

Proverbs 7:1-5

February 5

Exodus 21:22–23:13

Matthew 24:1-28

Psalm 29:1-11

Proverbs 7:6-23

February 6

Exodus 23:14–25:40

Matthew 24:29-51

Psalm 30:1-12

Proverbs 7:24-27

February 7

Exodus 26:1–27:21

Matthew 25:1-30

Psalm 31:1-8

Proverbs 8:1-11

February 8

Exodus 28:1-43

Matthew 25:31–26:13

Psalm 31:9-18

Proverbs 8:12-13

February 9

Exodus 29:1–30:10

Matthew 26:14-46

Psalm 31:19-24

Proverbs 8:14-26

February 10

Exodus 30:11–31:18

Matthew 26:47-68

Psalm 32:1-11

Proverbs 8:27-32

February 11

Exodus 32:1–33:23

Matthew 26:69–27:14

Psalm 33:1-11

Proverbs 8:33-36

February 12

Exodus 34:1–35:9

Matthew 27:15-31

Psalm 33:12-22

Proverbs 9:1-6

February 13

Exodus 35:10–36:38

Matthew 27:32-66

Psalm 34:1-10

Proverbs 9:7-8

February 14

Exodus 37:1–38:31

Matthew 28:1-20

Psalm 34:11-22

Proverbs 9:9-10

February 15

Exodus 39:1–40:38

Mark 1:1-28

Psalm 35:1-16

Proverbs 9:11-12

February 16

Leviticus 1:1–3:17

Mark 1:29–2:12

Psalm 35:17-28

Proverbs 9:13-18

February 17

Leviticus 4:1–5:19

Mark 2:13–3:6

Psalm 36:1-12

Proverbs 10:1-2

February 18

Leviticus 6:1–7:27

Mark 3:7-30

Psalm 37:1-11

Proverbs 10:3-4

February 19

Leviticus 7:28–9:6

Mark 3:31–4:25

Psalm 37:12-29

Proverbs 10:5

February 20

Leviticus 9:7–10:20

Mark 4:26–5:20

Psalm 37:30-40

Proverbs 10:6-7

February 21

Leviticus 11:1–12:8

Mark 5:21-43

Psalm 38:1-22

Proverbs 10:8-9

February 22

Leviticus 13:1-59

Mark 6:1-29

Psalm 39:1-13

Proverbs 10:10

February 23

Leviticus 14:1-57

Mark 6:30-56

Psalm 40:1-10

Proverbs 10:11-12

February 24

Leviticus 15:1–16:28

Mark 7:1-23

Psalm 40:11-17

Proverbs 10:13-14

February 25

Leviticus 16:29–18:30

Mark 7:24–8:10

Psalm 41:1-13

Proverbs 10:15-16

February 26

Leviticus 19:1–20:21

Mark 8:11-38

Psalm 42:1-11

Proverbs 10:17

February 27

Leviticus 20:22–22:16

Mark 9:1-29

Psalm 43:1-5

Proverbs 10:18

February 28

Leviticus 22:17–23:44

Mark 9:30–10:12

Psalm 44:1-8

Proverbs 10:19

March 1

Leviticus 24:1–25:46

Mark 10:13-31

Psalm 44:9-26

Proverbs 10:20-21

March 2

Leviticus 25:47–27:13

Mark 10:32-52

Psalm 45:1-17

Proverbs 10:22

March 3

Leviticus 27:14—Numbers 1:54

Mark 11:1-25

Psalm 46:1-11

Proverbs 10:23

March 4

Numbers 2:1–3:51

Mark 11:27–12:17

Psalm 47:1-9

Proverbs 10:24-25

March 5

Numbers 4:1–5:31

Mark 12:18-37

Psalm 48:1-14

Proverbs 10:26

March 6

Numbers 6:1–7:89

Mark 12:38–13:13

Psalm 49:1-20

Proverbs 10:27-28

March 7

Numbers 8:1–9:23

Mark 13:14-37

Psalm 50:1-23

Proverbs 10:29-30

March 8

Numbers 10:1–11:23

Mark 14:1-21

Psalm 51:1-19

Proverbs 10:31-32

March 9

Numbers 11:24–13:33

Mark 14:22-52

Psalm 52:1-9

Proverbs 11:1-3

March 10

Numbers 14:1–15:16

Mark 14:53-72

Psalm 53:1-6

Proverbs 11:4

March 11

Numbers 15:17–16:40

Mark 15:1-47

Psalm 54:1-7

Proverbs 11:5-6

March 12

Numbers 16:41–18:32

Mark 16:1-20

Psalm 55:1-23

Proverbs 11:7

March 13

Numbers 19:1–20:29

Luke 1:1-25

Psalm 56:1-13

Proverbs 11:8

March 14

Numbers 21:1–22:20

Luke 1:26-56

Psalm 57:1-11

Proverbs 11:9-11

March 15

Numbers 22:21–23:30

Luke 1:57-80

Psalm 58:1-11

Proverbs 11:12-13

March 16

Numbers 24:1–25:18

Luke 2:1-35

Psalm 59:1-17

Proverbs 11:14

March 17

Numbers 26:1-51

Luke 2:36-52

Psalm 60:1-12

Proverbs 11:15

March 18

Numbers 26:52–28:15

Luke 3:1-22

Psalm 61:1-8

Proverbs 11:16-17

March 19

Numbers 28:16–29:40

Luke 3:23-38

Psalm 62:1-12

Proverbs 11:18-19

March 20

Numbers 30:1–31:54

Luke 4:1-30

Psalm 63:1-11

Proverbs 11:20-21

March 21

Numbers 32:1–33:39

Luke 4:31–5:11

Psalm 64:1-10

Proverbs 11:22

March 22

Numbers 33:40–35:34

Luke 5:12-28

Psalm 65:1-13

Proverbs 11:23

March 23

Numbers 36:1—Deuteronomy 1:46

Luke 5:29–6:11

Psalm 66:1-20

Proverbs 11:24-26

March 24

Deuteronomy 2:1–3:29

Luke 6:12-38

Psalm 67:1-7

Proverbs 11:27

March 25

Deuteronomy 4:1-49

Luke 6:39–7:10

Psalm 68:1-18

Proverbs 11:28

March 26

Deuteronomy 5:1–6:25

Luke 7:11-35

Psalm 68:19-35

Proverbs 11:29-31

March 27

Deuteronomy 7:1–8:20

Luke 7:36–8:3

Psalm 69:1-18

Proverbs 12:1

March 28

Deuteronomy 9:1–10:22

Luke 8:4-21

Psalm 69:19-36

Proverbs 12:2-3

March 29

Deuteronomy 11:1–12:32

Luke 8:22-39

Psalm 70:1-5

Proverbs 12:4

March 30

Deuteronomy 13:1–15:23

Luke 8:40–9:6

Psalm 71:1-24

Proverbs 12:5-7

March 31

Deuteronomy 16:1–17:20

Luke 9:7-27

Psalm 72:1-20

Proverbs 12:8-9

April 1

Deuteronomy 18:1–20:20

Luke 9:28-50

Psalm 73:1-28

Proverbs 12:10

April 2

Deuteronomy 21:1–22:30

Luke 9:51–10:12

Psalm 74:1-23

Proverbs 12:11

April 3

Deuteronomy 23:1–25:19

Luke 10:13-37

Psalm 75:1-10

Proverbs 12:12-14

April 4

Deuteronomy 26:1–27:26

Luke 10:38–11:13

Psalm 76:1-12

Proverbs 12:15-17

April 5

Deuteronomy 28:1-68

Luke 11:14-36

Psalm 77:1-20

Proverbs 12:18

April 6

Deuteronomy 29:1–30:20

Luke 11:37–12:7

Psalm 78:1-31

Proverbs 12:19-20

April 7

Deuteronomy 31:1–32:27

Luke 12:8-34

Psalm 78:32-55

Proverbs 12:21-23

April 8

Deuteronomy 32:28-52

Luke 12:35-59

Psalm 78:56-64

Proverbs 12:24

April 9

Deuteronomy 33:1-29

Luke 13:1-21

Psalm 78:65-72

Proverbs 12:25

April 10

Deuteronomy 34:1—Joshua 2:24

Luke 13:22–14:6

Psalm 79:1-13

Proverbs 12:26

April 11

Joshua 3:1–4:24

Luke 14:7-35

Psalm 80:1-19

Proverbs 12:27-28

April 12

Joshua 5:1–7:15

Luke 15:1-32

Psalm 81:1-16

Proverbs 13:1

April 13

Joshua 7:16–9:2

Luke 16:1-18

Psalm 82:1-8

Proverbs 13:2-3

April 14

Joshua 9:3–10:43

Luke 16:19–17:10

Psalm 83:1-18

Proverbs 13:4

April 15

Joshua 11:1–12:24

Luke 17:11-37

Psalm 84:1-12

Proverbs 13:5-6

April 16

Joshua 13:1–14:15

Luke 18:1-17

Psalm 85:1-13

Proverbs 13:7-8

April 17

Joshua 15:1-63

Luke 18:18-43

Psalm 86:1-17

Proverbs 13:9-10

April 18

Joshua 16:1–18:28

Luke 19:1-27

Psalm 87:1-7

Proverbs 13:11

April 19

Joshua 19:1–20:9

Luke 19:28-48

Psalm 88:1-18

Proverbs 13:12-14

April 20

Joshua 21:1–22:20

Luke 20:1-26

Psalm 89:1-13

Proverbs 13:15-16

April 21

Joshua 22:21–23:16

Luke 20:27-47

Psalm 89:14-37

Proverbs 13:17-19

April 22

Joshua 24:1-33

Luke 21:1-28

Psalm 89:38-52

Proverbs 13:20-23

April 23

Judges 1:1–2:9

Luke 21:29–22:13

Psalm 90:1–91:16

Proverbs 13:24-25

April 24

Judges 2:10–3:31

Luke 22:14-34

Psalm 92:1–93:5

Proverbs 14:1-2

April 25

Judges 4:1–5:31

Luke 22:35-53

Psalm 94:1-23

Proverbs 14:3-4

April 26

Judges 6:1-40

Luke 22:54–23:12

Psalm 95:1–96:13

Proverbs 14:5-6

April 27

Judges 7:1–8:17

Luke 23:13-43

Psalm 97:1–98:9

Proverbs 14:7-8

April 28

Judges 8:18–9:21

Luke 23:44–24:12

Psalm 99:1-9

Proverbs 14:9-10

April 29

Judges 9:22–10:18

Luke 24:13-53

Psalm 100:1-5

Proverbs 14:11-12

April 30

Judges 11:1–12:15

John 1:1-28

Psalm 101:1-8

Proverbs 14:13-14

May 1

Judges 13:1–14:20

John 1:29-51

Psalm 102:1-28

Proverbs 14:15-16

May 2

Judges 15:1–16:31

John 2:1-25

Psalm 103:1-22

Proverbs 14:17-19

May 3

Judges 17:1–18:31

John 3:1-21

Psalm 104:1-23

Proverbs 14:20-21

May 4

Judges 19:1–20:48

John 3:22–4:3

Psalm 104:24-35

Proverbs 14:22-24

May 5

Judges 21:1—Ruth 1:22

John 4:4-42

Psalm 105:1-15

Proverbs 14:25

May 6

Ruth 2:1–4:22

John 4:43-54

Psalm 105:16-36

Proverbs 14:26-27

May 7

1 Samuel 1:1–2:21

John 5:1-23

Psalm 105:37-45

Proverbs 14:28-29

May 8

1 Samuel 2:22–4:22

John 5:24-47

Psalm 106:1-12

Proverbs 14:30-31

May 9

1 Samuel 5:1–7:17

John 6:1-21

Psalm 106:13-31

Proverbs 14:32-33

May 10

1 Samuel 8:1–9:27

John 6:22-42

Psalm 106:32-48

Proverbs 14:34-35

May 11

1 Samuel 10:1–11:15

John 6:43-71

Psalm 107:1-43

Proverbs 15:1-3

May 12

1 Samuel 12:1–13:23

John 7:1-30

Psalm 108:1-13

Proverbs 15:4

May 13

1 Samuel 14:1-52

John 7:31-53

Psalm 109:1-31

Proverbs 15:5-7

May 14

1 Samuel 15:1–16:23

John 8:1-20

Psalm 110:1-7

Proverbs 15:8-10

May 15

1 Samuel 17:1–18:4

John 8:21-30

Psalm 111:1-10

Proverbs 15:11

May 16

1 Samuel 18:5–19:24

John 8:31-59

Psalm 112:1-10

Proverbs 15:12-14

May 17

1 Samuel 20:1–21:15

John 9:1-41

Psalm 113:1–114:8

Proverbs 15:15-17

May 18

1 Samuel 22:1–23:29

John 10:1-21

Psalm 115:1-18

Proverbs 15:18-19

May 19

1 Samuel 24:1–25:44

John 10:22-42

Psalm 116:1-19

Proverbs 15:20-21

May 20

1 Samuel 26:1–28:25

John 11:1-54

Psalm 117:1-2

Proverbs 15:22-23

May 21

1 Samuel 29:1–31:13

John 11:55–12:19

Psalm 118:1-18

Proverbs 15:24-26

May 22

2 Samuel 1:1–2:11

John 12:20-50

Psalm 118:19-29

Proverbs 15:27-28

May 23

2 Samuel 2:12–3:39

John 13:1-30

Psalm 119:1-16

Proverbs 15:29-30

May 24

2 Samuel 4:1–6:23

John 13:31–14:14

Psalm 119:17-32

Proverbs 15:31-32

May 25

2 Samuel 7:1–8:18

John 14:15-31

Psalm 119:33-48

Proverbs 15:33

May 26

2 Samuel 9:1–11:27

John 15:1-27

Psalm 119:49-64

Proverbs 16:1-3

May 27

2 Samuel 12:1-31

John 16:1-33

Psalm 119:65-80

Proverbs 16:4-5

May 28

2 Samuel 13:1-39

John 17:1-26

Psalm 119:81-96

Proverbs 16:6-7

May 29

2 Samuel 14:1–15:22

John 18:1-24

Psalm 119:97-112

Proverbs 16:8-9

May 30

2 Samuel 15:23–16:23

John 18:25–19:22

Psalm 119:113-128

Proverbs 16:10-11

May 31

2 Samuel 17:1-29

John 19:23-42

Psalm 119:129-152

Proverbs 16:12-13

June 1

2 Samuel 18:1–19:10

John 20:1-31

Psalm 119:153-176

Proverbs 16:14-15

June 2

2 Samuel 19:11–20:13

John 21:1-25

Psalm 120:1-7

Proverbs 16:16-17

June 3

2 Samuel 20:14–21:22

Acts 1:1-26

Psalm 121:1-8

Proverbs 16:18

June 4

2 Samuel 22:1–23:23

Acts 2:1-47

Psalm 122:1-9

Proverbs 16:19-20

June 5

2 Samuel 23:24–24:25

Acts 3:1-26

Psalm 123:1-4

Proverbs 16:21-23

June 6

1 Kings 1:1-53

Acts 4:1-37

Psalm 124:1-8

Proverbs 16:24

June 7

1 Kings 2:1–3:2

Acts 5:1-42

Psalm 125:1-5

Proverbs 16:25

June 8

1 Kings 3:3–4:34

Acts 6:1-15

Psalm 126:1-6

Proverbs 16:26-27

June 9

1 Kings 5:1–6:38

Acts 7:1-29

Psalm 127:1-5

Proverbs 16:28-30

June 10

1 Kings 7:1-51

Acts 7:30-50

Psalm 128:1-6

Proverbs 16:31-33

June 11

1 Kings 8:1-66

Acts 7:51–8:13

Psalm 129:1-8

Proverbs 17:1

June 12

1 Kings 9:1–10:29

Acts 8:14-40

Psalm 130:1-8

Proverbs 17:2-3

June 13

1 Kings 11:1–12:19

Acts 9:1-25

Psalm 131:1-3

Proverbs 17:4-5

June 14

1 Kings 12:20–13:34

Acts 9:26-43

Psalm 132:1-18

Proverbs 17:6

June 15

1 Kings 14:1–15:24

Acts 10:1-23

Psalm 133:1-3

Proverbs 17:7-8

June 16

1 Kings 15:25–17:24

Acts 10:24-48

Psalm 134:1-3

Proverbs 17:9-11

June 17

1 Kings 18:1-46

Acts 11:1-30

Psalm 135:1-21

Proverbs 17:12-13

June 18

1 Kings 19:1-21

Acts 12:1-23

Psalm 136:1-26

Proverbs 17:14-15

June 19

1 Kings 20:1–21:29

Acts 12:24–13:15

Psalm 137:1-9

Proverbs 17:16

June 20

1 Kings 22:1-53

Acts 13:16-41

Psalm 138:1-8

Proverbs 17:17-18

June 21

2 Kings 1:1–2:25

Acts 13:42–14:7

Psalm 139:1-24

Proverbs 17:19-21

June 22

2 Kings 3:1–4:17

Acts 14:8-28

Psalm 140:1-13

Proverbs 17:22

June 23

2 Kings 4:18–5:27

Acts 15:1-35

Psalm 141:1-10

Proverbs 17:23

June 24

2 Kings 6:1–7:20

Acts 15:36–16:15

Psalm 142:1-7

Proverbs 17:24-25

June 25

2 Kings 8:1–9:13

Acts 16:16-40

Psalm 143:1-12

Proverbs 17:26

June 26

2 Kings 9:14–10:31

Acts 17:1-34

Psalm 144:1-15

Proverbs 17:27-28

June 27

2 Kings 10:32–12:21

Acts 18:1-22

Psalm 145:1-21

Proverbs 18:1

June 28

2 Kings 13:1–14:29

Acts 18:23–19:12

Psalm 146:1-10

Proverbs 18:2-3

June 29

2 Kings 15:1–16:20

Acts 19:13-41

Psalm 147:1-20

Proverbs 18:4-5

June 30

2 Kings 17:1–18:12

Acts 20:1-38

Psalm 148:1-14

Proverbs 18:6-7

July 1

2 Kings 18:13–19:37

Acts 21:1-17

Psalm 149:1-9

Proverbs 18:8

July 2

2 Kings 20:1–22:2

Acts 21:18-36

Psalm 150:1-6

Proverbs 18:9-10

July 3

2 Kings 22:3–23:30

Acts 21:37–22:16

Psalm 1:1-6

Proverbs 18:11-12

July 4

2 Kings 23:31–25:30

Acts 22:17–23:10

Psalm 2:1-12

Proverbs 18:13

July 5

1 Chronicles 1:1–2:17

Acts 23:11-35

Psalm 3:1-8

Proverbs 18:14-15

July 6

1 Chronicles 2:18–4:4

Acts 24:1-27

Psalm 4:1-8

Proverbs 18:16-18

July 7

1 Chronicles 4:5–5:17

Acts 25:1-27

Psalm 5:1-12

Proverbs 18:19

July 8

1 Chronicles 5:18–6:81

Acts 26:1-32

Psalm 6:1-10

Proverbs 18:20-21

July 9

1 Chronicles 7:1–8:40

Acts 27:1-20

Psalm 7:1-17

Proverbs 18:22

July 10

1 Chronicles 9:1–10:14

Acts 27:21-44

Psalm 8:1-9

Proverbs 18:23-24

July 11

1 Chronicles 11:1–12:18

Acts 28:1-31

Psalm 9:1-12

Proverbs 19:1-3

July 12

1 Chronicles 12:19–14:17

Romans 1:1-17

Psalm 9:13-20

Proverbs 19:4-5

July 13

1 Chronicles 15:1–16:36

Romans 1:18-32

Psalm 10:1-15

Proverbs 19:6-7

July 14

1 Chronicles 16:37–18:17

Romans 2:1-24

Psalm 10:16-18

Proverbs 19:8-9

July 15

1 Chronicles 19:1–21:30

Romans 2:25–3:8

Psalm 11:1-7

Proverbs 19:10-12

July 16

1 Chronicles 22:1–23:32

Romans 3:9-31

Psalm 12:1-8

Proverbs 19:13-14

July 17

1 Chronicles 24:1–26:11

Romans 4:1-12

Psalm 13:1-6

Proverbs 19:15-16

July 18

1 Chronicles 26:12–27:34

Romans 4:13–5:5

Psalm 14:1-7

Proverbs 19:17

July 19

1 Chronicles 28:1–29:30

Romans 5:6-21

Psalm 15:1-5

Proverbs 19:18-19

July 20

2 Chronicles 1:1–3:17

Romans 6:1-23

Psalm 16:1-11

Proverbs 19:20-21

July 21

2 Chronicles 4:1–6:11

Romans 7:1-13

Psalm 17:1-15

Proverbs 19:22-23

July 22

2 Chronicles 6:12–8:10

Romans 7:14–8:8

Psalm 18:1-15

Proverbs 19:24-25

July 23

2 Chronicles 8:11–10:19

Romans 8:9-25

Psalm 18:16-36

Proverbs 19:26

July 24

2 Chronicles 11:1–13:22

Romans 8:26-39

Psalm 18:37-50

Proverbs 19:27-29

July 25

2 Chronicles 14:1–16:14

Romans 9:1-24

Psalm 19:1-14

Proverbs 20:1

July 26

2 Chronicles 17:1–18:34

Romans 9:25–10:13

Psalm 20:1-9

Proverbs 20:2-3

July 27

2 Chronicles 19:1–20:37

Romans 10:14–11:12

Psalm 21:1-13

Proverbs 20:4-6

July 28

2 Chronicles 21:1–23:21

Romans 11:13-36

Psalm 22:1-18

Proverbs 20:7

July 29

2 Chronicles 24:1–25:28

Romans 12:1-21

Psalm 22:19-31

Proverbs 20:8-10

July 30

2 Chronicles 26:1–28:27

Romans 13:1-14

Psalm 23:1-6

Proverbs 20:11

July 31

2 Chronicles 29:1-36

Romans 14:1-23

Psalm 24:1-10

Proverbs 20:12

August 1

2 Chronicles 30:1–31:21

Romans 15:1-22

Psalm 25:1-15

Proverbs 20:13-15

August 2

2 Chronicles 32:1–33:13

Romans 15:23–16:9

Psalm 25:16-22

Proverbs 20:16-18

August 3

2 Chronicles 33:14–34:33

Romans 16:10-27

