Newsflash!

Good evening! We interrupt the series on "Beginnings" with news of a dramatic event outside the city of Jerusalem. Actually, the event occurred almost 2,000 years ago, but its effect is still felt throughout the world today. I refer, of course, to the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, who had been crucified, and entombed, just a couple of days earlier. This was stupendous news then; it is equally stupendous news now. Well, it is if it is true! But what if it is what would nowadays be termed "fake news"?

There have certainly been those who have made that claim, and offered alternaive "theories" for what happened at the time. For example, there are those who claim that Jesus didn't actually die. What really happened, they claim, is that He swooned and, in the cool atmosphere of the tomb, He revived, made His way out, and claimed that He had risen from the dead!

Well, it may sound reasonable - but let's look a little more closely. This is a man who, prior to His crucifixion, suffered beating and lashing. The latter consisted of a whip, like the (in)famous "cat o' nine tails" (the true origin, by the way, of the saying: "There isn't room to swing a cat" - nothing to do with cruel treatment of our feline friends!). However, the Roman equivalent had the pieces of bone, and of metal, tied into the thongs. These cut deeply into the back of the victim - and many died from that treatment alone. Jesus was then forced to carry the crossbeam od the very cross on which He would be crucified, to the place of the execution of the death penalty. He was already, in His physical body, so weak that He was stumbling, and the Roman soldiers - not renowned for the pouring out of "the milk of human kindness" - eventually forced an onlooker to carry it for Him. It certainly wouldn't do for the condemned Man to die before His time! At Golgotha, the crossbeam was attached to the vertical post; the victim was thrown down on to it (not gently laid!) and by the use of ropes and nails, fastened to it. The cross was then raised, dropped into a prepared hole (try to imagine the physical agony thus generated!), and made steady with heavy stones that were put into the hole. 

The victim was left hanging, naked (the loincloth which Jesus is usually portrayed as wearing is a matter of respect, not authenticity!), while the soldiers of the execution squad shared out the belongings among themselves. Death could take as much as three days - and two days were apparently common - but, because it was close to Shabbat (that commenced at sunset), the Jewish hierarchy asked that the Roman soldiers speed things up. This was done by the simple expedient of breaking the legs of the victims. which meant that the victims could no longer push themselves up, and allow themselves release from slow suffocation. However, it wasn't as easy to do as one might think and, when they came to Jesus, they realised that He was already dead. Of course, just to make sure, they stabbed Him with a spear. An eye-witness account states that "... when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water." (John 19:33-34). 

Now, I confess that, when I was a great deal younger, and much less knowledgeable, I pictured that as being similar to the Mr Softee Ice-cream Machine with a choice of vanilla flavour, strawberry flavour, or a combination that issued from the appropriate nozzle as a single flow that was half of each flavour. However, modern medical science indicates that what John saw - from a distance of several yards - was blood that had gathered in the space between the chest wall and the lung. This, in a dead body, would have separated with the heavier red blood cells at the bottom, and the lighter, clear, plasma above. The red cells would have issued first, followed by the plasma which would have looked (certainly to a 1st century fisherman!) just like water! The point is that, unwittingly, John provided irrefutable evidence that Jesus was dead!

There can be no doubt about it. The Jesus Whose wonderful resurrection we remember, in a special way, today, was dead when Hios body was laid in the tomb.

Tyere are a number of other theories offered - but not one of them stands up to inspection. This post is now quite long enough, so I shan't look at any others. However, I may manage, if the Rapture is delayed, and I am still alive and well, to look at another one (or two!) next year! For now, I end with the age-honoured  declaration: "Jesus is risen!" "He is risen indeed!". "Glory, Hallelujah!"

Black Saturday

On Thursday, my wife planted some seeds in the garden. So far, nothing has happened! Perhaps she should dig them up, and check that they are okay!

Of course, any gardener would be horrified at such a suggestion. Each seed may be in the ground, where it is dark and lonely. There may be no visible sign of anything happening. But most people are aware that there is much taking place, as that seed germinates, that we cannot see with the naked eye. However, in time, there will be green shoots appearing.  A work had been going on, even although we could not see it.

Today is the day referred to as “Black Saturday”. It is the day between Good Friday, and Resurrection Day (I prefer not to use the derivative of the name of a pagan ‘goddess’!). Yesterday, we remembered that, almost 2,000 years ago, the body of the Lord Jesus was laid in a tomb. A large stone was rolled across the entrance to the tomb. The stone was sealed. Inside the tomb, it was dark, and lonely. A guard was posted. They saw nothing.

