Thursday, June 30, 2011

The Vehement Cries and Tears of the Son

As He also says in another place: “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek”; who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. (Hebrews 05:06-08, NKJV).

Perhaps one of the most mysterious mortals mentioned in Scripture is the man, Melchizedek.

He is introduced once in Genesis as the King of Salem, a Priest of the Most High God. He is extolled once more in the Messianic Psalm 110, and the 9 remaining occurrences are all in Hebrews.

We are told that Abraham met him after winning a war in Genesis 14, was blessed by him, and gave him tithes. It is fascinating that in a largely pagan world, there existed in the city that would become Jerusalem, a ruler who knew and followed God, whose very name and title together meant King of Righteousness, King of Peace, and who was of such authority and godliness that he was accounted not only as King, but as Priest.

Melchizedek was, therefore, astoundingly suited as an ancient picture of Christ, a point that is made in exquisite detail in chapter 7 of Hebrews, while in the verses above he is cited as an example of Christ's Priestly role being both different than the Levitical priesthood, and based upon a far more ancient precedent. Beyond these sparse facts, we know very little  of Melchizedek's life, and it is clear from this, that the main purpose of his inclusion in the Bible, and perhaps of his entire existence, is to provide striking foreshadowings of Christ.

The writer of Hebrews rightly uses Melchizedek as one of the foundations of his argument that the superiority of every aspect of the Savior was predicted from the very beginning of human history in countless typologies and historic incidents. Christ as Lord, Christ as Savior, Christ as Messiah, Christ as Priest, Christ as King, were all part of God's redemptive plan before the foundation of the world. He was no new and novel idea. He was the fulfillment of the eternal counsels of the Godhead established before there was ever time or space or matter. In this way, the first part of the focus verses above, serve as the capstone of the presentation of Jesus as our Great High Priest, more venerable and significant than any priest under the Mosaic system.

From that height, the writer plunges us into the inconceivable depths of the Son's vehement cries and tears. As a Man, a partaker of flesh and blood, Jesus suffered in unimaginable ways, and not just physically. In fact, in one sense the physical torture of His scourging and crucifixion were perhaps the "easiest" to bear, particularly in comparison to the emotional and spiritual anguish we are told He suffered prior to the Cross.

To descend from being Ruler of All to earthly poverty and powerlessness, to experience the unjust, insane, and evil hatred of the very beings He created and sustained, to be falsely accused by man, and then to become sin itself in the eyes of the Father - there are no words to portray the depth of His anguish and pain.

But we know this: His suffering caused Him to sweat blood in the Garden of Gethsemane, and to offer up up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death. (Or more accurately translated as to save Him out of death.) We know that while He set His face like flint to complete His journey of death to Jerusalem, it was also His fervent desire to have the cup of God's judgment and wrath pass from Him.

If the Son of God Himself could barely tolerate the holy judgment of the consuming fire that is our God, imagine the reality of it being poured out forever upon mere mortals who reject the only way of salvation.

These verses in chapter 5 also raise some very pertinent questions. 

Has life given you cause to express pain and suffering with vehement cries and tears? Have you been in that place where the darkness was so complete that the very idea of comfort and relief filled you with longing so intense your heart felt like it would explode?

Have you ever screamed out to God to spare you from an intolerable fate?

Has the prospect of continuing even one more moment in inconsolable anguish (let alone another day or week or month or year), left your spirit so trampled and weak that all hope fled?

If so, know that your magnificent Lord and Savior has been there, too. He knows your pain, and more. He came for the express purpose of suffering that which you could not bear so that He could set you free.

His cries and tears ripped apart all Heaven and earth, and in so doing, broke the chains of condemnation forever.

His cries and tears are an ageless tribute to His love for you, and your worth to God.

Do not waste His suffering on your behalf.

Do not, in your arrogance and pride, reject the tears of the Son, and count them as common.

Do not trample the Son of God underfoot.

You can't take the consequences.

And there will be no escape from your suffering if you do.

If you are His, however painful your earthly life is, or becomes, it will be the closest you will ever get to true Hell.