Psalm 26:1-12

Proverbs 20:19

August 4

2 Chronicles 35:1–36:23

1 Corinthians 1:1-17

Psalm 27:1-6

Proverbs 20:20-21

August 5

Ezra 1:1–2:70

1 Corinthians 1:18–2:5

Psalm 27:7-14

Proverbs 20:22-23

August 6

Ezra 3:1–4:24

1 Corinthians 2:6–3:4

Psalm 28:1-9

Proverbs 20:24-25

August 7

Ezra 5:1–6:22

1 Corinthians 3:5-23

Psalm 29:1-11

Proverbs 20:26-27

August 8

Ezra 7:1–8:20

1 Corinthians 4:1-21

Psalm 30:1-12

Proverbs 20:28-30

August 9

Ezra 8:21–9:15

1 Corinthians 5:1-13

Psalm 31:1-8

Proverbs 21:1-2

August 10

Ezra 10:1-44

1 Corinthians 6:1-20

Psalm 31:9-18

Proverbs 21:3

August 11

Nehemiah 1:1–3:14

1 Corinthians 7:1-24

Psalm 31:19-24

Proverbs 21:4

August 12

Nehemiah 3:15–5:13

1 Corinthians 7:25-40

Psalm 32:1-11

Proverbs 21:5-7

August 13

Nehemiah 5:14–7:60

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Psalm 33:1-11

Proverbs 21:8-10

August 14

Nehemiah 7:61–9:21

1 Corinthians 9:1-18

Psalm 33:12-22

Proverbs 21:11-12

August 15

Nehemiah 9:22–10:39

1 Corinthians 9:19–10:13

Psalm 34:1-10

Proverbs 21:13

August 16

Nehemiah 11:1–12:26

1 Corinthians 10:14-33

Psalm 34:11-22

Proverbs 21:14-16

August 17

Nehemiah 12:27–13:31

1 Corinthians 11:1-16

Psalm 35:1-16

Proverbs 21:17-18

August 18

Esther 1:1–3:15

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Psalm 35:17-28

Proverbs 21:19-20

August 19

Esther 4:1–7:10

1 Corinthians 12:1-26

Psalm 36:1-12

Proverbs 21:21-22

August 20

Esther 8:1–10:3

1 Corinthians 12:27–13:13

Psalm 37:1-11

Proverbs 21:23-24

August 21

Job 1:1–3:26

1 Corinthians 14:1-17

Psalm 37:12-29

Proverbs 21:25-26

August 22

Job 4:1–7:21

1 Corinthians 14:18-40

Psalm 37:30-40

Proverbs 21:27

August 23

Job 8:1–11:20

1 Corinthians 15:1-28

Psalm 38:1-22

Proverbs 21:28-29

August 24

Job 12:1–15:35

1 Corinthians 15:29-58

Psalm 39:1-13

Proverbs 21:30-31

August 25

Job 16:1–19:29

1 Corinthians 16:1-24

Psalm 40:1-10

Proverbs 22:1

August 26

Job 20:1–22:30

2 Corinthians 1:1-11

Psalm 40:11-17

Proverbs 22:2-4

August 27

Job 23:1–27:23

2 Corinthians 1:12–2:11

Psalm 41:1-13

Proverbs 22:5-6

August 28

Job 28:1–30:31

2 Corinthians 2:12-17

Psalm 42:1-11

Proverbs 22:7

August 29

Job 31:1–33:33

2 Corinthians 3:1-18

Psalm 43:1-5

Proverbs 22:8-9

August 30

Job 34:1–36:33

2 Corinthians 4:1-12

Psalm 44:1-8

Proverbs 22:10-12

August 31

Job 37:1–39:30

2 Corinthians 4:13–5:10

Psalm 44:9-26

Proverbs 22:13

September 1

Job 40:1–42:17

2 Corinthians 5:11-21

Psalm 45:1-17

Proverbs 22:14

September 2

Ecclesiastes 1:1–3:22

2 Corinthians 6:1-13

Psalm 46:1-11

Proverbs 22:15

September 3

Ecclesiastes 4:1–6:12

2 Corinthians 6:14–7:7

Psalm 47:1-9

Proverbs 22:16

September 4

Ecclesiastes 7:1–9:18

2 Corinthians 7:8-16

Psalm 48:1-14

Proverbs 22:17-19

September 5

Ecclesiastes 10:1–12:14

2 Corinthians 8:1-15

Psalm 49:1-20

Proverbs 22:20-21

September 6

Song of Songs 1:1–4:16

2 Corinthians 8:16-24

Psalm 50:1-23

Proverbs 22:22-23

September 7

Song of Songs 5:1–8:14

2 Corinthians 9:1-15

Psalm 51:1-19

Proverbs 22:24-25

September 8

Isaiah 1:1–2:22

2 Corinthians 10:1-18

Psalm 52:1-9

Proverbs 22:26-27

September 9

Isaiah 3:1–5:30

2 Corinthians 11:1-15

Psalm 53:1-6

Proverbs 22:28-29

September 10

Isaiah 6:1–7:25

2 Corinthians 11:16-33

Psalm 54:1-7

Proverbs 23:1-3

September 11

Isaiah 8:1–9:21

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Psalm 55:1-23

Proverbs 23:4-5

September 12

Isaiah 10:1–11:16

2 Corinthians 12:11-21

Psalm 56:1-13

Proverbs 23:6-8

September 13

Isaiah 12:1–14:32

2 Corinthians 13:1-13

Psalm 57:1-11

Proverbs 23:9-11

September 14

Isaiah 15:1–18:7

Galatians 1:1-24

Psalm 58:1-11

Proverbs 23:12

September 15

Isaiah 19:1–21:17

Galatians 2:1-16

Psalm 59:1-17

Proverbs 23:13-14

September 16

Isaiah 22:1–24:23

Galatians 2:17–3:9

Psalm 60:1-12

Proverbs 23:15-16

September 17

Isaiah 25:1–28:13

Galatians 3:10-22

Psalm 61:1-8

Proverbs 23:17-18

September 18

Isaiah 28:14–30:11

Galatians 3:23–4:31

Psalm 62:1-12

Proverbs 23:19-21

September 19

Isaiah 30:12–33:9

Galatians 5:1-12

Psalm 63:1-11

Proverbs 23:22

September 20

Isaiah 33:10–36:22

Galatians 5:13-26

Psalm 64:1-10

Proverbs 23:23

September 21

Isaiah 37:1–38:22

Galatians 6:1-18

Psalm 65:1-13

Proverbs 23:24

September 22

Isaiah 39:1–41:16

Ephesians 1:1-23

Psalm 66:1-20

Proverbs 23:25-28

September 23

Isaiah 41:17–43:13

Ephesians 2:1-22

Psalm 67:1-7

Proverbs 23:29-35

September 24

Isaiah 43:14–45:10

Ephesians 3:1-21

Psalm 68:1-18

Proverbs 24:1-2

September 25

Isaiah 45:11–48:11

Ephesians 4:1-16

Psalm 68:19-35

Proverbs 24:3-4

September 26

Isaiah 48:12–50:11

Ephesians 4:17-32

Psalm 69:1-18

Proverbs 24:5-6

September 27

Isaiah 51:1–53:12

Ephesians 5:1-33

Psalm 69:19-36

Proverbs 24:7

September 28

Isaiah 54:1–57:14

Ephesians 6:1-24

Psalm 70:1-5

Proverbs 24:8

September 29

Isaiah 57:15–59:21

Philippians 1:1-26

Psalm 71:1-24

Proverbs 24:9-10

September 30

Isaiah 60:1–62:5

Philippians 1:27–2:18

Psalm 72:1-20

Proverbs 24:11-12

October 1

Isaiah 62:6–65:25

Philippians 2:19–3:3

Psalm 73:1-28

Proverbs 24:13-14

October 2

Isaiah 66:1-24

Philippians 3:4-21

Psalm 74:1-23

Proverbs 24:15-16

October 3

Jeremiah 1:1–2:30

Philippians 4:1-23

Psalm 75:1-10

Proverbs 24:17-20

October 4

Jeremiah 2:31–4:18

Colossians 1:1-17

Psalm 76:1-12

Proverbs 24:21-22

October 5

Jeremiah 4:19–6:15

Colossians 1:18–2:7

Psalm 77:1-20

Proverbs 24:23-25

October 6

Jeremiah 6:16–8:7

Colossians 2:8-23

Psalm 78:1-31

Proverbs 24:26

October 7

Jeremiah 8:8–9:26

Colossians 3:1-17

Psalm 78:32-55

Proverbs 24:27

October 8

Jeremiah 10:1–11:23

Colossians 3:18–4:18

Psalm 78:56-72

Proverbs 24:28-29

October 9

Jeremiah 12:1–14:10

1 Thessalonians 1:1–2:8

Psalm 79:1-13

Proverbs 24:30-34

October 10

Jeremiah 14:11–16:15

1 Thessalonians 2:9–3:13

Psalm 80:1-19

Proverbs 25:1-5

October 11

Jeremiah 16:16–18:23

1 Thessalonians 4:1–5:3

Psalm 81:1-16

Proverbs 25:6-8

October 12

Jeremiah 19:1–21:14

1 Thessalonians 5:4-28

Psalm 82:1-8

Proverbs 25:9-10

October 13

Jeremiah 22:1–23:20

2 Thessalonians 1:1-12

Psalm 83:1-18

Proverbs 25:11-14

October 14

Jeremiah 23:21–25:38

2 Thessalonians 2:1-17

Psalm 84:1-12

Proverbs 25:15

October 15

Jeremiah 26:1–27:22

2 Thessalonians 3:1-18

Psalm 85:1-13

Proverbs 25:16

October 16

Jeremiah 28:1–29:32

1 Timothy 1:1-20

Psalm 86:1-17

Proverbs 25:17

October 17

Jeremiah 30:1–31:26

1 Timothy 2:1-15

Psalm 87:1-7

Proverbs 25:18-19

October 18

Jeremiah 31:27–32:44

1 Timothy 3:1-16

Psalm 88:1-18

Proverbs 25:20-22

October 19

Jeremiah 33:1–34:22

1 Timothy 4:1-16

Psalm 89:1-13

Proverbs 25:23-24

October 20

Jeremiah 35:1–36:32

1 Timothy 5:1-25

Psalm 89:14-37

Proverbs 25:25-27

October 21

Jeremiah 37:1–38:28

1 Timothy 6:1-21

Psalm 89:38-52

Proverbs 25:28

October 22

Jeremiah 39:1–41:18

2 Timothy 1:1-18

Psalm 90:1–91:16

Proverbs 26:1-2

October 23

Jeremiah 42:1–44:23

2 Timothy 2:1-21

Psalm 92:1–93:5

Proverbs 26:3-5

October 24

Jeremiah 44:24–47:7

2 Timothy 2:22–3:17

Psalm 94:1-23

Proverbs 26:6-8

October 25

Jeremiah 48:1–49:22

2 Timothy 4:1-22

Psalm 95:1–96:13

Proverbs 26:9-12

October 26

Jeremiah 49:23–50:46

Titus 1:1-16

Psalm 97:1–98:9

Proverbs 26:13-16

October 27

Jeremiah 51:1-53

Titus 2:1-15

Psalm 99:1-9

Proverbs 26:17

October 28

Jeremiah 51:54–52:34

Titus 3:1-15

Psalm 100:1-5

Proverbs 26:18-19

October 29

Lamentations 1:1–2:19

Philippians 1:1-25

Psalm 101:1-8

Proverbs 26:20

October 30

Lamentations 2:20–3:66

Hebrews 1:1-14

Psalm 102:1-28

Proverbs 26:21-22

October 31

Lamentations 4:1–5:22

Hebrews 2:1-18

Psalm 103:1-22

Proverbs 26:23

November 1

Ezekiel 1:1–3:15

Hebrews 3:1-19

Psalm 104:1-23

Proverbs 26:24-26

November 2

Ezekiel 3:16–6:14

Hebrews 4:1-16

Psalm 104:24-35

Proverbs 26:27

November 3

Ezekiel 7:1–9:11

Hebrews 5:1-14

Psalm 105:1-15

Proverbs 26:28

November 4

Ezekiel 10:1–11:25

Hebrews 6:1-20

Psalm 105:16-36

Proverbs 27:1-2

November 5

Ezekiel 12:1–14:11

Hebrews 7:1-17

Psalm 105:37-45

Proverbs 27:3

November 6

Ezekiel 14:12–16:41

Hebrews 7:18-28

Psalm 106:1-12

Proverbs 27:4-6

November 7

Ezekiel 16:42–17:24

Hebrews 8:1-13

Psalm 106:13-31

Proverbs 27:7-9

November 8

Ezekiel 18:1–19:14

Hebrews 9:1-10

Psalm 106:32-48

Proverbs 27:10

November 9

Ezekiel 20:1-49

Hebrews 9:11-28

Psalm 107:1-43

Proverbs 27:11

November 10

Ezekiel 21:1–22:31

Hebrews 10:1-17

Psalm 108:1-13

Proverbs 27:12

November 11

Ezekiel 23:1-49

Hebrews 10:18-39

Psalm 109:1-31

Proverbs 27:13

November 12

Ezekiel 24:1–26:21

Hebrews 11:1-16

Psalm 110:1-7

Proverbs 27:14

November 13

Ezekiel 27:1–28:26

Hebrews 11:17-31

Psalm 111:1-10

Proverbs 27:15-16

November 14

Ezekiel 29:1–30:26

Hebrews 11:32–12:13

Psalm 112:1-10

Proverbs 27:17

November 15

Ezekiel 31:1–32:32

Hebrews 12:14-29

Psalm 113:1–114:8

Proverbs 27:18-20

November 16

Ezekiel 33:1–34:31

Hebrews 13:1-25

Psalm 115:1-18

Proverbs 27:21-22

November 17

Ezekiel 35:1–36:38

James 1:1-18

Psalm 116:1-19

Proverbs 27:23-27

November 18

Ezekiel 37:1–38:23

James 1:19–2:17

Psalm 117:1-2

Proverbs 28:1

November 19

Ezekiel 39:1–40:27

James 2:18–3:18

Psalm 118:1-18

Proverbs 28:2

November 20

Ezekiel 40:28–41:26

James 4:1-17

Psalm 118:19-29

Proverbs 28:3-5

November 21

Ezekiel 42:1–43:27

James 5:1-20

Psalm 119:1-16

Proverbs 28:6-7

November 22

Ezekiel 44:1–45:12

1 Peter 1:1-12

Psalm 119:17-32

Proverbs 28:8-10

November 23

Ezekiel 45:13–46:24

1 Peter 1:13–2:10

Psalm 119:33-48

Proverbs 28:11

November 24

Ezekiel 47:1–48:35

1 Peter 2:11–3:7

Psalm 119:49-64

Proverbs 28:12-13

November 25

Daniel 1:1–2:23

1 Peter 3:8–4:6

Psalm 119:65-80

Proverbs 28:14

November 26

Daniel 2:24–3:30

1 Peter 4:7–5:14

Psalm 119:81-96

Proverbs 28:15-16

November 27

Daniel 4:1-37

2 Peter 1:1-21

Psalm 119:97-112

Proverbs 28:17-18

November 28

Daniel 5:1-31

2 Peter 2:1-22

Psalm 119:113-128

Proverbs 28:19-20

November 29

Daniel 6:1-28

2 Peter 3:1-18

Psalm 119:129-152

Proverbs 28:21-22

November 30

Daniel 7:1-28

1 John 1:1-10

Psalm 119:153-176

Proverbs 28:23-24

December 1

Daniel 8:1-27

1 John 2:1-17

Psalm 120:1-7

Proverbs 28:25-26

December 2

Daniel 9:1–11:1

1 John 2:18–3:6

Psalm 121:1-8

Proverbs 28:27-28

December 3

Daniel 11:2-35

1 John 3:7-24

Psalm 122:1-9

Proverbs 29:1

December 4

Daniel 11:36–12:13

1 John 4:1-21

Psalm 123:1-4

Proverbs 29:2-4

December 5

Hosea 1:1–3:5

1 John 5:1-21

Psalm 124:1-8

Proverbs 29:5-8

December 6

Hosea 4:1–5:15

2 John 1:1-13

Psalm 125:1-5

Proverbs 29:9-11

December 7

Hosea 6:1–9:17

3 John 1:1-15

Psalm 126:1-6

Proverbs 29:12-14

December 8

Hosea 10:1–14:9

Jude 1:1-25

Psalm 127:1-5

Proverbs 29:15-17

December 9

Joel 1:1–3:21

Revelation 1:1-20

Psalm 128:1-6

Proverbs 29:18

December 10

Amos 1:1–3:15

Revelation 2:1-17

Psalm 129:1-8

Proverbs 29:19-20

December 11

Amos 4:1–6:14

Revelation 2:18–3:6

Psalm 130:1-8

Proverbs 29:21-22

December 12

Amos 7:1–9:15

Revelation 3:7-22

Psalm 131:1-3

Proverbs 29:23

December 13

Obadiah 1:1-21

Revelation 4:1-11

Psalm 132:1-18

Proverbs 29:24-25

December 14

Jonah 1:1–4:11

Revelation 5:1-14

Psalm 133:1-3

Proverbs 29:26-27

December 15

Micah 1:1–4:13

Revelation 6:1-17

Psalm 134:1-3

Proverbs 30:1-4

December 16

Micah 5:1–7:20

Revelation 7:1-17

Psalm 135:1-21

Proverbs 30:5-6

December 17

Nahum 1:1–3:19

Revelation 8:1-13

Psalm 136:1-26

Proverbs 30:7-9

December 18

Habakkuk 1:1–3:19

Revelation 9:1-21

Psalm 137:1-9

Proverbs 30:10

December 19

Zephaniah 1:1–3:20

Revelation 10:1-11

Psalm 138:1-8

Proverbs 30:11-14

December 20

Haggai 1:1–2:23

Revelation 11:1-19

Psalm 139:1-24

Proverbs 30:15-16

December 21

Zechariah 1:1-21

Revelation 12:1-17

Psalm 140:1-13

Proverbs 30:17

December 22

Zechariah 2:1–3:10

Revelation 13:1-18

Psalm 141:1-10

Proverbs 30:18-20

December 23

Zechariah 4:1–5:11

Revelation 14:1-20

Psalm 142:1-7

Proverbs 30:21-23

December 24

Zechariah 6:1–7:14

Revelation 15:1-8

Psalm 143:1-12

Proverbs 30:24-28

December 25

Zechariah 8:1-23

Revelation 16:1-21

Psalm 144:1-15

Proverbs 30:29-31

December 26

Zechariah 9:1-17

Revelation 17:1-18

Psalm 145:1-21

Proverbs 30:32

December 27

Zechariah 10:1–11:17

Revelation 18:1-24

Psalm 146:1-10

Proverbs 30:33

December 28

Zechariah 12:1–13:9

Revelation 19:1-21

Psalm 147:1-20

Proverbs 31:1-7

December 29

Zechariah 14:1-21

Revelation 20:1-15

Psalm 148:1-14

Proverbs 31:8-9

December 30

Malachi 1:1–2:17

Revelation 21:1-27

Psalm 149:1-9

Proverbs 31:10-24

SINCE 1894, Moody Publishers has been dedicated to equip and motivate people to advance the cause of Christ by publishing evangelical Christian literature and other media for all ages, around the world. As a ministry of the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, proceeds from the sale of this book help to train the next generation of Christian leaders.

If we may serve you in any way in your spiritual journey toward understanding Christ and the Christian life, please contact us at www.moodypulishers.com

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

—2 TIMOTHY 3:16, 17

UNLOCKING THE BIBLE STORY

STUDY GUIDE

VOLUME 1

Colin S. Smith

MOODY PUBLISHERS

CHICAGO

©2004 by COLIN S. SMITH

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 0-8024-6551-X

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS

Introduction

1 Life

2 Curse

3 Salvation

4 Judgment

5 Blood

6 Law

7 Atonement

8 Priest

9 Blessing

10 Courage

11 Giving

12 Evil

13 Covenant

14 Deliverer

15 Redeemer

16 King

17 Throne

18 Prophet

19 Temple

20 Worship

21 Sin

22 Righteousness

23 Joy

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the first in a series of four study guides designed to help small groups grasp the big picture of the Bible. The studies are based on the four-volume book series Unlocking the Bible Story. They will take you on a fascinating journey through the Scriptures.

