Profitable remembering!

The story is told of a Persian shepherd who, because of his great devotion and faithfulness to his king, was promoted to the position of Prime Minister. [Perhaps that is where some modern countries should look!!!!]. The other ministers of state were angry that one with such a lowly origin should have been so highly honoured. They sought, therefore, to bring in some evil report that would place him in a position of disfavour. 

After having watched him closely for some time, they found nothing objectionable - apart from the fact that, once a week, he would enter a little room which he kept locked, and would shut himself away there for an hour.

The ministers informed their monarch of this, declaring that they were certain that the Prime Minister and former shepherd must be gathering there a secret hoard of his master's precious possessions. The king doubted their story, but felt obliged to grant them permission to break into, and search, the room. They did so - but all that they found there was a small bundle containing a dilapidated pair of shoes, and an old cloak.

The Prime Minister was brought before the king and asked to explain himself, and why he kept the items that had been found in the room. He replied: "I wore these things when I was a shepherd. I look at them regularly, lest I forget what I once was, and how unworthy I am of all of the kindness and honour that your majesty has bestowed upon me."

I cannot vouch for the veracity of that story - but it does have a lesson for all of us who claim to be disciples of the Lord Jesus. While we are encouraged, by the apostle Paul, to "[forget] what lies behind, and [strain] forward to what lies ahead, " (Phil.3:13), it is sometimes useful to recall what we once were, before "He drew [us] up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog, and set [our] feet upon a rock, making [our] steps secure." (Ps.40:2). Remembering the depths from which we have been taken, should help us to appreciate the heights to which we have now been lifted in the Christ.

As beggars plucked out of abject poverty, we are permitted, through the grace of Almighty God, "... Who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses," to have been "made ... alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and [to have been] raised ... up with Him, and made [to] sit with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." (Eph.2:4-6).

Such remembering of our past will, surely, keep us both humble, and usable. That will be profitable remembering!

The God-planned life.

In his poem "To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest With the Plough, November, 1785", the Scots Bard, Rabbie Burns makes this statement: "The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley," ("However well we make our plans, be we mice or men, they often go awry,").

This is something to which, I suspect, every one of us can testify! When I look back over my own life, I can see so many situations in which the plans that I so carefully laid, went completely and utterly "bottoms-up"! 

We may read about a man named Job in the Tanakh (the 'Old Testament' of the Christian Bible). His material wealth was such that he is described as "... the greatest of all the people of the east." (Job 1:3). He had a large family; thousands of animals; and many servants. It would certainly appear that all of his plans had worked out rather well! To top it all, we are informed that he "... was blameless and upright, one who feared God, and turned away from evil." (1:1). Yet, as we read the record - and it is well worth reading, to understand the real reason behind his situation - we discover that he lost all that he had, even his own good physical health.  Ultimately, it would seem, even this man's plans had gone awry!

However, read on. Listen to what his friends said; the counsel that they gave him. Even his wife seems to have turned against him (2:9) - but read his response! All hope seemed to be cut off; he was beset by difficulties; there appeared to be no way out. So what is Job's response? It is a heartfelt declaration of faith! "But [God] knows the way that I take; when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold." (23:10).

Yes, everything was frustrating and baffling. It seemed that even the Lord had forsaken him. Humanly speaking, there was no future; no way out; no escape. Then, with the eye of faith, his vision pierced the gloom and rejoiced in the fact that God knows, and already sees, our future. He knows the end from the beginning. From His vantage-point of eternity, He sees all of our time simultaneously! Nothing ever takes Him by surprise. He is the "I AM" (see Ex.3:14); the One Who dwells in an eternal present! What a God! Job could not see one step in front of him - yet he was certain that the Lord was watching over him.

I wonder if you are in that sort of situation as you read this post. I know that my wife and I are currently there. The reason for which we truly believed that we were being called to live in France has gone. What seemed to be the possible alternative is not going as we had expected. What are we to do? What will befall each one of us is not yet revealed. But He knows, and so we turn to Him, saying with Job: "He knows the way." However sorely we may be tried and tested, we know that it will, ultimately, be for our own good, and to His glory for, "... when He has tried [us, we] shall come forth as gold."

Perhaps today will even be the day when we shall hear the sound of the shofar of God, and ascend to meet with the Lord Jesus "... in the air;" (I Thess.4:17), and we shall emerge as that 'gold' to shine, eternally, in His Kingdom! And "... we know that, when He appears we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." (I Jn.3:2). Faith will give way to sight, and doubts and fears will disappear. 

