A Closer Look at The Nativity: by Romans
I would like to ask all of you, What images come to mind when you think of a Nativity Scene?
Only two of the four Gospels, namely Matthew and Luke, shed light on the details of the birth of Jesus Christ. The Gospel of John begins at the beginning, the same beginning that is recorded in Genesis 1:1. We are going to touch on Jesus before His human incarnation a little later, but for right now we are going to focus on Matthew's and Luke's Gospels, and some of the things that can easily be glossed over and missed in their Accounts of Jesus' birth.
Let's focus on the opening of the first book of the New Testament in general, and its author in particular: Matthew. Critics and doubters of the Bible like to claim that the New Testament was not written by anyone who was an original follower of Jesus, or even alive when Christ was alive. They try to assign a 2nd Century authorship to the New Testament in an effort to undermine the trustworthiness of what is written, as well as maximize the implication of both fabrication and embellishment. In two hundred years, a whole lot can be added to accomplishments and personal details of any individual, especially if the main source has been verbally handed down. Under such circumstances, embellishments and exaggerations are likely to fly like fireworks on the 4th of July.
But this is not the case, here. There are many remarkable things about the Gospel According to Matthew that I think are not given enough consideration by the average person. Matthew is identified
in Matthew 9:9 as a tax collector. While we in America have no great affection for the IRS or its employees, the situation was radically different in Roman-era Israel. Allow me this brief aside: I make a point to call it Israel because that is where all of these events take place. I hear so many preachers talk about Christ walking the dusty streets of Palestine but, from all that I have ever read, Jesus could not have, and did not do walk any streets in Palestine, dusty or otherwise! When Jesus walked the earth, there was no Palestine. Consider Herod's official title: the Procurator of Judea. Similarly, Pontius Pilate's official title was the Governor of Judea. And what happened that it became the name for the area? In 70 AD, the Jews revolted against the Roman Empire. They were mercilessly crushed. Jerusalem was invaded and destroyed, the Temple was destroyed, and the Jews were dispersed from Israel. To add insult to injury, the Romans said, in effect, “Now that the Jews are out of here, we are not going to continue call this land by the same name that they used. What nation was their worst enemies?” They did some research and found out that the Philistines were the Jews' worst enemies, so the Romans renamed the land after them. Hence, we get “Palestine,” the Latinized version of Philistine. The name Palestine appears nowhere in the New Testament. It does, however, appear once in the Old Testament: We find it in Joel 3:4: “Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine?” Here, however, it refers to the areas (Tyre and Zidon) in Syria where the Philistines were actually living. When the translators called that area Palestine, they were correct. But Palestine was not the name for the land of Israel until almost four decades after Jesus returned to Heaven. “Palestine” was applied to the land of Israel beginning around 72 AD, after Jerusalem was destroyed, and the Jewish nation was defeated and deported. Jesus, as a man, was never in Palestine.
But this brings us to another point about the entirety of the New Testament which helps to better establish that it was written within decades of the events they describe for us. Nowhere in any Gospel Account, nowhere in the Book of Acts, nowhere in any epistle, and not even in the Book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, is there any reference to Jerusalem having been destroyed. It is absolutely impossible, and beyond anyone's rational imagination, that Jerusalem could have been reduced to an smoldering ashtray, the Jewish population deported, and the Temple destroyed by Roman Legions, while none of the seven authors of the New Testament referred to such a cataclysmic event, with such monumental importance to the Jewish people, as having happened. But none of them do in a historic context. Matthew, Mark and Luke each discuss the destruction of Jerusalem in Jesus' Olivet Prophecy regarding the signs of His return. But Jerusalem and the Temple are both untouched and in full operation when the New Testament was written, which tells me with in no uncertain terms, that the entirety of the New Testament was written prior to 70 AD.
But, as I was saying before I took these several detours, Matthew was a tax collector. And the Jewish people hated tax collectors for two reasons: First, they sat in receipt of custom for the Roman Empire. It wasn't bad enough that Israel was a conquered and occupied land, its conquerors also demanded the payment of tribute to them. And sitting at the tax collection booths were fellow Jews collecting the money. And if that wasn't bad enough, the Romans allowed the tax collectors to add extra to what they collected for themselves, above and beyond what the Romans required. Matthew, then, was a one such tax collector, or publican. His very presence, as one of the original disciples, and then as one of the original apostles, and then as one of the original four authors of the Gospels is a clear signal to everyone who knew about Matthew's background that this Messiah was a Messiah of forgiveness, a Messiah of inclusion, a Messiah who was not a respecter of persons or position, nor did He exclude anyone because of their current or former position, or sinful behavior or ungodly lifestyle. In John 8:11, He told the woman taken in adultery, “Neither do I condemn thee; go and sin no more” This was a Messiah where there was neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, bond nor free. Matthew closes his Gospel Account with Jesus' commissioning His Church with the words, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...” But He was more specific to His disciples in Acts 1:8, to make sure they excluded no one in their preaching: “... ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria {the land of the Samaritans}, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
This was a Messiah who was a friend of sinners. In His first public sermon in the synagogue in Nazareth, found in Luke 4:18 He quoted the prophecy found in Isaiah 61:1 and applied it to Himself and His ministry: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.”
Of the original prophecy found in Isaiah, Matthew Henry has the following to say: "The prophets had the Holy Spirit of God at times, teaching them what to say, and causing them to say it; but Christ had the Spirit always, without measure, to qualify him, as man, for the work to which he was appointed. The poor are commonly best disposed to receive the gospel, (James 2:5); and it is only likely to profit us when received with meekness. To such as are poor in spirit, Christ preached good tidings when he said, Blessed are the meek. Christ's satisfaction is accepted. By the dominion of sin in us, we are bound under the power of Satan; but the Son is ready, by his Spirit, to make us free; and then we shall be free indeed. Sin and Satan were to be destroyed; and Christ triumphed over them on his cross. But the children of men, who stand out against these offers, shall be dealt with as enemies. Christ was to be a Comforter, and so he is; he is sent to comfort all who mourn, and who seek to him, and not to the world, for comfort. He will do all this for his people, that they may abound in the fruits of righteousness, as the branches of God's planting. Neither the mercy of God, the atonement of Christ, nor the gospel of grace, profit the self-sufficient and proud. They must be humbled, and led to know their own character and wants, by the Holy Spirit, that they may see and feel their need of the sinner's Friend and Saviour. His doctrine contains glad tidings indeed to those who are humbled before God.”
But I'd also like to look more closely at one specific reference Jesus made to preaching “deliverance to the captives.” That deliverance was not then, and is not now limited to captivity behind physical bars. All of us have been, and may yet be imprisoned in one fashion or another. Many are imprisoned behind the bars or various prejudices: racial, political, national, cultural, and even denominational. There is also sexism, ageism, elitism, and class warfare. There is no category where man will not find an excuse to ostracize and look down on a fellow human being for whom Christ shed His blood. In every situation of both literal and figurative captivity, Jesus delivers both the jailor and the inmate from any and all captivity. Colossians 1:13 puts it this way concerning the ministry of Jesus Christ: Colossians 1:13: “who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.”
Far and above the mere presence of a publican among the originals of Jesus' followers, the very first thing we read in Matthew's Gospel Account is Jesus' genealogy. Taking a step away from both tradition and the male-dominated culture of his day which devalued women, Matthew includes four women in the lineage of Christ: And each of the four women he included were also those whose names were linked to scandal in some way, yet their names appear in spite of their origins and their scandalous histories. There was Tamar, the patriarch Judah's widowed daughter-in-law who dressed as a prostitute and was impregnated by Judah; there was Rachab, a Canaanite prostitute who helped hide the spies who came as an advance scouting team before the Israelites invaded Canaan; there was the non-Israelite Ruth. She was a Moabite who, after her husband died, declared her allegiance not only to her mother-in-law Naomi, but also to Naomi's people and her God; and then there was Uriah's wife Bathsheba with whom King David committed adultery. These are the four women from Matthew's genealogy. But the New Testament includes a fifth woman in Jesus' lineage whose reputation was questioned. Any guesses as to who that woman might be?
If you guessed Jesus' mother Mary as woman #5, you would be correct. Matthew's genealogy of Jesus is through Joseph, so Mary is not included in his genealogy. She does appear in Luke's genealogy. As with the four women Matthew includes in Christ's lineage, Mary is a woman whose character came under close public scrutiny and widespread disapproval. As believers we routinely overlook the scandal that surrounded her because we know that her pregnancy was the result of her being overshadowed by the Holy Spirit. But all her neighbors and the community knew was that Mary was found to be pregnant before her wedding day. In that culture, such a thing was an abomination. I don't think we have sufficiently considered the inescapable reproach, the public ostracism and the grave condemnation that Mary knowingly and willingly accepted when she responded as she did to the angel who told her that she was chosen to give birth to the Messiah. We read in Luke 1:38: “And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.” Her response to the angel was one that reflected a level of maturity that was far beyond her years. Most scholars say she was a woman in her middle teens, but her response to God was a beautiful and an inspiring picture of humility and selfless obedience.
Her fiance` Joseph was, in his own right, also a godly man. He discovered that his bride-to-be was pregnant. He knew that was not his child, yet he did not respond to this information with what some might say was justifiable vindictiveness at having been betrayed, or even any desire to publicly condemn her, himself. Instead, with respect and compassion, he intended to put her away privately. In a dream, an angel encouraged Joseph to go through with their planned marriage, explaining to Joseph that Mary had not been unfaithful to him.
She was a virgin, as another prophecy indicated that the Messiah's mother would be. The prophecy is found in Isaiah 7:14: “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” Critics and doubters of the Bible correctly claim that the original word in Hebrew, “almah`,” that is translated “virgin,” can also be translated “young woman.” In pointing this out, they attempt to undermine the miraculous participation of God and the Holy Spirit in Mary's pregnancy. Let's see if their doubt has any merit. Alexander the Great conquered the known world, and Greek became the official international language of the all the nations he ruled. A request was made from Jews living in Alexandria, that a translation be made of the Old Testament be made from Hebrew in Greek, so that the Scriptures could be read and used by a wider range of people. Seventy Hebrew scholars were assembled to accomplish this task. The translation they made is called the “Septuagint,” meaning “the seventy.” Why is this important to our study? It is important because when these translators came to Isaiah 7:14, they had to make a decision about how to translate the Hebrew “almah,” which could mean both “virgin” or “young woman.” They chose the Greek word, “parthenos,” which has only one meaning: “virgin.” The verse reads “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son...” And this can be the only correct way to translate this verse.
Why do I say that?
Consider: The very first words of Isaiah 7:14 indicate that this was going to be a sign... a specific way to identify the Messiah. If “almah” is translated as “young woman,” how could that have been a sign of anything to anyone? Would it have been a sufficient sign to mere identify the mother of the Messiah as being a “young woman,” as opposed to a woman who was older? No. But how many children have ever been born to a woman who could honestly say that she was a virgin both before and after she became pregnant? Only one in all of history. And her name was Mary, the wife of Joseph, the Jewish carpenter of Nazareth. And she made that very claim to the angel who told her she would be the mother of the Messiah: We read her response in Luke 1:34, “How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?” Mary was the virgin that Isaiah prophesied some 700 years before she was born, who would be the mother of the Messiah.
Mary went to live with her cousin Elizabeth for three months, but her scandalous pregnancy and ruined reputation was the hot gossip of the day. We can know that because Jesus was confronted with it during His ministry over three decades later! During one of the many altercations Jesus had with the Pharisees and His Jewish opponents, the scandal of His being born to a woman out of wedlock was thrown in Jesus' face. Notice: Jesus is speaking first, here, in John 8:41: “Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.”
Among the many accusations Jesus endured, illegitimacy was one of them. But, besides boldly listing women with questionable reputations, Matthew also provided for us a genealogy that included both Abraham and David, to solidify Jesus' rightful place as both Heir of the Promises of God, and ascendancy to the Throne of David. One prophecy that attests to Jesus' being the Heir having a rightful place as the ruling Son of David is one that is most familiar in a partially quoted form. It is found in Isaiah 9:6: “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder...” Jesus acknowledged His kingship to Pilate when He said “My kingdom is not of this world,” in John 18:36. Who, but a King, refers to any kingdom as “My Kingdom”?
The wise men who came to King Herod, they were aware of the kingly aspect of the Messiah. When they inquired of Herod regarding the Messiah's birthplace, they asked in Matthew 2:2, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews?” Have you ever given thought to how the wise men were answered? They didn't go to the Social Page of that morning's newspapers. They went to written prophecies that foretold where the Messiah was to be born. The Prophet was the Prophet Micah. And this is an amazing thing about the Micah writings. How old were Micah's prophecies? At the time they were consulted, they were 700 years old! The scrolls that were researched were of writings that were over three times older than our Constitution is to us today! And they were consulted to determine where a particular baby was going to be born! The wise men had traveled thousands of miles fully expecting to find one newborn. And their impossible quest was successful because a 700 year old prophecy directed them to the city where He was born! Can such a thing be said of any other human being on this planet?
Allow me one more aside as we look at the arrival of the Wise Men: In the average Nativity Scene, they are usually represented as being present at the birth of Christ. Scripture indicates a much later appearance. Remember, Jesus was born in a stable setting; His first crib was a manger, a feeding trough. The angel gave the shepherds a distinct sign to find the Messiah in Luke 2:12: “And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” But it was not the same for the Wise Men. We read of them in Matthew 2:11: “And when they were come into [u]the house[/u], they saw [u]the young child[/u] with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh” (emphasis mine). The Wise Men did not find a babe in a stable in a manger, they saw Him as but a young child in a house. This is why Herod had his soldiers target young boys as old as two years old.