The whole Bible is one story. It begins with two people in a beautiful garden and ends with a vast crowd in a magnificent city. Once you have grasped the main story line, you will be able to see how the individual stories of the Bible fit together, how the whole Bible points to Jesus Christ, and how God speaks through the Bible into your life today.

As you prepare for each study, you will find it helpful to read the relevant chapter from the Bible along with the chapter from Unlocking the Bible Story (volume 1). Then, as you gather with others to discuss what you have read, the study guide will help you to apply what you have learned. (This study guide also can be helpful for individual study and application of each chapter.)

This first study guide will take you through the Old Testament story from Genesis to Nehemiah. The study guide to volume two will take you through the rest of the Old Testament. These two studies can be completed by a small group, meeting weekly, in less than a year. When you have completed that journey, you will want to use the study guides to Unlocking the Bible Story volumes three and four, which will take you through the New Testament, giving you a good grasp of the whole Bible.

So welcome aboard. You are about to embark on a wonderful adventure as we unlock the Bible together. You will make many new discoveries and be led to worship as you take in the breathtaking sweep of the Bible story.

LAUNCHING

1. What do you think most people believe to be the purpose of life? What factors lead you to this conclusion?

Who is God and why does it matter?

Who am I and why am I here?

EXPLORING

The Author Takes the Stage

2. There are two options to explain our existence: We were created by God or are an accident of history. What are the implications of each?

3. Many in our world today believe that humans are a product of evolutionary forces. How is this affecting our view of human life?

4. If God owns you, what difference should it make in the way you live your life? What difference should it make in the way you face troubling situations?

Understanding Ourselves

5. Read Genesis 1:27. How do human beings reflect God’s nature and image?

The Kiss of Life

6. We are made in God’s image. We are totally dependent on Him for our next breath. How do these two statements provide a healthy view of ourselves and others? Which do you need to grasp better?

Taking a Walk with God

7. Adam and Eve walked with God in the Garden of Eden. What are some of the similarities and differences between Adam and Eve’s relationship with God and ours today?

A Place Called Home

8. God provided a place, a purpose, and a partner for Adam and Eve (pages 25–27). What difference does it make to know that these are gifts from God?

Spotlight on Christ

9. Jesus said that He came to give us life to the full (John 10:10). In what ways has a relationship with Christ enriched your life?

APPLYING

10. What is something new you learned about God or yourself from this study? How will it affect the way you live this week?

This week, when you encounter someone who annoys you, remind yourself that the person is created in God’s image. Note how it changes your view of that person.

When praying this week, thank God for your place, your purpose, and your partner.

LAUNCHING

1. How would our world be different if sin had not entered the picture?

If God made everything good, why is the world as it is today?

EXPLORING

Reading Your Opponent’s Plays

2. Satan used three strategies to tempt Adam and Eve. Describe each in one sentence.

a.__________________________________________________________

b.__________________________________________________________

c.__________________________________________________________

3. How do you see these same strategies in operation today?

4. Which of Satan’s strategies do you feel most vulnerable to? Why?

5. The sixth paragraph on page 34 describes effective defenses for each of Satan’s “plays.” What have you found helpful in implementing these defenses in your life?

The Knowledge of Evil/Excluded from Paradise

6. We have the knowledge of evil, and we have been excluded from the presence of God. What difference has this made to our lives and our world?

Hope That Began with a Curse/A Curse Deflected

7. Why did God find it necessary to pronounce a curse? Why did God’s curse not fall directly on Adam? What evidence can you see of the curse on the ground today?

Spotlight on Christ

8. Read Galatians 3:13. How does Jesus’ death on the cross relate to …

APPLYING

9. What is something you can do this week to shore up your defenses against Satan’s schemes?

10. Do you need to adjust your expectations for life in this world based on what you learned in this lesson? How?

We won’t truly value a prescription drug unless we realize the severity of our sickness. In your prayer time this week, recognize before the Lord the dire diagnosis of humanity. Readily admit that this was (or possibly, still is) your diagnosis. Read through the prayer on page 40 and make it your own.

LAUNCHING

1. What thoughts and emotions would you imagine Noah felt as he completed the massive ark? When have you experienced some of these same emotions in your spiritual journey?

What do I need to be saved from, and how can I be saved?

EXPLORING

Building a Biblical Worldview

2. Those who hold a biblical worldview believe that

- God created them,

- that He has absolute rights over them,

- and that every good gift in their lives comes from His hand.

Describe the attitudes and actions you would expect each of these convictions to produce in those who hold them. How are they impacting you?

Amazing Grace

3. How did God express His grace to Noah? How is He doing that same thing for humanity today? Have you heeded His message? How?

Deliverance Through Faith

4. How were Noah and his family saved? Why do you think the others did not get into the ark?

5. How did Noah demonstrate faith?

6. Noah faithfully communicated the message of God’s judgment and deliverance. According to 2 Corinthians 5:20, what role do Christians have in making sure this message is communicated to everyone? What keeps you from communicating the message?

Spotlight on Christ

7. How is Jesus like the ark? Why do you think so many people are failing to come in?

APPLYING

8. Have you recognized that judgment is coming and accepted God’s deliverance through Jesus Christ? If not, pray the prayer on page 51 and get “in Christ” today.

9. Ask God to bring to mind the name of someone He would like you to share the news of judgment and deliverance with.

10. Is there an area of life in which you need to exercise more faith like Noah? What would walking by faith look like in this situation?

LAUNCHING

1. Have you ever been surrounded by people speaking a foreign language? How did it make you feel?

Why did God cause the peoples of the world to speak in different languages?

EXPLORING

Parents in Pain

2. People began to pray as they saw the sin growing in the world. Think of a time when pain led you to prayer. Describe that experience.

God Applies the Brakes

3. In John 8:34, Jesus said, “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” How does our sin make us slaves? Can you think of some examples?

4. Judgment is God’s way of cutting sin back. How have you seen this happen in the course of history or in our world today?

Prevention Is Better Than a Cure

5. Describe the preventive approach to sin.

What would this mean for someone struggling with:

The “New” Technology

6. What was the root sin of building the Tower of Babel? How have you observed this same sin today in individuals and cultures?

7. How did the judgment at the Tower of Babel serve to cut back sin?

8. God’s judgment is never His final word. When God cuts sin back, it is always to create room for His grace. How did God show His grace after the Tower of Babel?

Spotlight on Christ

9. How is Jesus Christ reversing the effects of the Tower of Babel? How have you experienced this?

APPLYING

10. For personal reflection: Is there a sin that has taken root in your life? What steps can you take to get it under control?

LAUNCHING

1. From what sources have you derived your mental image of God? How has that image changed over the course of your life?

Why is there such a strong emphasis on blood in the Bible story?

EXPLORING

God Breaks His Silence

2. Describe briefly what happened during the period between Abraham and Moses. (Use the time line on page 66 as a reminder.)

The Self-Sustaining Fire

3. How did Moses get an accurate picture of God? How can we gain an accurate picture today?

Confusion About God

4. How might Moses’ upbringing have created some confusion about who God was?

5. How are these same forces impacting young people in our culture today? How can we combat them?

6. How do people fashion a god to their liking today? Are there aspects of God’s character that you find difficult to accept? How do you handle that?

The Living God and the Other gods

7. What do the plagues reveal about God and His character?

A Blood Sacrifice in Egypt

8. What danger was looming for all those in Egypt as the Passover approached? What danger looms for everyone today? What would it take for people to realize the danger?

Spotlight on Christ

9. How is the Passover a foreshadowing of Jesus as the “Lamb of God”?

APPLYING

10. Imagine God’s judgment coming through your community like it did through Egypt. Would it pass over you or descend upon you? Why?

Praise Jesus Christ today as the Lamb of God who will bring you safely through the judgment of God.

What is the role of the Law in the life of a Christian?

LAUNCHING

1. What were some of the rules of the house when you were growing up? Why do you suppose your parents chose to emphasize those rules?

EXPLORING

A New Dimension of God’s Grace

2. What would you say to someone who was trying to obey the Ten Commandments in an effort to get to heaven? If we are not saved by keeping the Law, why is it important?

Get a Glimpse of the Glory of God!

3. Give a specific example of how our obedience to one of the Ten Commandments reflects the glory of God to the world.

The Greatest Battles of Your Heart

4. Which of the Ten Commandments do you think are most difficult for people to obey? Why?

Learning from the Teacher

5. How can the difficulty in obeying the Ten Commandments drive a person to Christ? What implications does this have for presenting the gospel?

Laying Track for the Train

6. The Holy Spirit makes it possible to live the Christian life. In practical terms, how can we draw upon the power of the Holy Spirit to obey God’s commands?

Spotlight on Christ

7. How does faith in Jesus Christ turn the commands of God into promises of God? How have you experienced this in your own life?

8. We encountered three pictures of the Law in this chapter. Briefly, describe how the Law is like a mirror, an X ray, and a train track.

APPLYING

9. How has this lesson changed your perspective on the Ten Commandments?

10. Find a place to be alone with God. Read through the Ten Commandments and pray that God would use them to show you anything in your life you need to change. Then pray the prayer found on page 87 in response.

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Read the Ten Commandments aloud as a group. Pause after each one, and praise God for His attribute it reflects.

LAUNCHING

1. Do you think people experience guilt today? How do they deal with it?

What is atonement and why is it necessary?

EXPLORING

Felt Needs and Market Forces

2. How did catering to “felt needs” and “market forces” lead Aaron to make tragic leadership decisions? What would a church emphasize today if it catered to “felt needs” and “market forces”? Do you see this happening today in the church? How?

The Mindless Party

3. Why did the Israelites so quickly fall away from God? How could people be susceptible to the same temptation today?

The Meaning of Atonement

4. Why didn’t God simply forgive the people when they were sorry?

5. Define atonement in your own words.

A Great Leader Can’t Do It

6. Three strategies proved to be unsuccessful in restoring God’s presence (pages 95–97): being sorry, the intercession of another human being, and painstaking obedience. Describe how you see people using these same attempts to restore their relationship with God today.

A Worthy Sacrifice Will Do It

7. What finally did restore God’s presence? Why was this successful when all of the other attempts failed?

Spotlight on Christ

8. What did Jesus have to do to restore our relationship with God?

APPLYING

9. Check the strategies you most often employ to try and restore your relationship with God after you have sinned.

Beating myself up over my failure

Keeping some distance from God until His displeasure passes

Committing myself to trying harder so that God will forgive me

Commiserating with someone to get reassurance that I am O.K.

Looking to a pastor, priest or other religious figure for forgiveness

Other:__________________________________________________

10. According to what you learned in this chapter, how should you respond when you sin?

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Take a few minutes to privately write down any sins you have committed that still cause you lingering guilt. Next write out 1 Peter 3:18 on the paper and fold it up. Collect all of the papers and destroy them. Let this mark in your mind that your sin is atoned for and forgiven only through the atonement of Jesus Christ.

LAUNCHING

1. Can you think of a time that someone forgave you when you did not deserve it? How did that make you feel?

What does God do with our sins when we confess them?

EXPLORING

Meeting with God

2. How was the mercy of God and the justice of God portrayed in the Day of Atonement?

3. List the emotions and thoughts that would have run through your mind as you watched each act of the drama of the Day of Atonement unfold …

4. Which of these “acts” would have seemed particularly moving to you?

5. The central truths vividly portrayed in the Day of Atonement are summarized on the bottom of page 108. Discuss how each of these truths point forward to Jesus Christ.

Spotlight on Christ

6. What new insights did you gain about Jesus Christ and His work on the cross from examining the events of the Day of Atonement?

7. Jesus Christ’s death on the cross is sufficient to cover the sins of the whole world. But we must apply it to our sins in particular. How would you explain to someone how to do this? (Page 112 provides a sample prayer that might help.)

APPLYING

8. In this chapter we encountered Sarah, who is struggling with a guilty conscience. Do you think there are many Christians like Sarah today? What advice would you give them?

9. Are there any sins that you have trouble believing are forgiven? If so, which ones?

10. Why is it difficult to believe God has forgiven these sins?

Find a time you can spend a few unhurried minutes alone with the Lord. Picture your sin being transferred to the cross. Now read 1 John 1:9 and Psalm 103:11-12. Rest on these promises.

LAUNCHING

1. Describe how someone in your life has loved you unconditionally.

If God’s love is unconditional, why does obedience matter?

EXPLORING

God’s Unconditional Love

2. Why does God love us, according to Deuteronomy 7:7–8? What new insight does this give you into the unconditional nature of God’s love?

Why Obedience Matters

3. If God loves us unconditionally, what difference does it make if we obey Him or not? How have you seen evidence of this principle operating in your own life?

The Love That Won’t Let Go

4. How is God’s discipline (bringing calamity upon us when we disobey) actually another expression of His unconditional love for us? Do you think you have ever experienced this in your life?

Agreeing with God’s Curses

5. Renouncing sin at Mount Ebal was an essential step to entering into God’s blessing. Why might some have been reluctant to endorse God’s curses on sin and disobedience? What advice would you give them?

6. What did God promise to those who were obedient to His commands? Do you think this principle is still in operation today?

7. What does God’s blessing look like in our world today?

Spotlight on Christ

8. Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10). In what ways have you found that obedience to Christ leads to blessing in your life?

APPLYING

9. Rate yourself from 1 to 10 in relation to your obedience to God over the last ten years, with 1 meaning very disobedient and 10 meaning very obedient. Explain your answer.

10. What changes would you need to make to rate higher over the next ten years?

LAUNCHING

1. When you look back at the end of your life, what are one or two things you would like to be able to say?

How can we contribute to advancing God’s purpose in the world?

EXPLORING

Grumbling and Complaining

2. The Israelites under Moses missed their calling and became a group of wandering, aimless people who marked time for a generation. Do you think Christians of your generation face the same danger? Why or why not?

3. How did complaining and complacent leadership contribute to the Israelites’ failure to fulfill God’s calling?

4. If the people of God are to advance God’s purpose, they must be thankful, and their leaders must be people of faith. Evaluate a ministry or church you are involved with according to these two criteria. How can you contribute to building a spirit of thanksgiving and faith?

Casting Your Vote for Costly Obedience

5. How was the Israelites’ failure to move into the Promised Land a demonstration of contempt toward God? How are we in danger of this today?

Understanding Your Calling

6. In order to avoid an aimless life, we need to be certain of our calling. If someone followed you around for one month, what would that person likely conclude your goal in life was?

Being comfortable

Being happy

Being popular

Being successful

Having a good family

Being safe and secure

Obeying Christ

Other____________________________________________

What do you want your goal to be?________________________

Counting the Cost

7. There is always a cost associated with obedience. Which of the bulleted statements on page 134 is most difficult for you to affirm? Why?

Spotlight on Christ

8. How did Jesus demonstrate an unwavering commitment to His calling and a willingness to pay any cost? Why was He willing to do this? What was the ultimate outcome?

APPLYING

9. Write a mission statement for your life. This should describe in three or four sentences what you believe God has called you to do. Try and use Scriptures when possible. Be ready to share it with your small group.

10. Evaluate the activities you are involved with to see if they are helping to advance the mission God has given you. What do you need to eliminate from or add to your schedule?

Read through the prayer on page 136. If it truly expresses the desire of your heart, pray it to the Lord.

LAUNCHING

1. How do you think it would impact your life if you unexpectedly inherited $5 million?

How can you stay spiritually healthy in a materialistic culture?

EXPLORING

Practice Giving

2. What does it mean to be a cheerful giver? How can our giving be an act of worship?

3. According to Jesus in Matthew 6:21, what is the relationship between our giving and our hearts? How have you seen this principle operate in your own life?

Restrain Greed

4. How could the Sabbath day and Sabbath year on the land restrain greed? Why would it take faith to follow these stipulations?

5. How could a Sabbath day of rest set margins for your life and activity? What would that look like?

Canceling Debts

6. How would the laws about canceling debts, releasing slaves, and the Year of Jubilee promote compassion and kindness in society? Could these principles be applied today?

Ignoring the Law

7. Why do you think the Year of Jubilee was never practiced? What objections would you anticipate to a law like the Year of Jubilee being proposed today?

Spotlight on Christ

8. How did Jesus fulfill the intentions of the Year of Jubilee to release the oppressed, forgive debts, and bring God’s favor?

APPLYING

9. If Jesus reviewed your checkbook ledger and your credit card statements over the last year, what would He conclude about your heart?

10. Set a goal for what you think the Lord would like you to give this year. What changes would you need to make in order to reach that goal? What impact do you think this would have on your heart?

This week, when you give money to your church or another charitable organization, strive to make it an act of worship and devotion to Christ.

LAUNCHING

1. In what ways do you see evil at work in our world today?

How can we create a culture that is conducive to holiness?

EXPLORING

A Culture That Encourages Righteous Living

2. How can the church promote a culture that encourages righteous living?

Protecting the Vulnerable/Restraining the Wicked

3. How did the Old Testament law protect the vulnerable (page 153) and restrain the wicked (page 155)?

4. The most extreme punishment, the death penalty, was used to protect three central pillars of society: the worship of God, the sanctity of life, and the sanctity of marriage. How can these pillars best be protected in our society today?

Don’t Blame the Government

5. The government has the power and responsibility to create a culture of peace and safety, but it will never be able to create a culture conducive to holiness. Why is that?

The Culture of a Godly Family and an Authentic Church

6. In the chart below, indicate ways the family and church can protect the vulnerable, restrain wickedness, and restore the penitent.

Spotlight on Christ

7. In what way has Christ broken the power of evil?

8. In what way does the power of evil remain in our world today?

APPLYING

9. What adjustments can you make in your family life to create a culture more conducive to holiness?

10. What kinds of relationships would help you in your pursuit of holiness? How can you begin to develop this network of relationships?

Optional Small Group Exercise:

As a small group, discuss in very practical terms how you can more effectively create a culture that promotes holiness. Make a plan for implementing this.

LAUNCHING

1. Describe when and how you came to know Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord.

How can we keep our covenants with God?

EXPLORING

Renewing Your Spiritual Commitment

2. What exactly does it mean to serve the Lord? How would you rate your service to the Lord now on a scale from one to ten? Explain your answer.

Remembering God’s Faithfulness

3. Joshua gave the people four strategies that would help them to reignite their spiritual passion and keep their covenant with God. The first was to remember God’s faithfulness. Use the time line at the beginning of the chapter to recount how God had been faithful to the people of Israel so far.

4. Draw a time line of your life showing the circumstances in which you have especially been aware of God’s faithfulness to you.

Make a Decisive Commitment

5. Which of the “gods of this age” particularly vie for the top priority in your life?

6. What would you want your epitaph to say? What could stop you from receiving that epitaph?

Throw Out Your Idols

7. What are you holding on to that keeps you from fully serving the Lord? What would it mean for you to throw out these idols?

Hold Each Other Accountable

8. How can the accountability of other Christians help keep you from forsaking your covenant to the Lord? How have you experienced this in your Christian life up to this point?

Spotlight on Christ

9. What has God promised in His covenant with us through Jesus? What are our obligations in this covenant?

APPLYING

10. If you are sensing that your spiritual life is slipping, take some time this week to be alone with the Lord and walk through the four steps described on page 171. Share with your small group how doing this has impacted your commitment to Christ.

LAUNCHING

1. If you asked your neighbors, coworkers, or fellow students to describe God, what responses would you expect to hear?

What is idolatry, and how is it practiced in America today?

EXPLORING

A Generation Who Did Not Know the Lord

2. What factors might have contributed to a whole generation of “God’s people” growing up without knowing the Lord?

3. How do you see these same factors operating today? What can be done to reverse this trend?

Priorities for Parents

4. We are to teach our children who God is and what He has done. Below, list five things from each of these categories that you think would be especially important to teach.

Who God Is:

1.___________________________________________________

2.___________________________________________________

3.___________________________________________________

4.___________________________________________________

5.___________________________________________________

What God Has Done:

1.___________________________________________________

2.___________________________________________________

3.___________________________________________________

4.___________________________________________________

5.___________________________________________________

5. What are some creative methods or activities you have found helpful to communicate with children about who God is and what He has done?

Identifying the Idols/The Attraction of Idols

6. How is the phenomenon described in the Wall Street Journal article an example of idolatry in America? What do you think compels people to come up with their own quirky conceptions of God?

7. Are there dimensions of God’s character that you tend to ignore or downplay? Why?

The God Who Delivers

8. God creates a crisis in order to bring His people back to Himself. Can you see ways in which this has happened in the last one hundred years?

Spotlight on Christ

9. How was Jesus similar to and different from the deliverers of the Old Testament?

APPLYING

10. What can you do to more effectively pass on the knowledge of God to the next generation? Take one of the attributes you recorded from question 4 (Under “Who God Is”), and make a plan to creatively communicate this truth about God to a child in your life.

LAUNCHING

1. Describe a time when the events of your life made you question what God was doing. Now, looking back, does it make more sense?

Why do we need a Redeemer?

EXPLORING

Call Me “Miss Bitter”

2. List the hardships and difficulties that Naomi experienced. How did they impact her?

3. How have the pain and difficulties you have observed and experienced through life impacted you and your relationship with God?

Love That Chooses to Pay a Price

4. What do you admire about Ruth? Is there something from her character you would like to emulate in your own life?

5. Both Ruth and Naomi experienced severe pain and disappointment. Naomi became bitter, but Ruth loved God and others. What makes the difference? How can you be like Ruth rather than Naomi?