If I was forced to name one single favourite Christian song, it would be the beautiful (and poignant, if one checks the background story!) "When peace, like a river, attendeth my way; when sorrows, like sea billows, roll; whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to know, It is well, it is well with my soul". That peace comes from the certain knowledge that "He knows the way". May those words be your own strength, whatever your situation and circumstances. And to Him, be all the praise and the glory. 

Isaac - the son of the promise (3)

In the previous two posts, we have looked at the record of Avraham's willingness to sacrifice his son, his greatly-beloved son, Yitzchak, at the command of YHWH (the incident is know, to Jews, as the Akedah), and of Yitzchak's willingness to be sacrificed; and at some of the interpretations provided by the secularists and the Jewish communities.

In this post, I wish to share something about the Christian view of the Akedah which is, basically, that it was a type, or foreshadowing (see part 2) of the ultimate sacrifice of Yeshua. For those who have placed their trust in that same Yeshua, the Akedah is much more than the record of an incident that took place millennia ago.

Let's look at this in a fairly chronological order, and from a typological perspective.

1. YHWH issues His command - expresses His will - to Avraham, to sacrifice his beloved son.

Son of Avraham: "[YHWH] said, 'Take your son, your only son, whom you love, Yitz’chak; and go to the land of Moriyah. There you are to offer him as a burnt offering on a mountain that I will point out to you.'" (Gen.22:2).

Son of God: "... it pleased YHWH to crush Him with illness, to see if He would present himself as a guilt offering." (Is.53:10; see Jn.3:16).

2. The sons accept the Father's will.

Yitzchak does not rebel, or struggle against his father, but allows himself to be bound, and laid upn the altar. (Gen.22:6-11).

Yeshua affirms "... not My will, but Yours, be done." to His Father, in the Garden of Gethsemane. (Lk.22:42; see Is.53:7), and allows Himself to be bound, and nailed, to the cross. (Lk.23:33, inter al). 

3. The sons carry the wood.

Yitzchak carries the wood as he and Avraham ascend the mountain (Gen.22:6)

Yeshua carries the wooden stake as He struggles, physically, toward Golgotha. (Jn.19:7).

4. God provides a substitute.

 "God will provide Himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." Avraham says to Yitzchak, in response to his son's enquiry. (Gen.22:8). "[He] went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in place of his son." (Gen.22:13).

God, Himself, provided "God’s Lamb! The One Who is taking away the sin of the world!" (Jn.1:29).

5. Loved ones grieve for three days.

Isaac was all but dead, in Abraham’s heart and mind during their three-day journey to Mount Moriyah.

Yeshua was dead.  His followers grieved during His three days in the tomb.

6. Faith in a resurrection.

Of Yitzchak. The early Jewish sage, Rabbi Eliezer (c.40-120), writes that Avraham believed in the resurrection of the dead:

          "When Avraham Avinu (our father) put the knife to Yitzchak's neck, Yitzchak's soul flew away and left him. In effect, he died.

          "When Avraham then heard the Heavenly Voice proclaim 'Send forth not your hand against the lad', the soul returned into Yitzchak's body.  Yitzchak thus personally experienced the phenomenon of Techiyas haMeisim (resurrection of the dead).

           "At that moment, Yitzchak opened his mouth and recited the blessing: 'Blessed art Thou Who brings the dead back to life.'" (Pirkei d'Rabbi Eliezer, ch.31. See also Heb.11:17-19).

Of Yeshua. Even although the apostles mourned His death while He lay in the tomb, "With great power the emissaries continued testifying to the resurrection of the Lord Yeshua," (Acts 4:33).

Both Jews and Christians agree that gen.22 is a magnificent example of a father/son relationship of love, obedience, sacrifice, and faith. In fact, earlier this week, Jewish communities worldwide (the Diaspora) will have read this passage as they celebrated Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year); and they will have recited prayers seeking forgiveness (selichot). In some of these prayers, the Jewish people appeal to God's mercy with Avraham during the Akedah, as they seek His forgiveness for themselves today. 

The Akedah, in the minds of the Rabbis, was an act of such magnitude that Jewish people continue to call out to God for forgiveness, based on the faith-filled act of Avraham, and the selfless offering of himself, by Yitzchak.

The Gospel News is that believers can claim the forgiveness won for us, at Calvary, when Yeshua submitted Himself to the death that we deserved. He paid a debt He did not owe, because we owed a debt that we could not pay.