But there is yet more here that we can learn from this story: The prophecy that answered the Wise Mens' inquiry was recorded in Micah 5:2: Matthew tells us what Herod did to answer the wise mens' unsettling question: “And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.” Herod did not merely inquire of the scribes where Christ was to be born. He “demanded” an answer from them. This is in keeping with the paranoid and maniacal reputation Herod has been given. Herod had bought and paid for his position as “King of the Jews” from the Roman rulers. The Wise Men inquiring after a rival King of the Jews was a direct threat to his position. But he had to feign calmness to not alert the Wise Men to the threat that Christ posed to him. The scribes found the prophecy of where the Christ was to be born, and they responded in Matthew 2:5: “In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.” But Matthew shared only the first portion of the prophecy with us. If you limit your familiarity with Jesus being born in Bethlehem to Matthew's quotation, you miss a critically important characteristic of the Messiah's pre-human identity. The rest of the verse reads: “... whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”
Critics and doubters of the Bible claim that the Deity of Christ was one of the embellishments added by the 2nd Century authors of the New Testament. But 700 years before Christ was born, Micah identified the Messiah as having a past history that had been “from of old, from everlasting.”
Is there any merit to the critics' claim that the Deity of Jesus is nothing but an embellishment added by overzealous believers who lived and wrote the New Testament centuries after Jesus walked the earth? The Christ Child was to be named “Immanuel,” meaning “God with us.” Who besides God can be described as having an everlasting existence? No one. This includes angels. Angels are created beings, and, as such, each they had a beginning. This prophecy can only have been fulfilled by God, Himself.
As John wrote in the opening of his Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Here is something else to consider: If a prophet in Israel made the statement, “Thus saith the Lord,” Who would the prophet be quoting? Who was the only One Who anyone in Israel would understanding the Lord to be? The Lord was God Almighty. In Greek, the word translated “Lord” is the word, “kurios.” In the wilderness, Jesus countered Satan's temptation with the words, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God (Gk. kurios), and him only shalt thou serve” (Matthew 4:10). In Mark 12:28, Jesus was asked, “Which is the first commandment of all?” Jesus answered in verse 29, “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord,” the Greek word for Lord is the word kurios. Now let's go to the night Jesus was born. Beginning in Luke 2:8: “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (kurios). The angels' use of the word “kurios” clearly identified, beyond any shadow of a doubt, Who that babe in the manger was... it was “Christ the Lord.” Many names in Israel had “God” as a part of the name with the suffix “el:” Samuel, Daniel, Gabriel, Gamaliel. But where the Name Emmanuel is concerned, which means “God With Us,” it was more than a Name. It was an expression of a literal manifestation, an actual incarnation of God taking on human flesh and blood. John identified the Word as being God. In verse 14 of the first chapter of his Gospel, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
We know why the Word became flesh. When He came to John the Baptist in the wilderness, John announced Him with the words in John 1:29, “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.” He came to die for our sins. But He also came, as we read early, to “dwell among us.” When the enraged Herod sent his soldiers to Bethlehem to kill all the male children two years old and younger, could the goal of the Plan of Salvation, having Jesus die for our sins, have been accomplished if Joseph had not been warned to flee from Herod's men? If Jesus were slain as a toddler, would His death at that age have been able to be applied to our sins that we might be forgiven? Personally, without being able to cite any Scripture to defend my opinion, I think God could have accepted the death of that innocent child to accomplish His Plan.
But He was not to die as a toddler. We read Paul's words in Philippians 2:6-8: “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” But as important as it was for Jesus being sacrificed for us, He had so many other things to accomplish. Yes! Jesus came to die in our place, but to do so as an adult, after having experienced being with, living with, and eating with the creation He so loved. For the first time, by His experiencing firsthand the human condition, God was able to He was able to know hunger and thirst, and fatigue. At the end of a long day, He was able to close His eyes and sleep at night... and wake up the next morning to the sound of a rooster crowing. To our original parents in the beginning in Eden, He assigned which trees could be eaten, and which one to avoid. Now, as a carpenter He was choosing which lumber He was use to build a new home for a new family, their tables and chairs or a door for the house. He had blessed Adam and Even with the words, “Be fruitful and multiply,” (Genesis 1:28). Now as a man, He could hear with human ears the sound of children playing in the streets coming through the windows of His home as He grew up in Nazareth. As an adult, when speaking of abiding in the love of the Father, Jesus said in John 15:10: “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” But also as an adult, He could now pick up the children who came to Him and expressed their love for Him. He could sit down with them, and not only sense their innocence and love. For the first time since Creation, He could feel the weight and warmth of a child sitting in His lap. He could feel the tenderness in their hugs. He could feel their hot breath on His cheek as they moved in closer to whisper a secret to Him. It was a sensation that He clearly enjoyed, telling His disciples to not shew away the children that thronged Him. I believe that for years, the sound of joyous children running and playing in the streets of Nazareth included the sound of Jesus' laughter when He was a boy.
As God, Jesus was omnipresent throughout the Universe He created. But as a human being, and an itinerant preacher, having set aside His power and Glory, He could now only visit various towns, one at a time, at the speed of walking, or on the back of the fastest borrowed donkey. As the Creator God, He had spoken and a Universe full of billions of galaxies appeared (Genesis 1:1). As the Creator, He had named all the stars (Psalm 147:4), but now as a human being, at sunset He could watch those same stars become visible against the ink-black night sky bled to the horizon. As He looked heavenward, I imagine Him reflecting on their stellar majesty, but now from an earthbound perspective, as fellow-humans saw them, and marveled.
We read in 1 Timothy 2:5-6, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” Having been God in the flesh, only Jesus could have qualified to be the Mediator between God and men. And as that Mediator, only Jesus could speak to the Father on behalf of those He created, and for whom He died. He experienced the ongoing warfare between our spirits and our flesh. He said in Mark 14:38: “Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.” Jesus was God... feeling what we feel, and experiencing, firsthand, what we go through in the flesh. We read in Hebrews 4:15, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” He lived and experienced being a human into adulthood so that He could be a far more effectual High Priest (Hebrews 4:15) and Advocate with the Father (1 John 2:1).
Besides all of the above, as that itinerant preacher, Jesus had many things to impart to us, none of which He could have done had Herod's soldiers killed Him at the age of two. The wise men gave gifts to Jesus: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. These were expensive gifts... gifts worthy of a king. But very soon after their visit, Jesus' family was warned to escape into Egypt as Herod sought to kill Him. Those gifts took on new meaning and purpose as they enabled the family to travel to a foreign country, and secure lodging and food until it was safe for them to return to Israel. The scribes had told Herod that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. I wonder if the scribes read, or Herod listened to the prophecy long enough to hear that the Messiah had an “everlasting” pre-Existence. I wonder if Herod would have realized the utter futility in attempting to defy the Will of God, or somehow thwart a 700 year old prophecy that accurately foretold the Messiah's birthplace.
As I said earlier, I believe that the Father could have applied the shed blood of Christ to cover our sins, had Herod's men killed Him when He was two years old. But the Father had bigger Plans for His only begotten Son. Joseph, Jesus' foster-father, was warned by God to flee with his family to Egypt. That ensured that Jesus would survive into adulthood, and, because He did, He was able to have a ministry the lasted over three years. He was able to deliver the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord's Prayer, the many Parables, the many healings of the blind, the lame, the deaf and the leprous. There were the raising of the dead back to life. There were the many examples He left for us to follow, expressions of mercy, and compassion, and generosity and forgiveness. There were the repudiations of the cultural prejudices by having shepherds who were social outcasts be the first to hear that the Messiah had come. Jesus chose a hated tax collector to be a disciple, He traveled through Samaria, an area which Jews routinely went miles out of their way to avoid. He preached to a Samaritan woman at the well, she calls her others to hear Him and He stayed and preached to them for two more days, He made a despised Samaritan to be the hero of a Parable, and He selected women, second class citizens in that culture whose testimony was disallowed in court, to be the first witnesses to His Resurrection. And after His resurrection He was able to establish and empower His Church, to go into all the world, spread His Gospel, preach His Word, heal the sick, raise the dead, and write down the words the made it possible for us also to come to the knowledge of the Truth.
Yes, we celebrate the birth of Christ at this time of year. But there is much we can still learn from the details of that birth with which we thought we were so familiar. The next time you see a Nativity Scene displayed in a Church Yard, or on a Christmas Card, look at each of the individuals and groups in the Scene: Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the Wise Men, end even the lambs who would one day serve, themselves, as sacrifices. As you do look at them, think of each one with a deeper and fuller understanding of them than you had, yesterday.
I have found that researching and writing this for you has been greatly inspiring and edifying to me. I sincerely hope that it also had the same impact on you.
This concludes this evening's Discussion, “A Closer Look at The Nativity”
This was originally delivered “live” on December 19th, 2013.
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Jesus...God and man
Equally amazing to the doctrine of the Trinity is the doctrine of the Incarnation--that Jesus Christ is God and man, yet one person, forever. As J.I. Packer has said: "Here are two mysteries for the price of one--the plurality of persons within the unity of God, and the union of Godhead and manhood in the person of Jesus. ...Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as is this truth of the Incarnation," writes contemporary theologian J.I. Packer.1
The early church considered the Incarnation to be one of the most important truths of our faith. Because of this, they formulated what has come to be called the Chalcedonean Creed, a statement which sets forth very what we are to believe and what we are not to believe about the Incarnation. This creed was the fruit of a large council that took place from October 8 to November 1, 451, in the city of Chalcedon and "has been taken as the standard, orthodox definition of the biblical teaching on the person of Christ since that day by" all the major branches of Christianity.2 There are five main truths with which the creed of Chalcedon summarized the biblical teaching on the Incarnation.
1. Jesus has two natures -- He is God and man.
2. Each nature is full and complete -- He is fully God and fully man.
3. Each nature remains distinct.
4. Christ is only one Person.
5. Things that are true of only one nature are nonetheless true of the Person of Christ.
A proper understanding of these truths clears up much confusion and many difficulties we may have in our mind. How can Jesus be both God and man? Why doesn't this make Him two people? How does His Incarnation relate to the Trinity? How could Jesus have hungered (Matthew 4:2) and died (Mark 15:37) when He was on earth, and yet still be God? Did Jesus give up any of His divine attributes in the Incarnation? Why is it inaccurate to say that Jesus is a "part" of God? Is Jesus still human now, and does He still have His human body?
Jesus has two natures -- God and man
The first truth we need to understand is that Jesus is one Person who has two natures a divine nature and a human nature. In other words, Jesus is both God and man. We will look at each nature accordingly.
Jesus is God
The Bible teaches that Jesus is not merely someone who is a lot like God, or someone who has a very close walk with God. Rather, Jesus is the Most High God Himself. Titus 2:13 says that as Christians we are "looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus." Upon seeing the resurrected Christ, Thomas cried out, "My Lord and my God!" (John 20:28). Likewise, the book of Hebrews gives us God the Father's direct testimony about Christ: "But of the Son He says, 'Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever" and the gospel of John calls Jesus "the only begotten God" (John 1:18).
Another way the Bible teaches that Jesus is God is by showing that He has all of the attributes of God. He knows everything (Mt 16:21; Luke 11:17; John 4:29), is everywhere (Matthew 18:20; 28:20; Acts 18:10), has all power (Mt 8:26, 27; 28:18; Jn 11:38-44; Lk 7:14-15; Revelation 1:8), depends on nothing outside of Himself for life (Jn 1:4; 14:6; 8:58), rules over everything (Mt 28:18; Rev 19:16; 1:5) never began to exist and never will cease to exist (John 1:1; 8:58), and is our Creator (Colossians 1:16). In other words, everything that God is, Jesus is. For Jesus is God.
Specifically, Jesus is God the Son
In order to have a more complete grasp of Christ's incarnation, it is necessary to have some sort of understanding of the Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity states that God is one being, and this one God exists as three distinct Persons. This means, first of all, that we must distinguish each Person of the Trinity from the other two. The Father is not the Son or the Holy Spirit, the Son is not the Holy Spirit or the Father, and the Holy Spirit is not the Father or the Son. They are each a distinct center of consciousness, a distinct form of personal existence. Yet, they all share the exact same divine nature/essence. Thus, the three persons are one being. The divine being/essence is not something that is divided between the Persons, each Person receiving one-third. Rather, the divine being is fully and equally possessed by all three Persons such that all three Persons are each fully and equally God.
How does the fact that God is three Persons in one Being relate to the incarnation? To answer this, let's consider another question. Which Person became incarnate in Jesus Christ? All three? Or just one? Which one? The Biblical answer is that only God the Son became incarnate. The Father did not become incarnate in Jesus, and neither did the Holy Spirit. Thus, Jesus is God, but He is not the Father or the Holy Spirit. Jesus is God the Son.
The truth that it is only God the Son who became incarnate is taught, for example, in John 1:14, which says "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." In context, the word is God the Son (cf. vv. 1, 18, and 3:16). Thus, it wasn't the Father or the Holy Spirit who became man, but God the Son.
Likewise, at Jesus' baptism we see the Father affirming "Thou art My beloved Son, in Thee I am well-pleased" (Luke 3:22). He did not say, "You are me, and with myself I am well-pleased." Rather, the Father affirmed that Jesus is the Son, His Son, and that Jesus is well-pleasing to Him. In this same verse we also see that the Holy Spirit is distinct from the Father and the Son, for the Holy Spirit is present in "bodily form like a dove."