The Infectious Power of Kindness

6. What can we learn from Boaz and his kindness to Ruth, a foreigner?

7. Describe a time you experienced a kinship with someone of a different race or nationality because of your common bond in Jesus Christ or a time you experienced a feeling of being “part of the family” at church because of kindness shown by someone there.

8. Think of a nation or race that you would consider an adversary to your own. How would people respond if someone from this nationality walked into your church this Sunday?

Spotlight on Christ

9. What was required for Boaz to be Ruth’s kinsman-redeemer? How is this a picture of Jesus Christ our Redeemer?

APPLYING

10. Are there circumstances in your life that are difficult or do not seem to make sense? How can you apply what you have learned to those situations?

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Pray that God will give each of you an opportunity to reach out to someone in need with an anonymous act of kindness. Share what happened next time in your group.

LAUNCHING

1. Make a time line of your life with the key choices that have brought you to where you are today. Share this with the group.

Why did God not want His people to have a king?

EXPLORING

2. Using the time line on page 198, review the major events of the Bible story from the Exodus through Israel’s most famous kings: Saul, David, and Solomon.

The Frustrations of Living by Faith

3. Why do you think the people wanted a king? What was wrong with their request?

The Significance of Choices

4. Why didn’t God simply overrule their bad judgment?

5. How does the story of the kings remind us that a bad choice cannot put an end either to God’s grace or His purpose for our lives? How have you seen this principle in your own life or in the lives of others?

6. How can we avoid making bad choices and make godly ones instead?

Leadership Qualifications

7. In the left-hand column, fill in the leadership qualities for kings and Christian leaders. Then use these qualifications to evaluate King David, a leader you respect, and yourself.

8. In which of these categories do you think Christian leaders most commonly fail today? Which of these are areas of vulnerability in your life?

Spotlight on Christ

9. Jesus came to be the true king of the Jews. Record on the above chart how Jesus uniquely fulfills the royal profile.

APPLYING

10. Which of these areas of leadership do you need to shore up in order to be a more godly leader? How can you do that?

Optional Exercise:

While alone with the Lord, record on paper any regrettable decisions from the past that you fear have compromised your usefulness to the Lord. Destroy the paper and thank the Lord that He is with you and able to use you in your present circumstances just as He did with the nation of Israel. Commit to serving Him with all your heart in the future.

LAUNCHING

1. Think of someone you would describe as genuinely humble. What does humility look like in this person’s life?

Where should we look for stability and security?

EXPLORING

God with King David

2. How did King David place God at the center of national life? What would it look like to place God at the center of national life today?

The Test of Humility

3. From what you learned in this chapter, how would you define humility in your own words? How was King David an example of this?

4. Think of a project, ministry, or activity you are involved with. What would it look like for you to express humility in this endeavor?

Disappointment and the Door of Promise

5. David’s disappointment in not building the temple was eclipsed by a much greater promise from God. Share a time when you wanted to do something good but God closed the door. How was this disappointment a door to God’s blessing?

6. List the three elements of the promise given to David in 2 Samuel 7:13–14. Why would it be impossible for a human king to fulfill these?

Spotlight on Christ

7. Describe how Jesus uniquely fulfills each of the promises given to David.

The Bible’s Greatest Miracle

8. What new insights did you gain about the Incarnation—God taking on human flesh in Jesus Christ—in this lesson?

Children of God

9. Which of the bulleted truths on page 220 are especially meaningful to you? Why?

APPLYING

10. Pray this week for someone who is involved in a ministry, activity, or job similar to yours. Pray that God would bless that person greatly for His honor and glory. Describe how this affects your own heart and humility.

In your quiet times with the Lord this week, take one of the bulleted truths from page 220 and turn it into a prayer of praise and thanksgiving.

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Read Revelation 5:9–10, 13 out loud. Use these verses to transition you into a time of praise and worship of Jesus, who sits on the throne of the universe forever.

LAUNCHING

1. Describe a time when you felt that God was speaking to you.

How has God spoken to us?

EXPLORING

The Terrors of Hearing the Voice of God

2. God sent the prophet Nathan to confront David’s hidden sin. How was this an expression of His grace?

The Role of a Prophet

3. Read 2 Peter 1:20–21. What do we learn from these verses about the way God gave His Word to the prophets? What do you think this experience was like for the prophets?

4. How has understanding this process impacted your view of the Old Testament?

5. Describe how Nathan fulfilled the role of the prophet with David.

Spotlight on Christ

6. Read Hebrews 1:1–2. How has God “spoken to us by his Son”?

7. How is the role of the prophet in the Old Testament fulfilled by the Holy Spirit today?

8. How does God speak today? What helps you to be receptive?

APPLYING

9. For personal reflection: Is God pointing out something in your life that is displeasing to Him?

10. Are you responding more like King David or Herod?

King David asked God to search his heart. Use his words, recorded in Psalm 139:23–24, to shape your own prayer. Record anything the Lord brings to mind.

LAUNCHING

1. At what times and places do you especially sense God’s presence?

Where can we go to meet with God?

EXPLORING

Seeking God’s Presence

2. Using the time line on page 17, trace the history of God’s presence and how it was revealed through “theophanies” in the Bible story.

God’s Stonecutters

3. The Bible describes Christians as living stones for the eternal temple. What “stonecutters” has God used (or perhaps is still using) in your life to shape you to be more like Christ?

4. How would it change your attitude toward difficult people or painful events in your life if you were able to view them as God’s stonecutters?

Responding with Worship

5. What would you have thought and felt if you had seen the cloud of God’s presence fill the temple? Why?

The Sad Story of the Temple

6. How was the spiritual life of God’s people affected when the Ark of the Covenant was lost?

Spotlight on Christ

7. How is Jesus Christ like the temple today? How does this make our relationship with God today different than that of people in the Old Testament?

8. How are Christian believers like the temple today?

9. The cloud of God’s presence filling the temple is a picture of God’s Spirit filling you. In what situations do you most need the confidence of knowing that God is with you?

APPLYING

10. Take a moment to identify God’s stonecutters in your life. You may want to tell Him how painful they are for you. Ask the Lord to use the trials in your life to shape you for ministry now and prepare you for entering His presence.

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Commit to memorizing 1 Corinthians 6:19 as a group. Agree on a day when each member of the group will intentionally meditate on this truth. Record how the exercise impacted the day.

LAUNCHING

1. What helps you to worship God authentically?

What are the distinguishing marks of authentic worship?

EXPLORING

Planting the Seeds of Division

2. Solomon started off well but finished horribly. On the chart below, record how Solomon slid into these dangerous pitfalls. Then record how you have seen a contemporary leader fall into one of these errors, and how you might be susceptible to these same mistakes.

A Turning of the Tide

3. In half a century, Israel had gone from a nation loyal to the living God to a divided and confused nation where religion was a matter of personal choice. How have you seen this same progression happening in your country? What consequences have resulted from this?

Authentic Worship Is a Response to Revealed Truth

4. How did Elijah’s demand for the people to decide which God they would follow fly in the face of the prevailing philosophy of religious tolerance? Would it have been more loving for Elijah to have affirmed the personal faith of the prophets of Baal?

Authentic Worship Focuses on the Living God

5. How would you answer someone who said that it does not matter which God you worship as long as you are sincere? How might the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal help you in your answer?

6. God revealed His greatness and glory to the people at Mount Carmel by sending fire from heaven. What has helped you to have a greater grasp of God’s glory?

Authentic Worship Focuses on an Acceptable Sacrifice

7. The worshipers and prophets of Baal deserved judgment, yet God’s fire fell on the sacrifice rather than the people. What attributes of God did this reveal to those assembled?

Spotlight on Christ

8. How can we keep our worship focused on what Christ has done for us on the Cross?

APPLYING

9. Is there something you need to change in your life to keep from following in the footsteps of Solomon?

10. How can you worship God more authentically?

LAUNCHING

1. How would you go about trying to convince Bob, the thirty-five-year-old husband and father, that he is, in fact, a sinner?

What is sin and why is it serious?

EXPLORING

The Priority of Godliness and Righteousness

2. Define godliness and righteousness in your own words. What is their relationship?

3. The northern kingdom became a cesspool of sin, violence, and moral confusion. What set them on this track? What could have reversed its course?

4. What would you say to someone who claimed the solution to the problems of our society today lies in more moral instruction and character education?

Bob’s Biggest Problem: Life Without God

5. How can someone like Bob, who is a faithful family man, trying to live a good life, ultimately be under God’s wrath and judgment? How have the principles from this chapter changed the way you view “good” people like Bob?

Provoking the Anger of God

6. How is God’s love different from His anger? What attributes of God are revealed by His anger?

7. What was the result of God’s anger toward the northern kingdom? How is this a picture of the predicament faced by people who are rejecting Him today?

Spotlight on Christ

8. What can we learn about communicating the Good News from Jesus’ interaction with the woman at the well?

APPLYING

9. What do you need to do to take sin more seriously in your life?

10. How did the truths from this lesson impact the way you see those around you who do not know Christ as their personal Savior? What will you do in response?

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Have someone take the role of Bob, and let the others in the group try to share the gospel with him.

LAUNCHING

1. What has shaped your understanding of right and wrong?

What is righteousness and how can it be established in our land?

EXPLORING

The Influence of a Godly Leader

2. Josiah grew up without any kind of spiritual heritage. What do you think caused this young man to begin seeking the Lord? How do you see signs of this same thing happening today in the lives of young people?

3. Josiah wanted to turn his country back to the living God. He made many changes, but they did not last. Knowing how the story ended, what advice would you have given Josiah?

Rediscovering the Bible

4. The religious leaders of Josiah’s day ran the temple without the Word of God. Would it be possible to run a church without using the Bible today? Have you seen this happen? What were the results?

Rediscovering Right and Wrong

5. Is there confusion in your culture about what is right and wrong? If so, why?

What would it take to reverse this trend?

6. What would you say to someone who said, “That may be wrong for you, but it is not wrong for me”?

7. How do you decide whether something is right or wrong? Are there areas where you find it particularly difficult to determine right and wrong? Why?

Leading a Reformation

8. In what sense was Josiah’s campaign of reform a success and in what sense was it a failure? Why? What would it take to bring righteousness back to our nation?

Spotlight on Christ

9. How can a person be right with God?

APPLYING

10. Growing in righteousness involves removing what displeases God from our lives and developing a lifestyle that is modeled on the character of Jesus. Try to identify a next step for your own growth in righteousness.

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Point out signs of God’s work you can observe in the lives of each of the members of your small group.

LAUNCHING

1. Describe a time you felt a great sense of joy. What was it about that experience that made you joyful?

How can God’s people experience His joy?

EXPLORING

2. Using the time line on page 17 as a guide, review the history of God’s people. You should now have a good sense of the key landmarks of the Old Testament story.

Bring Out the Bible!

3. Why did the people have such a strong desire to hear the words of the Bible? What has given you that desire?

The Value of Family Worship

4. What were the benefits of including the children in the worship and teaching session led by Ezra? What are the implications of this for today?

Making the Meaning Clear

5. What made Ezra’s teaching so powerfully effective? What does Ezra’s example teach us about effective communication and learning in the church today?

6. Why were the people so receptive to Ezra’s teaching? What helps you to hear and receive God’s Word? What prevents you from hearing?

The Joy of Grace and Obedience

7. God’s Word humbled the people, but it also lifted them up and directed them to a new life of obedience. How have you experienced these same effects of the Word of God in your life?

8. How can we experience the joy of the Lord described by Nehemiah? How can this be our strength?

Spotlight on Christ

9. How does Christ bring joy to His people now? How will that joy be different when Christ returns?

APPLYING

10. Where are you looking to find joy in your life? Evaluate your response in light of what you learned from this chapter.

Optional Small Group Exercise:

The people of God joyfully celebrated the Festival of Booths to commemorate God’s faithfulness to them. Consider planning an event as a family or small group to celebrate God’s goodness and faithfulness.

SINCE 1894, Moody Publishers has been dedicated to equip and motivate people to advance the cause of Christ by publishing evangelical Christian literature and other media for all ages, around the world. As a ministry of the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, proceeds from the sale of this book help to train the next generation of Christian leaders.

If we may serve you in any way in your spiritual journey toward understanding Christ and the Christian life, please contact us at www.moodypublishers.com.

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

—2 TIMOTHY 3:16, 17

Unlocking the Bible Story Series

Pastor Colin Smith’s four-volume masterpiece moves you past Bible stories to understand the Bible as one story—the glorious, unbroken account of Christ’s work to redeem a fallen world.

Each chapter of the Unlocking the Bible Story Series, Volumes 1-4 coincide with the same chapters of the Unlocking the Bible Story Study Guides.

Unlocking the Bible Story, Volume 1

Volume 1 takes readers through the Old Testament story from Genesis to Nehemiah.

ISBN: 0-8024-6543-9, Volume 1

ISBN: 0-8024-6551-X, Volume 1, Study Guide

Unlocking the Bible Story, Volume 2

After you have completed Volume 1, Volume 2 is highly recommended as it takes readers through the Old Testament story from Job to Malachi.

ISBN: 0-8024-6544-7, Volume 2

ISBN: 0-8024-6552-8, Volume 2, Study Guide

Unlocking the Bible Story, Volume 3

Volume 3 begins with the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ and continues with Christ’s ministry and the beginning of the church. Volume 3 will help you unlock the

Bible story from Matthew to Acts.

ISBN: 0-8024-6545-5, Volume 3

ISBN: 0-8024-6553-6, Volume 3, Study Guide

Unlocking the Bible Story, Volume 4

Volume 4 takes readers through the letters written to the New Testament churches, which tell the full significance of what God has done in Jesus Christ, and concludes with the revelation of the apostle John, who brings us right into the future city of God.

ISBN: 0-8024-6546-3, Volume 4

ISBN: 0-8024-6554-4, Volume 4, Study Guide

UNLOCKING THE BIBLE STORY STUDY GUIDE TEAM

ACQUIRING EDITOR:

William Thrasher

COPY EDITOR:

Jim Vincent

BACK COVER COPY:

The Smartt Guys

COVER DESIGN:

The Smartt Guys

INTERIOR DESIGN:

Paetzold Associates

PRINTING AND BINDING:

Data Reproductions Corporation

The typeface for the text of this book is

Goudy

UNLOCKING THE BIBLE STORY

STUDY GUIDE

VOLUME 2

Colin S. Smith

MOODY PUBLISHERS

CHICAGO

©2004 by COLIN S. SMITH

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 0-8024-6552-8

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS

Introduction

1 Suffering

2 Resurrection

3 Revelation

4 Wisdom

5 Holiness

6 Comfort

7 Servant

8 Calling

9 Heart

10 Tears

11 Glory

12 Shepherd

13 Breath

14 Alien

15 Love

16 Faith

17 Hope

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the second in a series of four study guides designed to help small groups grasp the big picture of the Bible. The studies are based on the four-volume book series Unlocking the Bible Story. They will take you on a fascinating journey through the Scriptures.

The whole Bible is one story. It begins with two people in a beautiful garden and ends with a vast crowd in a magnificent city. Once you have grasped the main story line, you will be able to see how the individual stories of the Bible fit together, how the whole Bible points to Jesus Christ, and how God speaks through the Bible into your life today.

As you prepare for each study, you will find it helpful to read the relevant chapter from the Bible along with the chapter from Unlocking the Bible Story (volume 2). Then, as you gather with others to discuss what you have read, the study guide will help you to apply what you have learned. (This study guide also can be helpful for individual study and application of each chapter.)

This second study guide will take you through the Old Testament story from Job to Malachi, giving you a good grasp of how God spoke through the prophets and what their message means for us today. When you have completed this journey, you will want to use the study guides to Unlocking the Bible Story volumes three and four, which will take you through the New Testament. Together, these four guides will give you a good grasp of the whole Bible.

So welcome aboard. You are about to embark on a wonderful adventure as we unlock the Bible together. You will make many new discoveries and be led to worship as you take in the breathtaking sweep of the Bible story.

What does God have to say about the suffering of His people?

LAUNCHING

1. Describe how someone you know honored God through his or her response to great difficulties or suffering.

EXPLORING

God’s People Will Suffer

2. How would you react if you heard that a highly respected Christian had suffered the same tragedies as Job? Does your natural reaction unveil any misconceptions about suffering? Explain.

God’s People Will Feel Pain

3. What would you say to a Christian who is facing a major hardship and feels guilty for not experiencing greater peace and joy in the midst of it?

The Story Behind the Story

4. What was being accomplished through Job’s suffering? How can that same thing be accomplished in your suffering?

Same Problem: Different Response

5. How can you explain the contrast between Job’s response and his wife’s?

6. How does our response in suffering reveal the condition of our hearts?

Spotlight on Christ

7. What can you learn from the way Jesus handled suffering?

APPLYING

8. Based on what you learned in this chapter, what might you say to someone who is enduring great difficulties? What would you avoid saying?

9. Think of a time that you experienced grief and suffering. What comments did you find encouraging and helpful, and what did you find discouraging or offensive?

10. How can the principles from this chapter help you to endure a present difficulty or one that you may encounter in the future?

Optional Small Group Exercise:

As an individual, family, or small group, make a plan to encourage someone you know who is in the midst of suffering.

How can I hold on to my faith in the darkest times?

LAUNCHING

1. How do you picture life after death?

EXPLORING

Where Do You Turn When Nobody Understands?

2. Have you ever experienced a time that you felt you could not endure what you were facing? What did you do to cope with the situation?

3. In addition to the tragedy itself, what made Job’s situation so desperate and difficult? How can you identify with this?

Job’s Secret of Survival

4. What was Job’s secret of survival?

5. If everything in your life was collapsing around you, what convictions would be the “solid branch” that you could hold on to?

6. Describe a time those convictions and truths helped you deal with a difficult circumstance you were facing.

Job’s Confidence

7. Job believed that he would see God, and this confidence sustained him. How does the anticipation of seeing God affect your life? How could it affect you more deeply?

Spotlight on Christ

8. Why is it important that Jesus rose from the dead bodily rather than simply returning to the Father in His spirit?

APPLYING

9. How can your hope of the Resurrection help you deal with a difficult or painful situation you are currently facing?

10. Write out the core convictions you mentioned in question 5 with supporting verses. Have this accessible for a future time when you encounter difficulties and trials.

How can we know God?

LAUNCHING

1. What is one question you would like to ask God when you get to heaven?

EXPLORING

The Bible: God’s Exclusive

2. In what ways has God revealed Himself to us? How has each of these given us a progressively greater understanding?

3. In what sense is the Bible an “exclusive”? What would you say to someone who was offended by the Bible’s claim to give exclusive information?

Truth, Spin, and Fantasy

4. On what can we base our confidence that the Bible is actually true?

The Measure of Truth

5. If the Bible is truly God revealing Himself, what are the implications of this?

6. How then should we approach the Bible?

Snowflakes and Crocodiles

7. God did not give Job an explanation of why he was suffering but rather a revelation of Himself. How did that ultimately help Job to cope with the situation? What did Job discover about God from his encounter with Him?

Spotlight on Christ

8. Read Hebrews 1:1–3. How has God revealed Himself to us uniquely in Jesus?

APPLYING

9. What have you found helpful in gaining a greater sense of God’s glory and greatness?

10. To what extent would you say that your use of and response to the Bible is in line with your belief about its nature and source? What adjustments do you need to make?

Read through a psalm this week, noting any pictures or attributes of God. Praise God for one of these attributes. Reflect on it throughout the day. Psalm 23, 25, or 33 represents a great place to start. Report to the group how it impacted your week.

How can I put my life together with success?

LAUNCHING

1. What is something you have done in the past that you now consider foolish? What makes you view the situation differently now?

EXPLORING

Looking Through the Window

2. How did the young man whom Solomon observed demonstrate three pitfalls of folly—drifting without purpose, acting on impulse, and not considering the consequences of a decision?

3. Describe a time you did something foolish that involved one of these same three pitfalls.

4. How could you have avoided making the mistake?

5. In general, which of these pitfalls do you feel most susceptible to?

Spotlight on Christ

6. How was Jesus’ life an antithesis to the foolish young man Solomon observed?

7. How would living out your faith in Christ overcome each of the pitfalls of folly?

The Spirit of Wisdom

8. What role does the Holy Spirit play in living out a life of wisdom?

Wisdom Looks for Company

9. To whom is wisdom offered? In what areas of life do you see your need for the wisdom of God?

APPLYING

10. Think about the pitfall you chose in question 4. What can you do in practical terms to keep from falling prey to this tendency?

In one of your quiet times this week, praise Jesus for being the personification of the wisdom of God.

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Discuss what role your small group can play to protect one another from doing something foolish.

What is God like?

LAUNCHING

1. How do you think it would change your life if God appeared to you as He did to Isaiah?

EXPLORING

Growing Casual Toward God

2. In Isaiah’s day, there was a disconnection between the belief and behavior of God’s people. How would you explain this contradiction?

3. In what ways do you see this disconnection between belief and behavior among Christians or in your own life today?

The Angels Who Couldn’t Bear to Look

4. What effect did God’s presence have on Isaiah and the angels? Why?

5. God has many attributes. Why do you think the Bible puts such emphasis on His holiness?

6. Which attributes are most emphasized in the Christian community you are part of? How do you see that impacting people’s lives for good and bad?