"... He [Yeshua] did not enter heaven to offer Himself over and over again, like the cohen hagadol [High Priest] who enters the Holiest Place year after year with blood that is not his own; for then he would have had to suffer death many times — from the founding of the universe on. But as it is, He has appeared once at the end of the ages in order to do away with sin through the sacrifice of Himself." (Heb.9:25-26).

Have you come before Him, in repentance and faith, and received the new life that He offers? The ball, as is often said, is in your court!

Isaac - the son of the promise (2).

The last post ended with the assurance that, in this one, we would look at the concept of "types", or "foreshadows". Our shadows can tell certain things about us - our general size and shape (depending, of course, on the precise position of the source of the light that has caused the shadow!); what we are doing, and how we are doing it. However, our shadows are not us. They only 'point' to us; to the real you and me. In theological terms, your shadow is a "type" of you, and the real you is referred to as the "antitype".

In a similar sort of way, the Bible has many types, or foreshadows, that say a lot about their antitype in future time. They tell us, to a certain extent, what will happen and what it will look like. They are not prophecies that predict the future; but they can help us to better understand, and recognise, the antitype to which they point, when it comes into being. A 'type' of Messiah, for example, can help us to understand what Messiah will be, and what He will do - but that type is not Messiah! Obviously, Typology is not some kind of 'exact science', as identifying, and interpreting, types and antitypes can depend, to a large extent, on one's own perspective. However, typology is not confined to Christian theology. The Hebrew sages have a similar doctrine that helps them to understand how YHWH has been working in the Tanakh.

Okay, that's the theology! Now, what about Avraham who is asked to sacrifice his beloved son, Yitzchak - the one he loves; the one who brings him joy; the one named 'Laughter'? Is there any aspect of foreshadowing in this story? The answer, as you may have already guessed, is "Yes"! In this post, we shall consider the 'secular' view, and some Jewish views.

1. the secular view.

This view states that this story is just that - a story for its own time. It does no more than demonstrate how the Hebrew nation was established by YHWH to be different from the pagan nations that surrounded it. The implication is that YHWH was testing Avraham, in order to emphasise that human sacrifice - common in ancient times (and, many would say, common today under the name of abortion!) - was unacceptable, and that the one true God would have nothing to do with it.

Certainly, the Tanakh makes absolutely clear that YHWH does not condone child sacrifice. Some of the passages in which child sacrifice is condemned as an abomination before God are: Lev.18:21; Jer.7:31; Ezek.20:31. So is this story nothing more than that? I think not.

2. Jewish views
(a) the incident was a test prompted by the satan.

This view states that the Akedah (the Hebrew word for the incident) was a testing similar to that of Job, who was tested by the satan (the adversary) with the permission of YHWH. Certainly we read in Rabbinic literature that, in a similar scene to that of Job 1 and 2, the satan was accusing Avraham before YHWH: "Of every feast that Avraham made, he did not sacrifice before You one bull or ram" He [YHWH] said to him "Does he do anything but for his son. Yet, if I were to say to him, 'Sacrifice him before Me', he would not withhold him." (Rabbi Rashi). However, this is but a commentary by one man, and there is no such suggestion in the Tanakh. So is that really what happened? Again, I think not!

(b) the Akedah is a type (foreshadowing) of atonement.

God set up a system for the Hebrew people, even in the Garden of Eden, when animals had to be sacrificed in order to provide the covering for Adam and Eve after they had sinned.Their own attempts, with leaves, were not acceptable to the Creator. As the writer of the Letter to Hebrew disciples of Yeshua was to state, many centuries later: "... without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins." (Heb 9:22). The Mosaic Law emphasise this requirement of blood for atonement (another word that is dealt with in "Great Words"!) in a system that involved a blood offering from a spotless, flawless, animal - usually a lamb, a goat, or a bull. (see, e.g., Lev. 4 and 16).

Many contemporay Rabbis teach that human blood has never been an accceptable offering to YHWH and cannot, therefore, atone for the sins of man. Therefore, they maintain, according to Judaism, the Akedah cannot foreshadow an atonement by a person such as Yeshua, as Christians claim. However, there are Rabbinic commentaries that seem to disagree.

In Gen. 22:13 we are told that Avraham "... took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son." Is it not sufficient that YHWH provide a ram? Rashi (quoted above), asks: "Why does Scripture say 'instead of his son.'? Those four words didn't have to be there - or did they?!