Why is it important to know that Jesus is specifically God the Son? For one thing, if we do not understand this we will be mistaken about the very identity of our savior. Further, it greatly affects how we relate to our triune God. If we think that Jesus is the Father and/or the Holy Spirit, we will be greatly misguided and confused in our prayers. Last, it is considered heresy to believe that the Father became incarnate in Jesus.
Jesus is man
It should be obvious that if Jesus is God, then He has always been God. There was a never a time when He became God, for God is eternal. But Jesus has not always been man. The fantastic miracle is that this eternal God became man at the Incarnation approximately 2,000 years ago. That's what the Incarnation was--God the Son becoming man. And its this great even that we celebrate at Christmas.
But what exactly do we mean when we say that God the Son became man? We certainly do not mean that He turned into a man, in the sense that He stopped being God and started being man. Jesus did not give up any of His divinity in the Incarnation, as is evident from the verses we saw earlier. Rather, as one early theologian put it, "Remaining what He was, He became what He was not." Christ "was not now God minus some elements of His deity, but God plus all that He had made His own by taking manhood to Himself."3 Thus, Jesus did not give up any of His divine attributes at the Incarnation. He remained in full possession of all of them. For if He were to ever give up any of His divine attributes, He would cease being God.
The truth of Jesus' humanity is just as important to hold to as the truth of His deity. The apostle John speaks strongly anyone that denying that Jesus is man is of the spirit of the anti-Christ (1 John 4:2; 2 John 7). Jesus' humanity is displayed in the fact that He was born as a baby from a human mother (Luke 2:7; Galatians 4:4), that He became weary (John 4:6), thirsty (John 19:28), and hungry (Matthew 4:2), and that He experienced the full range of human emotions such as marvel (Matt. 8:10), weeping, and sorrow (John 11:35). He lived on earth just as we do.
Jesus is a sinless man
It is also essential to know that Christ does not have a sinful nature, and neither did He ever commit sin -- even though He was tempted in all ways (Hebrews 4:15). Thus, Jesus is fully and perfectly man, and has also experienced the full range of human experience. We have a Savior who can truly identify with us because He is man, and who can also truly help us in temptation because He has never sinned. This is an awesome truth to cherish, and sets Christianity apart from all other religions.
Each nature is full and complete
Having seen the biblical basis that Jesus is both God and man, the second truth that we must recognize is that each of Christ's natures is full and complete. In other words, Jesus is fully God and fully man. Another helpful way to say it is that Jesus is 100% God and 100% man.
Jesus is fully God
We saw earlier that each Person of the Trinity is fully God. The three Persons of the Trinity are not each one-third of God, but are each all of God. Thus, Jesus is fully God since He is God the Son incarnate. This means that everything that is essential to being God is true of Jesus. Jesus is not part of God, or one-third of God. Rather, He is fully God. "For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form" (Colossians 2:9).
Jesus is fully man
It is also important to recognize that when we say that Jesus is man, we do not simply mean that He is partially man. We mean that He is fully human -- everything that belongs to the essence of true humanity is true of Him. He is just as truly human as the rest of us.
The fact that Jesus is truly and fully human is clear from the fact that He has a human body (Luke 24:39), a human mind (Luke 2:52), and a human soul (Matthew 26:38). Jesus does not just look like a man, He does not just have some aspects of what is essential for true humanity but not others, but possess full humanity.
It is helpful to be aware of the false views concerning Christ. For if we have a grasp of what we are not to believe, it will give us a fuller picture of what we are to believe. One of the false views that was rejected at the council of Chalcedon taught that "the one person of Christ had a human body but not a human mind or spirit, and that the mind and spirit of Christ were from the divine nature of the Son of God."4 Since this view did not believe that Jesus has a human mind and spirit, it in effect denied that Christ is fully and truly man. Rather, it presented Christ as a sort of half-man who has a human body, but whose human mind and soul were replaced by the divine nature. But as we saw earlier, Jesus is just as fully human as the rest of us, for just as He has all of the essential elements of Godhead, He has all the essential elements of human nature a human body, a human soul, a human mind, a human will, and human emotions. His human mind was not replaced by His divine mind. Rather, He has both a human and divine mind. For these reasons, it can be misleading to use phrases such as "Jesus is God in a body" or "Jesus is God with skin on."
Jesus will be fully God and fully man forever
For most people it is obvious that Jesus will be God forever. But for some reason it escapes a lot of us that Jesus will also be man forever. He is still man right now as you read this and will be forever. The Bible is clear that Jesus rose physically from the dead in the same body that had died (Luke 24:39) and then ascended into heaven as a man, in His physical body (Acts 1:9; Luke 24:50-51). It would make no sense for Him to have done this if He was simply going to ditch His body and stop being man when He arrived in heaven.
That Christ continued being man, with a physical body, after His ascension is confirmed by the fact that when He returns, it will be as man, in His body. He will return physically. Philippians 3:21 says that at His Second Coming, Christ "will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory." This verse is clear that Jesus still has His body. It is a glorified body, which Paul calls "the body of His glory." And when Christ returns, He will still have it because this verse says that He will transform our bodies to be like His. Both Jesus and all Christians will then continue living together in their bodies forever, because the resurrection body cannot die (1 Corinthians 15:42) because it is eternal (2 Corinthians 5:1).
Why did Jesus become man, and why will He be man forever? The book of Hebrews says that it was so that Christ could be an adequate Savior who has all that we need. "He had to be made like His brethren in all things, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people" (2:17). First, notice that Jesus became man so that He could die for our sins. He had to be human in order to pay the penalty for humans. Second, this verse says that because Jesus is human like us, He is able to be a merciful and faithful high priest. His humanity enables Him to more fully sympathize with us and identify with us. I cannot help but believe that it is very destructive to our comfort and faith to not know that Jesus is still man and in His body. For if He is not still man in heaven, how could we have comfort knowing that He can fully sympathize with us? He can sympathize and be a faithful high priest and know what we are going through not just because He was once on earth as a man, but because He continues forever as that same man.
Each nature remains distinct
The truths of Christ's two natures full manhood and full Godhood are pretty well understood and known by Christians. But for a right understanding of the Incarnation we must go even further. We must understand that the two natures of Christ remain distinct and retain their own properties. What does this mean? Two things: (1) They do not alter one another's essential properties, and (2) neither do they mix together into a mysterious third kind of nature.
First, it would be wrong to think that Christ's two natures mix together to form a third kind of nature. This is one of the heresies that the early church had to fight. This heresy taught that "the human nature of Christ was taken up and absorbed into the divine nature, so that both natures were changed somewhat and a third kind of nature resulted. An analogy to [this] can be seen if we put a drop of ink in a glass of water: the mixture resulting is neither pure ink nor pure water, but some kind of third substance, a mixture of the two in which both the ink and the water are changed. Similarly, [this view] taught that Jesus was a mixture of divine and human elements in which both were somewhat modified to form one new nature."5 This view is unbiblical because it demolishes both Christ's deity and humanity. For if Christ's two natures mixed together, then He is no longer truly and fully God and truly and fully man, but is some entirely different kind of being that resulted from a mixture of the two natures.
Second, even if we acknowledge that the natures do not mix together into a third kind of nature, it would also be wrong to think that the two natures changed one another. For example, it would be wrong to conclude that Jesus' human nature became divine in some ways, or that His divine nature became human in some ways. Rather, each nature remains distinct, and thereby retains its own individual properties and does not change. As the council of Chalcedon stated it, "...the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved..."6 Jesus' human nature is human, and human only. His divine nature is divine, and divine only. For example, Jesus' human nature did not become all knowing through its union with God the Son, and neither did His divine nature become ignorant of anything. If any of the natures underwent a change in its essential nature, then Christ is no longer truly and fully human, or truly and fully divine.
Christ is only one Person
What we have seen so far about the deity and humanity of Christ shows us that Christ has two natures -- a divine nature and a human nature -- , that each nature is full and complete, that they remain distinct and do not mix together to form a third kind of nature, and that Christ will be both God and man forever.
But if Christ has two natures, does this mean that He is also two people? No, it does not. Christ remains one person. There is only one Christ. The church has historically stated this truth in this way: Christ is two natures united in one person forever.
At this point we find another heretical view to beware of. This view, while acknowledging that Jesus is fully God and fully man, denies that He is only one Person. According to this view, there are two separate persons in Christ as well as two natures. In contrast to this, the Bible is very clear that, while Jesus has two natures, He is only one Person. In other words, what this means is that there are not two Jesus Christ's. In spite of the fact that He has a duality of natures, He is not two Christs, but One. While remaining distinct, the two natures are united together in such a way so as to be one Person.
To put it simply, there is a certain sense in which Christ is two, and a different sense in which Christ is one. He is two in that He has two real, full natures one divine and one human. He is one in that, while remaining distinct, these two natures exist together in such a way as that they constitute "one thing." In other words, the two natures are both the same Jesus, and thus are one Person. As the Chalcedonean creed says, Christ is "to be acknowledged in two natures...concurring in one Person and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten, God, the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ..."
Evidence that Christ is Only One Person
We will look at three pieces of the biblical teaching that while Christ has two distinct and unchanged, He nonetheless remains one Person.
1. Both natures are represented in Scripture as constituting "one thing," that is, as united in one Person. We read in John 1:14, "And the word became flesh and dwelt among us." Here we see the two natures: the Word (His deity) and flesh (humanity). Yet we also see that there is one Person, for we read that the Word became flesh. "Became" requires that we acknowledge a unity of the two natures such that they are one thing--that is, one Person. For in what sense could John write that the word became flesh if they do not constitute one Person? It surely cannot mean "turned into" flesh, for that is against the Scriptural teaching on the distinctness of the natures. Additional Scriptures relating to this line of evidence are Romans 8:3, Galatians 4:4, 1 Timothy 3:16, Hebrews 2:11-14, 1 John 4:2,3.
2. Jesus never speaks of Himself as "We," but always as "I"
3. Many passages refer to both natures of Christ, but it is clear that only one person is intended It is impossible to read the following passages, which clearly affirm Christ's two natures, and yet conclude that Christ is two Persons. "For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh..." (Romans 8:3). "But when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law..." (Galatians 4:4). "...who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped [that is, exploited to His own advantage], but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men" (Philippians 2:6-7).
Having seen that Christ is two natures in one person, and having also seen what is involved in this, we will now examine one of the major implications of this, which should help us to complete the picture and our understanding.
Implication: Things that are true of one nature but not the other are nonetheless true of the Person of Christ
As we have seen earlier, the fact that Christ is two natures means that there are things that are true of His human nature that are not true of His divine nature. And there are things true of His divine nature that are not true of His human nature. For example, His human nature hungered, but His divine nature could never be hungry. So when Christ hungered on earth, it was His humanity that hungered, not His divine nature.
But the truth that we are now in a position to understand, is that by virtue of the union of the natures in one Person, the things that are true of and done by only one of Christ's natures, are nonetheless true of and done by the Person of Christ. In other words, things which only one nature does can be considered to have been done by Christ Himself. Likewise, things that are true of one nature but not the other are true of the Person of Christ as a whole. What this means, in simple terms, is that if there is something that only one of Christ's natures did, He can still say, "I did it."
We have many instances in Scripture which demonstrate this. For example, Jesus says in John 8:58, "...before Abraham was born, I am." Now, Christ's human nature did not exist before Abraham. It is Christ's divine nature that eternally exists before Abraham. But since Christ is one Person, He could say that before Abraham was, He is.
Another example is Christ's death. God cannot die. We should never speak of Christ's death as the death of God. But humans can die, and Jesus' human nature did die. Thus, even though Jesus' divine nature did not die, we can still say that the Person of Christ experienced death because of the union of the two natures in the one Person of Christ. Because of this, Grudem says, "by virtue of union with Jesus' human nature, his divine nature somehow tasted something of what it was like to go through death. The person of Christ experienced death."7
Have you ever wondered how Jesus could say that He did not know the day or hour of His return (Matthew 24:36) even though He is omniscient (John 21:17). If Jesus is God, why didn't He know the day of His return? This is solved by our understanding that Christ is one Person with two natures. The answer is that in regards to His human nature, Jesus does not have all knowledge. Thus, in His human nature He really did not know the day or hour of His return. But in His divine nature, He does have all knowledge and thus in His divine nature He did know when He would return.
Here comes the most fascinating part. Since the two natures are united in one Person, the fact that Christ's human nature didn't know when He would return means that the Person of Christ did not know when He would return. Thus, Jesus the Person could truly say, "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone" (Matthew 24:36). At the same time, by virtue of His divine nature, we can also say that the Person of Christ did know when He would return. Knowledge and ignorance of the time of His return are both true of the Christ, but in different ways. In His human nature, the Person of Christ was ignorant of when He would return. In His divine nature, the Person of Christ did know when He would return. Thus, Christ Himself both knew and did not know when He would return.
Conclusion
We have seen the biblical evidence for the fact that Christ is God the Son, He has both a divine and human nature, that each nature is full and complete, that each nature remains distinct, that Christ is nonetheless one Person, and that things which are true of one nature are true of the Person.
The relevance of these truths to us should go without saying. For they go to the very heart of who Christ is. Knowing these truths will greatly affect the way you view Christ and will make the gospel accounts of His life come more alive. As such, this understanding will deepen our devotion to Christ.