Caught in an Earthquake

7. Many people have a diminished view of God. The god they believe in makes little impression on their lives. Others have grasped the greatness and glory of God, and their lives have been changed. How can you cultivate and communicate a higher view of God?

Coming Apart at the Seams

8. When Isaiah saw God, he became painfully aware of his own sin and the sin of his people. Rate yourself from 1 to 5 as to how sensitive you are to your own sin and the sin of your culture. Explain your answer and how you arrived at the point you indicated.

Insensitive        1        2        3        4        5        Sensitive

A Hot Coal

9. Isaiah’s renewed sense of his sinfulness was followed by a touch of God’s grace. How have you experienced these two dynamics operating together in your life? How has that equipped you to serve the Lord?

Spotlight on Christ

10. How does Jesus reveal the holiness of God?

APPLYING

If you feel that you have become desensitized to your own sin and the sin of your culture, confess this to the Lord and ask for a renewed sense of His holiness.

Read the italicized comments under Pause for Prayer on page 76, and make the prayer that follows your own.

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Sing the hymn, Holy, Holy, Holy together, and then pause for a couple of minutes to sit in awe of God.

How can I live with problems that won’t go away?

LAUNCHING

1. Recall a time when you received news of a national or world crisis. How did you feel? What did you do?

EXPLORING

A Fatal Mistake

2. Imagine if you had been in Judah when Isaiah delivered the devastating news that Jerusalem would fall into the hands of the Babylonians. What thoughts and emotions would you have experienced?

What to Do When You Can’t Fix It

3. Have you faced a situation that you knew you couldn’t fix either then or in the future? How did you adjust to that situation and come to terms with it?

God Is in Control

4. God told Isaiah to remind the people He was still in control. How would grasping that truth have helped the people cope with the situation?

5. Describe a time that understanding God’s sovereignty helped you to cope with a difficult situation you faced.

God Will Fulfill His Purposes

6. The news of Jerusalem’s demise seemed to put God’s promises in jeopardy. How did God’s message through Isaiah address this fear?

7. Have you ever faced a circumstance that made you question what God is doing? How did you handle the situation?

Spotlight on Christ

8. How is the Cross the supreme example of God working out His will through seemingly devastating circumstances?

9. What does it mean to “hope in the Lord,” and how can this provide strength? Describe a time that you have experienced this.

APPLYING

10. Read through Isaiah 40, noting any verses that inspire your hope in the Lord. Write out one or two that particularly strike you, and post them somewhere where you can see them. Be prepared to share these with your small group and explain why they are important to you.

Write down any circumstances you are facing that you fear are blocking God’s purposes for your life. Write Romans 8:28–29 across the top of the paper. Bring these situations before the Lord in prayer, and tell Him that you trust that He is still in control.

How can God’s will get done?

LAUNCHING

1. Who is someone you consider a faithful servant of God? Why?

EXPLORING

Meet the Servant

2. What is a servant and what is his mission, according to Isaiah?

Making the Maximum Impact

3. Describe the style of this servant. Do you find this style particularly attractive or not? Why?

The Power of Compassion

4. How are many people today like a “bruised reed” or “smoldering wick”? How will the Servant of God deal with these people?

5. Using the chart below, define the key characteristics of a servant. Then rate yourself on how well you demonstrate each trait, with 1 representing not at all, 2 rarely, 3 sometimes, 4 often, and 5 most of the time. Also, describe how you might cultivate each quality.

DEFINITION

RATING  (1–5)

HOW TO CULTIVATE

Humility

Compassion

Faithfulness

The Scale of the Challenge

6. The Servant will open the eyes of the blind, and He will free captives. How are people today blind and bound? What is our role and what is God’s role in alleviating these situations?

Spotlight on Christ

7. Read through Isaiah 53, noting any characteristics or descriptions that remind you of Jesus.

8. How does Jesus uniquely fulfill the calling of the Servant?

9. In the same way the Father sent Jesus into the world, Jesus is sending us into the world. What does it mean for us to go out into the world as servants of God?

APPLYING

10. What is one characteristic of a servant you would like to cultivate? Make a plan to do that, and share it with your small group.

What does Jesus Christ offer and how can it be yours?

LAUNCHING

1. What is your immediate reaction when you hear a free offer? Why?

EXPLORING

The Trader Revealed

2. What does the fact that Jesus is calling out for people to come to Him tell you about His character and heart?

Spotlight on Christ

3. Why do you think so many people do not respond to Jesus’ invitation?

4. Think of a specific person who does not know Christ as Savior. Which of the barriers on page 109 is keeping that person from responding to Christ? Which of these things were or are a barrier to you?

A One-of-a-Kind Offer

5. What are signs you see in those around you that show they are really “thirsty”? How are they trying to satisfy their thirst?

The Price Is Right!

6. What do people offer God in an attempt to buy their salvation?

7. Why is it difficult to accept that salvation could be free? How have you wrestled with this truth?

8. How has the discovery that salvation does not rest on anything we have done but on Christ alone affected you?

Making the Purchase

9. Describe your own spiritual journey using the categories “looking, trying, knowing, and buying.” Where are you now in the process?

APPLYING

10. How could you help someone overcome the barriers from question 4 ?

If you are not sure that you have “bought” what Christ offers, consider making the prayer on page 117 your own. Record the date in your Bible or some other significant place so that you have a marker to look back on.

Optional Small Group Exercise:

If you still find yourself wanting to offer God something in exchange for your salvation, admit this to the Lord. Imagine yourself before Him with your hands full of these offerings. Then mentally set them aside one by one until your hands are empty.

What is the key to real and lasting change?

LAUNCHING

1. How did you parents or guardians attempt to instill moral values in you as a child?

EXPLORING

High Hopes and Big Disappointments

2. How can you explain the roller-coaster spirituality of Israel in the days of Jeremiah?

A Promise for a Discouraged Prophet

3. How does God’s new covenant, announced through Jeremiah, address this problem?

The Problem with the Heart

4. How would you define the heart in your own words?

5. Describe the natural condition of the human heart. What are the symptoms of this inward condition that you can observe in yourself and others?

Fear Won’t Change the Heart

6. Fear, money, and religion will all fail to change the fundamental disposition of the heart. How do you see people attempting to bring change by these means today? Why will these attempts ultimately fail?

A Change of Heart

7. How does God change our hearts? What are some outward manifestations of this change of heart? Describe when you first began to see some of the signs of this inward change in your life.

Spotlight on Christ

8. What can you learn about change from Jesus’ interaction with Nicodemus?

APPLYING

9. What advice would you give to someone who told you he or she wants to change but seems unable to?

10. If you have children, how will what you learned in this lesson impact your parenting?

How should I deal with discouragement in God’s service?

LAUNCHING

1. Describe a discouraging time in a ministry you are involved with.

EXPLORING

The Most Blessed City on Earth

2. Describe the state of God’s people, the temple, and God’s purpose in the world at the time of Solomon in the table on the next page.

HIGH POINT

UNDER SOLOMON

LOW POINT AT

DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM

God’s People and Their Witness for God

God’s Holy Place, the Temple

God’s Purpose to Bless the World Through the Line of Abraham and David

The Darkest Hour Before the Dawn

3. Record the state of God’s people at their low point when Jerusalem was destroyed.

4. What factors contributed to Israel’s fall from greatness to desperation? How can the church today be susceptible to these same forces?

The Tears of One Who Cares

5. Imagine walking through the rubble of Jerusalem with Jeremiah. What kinds of thoughts and emotions would have been going through your mind?

6. Describe a time in your ministry the ministry of your church when you experienced some of these same emotions and thoughts.

God’s Purpose Will Finally Prevail

7. What provided Jeremiah comfort in the midst of this terrible situation? What brought you or others hope in the situation you described in question 6?

Spotlight on Christ

8. What does Jesus’ response to Jerusalem tell you about His heart? What will the final destiny of Jerusalem be?

APPLYING

9. In light of what you learned in this session, how do you need to adjust your expectations in ministry?

10. Do you believe you are experiencing too many or not enough tears in your ministry? Explain.

Optional Exercise:

Think of someone you know who is going through a difficult time in his or her ministry. Utilizing some of the principles from this chapter, make a plan to encourage that person this week.

In what sense is God’s presence always with us?

LAUNCHING

1. How did you feel when you reached your most recent milestone in age (eighteen, twenty-one, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, etc.)?

EXPLORING

The Glory Appears

2. Draw a rough sketch of the image in Ezekiel’s vision.

3. What attributes of God are particularly highlighted in this vision?

Scandal in the Temple

4. What brought God’s judgment on His people? How can we be susceptible to this today?

5. How might it have impacted the people in Ezekiel’s day to recognize God sees everything? What impact might a greater awareness of that truth have on Christians today?

The Glory Departs

6. What principles can we learn from Ezekiel’s vision of the glory of God traveling to the Kebar River?

This Could Be Your Story

7. Bob had been planning and preparing to go overseas as a missionary. Now, because of a serious health issue with one of his children, he is confined to regular employment in the United States. What encouragement could you offer Bob, who feels bewildered and lost?

This Is the Church’s Story

8. What do you think has caused God’s presence to be particularly powerful and evident at specific times and places in history? What might quench God’s presence and work?

Spotlight on Christ

9. How do Ezekiel’s visions point forward to Jesus and His ministry?

APPLYING

10. What circumstances in your life have you viewed as limiting the presence and power of God’s Spirit? How has this chapter challenged this perspective?

What does effective leadership look like?

LAUNCHING

1. Who is someone you consider to be a great leader? Why?

EXPLORING

Three Kinds of Leaders: The Prophet, Priest, and King

2. In one sentence each, describe the role of the prophet, priest, and king.

• Prophet:

• Priest:

• King:

Spiritual Leadership in the Church

3. Evaluate the health of your church using the three criteria on the middle of page 159.

4. How could you contribute to strengthening one of these areas?

Spiritual Leadership in the Home

5. Write a brief job description for a parent using the roles of prophet, priest, and king as a guide. Share an idea or two that you are finding helpful in fulfilling each of these roles.

The Shepherd Leader

6. In what area are you exercising some form of leadership? What would it mean for you to feed the sheep, seek the sheep, and lead the sheep in this area? What could you do in practical terms to improve in one of these areas?

The Shepherd’s Performance Review

7. Israel’s shepherds abused their power, majored on their opinions rather than God’s Word, and neglected the Lord. How do you see these things manifested in the church today?

8. Which of these do you feel most susceptible to? What adjustments do you need to make in light of this?

Spotlight on Christ

9. How does Jesus, our Great Shepherd, fulfill the roles of prophet, priest, and king?

APPLYING

10. What is something you could do this week to better fulfill your role as shepherd in one dimension of your life?

Optional Small Group Exercise

Point out ways you have seen the other members of your small group reflect the roles of prophets, priests, and kings.

How does God bring to life people who are spiritually dead?

LAUNCHING

1. Think of someone you find it hard to imagine coming to faith in Christ. Why? (You might want to use first names only for privacy’s sake.)

EXPLORING

Facing the Credibility Gap

2. Describe a time when you felt a gap between God’s promises and the circumstances you were facing.

Understanding the Scale of the Problem

3. Why was Ezekiel’s “field trip” to the valley of bones an essential step in his ministry? What can we learn from this?

How to Answer God’s Big Question

4. How did Ezekiel’s response to God exhibit both humility and faith? What will result if either one is absent?

5. Which of these responses do you find the greater challenge? Why?

What to Do While You Are Trusting God

6. What is our role and what is God’s role in reaching people for Christ?

Speaking to the Breath

7. Describe a time you saw God work powerfully through prayer and the presentation of His Word.

Spotlight on Christ

8. Jesus promised His disciples that the Holy Spirit would soon come. When the Holy Spirit did come, how did He impart life to “dead bones”?

APPLYING

9. Think of a person or situation that seems like dry bones. How could you apply the ministry of prayer and of God’s Word?

10. What criteria would you use to evaluate whether a church was filled with the Spirit of God or a lifeless corpse? Evaluate your church by these criteria.

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Pool the names of those you identified as hopelessly lost, and commit to praying for all of them as a group for thirty days.

How can I live in the world without being squeezed into its mold?

LAUNCHING

1. What do you think would be most difficult about living in another culture?

EXPLORING

Aliens with a Heavenly Passport

2. What are the implications of being an alien on earth?

The Pressure to Conform

3. How do young people today face the same pressures that Daniel encountered? Can you relate to these pressures as well?

Masks of the Enemy

4. Describe Satan’s two strategies of persecution and assimilation. How do you see both of these strategies in operation today?

5. What enticements and pleasures of this world do you feel particularly vulnerable to?

Cultivating the Ability to Say No

6. Can you think of an example in your life in which you are exercising voluntary restraint over a legitimate pleasure or opportunity? How is it affecting you?

The Spirit of Fasting

7. What disciplines in your life are helping you to keep your focus on Christ and His kingdom?

Faithful and Successful

8. Can you think of an example of someone you consider both faithful to God and successful in this world? Describe the person.

Spotlight on Christ

9. How did Satan attempt the strategies of persecution and assimilation on Christ? How did Jesus overcome them?

APPLYING

10. What changes would you like to make in your lifestyle based on what you learned in this lesson?

What is love?

LAUNCHING

1. Record a few titles or lyrics from love songs you can recall. What is the concept of love behind them?

EXPLORING

Scene 1: The Wedding—Love’s Choice

2. What do you think drove Hosea to go through with the wedding, knowing that his wife would be unfaithful?

3. What new insight does it give you into God’s love to realize that He chose you knowing exactly how you would be unfaithful to Him?

Scene 2: The Home—Love’s Pain

4. What insight did you gain about our sins’ impact on God from picturing Hosea’s situation?

5. How does it change your view of sin to think of it as wounding the heart of God rather than not living up to a principle or regulation?

Scene 3: The City—Love’s Initiative

6. What do you think drove Hosea to pursue his unfaithful wife? What might have repelled him? How does this illustrate God’s love?

Scene 4: Home Again—Love’s Joy

7. What practical steps can you take to renew and strengthen your love for Christ?

Spotlight on Christ

8. How do we see love’s choice, love’s pain, love’s initiative, and love’s joy in the story of Jesus Christ?

APPLYING

9. How can you apply one of the insights from this lesson to your relationship with God?

10. Who is someone you find difficult to love? How can the principles from this lesson help you to better express love to him or her?

Take a few minutes in your quiet times this week to reflect on God’s unfailing love for you. Respond by expressing your love to God.

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Read Ephesians 3:17–19 aloud. Pray this prayer for one another in the group.

What are we to make of the evil God allows in the world today?

LAUNCHING

1. What injustice or evil in our world do you find most difficult to understand and tolerate?

EXPLORING

“Why Do You Allow It, God?”

2. What are some of the parallels between Habakkuk’s day and our own? How was this affecting Habakkuk? How can you relate to this?

You Won’t Believe This!

3. What would your reaction have been to the news that God was going to use the Babylonians to judge Israel? What doubts might it have raised about God? What makes you experience those same doubts today?

Where History Is Heading

4. God will ultimately destroy all evil. How does this truth affect your view of evil in the world today?

Faith Is Better Than Sight

5. What does it mean to live by faith and not by sight? Why is faith ultimately better than sight?

Faith Rests on God’s Promise

6. God’s promises sometimes seem to be light-years away from the observable realities around us. How can you follow the example of Abraham and Habakkuk and hold onto God’s promise when life all around you is falling apart?

Faith Opens the Door to Lasting Joy

7. How could Habakkuk face the horrible realities of his day and still have joy? How can you experience joy in the midst of your trials and difficulties?

Spotlight on Christ

8. How does Jesus’ death on the cross look different if viewed through the lens of sight or the lens of faith?

APPLYING

9. What is a situation in your life or world that looks bleak from a sight perspective? What promise of God can you rest in and cling to? How does this change your perspective on the situation?

10. Rate yourself on the spectrum below. How could you live more by faith and less by sight?

Where should we look for stability and security?

LAUNCHING

1. What are most people placing their hope in for a secure and happy future?

EXPLORING

Life Outside the Garden

2. What problems were introduced to the world by Adam and Eve’s choice to sin?

An Argument That Is Going Nowhere

3. According to the book of Malachi, what is the state of humanity’s relationship with God at the end of the Old Testament? Why?

Denial, Denial, Denial

4. Why do you think the priests and people in Malachi’s day were so unwilling to take responsibility for their own sinful actions? Can you see evidence of the same kind of evasion today?

The Pain of a Broken Home

5. What are the primary pressures on the family in our culture? How can we strengthen marriage and family life?

Spotlight on Christ

6. At the end of the Old Testament, man’s basic problem is not solved and God’s promise is still unfulfilled. Why?

7. The Old Testament is like the first act in a two-part drama. It builds the framework in which we can understand the good news of Jesus Christ. Describe what you have learned from the Old Testament about …

8. How would you use what you have learned from the Old Testament to answer someone who claimed that people can find peace with God through any religion if they pursue it sincerely?

APPLYING

9. Read 1 Peter 3:15. Why do you have hope for the future? How can you share this hope with others?

10. How has this study of the Old Testament affected you? What has been particularly meaningful for you? How has this study increased your understanding of and appreciation for Jesus?

SINCE 1894, Moody Publishers has been dedicated to equip and motivate people to advance the cause of Christ by publishing evangelical Christian literature and other media for all ages, around the world. As a ministry of the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, proceeds from the sale of this book help to train the next generation of Christian leaders.

If we may serve you in any way in your spiritual journey toward understanding Christ and the Christian life, please contact us at www.moodypublishers.com.

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

—2 TIMOTHY 3:16, 17

Unlocking the Bible Story Series

Pastor Colin Smith’s four-volume masterpiece moves you past Bible stories to understand the Bible as one story—the glorious, unbroken account of Christ’s work to redeem a fallen world.

Each chapter of the Unlocking the Bible Story Series, Volumes 1-4 coincide with the same chapters of the Unlocking the Bible Story Study Guides.

Unlocking the Bible Story, Volume 1

Volume 1 takes readers through the Old Testament story from Genesis to Nehemiah.

ISBN: 0-8024-6543-9, Volume 1

ISBN: 0-8024-6551-X, Volume 1, Study Guide

Unlocking the Bible Story, Volume 2

After you have completed Volume 1, Volume 2 is highly recommended as it takes readers through the Old Testament story from Job to Malachi.

ISBN: 0-8024-6544-7, Volume 2

ISBN: 0-8024-6552-8, Volume 2, Study Guide

Unlocking the Bible Story, Volume 3

Volume 3 begins with the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ and continues with Christ’s ministry and the beginning of the church. Volume 3 will help you unlock the Bible story from Matthew to Acts.

ISBN: 0-8024-6545-5, Volume 3

ISBN: 0-8024-6553-6, Volume 3, Study Guide

Unlocking the Bible Story, Volume 4

Volume 4 takes readers through the letters written to the New Testament churches, which tell the full significance of what God has done in Jesus Christ, and concludes with the revelation of the apostle John, who brings us right into the future city of God.

ISBN: 0-8024-6546-3, Volume 4

ISBN: 0-8024-6554-4, Volume 4, Study Guide

1-800-678-6928 www.MoodyPublishers.com

UNLOCKING THE BIBLE STORY STUDY GUIDE TEAM

ACQUIRING EDITOR:

William Thrasher

COPY EDITOR:

Jim Vincent

BACK COVER COPY:

The Smartt Guys

COVER DESIGN:

The Smartt Guys

INTERIOR DESIGN:

Paetzold Associates

PRINTING AND BINDING:

Data Reproductions Corporation

The typeface for the text of this book is

Goudy

UNLOCKING THE BIBLE STORY

STUDY GUIDE

VOLUME 3

Colin S. Smith

MOODY PUBLISHERS

CHICAGO

©2004 by COLIN S. SMITH

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 0-8024-6553-6

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS

Introduction

1 Fulfillment

2 Repentance

3 Kingdom

4 Disciples

5 Lord

6 Hell

7 Miracles

8 Born

9 Tempted

10 Transfigured

11 Crucified

12 Risen

13 Ascended

14 Coming

15 Father

16 Son

17 Spirit

18 Christ

19 Power

20 Gentiles

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the third in a series of four study guides designed to help small groups grasp the big picture of the Bible. The studies are based on the four-volume book series Unlocking the Bible Story. They will take you on a fascinating journey through the Scriptures.

The whole Bible is one story. It begins with two people in a beautiful garden and ends with a vast crowd in a magnificent city. Once you have grasped the main story line, you will be able to see how the individual stories of the Bible fit together, how the whole Bible points to Jesus Christ, and how God speaks through the Bible into your life today.

As you prepare for each study, you will find it helpful to read the relevant chapter from the Bible along with the chapter from Unlocking the Bible Story (volume 3). Then, as you gather with others to discuss what you have read, the study guide will help you to apply what you have learned. (This study guide also can be helpful for individual study and application of each chapter.)

Study guide volume 3 begins with the event God promised to Old Testament patriarchs and prophets—the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ—and continues with Christ’s ministry and the beginning of the church. Along the way we will travel through the four Gospels and the book of Acts. Together, these books give us the historic timeline of the New Testament. For a complete tour of the New Testament, consider also completing volume 4, which covers the letters written to the early churches and the book of Revelation. Both study guides can be completed by a small group, meeting weekly, in less than a year.

Of course, your group may also study guides one and two in this series, which give the fascinating sweep of the Old Testament. Imagine how much each member of your group would benefit from a journey through the entire Bible in less than two years!

