What Abraham saw.

The Fire & the wood are here, but where is the the lamb for the burnt offering. Genesis22:7

When Sarai was 90 years old she conceived & bore a son, Isaac.  The child of promise.  The one the Angel of the Lord foretold.  Their only begotton child.  The one they had so given up hope of having that Sarai laughed when she was told about it.

Can you imagine how loved this child was?  Doted on.  Indulged.  Rejoiced over. 

So what was Abraham thinking when he took off into the wilderness with Isaac for the sole purpose of sacrificing his son to God?!

What was God thinking?  We know from other passages God abhors child sacrifice, yet here He is asking Abraham to to do just that.


The answer begins before Isaac's birth when the two of them are having a chat under the night stars.

"Look," says God.  "As many as the stars in the sky, so will your offspring be."

That's a goodly amount by anyone's estimation.  There was only one fly in this little jar of ointment ~ Abraham was childless.  Abraham was childless but still he believed the Lord & it was counted unto him as righteousness.    He believed the Lord for the hard thing.  After all Sarai was past the age of child~bearing but when it came to accepting that God would give the land he & his descendants were to inherit into his possession Abraham balks. 

"How can I know,"  Abraham asks, "that I will gain possession of it?"

And  God says the strangest thing.  "Bring me a heifer..."  & a goat & a ram & a dove & a pigeon.  What is going on here?

Now nearly every culture has a fundamental understanding that the life of a sentient being is in the blood.  Scripture has strong taboos against the unwarranted spilling of blood so that even the very earth cries out in protest, as it did for Abel.  The strongest ties are not those of family, tribe, nation but those forged in blood.  It is called cutting covenant.  In Africa those entering into covenant make cuts on their arms & mingle their blood.  Other cultures drink the blood.  However it is done it indicated that there is a mingling of two life streams into a single unit.  To fight one covenant brother is to fight the other as well.  Once entered into the terms of the covenant are absolutely binding.  They can neither be altered nor changed, added to nor detracted from.

In the middle east an unblemished animal was cut in half & the covenant parties passed *between the blood*.  Now the thing to note is that it is not Abraham *cutting covenant*, it is God.  When darkness falls a smoking fire pot with a blazing torch passed between the pieces.

What has this to do with the sacrifice of Isaac?  Everything!

When God tells Abraham to head off into Moriah & sacrifice his son,  Abraham doesn't even quibble.  He saddles his donkey.  He has the wood for the fire.  He has the fire. He has his knife.   And Isaac knew what was up because he suggests good old dad has forgotten the lamb for the sacrifice.

Abraham gets as far as laying his hand on the knife preparatory to slaying his son before God intervenes & provides the ram.  We do know the story.  Sighs of relief all round, no doubt.  But the question remains:  Why?  Why did Abraham agree to this?  After all, he's only got the one son; one son to inherit.  One son to provide descendants as numerous as the stars.  One son from whom God has promised to forge a great nation.

The answer lies in the covenant God cut.  Remember the terms of that covenant are so legally binding that they can neither be altered nor changed once the covenant has been entered into.  Abraham knows that God is obligated to raise his son from the dead in order to fulfill His promises because of the terms of the covenant!  Abraham walked in the uttermost assurance that God was irrevocably bound by the terms of the covenant He had cut.

In a deeper sense this provided a gateway for Jesus.  Could God do less than Abraham?  If Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his only son, then so too must God.  For Abraham God provided a ram, but there was no sin sacrifice, no blood than could be shed for sin except the perfect blood of Christ.

So when we speak of *The New Covenant* that God has entered into with us through Jesus Christ we need to understand the terms & conditions of that contract are irrevocable, unchangeable, unbreakable.  If we accept that Christ died for us then the terms of that covenant are ours.  We are buried in Christ.  We are made new.  Our iniquities will be remembered no more.  The life of Christ is ours. 

Abraham saw this very clearly.  He understood covenant.  He understood that the covenant promises of God are unalterable.  Because of that he could act in confident faith.  So too can we.

The Temple of the Lord ~ Haggai

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto good works." 2 Timothy 3:16~17

One of the things that I think is difficult for us, as Christians, as a people who are living in a post Messianic world, is dealing with the Old Testament scriptures.  There are two errors we are prone to.  Firstly we read them as history that doesn't pertain to us ~ & there is a place for understanding the history & context of the Old Testament scriptures.  The second is to think, "Oh well, They were under the law; we are in the age of grace now".  The problem with such thinking is that when Paul gave his injunction to Timothy about the scriptures the scriptures he was refering to were the Old Testament.  There was no New Testament!

So the trick is to read the Old Testament with a New Testament mind.  God in His goodness & grace uses symbols & types that remain absolutely consistent throughout scripture for God does not change.  We can particularly struggle when it comes to the prophets, those wonderful men of God who so consistenly upset the people of Israel they couldn't get rid of them fast enough: Isaiah they sawed in half; Jeremiah they put in the bottom of a well; Zechariah, killed by  Jerhoash near the temple altar; Amos, tortured & matyred; John beheaded; Christ, crucified...  Make no mistake.  They were pretty plain about it because the Prophet's job was always to redirect the people of God in the direction God would have them go, to direct their thoughts & hearts to the Holy one of Israel.  They proclaimed it loudly.  They proclaimed it consistently until as it says in Isaiah, the people rose up & demanded,

"See no more visions... Give us no more visions of what is right...stop confronting us with the Holy one of Israel." [30:10]

Haggai was no different.

Now Haggai was the first prophet to speak to the exiled people on their return to the land & he was called to a very specific role ~ the rebuilding of the temple after the 70 years exile.  I will discuss this briefly because the inherent symbolism is pertinent throughout this short book ~ only 2 chapters, 38 verses.

The name Haggai refers to a festival ~ & his ministry begins & ends at times of Jewish festivities.  He was among the returning Babylonian  exiles who were given permission by the Babylonian ruler to rebuild the temple , the 10th of the 12 minor prophets [the last men to speak before God prophesied through His son] & he was a contemporary of both Malachi & Zechariah.

The Jews got as far as the foundations when the ongoing squabble with the Samaratians halted progress for 16 years.   You'd think they'd get over it in 16 years but in fact the people were gripped by an enormous ennui & there the Temple sat with the foundations overgrown with weeds & nothing at all happening.  You'd think they'd get over it after 70 years in Babylon with neither their own land nor their own temple but instead they were consumed with their own interests.  It is at this point Haggai enters & declares, " Consider your ways."

We will pause here for a moment because if you want an exergisis on Haggai this is not the place.  There is an excellent one here.  Nor is this an historical study with New Testament application.  Sorry, no.  Rather we shall be looking at the symbolism because the symbolism is pertinent to all ages & all God's people no matter their country, their era, their race.  This is the universal language of the bible.  I am not saying the other is unimportant but I am saying that it is secondary to this study.

It does not require rocket science to work out the main symbol in Haggai is the Temple.  The temple was central to Jewish worship.  Prior to the exile it housed the ark of the covenant, the Urim & thummim, the ephod.  It was where the people gathered for the major festivals & sacrifices took place.  It housed the Holy of Holies.  It was a dwelling place for the Name of God.  It was the place where God dwelt among His people & every time the Temple is mentioned you have mention of God's shekinah, His glory.  It was incredibly beautiful.  David, who had wanted to build a house for the Lord & was denied, saved all his life to build & furnish the Temple. The white limestone would have dazzled in the Israeli sunshine.  There was imported Lebanon cedar to panel the walls, gold inlays, gold overlays ~ so much gold which does not tarnish the way silver does.  The best craftsmen were hired to work on the temple: stonemasons, carpenters, carvers, smiths.  No expense was spared.  There were golden bowls, golden platters, golden goblets, the wealth of a nation poured into this one place, the place where God's glory rested amongst His people.  This was Solomon's Temple, the first temple, the temple the Babylonians razed to the ground when they carted God's people off into captivity.  They were never to see its like again.