Second, having this richer understanding of the Incarnation of God the Son should greatly enhance our worship. We will have great marvel and gladness at the fact that the eternal Person of God the Son became man forever. Our recognition of Christ's worth will be heightened. And our faith in Him will be strengthened by having this deeper understanding of who He is.
The union of Christ's deity and humanity in one Person makes it such that we have all that we need in the same Savior. How glorious. Because Jesus is God, He is all-powerful and He cannot be defeated. Because He is God, He is the only adequate Savior. Because He is God, believers are safe and can never perish; we have security. Because He is God, we can have confidence that He will empower us for the task that He commands us for. And because He is God, all people will be accountable to Him when He returns to judge the world.
Because Jesus is man, He has experienced the same things that we do. Because He is man, He can identify with us more intimately. Because He is man, He can come to our aid as our sympathetic High Priest when we reach the limits of our human weaknesses. Because He is man, we can relate to Him--He is not far off and uninvolved. Because He is man, we cannot complain that God does not know what we are going through. He experienced it first-hand.
Finally, we need to be ready to defend the truth of Jesus' deity, Jesus' humanity, and their joining inconfusedly in one Person . Therefore, consider committing to memory many of the verses which teach that Jesus is both God and man, and be able to explain the relationship between Christ's two natures to others.
May we look forward to the day when we see Him face to face, and until then may the joyful hope of this day inspire in us a great diligence in serving and worshiping Him.
http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/articles/how-can-jesus-be-god-and-man
The early church considered the Incarnation to be one of the most important truths of our faith. Because of this, they formulated what has come to be called the Chalcedonean Creed, a statement which sets forth very what we are to believe and what we are not to believe about the Incarnation. This creed was the fruit of a large council that took place from October 8 to November 1, 451, in the city of Chalcedon and "has been taken as the standard, orthodox definition of the biblical teaching on the person of Christ since that day by" all the major branches of Christianity.2 There are five main truths with which the creed of Chalcedon summarized the biblical teaching on the Incarnation.
1. Jesus has two natures -- He is God and man.
2. Each nature is full and complete -- He is fully God and fully man.
3. Each nature remains distinct.
4. Christ is only one Person.
5. Things that are true of only one nature are nonetheless true of the Person of Christ.
A proper understanding of these truths clears up much confusion and many difficulties we may have in our mind. How can Jesus be both God and man? Why doesn't this make Him two people? How does His Incarnation relate to the Trinity? How could Jesus have hungered (Matthew 4:2) and died (Mark 15:37) when He was on earth, and yet still be God? Did Jesus give up any of His divine attributes in the Incarnation? Why is it inaccurate to say that Jesus is a "part" of God? Is Jesus still human now, and does He still have His human body?
Jesus has two natures -- God and man
The first truth we need to understand is that Jesus is one Person who has two natures a divine nature and a human nature. In other words, Jesus is both God and man. We will look at each nature accordingly.
Jesus is God
The Bible teaches that Jesus is not merely someone who is a lot like God, or someone who has a very close walk with God. Rather, Jesus is the Most High God Himself. Titus 2:13 says that as Christians we are "looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus." Upon seeing the resurrected Christ, Thomas cried out, "My Lord and my God!" (John 20:28). Likewise, the book of Hebrews gives us God the Father's direct testimony about Christ: "But of the Son He says, 'Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever" and the gospel of John calls Jesus "the only begotten God" (John 1:18).
Another way the Bible teaches that Jesus is God is by showing that He has all of the attributes of God. He knows everything (Mt 16:21; Luke 11:17; John 4:29), is everywhere (Matthew 18:20; 28:20; Acts 18:10), has all power (Mt 8:26, 27; 28:18; Jn 11:38-44; Lk 7:14-15; Revelation 1:8), depends on nothing outside of Himself for life (Jn 1:4; 14:6; 8:58), rules over everything (Mt 28:18; Rev 19:16; 1:5) never began to exist and never will cease to exist (John 1:1; 8:58), and is our Creator (Colossians 1:16). In other words, everything that God is, Jesus is. For Jesus is God.
Specifically, Jesus is God the Son
In order to have a more complete grasp of Christ's incarnation, it is necessary to have some sort of understanding of the Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity states that God is one being, and this one God exists as three distinct Persons. This means, first of all, that we must distinguish each Person of the Trinity from the other two. The Father is not the Son or the Holy Spirit, the Son is not the Holy Spirit or the Father, and the Holy Spirit is not the Father or the Son. They are each a distinct center of consciousness, a distinct form of personal existence. Yet, they all share the exact same divine nature/essence. Thus, the three persons are one being. The divine being/essence is not something that is divided between the Persons, each Person receiving one-third. Rather, the divine being is fully and equally possessed by all three Persons such that all three Persons are each fully and equally God.
How does the fact that God is three Persons in one Being relate to the incarnation? To answer this, let's consider another question. Which Person became incarnate in Jesus Christ? All three? Or just one? Which one? The Biblical answer is that only God the Son became incarnate. The Father did not become incarnate in Jesus, and neither did the Holy Spirit. Thus, Jesus is God, but He is not the Father or the Holy Spirit. Jesus is God the Son.
The truth that it is only God the Son who became incarnate is taught, for example, in John 1:14, which says "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." In context, the word is God the Son (cf. vv. 1, 18, and 3:16). Thus, it wasn't the Father or the Holy Spirit who became man, but God the Son.
Likewise, at Jesus' baptism we see the Father affirming "Thou art My beloved Son, in Thee I am well-pleased" (Luke 3:22). He did not say, "You are me, and with myself I am well-pleased." Rather, the Father affirmed that Jesus is the Son, His Son, and that Jesus is well-pleasing to Him. In this same verse we also see that the Holy Spirit is distinct from the Father and the Son, for the Holy Spirit is present in "bodily form like a dove."
Why is it important to know that Jesus is specifically God the Son? For one thing, if we do not understand this we will be mistaken about the very identity of our savior. Further, it greatly affects how we relate to our triune God. If we think that Jesus is the Father and/or the Holy Spirit, we will be greatly misguided and confused in our prayers. Last, it is considered heresy to believe that the Father became incarnate in Jesus.
Jesus is man
It should be obvious that if Jesus is God, then He has always been God. There was a never a time when He became God, for God is eternal. But Jesus has not always been man. The fantastic miracle is that this eternal God became man at the Incarnation approximately 2,000 years ago. That's what the Incarnation was--God the Son becoming man. And its this great even that we celebrate at Christmas.
But what exactly do we mean when we say that God the Son became man? We certainly do not mean that He turned into a man, in the sense that He stopped being God and started being man. Jesus did not give up any of His divinity in the Incarnation, as is evident from the verses we saw earlier. Rather, as one early theologian put it, "Remaining what He was, He became what He was not." Christ "was not now God minus some elements of His deity, but God plus all that He had made His own by taking manhood to Himself."3 Thus, Jesus did not give up any of His divine attributes at the Incarnation. He remained in full possession of all of them. For if He were to ever give up any of His divine attributes, He would cease being God.
The truth of Jesus' humanity is just as important to hold to as the truth of His deity. The apostle John speaks strongly anyone that denying that Jesus is man is of the spirit of the anti-Christ (1 John 4:2; 2 John 7). Jesus' humanity is displayed in the fact that He was born as a baby from a human mother (Luke 2:7; Galatians 4:4), that He became weary (John 4:6), thirsty (John 19:28), and hungry (Matthew 4:2), and that He experienced the full range of human emotions such as marvel (Matt. 8:10), weeping, and sorrow (John 11:35). He lived on earth just as we do.
Jesus is a sinless man
It is also essential to know that Christ does not have a sinful nature, and neither did He ever commit sin -- even though He was tempted in all ways (Hebrews 4:15). Thus, Jesus is fully and perfectly man, and has also experienced the full range of human experience. We have a Savior who can truly identify with us because He is man, and who can also truly help us in temptation because He has never sinned. This is an awesome truth to cherish, and sets Christianity apart from all other religions.
Each nature is full and complete
Having seen the biblical basis that Jesus is both God and man, the second truth that we must recognize is that each of Christ's natures is full and complete. In other words, Jesus is fully God and fully man. Another helpful way to say it is that Jesus is 100% God and 100% man.
Jesus is fully God
We saw earlier that each Person of the Trinity is fully God. The three Persons of the Trinity are not each one-third of God, but are each all of God. Thus, Jesus is fully God since He is God the Son incarnate. This means that everything that is essential to being God is true of Jesus. Jesus is not part of God, or one-third of God. Rather, He is fully God. "For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form" (Colossians 2:9).
Jesus is fully man
It is also important to recognize that when we say that Jesus is man, we do not simply mean that He is partially man. We mean that He is fully human -- everything that belongs to the essence of true humanity is true of Him. He is just as truly human as the rest of us.
The fact that Jesus is truly and fully human is clear from the fact that He has a human body (Luke 24:39), a human mind (Luke 2:52), and a human soul (Matthew 26:38). Jesus does not just look like a man, He does not just have some aspects of what is essential for true humanity but not others, but possess full humanity.
It is helpful to be aware of the false views concerning Christ. For if we have a grasp of what we are not to believe, it will give us a fuller picture of what we are to believe. One of the false views that was rejected at the council of Chalcedon taught that "the one person of Christ had a human body but not a human mind or spirit, and that the mind and spirit of Christ were from the divine nature of the Son of God."4 Since this view did not believe that Jesus has a human mind and spirit, it in effect denied that Christ is fully and truly man. Rather, it presented Christ as a sort of half-man who has a human body, but whose human mind and soul were replaced by the divine nature. But as we saw earlier, Jesus is just as fully human as the rest of us, for just as He has all of the essential elements of Godhead, He has all the essential elements of human nature a human body, a human soul, a human mind, a human will, and human emotions. His human mind was not replaced by His divine mind. Rather, He has both a human and divine mind. For these reasons, it can be misleading to use phrases such as "Jesus is God in a body" or "Jesus is God with skin on."
Jesus will be fully God and fully man forever
For most people it is obvious that Jesus will be God forever. But for some reason it escapes a lot of us that Jesus will also be man forever. He is still man right now as you read this and will be forever. The Bible is clear that Jesus rose physically from the dead in the same body that had died (Luke 24:39) and then ascended into heaven as a man, in His physical body (Acts 1:9; Luke 24:50-51). It would make no sense for Him to have done this if He was simply going to ditch His body and stop being man when He arrived in heaven.
That Christ continued being man, with a physical body, after His ascension is confirmed by the fact that when He returns, it will be as man, in His body. He will return physically. Philippians 3:21 says that at His Second Coming, Christ "will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory." This verse is clear that Jesus still has His body. It is a glorified body, which Paul calls "the body of His glory." And when Christ returns, He will still have it because this verse says that He will transform our bodies to be like His. Both Jesus and all Christians will then continue living together in their bodies forever, because the resurrection body cannot die (1 Corinthians 15:42) because it is eternal (2 Corinthians 5:1).
Why did Jesus become man, and why will He be man forever? The book of Hebrews says that it was so that Christ could be an adequate Savior who has all that we need. "He had to be made like His brethren in all things, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people" (2:17). First, notice that Jesus became man so that He could die for our sins. He had to be human in order to pay the penalty for humans. Second, this verse says that because Jesus is human like us, He is able to be a merciful and faithful high priest. His humanity enables Him to more fully sympathize with us and identify with us. I cannot help but believe that it is very destructive to our comfort and faith to not know that Jesus is still man and in His body. For if He is not still man in heaven, how could we have comfort knowing that He can fully sympathize with us? He can sympathize and be a faithful high priest and know what we are going through not just because He was once on earth as a man, but because He continues forever as that same man.
Each nature remains distinct
The truths of Christ's two natures full manhood and full Godhood are pretty well understood and known by Christians. But for a right understanding of the Incarnation we must go even further. We must understand that the two natures of Christ remain distinct and retain their own properties. What does this mean? Two things: (1) They do not alter one another's essential properties, and (2) neither do they mix together into a mysterious third kind of nature.
First, it would be wrong to think that Christ's two natures mix together to form a third kind of nature. This is one of the heresies that the early church had to fight. This heresy taught that "the human nature of Christ was taken up and absorbed into the divine nature, so that both natures were changed somewhat and a third kind of nature resulted. An analogy to [this] can be seen if we put a drop of ink in a glass of water: the mixture resulting is neither pure ink nor pure water, but some kind of third substance, a mixture of the two in which both the ink and the water are changed. Similarly, [this view] taught that Jesus was a mixture of divine and human elements in which both were somewhat modified to form one new nature."5 This view is unbiblical because it demolishes both Christ's deity and humanity. For if Christ's two natures mixed together, then He is no longer truly and fully God and truly and fully man, but is some entirely different kind of being that resulted from a mixture of the two natures.
Second, even if we acknowledge that the natures do not mix together into a third kind of nature, it would also be wrong to think that the two natures changed one another. For example, it would be wrong to conclude that Jesus' human nature became divine in some ways, or that His divine nature became human in some ways. Rather, each nature remains distinct, and thereby retains its own individual properties and does not change. As the council of Chalcedon stated it, "...the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved..."6 Jesus' human nature is human, and human only. His divine nature is divine, and divine only. For example, Jesus' human nature did not become all knowing through its union with God the Son, and neither did His divine nature become ignorant of anything. If any of the natures underwent a change in its essential nature, then Christ is no longer truly and fully human, or truly and fully divine.
Christ is only one Person
What we have seen so far about the deity and humanity of Christ shows us that Christ has two natures -- a divine nature and a human nature -- , that each nature is full and complete, that they remain distinct and do not mix together to form a third kind of nature, and that Christ will be both God and man forever.