So welcome aboard. You are about to embark on a wonderful adventure as we unlock the Bible together. You will make many new discoveries and be led to worship as you take in the breathtaking sweep of the Bible story.

Who is Jesus and why did He come?

LAUNCHING

1. Who is someone you trust to fulfill any promise he or she makes to you? Why?

EXPLORING

God’s “To Do List”

2. What are three key items on God’s “to do list” that are reflected in Jesus’ genealogy?

3. What is the status of each at the end of the Old Testament? How did Jesus fulfill each of them?

Getting God’s To Do List Done

4. How does the fact that Jesus’ fulfilled prophesies written hundreds of years before His birth affect your view of Him? If non-Christians you know were informed about these prophecies, how do you think they would respond?

5. Which of the fulfilled prophesies do you find particularly amazing? Why?

The Portrait on a Different Wall

6. How would you respond to someone who said that Jesus was just one of many great religious leaders?

Getting Our To Do List Done

7. How did Jesus fulfill the Law through …

a. His life? _____________________________________________________________

b. His death? _____________________________________________________________

c. His people? _____________________________________________________________

A New Desire and a New Direction

8. Read Romans 8:3–4. How is Jesus able to bring us into righteous living where the Law was unable to? How have you experienced this in your life?

APPLYING

9. What have you found increases your hunger and thirst for righteousness? What quenches it? In light of this, what can you do this week to fuel your hunger and thirst for righteousness?

10. What would you say to someone who was trying to justify himself (or herself) before God by being moral? How can Christians fall into this trap?

What does it mean to repent?

LAUNCHING

1. What thoughts or images come to mind when you think of the word repent?

EXPLORING

Time for a Change

2. Suppose someone told you she attended a Billy Graham concert and went forward at the altar call to be saved. If her lifestyle remain unchanged, how would you question her concept of salvation? What advice would you give her?

A Change of Direction

3. What is repentance and why is it necessary to be part of God’s kingdom?

The Power of Confession

4. What is the role of confession in repentance? How do you practice confession?

Here’s What You Can Do Now

5. If you had been standing on the bank of the Jordan River and asked John the Baptist what you should do, what do you think he would have said to you?

6. What is some fruit of repentance you have seen in your own life?

The Ministry of Matchmaking

7. If someone had walked away after hearing John with a deep repentance and renewed motivation to live more righteously, what would they have been missing? How can we do this same thing today? What would you want to tell them?

Drenched in the Life of God

8. What does it mean for Jesus to baptize someone with the Holy Spirit and fire? What impact will that have on their lives?

9. What is your reaction to the testimony on pages 33 and 34? What danger does this testimony point out? How can someone know if they were in this same situation or not?

APPLYING

10. What is something you feel the Lord is calling you to repent of? How can you respond immediately and specifically to this?

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Discuss what role, if any, confession should play in your small group experience.

If Christ’s kingdom has come, why is there so much evil in the world?

LAUNCHING

1. If you had the power, what is something you would change in this world?

EXPLORING

The Parable of the Sower … and the Bomber

2. How is the ministry of God’s Word more like sowing seeds than dropping bombs? Why can this be frustrating at times? How can it be liberating?

The Power of Patience

3. What are the implications of this for our own spiritual growth? Our efforts to impact others?

Sabotage in the Field

4. What are the implications of living in a world with “weeds”?

5. How have you experienced growth through the presence of weeds in your world?

Buried Treasure

6. Why was the man who discovered the treasure able to sell everything he had with great joy? What would you say to a non-Christian who thought the cost of becoming a Christian was too high?

Tension and Balance

7. What is some specific evidence around you of the kingdom of God?

8. What is some specific evidence that the kingdom has not come in its fullness?

9. How can you relate to the feelings and doubts of John the Baptist? How would Jesus’ reply have been an encouragement to John? How do His words comfort and encourage you?

APPLYING

10. How will what you learned about the kingdom from these parables impact …

a. your expectations of life in this world? ___________________

b. the way you minister to others? ______________________________

c. your perspective on evangelism? ____________________________

d. your own struggles and doubts? _____________________________

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Read Revelation 21:1–7, and spend a few minutes thanking the Lord for how wonderful life will be once His kingdom has come in fullness.

How can we make disciples?

LAUNCHING

1. Who has helped you grow in your faith? How did that per son do so?

EXPLORING

Walking the Wards

2. Describe in your own words what it means to be a disciple. Why is this a privilege?

The Secretary on the Second Floor

3. Suppose you had been alive in Jesus’ day and He had called you to follow Him. What would have drawn you and what might have held you back from following?

The Compelling Christ

4. In what ways did the disciples see the glory of Jesus? What would it mean for us to see the glory of Jesus today? What has helped you to see the glory of Jesus?

More Than a Million Dollars

5. Rate yourself as to how much you are experiencing the glory of Jesus, with 1 meaning not at all and 5 meaning a great deal. How is this impacting your spiritual life?

1        2        3        4        5

How to Make Disciples

6. What might happen if we apply the methods of discipleship, accountability, spiritual disciplines, and small groups but fail to help people see the glory of Jesus? How can we help people to see the glory of Jesus?

Our Model of Ministry

7. How did Jesus train His disciples? How can we emulate these principles in our efforts to help others grow? (How can these principles be incorporated into your small group?)

The Cost of Discipleship

8. What do you think the cost of following Jesus completely will be for you? Are you ready to pay the price? Why or why not? What is the payoff for following Him?

APPLYING

9. How have the principles of this chapter challenged or reinforced your view of discipleship? How will it change the way you approach discipleship?

10. What can you do in the next few weeks to gain a greater view of Jesus’ glory?

If you are willing to follow Jesus at any cost, write this in the back of your Bible. Also record the price you are willing to pay. Sign and date this commitment.

Optional Small Group Exercise:

If you recorded a commitment to follow Jesus at any cost, tell members of your small group at the end of the meeting, so they can rejoice with you, find encouragement themselves, and help you be accountable.

Can I accept Jesus as Savior without owning Him as Lord?

LAUNCHING

1. What kinds of stories do you find most disturbing on the evening news?

EXPLORING

2. How can the Christian life be like a trip to the grocery store? What demands of the Christian life do you find yourself wanting to circumvent? How do you handle this?

The Dogs of Human Darkness

3. Natural disasters, human evils, horrible illnesses, and death are part of life on this planet. How does the potential of any of these affect your mental state on a day-to-day basis?

Lord over Natural Disasters … Demons … Disease … Death

4. What thought and emotions might you have felt if you had watched Jesus perform all of these miraculous works—deeds that defeated disasters, demons, disease, and even death? Which would have impressed you the most? Why?

5. How does the demonstration of Jesus’ lordship in these areas expand your view of Him as Savior? Have you ever experienced Jesus’ power in any of these areas? In what way?

Why Doesn’t He Do It?

6. Why do you think the people from Gerasenes where Jesus cast out the demons wanted Him to leave? Why do you think the people in our culture do not want Jesus around? How does this make them even more vulnerable to the “junkyard dogs”?

The Day the Dogs Broke Loose

7. How did Jesus face all of the dogs of human darkness in His life and death? How would that help Him to understand the problems and issues you are facing?

Reigning and Waiting

8. What difference does the knowledge that Jesus will someday defeat the dogs of human darkness make in your life today? (Read 2 Peter 3:10–14 for more insight into how this knowledge should shape our lives and mind-set.)

APPLYING

9. What is an area of your life in which you need to call upon Jesus’ power and authority?

10. Is there any area that you need to bring more fully under the lordship of Jesus? What would it look like for you to do this?

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Under the headings of sickness, natural disasters, and human evil, list some of the fears and concerns that group members have. Then spend a few minutes praising Jesus that He has power and lordship over every one of these areas.

What is hell and how can I avoid it?

LAUNCHING

1. What images come to mind when you think of hell?

EXPLORING

Cartoonists and Brimstone Preachers

2. Judging from your personal experience, is the subject of hell overemphasized or underemphasized? What impact is this having?

The Place of Punishment

3. How is the reality of hell an expression of God’s character?

4. Read Romans 12:19. How can the truth that every sin and secret will be revealed and judged release someone from harboring bitterness and plotting personal vengeance? Is there an offense that you need to let go of and entrust God to judge?

Degrees of Punishment

5. The Bible clearly teaches there will be degrees of punishment in hell. What are the implications of this?

The Worm … the Fire

6. What do the punishment of the worm and fire represent? What do you think it would be like to face these punishments eternally?

Hell on the Cross

7. How did Jesus endure hell on the cross so you don’t have to? How would you explain this concept to a non-Christian?

APPLYING

8. Have you come to Christ in repentance and faith and asked Him to remove the cloud of wrath that hangs over your head? If not, make the prayer on page 85 your own.

9. How have the principles you learned in this chapter changed the way you view hell?

10. How have the principles you learned in this chapter impacted your perspective on evangelism?

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Share the first names of one or two people you know who do not know Christ. As a group pray that they would come to Christ and avoid the horror of hell. Brainstorm together about how you might reach out to them in the name of Christ.

How can I believe in miracles?

LAUNCHING

1. Have you or someone you know and trust witnessed a miracle? Tell the story.

EXPLORING

A Sad Worldview

2. How does the worldview of some today prevent them from accepting the possibility of miracles?

3. Describe someone you know who has a worldview like the Sadducees. How does this worldview show itself in his or her lifestyle?

“Beam Me Up, Scotty”

4. What was the root problem of the Sadducees, and how did it lead them to an incorrect conclusion in regards to the Resurrection?

5. Rate yourself on your understanding of both the Bible and the power of God, with 1 meaning very little understanding and 5 meaning very great understanding. Explain your answer.

The Bible                    1        2        3        4        5

The Power of God        1        2        3        4        5

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

6. How does what you learned about God from His activity with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob challenge your present view and experience of God?

Twenty-First-Century Sadducees

7. Why might someone prefer a tamed-down view of God rather than embracing the God of the Bible? What advice would you give this person?

God’s Three Great Interventions

8. Three miracles will forever stand out from the rest: the Incarnation, the conversion of unbelievers, and Christ’s return at the end of the age. What do each of these reveal about God? Describe how your conversion was truly a miracle of God.

APPLYING

9. What has helped you to achieve a better understanding of the Bible and the power of God during your Christian life? What can you do to grow in your understanding of them in the future?

10. What adjustments do you need to make in your worldview in light of what you have learned in this lesson?

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Choose one of the following issues that Christians struggle with and brainstorm about how knowing God and the Bible better would help to resolve the issue:

- Commands in the Old Testament to wipe out entire pagan populations

- Earnest and desperate prayers that go unanswered

- Tragic incidents that happen to people who love and seek God

Why is Jesus different from any person who has ever lived?

LAUNCHING

1. What are a few ways our world would be different if Jesus had not been born?

EXPLORING

The Islander’s Problem

2. How is our world today like life on the island?

3. What do people see as their greatest problems today? According to the Bible, what is their greatest problem? How can you help them realize this?

God Takes the Initiative

4. Why was it important for Jesus to be conceived by the Holy Spirit rather than a human father?

God’s Incredible Journey

5. What difference would it make to the Christian faith if Jesus was merely an enlightened human teacher? Why is it necessary for Him to be God?

The Mystery That Makes Sense of Everything Else

6. What difference would it have made if Jesus had simply come down to earth clothed in a human body? Why was it important for Him to become a human being?

7. How has it benefited your relationship with Jesus to know that He walked this earth as a human being?

The Holy One: A New Kind of Humanity

8. In what ways was Jesus like us and in what ways was He unlike us when He walked on this earth? What characteristics and actions of Jesus particularly inspire you? Why?

APPLYING

9. What new insights about Jesus did you gain from this lesson? What difference will they make in your life?

10. Which dimension of Jesus’ being do you need to better grasp, His humanity or His divinity? Why?

Imagine what it would have been like to proceed through all of the stages of human development—a developing fetus, newborn baby, toddler, adolescent. Praise Jesus that He was willing to go to these great lengths to rescue you.

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Have someone from the group role-play the part of a person who believes that Jesus is merely an enlightened moral teacher and try to convince him otherwise.

Was Jesus really tempted?

LAUNCHING

1. What did you find particularly tempting as a child?

EXPLORING

No Virus Found

2. Compare and contrast the temptation of Jesus with the way we experience temptation today.

Launching a Direct Assault

3. What were the three temptations Satan used on both Jesus and Adam and Eve? Which of these do you feel particularly vulnerable to?

The Spread of the Virus

4. How would you respond to someone who said that all people are basically good at their core? According to the Bible, what is at the core of humanity? Why?

Stalking the Enemy

5. How did the context of Jesus’ temptations make it more difficult than Adam and Eve’s? When are you most susceptible to temptation?

An Attempt at Confusion

6. What can you learn from the way that Jesus responded to the temptations He faced?

Plugging into the Network

7. Read Romans 5:19. What are the implications for all humanity of being “net worked” to Adam?

The Power of the Networking Principle

8. What are some of the implications of being “networked” to Christ? What results of this can you see in your own life?

APPLYING

9. Read Hebrews 4:15–16. How should Jesus’ experience of temptation be a source of hope to us in our temptations?

10. From what you learned in this chapter, how will you approach temptation differently?

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Discuss how members of your small group can be more available to each other in times of great temptation.

How can I come to terms with the cost of the Christian life?

LAUNCHING

1. What keeps you going when you encounter tough times in your life and faith?

EXPLORING

Arguing with Jesus

2. Describe a time when you were unhappy with the direction that God was taking your life. How did you respond to God in the midst of this situation?

A Glimpse of the Future

3. How do you suppose seeing Jesus transfigured changed James’s, John’s, and Peter’s perspectives on the difficult events that lay ahead?

4. How could this new perspective have helped you to deal with the circumstance you described in question 2?

You Can Be Transfigured Too!

5. What can you learn from Moses’s and Elijah’s presence with Jesus during His transfiguration? Which of these do you find especially encouraging? Why?

Talking About the Cross

6. Read 2 Thessalonians 2:14. What do you think it means to “share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ”? How can knowing this make a difference in your life today?

The Overwhelming Cloud

7. In the midst of the disciples’ confusion and consternation, God told them to listen to Jesus. How can we do that practically today? How could this help us handle the times we are unhappy with the path on which God is leading us?

Cringing and Standing in the Presence of God

8. What does the disciples’ reaction to God’s presence teach you about what God is like? How do you think you would respond in His presence?

9. How does Jesus make it possible for us to stand in the presence of God?

APPLYING

10. How has your reflection on Jesus’ transfiguration changed your perspective on living the Christian life? How can you maintain this perspective?

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Read Revelation 19:11–16. Take turns offering brief expressions of praise that Jesus is going to return in great glory.

What did the death of Jesus accomplish?

LAUNCHING

1. When did you first truly understand the message of the Cross?

EXPLORING

Spiritual Life in Two Generations

2. List the truths someone must understand before the Cross will make sense to him or her. Do you think most of the non-Christians you know understand these truths? Why or why not?

Forgiveness Released

3. How did the Cross release God’s forgiveness to sinners?

4. How have we seen this principle developing throughout the Bible story?

Paradise Opened

5. What is the significance of Jesus’ question “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34) and the statement “It is finished” (John 19:30)?

6. How was it possible for this thief, who had most likely wasted his life with bad choices, to end up in paradise? How do you feel about his “deathbed” conversion?

Death Subdued

7. How do you think most people in our world today view death? How might the truths of this lesson change their perspective on death?

APPLYING

8. How would your life be different today if Jesus had not died on the cross?

9. According to what you learned in this lesson, how might you adjust the way that you share your faith with others?

10. Why do you think the non-Christians you know are not embracing the cross of Christ and receiving the forgiveness and eternal life He offers?

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Brainstorm one or two creative ways your group can communicate the message of the Cross to your children, neighbors, or friends who do not yet know Christ.

What can the resurrection of Jesus mean for me?

LAUNCHING

1. How have you pictured eternal life up to this point in your life?

EXPLORING

Love Without Faith

2. How can someone have a love for Christ but lack faith? Have you experienced times that you had more fondness for Christ than faith in Him? Describe your experience.

God Gives the Explanation

3. What erroneous conclusions might the women at the tomb have drawn if they had been left to their own insights, intuitions, and feelings to interpret what had happened? How might someone today rely more on his or her own insights, intuition, and feelings to interpret events recorded throughout the Bible (for example, the creation account and the Virgin Birth) rather than on the Bible’s own declaration? What is the danger of this?

“Risen” Means That Death Is Defeated

4. How did Christ’s resurrection change the nature of death for God’s people?

“Risen” Means the Whole Person Is Redeemed

5. Why is it significant that Jesus rose from the dead bodily rather than simply in spirit?

6. What is your reaction to the truth that you will have a body in heaven?

“Risen” Means We Will All Be Changed

7. Read 1 Corinthians 15:42–44. Describe in your own words how our heavenly bodies will be different than our present ones. Which of these differences do you find particularly encouraging?

Wait Till Everybody’s Ready

8. Read 1 Thessalonians 4:14–17. According to this passage, what will happen to Christians who have died when Jesus returns? First Thessalonians 4:18 tells us to “encourage each other with these words.” How can you do that in a practical way?

APPLYING

9. How did what you learned in this lesson modify your view of eternal life?

10. How should the prospect of living forever impact the way we live our lives today?

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Pray for each group member to have an opportunity to encourage another Christian with the great news of the resurrection body. Share the results your next time together.

Why were the disciples filled with joy when Jesus left them?

LAUNCHING

1. Describe one of the toughest good-byes you have ever been part of.

EXPLORING

Beyond Reasonable Doubt

2. Why was it important that Jesus’ resurrection be established beyond a reasonable doubt? What do you find to be the most convincing evidence of Jesus’ resurrection?

Kingdom Business

3. The disciples had to adjust to having a relationship with an invisible Savior and Lord. What are some of the struggles you face in building a relationship with an invisible Jesus?

A Man in Heaven

4. Jesus not only assumed our humanity on earth; He has also taken our humanity into heaven. Why was Jesus’ return to heaven as a human a cause for celebration?

Get a Good Attorney

5. Read 1 John 2:1. What do you think it means to have Jesus speaking in our defense? Why is that important to you?

The Blessing That Never Ends

6. Although Jesus’ work on the cross is finished, He still lives to bless His people. How have you experienced Jesus’ blessing in this past year?

The Promise of His Presence

7. Even though Jesus would not be physically present after the Ascension, He promised to be present with the disciples through the Holy Spirit. What are the advantages of this?

The Promise of His Return

8. How is Jesus’ ascension a model of His return? How should knowing Christ will return impact our day-to-day Christian life? How much does it impact yours?

APPLYING

9. Which of the truths highlighted through the Ascension do you find particularly encouraging? Why?

10. How can you apply one of the principles you learned from this lesson to your relationship with Christ?

What is the practical value of the second coming of Jesus for my life today?

LAUNCHING

1. Describe a time you received some bad news. How did you respond?

EXPLORING

The Dinner Where Everything Seemed to Go Wrong

2. What items of bad news did the disciples receive during the Passover meal? How would you have reacted if you had been one of them?

Trusting in the Darkness

3. After giving the bad news, Jesus asked the disciples to trust Him. How would their relationship with Jesus over three years have helped them to trust Him? Is your relationship with Jesus strong enough for you to trust Him in difficult situations that you cannot yet understand? Explain.

One House with Many Rooms

4. Jesus emphasized the absolute certainty of the disciples’ future in heaven. How could that help sustain the disciples through the coming storm? Do you have that assurance? If so, how does it strengthen you in this life?

The Way to the Father’s House

5. How did Jesus prepare a place for us?

I Will Come Again

6. Why does this assure us that He will truly come back for us?

Two Ways of Going Home

7. Does the reality that you could soon be in the presence of Christ through His second coming or your death give you fear or comfort? Why?

An Unfinished Project

8. What things in your life and world look like a messy, unfinished project? How can the truths of this lesson give you a new perspective on them?

APPLYING

9. What can you be doing now to build the kind of relationship with Jesus that would enable you to withstand tragedy and hardship?

10. Is there anything troubling your heart? How can the truths of this lesson provide comfort?

Optional Small Group Exercise:

We are to live as if Jesus could come back at any time. As a group, choose a common item or sound, such as a stop sign or a siren, that you will use as a reminder of Christ’s return every time you encounter it throughout the week. Next time you are together, share how this impacted your week.

What does it mean to know God as Father?

LAUNCHING

1. What qualities should characterize a healthy relationship between a father and child?

EXPLORING

Fixing the Anchor Points

2. How would you explain the Trinity to someone?

The Problem with Analogies

3. Where do each of these analogies fail? What truths do they point to?

• God is like one person playing three roles.

• God is like water which can exist in three forms: liquid, steam, and ice.

• God is like three leaves on a shamrock.

• God is like an egg which is shell, yoke, and white, yet still one.

How to Respond to a Mystery

4. What is your natural reaction when you respond to something in the Bible that seems mysterious? How can you respond more constructively?

Coming to God the Father

5. How would you respond to someone who takes offense at the claim that Jesus is the only way to God?

Jesus’ Father and Your Father

6. God could have stopped at forgiving our sins; instead, He went on to adopt us as His children. What does that demonstrate to you about God and the kind of relationship He wants with us?