Now we know that  the Israelites did in fact rebuild the Temple. It was desecrated by Antiochus Epiphanes [nick~named *the Mad One*] & rededicated under Judas Maccabaeus then renovated by Herod so that in Jesus time it was known as Herod's Temple.  So where is the application for us?  It is found in 1 Corinthians 6:19~20 "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own;  & also in 1 Peter 2:5: ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Now if this is so, & scripture says it is so, what has Haggai to say to us? I suggest to you that many Christians are like that temple.  They are saved.  They have a firm foundation but work on their temple then halts.  For whatever reasons they do not progress in their Christian walk.  Their spiritual life stagnates.  The building goes no further.  And what does Haggai say the problem is?

Verse 2:  They procrastinate: the time is not yet.

Verse 4: They are selfish & self~involved ~ panelled houses were expensive.

Verse 6: they were dissatisfied. Nothing they did ever gave them the return they expected.

Why?  They were not honouring God.

So this is the first lesson from Haggai.  Let's get our priorities straight.  Our house, our temple, His dwelling place amongst us, is the first thing we need to put in order in our lives.  There is something else here too & it is an important something & it is a directive particularly for those in leadership roles.  Haggai directs his statements initially to Zerubbabel, the civic leader & to Joshua, the high priest.  People tend to follow as they are lead.  If the leadership is in disarray, if the leadership is in sin, if there is fault at the highest levels of a society then it will filter throughout the whole community.  Whether a leader likes it or not they set the standard by which the people will measure themselves.

Note something else, & something that is born out in the New Testament.  It is the Lord's spirit who stirs the people to act.  Sixteen years they'd done nothing.  Sixteen years they sat on their bums & ignored the unfinished work of the Lord's house but when the Lord stirred them up they began to act.  Note too that the leadership was stirred first, then the people. Both parties had to have their hearts prepared & ready but there is an order in this because God is not a God of disorder.

When we first come to the Lord, when we first taste of salvation & know that God is good, we have a fire in our bones  ~ & this is right.  That is as it should be.  Over time though the cares of this world eat away at us.  We need to hold down our jobs, run our households, discipline our children.  There are meals to cook, clothes to wash, cars to be serviced, bills to be paid.  All these things have to be done.  They need to be done. We forget Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. [1 Cor.10:31] 

Suddenly we find ourselves in a place we never expected to find ourselves having to deal with the sin & apathy that defiles our temple.  We may remember how we began & despair but listen to what the Lord says to us through Haggai.  Haggai is speaking to a people who had lived in bondage for 70 years.   Many of them were too young to remember Solomon's temple but oh! For those who did remember! How their hearts must have broken for the cedar walls,  for the gold & the limestone & all the shinning glory that was Solomon's house for the Lord his God.  The new temple, the rebuilt temple, was dowdy by comparison.  It must have seemed so empty!  No ark.  No holy fire.  No Shekinah.  No spirit of prophecy.  No urim & thummim.   It isn't a patch on the old temple & I think we sometimes feel like that too.  We come out of a time of clearing the rubble out of our spiritual lives & commence work on our temple again & we get so discouraged.  We aren't where we hoped to be.  We aren't what we hoped to be.  Sin still besets us but listen to what the Lord says.

Egypt is almost always a symbol for slavery ~ the slavery of sin ~ but "I am with you," declares the Lord. " My spirit remains among you." Now isn't that true?  And isn't it such a blessing?  And then the most wonderful promise takes place & it is particularly wonderful for us because it is addressing the end times, the post Messianic age, our age.  Haggai is talking of the heavens & the earth being shaken & I only know of one place in scripture this refers to & that is the Last days, the end times, the time before Christ's return.   " The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house!" says the Lord Almighty.  He says he's going to fill His house, us, with glory.

And then Haggai gives instructions for bringing us back into right relationship with God.  He explains that the holy can never make clean that which is unholy but what is unclean always defiles. The principle is found in Leviticus 10:10 ~ teaching between what is holy & what is unholy.   See the people were experiencing God working in their lives & they were being outwardly obedient but they were still a sinful people & their sin was defiling their work so God's blessing was withheld.  They still needed to deal with the sin in their lives, to confess & repent.

We are almost to the end but there is yet one thing more & I'm not sure it isn't the most wonderful thing of all in this short little book that holds so much promise.  The promise starts "From this day on I will bless you".  Then Haggai starts talking again about the heavens & the earth being shaken, about the kingdoms being overthrown, about rulers being overturned & then he says the oddest thing.  "On that day I will take you, my servant, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, & I will make you my signet ring for I have chosen you."  Do you ever read this stuff & go, Whaaat?  Turn with me to Matthew.  Matthew 1:12.  This is so exciting.  It reads Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel... Haggai sees, sees not the literal Zerubbabel but the seed of Zerabbabel, Zurabbabel who is in the physical lineage of Christ, Christ who is the Father's signet ring, his seal upon the world, his seal upon believers.

Now this last prophecy took place during the Feast of Tabernacles.  We know this because Haggai dated all his prophecies accurately so we know Haggai delivered this message on October 17th 520 BC.  It is his final message delivered on the last day  of a festival which was the last in the religious calendar for the year; a festival that celebrated the autumn harvest, the ingathering of the crops & the remembrance of the 40 years in the desert when God provided for His people Himself.  Every day of this festival the priest went to the Gihon river & filled a golden pitcher with water from the river.  He then returned to the temple & poured that whole pitcherful of water over the altar.  It was a very graphic visual reminder of God's provision & of how he provided water in a dry land.  The people have been reminded of that. Then Haggai prophecies. Now come forward to the gospel of John [7:37] & we see Jesus at this same feast, celebrating these same truths & on the last day of this feast, a feast that sees water poured over the altar, Christ says, "If a man is thirsty, let him come to me & drink." John goes on to explain that Jesus meant the spirit, a spirit that had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified!

Do you see, friends?  We are God's temple, a temple whose glory is greater than that of Solomon's because the glory of Christ, God made man, resides in us.  So let us consider our ways, prayerfully, thoughtfully & if there be any uncleanliness in us let the light of God's Holy Spirit shine on it & cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The geanology of Jesus.

When we look at the genealogy of Jesus we often dismiss it as unimportant. Our eyes glaze with boredom. To us the genealogy of Jesus is irrelevant but as it has been included as part of Scripture the Holy Spirit felt it was significant & as such we need to consider both its importance & its relevance for us.

There are some wonderful things to be gleaned from the more difficult passages of scripture & we shouldn’t simply relegate them to the too hard basket because we consider them to bedifficult.

This is by no means an exhaustive study but I would like to highlight some aspects of Jesus’ genealogy. I will be referring to the genealogies as listed in both Matthew & Luke but the main emphasis will be on Matthew. At this point I will point out that 1st century Jews, who could have contended either Matthew or Luke’s genealogical claims, do not, infact, do so.