But if Christ has two natures, does this mean that He is also two people? No, it does not. Christ remains one person. There is only one Christ. The church has historically stated this truth in this way: Christ is two natures united in one person forever.
At this point we find another heretical view to beware of. This view, while acknowledging that Jesus is fully God and fully man, denies that He is only one Person. According to this view, there are two separate persons in Christ as well as two natures. In contrast to this, the Bible is very clear that, while Jesus has two natures, He is only one Person. In other words, what this means is that there are not two Jesus Christ's. In spite of the fact that He has a duality of natures, He is not two Christs, but One. While remaining distinct, the two natures are united together in such a way so as to be one Person.
To put it simply, there is a certain sense in which Christ is two, and a different sense in which Christ is one. He is two in that He has two real, full natures one divine and one human. He is one in that, while remaining distinct, these two natures exist together in such a way as that they constitute "one thing." In other words, the two natures are both the same Jesus, and thus are one Person. As the Chalcedonean creed says, Christ is "to be acknowledged in two natures...concurring in one Person and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten, God, the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ..."
Evidence that Christ is Only One Person
We will look at three pieces of the biblical teaching that while Christ has two distinct and unchanged, He nonetheless remains one Person.
1. Both natures are represented in Scripture as constituting "one thing," that is, as united in one Person. We read in John 1:14, "And the word became flesh and dwelt among us." Here we see the two natures: the Word (His deity) and flesh (humanity). Yet we also see that there is one Person, for we read that the Word became flesh. "Became" requires that we acknowledge a unity of the two natures such that they are one thing--that is, one Person. For in what sense could John write that the word became flesh if they do not constitute one Person? It surely cannot mean "turned into" flesh, for that is against the Scriptural teaching on the distinctness of the natures. Additional Scriptures relating to this line of evidence are Romans 8:3, Galatians 4:4, 1 Timothy 3:16, Hebrews 2:11-14, 1 John 4:2,3.
2. Jesus never speaks of Himself as "We," but always as "I"
3. Many passages refer to both natures of Christ, but it is clear that only one person is intended It is impossible to read the following passages, which clearly affirm Christ's two natures, and yet conclude that Christ is two Persons. "For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh..." (Romans 8:3). "But when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law..." (Galatians 4:4). "...who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped [that is, exploited to His own advantage], but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men" (Philippians 2:6-7).
Having seen that Christ is two natures in one person, and having also seen what is involved in this, we will now examine one of the major implications of this, which should help us to complete the picture and our understanding.
Implication: Things that are true of one nature but not the other are nonetheless true of the Person of Christ
As we have seen earlier, the fact that Christ is two natures means that there are things that are true of His human nature that are not true of His divine nature. And there are things true of His divine nature that are not true of His human nature. For example, His human nature hungered, but His divine nature could never be hungry. So when Christ hungered on earth, it was His humanity that hungered, not His divine nature.
But the truth that we are now in a position to understand, is that by virtue of the union of the natures in one Person, the things that are true of and done by only one of Christ's natures, are nonetheless true of and done by the Person of Christ. In other words, things which only one nature does can be considered to have been done by Christ Himself. Likewise, things that are true of one nature but not the other are true of the Person of Christ as a whole. What this means, in simple terms, is that if there is something that only one of Christ's natures did, He can still say, "I did it."
We have many instances in Scripture which demonstrate this. For example, Jesus says in John 8:58, "...before Abraham was born, I am." Now, Christ's human nature did not exist before Abraham. It is Christ's divine nature that eternally exists before Abraham. But since Christ is one Person, He could say that before Abraham was, He is.
Another example is Christ's death. God cannot die. We should never speak of Christ's death as the death of God. But humans can die, and Jesus' human nature did die. Thus, even though Jesus' divine nature did not die, we can still say that the Person of Christ experienced death because of the union of the two natures in the one Person of Christ. Because of this, Grudem says, "by virtue of union with Jesus' human nature, his divine nature somehow tasted something of what it was like to go through death. The person of Christ experienced death."7
Have you ever wondered how Jesus could say that He did not know the day or hour of His return (Matthew 24:36) even though He is omniscient (John 21:17). If Jesus is God, why didn't He know the day of His return? This is solved by our understanding that Christ is one Person with two natures. The answer is that in regards to His human nature, Jesus does not have all knowledge. Thus, in His human nature He really did not know the day or hour of His return. But in His divine nature, He does have all knowledge and thus in His divine nature He did know when He would return.
Here comes the most fascinating part. Since the two natures are united in one Person, the fact that Christ's human nature didn't know when He would return means that the Person of Christ did not know when He would return. Thus, Jesus the Person could truly say, "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone" (Matthew 24:36). At the same time, by virtue of His divine nature, we can also say that the Person of Christ did know when He would return. Knowledge and ignorance of the time of His return are both true of the Christ, but in different ways. In His human nature, the Person of Christ was ignorant of when He would return. In His divine nature, the Person of Christ did know when He would return. Thus, Christ Himself both knew and did not know when He would return.
Conclusion
We have seen the biblical evidence for the fact that Christ is God the Son, He has both a divine and human nature, that each nature is full and complete, that each nature remains distinct, that Christ is nonetheless one Person, and that things which are true of one nature are true of the Person.
The relevance of these truths to us should go without saying. For they go to the very heart of who Christ is. Knowing these truths will greatly affect the way you view Christ and will make the gospel accounts of His life come more alive. As such, this understanding will deepen our devotion to Christ.
Second, having this richer understanding of the Incarnation of God the Son should greatly enhance our worship. We will have great marvel and gladness at the fact that the eternal Person of God the Son became man forever. Our recognition of Christ's worth will be heightened. And our faith in Him will be strengthened by having this deeper understanding of who He is.
The union of Christ's deity and humanity in one Person makes it such that we have all that we need in the same Savior. How glorious. Because Jesus is God, He is all-powerful and He cannot be defeated. Because He is God, He is the only adequate Savior. Because He is God, believers are safe and can never perish; we have security. Because He is God, we can have confidence that He will empower us for the task that He commands us for. And because He is God, all people will be accountable to Him when He returns to judge the world.
Because Jesus is man, He has experienced the same things that we do. Because He is man, He can identify with us more intimately. Because He is man, He can come to our aid as our sympathetic High Priest when we reach the limits of our human weaknesses. Because He is man, we can relate to Him--He is not far off and uninvolved. Because He is man, we cannot complain that God does not know what we are going through. He experienced it first-hand.
Finally, we need to be ready to defend the truth of Jesus' deity, Jesus' humanity, and their joining inconfusedly in one Person . Therefore, consider committing to memory many of the verses which teach that Jesus is both God and man, and be able to explain the relationship between Christ's two natures to others.
May we look forward to the day when we see Him face to face, and until then may the joyful hope of this day inspire in us a great diligence in serving and worshiping Him.
http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/articles/how-can-jesus-be-god-and-man
Saturday, December 14, 2013
The Gifts of God
“The Gifts of God:” by Romans
Before I begin each Discussion, I link to the following video, which I regard as the Theme Song of the 4Gospels Network Chat Room: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iyMjeVoP8s
For everyone who celebrates Christmas, we think of it as the giving and receiving of gifts. Houses, churches, schools. businesses and stores are gaily decorated in the celebration of Christmas. The Federal Government has, for decades, been at the forefront of enforcing the “separation of Church and State.” Yet, the day on which Christ's birth is celebrated is a Federal Holiday, and all Federal employees get the day off with pay! This is known as the Season of Giving. Gifts are given and received by millions of people, even those who neither worship nor even believe in God or Christ, or His Holy Bible. For them, their gift giving has nothing to do with the birth of the Savior. It is merely a cultural tradition that they have accepted, and partake in. Churches, including Westover Baptist Church, remind all of us that “Jesus is the reason for the Season,” or the reason for the decorating and gift-giving.
I would like to talk about gift-giving tonight from a very different perspective:
The title of tonight's Bible Study is, “The Gifts of God.” I did a review, and I am sure that, as thorough as I tried to make it, there have many things that I have missed. The list that I do have is one that had a powerful impact on me because it caused me to see all the incredible things in one place that God has done for His Creation in general, and His people in particular.
I would like to review my list of God's Gifts with you but I am going to begin with an unexpected quotation: Abraham Lincoln said of the Bible: “In regards to this great Book, I have but to say it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Savior gave to the world was communicated through this Book. But for it, we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man's welfare, here and hereafter, are found portrayed in it.”
The Bible is just One of many, many Gifts God has given us.
We read in James 1:17: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights....”
From the very beginning, Genesis tells us God's love of gift-giving was already evident when He created the Heavens and the Earth:
The earth is in, what astronomers refer to as the “Goldilocks Zone:” We're not too deep inside the Milky Way where radiation levels are lethal. We're not too close to, or too far from the sun. Everything is just right. Mankind was given a home on a planet that is a part of a solar system that also sustains life. Our sun gives us light and heat. The regularity of sunrise and the phases of the moon allow us organize our days months, seasons and years. The moon also regulates the tides. Without the moon, earth would be uninhabitable. Much farther away in our Solar System, and not fully appreciated until recently, the massive planet Jupiter is another Gift of God. Jupiter is so large, that all the other planets, including Saturn and its rings, can fit inside this planet. It is a Gift because it is so massive, and its gravitational pull is so intense, it acts as a giant celestial vacuum cleaner drawing toward itself, and away from the earth, boulders, meteors, asteroids, and other interplanetary debris hurtling through space that could otherwise hit the earth and cause great climactic damage at the very least, and the potential for significant loss of life.
But in the past few years, astronomers and astrophysicists have come to realize that the Universe itself is full of God's Gifts. Scientists have identified no less than 40 extremely fine-tuned Life Support Systems that are active in the Universe without which life on earth could not survive. In his book, “The Case For A Creator.” Lee Strobel interviewed Physicist and Mathematician Robin Collins who said, “When scientists talk about the fine-tuning of the universe, they're generally referring to the extraordinary balancing of the fundamental laws and parameters of physics and the initial conditions of the universe. Our minds can't comprehend the precision of some of them. The result is a universe that has just the right conditions to sustain life... Over the past thirty years or so, scientists have discovered that just about everything about the basic structure of the universe is balanced on a razor's edge for life to exist. The coincidences are far too fantastic to attribute to mere chance or to claim that it needs no explanation.”
The plants and vegetation on the earth not also provide food for us, but they also give us the air we breath by “exhaling” oxygen. Trees do the same, but also provide various kinds of food, as well as providing the wood that many people still burn for heat in the winter. Wood is also used to build shelter from the cold and the elements, and is indispensable in the manufacture of many kinds of furniture, tools and musical instruments.
But let's zoom in and take a closer look at vegetables, herbs and fruit: We read God's words to Adam in Genesis 1:29: “Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.”
The vegetation on earth, itself, besides being a gift, comes with a gift of its own: seeds! Every apple, for example, has enough seeds in it to produce a four or five more apple trees! Not four or five apples but apple trees! Over the course of the growing life, five trees grown from the seeds of just one apple hold the potential for tens of thousands of apples, each one with four or five seeds of their own. Did you ever cut open a red or green pepper? It looks like there are hundreds of seeds in a pepper! If vegetables and fruit did not have seeds, Adam and Eve and their children would have eaten and completely depleted the entire supply of food that was there to eat. And that would have been it. The seeds from the plants and vegetables and fruit we eat are Gifts from God to keep us both alive and healthy as we plant them for the next harvest.
When God said that it was not good for the man He created to be alone, He gave him a wife. And then God gave both Adam and Eve access to every tree in the Garden of Eden... with one exception. You know how that story ended. They disobeyed God and here we all are. But God was not done giving. Not by a long shot.
Though Abraham's wife was barren, God promised to raise up a people for Himself through him. But this was to be a great multitude, and they would need somewhere to live. So we read God's words to Abraham of another Gift in Genesis 17:8: “I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. We know it as the Land of Promise, Israel.
But there were people already living in the land of Canaan: After miraculously freeing the Hebrew slaves from centuries of bondage in Egypt, we see God giving to His people, again. Exodus 33:1: “And the LORD said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it: And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: Unto a land flowing with milk and honey:”
There was a Promised Land to be given to God's people. But people living together in the same land need to have a set of laws to live by, or there would be pandemonium. So, We read in Exodus 24:12: “And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.”
After repeated disobedience and murmuring against God and Moses, God chose to deny access to everyone above the age of 20 who came out of Egypt, except for Joshua and Caleb. Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Those years of wandering are summed up in this account found beginning in Nehemiah 9:13, as God showered Gift after Gift to His people: “Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments: And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant: And gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land which thou hadst sworn to give them. But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments, And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not. Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations; Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go.”
The Word that came to Israel through the prophets was more than just a set of Laws. Notice this summary of God's Laws as another Gift from God, found in Psalms 119:97: “O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts. I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word. I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me. How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”
The Word of God is an undeniable Gift of God. But there is a related Gift that applies to God's Word, and that is its enduring availability. Unlike any other book on earth, the Bible is a book, written by 40 authors over the course of 1,500 years, and, miraculously, is still readily available to us, in spite of all of the efforts to suppress it, defame it, discredit it and destroy it. In fact, it is more available now, and in more forms than ever in history. Jesus said in Mark 13:31: “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.” The thriving and enduring availability of the Word of God is another Gift.
Throughout their history as a Nation, God sent them Judges to throw off the oppression of their enemies, and Prophets to call them back to true worship when they fell into rebellion and idolatry.