If you are not His, if you die in your sins, whatever paltry earthly joys you may have experienced in this life will be the closest you will ever get to Heaven.

Forever.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

You Are My Son

So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him: “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.” (Hebrews 05:05, NKJV).

What is it about humanity that is so important to God?

From Genesis, we know that man is His ultimate creation, made in His own image, modeled after God Himself in terms of moral agency and reason-informed will.

Even angels will one day be subordinate to redeemed mankind.

It even appears that from a spiritual perspective, Earth is the center of the universe. This may also be true physically, as well, given some very interesting hypotheses put forth by believing theoretical physicists, like  Dr. Russell Humphrey's and his work on quantized red shifts

Some have likewise concluded that all of Creation is oddly anthropocentric, finely-tuned in fascinating ways to ensure and sustain life, and especially human life.

Of course all of these ideas are roundly criticized and mocked in the world, despite objective evidence to the contrary, and much propaganda has been offered by the secular scientific community in order to combat them from taking hold - a tribute to their power and reasonableness. For by their own admission, naturalists and evolutionists cannot allow even a divine foot in the door lest their whole materialistic worldview crumble.

Yet the question remains. Why is God so very, very concerned about human beings? What is it about us, or at least His plans for us, that would cause Him to take the unexpected and extravagant measure of becoming a Man to save us?

As a species we are certainly not that lovable. Our history is rampant with far more evil than good, and even the ostensibly beneficial things we undertake are soon corrupted by impure motives.

In recent history, our race has ruthlessly murdered hundreds of millions of unborn babies through legalized abortion. We have enslaved, imprisoned, or committed genocide against others who are weaker and more vulnerable. In short, mankind on the whole has behaved diabolically throughout its tenure on this planet, and there are no realistic prospects of the our track record improving.

So why does He love us?

I believe part of the answer lies not in what we are, but what we shall become in Christ. He became a Man so that we could become like Him.

The Sonship of Christ is the ultimate expression of humanity being created in God's image.  While in one sense, it is an existential "step down" for God, in another very real sense, it is the ultimate uplifting of what we were intended to be from the very beginning.

That we fell and rebelled was part of the risk in gifting us with free will. But without that very sharp two-edged sword, our fellowship with God would be meaningless. If we could not choose to be His, then we would be mere chattel, not sons and daughters; members of His family.

So Christ's humility in becoming Man, His voluntarily taking on that role as our great High Priest, was not to glorify Himself, but us.

This is important to understand because it makes even a single human life vastly more significant than we can imagine. And it makes the redemption of that life the most costly thing in existence.

In our fallenness, we have lost the glory that was ours at Creation, and we only retain far-off glimpses of what it means to walk in perfect fellowship with our Creator. 

We are very defective merchandise in our current state.

We cannot conceive of what we will be like in that Day when our salvation is fulfilled, and we are fully redeemed and glorified.

But we know we will be like Him.

And it is our future, not our sin-riddled past, with which God is most concerned.

In our glorified state to come, even the least of us would be seen as someone heroic and worthy of awe-inspiring honor; someone in whose presence we mortals today would not hesitate to fall face down in trembling worship.

God sees us as we will be in Christ, not as we are now.

That is how He has always seen us.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Photographs and Memories (2)


"Transient Ischemic Attack," was the diagnosis received from the physician in charge after he and Jill spent more than four hours in the Emergency Room at the local hospital.

"Does she have a history of circulatory problems?" the doctor asked.

Seth nodded his head in the affirmative.

"Numbness sometimes in her extremities. Cold feet. And it runs in her family. Mother, siblings, all suffer from a variety of symptoms."

"Migraines?"

"Not her, but others in the family. And hers seems to be more frequent lately, particularly in the last year or so."

"Has she been under any particular stress over that time? Has she lost anyone close to her?" he asked.

Seth thought about the past twelve months, and all that was going on. "Yes," he said.

"Not surprising, then," the doctor concluded. "These things tend to be genetic and prone to be exacerbated by stress. Especially long-term stress."

"So this was a precursor to a stroke?" Seth asked, battling ferociously against a growing feeling of helplessness.