Matthew emphasises Jesus’ royalty;  Luke emphasises Christ’s humanity & this is reflected in their genealogies. Matthew was the gospel written by a Jew for other Jews. Its purpose was to fully win the Jews for Christ to fulfil Romans 1:16 – ‘’To the Jew first, & also to the Greek.’’  Matthew sets out to show Jesus is the legal heir to the throne of David by virtue of the lineage of his legal father,  Joseph.  Social position & religious identity were defined from one’s family geneaology.

Because Jesus was born into Joseph’s family he was a legal heir & he therefore has a legal right to David’s throne. Joseph’s was a priestly lineage so Jesus is also entitled to serve as priest. The first born son, natural or adopted, had the right of inheritance.

Matthew’s genealogy is broken into three parts consisting of 14 generations. Not every link has been included. A cursory study shows a discrepancy between the time frame & the number of generations. This should not trouble us unduly. Firstly the object is to show the direct genealogy of Jesus from Abraham & as such it is a legal document. Secondly it was to show the fulfilment of biblical prophecy. Thirdly begat refers to a direct physical lineage, from parent to child. The first 14 generations cover from Abraham to King David’s reign. This is the origin of David’s House & line. The second 14 generations cover the rise & decline of David’s House, from the establishment of his kingdom to the Babylonian captivity. The third 14 generations begins with the release of the captives from Babylon & ends with Christ.

David’s line has been eclipsed, shattered, but from the stump of the glory that was once David’s a twig shoots forth; Jesus Christ.The Jews kept detailed genealogical records. Firstly & fore mostly property rights were linked to family inheritance, as was the priestly role. Families who could not trace their family had no inheritance in the nation of Israel. They were treated as dispossessed foreigners. Neither could one serve as a priest if they could not prove their right to do so through their family lineage.

Note that Matthew is very clear in his intent. He begins by stating that this is the genealogy of Jesus Christ. It is a record of Jesus’ ancestry & as a Jew the author of Matthew had access to the detailed Jewish records to prove his claims. Jesus is the Latin rendition of the Greek Iesous, which comes from the Hebrew Jeshua. Jeshua is a contraction of the name Jehoshua which means Jehovah is salvation. Jeshua puts the stress on the verb thus rendering the meaning as He will certainly save. To the personal name Matthew adds the official title Christ, from the Hebraic, Messiah which means ordained, set apart, qualified. Thus Matthew is saying that the one of whom he speaks is qualified & set apart to save. He leaves no doubt that he believes that Jesus is the prophesied Messiah.

Matthew systematically addresses a number of issues that are raised in the gospel accounts of Jesus life, concerning his ancestry. Matthew13:54-58 his community thinks they know who he is – Joseph & Mary’s son, with brothers & sisters. Matthew clearly shows Jesus to be Mary’s son but Joseph is not his physical father. John 7:40-41 Jesus is accused of not fulfilling prophecy because he is not from Bethlehem; Matthew disproves this claim. In John8:41 claims of illegitimacy are made against Jesus; Matthew renounces those accusations by showing how Joseph is legally Jesus earthly father.

We are familiar with The English term begat. This verb refers to a father’s acquisition ofoffspring through the depositing of seed so indicates physical descent. From Abraham to Joseph this verb traces the lineage but note the careful way Matthew describes Joseph’s relationship to Jesus. It is done in such a way as to preclude the possibility of Joseph being considered Jesus physical father.

The genealogical records prove how prophecy has been fulfilled. This could only be done by keeping detailed & accurate genealogical records. Adam (Genesis3:15) Abraham(Genesis22:18) Judah (Genesis 49:10 Jesse (Isaiah 11:1-10) & David (2Samuel7:12-13) were all promised an inclusion in the Messiah’s line. Between them Matthew & Luke include all 5 of these names. We will look at the discrepancies between the lists shortly.

Now it doesn’t take any sort of a biblical genius to realize there are differences between the lists of names given in the gospels of Matthew & Luke. You will possibly hear arguments disputing the truth of these accounts but the most logical reason to my mind, & the one supported by early church fathers such as Origen, Irenaeus, Tertuillian, Athanasius & Justin Martyr, is that Matthew’s account gives Jesus genealogy through Joseph, his father by law, & Luke’s account gives Jesus genealogy through his mother, Mary. Jewishness, even today, is always inherited through the mother. While a child’s paternity maybe doubtful, their maternity is rarely in dispute. To be born of a Jewish woman is to beconsidered Jewish. If your mother isn’t Jewish, nor are you. One reason for this was that women were more likely than men to marry a gentile.

To be considered Jewish, the messiah, a descendent of David, Jesus’ Jewishness had to be established. This is important as it is obvious to even the most casual reader of the bible that Jesus’ family tree contains many foreigners, such as Tamar, Rahab & Ruth, who are not direct descendants of Abraham.Unusually Scripture includes 5 women in Jesus genealogy. It was not customary for Jews to include women. Luke states that Jesus was the son of Heli. Son in this context simply means descendant. The Jerusalem Talmud indicates Mary was the daughter of Heli. Thus Jesus is a descendant of Heli & considered a son in Jewish law. Moreover it would appear that Mary had no brothers so she inherited her father’s portion. This would also have meant that Joseph was reckoned amongst his wife’s family as a son. Whether traced through Joseph’s line or Mary’s Jesus could claim descent from the royal line of David.

I will just briefly mention the so called ‘curse of Jehoiachim’’ because some scholars argue this negates Jesus entire genealogy. Jeremiah 22:30 says that none of Jehoiachim’s offspring shall succeed in sitting on the throne of David. This is immediately followed in the next chapter by a promise for the continuity of the line of David. Therefore it is reasonable to assume that the curse was not for all time & only applied to Jehoiachim & his immediate family. It does not say that the royal line will be obliterated. There is a difference in being ‘written of as childless’, & not being allowed to rule successfully to a lineage being completely obliterated which does not appear to have been the case. It is necessary to read the scriptures very carefully to ensure that the facts have been interpreted correctly.

Throughout the old testament God gradually narrows the criteria for the promised Messiah so that we should know him for certain: Jewish, of the tribe of Judah, of David’s line. To this day Jews will argue that Jesus did not fulfil all the requirements to be the Messiah yet Jesus himself told them they did not understand their own scriptures.

What are some of the things we can learn from studying Jesus genealogy? We are all familiar with the "greats’’ of Jesus line: David, Abraham, Solomon but note the greatest sinners & most evil of kings are also listed there: Joram, who allowed his wife Athaliah to murder the males of the royal family & whose reign was marked by a restoration of the worship of Baal & revolts by Edom & Libya; Ahaz, whose licentiousness & wickedness squandered the kingdom built by his father & grandfather & brought Israel into subjection to Assyria; He burnt his own sons to Molech & plundered the temple & his own palace before closing the temple completely. The people buried him in a commoner’s grave as not being fit to be buried with the kings of Israel; Amon, whose reign was marked by moral depravity & idolatry & who was assassinated by his own servants.

We should learn that The Jews boasted of their descent from Abraham but their boast is empty. They gloried in the flesh but salvation comes from above, not from below. We have already mentioned 5 women are named in the genealogies. All could be accused of harlotry. The case against Ruth is obscure & not to the point in this discussion. They include 2 Cannanites, (Tamar & Rahab), Ruth the Moabite, Bathsheba from an elite Jewish family & the first woman to gain the title ‘’Great Lady’’ & Mary, the mother of Jesus.

We should remember that Salvation is for the whole world, men & women, Jew & gentile. As we read through the list of names many of them will mean little or nothing to us. It does not matter. They were important to God in order that he might accomplish his purposes. That should give us great encouragement. We may think of ourselves as small & insignificant in the scheme of things but if we are God's then we are important to him & he will neither forget us nor disown us.