This happened repeatedly but Israel was incapable of fulfilling their part in the Covenant to obey the Laws that God had given them. In spite of all of the gifts that God gave His people, His rescue of them from slavery, manna and water in the wilderness, a land flowing with milk and honey, His Laws and statutes and Divine protection from enemies, judges and prophets to bring them back when they sinned... they continued to disobey the Covenant, and to pursue and worship other gods.
That we is why we read in Hebrews 8:7: “For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:” Jesus told the Pharisees in Matthew 21:43: “Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.”
Which brings us to the next of God's Gifts... His most incredible Gift.
When Abraham took Isaac to sacrifice, we read beginning in Genesis 22:7: “And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering... “
Let's notice more closely what this verse says, “My son, God will provide Himself a lamb...” Not “God will provide [i]for[/i] Himself...
No...
It says that God will provide [u]Himself[/u] a lamb...”And that is exactly what happened! Jesus was God in the flesh. John 1:29 tells us, “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” This was in fulfillment of a prophecy spoken by John the Baptist's father Zacharias in In Luke 1:76, “And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins...”
In verse 79, Zacharias foretold that the Messiah would “... give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Far and above Jesus being the reason for the gift-giving Season, Jesus, Himself, is the Gift of the Season. He is the most precious Gift of many many, gifts from God to mankind.
In perhaps the most familiar prophecy of the birth of the Messiah, we read in Isaiah 9:6: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:”
A son is given! John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son... ”!
God gave as a Gift to all of mankind the most priceless Gift of all: His Son!
But how could we know when He arrived? Isaiah 7:14 gives us that answer: “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Many have claimed to be Jesus, or the Messiah for the past 2,000. But only one baby in history was able to fulfill the sign that was given by the Lord, and was born to a virgin. God gave us a unique sign that could not be counterfeited or duplicated so we might recognize when His incredible Gift arrives. And when He does arrives, God's giving of Gifts not only continues, it increases!
In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus promises in Matthew 7:7: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:” A few verses later He adds, Matthew 7:11: “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”
When He sent His disciples out to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom He said in Luke 10:19: “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”
Jesus reached out to all who heard His voice, offering gifts that only God could give:
We read in Matthew 11:28: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.”
In the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before His crucifixion prayed in John 17:8: “For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.”
John 4:14: “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
Romans 6:23 tells us “... the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Jesus promised yet another Gift in John 14:16: “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;”
Jesus came to lay down His Life for the remission of sins.
Matthew 20:28: “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
John 6:51: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
Luke 22:19: “And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.”
Mark 14:24: “And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.”
Jesus was crucified, and was resurrected. He commissioned His Church to go out and preach the Gospel to the world. But the Gifts from God continued. His disciples were empowered with the promised Gift of the Holy Spirit to teach and preach with boldness.
The Church was established and gained members. As it did, God provided gifted teachers to lead His people. In Corinth, an “us and them” factionalism began to take hold. Various members of the Church in Corinth were aligning themselves with various leaders, Paul, Peter and Apollos. Paul asked the Corinthians, “Is Christ divided?” But I bring this up to highlight a particular Gift that Paul referred to, which God provides to all Churches. 1 Corinthians 3:5: “Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.”
So another Gift of God is the growth of a Church. Too often when we either attend, or become aware of a particular congregation that is growing in leaps and bounds, the minister is given the credit. Too often we credit the man in the pulpit, but such credit is misplaced. Jesus said in John 6:44: “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.” The Father gives the increase to the Church by opening a person's eyes to their own sinful state, drawing that person to repentance.
Repentance, itself, is yet another Gift of God. Notice: Peter recounted to Jewish Christians how it happened that there were now Gentile believers, and Gentile members of the Church. After telling them about the vision of the sheet that he saw three times, he said beginning in Acts 11:11: “And, behold, immediately there were three men already come unto the house where I was, sent from Caesarea unto me. And the Spirit bade me go with them, nothing doubting. Moreover these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered into the man's house: … And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God? When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.”
How, then, did the early Church understand how Gentiles had come to repentance? They were granted repentance. They were not born with it, they weren't driven to it following a bout of regret about sin, they didn't work it up within themselves. God granted it to them. We read in Ephesians 2:8: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:” But repentance unto salvation is also a Gift of God.
When the Church encountered resistance and persecution, His disciples and followers had this promise from Jesus found in Matthew 10:19: “But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.” Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would provide even the very words to be spoken in defense of their beliefs in Jesus as the Messiah, in Jesus being raised from the dead, and being the only Name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
The Gift of the Holy Spirit made Itself manifest with a variety of additional Gifts to different people: We read in 1 Corinthians 12:7: “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.”
God had given His Chosen People in the Old Testament both a Levitical Priesthood and a Civil Government to oversee the administration of His Laws and statutes. He did the same for His Church:
We read in Ephesians 4:11: “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:”
2 Peter 1:3: “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:”
Romans 8:32: “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”
What makes God the greatest Giver of all time? He had everything at His disposal to give. And He gives all of it not only without hesitation, but with eager anticipation. Notice Jesus' words in Luke 12:32: “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
Just as I opened with an unexpected quotation, I would like to close, tonight, with a completely unexpected Gift from the Father: We read in 2 Corinthians 9:6: “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.”
Why does God love a willing and cheerful giver? He wants us to be like Him. He wants to to be selfless like His dear Son. He wants us to give without reservation, and without selfish, ulterior motives, or a “What's in it for me?” attitude. The Bible says that believers should not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. A married couple should be likeminded, and in harmony regarding the things of God. The Church is the betrothed bride of Christ. Christ is our future Bridegroom. One of the first gifts I mentioned this evening was in the Book of Genesis where God presented Eve to Adam in the Garden to be his wife. Well, I am going to close tonight with a Gift that God has given that I never heard or read anyone else name among the Gifts of God: The Father has given us to Christ as the bride of Jesus, Who is called the Last Adam in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 15:45).
In another part of His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus spoke of this Gift that He had received from the Father: Beginning in John 17:6: “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word...” (9) “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.” So the Father gave Jesus the original disciples, but what about all the believers from the time of Christ down to us living today? Did the Father also give us to Jesus as a Gift? Notice beginning in verse 20: “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which (i)shall(/i) believe on me through their word..." (emphasis mine).
Just as God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, you and I are another Gift from the Father, but this time to the Son. We read in John 6:44: “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” Believers are drawn to Christ, and belong to the Father, Who, in turn, gives us to His Son Whom He sent to died for us. There is an incredible, almost indescribable intimacy not only between the Father and Son, but between the Father and Son and all of those who belong to them that transcends the human condition: In that prayer before His crucifixion, Jesus elaborated on how He sees our relationship to God with words that leave one speechless: We read in John 17:21-26: “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
From the very beginning, God has given and given and given and given to His creation. I think it is fitting, not only at this Season of gift-giving, but perhaps on the 1st of each month, to set aside a special time alone with your Heavenly Father to acknowledge His Gifts, and thank Him for all all that He has given, for all that He has done, all that He is doing, for all that He is, and for all that He has planned for us into Eternity. He is worthy of Praise far beyond our ability to praise His greatness, His mercy, and Hid love for us. But, as His children, such praise is welcome, lovingly accepted and greatly cherished.
Do it before you go to bed, tonight.
This concludes this Evening's Discussion, “The Gifts of God:”
Originally delivered “live” by Romans on December 12th, 2013
Before I begin each Discussion, I link to the following video, which I regard as the Theme Song of the 4Gospels Network Chat Room: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iyMjeVoP8s
For everyone who celebrates Christmas, we think of it as the giving and receiving of gifts. Houses, churches, schools. businesses and stores are gaily decorated in the celebration of Christmas. The Federal Government has, for decades, been at the forefront of enforcing the “separation of Church and State.” Yet, the day on which Christ's birth is celebrated is a Federal Holiday, and all Federal employees get the day off with pay! This is known as the Season of Giving. Gifts are given and received by millions of people, even those who neither worship nor even believe in God or Christ, or His Holy Bible. For them, their gift giving has nothing to do with the birth of the Savior. It is merely a cultural tradition that they have accepted, and partake in. Churches, including Westover Baptist Church, remind all of us that “Jesus is the reason for the Season,” or the reason for the decorating and gift-giving.
I would like to talk about gift-giving tonight from a very different perspective:
The title of tonight's Bible Study is, “The Gifts of God.” I did a review, and I am sure that, as thorough as I tried to make it, there have many things that I have missed. The list that I do have is one that had a powerful impact on me because it caused me to see all the incredible things in one place that God has done for His Creation in general, and His people in particular.
I would like to review my list of God's Gifts with you but I am going to begin with an unexpected quotation: Abraham Lincoln said of the Bible: “In regards to this great Book, I have but to say it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Savior gave to the world was communicated through this Book. But for it, we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man's welfare, here and hereafter, are found portrayed in it.”
The Bible is just One of many, many Gifts God has given us.
We read in James 1:17: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights....”
From the very beginning, Genesis tells us God's love of gift-giving was already evident when He created the Heavens and the Earth:
The earth is in, what astronomers refer to as the “Goldilocks Zone:” We're not too deep inside the Milky Way where radiation levels are lethal. We're not too close to, or too far from the sun. Everything is just right. Mankind was given a home on a planet that is a part of a solar system that also sustains life. Our sun gives us light and heat. The regularity of sunrise and the phases of the moon allow us organize our days months, seasons and years. The moon also regulates the tides. Without the moon, earth would be uninhabitable. Much farther away in our Solar System, and not fully appreciated until recently, the massive planet Jupiter is another Gift of God. Jupiter is so large, that all the other planets, including Saturn and its rings, can fit inside this planet. It is a Gift because it is so massive, and its gravitational pull is so intense, it acts as a giant celestial vacuum cleaner drawing toward itself, and away from the earth, boulders, meteors, asteroids, and other interplanetary debris hurtling through space that could otherwise hit the earth and cause great climactic damage at the very least, and the potential for significant loss of life.
But in the past few years, astronomers and astrophysicists have come to realize that the Universe itself is full of God's Gifts. Scientists have identified no less than 40 extremely fine-tuned Life Support Systems that are active in the Universe without which life on earth could not survive. In his book, “The Case For A Creator.” Lee Strobel interviewed Physicist and Mathematician Robin Collins who said, “When scientists talk about the fine-tuning of the universe, they're generally referring to the extraordinary balancing of the fundamental laws and parameters of physics and the initial conditions of the universe. Our minds can't comprehend the precision of some of them. The result is a universe that has just the right conditions to sustain life... Over the past thirty years or so, scientists have discovered that just about everything about the basic structure of the universe is balanced on a razor's edge for life to exist. The coincidences are far too fantastic to attribute to mere chance or to claim that it needs no explanation.”
The plants and vegetation on the earth not also provide food for us, but they also give us the air we breath by “exhaling” oxygen. Trees do the same, but also provide various kinds of food, as well as providing the wood that many people still burn for heat in the winter. Wood is also used to build shelter from the cold and the elements, and is indispensable in the manufacture of many kinds of furniture, tools and musical instruments.
But let's zoom in and take a closer look at vegetables, herbs and fruit: We read God's words to Adam in Genesis 1:29: “Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.”
The vegetation on earth, itself, besides being a gift, comes with a gift of its own: seeds! Every apple, for example, has enough seeds in it to produce a four or five more apple trees! Not four or five apples but apple trees! Over the course of the growing life, five trees grown from the seeds of just one apple hold the potential for tens of thousands of apples, each one with four or five seeds of their own. Did you ever cut open a red or green pepper? It looks like there are hundreds of seeds in a pepper! If vegetables and fruit did not have seeds, Adam and Eve and their children would have eaten and completely depleted the entire supply of food that was there to eat. And that would have been it. The seeds from the plants and vegetables and fruit we eat are Gifts from God to keep us both alive and healthy as we plant them for the next harvest.
When God said that it was not good for the man He created to be alone, He gave him a wife. And then God gave both Adam and Eve access to every tree in the Garden of Eden... with one exception. You know how that story ended. They disobeyed God and here we all are. But God was not done giving. Not by a long shot.
Though Abraham's wife was barren, God promised to raise up a people for Himself through him. But this was to be a great multitude, and they would need somewhere to live. So we read God's words to Abraham of another Gift in Genesis 17:8: “I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. We know it as the Land of Promise, Israel.
But there were people already living in the land of Canaan: After miraculously freeing the Hebrew slaves from centuries of bondage in Egypt, we see God giving to His people, again. Exodus 33:1: “And the LORD said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it: And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: Unto a land flowing with milk and honey:”
There was a Promised Land to be given to God's people. But people living together in the same land need to have a set of laws to live by, or there would be pandemonium. So, We read in Exodus 24:12: “And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.”
After repeated disobedience and murmuring against God and Moses, God chose to deny access to everyone above the age of 20 who came out of Egypt, except for Joshua and Caleb. Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Those years of wandering are summed up in this account found beginning in Nehemiah 9:13, as God showered Gift after Gift to His people: “Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments: And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant: And gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land which thou hadst sworn to give them. But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments, And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not. Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations; Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go.”
The Word that came to Israel through the prophets was more than just a set of Laws. Notice this summary of God's Laws as another Gift from God, found in Psalms 119:97: “O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts. I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word. I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me. How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”
The Word of God is an undeniable Gift of God. But there is a related Gift that applies to God's Word, and that is its enduring availability. Unlike any other book on earth, the Bible is a book, written by 40 authors over the course of 1,500 years, and, miraculously, is still readily available to us, in spite of all of the efforts to suppress it, defame it, discredit it and destroy it. In fact, it is more available now, and in more forms than ever in history. Jesus said in Mark 13:31: “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.” The thriving and enduring availability of the Word of God is another Gift.