Rashi's explanation as to why it is important to know that the ram was sacrificed instead of Yitzchak was this: "Over every sacrificial act that he [Avraham] performed, he prayed, 'May it be [Your] will that this should be deemed as if it were being done to my son; as if my son were slaughtered; as if his blood were sprinkled; as if my son were flayed; as if he were burnt and reduced to ashes'"

Now, if Rashi was correct, then every time Avraham sacrificed a lamb or a goat, he thought in his mind and heart that he was slaughtering his own son, Yitzchak, and sprinkling his blood over the altar! But why would Avraham consider such a thing if YHWH does not accept human blood as a covering for sin?

A renowned Reform Jewish Rabbi (Wolf Gumther Plaut, 1912 - 2012) offers this answer to that question: "There was a remarkable tradition that that insisted that Abraham completes the sacrifice and that, afterward, Isaac was miraculously revived. According to this haggadah [telling], Abraham slew his son, burnt his victim, and the ashes remain as a stored-up merit and atonement for Israel in all generations." It would appear that some Rabbis believed that a single, willing, human sacrifice on behalf of mankind would, indeed, atone for sin!

One modern Jewsih scholar writes of "The notion of a dual godhead with a Father and a Son, the notion of a Redeemer who, himself, will be both God and man, and the notion that this Redeemer would suffer and die as part of the salvational process." He also states that "At least some of these ideas, the Father/Son godhead and the suffering Saviour, have deep roots in the Hebrew Bible as well, and may be among some of the most ancient ideas about God that the Israelite people ever held." (Daniel Boyarin; The Jewish Gospels).

That sounds remarkably close to the Christian interpretation of the Akedah - but that, DV, will be the subject of the next post.

Isaac - the son of the promise.

As we return to our look at some of the best-known, and most important, of the characters from the Tanakh (the Jewish Scriptures; the Old Testament in the Christian Bible), we turn to Yitzchak (Isaac). Avraham, you may recall, was promised by El Shaddai, that he would be the father of a mighty nation, whose numbers would be as the stars of the sky - and that at a time when there was none of the light pollution to which most of us are subjected, and that hide the majority of stars from our sight. All very well - except for the fact that, at that time, Avraham and his wife, Sara, were childless! It is difficult to be the progenitor of a nation if one doesn't have even one child with which to start!

Avraham did what many of us try to do - he decided (or, to be more accurate, Sara suggested, and he acquiesced!) to give God a helping hand. In what was culturally acceptable at the time, Sara gave him her handmaid to bear a child on Sara's behalf. Hagar, the maid, did bear a son to Avraham - a boy who was named Ishmael, and from whom the Arab peoples are descended. 

Some fourteen years later, El Shaddai appeared to Avraham, and assured him that, in the following spring, Sara would bear a son. At this time, Avraham was 100 years old, and his wife was ten years younger. She was, to put it mildly, sceptical! "I am old, and so is my lord; am I to have pleasure again?" (Gen. 18:12). Well, who could blame her?! However, "... with God everything is possible." (Matt. 19:26) and, in the spring, Sara did, indeed, give birth to the boy who was named Yitzchak.

The most important part of the story of Yitzchak is, surely, the command of God, to Avraham, to sacrifice this son of the promise. Not only was the command given, but it was given in such a way as to, metaphorically, "twist the knife"! "Take your son, your only son, whom you love, Yitz’chak; and go to the land of Moriyah. There you are to offer him as a burnt offering on a mountain that I will point out to you." (Gen.22:2). Not just your son, Avraham, but your only son! Not just your only son, but the son whom you love! And in case there is still any doubt, his name is Yitzchak.

This is an episode with which the Jewish world has wrestled. How could a loving God ask any human father to sacrifice his own son? One key to understanding this event is to recognise the way in which what are called "types" (or "foreshadows") are used in the Tanakh to point us to events that would take place in future time. 

Avraham and Yitzchak set off to climb Mount Moriah

Early the next morning, and having made the appropriate preparations, Avraham sets out, with Yitzchak and two servants, on a three-day journey to the land of Moriyah - possibly the treeless ranges of Sinai down near Kadesh.  When they arrived at the foot of the mountain, Avraham and Yitzchak set off up the mountain, leaving the servants behind. As they climbed, Yitzchak asked: "I see the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" His father immediately answered "'God will provide Himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son'; and they both went on together."