Subject to the Father’s Authority

7. Do you feel more at ease submitting to the Father’s authority or enjoying His love? Explain you answer.

Sharing the Father’s Glory

8. What do you think it means to share in the Father’s glory? How can we do that in increasing measure?

APPLYING

9. What new insights did you gain about God from this lesson?

10. How would you describe your relationship with your heavenly Father at this time? In what ways would you like to see it develop?

Why is it so important that Jesus is God?

LAUNCHING

1. What are some ways that you are just like your dad?

EXPLORING

Names That Tell a Story

2. How is Jesus’ relationship with the Father different from the relationship between an earthly father and son? In what sense is Jesus the Son of God?

Womb, Tomb, and Doom

3. All of God’s activity finds its reflection in Jesus and vice versa. List some of the activities that Jesus and the Father share. Are any of these activities things that you would have previously thought only one or the other was involved with?

Knowing God: A Guess or a Revelation?

4. How does Jesus reveal God to us like nothing else can? If that is the case, how can we truly come to know God?

The Cross: An Act of Cruelty or a Gift of Love?

5. How did the fact that Jesus was truly God make the Cross an expression of love rather than a cruel injustice?

Salvation: Being Sure or Hoping for the Best?

6. Why does our confidence in our salvation rest on Jesus being God?

7. How does this bolster your confidence that you will arrive in heaven?

Responding to the Son

8. According to John 5:24, when someone understands who Jesus is and believes in Him, that individual crosses over from death to life. List at least three things this teaches you about conversion.

APPLYING

9. What new insights about Jesus did you gain from this lesson?

10. How will the principles you learned from this lesson impact the way you seek to know God?

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Take a poster board and write the headings Jesus and Father. In rapid-fire have the group call out words they associate first with Jesus, then with the Father. Record the words and compare the lists to see if you have different images of Jesus and the Father. Discuss where you need to meld these images together for a more accurate picture of God.

Who is the Holy Spirit and what does He do?

LAUNCHING

1. What evidence have you seen in your life of the presence of the Holy Spirit?

EXPLORING

God’s Disturber of the Peace

2. How does the Holy Spirit create a “demand” for Christ’s forgiveness and righteousness? How did this happen in your own life?

God’s Three Alarm Clocks

3. Describe the three ways the Holy Spirit confronts our sin, and give an example of each from your own experience or the experience of others.

4. How can someone become more sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s gentle work of disturbing the conscience? What might block our sensitivity?

Turning on the Floodlight

5. In what sense is the Holy Spirit like a floodlight? How have you experienced this in your own life?

The Holy Spirit Is a Person

6. How can we know that the Holy Spirit is a person? Do you relate to the Holy Spirit more like a person or a force? What adjustments do you need to make in the way that you relate to Him?

The Holy Spirit Is God

7. How does the Holy Spirit play the same role in your life that Jesus did for the disciples? How have you experienced this?

In and with You

8. How does the Holy Spirit help us to live out the Christian life? How have you experienced this?

APPLYING

9. Read Galatians 5:25. How do you think someone can “keep in step with the Spirit”? What can you do to keep more in step with Him?

10. What work of the Holy Spirit do you feel a greater need for in your life? How can you rely more on Him for this area?

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Point out evidence of the Holy Spirit you have seen in others in your small group.

What does the name “Christ” mean?

LAUNCHING

1. Do you tend to make decisions based more on intuition or facts? Give an example.

EXPLORING

Why Should I Believe?

2. Why do you believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God? How did you come to this conviction?

Trying to Get the Feeling

3. God created you with a mind, a heart, and a will. Which of these is most active and engaged in your faith? Which would you like to have more engaged?

You Are the Jury

4. Do you have any prejudices that keep you from looking at Jesus with an open mind? If so, explain what they are and how you acquired them.

Jesus Is the Christ

5. Record how Jesus fulfills all of the Old Testament offices in the chart below. Then record what our response should be to each of the roles of Jesus.

OLD TESTAMENT

OFFICE

HOW JESUS FULFILLED

OUR RESPONSE

Prophet

Priest

King

6. Which of these roles of Jesus are particularly meaningful to you? Which do you need to respond more heartily to?

The Outcome of Faith: Life in His Name

7. Read John 10:10. How would you describe this abundant life that Jesus promises to someone who is not a Christian?

8. In what ways have you experienced this abundant life that Jesus promised? How can you experience more of this life?

APPLYING

9. In question 3, you identified one area that you would like to more actively engage in your faith. Make a brief plan of how you might do that. What could you do this week to begin implementing the plan?

10. Imagine you are a lawyer presenting the case for Jesus being the Christ. What points would you want to include in your presentation to the jury?

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Have one or two group members present their case for Jesus as the Christ. The rest of the group should evaluate their argument from the standpoint of a seeker.

What makes a church alive?

LAUNCHING

1. What attracted you to the church you now attend?

EXPLORING

A Sound Like the Wind

2. What was the significance and symbolism of the sound of the wind on the Day of Pentecost?

3. How did the arrival of the Holy Spirit change the fledgling church that was meeting in the Upper Room?

4. What evidence do you see of the Holy Spirit at work in your church?

Great Balls of Fire

5. What was the significance and symbolism of the fire on the Day of Pentecost?

6. How is God using you to advance His purposes in the world? How would you like to see Him use you?

They Spoke in Other Tongues

7. What is the significance and symbolism of the ability to speak in other languages?

8. What role do you think God wants you to play in reaching the whole world for Christ? How are you involved in this?

APPLYING

9. What can a church do to experience more of the Spirit’s power? What can quench the Spirit’s work?

10. God has empowered and commissioned every believer to advance His purposes in the world. What steps can you take to more actively pursue this?

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Point out ways that you have seen God use others in your small group to advance His kingdom.

How has God’s blessing come to the nations?

LAUNCHING

1. What are some of the different cultures represented in your church? How has Christ given you a unity that transcends cultures?

EXPLORING

The Road to Damascus

2. List some of the ways Paul’s conversion changed his life. What are some of the ways your conversion changed your life?

3. Why do you think God used such a dramatic method to get Paul’s attention? How did God first get your attention?

The River Bursts Its Banks

4. What was Paul’s mission? How did this mission play itself out? Who do you think God has called you to minister to?

Unity in a Cross-Cultural Community

5. Read Acts 15:1–21. Describe the issue that became potentially divisive in the early church. How did the church leaders resolve the issue? What did the members of the early church need to do in order to keep the unity?

6. How are issues like the style of worship music and type of dress ultimately issues of culture? What other cultural issues does your church face because of its diversity? How can the principles from Acts 15 help your church deal with these cultural issues?

Privileged People Need Jesus

7. The Jewish people were spiritually privileged people. What might a spiritually privileged person be like in our world today? What are the barriers to faith in Christ for this person? How can we reach out to him or her with the gospel?

Desperate People Can Come to Jesus

8. The Gentiles were desperate people who had no access to God. Describe a modern-day version of this type of person. What are the barriers to faith in Christ for this person? How can we reach out to him or her with the gospel?

APPLYING

9. How did this chapter impact your view of the Jewish people?

10. How can you or your church more effectively reach out to privileged or desperate people?

SINCE 1894, Moody Publishers has been dedicated to equip and motivate people to advance the cause of Christ by publishing evangelical Christian literature and other media for all ages, around the world. As a ministry of the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, proceeds from the sale of this book help to train the next generation of Christian leaders.

If we may serve you in any way in your spiritual journey toward understanding Christ and the Christian life, please contact us at www.moodypublishers.com.

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

—2 TIMOTHY 3:16, 17

Unlocking the Bible Story Series

Pastor Colin Smith’s four-volume masterpiece moves you past Bible stories to understand the Bible as one story—the glorious, unbroken account of Christ’s work to redeem a fallen world.

Each chapter of the Unlocking the Bible Story Series, Volumes 1-4 coincide with the same chapters of the Unlocking the Bible Story Study Guides.

Unlocking the Bible Story, Volume 1

Volume 1 takes readers through the Old Testament story from Genesis to Nehemiah.

ISBN: 0-8024-6543-9, Volume 1

ISBN: 0-8024-6551-X, Volume 1, Study Guide

Unlocking the Bible Story, Volume 2

After you have completed Volume 1, Volume 2 is highly recommended as it takes readers through the Old Testament story from Job to Malachi.

ISBN: 0-8024-6544-7, Volume 2

ISBN: 0-8024-6552-8, Volume 2, Study Guide

Unlocking the Bible Story, Volume 3

Volume 3 begins with the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ and continues with Christ’s ministry and the beginning of the church. Volume 3 will help you unlock the Bible story from Matthew to Acts.

ISBN: 0-8024-6545-5, Volume 3

ISBN: 0-8024-6553-6, Volume 3, Study Guide

Unlocking the Bible Story, Volume 4

Volume 4 takes readers through the letters written to the New Testament churches, which tell the full significance of what God has done in Jesus Christ, and concludes with the revelation of the apostle John, who brings us right into the future city of God.

ISBN: 0-8024-6546-3, Volume 4

ISBN: 0-8024-6554-4, Volume 4, Study Guide

1-800-678-6928 www.MoodyPublishers.com

UNLOCKING THE BIBLE STORY STUDY GUIDE TEAM

ACQUIRING EDITOR:

William Thrasher

COPY EDITOR:

Jim Vincent

BACK COVER COPY:

The Smartt Guys

COVER DESIGN:

The Smartt Guys

INTERIOR DESIGN:

Paetzold Associates

PRINTING AND BINDING:

Data Reproductions Corporation

The typeface for the text of this book is

Goudy

UNLOCKING THE BIBLE STORY

STUDY GUIDE

VOLUME 4

Colin S. Smith

MOODY PUBLISHERS

CHICAGO

©2004 by COLIN S. SMITH

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 0-8024-6554-4

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS

Introduction

1 Warth

2 Propitiation

3 Justification

4 Rejoicing

5 Grace

6 Union

7 Nature

8 Heirs

9 Weakness

10 Church

11 Light

12 Battle

13 Profit

14 Peace

15 Death

16 Intercession

17 Works

18 Fellowship

19 Lamb

20 City

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the final volume in a series of four study guides designed to help small groups grasp the big picture of the Bible. The studies are based on the four-volume book series Unlocking the Bible Story. They will take you on a fascinating journey through the Scriptures.

The whole Bible is one story. It begins with two people in a beautiful garden and ends with a vast crowd in a magnificent city. Once you have grasped the main story line, you will be able to see how the individual stories of the Bible fit together, how the whole Bible points to Jesus Christ, and how God speaks through the Bible into your life today.

As you prepare for each study, you will find it helpful to read the relevant chapter from the Bible along with the chapter from Unlocking the Bible Story (volume 4). Then, as you gather with others to discuss what you have read, the study guide will help you to apply what you have learned. (This study guide also can be helpful for individual study and application of each chapter.)

Study guide volume 4 leads us through the letters written to the New Testament churches, which tell the full significance of what God has done in Jesus Christ, and concludes with the revelation of the apostle John, who brings us right into the future city of God. Together, study guides three and four take you through the entire New Testament and can be completed by a small group meeting weekly in less than one year.

For the complete journey through the Bible, consider also touring the Old Testament with study guides one and two. Imagine how much your group could benefit from a journey through the entire Bible in less than two years!

LAUNCHING

1. Describe a time someone was very angry with you. How did the person express his or her anger?

What is the wrath of God and how can I avoid it?

EXPLORING

The God You Cannot Alter

2. Why do you think people create their own concept of God? How do you think most of the non-Christians around you would describe God?

The God Who Loves You

3. In your own words define each of the attributes of God in the chart below. Then describe how this knowledge of God should impact your attitudes and actions. Finally, rate yourself on how much this attribute of God is actually impacting the way you live, with 1 meaning very little and 5 meaning very much.

The God Who Hates Whatever Destroys You

4. What is the relationship between God’s love and His holiness? How does this change your view of God’s holiness?

The God Who Lets People Go

5. How does God express His wrath now to people who oppose Him? What examples of this do you see in our world today?

6. How have you seen God break the powers of sinful desires, shameful lusts, and a depraved mind in the life of an individual, family, or nation?

Storing Up Wrath

7. How will God express His wrath in the final judgment? How does knowing this affect your view of sin?

God’s Wrath at the Cross

8. Read 2 Corinthians 5:21. How did the Cross satisfy God’s wrath? How would your relationship with God be different had Jesus not died on the cross?

APPLYING

9. What new insights about God did you gain from this chapter? How will these insights make a difference in your life this week?

10. For personal reflection: Have sinful desires, shameful lusts, and a depraved mind begun to make inroads in your life? What can you do this week to apply God’s power to combat these forces?

In one of your devotional times, imagine standing before God with all your sins upon you. Now imagine this sin being transferred to the Cross and God’s wrath being poured out upon it. Praise God that this is what has truly happened!

Optional Small Group Exercise:

During the week, have each group member ask three people to describe what God is like. Report your findings to the group the next time you are together.

LAUNCHING

1. Have you found it difficult to hold and express the view that Jesus is the only way to God? Why or why not?

Why do Christians believe that salvation can come only through Jesus Christ?

EXPLORING

Going Under

2. What does it mean to be under sin and under the Law? When did you first come to realize this about yourself? Why do you think so many people are unaware that this is their spiritual condition?

Who Makes the Rules?

3. How would you explain what sin is to someone who is not a Christian?

The Law …. and the Lawbreakers

4. Read Isaiah 6:1–5. Why do you think Isaiah had such a dramatic reaction when faced with the holiness of God? When do you feel most aware of the holiness of God? How do you respond?

Time to Pay Up

5. Define redemption in your own words. How is this a picture of our salvation?

6. Read 1 Corinthians 6:19–20. What is an appropriate response to a God who redeemed you? What would it mean to live this out?

Satisfying God

7. Define propitiation in your own words.

8. Why is Jesus’ death on the cross uniquely able to satisfy God’s demand?

APPLYING

9. How would you respond to someone who asked how you can believe that Jesus is the only way to God?

10. What new insights into your salvation in Jesus Christ did you gain from this chapter? How will you respond?

In your devotional times this week, spend a few minutes thanking God for redeeming you from slavery and bondage to sin.

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Have one or two group members try to argue the case that Jesus is the only way to God. Let the rest of the group play the role of the skeptics.

LAUNCHING

1. Have you ever gotten credit for something you didn’t do? How did you respond?

How can I know that I am right with God?

EXPLORING

2. Fill in the terms “justifies,” “redeems,” and “propitiates” on the triangle below and then write a description of what each means in the spaces on the next page.

The Dangers of a Bad Translation

3. Read Romans 5:1 What difference does it make if “justified” is defined as “made righteous” or “declared righteous”?

4. Many people today believe peace with God is contingent on being made righteous. What are the pitfalls with that belief?

Confusing the Coach and the Umpire

5. It is important to distinguish between the role of justification and sanctification in the Christian life. Fill out the key points of each in the chart below.

Calling Balls and Strikes

6. What happens to a person when he or she is justified? Why can righteousness only come through Jesus Christ?

The Importance of Faith

7. Why is faith in Christ essential to being justified? How would you explain to a seeker what it means to put his faith in Christ?

8. How does marriage illustrate the nature of faith? What new insight does this give you into what it means to be a Christian?

APPLYING

9. Maria believes in Jesus but is never quite sure where she stands with God. She is trying her best to live a godly life but feels she is far from being the kind of person that God wants her to be. If you asked Maria if she has been justified and has peace with God, her response would depend on the kind of day she was having. When she begins her day with a devotion and is aware of Christ, she would say yes. But when she is overwhelmed with life and frustrated with her own behavior, she would say no. How could you counsel Maria using the principles from this chapter?

10. Do you feel that you have to perform well in your Christian life to be acceptable to God? How is your relationship with God affected when you are not “performing up to par”? What misconceptions does this reveal? How can the principles from this chapter help you to gain a new freedom in this area?

LAUNCHING

1. How do you think God feels about you right now? Why?

How can I rejoice in God?

EXPLORING

Where Do I Stand Before God?

2. How much do feelings and performance impact the way you believe God feels about you?

Why Is This Happening to Me?

3. How have trials impacted your relationship with God in the past? Why?

4. What is a trial or difficulty in your life right now? How can the truths from Romans 5:3–4 provide a fresh perspective on this situation?

Does God Really Care?

5. At what times are you particularly aware of Christ’s love for you? What helps you to comprehend and experience His love?

How Can I Be Sure I Will Make It to Heaven?

6. Using a percentage, how certain are you that you will make it to heaven? What have you based this assurance on in the past? Does your certainty ever waver? If so, when?

Confidence in Christ Alone

7. According to Romans 5:9, on what should we base our assurance of eternal life? Why is this a better basis for our confidence than our faith, feelings, or performance?

Jesus Will Never Leave You

8. Read Romans 5:10. What does it mean that we are “saved through his [Jesus’] life”?

APPLYING

9. How has this lesson impacted your confidence that you will arrive in heaven? What can you do to maintain this perspective?

10. What, if anything, has been robbing your joy? What can you do to experience greater joy and rejoicing in your faith?

One of the keys in the Christian life is to see ourselves the way God sees us. Take a few minutes during a quiet time this week to ponder the truths of Romans 5:1. You may want to post it in a conspicuous place to remind you of these great truths.

LAUNCHING

1. What is something you have seen God’s grace liberate you from?

How can I overcome the power of sin?

EXPLORING

A Choice and a Power

2. Imagine someone who arrived on earth from a planet that had no sin. (Don’t bother looking for it; it does not exist!) How would you describe sin and its effects to that individual?

Who’s to Blame?

3. How did sin become such a power in the world? How did sin reign in your life before you came to Christ?

Understanding the Newspaper

4. Bob is a moral man who does not know Christ. He sincerely wants to have a strong family and happy, moral children. Despite his hopes and dreams, Bob finds that his family is not what he wants it to be and, even more disappointing, he is not the husband and father he would like to be. How would you explain Bob’s real problem to him? What advice would you give to Bob?

More Than Forgiveness

5. If you had simply been forgiven and told what you should do, what would have been missing? How would your Christian life be different if that is all that you had received?

Grace Rules!

6. How does grace free us from the power of sin? How have you experienced this in your own life? How have you observed it in the lives of others?

Driving Out the Occupying Army

7. What is a Christian’s relationship to sin? Why do Christians still sin if grace has invaded their lives? Do you think it is possible to stop sinning?

Cutting the Cords

8. Read 1 Corinthians 15:9–10. What were some of the effects of God’s grace in Paul’s life? List three or four ways your lifestyle is distinctly different than your neighbors who do not know God’s grace?

APPLYING

9. For personal reflection: What is an area of your life where sin still dominates? What would liberation look like in this area? What steps can you take to begin the process of liberation?

10. Mary is a Christian who struggles with anger. She wants to overcome this but seems unable to. Based on what you have learned in this chapter, what advice would you give her?

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Discuss what role your small group can play in helping to liberate group members from areas where sin still dominates.

LAUNCHING

1. Which of the marriages from the introduction to this chapter best portrays your relationship with God? Why?

What is the motivation for living the Christian life?

EXPLORING

Open Doors and Empty Shells

2. Rate your relationship with God in the following areas, with 1 representing very little and 5 representing very much. Then explain your answers.

3. What has helped you to feel more security and affection in your relationship with God in the past?

Facing the Inevitable Question

4. If your relationship with God and eternal destiny is secure, why should you put any effort into seeking and obeying God? When you lack motivation in your relationship with God, what helps to reignite it?

Discover Who You Are

5. Make a list of the things that are true about you because you are a Christian. (See 2 Corinthians 5:17; Romans 8:1; and Ephesians 1:3–8 for additional insight.) Which of these truths are particularly meaningful to you? Why?

The Socks and the Trousers

6. What does it mean to be in Christ? How does being in Christ contribute to our spiritual growth? What difference is being in Christ making in your life?

Adjusting to Your New Position

7. If in Christ we are new creatures, why do we continue to sin? What can we do to make our lives match our true identity in Christ?

APPLYING

8. Read the list of characteristics from question 5 that describe your identity in Christ. Do you see yourself this way? Explain. What practical steps can you take to see yourself as you really are in Christ?

9. In the previous lesson, you identified an area where sin still dominates your life. How can the principles from this chapter help you to gain victory in this area?

10. Are you satisfied with the security and intimacy of your relationship with God? In what ways would you like it to grow? What can you do to help this happen?

In one of your devotional times this week, tell God very openly how you feel about your relationship with Him and describe the kind of relationship you would like to have.

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Discuss how your group or members of your group have helped to motivate you in your faith. How can you maximize these dynamics in the future?

LAUNCHING

1. Why is the Christian life such a fight?

What power do I have for living the Christian life?

EXPLORING

Three Characters You Should Know

2. Describe someone you know who is hostile to the things of God. How does this individual express his or her hostility?

3. How can you reach out to Hostile? What kind of things might you avoid?

4. What are the differences between Hostile and Helpless? Describe someone you know who is like Helpless. What advice would you give him or her?

5. Can you identify any periods in your own life when you were like Hostile or Helpless?

6. How is Hopeful different from both Hostile and Helpless? What makes the difference?

Pearl Harbor: Hope in an Overwhelming Force

7. In practical terms, how can a Christian apply the “overwhelming force” of the Holy Spirit to a sin he or she is struggling with?

Who Are You?

8. Which of these three characters do you most relate to? Why?

The Enemy’s Propaganda

9. What propaganda from the Enemy are you particularly susceptible to believing? Next to any statements you recorded, write down the truth from God’s Word. How can you keep from being influenced by the Enemy’s propaganda?