Lastly as we read through this list of names one thing becomes increasingly evident; good, bad, or indifferent, male or female, rich or poor, all have fallen short of the glory of God & stand in need of Salvation, just as we too do. God, in his great & abundant mercy, sent his own son to bring us into salvation. This is what we remember at Christmas time. Despite the pagan trappings Christianity has taken to itself, despite the consumerism of our age, despite the fact we celebrate the wrong date for Christ’s birth, what we remember & celebrate during this season is that God came down to dwell amongst men & because of this reconciliation between God & mankind was made possible. To God be the glory. Amen.

Christmas

Let us pray: Father your word tells us that all scripture is inspired by you & profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness. It is living & active, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing to the division of soul & spirit, of joints & marrow, & discerning the thoughts & intentions of the heart. May we have a mind to hear your word this morning Lord & a teachable heart that your word may truly be a lamp to our feet & a light to our path. Amen


We are coming into the Christmas season – again. It is a story told so often it is grown stale, so what do you think of when you think of Christmas? Is it of lights and puddings? Of tinsel and presents under the tree? Do you think of family descending like a swarm of hornets? Do you fret at all the things that must be done between now & then? Do you anticipate its arrival with pleasure or dread? Do you think of Christ? Do you think of a baby & a stable? Do you think of the shepherds out on the hills tending their flocks or of the magi travelling many years for just one glimpse of the child their stars foretold? Perhaps.


More & more when I think of Christmas, I think of the cross. You see you cannot have one without the other and it is a great mistake to sentimentalise Christmas. It robs Christmas of its power & detracts from Gods glory. We think of Christmas as a beginning & that is just not true. Christmas is the midpoint in God’s story, the pivotal point, the point at which everything changes so there are a number of things I’d like us to consider as we travel through this Christmas season.


Firstly let us consider what was of such great importance that God came in person to earth to say it. Now we Christians are very fond of telling non believers that God loves them and that is true. God does love them. He grieves over them. We are told in Luke 15:7 there is great rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents & Jesus himself tells the story of the shepherd who looked for the lost lamb until it was found.


However, turn to Matthew 4 starting at verse 12 & finishing at verse 17. Listen carefully. We have behind us Jesus coming to John to be baptised. We have the temptation of Jesus by Satan. Then we come to the arrest of John & from that point on Jesus commences his official ministry. Now when He heard that John had been arrested, He withdrew into Galilee: & leaving Nazareth He went & dwelt in Capernaum by the sea in the territory of Zebulon & the land of Naphtali toward the sea across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles – the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, & for those who sat in the region & shadow of death, light has dawned. From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ‘Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ So what does he say? God loves you? No! & no again! The first word of Jesus ministry is REPENT! Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.


Mark is generally considered to be based on the testimony of Peter and in the first chapter verse 15 the same theme is repeated – The time is fulfilled, & the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, & believe in the gospel.


Now as well brought up Christians I’m sure each & every one of you has prayed some version of the ‘sinner’s prayer’, confessing all known sin to God the father & asking Jesus Christ to come into your heart. So far so good, but there is more to repentance than that. The original Greek word is metanoeo & it means to have another mind. It indicates a radical change of mind & heart, one that leads to a completely changed life.


Now to have another mind is to be more than sorry you have done wrong. It is more than being sorry you have been caught doing wrong. It is to think differently about that wrongness. Indeed it is to see wrongness as God sees it, as sin, and to loathe it as God loathes it.


In scripture directives are not usually either negative or passive. They are active & positive. We are meant to do something. Therefore if we are to have another mind what sort of mind should we have? Romans 12:2 says therefore do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good, & acceptable & perfect. As Christ’s disciples shouldn’t we want to know his will? I suggest to you we are meant to have the mind of God & since this is obviously not our natural state it is something that we must cultivate. How do we do this? I will give you just two verses that show us most clearly how we are to go about cultivating the mind of God. Philipians 4:8 – Whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. If we took this verse seriously we might have to make some changes in our t.v viewing, our choice of music, our light reading, our computer activities. Yes, it makes a difference to our entire way of thinking.


Our second verse is found in 2 Chorinthians 10: 5 – we destroy arguments & every proud obstacle to the knowledge of God, & take every thought captive to obey Christ. In other words get rid of anything that hinders your understanding of God & hold everything up to the light of scripture that you may think & act & be as Christ. This is not hard to understand, only to obey. Our natural inclination is to do anything but what scripture tells us to do. This is hard work. It is demanding work. Our minds are constantly scampering off after rabbits. Paul constantly exhorts believers to act as soldiers or athletes, practising self control & self discipline, but dearly beloved Jesus said it first. Luke 12:35 Let your loins be girded & your lamps burning, & be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the marriage feast, so that they may open to him at once when he comes & knocks.


We have heard over the year how God honours a broken & contrite spirit, a heart that grieves over its wickedness & longs for righteousness. We have heard how we are to be holy because God is holy & we are his people, his priests, his flock. It is a war that begins in the mind & heart for what possesses the mind governs the heart. Way back in Proverbs God says As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Jesus is very clear about this for it is he who says for out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. Matthew 15:19. A heart set on these things, a heart set on the foolish things of the world that perish & fade away is a heart that can not receive the good news that Jesus came to impart. A repentant heart is necessary before God’s love can truly penetrate. One of the saddest things is a Christian who does not fully understand repentance & cultivates a heart that truly desires the things of God. They may be saved, they may have the Holy Spirit residing in them but their life does not reflect the joy, the abundance, the holiness that comes with wholehearted capitulation to their saviour. Instead they are constantly hampered by the things of this world & their hearts seek after those things also. It is not for nothing that Jesus warns us that we cannot serve two masters.


This was such an important message, so central to Jesus whole ministry that Satan did everything in his power to prevent it. You do not find Satan & his cohorts disputing about whether or not Jesus Christ is God. They know exactly who he is & tremble. They are forced to obey him; his power is greater than theirs, his authority overrules their authority. They are right to fear. The least believer who is wholly God’s also has this power.


Just how seriously Satan took this threat can be found in the second chapter of Matthew. We do ourselves a great disservice when we end the Christmas story where we usually do, with the adoration of the Magi. Certainly Herod was a wicked man. He was capable, crafty & cruel. Certainly the Jews had a reputation for insurgence, insurrection & revolt. One quite sees Herod’s dilemma when he is told of a ruler being born in Bethlehem. His position, his power, is threatened & certainly falling foul of the Roman authorities was no joke. Herod is a man without God & ripe for Satan’s prodding. The threat to Satan is so great he pushes Herod into massacring all the male children two years old or younger in an effort to eradicate just one child, the child, God’s child. We are witnessing here the climax of a battle that began aeons before in Heaven’s courts when Satan first sought to be as God. He is thrown from heaven to earth, where he has ruled because the hearts of men are desperately wicked. Man too thought to be as God. Now all that is about to end. Satan knows it. He is desperate. He knows to what final end he & all his minions will come. He is fighting for his life.


And we wrap this life and death struggle up in tinsel & hang it under a tree! At this point in history everything changes & hangs suspended in the balance. Satan has a firm grip on the world & he is not about to let go for any consideration. To do so would be fatal. But God so loved the world he sent his son. His dearly beloved son. His one & only son. His message is clear – Repent! Heaven has come to earth.