On the mountain, a stone altar is constructed; the wood is laid out; and Yitzchak is bound and placed on the wood. It is worth remembering that Yitzchak, by this time, was a young man so, while we consider Avraham's obedience, we must also note that Yitzchak was willing to be bound and offered.  Avraham slowly takes the knife, placing it at Yitzchak's throat, ready to make the fatal cut. It is only at this point that El Shaddai intervenes by sending "... the angel of YHWH ..." (often identified as the Son)  to stop him from sacrificing his son. “Avraham? Avraham!” He answered, “Here I am.” He said, “Don’t lay your hand on the boy! Don’t do anything to him! For now I know that you are a man who fears God, because you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” (Gen.22:11-12).

Avraham looks behind him, and there is a ram, caught in a thicket. He takes the ram, and sacrifices it instead of Yitzchak.

In the next post, we shall look at this concept of "types". I shall try not to have you wait for too long!!!

48 - and counting!

It would be very nice, in some ways, to have the heading refer to my biological age. However, I must confess that it doesn't. 😞

What it does refer to is the number of years of marriage that my wife and I have celebrated, today. 😊

Yes, it was a full forty-eight years ago that I stood at the front of the sanctuary of St George's-Tron Parish Church, facing my minister, the late Rev George B.Duncan, and with one of my brothers standing by my side. Adam Hair, the organist, was playing a gentle medley of familiar Christian tunes when, suddenly, he stopped and, after a moment's pause, the strains of Handel's beautiful 'Largo', from his opera Xerxes, wafted from the organ pipes.

I knew what that signified, and turned to look over my left shoulder to see a vision in white come walking down the aisle, on her father's arm. If Mr Duncan had leaned forward at that moment, and asked me if I was certain that I loved this girl enough to be willing to spend the rest of our lives together, I would have replied that it was impossible for any human being to love any other human being as much as I loved this girl who was about to become my wife. And I would have meant every syllable!

Forty-eight years later I realise that I would not have known what I was talking about! My love for my wife, today, is a million times greater that it was all of those years ago. She has been my wife, my lover, my support, my encourager, the mother of our two beautiful daughters, homemaker, friend - the list could go on. My life would certainly not have been the same without her by my side. She has stuck with me through good times, and not as good times. I thank Father God for her every day, and pray that, as the Rapture is delayed, we will be granted many more years to love, and share, and be with one another; and to serve Him both as individuals, and as a couple.

The Word of God makes much use of the marriage analogy. In the Tanakh (the Old Testament), the nation of Israel is referred to as the wife of YHWH; in the New Testament (the BritHadasha), the church is seen as the bride of the Christ (HaMashiach). The obviously common theme is that of love. "For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In overflowing wrath for a moment I hid My face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you, says YHWH, your Redeemer." (Is.54:7-8). "I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I betrothed you to Christ, to present you as a pure bride to her one husband." (II Cor.11:2) However, the love of God is infinitely greater than even the greatest love that any couple may have for one another - even after 48 years (or 50, or 60, or 70, or more!). Indeed, as John writes in his account of the Gospel: "God loved the world so much that He gave His only-begotten Son - the unique One - that whoever places their trust in Him may not perish but have, here and now, eternal life." (3:16; slightly paraphrased).

It is also the case, certainly for the true disciple of Jesus that, as we live our lives with Him, and are drawn ever closer to Him, we love Him more, and long to love Him more than even that. And we try to please Him in all that we do. That, I would claim, is my desire towards my wife. Of course, as a mere mortal, I don't always achieve that desire - when the jokes have all been finished, I know that I am not, and never have been, the 'perfect' husband. And I am not a perfect man. However, I am so grateful that my dear wife is still with me, and that we have been able to work through the difficult times. And I am so grateful that the Lord forgives me as I come to Him in repentance and faith. It must also be said that He has never, ever, let me down! 

This is where the Third Persona (see my book 'Great Words of the Faith', the chapter on 'The Trinity') of the Trinity, God the Holy Spirit, comes in. It is as He works in me, that I am, little by little, made to be more like Jesus. A little home-made plaque on my study wall reads: "In this life I shall never be sinless; but by the grace of God, I may sin less." That is sanctification - and that is the Work of Holy Spirit, Himself, in my life.

I don't know if you are married, or not. If you are, I don't know for how long you have been married. I do know that even the best marriage is no substitute for the relationship that you may have with your Creator. My marriage to my wife is "until God shall separate us by death". My relationship with Father God, through the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus at Calvary, is not only for time, but also for eternity. Married, or not, have you entered into that relationship? If not - why not?!