"It could very well be," he replied. "Technically, a typical stroke is caused by lack of oxygen and blood to the brain. Your wife suffered a brief overabundance, causing her to lose consciousness this morning for a time."

Seth felt a chill descend across his chest. Images of Jill being stricken at any moment by a massive stroke filled his mind. Paralysis, even death could be the at-any-time result. Each morning, each moment could be her last. He would never hold her or speak to her again. Their children could be without their mother at the tick of the clock.

He tried to bury these mental images but they would not stay covered, bubbling horribly to the surface of his thoughts no matter how hard he tried to suppress them.

As an intellectual possibility, the sudden loss of a loved one was always in the back of his anxiety-ridden mind, but this was an immediate, and clear and present danger. This was real. And there was very little he could do about it. Whatever medications or therapy regimen recommended would never really mitigate the risks in his mind. 

This woman with whom his life was inextricably intertwined could suddenly cease to be. For real. Today. Tomorrow. Any moment.

The prospect was unbearable. It made every single second with her intolerably poignant. How could he live with this hanging over his head?

And his girls, could he, should he, tell them? He knew Jill would want them to know the truth and then just get on with their lives. Of all of them, Seth knew that Jill and their daughters would be the stronger. He was the one who would undoubtedly collapse, and his weakness would, in effect, leave his children orphans.

"I am in the Lord's hands," she had told him as he grasped her hand in the back of the ambulance he had finally had the sense to summons. "He knows the number of my days, and will work all things together for good, even this," she assured him.

He was buying none of it, and yet - and yet - what else could he do?

"You cannot die before me," he told her. "You cannot leave us," he begged.

"It is not up to me," she said with a weak smile. "Or you. He knows what's best."

A desire to scream his frustration at her swept over him almost uncontrollably. Almost. He clamped down on it with all the will power he could muster. How could he possibly ever be angry at her again given that she could die at any second?

But how could she believe such nonsense, really? If there was a God, and this God loved her, why would He do this to her, or, at the least, allow it to happen to her?

Of all the people he knew in the world, his wife deserved this fate the least.

"I know what you're thinking," she had said to him. "I always know what you're thinking, husband. And you're wrong. It's not nonsense. It's the truth. And all of us deserve death."

"Not you," he choked out.

"And I am not worried about our girls. Not really. They know the Lord, and He will take care of them. I am worried about you, though. You are so very thick-headed and stubborn."

"You cannot leave me," he said through tears. "It is too soon. You are too young. The girls are not all grown."

"When I die, Seth, I will be with the Lord in Heaven. If He takes me home now, or 20 years from now, I know where I will be. But you…"

She did not finish the thought, and for the first time since this all began, he saw fear and unutterable regret in her eyes. Her sudden tears were not for herself, but for him. It broke his heart even further.

And it made him want to throw himself out the ambulance onto the highway.

The anticipated grief and pain of loss was simply too great. He wished with all his heart he had never been born.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Photographs and Memories (1)

He awoke, as he always did during the week, just before 5:00 AM, walked stiffly down the steps and gingerly endeavored to complete his morning workout. It got harder as the years rolled by, but he gritted his teeth and 45 minutes later ambled less stiffly back upstairs to take a shower and get dressed for the office.

His wife had not moved in their bed which was unusual. Normally, she made her way to his side, once vacated, to put her head on his pillow and hug the covers to herself. She did it, she always said, to keep the memory of his presence next to her for as long as possible before she started her day homeschooling their girls, and taking care of the thousand little details necessary for the efficient running of a large and busy household.

"I miss you when you leave," she said in the same explanation over the last quarter century of their lives together. "It helps to lay on your side of the bed."

It was too endearing to him for words, especially after all this time, so he always said nothing and kept his face expressionless lest something, he didn't know what, break.

This morning was different, and a secret stab of deep panic knifed into him. She lay absolutely still, not having moved from when he'd first awoke.

She was breathing, he discovered quickly, but just in odd, shallow and silent inhales that barely moved her chest.

"Jill!" he called her name close to her ear in an intense whisper, his own heart beating wildly.