Now we must be very clear at this point. You will be thinking of the angels singing Glory to God in the highest & peace towards man on earth. You will be thinking that Christ came to reconcile man to God - & so he did – but reconciliation begins with repentance. Without repentance there can be no reconciliation. Nor is repentance a one off, something that achieves our salvation & nothing else. It is an ongoing process as day by day we examine ourselves in the light of scripture, training ourselves to cultivate the new mind, the new man, the anointing of the holy spirit on our lives because God by his grace has put his Holy Spirit to reside in us & now our very bodies are a temple for the Holy Spirit. God truly is with us!


Repentance frees God’s grace to work in us. Nor is it meant to be a glib little recitation of those sins we can remember. It is not meant to be a minor, boring, mindless act but deep major surgery of the heart. After all, our hearts will argue, we aren’t bad people. I haven’t committed murder recently. Have you? What about adultery? Grand theft? Na, not today. Well, what about loving God with ALL your heart? Ah, now there’s the rub. We are all sinners & all have fallen short of the glory of God because our puny little selves fail to understand this is the first commandment for a reason. If we love God as we should then we will act the way God wants us to act. Psalm 111 says the fear of God (fear here meaning reverence) is the beginning of wisdom. We can neither know him nor obey him if we do not examine our lives by his standards – not our standards, not the world’s standards, not even other Christian’s standards, but God’s standards - & make those radical changes that put God rather than ourselves at the centre of our lives & give to him the first place, which is rightfully his.


God’s work of grace would have ended before it had even begun in Bethlehem 2000 years ago if Satan had had his way. Yet God was determined to make reconciliation to himself possible. His sacrifice had been chosen from before the foundation of the world, a sacrifice who was obedient even unto death.


Secondly Christmas has become the season of gift giving. For Christians it is symbolic of the Gift our Heavenly father gave to us that first Christmas but God did not give us a sweet little baby in a manger, though he arrived in the usual human way. God gave us a saviour, a redeemer, a high priest who has been tested in every way just as we are, a high priest who understands our weaknesses & is prepared to testify (& is entitled to testify) before the throne of heaven on our behalf. God’s gift was not a star, a manger, a baby crying in the night. God’s gift was a cross. His son hung there for us. The entire Old Testament moves towards this moment in time that by his stripes we could be healed.


Jesus was born that long ago night that he might suffer for our iniquities, bear the penalty for our sin in his body & be separated from his beloved father that we might no longer be separated. In so doing Jesus broke Satan’s hold on this world as well as the hold he had over the hearts & minds of men. Just how thorough this breaking is is revealed on the cross.


You remember Jesus did not die alone. Two thieves were crucified with him & they vilified him even as they were dying. There were the soldiers and the bystanders, the merely curious & the anguished, like Mary & John. Jesus has born the mockery, the beating, the nails, the humiliation. He has hung for hours in the blazing sun fighting for every breath. You know the story. Jesus is close to the end of his earthly human life. He is coming to that point where God the father turns away from him & he gives vent to the anguished cry, ‘My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?’


Yet just before this you see the grace of God extended. One of the two thieves repents. He acknowledges his sin & that his penalty is just. He also acknowledges that Jesus is who he has always claimed to be.


‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’


And what does Jesus say to him? ‘Truly, truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.’ Jesus has not yet cried, ‘it is finished’ & given up his spirit into his Father’s hands yet he gives this promise. What an amazing saviour we have. This thief, dying, repentant, is fully reconciled to God. Where God the son is, there will he be also, in Paradise. Satan no longer has any claim on him, death cannot hold him. He is enabled to stand confidently before the throne of God, saved, not through any merit of his own, but by the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ. And the world is never the same again! Oh, Satan has a little while yet to bring death & destruction but his power is broken. Jesus broke it that day on the cross.


What God promises he always completes. We would do well to keep that thought firmly in mind every day of our earthly existence because the act of redemption is finished. Jesus has achieved all he set out to achieve on the cross but he has also promised to return. When he does it will not be as a helpless babe. It will not be as the sacrifice to reconcile man to God. He will come to judge the living & the dead. He will judge the world. He will separate those who belong to him from all the rest.


Lastly God’s desire is always to draw us closer to himself. He desires the intimate relationship of lovers who cannot bear to be apart from each other. If you doubt this read the Song of Songs. Having redeemed us God wants to bless us from the abundance of his storehouse. Sin separates us from God; repentance brings us back into a right relationship. Right relationship always brings blessing. Draw near to me, God promises, & I will draw near to you. The bible is full of promises of what God will do for those who love his name.


Christmas. A time of gift-giving. A time to remember what has been given to us. Jesus gave up heaven for us. He took on a human body for us. He was separated from his father for us. This Christmas let us give ourselves totally to the one who has done so much for us. Let us develop a radical change of heart, fixing our thoughts firmly on Jesus & what he wants of us. Let us no longer be distracted by the temptations of this world but become wholly the Lord’s. Let us take captive every thought till all our thoughts are those Jesus would have us have, for when our thoughts are right our actions will follow suit & we will begin to live more & more as Christ would have us live. Let us gird up our loins & prepare for battle, because it is a battle. Let us not be afraid to be radical for Christ, to love him wholeheartedly, undeterred by what others may think of us. And finally may we not be afraid to share this gift with others. It is the greatest gift of all.

Last Man Standing: the Laodicean church.

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. Revelation 3:20
Laodicea.  Last man standing.  The church of the end times. The church that received a scathing condemnation from our Lord.  The church of our times.  And what was Laodicea's great crime?  Lukewarmness. 

We in the west, with centuries of Christianity behind us, are very comfortable with our religion ~ & we don't like to be discomfited but hear what Christ says, "Behold, I stand at the door & knock!"  Spoken, not to unbelievers but to believers, believers who considered themselves spiritually mature, spiritually rich, spiritually wise.

Now it is one thing to know what the bible says.  It is another thing entirely to understand it ~ & it is a third thing altogether to see how the lessons for the Laocidean church apply to us in this present age.  And let's be blunt.  From the Laocidean point of view things looked pretty good.  They belonged to a "rich" church situated in a sophisticated, cosmopolitan city that had benefited from the trade that passed along the 3 major highways. They minted their own coinage, had their own banks.  The city was part of the Roman aqueduct system with schools in medicine & the arts & they had a thriving commerce built around the the exceptionally fine soft black wool for which it was famous throughout the Empire.

Note something else also.  Laodicea does not stand accused of any of the sins of the flesh; not adultery, not fornication, not pornography, not drunkenness nor incest.  They do not stand accused of false doctrine nor of heresy & yet this is the church of whom Christ says he will vomit them out of His mouth!  Because they have no passion.  Because they have no zeal.  Because they have no enthusiasm. This ennui, this smugness  has resulted in something far worse.  This is a church that has forgotten its first responsibility.

 You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? ... You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid... Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.[Matt. 5:13 ~ 16]

The Laodicean church is a church that has lost its savour.  Rather than teaching the world to conform to Christ, the church is conforming to the world.    Rather than separating from the world, they embrace it. They are neither out in the world evangelizing, nor are they completely separating from the world.

 The very first thing the church is, if it is anything at all, is a peculiar people set apart for the use & purpose of the Lord God.  That is the meaning of sanctification.  That is why we are told to pursue holiness.  We are vessels of the Living God.  We are temples for the Holy Spirit. We are pilgrims & sojourners.  This is not our home, not our final destination.  We are meant for something else but if we deny our high calling we are fit neither for this world nor for the world to come!  And Christ is very clear; He will spit such a people out of His mouth!  Not if, not maybe; He will do it!

Now this passage of scripture is deep & rich with symbolism so bear with me as we unravel some of the hidden secrets of this passage.