Throughout their history as a Nation, God sent them Judges to throw off the oppression of their enemies, and Prophets to call them back to true worship when they fell into rebellion and idolatry.
This happened repeatedly but Israel was incapable of fulfilling their part in the Covenant to obey the Laws that God had given them. In spite of all of the gifts that God gave His people, His rescue of them from slavery, manna and water in the wilderness, a land flowing with milk and honey, His Laws and statutes and Divine protection from enemies, judges and prophets to bring them back when they sinned... they continued to disobey the Covenant, and to pursue and worship other gods.
That we is why we read in Hebrews 8:7: “For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:” Jesus told the Pharisees in Matthew 21:43: “Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.”
Which brings us to the next of God's Gifts... His most incredible Gift.
When Abraham took Isaac to sacrifice, we read beginning in Genesis 22:7: “And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering... “
Let's notice more closely what this verse says, “My son, God will provide Himself a lamb...” Not “God will provide [i]for[/i] Himself...
No...
It says that God will provide [u]Himself[/u] a lamb...”And that is exactly what happened! Jesus was God in the flesh. John 1:29 tells us, “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” This was in fulfillment of a prophecy spoken by John the Baptist's father Zacharias in In Luke 1:76, “And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins...”
In verse 79, Zacharias foretold that the Messiah would “... give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Far and above Jesus being the reason for the gift-giving Season, Jesus, Himself, is the Gift of the Season. He is the most precious Gift of many many, gifts from God to mankind.
In perhaps the most familiar prophecy of the birth of the Messiah, we read in Isaiah 9:6: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:”
A son is given! John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son... ”!
God gave as a Gift to all of mankind the most priceless Gift of all: His Son!
But how could we know when He arrived? Isaiah 7:14 gives us that answer: “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Many have claimed to be Jesus, or the Messiah for the past 2,000. But only one baby in history was able to fulfill the sign that was given by the Lord, and was born to a virgin. God gave us a unique sign that could not be counterfeited or duplicated so we might recognize when His incredible Gift arrives. And when He does arrives, God's giving of Gifts not only continues, it increases!
In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus promises in Matthew 7:7: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:” A few verses later He adds, Matthew 7:11: “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”
When He sent His disciples out to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom He said in Luke 10:19: “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”
Jesus reached out to all who heard His voice, offering gifts that only God could give:
We read in Matthew 11:28: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.”
In the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before His crucifixion prayed in John 17:8: “For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.”
John 4:14: “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
Romans 6:23 tells us “... the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Jesus promised yet another Gift in John 14:16: “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;”
Jesus came to lay down His Life for the remission of sins.
Matthew 20:28: “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
John 6:51: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
Luke 22:19: “And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.”
Mark 14:24: “And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.”
Jesus was crucified, and was resurrected. He commissioned His Church to go out and preach the Gospel to the world. But the Gifts from God continued. His disciples were empowered with the promised Gift of the Holy Spirit to teach and preach with boldness.
The Church was established and gained members. As it did, God provided gifted teachers to lead His people. In Corinth, an “us and them” factionalism began to take hold. Various members of the Church in Corinth were aligning themselves with various leaders, Paul, Peter and Apollos. Paul asked the Corinthians, “Is Christ divided?” But I bring this up to highlight a particular Gift that Paul referred to, which God provides to all Churches. 1 Corinthians 3:5: “Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.”
So another Gift of God is the growth of a Church. Too often when we either attend, or become aware of a particular congregation that is growing in leaps and bounds, the minister is given the credit. Too often we credit the man in the pulpit, but such credit is misplaced. Jesus said in John 6:44: “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.” The Father gives the increase to the Church by opening a person's eyes to their own sinful state, drawing that person to repentance.
Repentance, itself, is yet another Gift of God. Notice: Peter recounted to Jewish Christians how it happened that there were now Gentile believers, and Gentile members of the Church. After telling them about the vision of the sheet that he saw three times, he said beginning in Acts 11:11: “And, behold, immediately there were three men already come unto the house where I was, sent from Caesarea unto me. And the Spirit bade me go with them, nothing doubting. Moreover these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered into the man's house: … And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God? When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.”
How, then, did the early Church understand how Gentiles had come to repentance? They were granted repentance. They were not born with it, they weren't driven to it following a bout of regret about sin, they didn't work it up within themselves. God granted it to them. We read in Ephesians 2:8: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:” But repentance unto salvation is also a Gift of God.
When the Church encountered resistance and persecution, His disciples and followers had this promise from Jesus found in Matthew 10:19: “But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.” Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would provide even the very words to be spoken in defense of their beliefs in Jesus as the Messiah, in Jesus being raised from the dead, and being the only Name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
The Gift of the Holy Spirit made Itself manifest with a variety of additional Gifts to different people: We read in 1 Corinthians 12:7: “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.”
God had given His Chosen People in the Old Testament both a Levitical Priesthood and a Civil Government to oversee the administration of His Laws and statutes. He did the same for His Church:
We read in Ephesians 4:11: “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:”
2 Peter 1:3: “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:”
Romans 8:32: “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”
What makes God the greatest Giver of all time? He had everything at His disposal to give. And He gives all of it not only without hesitation, but with eager anticipation. Notice Jesus' words in Luke 12:32: “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
Just as I opened with an unexpected quotation, I would like to close, tonight, with a completely unexpected Gift from the Father: We read in 2 Corinthians 9:6: “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.”
Why does God love a willing and cheerful giver? He wants us to be like Him. He wants to to be selfless like His dear Son. He wants us to give without reservation, and without selfish, ulterior motives, or a “What's in it for me?” attitude. The Bible says that believers should not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. A married couple should be likeminded, and in harmony regarding the things of God. The Church is the betrothed bride of Christ. Christ is our future Bridegroom. One of the first gifts I mentioned this evening was in the Book of Genesis where God presented Eve to Adam in the Garden to be his wife. Well, I am going to close tonight with a Gift that God has given that I never heard or read anyone else name among the Gifts of God: The Father has given us to Christ as the bride of Jesus, Who is called the Last Adam in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 15:45).
In another part of His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus spoke of this Gift that He had received from the Father: Beginning in John 17:6: “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word...” (9) “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.” So the Father gave Jesus the original disciples, but what about all the believers from the time of Christ down to us living today? Did the Father also give us to Jesus as a Gift? Notice beginning in verse 20: “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which (i)shall(/i) believe on me through their word..." (emphasis mine).
Just as God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, you and I are another Gift from the Father, but this time to the Son. We read in John 6:44: “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” Believers are drawn to Christ, and belong to the Father, Who, in turn, gives us to His Son Whom He sent to died for us. There is an incredible, almost indescribable intimacy not only between the Father and Son, but between the Father and Son and all of those who belong to them that transcends the human condition: In that prayer before His crucifixion, Jesus elaborated on how He sees our relationship to God with words that leave one speechless: We read in John 17:21-26: “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
From the very beginning, God has given and given and given and given to His creation. I think it is fitting, not only at this Season of gift-giving, but perhaps on the 1st of each month, to set aside a special time alone with your Heavenly Father to acknowledge His Gifts, and thank Him for all all that He has given, for all that He has done, all that He is doing, for all that He is, and for all that He has planned for us into Eternity. He is worthy of Praise far beyond our ability to praise His greatness, His mercy, and Hid love for us. But, as His children, such praise is welcome, lovingly accepted and greatly cherished.
Do it before you go to bed, tonight.
This concludes this Evening's Discussion, “The Gifts of God:”
Originally delivered “live” by Romans on December 12th, 2013
Thursday, December 12, 2013
THINKING LIKE A CHRISTIAN IN A SECULAR WORLD II PETER 3:1-7
THINKING LIKE A CHRISTIAN IN A SECULAR WORLD II PETER 3:1-7
INTRODUCTION: In 1963 Harry Blamires wrote a book entitle, The Christian Mind. It was a challenge to the
Christians of the 60’s that needs to be heard in the 90’s. In fact it is more urgently needed in our
own situation in the 90’s than it was in the 60’s. By this expression Blamires did not meant that
the Christian is to think only on religious topics all the time but rather they are to view every
topic from a Christian perspective. This is another way of describing a Christian “world view.”
Thinking like a Christian in a secular world was a concern of the Apostle Peter in the first
century. He indicates he wrote this second letter to stir up the people so that they would do
“wholesome” thinking. The word wholesome is a word that means unmixed, unadulterated,
pure. The tendency in that first century was for those early Christians to mix their Christian
ideas of false ideas and the cultures around them to the degree that they allowed their thinking to
be mixed, their lives would become confused. This is still our situation.
In this call to a pure mind Peter emphasizes the importance of memory. “I want you to recall the
words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and that the command given by our Lord and
Savior through your apostles.” Memory is an important part of walking with the Lord and doing
the work of the Lord. Abraham, Joshua, Heschel expressed this in thirteen words that need to be
remembered – “Much of what the Bible demands can be comprised in one word, “remember.”’
Truly this is the way it is in the Christian life. If you are to think like a Christian in our secular
2
world there are some realities that must constantly be remembered. They become spiritual
stack-poles around which you interpret everything that you see and experience in the world. In
his warning about “scoffers” that will come in the last day and will scorn the idea that Jesus
Christ is coming again, Peter says of them, “But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s
word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of the water and within the water.” They
did deliberately forget means that they knowingly and intentionally refused to take into
consideration some dareities with which the Christian must approach life. These things that they
intentionally forget are things that we must constantly remember if we are to survive in this
aggressively secular world.
For our own preparation for thinking like a Christian in a secular world, let us consider these
three things that Simon Peter felt to be extremely important to be remembered.
I. REMEMBER: THIS WORLD IS A WORK OF CREATION.
The first thing they were deliberately forgetting touches on the very nature of the world in which
we live. “But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s Word the heavens existed and the
earth was formed out of water and with water.” In this direct word from Simon Peter we have a
reminder of the creation account in Genesis 1. You will remember in that creation account that
the earth was covered with water until God by His Word caused the earth to rise up out of the
water and divided the water from the dry land. This is the part of creation to which Simon Peter
specifically refers to in this statement.
3
This should not be seen as a statement about how the earth began from a scientific perspective.
Rather, it should be seen simply as a restatement of the creation account as it is found in Genesis
1. Peter seems to give emphasis to the place of water in the early creation because of the next
statement that he will make concerning the water. The primary thing we should emphasize is
that it all happened “by God’s Word.” The very heavens in which the earth exists came into
being by God’s word. The very earth itself was formed and molded into it’s present situation by
God’s word. The truth of creation is an important truth to remember if you are to have a
Christian mindset in a secular world.
One of the things that sets the Christian apart from the secular world in which he lives is his
understanding of the beginnings. Our naturalistic, secular world had a naturalistic explanations
for the beginnings of the earth. In our day they are holding on to these understandings in spite of
mounting evidence that contradict their commitments to a revolutionary hypothesis. Charles
Darwin himself wrote in The Origin of the Species, “If it could be demonstrated that any
complex organ existed which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive,
slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down.” In our day the scientific
community has experienced some break throughs that indicate that Darwin’s theory never took
into consideration. Michael Behe, a biochemist and college professor, has written the book,
Darwin’s Box. In the book he demonstrates something that Darwin never took into
consideration. He writes, “To Darwin the cell was a black box – its inner workings were utterly
mysterious to him. Now, the black box has been opened and we know how it works. Applying
Darwin’s test to the ultra-complex world of molecular machinery and cellular systems that have
been discovered over the past forty years, we can say that Darwin’s theory has “absolutely
4
broken down.’” Darwin had no idea about the complexity of the cell. Behe and other scientists
have demonstrated conclusively that there is no way that the cell could have just happened. But
it is amazing how tenacious the scientific community is in holding on to the idea that the world
can be explained naturalistically and materially.
If you are to have a Christian mind in this secular world, you must hold even more tenaciously to
the Biblical truth that God created the heavens and the earth. This perspective makes all the
difference in the world when you began to interpret the world about you. If this world owes its
existence to a personal and sovereign God, then man is not the master of his own fate. He owes
his existence to another. It is critical for us in our day that we prepare our minds to think
wholesomely and purely. We must view everything in our world from the perspective that God
made it.
II. THE WORLD IN WHICH WE LIVE IS A MORAL UNIVERSE.
The second reality that the secular world wants to ignore again relates to the nature of the world
in which we live. They deliberately want to ignore the moral nature in the world in which we
live. Peter brings this before us with his reference to the deluge that came in the day of Noah.
“By water also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.” The same Lord that spoke in
creation spoke again in judgment when the world rebelled against him and moved to exclude him
from his own world. Peter views the Genesis’ account of the flood that destroyed the civilization
of Noah’s day as being a matter of historic record. He reminds us that the world of that time was
submerged and destroyed by the waters of judgment. If the Genesis account is accepted as a
historic record of what God did in that ancient day, then it will change the way you view the
5
world in which we live. You can no longer view the world naturalistically. You will have to
view the world as being a moral universe in which the deeds of man have serious consequences.
One of the things that modern man has done is deny the historicity of the Genesis account. They
have chosen to ignore the fact that there is a geological evidence for such a fact. They have
chosen to deny evidences from an archeological perspective. They have also chosen to deny or
ignore the different accounts of such a flood that surface among the ancient peoples all over the
world. The names change and a few of the minor details from culture to culture, but almost all
the world’s cultures have a memory of such a flood that devastated the face of the earth.