No response.

"Jill! Wake up! I'm going!"

She would never let him leave the house without saying goodbye and telling him she loved him.

Nothing.

It was inexpressibly odd how quickly the chasm of unbridled terror opened up inside him. She would not wake up. What if she never woke up again?

She was the anchor of his soul. She was why he did nearly everything he did; the background engine of his life; the thing that kept him going despite the ever-growing and unavoidable conviction of the poignant futility of life.

He grabbed her shoulders and shook her, desperate for some response.

She lay like a warm and lifeless doll, her hair askew, her consciousness far away and unreachable.

"Jill!" he called again louder, more evident panic in his voice, like a lost little boy in a huge shopping mall.

Then the thought that she was dying descended upon him full force, a crushing, paralyzing weight that froze him in time and space.

Never, ever in his life had he felt… so abandoned and alone. 

What followed was an endless 20 minutes of frantic, and quietly desperate efforts to wake her. 

Adult rationality had fled. Rather than call 911, or yell for his daughters' to get help, or do anything remotely sensible, he was caught up in a mindless attempt to get his beloved wife back from wherever she had gone.

In retrospect, it was the stupidest, most irresponsible thing he could have done. He risked her life by not thinking. Rather than act as quickly as possible to get an EMT or an ambulance, he knelt on the bed over her, tears streaming unnoticed down his face, shaking and pleading wordlessly for her to wake up.

It worked.

In the muted daylight of the bedroom he saw the glint of her brown eyes as they slowly opened.

She tried to speak, and couldn't at first, but then, "Something's wrong..." she slurred.

© aqvik 2011

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Taken From Among Men

For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness. Because of this he is required as for the people, so also for himself, to offer sacrifices for sins. And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was. (Hebrews 05:01-04, NKJV).

The book of Hebrews has already revealed that integral to Christ's superiority over everything is that He is our Great High Priest. Here in Chapter 5, we are given a fourteen verse expansion of this thought, providing more background, and ending with another exhortation and yet another dire warning.

These first four verses explain with succinct brilliance the purpose of the ancient Jewish priesthood, opening with an unusual statement that is, in fact, central to this book's emphasis on Christ.

For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins…

These words illustrate the need for the Savior, who has fulfilled the ultimate role of Priest, to have been a Man. The entire institution of the priesthood was established by God to foreshadow the coming of our Great High Priest. From inception to fruition, the ancient office of the Jewish High Priest pictured the Coming One who would be tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin

The One who would, by the sacrifice of His own body on the Cross, forever pay the price of man's iniquity. Jesus' shed blood did far more than temporarily cover sin for a day, or a year, as the prescribed animal sacrifices did. His death took away the sin of the world.

Christ was appointed by God, for men, to mediate between a holy and righteous God, and an evil and rebellious human race.

As the human high priest was required to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins, so Christ would be required to do the same, with the exception being that the human descendants of Aaron, Moses brother, had to do offer these repeatedly. In contrast, Christ's gift of His own life on the Cross was sufficient to be a once-for-all offering, cleansing completely from all unrighteous those who believe.

This was possible only by God becoming a Man, to die on behalf of Man, as a Man. 

It can only be appropriated on an individual basis, and only by faith, precisely mirroring all that was memorialized-in-advance by the centuries of daily and yearly Jewish animal offerings. 

The writer of Hebrews here also emphasizes that the role of High Priest was an honor that no man takes…to himself, but is something that can only be fulfilled by someone who is called by God, just as Aaron was.

Aaron did not lobby or campaign for his position of religious and spiritual authority. It was not an office he sought or lusted after to obtain power or prestige. It was a solemn responsibility of sacrificial service bestowed upon him and his descendants by God Himself.

So too Christ was appointed by an oath from the Father, who swore that His Son would be a Priest forever.

This speaks too of the Son's perfect compliance with the will of the One who sent Him, so much so that Jesus was able to declare that He always did what pleased the Father, and all that He did pleased the Father.

It is by His perfect obedience that we are saved. It is imputed to us by faith, which is good news indeed, since we could never ascribe to such perfection ourselves. 