The first thing to deal with is the speaker, whom we know from earlier passages to the other 6 churches is Christ Himself.  Here He identifies Himself as the Amen, the faithful & true, the ruler of God's creation. The Jewish Talmud Shabbat 1196 renders the original meaning of amen as EL MELECK NE'EMAN, an acrostic for God is a trustworthy king.  It refers back to Isaiah 65:16 He who blesses himself shall bless himself in the God of truth.  Christ presents himself as king & ruler ~ a king & ruler who is not very impressed with His subjects!

You say you are:
 ........................rich [referring to spiritual riches]
Christ informs them that they are spiritually blind
.........................wretched [in bondage to sin]
.........................miserable [in need of God's mercy, mercy they will not receive]
.........................Poor [lacking in love & power]
.........................naked [a metaphor for unconfessed, unrepentant sin, usually idolatry ~ in this case the worship of man through science & humanism, as was the Greek way.]

Hear what Christ says!  Buy from me gold...white clothes...salve. Buy!  This is not *cheap grace*.  The Laocideans are told it is going to cost them ~ & cost them dearly!  They are going to have to get serious about their sin.  They are going to have to get out of their comfort zone & get serious with God.

So what exactly is Christ telling them to do?  Firstly the *gold* is the sort mentioned in 2nd Chronicles, the sort Daniel knew, the sort Christ Himself acquired, the gold of humbleness.  Now humbleness is not, biblically speaking, running round like Uriah Heep.    Humbleness is knowing we can do nothing without God & our acknowledgement of that comes in one simple way: prayer!  When we are serious about prayer we combine it with fasting.  Prayer & fasting, that is to humble ourselves.  That is to put aside our everyday selves to focus on God alone. It is sacrificial & it costs the person who practises it something in terms of time & comfort.  It indicates a commitment to their walk with God.  For a rich church like Laodicea giving alms is often a substitute for sacrificial living & requires very little of the person in terms of personal sacrifice. Not good enough!  Nowhere near good enough.  The first commandment is to love God with all we have & are. That means more than giving out of the largess that is ours from God in the first place!

The second thing that needs to be bought is white garments.  Now remember the Laocidean church is a rich church & it is in the heart of *black wool* country ~ a wool renowned throughout the empire for its exceptional softness & fineness.  Many in the Laocidean congregation would have owned garments from this fine black wool.  Bit like owning a designer dress.  They are being asked to exchange their old *designer* life for the new one, one characterised by a life governed by the Spirit, one wherein they exchange sin for righteousness.

There is yet a third thing they need to buy ~ salve for their eyes that they might see.  Laodicea had a school of medicine & produced many salves.  The one mentioned here is kollourion which was shaped like small loaves. Anoint [egkrisai ~ literally *rub in*] your eyes with the bread (of life).  The symbolism is there.  In other words fill your mind with scripture.  Keep it always before your eyes.  Meditate on it.  This is what will work through your whole body to bring sight & healing!

To this last of churches, so self deluded, so blinded they are completely unaware of their true spiritual condition, Christ says, "I stand at the door & knock..." the 2nd verb suggests a continious ongoing action because despite everything this is still a church Christ loves & thus He also disciplines it. It is there in the name.  Laocidea comes from two Greek words that, as so often happens in scripture, can have two meanings: peoples' opinions [ie a church where each one is doing what seems right in their own eyes & not what scripture deems right] & a people judged.  Says it all really.  When the church reaches this level of self delusion Christ will act to cleanse & purify it. The church brings judgement on itself.

It is no easy thing to be a member of  the Laocidean church. It is difficult to survive in a climate of spiritual apathy.  It is hard to retain your zeal & fire for the Lord when no~one else is at all enthusiastic but Christ exhorts us to be zealous & for those who overcome He promises the right to sit with Him on His throne.

 Laodicea was so self deceived they could not see their way, nor their danger.  As the end times church we are warned to read the signs of the times, to repent, to prepare, to be ready.  Christ will come.  He is hurrying to meet the bride prepared for him from before the dawn of time.

Come, Lord Jesus, Come.

Hungering & thirsting after righteousness.

In 2nd Chronicals we read: if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves & pray & seek my face & turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven & will forgive their sin & heal their land. Scripture doesn’t get much clearer than that. The very first step always begins with ourselves. We, the ecclesia, the church, the body of Christ, the people of God are partakers in a process of sanctification that will fit us for heaven. Remember, without holiness none of us will see God & on our own merit we have nothing to recommend us. All our righteousness is as filthy rags.


This message is for those who bear God’s name. Christians very identifiably bear God’s name. It is a hard message when we look at the world around us but some of the hardest messages in scripture are not for the ungodly who are behaving as their worldly nature dictates but for God’s people who are not behaving according to their new nature. All around us we see the results of a world deep in sin. I have heard the hunger in people’s hearts to make a difference, to reach out & minister, to bring the gospel light into hearts drowned in darkness ~ & these are good desires, Godly desires. Only one thing impedes us: ourselves. I will tell you plainly, God will not use a dirty vessel. In the world we have rules & there are consequences to breaking them. Science is governed by a set of laws & you break them at your peril. The same is true of spiritual matters. There is a sequence to be followed. God is not addressing just anybody. He is addressing His people. If you call yourself a Christian then you are very particularly God’s child. He knows your name & he has a purpose for you that no~one else can accomplish so when he speaks specifically to His people you had best prick up your ears & listen.


One of the hardest things I think for any Christian but especially for one who has been a Christian for a number of years is to remember that they are a sinner saved by grace. Now I do not mean this in the theological sense. We all know that if we say we have no sin the truth is not in us. Satan is much more subtle than that. How fatally easy it is to compare ourselves to our unsaved neighbour & subtly think ourselves better than they are. The truth is we are not & there but for the grace of God go you or I. I mention this because the first spiritual perquisite is humbleness. A humble & contrite heart God will not despise. Humbleness allows us to see ourselves as we truly are. Only then can we move to the 2nd step & pray with a genuine heart, an honest heart, a heart that will break for its own lack of purity.


Prayer is a seeking God’s face & when we do this truthfully our sinful state is revealed to us. Painful as it might be it is necessary in order to accomplish the third step, which is to turn away from our wicked ways. Sin blocks us from God’s grace & blessings. Only when we see sin as God sees it can we turn from our sin, repent, and enable God to act effectively in our lives & the lives of those we seek to reach.


God is under no obligation to hear the prayers of sinners & unbelievers so if His people will not stand in the gap & intercede on the world’s behalf then no~one will. If we are not prepared to cleanse ourselves then our prayers are of no avail. How much hangs on our obedience! Look at the little word then. It is only after we have humbled ourselves, only after we have prayed, only after we have sought God, then, & only then does God act. Then he hears from Heaven. Then he offers forgiveness. Then he heals. We in Australia have been abundantly blessed by the Lord with material things ~ & in many ways that is a great pity because we have not so much desired spiritual blessings. Can it be said of us, ‘I know your works. You are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So because you are lukewarm I will spew you out of my mouth. The word spew is emeo ~ to vomit, as in to heave out violently. It speaks of utter revulsion. In short, lukewarm Christians make Christ sick. Remember this admonition was given to believers, believers too who thought that they were spiritually rich.