Saturday, of course, is the Jewish “Shabbat”. It is a day when devout Jews refrain from any form of physical work.  But in the lonely darkness of the tomb, a work was going on, the result of which continues to reverberate throughout the world. Friday had gone; it was still only Saturday – but Sunday was coming!

In the relative darkness of the Covid-19 days in which we live, we may – indeed, we must – have hope. The One Who was in control 2,000 years ago, is still in control today. I don’t know exactly what was happening in that tomb on that Shabbat. I don’t know exactly what Almighty God is doing with this virus. What I do know, is that He is working – as surely as He was working those millennia ago; as surely as He is working on those seeds in our garden.

Jesus said; “The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, every man to his home, and will leave Me alone; yet I am not alone, for the Father is with Me.” (John.16:32).

If you are truly “in Christ Jesus” (Rom.8:1), then the Father is with you also. However dark the day; however difficult the situation; however dismal the prospects; you are not alone. He, and He alone, is our Certainty, in uncertain times.

“Low in the grave He lay; Jesus, my Saviour. Waiting the coming day; Jesus my Lord.”

It was Saturday – but Sunday was still coming!

"Good" Friday?!

It’s Good Friday”! It’s the day on which millions recall, specifically, the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth, at the hand of the Roman occupiers, and at the instigation of the Jewish hierarchy. Crucifixion – one of the cruellest forms of executing the death penalty. Yet we refer to this as “Good” Friday! Why?

These are difficult and troubled times in which we live. Social isolation means that many families are unable to meet together as they normally would at this time of Passover (for Jews) and Resurrection (for disciples of Jesus). But the times 2,000 years ago were also troubled.  If you have access to a Bible, or even just a New Testament (and, if you are reading this online, then you have access to both!), please turn to John 19, and read the first thirty verses.

Most of us like stories that end with “… and they lived happily ever after.”! I finished a novel yesterday. I won't share the full story but, at the end, a young detective was fatally wounded. The woman he had been helping visits his grave:

"You were a good man," she said, " and it wasn't supposed to happen like this. But how often do things turn out like they should, you know? Happy endings aren't always happy for everyone. I think about you a lot. I wonder about what you'd be doing, where you'd be right now. You're here because of me, and - I haven't figured out how to deal with that yet, but I'll keep coming back until I do, I promise. Maybe after that, too. See you next week, okay?" (Sara's Game; Ernie Lindsey).

"Happy endings aren't always happy for everyone."

From a human perspective, that Shabbat eve certainly didn't end well for Jesus - or for His disciples. I was speaking with a friend in Germany only a half-hour ago. Referring to the Covid-19 situation he asked, "Did you ever think that something like this could happen?" The same question could have been asked of the disciples and, in spite of all the hints, suggestions, and clear teaching that the Lord Jesus had given them, things had not turned out as they had expected. Who would have thought? Who would have imagined? But it happened. On that Friday, which seemed to be anything but 'good', those who were there could have cried out: "We live in troubled times!" And they would have been correct! They lived in troubled times - as do we at this season of Pâques. 

However, it is a sad fact of life that bad things happen to good people! remember that occasion on which "There were some present at that very time who told [Jesus] of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And He answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered thus? I tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen upon whom the tower in Silo'am fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish." (Luke 13:1-5). Bad things happen to good people!

We, too, live in troubled times, and it's not just because of the Covid-19 virus. It's because we live in a twisted, and broken world. "We know," writes Paul, "that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now;" (Rom 8:22). It's because sin entered the perfect world that Father God had created - and bad things happen to good people: perhaps more often than we want to admit!

Those who stood at the cross almost 2,000 years ago saw nothing "good" about what was happening. But they did not have the advantage that you and I have of being able to look from what was, to them, the future. We know that the "good" of Good Friday is the good that we may gain from it. We know how the story unfolds. We know that Sunday was coming - and the story would be different. We know that it was all in the plan and purpose of Father God Who loves us so much that, in the Persona of the Lord Jesus, He paid the penalty for your sins and for mine. "For our sake He [the Father] made Him [the Son] to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." (II Cor 5:21). Ponder those words. The spotless, sinless, perfect Son not only "... bore our sins in His body on the tree," (I Peter 2:24). He actually became sin. He became sin in all of its vileness; its blackness; its depravity; its wickedness; its evil; its degradation. I believe that it was at that moment in time, that in eternity, the Father Who cannot even look upon sin, turned away from the dearly-beloved Son - and that Son cried out, in agony of spirit, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me ?" (Matt 27:46).