APPLYING

10. Based on what you learned in this lesson, what can you do this week to battle sin more effectively?

LAUNCHING

1. What is a trait that readily identifies you with your family?

What does it mean to be led by the Spirit of God?

EXPLORING

The Distinctive Mark of Sons

2. If it were your job (which it isn’t!) to scrutinize professing Christians to see if their faith was genuine, what would you look for? What insight would Romans 8:13–14 give you for your task?

Showing the Family Likeness

3. How can we reflect God’s character? Think of one or two Christians you know. What specific attributes of God do you see reflected in their lives?

Let’s Play Blankety Blank

4. How can we become Christians who reflect God’s character? What is our part in making this happen? What is God’s part?

Waging War in the Desert

5. Describe the process of putting to death the misdeeds of the body in your own words. Share an example of how you have put to death a sin that plagued your life.

6. Which of these phrases best describes your stance, so far, in the war on sin? Explain your answer.

a. Pacifist: staying out of the war

b. Prisoner of war: waiting helplessly to be rescued

c. Foxhole soldier: under heavy fire and losing hope

d. Entrenched frontline fighter: holding my own but not moving forward

e. Advancing warrior: seeing significant ground being taken from the Enemy

Great Expectations

8. What is God’s ultimate plan for creation? Think of one of your favorite outdoor spots. How will it be different when it is liberated from the effects of sin?

APPLYING

9. How do you feel about your growth toward Christlikeness over the past year? Why?

10. What do you need to do to take a more active role in defeating sin? What can you do this week to start the process?

LAUNCHING

1. How would you have described the “model Christian” before reading this chapter? Has this ideal inspired or discouraged you?

What does true spirituality look like?

EXPLORING

A Thorn in the Flesh

2. What emotions, doubts, and struggles would you imagine Paul experienced as he suffered from a difficult affliction for fourteen years?

3. When have you experienced some of these same emotions, doubts, and afflictions?

Claiming the Victory

4. How do the stories of Joseph and Job illustrate the intricate interplay among the activity of Satan, evil human actions, and the sovereignty of God? How does this give you new insight into a difficulty you are facing?

The Pain and the Promise

5. Why didn’t God answer Paul’s prayer? What did He do instead?

6. Have you ever experienced a time in your own life when God did not take away a difficulty but rather provided the strength to persevere through it? Describe your experience.

Living Outside Your Comfort Zone

7. In what areas of your life, if any, do you feel out of your depth and forced to rely on the grace of God? Describe how you have experienced the grace and power of God in new ways through this state of weakness.

The Parable of the Pit

8. Reflecting on the parable of the pit, what factors would determine whether someone came out of the pit empty-handed or with valuable treasure?

APPLYING

9. Is there any area where you, perhaps, need to push out of your comfort zone?

10. Think of a difficulty, weakness, or challenge in your life. Are you responding to it in a way that will result in gaining gems or coming through empty-handed? What adjustments do you need to make in light of this?

Optional Small Group Exercise:

As a small group discuss these questions: How can we share more authentically with one another? What dynamics in our group encourage us to share authentically, and which ones hinder this kind of openness and vulnerability?

LAUNCHING

1. How do you think those in the surrounding community view your church?

What is the purpose of the church?

EXPLORING

Who Needs the Church?

2. What would you say to someone who said the reason he is not a Christian is that the church is full of hypocrites?

God’s Eternal Purpose

3. What is the eternal purpose of the church? How have you seen the church fulfilling that purpose?

4. Read Colossians 3:11. Have you ever experienced a unity in Christ with someone who is very different than you? Describe the experience.

Unity and Diversity on Sunday Morning

5. How much diversity does your church have? What effect is this having?

6. What could your church do to encourage greater diversity? What might be barriers to greater diversity?

Blitz Those Zits!

7. According to Ephesians 5:26, how is Christ cleansing and beautifying His bride? How do you see this happening in your church?

Christ Loves the Church

8. How has this lesson changed your perspective on the church? How has it changed the way you would talk about the church?

APPLYING

9. What can you do to help your church advance God’s purpose in the world?

10. Is there someone in your church you have shied away from because you seemed to have nothing in common? What can you do to reach across the natural barriers to embrace this person? What fears do you have about doing this?

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Consider as a small group establishing a relationship with another small group in a church very different than your own. Then close your time by making Ephesians 3:14–21 a prayer for your church.

LAUNCHING

1. How many flashlights would you estimate you have in your house? Where are they and what purpose do they serve?

Who is the light of the world?

EXPLORING

Hiding from the Light

2. What are examples in our world of people trying to hide from the Light? Can you remember a time in your life when you were hiding from the light of Christ? Why?

Veiled Glory

3. How was Jesus light in a dark world? How did people respond to this Light?

4. Read Matthew 17:1–7. Imagine being on the mountain with Peter, James, and John. How can you explain the reaction of these men? How would you have reacted? What new insight would this have given you about Jesus?

Reflecting God’s Nature

5. What does it mean for us to be lights in this world? How are we able to do this?

6. Read Ephesians 4:25–32, where the apostle Paul describes a life that shines the light of Christ. Record two or three areas where you feel you are shining the light of Christ. Then list two or three areas where your light is a bit dim.

7. Where is a dark place that Christ has placed you? What would it look like for you to be a light in that place?

Living in the Light

8. How do you feel about spending eternity in the radiance of God’s light? Why? How will that be different than the way we experience God’s presence now?

APPLYING

9. Select one of the areas you identified as needing improvement in question 6. Make a plan to work on that area in the coming weeks. Share your plan with someone else you trust, and ask him or her to pray for you.

10. What can you do this week to be a light where God has placed you?

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Darken the room where you are meeting. Then light one candle. Pray that God will use you as a light in the dark places of this world where He has placed you.

LAUNCHING

1. Does your Christian life have the discipline of a committed athlete or does it look more like a “kick around” described in the book? Explain.

Why is the Christian life such a struggle?

EXPLORING

The Enemy

2. If we are going to fight effectively, we must understand our enemy. Describe Satan and his goals and strategies.

People Are Not the Problem

3. Who are the people in your life that you consider a problem? How has this passage given you a new perspective on them? How will it affect the way that you deal with them next time?

The Battlefield

4. List the four areas where the battle will be waged. Can you see any ways that the Enemy has taken ground in these areas? Explain.

The Armor

5. How can Satan use deception to render us ineffective in our Christian lives? How have you seen this battle in your own life? How can we combat this deception?

6. How can Satan use compromise to sabotage our Christian lives? In which areas might you be vulnerable to this attack? How can we counter this tactic?

7. How can Satan use complacency to undermine our effectiveness for Christ? How have you seen this battle in your own life? How can we secure victory in this area?

8. How can Satan use discouragement to defeat Christians? When do you find yourself vulnerable to this attack? What can we do to stand against this scheme?

Three Strikes and You’re Out

9. What is God’s overarching plan for dealing with Satan? How does this give you hope and endurance?

APPLYING

10. What is one area from this study where you need to intensify your efforts in the battle? How will you do that?

LAUNCHING

1. What is one of the best investments you have ever made? Why?

How can I invest my life wisely?

EXPLORING

The Desire for Gain

2. Read Matthew 6:20. How can we lay up treasures for ourselves in heaven? What is the motivation to do that?

3. Do you think there is something inappropriate about investing our lives in a way that will give us the maximum gain? Why or why not? What role should self-interest play in the way we live our spiritual lives?

Paul’s Early Investments

4. What had Paul spent most of his early life investing in? Who is someone you know who is like Paul?

5. How did Paul’s encounter with Christ on the Damascus Road change his perspective on what was valuable? How did your conversion change what you considered valuable?

Evaluating Your Life Investments

6. If you were to enter Christ’s presence today, how would you feel about your “life portfolio” so far? What would you consider valuable investments? What regrets would you have?

7. What has been the “cost” for you to follow Jesus? What has been the gain?

Unlocked

8. Page 168 gives a sample of the many ways you can invest your life in eternal things. With a pencil, put a check mark by the areas that you are already investing in. Put an “x” by those you would like to invest more heavily in.

APPLYING

9. What can you do to invest more heavily in one of the areas you marked with an “x” in question 8?

10. In question 6, you were asked what regrets you would have if your life portfolio were reviewed today. What adjustments do you need to make now in order to not experience those regrets at the end of your life on earth?

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Sometimes we are blind to ways that we have been investing our lives in eternal things. Take a few minutes to share ways that you have seen other group members investing their lives in ways that will be valued in eternity.

LAUNCHING

1. When, if ever, do you feel some sense of peace in your life?

How can I know peace when I am surrounded by trouble?

EXPLORING

Living with Unresolved Conflict

2. What circumstances would have made it difficult for Paul to experience peace? What circumstances in your life make peace seem elusive?

The Way Things Ought to Be

3. What is peace, or “shalom,” according to the Bible? How is it different than the way our culture views peace?

Three Pillars of Peace

4. List below the three pillars of peace. Then rate yourself on how well you are experiencing peace in each of these areas, with 1 meaning not at all and 5 meaning very much. What is hindering any of the pillars?

5. Janet is a regional manager for a major pharmaceutical company. She has been moving up quickly in the company, which has caused some to resent her. One of Janet’s most gifted district managers, Gail, has begun to openly criticize her and appears to be trying to sabotage her initiatives. Janet is a strong Christian and has tried talking to Gail, but Gail refuses to admit there is a problem. Because of this conflict, Janet feels very troubled. She wants to regain the peace she has had in the past. What advice would you give her?

Three Weapons in the Fight Against Anxiety

6. What advice would you give to a Christian who was experiencing a great deal of anxiety?

7. Define prayer, petition, and thanksgiving in your own words. Which of these is/are a regular part of your life? Which do you need to grow and develop in?

8. Petition involves taking our worries out of the bag on our back and bringing them to the Lord. What are the worries and anxieties hidden in your bag? What would it mean for you to give them to Christ? How can you do this?

APPLYING

9. What is something you can do to strengthen one of the pillars of peace in your life?

10. Which of the three weapons against anxiety—prayer, petition, and thanksgiving —do you need to deploy more effectively? How will you do that?

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Give each member an index card. Allow a few minutes of silence for everyone to bring to mind the fears and worries weighing them down and then to record them on the card. In a time of silent prayer, have each group member place his and her card in the middle of the group as they lift their worries and fears to the Lord. Collect the cards and destroy them.

LAUNCHING

1. Who is someone you saw face death with great courage? Why was the person able to do that?

What will happen when I die?

EXPLORING

Denial, Panic … and Reality

2. When have you been forced to face the reality of death? What were the circumstances and how did you deal with it? How much of a lasting impact has this had on you?

What Happened When Jesus Died?

3. What made Jesus’ death unique from the death of other Christian martyrs? What all did He experience at His death?

4. How did Jesus’ death change the nature of death for all who put their faith in Him?

5. Read John 8:51. What does the Bible mean when it says that Christians will never see death? Why won’t Christians ever see death?

What Happens When a Christian Dies?

6. What thoughts and feelings come to mind when you think of dying?

7. Describe what will happen to you immediately after you die. How does this provide comfort for you?

The Moment of Arrival

8. Read Matthew 10:32. How will this promise prove true when you arrive in heaven? What do you think it will be like to experience this? How would this give you greater courage in the face of death?

APPLYING

9. How can you use the principles from this lesson to comfort someone you know who is facing the likelihood of death?

10. How has this chapter impacted your own view of death?

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Contact one of the pastoral staff at your church, and ask for the names of terminally ill members of the congregation. Pray for each one of them by name, asking the Lord to give them courage in knowing Christ will receive them upon their death.

LAUNCHING

1. Who is someone on earth you know you can always turn to for help? Why?

What is Jesus doing now?

EXPLORING

The Rocks and the Bag

2. How is Jesus’ work as High Priest different than that of the Old Testament high priests?

3. Using the analogy from the chapter, how did Christ’s sacrifice take the backpack from our back rather than simply empty it of rocks? In light of this, how then, should we respond when we sin?

Christ’s Continuing Work

4. What do you imagine Jesus is praying for you right now? How does it make you feel to know that Jesus prays for you?

5. Read Luke 22:31–32. What can you learn from this example of Jesus’ prayer for Peter?

Making Our Prayers Effective

6. When do your prayers feel particularly weak? How does Jesus amplify those prayers and make them for effective? How does this encourage you in your prayer life?

Representing Us in Heaven

7. In what sense is Christ representing you in heaven? What does that mean to you?

APPLYING

8. Read Hebrews 4:16. In light of the fact that Jesus is our High Priest, how should we approach Him? What does He promise us when we do?

9. What is an area that you particularly feel a need for His help and grace?

10. Based on what you learned in this chapter, what encouragement could you give to a Christian who was facing difficulties, opposition, and struggles, and felt that he just couldn’t keep going in the Christian life?

LAUNCHING

1. What are some of the areas of your life that you have seen change since you came to Christ?

Can a set of beliefs save me?

EXPLORING

In Need of Spiritual Surgery

2. When God saved you, what was His ultimate goal for your life? What will it take for this to happen?

Seven Deadly Sins

3. Which of the sins from the book of James do you see in your church? Which of them do you struggle with? What is the common root of all of these sins? What will it take to overcome this core problem?

“Faith Without Works Is Dead.”

4. Holding the right beliefs without a changed life is a terrible place to be. How have some of our approaches to evangelism helped to create this predicament? How can we present the gospel in such a way that people understand the full implications of being a Christian?

True Faith Brings You to Christ.

5. We are not saved by faith but by Christ. Why is this distinction important? How might this help you respond to someone who thinks Christians are arrogant for thinking only their beliefs are valid?

The Long Flight Home

6. How would you explain to a non-Christian what is required to be saved?

Christ Changes All Who Come to Him.

7. Why is it impossible for someone to be forgiven and not have a changed life? What is it that drives that change?

Take a Spiritual Health Check.

8. If someone was examining your life to find evidence that you were truly a Christian, what do you think he or she would find most convincing?

God’s Ultimate Purpose

9. Bob put his faith in Christ as a child and has a love for God and a desire to obey Him. Throughout his entire adult life, however, Bob has struggled with two sins in particular: anger and lust. Although Bob has seen some significant growth in these areas, he still blows it from time to time. At these times, Bob begins to question whether he is really a Christian. What advice would you give to Bob? How would you be able to tell if he was really a Christian?

APPLYING

10. Based on their lifestyles, what percentage of the people in your church would you estimate are truly Christians? What can you do to help those who believe the right things but have not come to Christ?

LAUNCHING

1. How would you feel if the president of the United States contacted you and said that he wanted to spend some time just hanging out with you?

What does fellowship with God look like?

EXPLORING

Finding a Taste for Fellowship with God

2. When do you find the greatest desire to have fellowship with God? What fuels this? What tends to sap your desire to fellowship with God?

3. How have you found fellowship with God satisfying to your soul?

The Danger of Being Deceived

4. How could someone know if he was fooling himself into thinking he was a Christian when he really was not?

4. Was there any point in your life when you believed you were a Christian but were not? How did you come to the realization that you were mistaken?

Flowers to Cultivate

5. How have you seen each of these flowers growing in your own life? Which one seems to be in greatest bloom? Which one is in need of some fertilizing?

Weeds to Pull

6. When did you first become aware of sin in your life? What brought you this new awareness?

7. Read 1 John 2:15–16. Define these prevalent and dangerous weeds in your own words. Are any of them spreading in your garden? According to verse 15, what impact will these weeds have on your desire for fellowship with God?

The Spiritual Discipline of Confession

8. What is the role of confession in the Christian life? What should confession be like?

The Perfectionist’s Problem

9. Do you find it hard to believe that you can have fellowship with God while you still have sin in your life? Why or why not? If you do find it hard to believe, what misconceptions does this reveal?

APPLYING

10. Are there any weeds you need to pull or flowers you need to nurture? What can you do this week to take a step in that direction?

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Discuss the relationship between fellowship with God and the fellowship you experience as members of the same small group. How do the two impact one another? What are the implications for your group?

LAUNCHING

1. When have you been most aware of the awesome power and person of Jesus Christ?

Who can take God’s purpose from vision to reality?

EXPLORING

A Drama in Three Locations

2. Think of something that has been troubling you today. How did reflecting on the activities of heaven while reading this chapter change your perspective on that issue?

A Glimpse of Heaven

3. Why do you think the throne is the central element in this heavenly vision? What does that teach you?

4. How would you describe in one or two words this scene that John sees? How does this picture of God alter or expand your view of Him?

Thunder and Lightning

5. What do the thunder, lightning, and great sea demonstrate about God? Are you comfortable with this dimension of God’s character? Why or why not?

The Scroll

6. What does the scroll represent? Why was no one able to open the scroll? Why did this sadden John?

The Lamb

7. In what ways is Jesus like a lamb? In what ways is He like a lion?

The Worship of Heaven

8. What would it mean to open the scroll? Why was Jesus uniquely able to open the scroll? What does this demonstrate about Him?

9. Why was there such an eruption of praise and worship in heaven? What did they see that moved them so much? When are you so gripped by Christ’s glory that you are moved to worship?

APPLYING

10. What new insights into the Lord’s glory did you gain from this lesson? How did that impact you? How can you keep this exalted view of Christ and God the Father?

Optional Small Group Exercise:

Have everyone close their eyes while someone from the group reads Revelation chapters 4 and 5. Try to visualize the wonder and glory of the scenes. Let this lead you into a time of short prayers of praise.

LAUNCHING

1. List four or five words or phrases that come to mind when you think of heaven.

Where will I spend eternity?

EXPLORING

A New Heaven and a New Earth

2. How will life be different without the possibility of evil? What worries and pressures will this take away that you experience now?

3. Read Romans 8:21. You may have to use some imagination, but what do you think this new earth will be like? How will it be similar to and different from this present earth?

Jerusalem, Jerusalem

4. What is the significance of the dimensions of the New Jerusalem? What do you think it will be like to live in the presence of God? How do you think this will impact your spiritual life?

The Bride and the Prostitute

5. What does the image of a bride and groom illustrate about Christ’s feelings and devotion to His people? Do you believe that Christ has those feelings for you? Why or why not?

Paradise Restored

6. Which features of the restored Paradise are particularly attractive to you? Why?

7. What is the significance of the gates to the city facing every direction? What does this teach us about the scope and mission of Christianity?

The Ultimate Blessing

8. What blessings does eternity hold for the Christian?

APPLYING

9. How has this lesson changed your view of heaven? Has this made it more or less attractive? Explain.

10. Think of a problem or issue you are currently facing. How is it affecting you? How can reminding yourself of the blessings awaiting you in heaven give you a renewed perspective on this issue?

Optional Small Group Exercise:

As a final review of all that your group has learned, put your heads together and see if you can identify the major developments in God’s plan for redeeming men and women, from the fall of Adam and Eve until the appearance of the City. Record them on a piece of poster board.

SINCE 1894, Moody Publishers has been dedicated to equip and motivate people to advance the cause of Christ by publishing evangelical Christian literature and other media for all ages, around the world. As a ministry of the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, proceeds from the sale of this book help to train the next generation of Christian leaders.

If we may serve you in any way in your spiritual journey toward understanding Christ and the Christian life, please contact us at www.moodypublishers.com.

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

—2 TIMOTHY 3:16, 17

THE NAME YOU CAN TRUST®

Unlocking the Bible Story Series

Pastor Colin Smith’s four-volume masterpiece moves you past Bible stories to understand the Bible as one story—the glorious, unbroken account of Christ’s work to redeem a fallen world.

Each chapter of the Unlocking the Bible Story Series, Volumes 1-4 coincide with the same chapters of the Unlocking the Bible Story Study Guides.

Unlocking the Bible Story, Volume 1

Volume 1 takes readers through the Old Testament story from Genesis to Nehemiah.

ISBN: 0-8024-6543-9, Volume 1

ISBN: 0-8024-6551-X, Volume 1, Study Guide

Unlocking the Bible Story, Volume 2

After you have completed Volume 1, Volume 2 is highly recommended as it takes readers through the Old Testament story from Job to Malachi.

ISBN: 0-8024-6544-7, Volume 2

ISBN: 0-8024-6552-8, Volume 2, Study Guide

Unlocking the Bible Story, Volume 3

Volume 3 begins with the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ and continues with Christ’s ministry and the beginning of the church. Volume 3 will help you unlock the Bible story from Matthew to Acts.

ISBN: 0-8024-6545-5, Volume 3

ISBN: 0-8024-6553-6, Volume 3, Study Guide

Unlocking the Bible Story, Volume 4

Volume 4 takes readers through the letters written to the New Testament churches, which tell the full significance of what God has done in Jesus Christ, and concludes with the revelation of the apostle John, who brings us right into the future city of God.

ISBN: 0-8024-6546-3, Volume 4

ISBN: 0-8024-6554-4, Volume 4, Study Guide

THE NAME YOU CAN TRUST®

1-800-678-6928 www.MoodyPublishers.com

UNLOCKING THE BIBLE STORY STUDY GUIDE TEAM

ACQUIRING EDITOR:

William Thrasher

COPY EDITOR:

Jim Vincent

BACK COVER COPY:

The Smartt Guys

COVER DESIGN:

The Smartt Guys

INTERIOR DESIGN:

Paetzold Associates

PRINTING AND BINDING:

Data Reproductions Corporation

The typeface for the text of this book is

Goudy