If you can deny the historicity of the flood, and can deny the moral nature of the world in which
we live. It makes it a lot easier to pursue an indulgent lifestyle. It is interesting that Peter
indicates that these scoffers who refuse to remember the nature of the world also are people who
“follow their own evil desires.” Since they want to do the thing they want to do, it makes it very
convenient to deny or forget that there is God who holds human kind responsible for their deeds.
This perspective will effect how you see the world. If you accept the truth that this is a moral
universe in which the God of creation is still actively judging sin, then you see the things that
flow through history as being the out working of the wrath of God. The explanation that the
Apostle Paul gives for what happened in the Roman culture of his day in Romans 1 begins to
make sense. You begin to see the things that are happening in terms of moral deterioration as
being evidence that “God gave them up.” This is a moral universe. It is so because it was
created by a holy God and is still sustained by this holy and almighty God.
6
III. THE WORLD IS DESTINED FOR JUDGMENT.
The Apostle states the third sobering thing that we must always remember: “By the same word
the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and
destruction of ungodly men.” It is not the purpose of the Apostle to give us an eschatological
timetable, or the arrangement by which the events of the end time will take place. Rather it is his
purpose to remind us of something that secular man chooses to forget. Scoffing secular man
chooses to forget that the world is destined for judgment.
The exact description that Peter gives leaves us with some unanswered questions. It coincides
with what we find in other places in foreseeing a day in which the earth itself and the heavens
will be cleansed by fire. He is talking about “the present heavens and earth.” The word
“heavens” should be understood as referring to the physical universe in which we live. The earth
is the home territory that we occupy day by day. God by His word has them reserved for fire.
He is actively keeping them for a day that He has already appointed – a Day of Judgment and
destruction. The focus of this judgment and destruction will be “ungodly men.” These ungodly
men are those who have lived without giving God proper place in their lives, without reverencing
His name, without acknowledging Him as the creator and sustainer of the universe. They have
chosen rather to do their own thing in their own way for their own pleasure. They have denied
any responsibility to the creator of their lives. They and the world in which they live are
destined for this rendezvous with divine judgment.
7
Do you think it would make any difference in our society if our society as a whole begin to look
at life with the recognition that the earth and its peoples are headed for a horrible Day of
Judgment at the hand of almighty God? The loss of the fear of God in our culture is leading us
to a horrible harvest of evil. As I drove down our streets this week and passed a police car and
noticed that on the side of the police car it read Lubbock Independent School District. This was
not a city police designated to control traffic on our streets, this was a policemen designated to
keep peace and fight crimes in our schools. What brought about a situation in which our school
systems have become so violent and dangerous that it requires precious tax money to support a
police department just to keep peace in our schools. I can assure you there was no need of a
policeman at the Bluff City High School when I was student there. Mr. John Henry Pearce, the
principal, could walk down the hall with a long ruler in his hand and spread enough of the fear of
the Lord that there would be no crime in our school. If there had been some breach of right,
there would have been a parent at home who would have backed up the action of the school and
been supportive of disciplinary action. I was afraid to get in trouble at school because I knew it
would be worse trouble at home. We did have problems in our schools – somebody would be
caught chewing gum in class, or passing a note to a girlfriend, or being tardy for class. But there
was never any hint of violent activity or the bringing of illegal drugs into our class situation.
When you begin to explain the world naturalistically and you begin to deny God His place in
society, the harvest of evil is certain and sure.
This is the reason that Peter is stirring up our minds. He is calling on us to keep a Christian
mindset in the midst of a secular-thinking world. The only way you can live a life that is
pleasing to God in a world like this is to keep fresh in your mind that you were created by God,
8
you are responsible to God, and you are destined for a day of accountability before almighty
God. When you keep these things in mind they become a strong encouragement to holy living
and useful living.
http://storage.cloversites.com/dllowrieministriesinc/documents/2%20Peter%203%201-7.pdf
INTRODUCTION: In 1963 Harry Blamires wrote a book entitle, The Christian Mind. It was a challenge to the
Christians of the 60’s that needs to be heard in the 90’s. In fact it is more urgently needed in our
own situation in the 90’s than it was in the 60’s. By this expression Blamires did not meant that
the Christian is to think only on religious topics all the time but rather they are to view every
topic from a Christian perspective. This is another way of describing a Christian “world view.”
Thinking like a Christian in a secular world was a concern of the Apostle Peter in the first
century. He indicates he wrote this second letter to stir up the people so that they would do
“wholesome” thinking. The word wholesome is a word that means unmixed, unadulterated,
pure. The tendency in that first century was for those early Christians to mix their Christian
ideas of false ideas and the cultures around them to the degree that they allowed their thinking to
be mixed, their lives would become confused. This is still our situation.
In this call to a pure mind Peter emphasizes the importance of memory. “I want you to recall the
words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and that the command given by our Lord and
Savior through your apostles.” Memory is an important part of walking with the Lord and doing
the work of the Lord. Abraham, Joshua, Heschel expressed this in thirteen words that need to be
remembered – “Much of what the Bible demands can be comprised in one word, “remember.”’
Truly this is the way it is in the Christian life. If you are to think like a Christian in our secular
2
world there are some realities that must constantly be remembered. They become spiritual
stack-poles around which you interpret everything that you see and experience in the world. In
his warning about “scoffers” that will come in the last day and will scorn the idea that Jesus
Christ is coming again, Peter says of them, “But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s
word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of the water and within the water.” They
did deliberately forget means that they knowingly and intentionally refused to take into
consideration some dareities with which the Christian must approach life. These things that they
intentionally forget are things that we must constantly remember if we are to survive in this
aggressively secular world.
For our own preparation for thinking like a Christian in a secular world, let us consider these
three things that Simon Peter felt to be extremely important to be remembered.
I. REMEMBER: THIS WORLD IS A WORK OF CREATION.
The first thing they were deliberately forgetting touches on the very nature of the world in which
we live. “But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s Word the heavens existed and the
earth was formed out of water and with water.” In this direct word from Simon Peter we have a
reminder of the creation account in Genesis 1. You will remember in that creation account that
the earth was covered with water until God by His Word caused the earth to rise up out of the
water and divided the water from the dry land. This is the part of creation to which Simon Peter
specifically refers to in this statement.
3
This should not be seen as a statement about how the earth began from a scientific perspective.
Rather, it should be seen simply as a restatement of the creation account as it is found in Genesis
1. Peter seems to give emphasis to the place of water in the early creation because of the next
statement that he will make concerning the water. The primary thing we should emphasize is
that it all happened “by God’s Word.” The very heavens in which the earth exists came into
being by God’s word. The very earth itself was formed and molded into it’s present situation by
God’s word. The truth of creation is an important truth to remember if you are to have a
Christian mindset in a secular world.
One of the things that sets the Christian apart from the secular world in which he lives is his
understanding of the beginnings. Our naturalistic, secular world had a naturalistic explanations
for the beginnings of the earth. In our day they are holding on to these understandings in spite of
mounting evidence that contradict their commitments to a revolutionary hypothesis. Charles
Darwin himself wrote in The Origin of the Species, “If it could be demonstrated that any
complex organ existed which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive,
slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down.” In our day the scientific
community has experienced some break throughs that indicate that Darwin’s theory never took
into consideration. Michael Behe, a biochemist and college professor, has written the book,
Darwin’s Box. In the book he demonstrates something that Darwin never took into
consideration. He writes, “To Darwin the cell was a black box – its inner workings were utterly
mysterious to him. Now, the black box has been opened and we know how it works. Applying
Darwin’s test to the ultra-complex world of molecular machinery and cellular systems that have
been discovered over the past forty years, we can say that Darwin’s theory has “absolutely
4
broken down.’” Darwin had no idea about the complexity of the cell. Behe and other scientists
have demonstrated conclusively that there is no way that the cell could have just happened. But
it is amazing how tenacious the scientific community is in holding on to the idea that the world
can be explained naturalistically and materially.
If you are to have a Christian mind in this secular world, you must hold even more tenaciously to
the Biblical truth that God created the heavens and the earth. This perspective makes all the
difference in the world when you began to interpret the world about you. If this world owes its
existence to a personal and sovereign God, then man is not the master of his own fate. He owes
his existence to another. It is critical for us in our day that we prepare our minds to think
wholesomely and purely. We must view everything in our world from the perspective that God
made it.
II. THE WORLD IN WHICH WE LIVE IS A MORAL UNIVERSE.
The second reality that the secular world wants to ignore again relates to the nature of the world
in which we live. They deliberately want to ignore the moral nature in the world in which we
live. Peter brings this before us with his reference to the deluge that came in the day of Noah.
“By water also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.” The same Lord that spoke in
creation spoke again in judgment when the world rebelled against him and moved to exclude him
from his own world. Peter views the Genesis’ account of the flood that destroyed the civilization
of Noah’s day as being a matter of historic record. He reminds us that the world of that time was
submerged and destroyed by the waters of judgment. If the Genesis account is accepted as a
historic record of what God did in that ancient day, then it will change the way you view the
5
world in which we live. You can no longer view the world naturalistically. You will have to
view the world as being a moral universe in which the deeds of man have serious consequences.
One of the things that modern man has done is deny the historicity of the Genesis account. They
have chosen to ignore the fact that there is a geological evidence for such a fact. They have
chosen to deny evidences from an archeological perspective. They have also chosen to deny or
ignore the different accounts of such a flood that surface among the ancient peoples all over the
world. The names change and a few of the minor details from culture to culture, but almost all
the world’s cultures have a memory of such a flood that devastated the face of the earth.
If you can deny the historicity of the flood, and can deny the moral nature of the world in which
we live. It makes it a lot easier to pursue an indulgent lifestyle. It is interesting that Peter
indicates that these scoffers who refuse to remember the nature of the world also are people who
“follow their own evil desires.” Since they want to do the thing they want to do, it makes it very
convenient to deny or forget that there is God who holds human kind responsible for their deeds.
This perspective will effect how you see the world. If you accept the truth that this is a moral
universe in which the God of creation is still actively judging sin, then you see the things that
flow through history as being the out working of the wrath of God. The explanation that the
Apostle Paul gives for what happened in the Roman culture of his day in Romans 1 begins to
make sense. You begin to see the things that are happening in terms of moral deterioration as
being evidence that “God gave them up.” This is a moral universe. It is so because it was
created by a holy God and is still sustained by this holy and almighty God.
6
III. THE WORLD IS DESTINED FOR JUDGMENT.
The Apostle states the third sobering thing that we must always remember: “By the same word
the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and
destruction of ungodly men.” It is not the purpose of the Apostle to give us an eschatological
timetable, or the arrangement by which the events of the end time will take place. Rather it is his
purpose to remind us of something that secular man chooses to forget. Scoffing secular man
chooses to forget that the world is destined for judgment.
The exact description that Peter gives leaves us with some unanswered questions. It coincides
with what we find in other places in foreseeing a day in which the earth itself and the heavens
will be cleansed by fire. He is talking about “the present heavens and earth.” The word
“heavens” should be understood as referring to the physical universe in which we live. The earth
is the home territory that we occupy day by day. God by His word has them reserved for fire.
He is actively keeping them for a day that He has already appointed – a Day of Judgment and
destruction. The focus of this judgment and destruction will be “ungodly men.” These ungodly
men are those who have lived without giving God proper place in their lives, without reverencing
His name, without acknowledging Him as the creator and sustainer of the universe. They have
chosen rather to do their own thing in their own way for their own pleasure. They have denied
any responsibility to the creator of their lives. They and the world in which they live are
destined for this rendezvous with divine judgment.
7
Do you think it would make any difference in our society if our society as a whole begin to look
at life with the recognition that the earth and its peoples are headed for a horrible Day of
Judgment at the hand of almighty God? The loss of the fear of God in our culture is leading us
to a horrible harvest of evil. As I drove down our streets this week and passed a police car and
noticed that on the side of the police car it read Lubbock Independent School District. This was
not a city police designated to control traffic on our streets, this was a policemen designated to
keep peace and fight crimes in our schools. What brought about a situation in which our school
systems have become so violent and dangerous that it requires precious tax money to support a
police department just to keep peace in our schools. I can assure you there was no need of a
policeman at the Bluff City High School when I was student there. Mr. John Henry Pearce, the
principal, could walk down the hall with a long ruler in his hand and spread enough of the fear of
the Lord that there would be no crime in our school. If there had been some breach of right,
there would have been a parent at home who would have backed up the action of the school and
been supportive of disciplinary action. I was afraid to get in trouble at school because I knew it
would be worse trouble at home. We did have problems in our schools – somebody would be
caught chewing gum in class, or passing a note to a girlfriend, or being tardy for class. But there
was never any hint of violent activity or the bringing of illegal drugs into our class situation.
When you begin to explain the world naturalistically and you begin to deny God His place in
society, the harvest of evil is certain and sure.
This is the reason that Peter is stirring up our minds. He is calling on us to keep a Christian
mindset in the midst of a secular-thinking world. The only way you can live a life that is
pleasing to God in a world like this is to keep fresh in your mind that you were created by God,
8
you are responsible to God, and you are destined for a day of accountability before almighty
God. When you keep these things in mind they become a strong encouragement to holy living
and useful living.
http://storage.cloversites.com/dllowrieministriesinc/documents/2%20Peter%203%201-7.pdf
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