He paid a debt He did not owe; because you, and I, owed a debt we could not pay. And that is the GOOD News about this day.

Of course, that leaves us, each one, with a choice. The inestimable gift of the Lord Jesus is available to all - but we must accept it. Father God does not force salvation upon any individual. We must each come to Him, in faith, by His grace, trusting Him with our lives, for all of the time that we have left in this mortal life.

Have you done that? If not, why not? Not one of us knows what tomorrow will bring - the Covid-19 virus has made that fact abundantly clear! But those who are "... in Christ Jesus." (Rom.8:1) need not fear. We don't know what the future holds - but we know the One Who holds the future in His hand. I commend you to His love and care.

The highest watermark.

In his letter to the believers in the early church in the Imperial City of Rome, Paul writes these words: "I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." (12:1-2).

It was many years ago that I was taught that, when one reads the word "therefore" in the Bible, one should ask "What is it there for?"  In those words, it refers to all of the teaching that Paul has previously provided to the recipients.  It is, indeed, the pivot word on which this section of Romans turns from belief to behaviour.  Up until this point, Paul has been explaining what God has done to redeem us.  He now challenges his readers (now, as well as then!) to surrender themselves, totally, into God's hands.

Self-surrender and self-sacrifice have, of course, been demonstrated by God before He demands them from us!  Tomorrow (Saturday) is, of course, the Jewish Shabbat.  Judaism has its own "lectionary" - set readings from the Scriptures for each week, or even day.  In synagogues around the world, one of the passages that will be read on this particular Shabbat is from the Book of Leviticus: "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When any man of you brings an offering to YHWH, you shall bring your offering of animals from the herd or the flock.  If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer it, a male without defect; he shall offer it at the doorway of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before YHWH."  (1:2-3).  The Hebrew word korbanot  means to be close and the point is that the sacrifices, once accepted by God, restore closeness and intimacy between Him and His people.  Why is this necessary?  Because our iniquities and sins separate us from God and prevent us from establishing or maintaining a close relationship with Him.  "But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear." (Isaiah 59:2). For we who live under the New Covenant, the perfect sacrifice was made by God Himself, in the Persona of the Son.

It is our sin - yours and mine - that took Jesus to the cross in the greatest act of self-sacrifice in all of history.  When He asks us to surrender ourselves, He is not asking us to do, or give, anything that He has not already done, and given.

The story is told of a missionary who shared this truth with a highly intellectual Hindu, and added, "I believe that to be the high watermark of the universe".  The Hindu removed his spectacles, wiped away an involuntary tear, and replied, "High watermark?  That's the highest watermark of which the human mind could ever conceive!"  How true!  In the self-giving of Himself, Almighty God set the standard for the universe.  Nothing in either God, or in man, can ever go beyond it.  It is the highest truth conceivable.

Have you submitted yourself to Him?  Have you presented yourself, a living sacrifice?  It is, indeed, no more than "reasonable service"!

It's Sunday - Friday is over!

Apologies to Tony Campolo who, as far as I am aware, coined the phrase "It's Friday, but Sunday's coming."  He was referring, of course to the fact that what we have named "Good Friday" was not the end of a story.  Sunday; the day after the Jewish Shabbat; the first day of the week; the day on which the Creator said "Let there be light"; the day that millions are celebrating; the day when the tomb in which the body of the crucified Jesus of Nazareth had been laid; brought the amazing news - that the tomb was empty!

The traditional greeting used by disciples of Jesus - and still used, albeit to a lesser extent, today - was "The Lord is risen!", with the response "He is risen indeed!".  What an amazing message!  What an amazing truth!  Some have tried to deny it - but that is only to be expected.  However, any honest, unbiased, investigation of the available evidence will surely lead to the conviction that it is true.  None of the proposed 'explanations' stand up to any scrutiny at all.  I deal with the topic, more fully, in my second book in the "Getting to know you ..." series - The Apostles' Creed - which is due to be published shortly! (watch this blog for further news!).

But why is the resurrection of Jesus of such apparently great importance?  Paul tells us in I Cor 15:17-19 that: "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied."   Basically, the resurrection of Jesus is the claim on which the whole Gospel message stands, or falls.  It was the resurrection that marked Jesus out as the true Messiah - the Anointed One of God.  Oh, others had been restored from death - not only by Jesus Himself, but also by Elijah; Elisha; Peter; and Paul.  However, each of these had eventually died again.  Only Jesus "... is able for all time to save those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them." (Heb 7:25; emphasis added).  It is His glorious resurrection that assure me that, at the Last Day I also shall receive a new resurrection body as He "... will change [my] lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power which enables Him even to subject all things to Himself." (Phil 3:21).