Friends, the time for complacency is long past. The time for hankering after the things of the world is past. We have prospered materially but have we prospered spiritually? The very first commandment is to love God. This is not the sort of spirituality we have grown accustomed to, the sort that says moderation in all things & discourages passionate people as zealots. That is worldly thinking. Our standard is to be a scriptural standard & what does scripture say? To love God with ALL our heart, & ALL our mind, & ALL our strength. Scripture is clear that there are no unregenerate hearts in heaven. All who enter therein are there only by the grace of God & the shed blood of Christ in whom they have trusted. God wants our passion & why not? He is very passionate about us.


We must be very clear as to what the scriptures say for "not everyone who says, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into Heaven.’’ Again this is an admonition that was addressed to those who identified themselves as God’s people. And what does God say? "Depart from me for I never knew you.’’ These were people who might have expected to find themselves in the kingdom. They were exercising spiritual gifts. They were acting in God’s name. They caste out demons & performed miracles but they had unregenerate hearts.


Now I have not brought these scriptures to your attention to point fingers or sit in judgement. Scripture says we are to search ourselves before God & assess our spiritual condition. Some of the tools for doing this are to be found in the first epistle of John & I shall address those 11 points in the 2nd half of this message. I admit to a weakness for the writings of John but then I’m a lit major & the beauty of the language makes the difficulties of the epistle irrelevant so I am much indebted to John MacArthur who has helped me categorise & clarify this wonderful little book that addresses the issue of how to assess our spiritual state & know that we have been truly converted. God, in his grace & mercy, doesn’t want us floundering around fretting as to whether we are saved or not. He wants us to have complete assurance, as those first apostles did, & so John sets out a list of attributes of the person who has experienced genuine salvation. Jonathon Edwards calls these attributes ‘holy affections’.


Now I am going to be brief so earnestly encourage you to study this for yourselves. So what are these holy affections? You can follow through in the epistle starting with Chapter 1 verses 2 & 3 where John speaks of fellowship with Christ & the father. All true believers evidence love of God & his son Jesus Christ. In Galations Paul describes it thus: It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. Is it Christ who lives in you? Are you drawn into communion with the one who loved you enough to die for you?


Two. Are we sensitive to the sin in our own lives. Not other people’s sins but our own & the sin in the world around us. If Christ lives in us then our sin grieves the Holy Spirit & we will be impelled to address our sin, confess it & seek God’s cleansing. Do we look forward to that time when Christ will completely free us from the burden of sin?


Three. Chapter 2. By this we know we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. God desires our obedience. It is tangible proof of our love for him. This is obedience of the heart & mind, a gracious surrendering of the self to Christ & not legalism.


Four. 2:15 defines the world. It & everything in it belongs to Satan. The Greek term for the word world is kosmos & it implies false religion, errant philosophy, immorality, crime, materialism & all the rest of it. You see & hear it all around you on R------ Island on any day of the week. Christians do not love the world, nor do they love the things that belong to the world. The regenerated man hungers for the things of God.


Five: Do you eagerly anticipate Christ’s return? 3:3 ‘We know we will be like Christ, changed in an inkling.’ True believers long for this, hope for it know it for our true destiny. We know our citizenship is in heaven.


6: Chapter 3: moving on from verse 3. Sin is complete lawlessness. The Greek term is anomia & it means to live as if there were no law, no absolute right or wrong. That we have been saved from the bondage of sin does not give us license to sin. Rather it creates a desire in us for holiness. A decreasing pattern of sin coupled with an increasing desire for holiness is a sign of the new life, of Christ abiding in us.


7: Our love for our fellow believers is another sign of the new life in us. Jesus himself said that this is how we will know that we are the redeemed ~ by the love we have one for another.


8: Are you experiencing answered prayer? Remember we discussed earlier that sin blocks our communication line to God. If we are experiencing answered prayer we can be assure our communication is free from sin. Psalm 66: 18 tells us that God doesn’t even hear the prayers of those who don’t know him.


9: 4:13 Then there is the ministry of the Holy Spirit. He illuminates scripture, brings scripture to mind when we need it, leads us into praise & worship, points us towards Jesus. John actually calls the 10th sign a test. The church’s lack of strong teaching & deception into worldly thinking & relativism on this point is responsible for much trouble amongst Christians but the sheep know the shepherd’s voice & are able to discern spiritual error. For us, with so many lay preachers up the front, this is a primary concern. The spirit of God helps us discern error & false teaching. People, it is imperative you know your scriptures & discern the teaching & leading you hear from up here.


Lastly, have you suffered persecution for your devotion to Christ? Even in a world sliding fast towards the gates of Hell we in the west are unlikely to be martyred for our faith but there are plenty of subtle ways we may be persecuted. Are you mocked for refusing to party to excess with friends or neighbours? For not participating in certain activities? For attending church each week? This is as it should be. Those who belong to the world live & act according to the world & because they love the darkness they hate both the light & those who belong to the light. If you are persecuted, rejoice! It is Godly assurance of your salvation.


It is really very simple in the end. Those who belong to the world are like their father, the Devil, & their character & behaviour reflects to whom they belong. The flip side of this is that those who belong to God are also marked with the characteristics of their Heavenly father. Dearly beloved, may I encourage you today to seek a more passionate walk with our Lord & Saviour, a greater personal holiness, a deeper commitment. Why? Firstly because God desires it & that should be all the requirement we need but secondly it is mesmerizing. Jesus is the holiest man who has ever lived & sinners flocked to him like moths to a candle flame. They couldn’t resist him. If we truly desire to reach the unsaved we don’t need more programmes, more outreach, more anything except more personal holiness. Only Christ can make us more holy but we must actively thirst & hunger after that righteousness for then all else will be added unto us. That is the promise.

Considering Job.

This study opened with an Erma Bombeck quote. A version of the story can be found here: www.bellaonline.com/articles/art19818.asp - 21k -
Let us just rest quietly in the presence of the Lord & prepare our hearts & minds that we might truely focus on the Lord our God..Reading Job 38:4 ~ 83It is of that tear I wish to speak




.My face is red with weeping & on my eyelids is deep darkness.The night is long & I am full of tossing till the dawn.I am allotted months of emptiness and nights of misery are apportioned to me.Let the day perish wherein I was born.My heart faints within me.My soul is poured out within me!The night wracks my bones and the pain that gnaws at me takes no rest.




When we are deep in the dark night of the soul, in anguish & grieving so deeply we feel as if our flesh is being rendered, as women we tend to let our emotions rip. It hurts is our natural response. We want to be made better. We want the hurt to go away.




Now I grant you a study on the book of Job is an odd choice for Mother’s Day but it is not only what the Lord has laid on my heart to share but so many of us are walking the deep valleys at the moment. Our hearts ache. Some days it is hard to get out of bed let alone function like a normal rational human being. When we come to Job we see our pain articulated & we find answers. That is one reason. The second is a little odd but we aren’t so far from Easter & one of the many stories of Easter is the story of women, of Mary the mother of Jesus of whom it was said, ‘a sword shall piece your heart.,’ of the women grieving at the tomb. We are an emotional lot & because we care deeply for those we love we rarely find grief an easy burden to bear. Job helps us understand how to carry the burden of grief.In studying Job the mind is instructed, the heart is encouraged & the will is made strong. It is immensely valuable to us. Job shows suffering as it really is. It honestly records a sufferer’s doubts & fears, pain & anger. It removes common ideas about suffering & it suggests the right attitude with which we should face our suffering.




Suffering is the common lot of all mankind. Sooner or later we all face grief & pain. Saying we don’t deserve to suffer only brings despair. Facing it & accepting it when it is incomprehensible can strengthen our faith if we allow it too. Doing it is never easy but that is where Job can help us.