One final point. By being human, Aaron (and his successors) could have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself [was] also subject to weakness. The Lord Christ's humanity is meant not only to be the perfect sacrifice, but also to show that Jesus' compassion for sinners was not abstract. His was a compassion born of personal experience as a Man, and should serve to allay any doubts that our Savior does not understand what we may be going through at any point in time.

Remember, He knows, as God and as Man, all that it means to be human. He grieved. He hungered. He required sleep. He was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin.

And He knows more than we ever will what it cost to save us. 

Saturday, June 18, 2011

The Throne of Grace

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 04:16, NKJV).
Access to power is a valuable thing, no matter what anybody says or would like to believe. 

Power in the human arena takes the form of authority. A president has more power than a governor, a police officer has more power than an unarmed citizen, an adult has more power than a child, and an unborn child has the least power of all.

In ancient Judaism, and all subsequent Monotheistic religions, the most powerful Being conceived of is God, and access to the Throne of the Almighty was the ultimate goal of religious practice and belief. His power was sought against enemies and for personal prosperity, for health and safety, for happiness and satisfaction. And when things went badly, God's intervention was sought to make things right.

In Judaism, access to God prior to Christ was entirely conditional. A penitent could not approach Him without strict adherence to Jewish law, and only after propitiatory animal sacrifices had been made. The one place where God had decreed He would meet His people face-to-face, the Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle, and later in the Temple, had very restricted access. It was only the High Priest, once yearly, who could enter in, and then only after the requisite shedding of sufficient innocent animal blood.

With faith in Christ, the separation has been broken down completely. There are no more restrictions and the only prerequisite is faith in Christ's once-for-all sacrifice. His death provides the perfect means to continually draw near to God.

But please note something else, something entirely unexpected. While God is sovereign and has all authority, His throne is referred to here as the throne of grace. It is, and could rightly be, called by other names: the throne of power, the judgment seat, the throne of life, the throne of light, and the throne of justice. Yet here, the emphasis is on it being the seat of grace.

This cannot be fully appreciated until we understand what grace really is, and how and why God is the only true source of it.

First, a technical definition. Grace is unmerited favor; undeserved reward; the receiving of good things that one does not deserve. It is the opposite of mercy, which is not receiving deserved punishment. One way to think of this is the acronym God's Riches At Christ's Expense, which is precisely the basis upon which grace is bestowed. Without Jesus going to the cross on our behalf, this kind of grace and mercy would have been impossible. In it's place would have been only judgment.

But in the life of a Christian walking closely with His Lord, grace is best viewed more personally.

Grace is God bestowing upon you loving children despite having looked upon them as parasites or inconveniences, or even as disposable, in the past.

Grace is God blessing you with health and well-being despite having a past rife with alcohol or other substance abuse.

Grace is God giving your life purpose and meaning in Him regardless of your having lived in the past only for yourself.

Grace is God providing you with the certain knowledge that this world is not your home, nor is this life all there is.

Grace is God showering you with joy and assurance that you are Christ's and no one can snatch you out of His hands, not even you.

Grace is God pouring out the love of the Holy Spirit in your heart so that you can love those of the faith with more depth and abundance than unbelieving members of your own flesh and blood family.

Grace is God having that love returned by your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Grace is God gifting you with the sure knowledge that you are never alone, and that He is always with you.

Grace is God showing you the immensity of His love toward you in that He gave His only Son to the cross on your behalf.

And now we are told, that His very throne is the origin and fountain of grace, and that we can come boldly to it, as a beloved little child goes without hesitation into the presence of a loving father.

And we can go there to find three of the very things we need each moment of this travail-filled earthly existence: mercy, grace and help.

This is why we worship Him. This is why we love Him.

The all-powerful ruler of all existence has thrown open the gates of His court and has invited us in freely, and without appointment. Not just to be in His magnificent Presence, which would be astounding enough, but also to go and obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

As a believer, if this does not make your heart soar with gratitude, love and endless joy, you are not paying attention.

Friday, June 17, 2011

It'll Take a Miracle!