Because of the pagan association of the word "Easter", many (including me) now refer to this day as "Resurrection Day".  However, there is a very real sense that every day is Resurrection Day.  This is because we may celebrate the resurrection of Jesus at any time, and in any place.  Today is a day of great hope - and, in Jesus, every day can be a day of great hope. 

Is your hope in Him?  It's that same hope that enabled 21 young Egyptian believers to die on a Libyan beach, at the hands of evil men, with the very Name of Jesus on their lips.  When students at the Garissa university in Kenya were being murdered, some are reported as having cried out "Lord Jesus, help me."  The scoffers - including their murderers - have asked "Where was He?"  I will tell them - He was there with them.  He was administering martyr's grace, for a martyr's death.  He was reassuring them that this mortal life is not everything and, if they were true disciples, they are now with Him in a way that they could never have been while in their mortal, decaying, bodies.

It's Sunday - Friday has gone.  The Lord is risen; He is risen indeed!  Hallelujah!

The Ten Words (4)

The fourth of the Ten Words (Commandments) is the first of only two that are framed in a positive fashion.  It reads: "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your maidservant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it." (Ex 20:8-11). It is also the only one of the Ten Words that is not repeated in the New Testament!

The tradition of keeping this one day in seven - Shabbat (= 'rest') - was already established within the nation of Israel, but now it became an integral part of their Law, and of the covenant relationship that they had with YHWH.  It was a reminder of creation as it was "... on the seventh day God [that] finished His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all His work which He had done in creation." (Gen 2:2-3).

Of course, when the Children of Israel celebrated Shabbat, it was not only a means of honouring YHWH, but was also a witness to their pagan neighbours.  It was also a means by which to demonstrate their different attitude to slaves.   In other nations, people might take tiime to rest, but their slaves and servants were not afforded such an opportunity.  Only in Israel was it made mandatory that the whole family, including the servants, the very animals, and even foreigners who were merely 'passing through' should take time out.

To Gentiles (non-Jews), the Shabbat restrictions often appear to be onerous.  However, to a Jew, Shabbat is a celebration.   YHWH intended that it be a time of joy; an opportunity to draw closer to Him; to study Torah; to be 'recreated'.   Through the prophet Isaiah, YHWH was later to say: "If you turn back your foot from the sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the sabbath a delight and the holy day of YHWH honourable; if you honour it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in YHWH, and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of YHWH has spoken." (58:13-14).

So, what are the lessons for the disciple of Jesus, today?  Well, we note that, from the earliest days of the Church, it assembled on the first day of the week - Sunday.  Of course, we read of men like Paul, who made use of the synagogue, and the Shabbat service.  "Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in, as was his custom, and for three weeks he argued with them from the scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, 'This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ'." (Acts 17:1-3).   Some would use such a passage to claim that disciples of Jesus should worship on the seventh day, just like the Children of Israel.  However, such people ignore, for example, Acts 20:7 where we read that "On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and he prolonged his speech until midnight."

In passing, let me explain a little about that particular passage.   There are those who assume that Paul commenced his message to these believers in Troas some time in the late morning - maybe about 1100, as is common for many worship services today.  They then marvel that he could speak on until midnight - some thirteen hours!  That would be impressive.  I have spoken for an hour and a quarter, on occasion; but would never even contemplate speaking for such a long time.

The problem is that we forget the way in which the Jewish day is calculated!   It, too, has its basis in the Creation record where we have the refrain: "And there was evening and there was morning, one day." (Gen 1:5, inter al).  This led to the Jewish day being calculated from sunset until sunset.  So, when Paul met with these believers "On the first day of the week, ...", they met at sunset on Saturday!  It was still a long message (little wonder that Eutychus fell asleep!), but not the ridiculous length that some would seek to suggest in an attempt to belittle the written Word of God!

So, disciples of Jesus ought to be faithful in their attendance at the worship service(s) of their local congregation/fellowship, remembering the injunction of the writer of the Letter to Hebrew disciples of Jesus: "... not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." (Heb 10:25).   More than that, we should see it as a joyful occasion, not some boring duty!  We are to attend "... with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." (Heb 10:22). 

That is, I suspect, a challenge for some - but it is a challenge worth accepting as, in New Testament terms, you keep this important commandment.