Now before we start I just want to set the background a little for you. Job was possibly the first book of the bible to be written, some time between 600 & 400 BC. Suffering was that important & it has been around since Eve started chatting with snakes in the garden. The name Job may mean enemy or the Penitent. Job was a contemporary of Abraham & was thus a real man. He is mentioned by Ezekiel (14:14.20) as one of the 3 great men of the Old Testament along with Noah & Daniel but he was not an Israelite. He did not live in the Promised Land. He lived in a land of which we know very little referred to here as Uz, possibly a city of Ancient Edom on the SE part of the Dead Sea. Job was possibly written by Moses as were the first 5 books of the Old Testament & Job begins the poetical books of the bible ; it is rightly admired as one of the greatest poems ever written.A brief out line shows a prologue where we are given an insight into the courts of heaven & information that Job does not have. Then Job suffers a series of calamities which leave him in an agony of grief. His ‘Job’s comforters’ each argue with Job three times producing a series of 9 arguments in total, as Job pleads with his friends to understand because God won’t listen to him. There is a 4th , younger debater who tries to summarise things up making Job feel mocked. Chapters 38 ~ 41 are the climax. Here God speaks. The epilogue sees Job restored, a much wiser man than he was before his troubles.




Now the first point about suffering that is made in Job is that we usually don’t have all the facts. Job is completely unaware that God & Satan have this little bet going. All he can see is that his once perfect life has been destroyed & amidst the ruins he has been left nothing. He is clinging on to God by his fingernails.Friends, this is exactly the position we find ourselves in when we stop warming the pews & actively engage in the spiritual battle we have been enlisted to fight in. We will often find we are in a direct attack by Satan. Too often we forget we’re in the middle of a war & drift along cosily until something tips us out of our comfort zone. How we respond is of utmost importance. We will discuss why a bit later on.




The bad news is we are not here to have a good time, an easy life, no troubles or worries. We are here to fight a battle against darkness & bring glory to our Lord & Saviour.




The second point that evolves through the course of this book is the nature of sin. Job reveals the heart of sin in every man, not just the expressed sin of rape, murder, theft etc but the attitudinal sins that lead to expressed sin. As we study this book we begin to notice how much Job glories in his position as ‘the blessed of God.’ What is revealed when the blessings are stripped away is not very pretty.




Thirdly Job teaches us about the nature of faith. Faith is not just about obeying God & doing what is right when it is in our best interests to do so. That is weak faith & it is Satan’s accusation against Job. We learn from Job that great faith, the kind that draws the attention of the world, is revealed when we serve God when it is difficult to do so, when serving Him is the hardest thing we are asked to do.Job, like every single one of us, does not have the resources within himself to handle life & its problems. When the book opens Job is highly respected, honoured, sincere, moral, devoted, selfless & godly. What do we find when he can no longer walk into his community with honour & dignity? A querulous, angry old man who is upset with God & revealed as loving prestige & status. In his heart of hearts Job was serving God for his share of God’s glory. When this is taken from him he is left with his puny, whining pussey little self.




Now I ask you to bear with me & listen carefully as we come to the heart of this great & glorious book that has rightly been called the book that addresses the problem of suffering. I am not going to address the problem of suffering when justice is meted on wrongdoers. Nor do I wish to discuss in any depth the problem of unmerited suffering. Why? Because that’s not the point. It never was. The point of suffering in Job is that it forces our attention back on God. That is the first thing. The second thing is that there is glory in suffering & these are predominantly the types of suffering that are revealed in Job.




Oh~oh, Devorah’s finally lost it you may be thinking. How can there be glory in suffering? And here is where it is important we approach suffering with the right attitude. Because when we bear our suffering with a right heart attitude our suffering reveals that Satan is a liar & a cheat. You see Satan is out to make us distrust God, the goodness of God, the promises of God & see ourselves as unfairly treated. This is Job’s temptation. Why me? I’ve been a good boy. I deserve to be blessed. None of us are good except God. God deserves to be served just because He is who He is & worthy of all praise & honour. That is why Job suffered. It is why Jesus suffered. It is why we are asked to suffer. It is the means by which evil is answered & God vindicated.




Unmerited suffering can be a ‘high & holy privilege’ as Stedman calls it. Why? Because we then share in the sufferings of Christ. Philipians 1:29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake. When suffering comes, as it does, we can demonstrate that God’s strength, love & grace continue unabated despite all outward circumstances. With his dying breath Jesus demonstrated that belief, commending his soul into his father’s hands despite the mockery that had been his share on the cross for still trusting in God. Here too as we think on the cross & the resurrection we are reminded of Thessolonians 4:13, that we are not to grieve as those who have no hope. Our hope should be in Christ our Saviour & our trust in the God who made heaven & earth. Remember, Satan’s attack on Job was limited so we must keep before us the greatness & glory of God. Satan is limited according to what God knows we can bear.




Here too in Job we find one of the greatest & most glorious passages in all of scripture. It is great & glorious because it reveals something of the glory of God & something of His nature as well. Here’s poor old Job sitting in the dust not getting much comfort anywhere & scraping away at his boils with a shard of pottery, having a good old whinge about how God won’t even give him an explanation as to what’s going on. I can sympathise. I like explanations too. And God deigns to answer Job. ‘Ok’, He says, ‘Where were you when I laid the foundation of the world?’




We read a large chunk of this section earlier but I would like us to pause here for a little & meditate briefly on just what this passage is implying, & implying for our day & age too. Consider the implications of some of the issues God raises with Job. Did you know that scientists still don’t know how light is produced? What makes it up, yes, but not how.V16 Even now we know almost nothing about the deepest depths of the ocean. We know that water is made of 2 invisible gases that liquefy into water when they combine but no~one knows why that is so. When water freezes it expands, the only substance on the world that does this. Everything else contracts but that simple inconsistency makes life on earth possible. V6. How did God hang the Earth upon nothing? Well you say, gravity keeps it all there. So it does…but do you know what gravity is? Scientists don’t. They can describe how it acts but not what it is.




These are deep & profound issues. Put in the simplest terms we have no idea of the depth & breadth of the knowledge of God. We need to remind ourselves daily of just who God is. It has a way of putting our puny selves in perspective. I like the way Deuteronomy 29:29 puts it: The secret things belong to the Lord our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us & to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. Some things are for God alone to know. All our demanding curiosity has no part in the secret things of God. I think some aspects of suffering fall into this category. Only God knows & He has chosen not to share his why with us.




A biologist studying the DNA of field mice & peat bog was obviously struck by something mysterious in the nature of his research. For those who like their sources quoted I apologise as I’ve retained the oddity of this quote, not the source. He decided to put the DNA to music. The result apparently sounded something like Chopin or Bach. What struck me was not that someone would be mad enough to do something like that but that even our DNA has been programmed to sing & glorify God.. It speaks of an enormous love for His creation. It speaks of something incomprehensible. Much as I should like too I have as much chance of comprehending that as I have of grasping quantum physics.




And that really is the point, isn’t it? All around us we can see the results of that. It is a very wonderful thing, God’s glory & majesty & nearly all of it is beyond our minds to grasp. But, and it is a very wonderful thing, we have been given God’s promises. Those have been revealed to us & when we are faced with troubles & grief those are promises we can cling to. We have tasted of God & know that He is good. In our suffering that is our witness to a world that does not know the goodness of God. It is our testimony that no matter what we can say with Job, ‘ Though He slay me, yet will I trust in him.’ Amen. Now Lord let thy servants depart in peace according to thy word; for their eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the gentiles and for glory to thy people Israel.