He was a decent enough guy; a faithful husband, a good provider for his wife and children. He was even lovingly tolerant of their rather fanatical (to him) religious beliefs. Or so he thought, anyway.

He went with them to church multiple times a week, and even sometimes stayed to listen to the sermon, er, message, that the casually dressed pastor gave for an hour.

The worship beforehand was OK, too, mostly modern choruses with some modernized old-timey hymns. Some of the post-concert preaching afterwards wasn't horribly boring, either, but it was mostly stuff that didn't scratch where he was itching.

What he really tuned out was all this talk of prophecy and end-times. It sounded pretty much like all the crazy stuff he heard about on the news - this or that loser setting dates or claiming the world was coming to an end soon. Hadn't they been saying that, like, forever?

In truth, he held his wife in a little contempt for being so gullible, and propagandizing his daughters with the same silliness, but he loved her and his kids, and she was an otherwise stellar wife and mother, and his girls were the most delightful kids he knew. They seemed to be immune to the normal preadolescent and adolescent craziness and nastiness that seemed to plague his coworkers' children. 

Secretly, he credited his own parenting skills for their outstanding character and sociability, and found the complaints of the men and women he worked with about their own children to be more than a little disloyal.

Obviously, they were doing something wrong.

The craziest notion by far taught at their little fundamentalist church was the whole bizarre idea about being raptured up into heaven before things really fell apart here on the planet. The concept just made him want to laugh. How could anybody take it seriously?

He had discussed it once with his wife on the ride to church in what turned out to be a very unsatisfying dialog.

"You mean to tell me," he asked as kindly as he could, "that Jesus will come down and take all his favorite followers into heaven before 'pouring out His wrath on the rest of the world'?" He thought he was being respectful, but the others in the car would have said he was obviously condescending.

"It has nothing to with favoritism," his wife replied gently. "It has to do with faith."

"Don't you know, Daddy?" his nine year old chimed in worriedly. "All we have to do is believe in Jesus, and He forgives us our sins, and we get into heaven? Can't you just believe, Daddy? That's all it takes! You don't have to be perfect or anything!"

She was really concerned , and that bothered him a lot. It was almost like she couldn't love him as much unless he went along with her mother's crazy beliefs.

"Don't worry, honey," he reassured her. "Your daddy's a pretty good guy, all in all, even if I do say so myself. I'm sure God will take that into account."

"That's really not how it works, Daddy," his middle daughter said. "Nobody can be good enough to get into heaven on their own."

"We're all stinkin', rotten sinners, Dad," his 17 year-old declared emphatically. She never said or believed anything halfway, he had to say that for her. He admired her passionate conviction, but wished she would develop a more nuanced world view. She was clearly headed for a life of unpopularity. That was a shame for someone as pretty as she was, but what could you do? 

Maybe her looks would allow her to get by. He hoped so. Loneliness was a terrible way to live.

"Wow!" he cried in mock surrender, deciding to end the conversation before they all ended up preaching their gospel to him. Again. "You guys are pretty convinced you've got everything wired, I see. Well good for you. Maybe I'll get there some day."

"We are praying for you, hon," his wife said, knowingly.

"Every day, Daddy," his youngest affirmed.

"Do you think it'll work?" he asked, quoting one of their favorite movie lines from a classic comedy.

"It'll take a miracle!" the middle daughter replied, in perfect imitation of the actor playing the scene.


© aqvik 2011

Thursday, June 16, 2011

The Great High Priest

Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 04:14-15, NKJV).
From a religious perspective, the role of priest can be seen as that of a representative intermediary; one who represents man before God, and mediates between God and man. For Christians there is no longer  a need for such a mediator. Christ fulfills that role forever, as our great High Priest, and, through His finished work on the cross, has provided for us direct and immediate access to the Father. In Him, we are now exhorted to go boldly to the throne of grace ourselves.

This is affirmed by Jesus Himself in the Gospel of John:

“In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; “for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God. (John 16:26, 27, NKJV).

The book of Hebrews will make this same point repeatedly in its brilliant presentation of Christ's superiority to everything, arguing irrefutably that the wall of separation between fallen man and holy God has been torn down in Christ, enabling perfect access for His people to draw near to God.

In Jesus' day, this put a lot of people out of business, especially those in ancient Judaism, a religion which relied upon the God-ordained office of priest to perform the required sacrifices, and officiate at the altar and in the Temple. It is not surprising that the rise of early Christianity met with intense resistance from its Jewish origins, as it involved the demolishing of a venerable, 1400 year-old cultural and religious institution that was an integral part of what it meant to be a Jew.

With the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D., all remnants of the official priesthood and animal sacrifices were rendered obsolete; a painful, but prophesied end to the Old Covenant predicted by Jesus just before His execution.

The verses above, then, begin the comparison between Christ's priesthood, and the Levitical priesthood of Judaism by contrasting the origin and qualifications of Christ with that of the priestly descendants of Aaron, Moses' brother.

First, unlike all human priests before and since, Christ passed through the heavens. This is true in at least two ways: Jesus came down from Heaven through the Incarnation as a human infant, and then returned there, literally ascending into the clouds of glory after His resurrection. No merely mortal priest approaches such a distinction.

Secondly, Jesus is the Son of God, not a son of Aaron. His divinity is inextricably related to His role as our High Priest. For what better intermediary could there be between God and man than the God-Man Himself? Again, the human priesthood cannot begin to approach His level of qualification.

Thirdly, as a Man, Christ was clearly able to sympathize with our weaknesses. He knows in ways we can barely comprehend what it means to be tempted as we are, yet without sin. I suspect that, given His purity and holiness, even the slightest temptation to sin was excruciating. We have not yet resisted to bloodshed striving against sin, but He did, most notably in the Garden of Gethsemane when, as God, He could have obliterated all who came to torture and kill Him, but humbly submitted as Man to the terrible and loving will of the Father. 

For these reasons and more, the writer of Hebrews exhorts us to hold fast our confession of faith, against all and every impulse to forsake it in the face of opposition and trials in this life; to remain steadfast in clinging to the truth of the gospel at all costs, no matter what temptation to do otherwise confronts us.

The logic behind this exhortation is flawless. To the Jew, the argument is couched as a pointed question. Why go back to a faith and practice that was a mere shadow of what has now come? Why settle for a flawed and imperfect priesthood, when Christ, the Son of God Himself, has become our great High Priest? Why return to limited and constrained access to God, when we now have unlimited and personal access through faith in Christ?

To the Gentile, the argument was even more direct. Without Christ, all that is left is to die in sin and suffer the consequences of eternal separation from all that is good. With Him, comes an immeasurable inheritance of blessing and life in the heavenly places. What does it make the most sense to choose? What seems more reasonable to hold onto? The old way of death or the new way into life everlasting?

Clearly, Hebrews' author desired to provide more than ample reasoning to make the steadfast Christian walk the most sensible course of action. To choose anything else is to forsake freely offered deliverance for guaranteed condemnation.

The choice is obvious.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Nowhere to Hide

And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 04:13, NKJV).

The above verse is a graphic reminder of the futility of concealing anything from an omniscient and omnipresent God.

Everyone will face judgment for everything said and done in the flesh.

Those who face Christ as His children by faith, will be judged as in an athletic competition, receiving or forfeiting awards based on how they have lived on earth as Christians. Their sinfulness has already been judged on the Cross, and the penalty paid by Christ Himself. As children of the King, they are guaranteed citizenship in Heaven, symbolized by their names being registered in the Lambs Book of Life, but their roles and responsibilities there are based on what he or she has done with the opportunities and gifts given in this life.

Writing to Christians, the Apostle Paul informs us:

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. (2 Corinthians 5:10, NKJV).
For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. (1 Corinthians 3:11-15, NKJV).
“His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ (Matthew 25:21, NKJV).
The rest of mankind, those who have knowingly and willfully rejected the offer of salvation through faith in Christ will also stand before God. It will not go well with them.

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:11-15, NKJV).
“And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.” (Revelation 14:11, NKJV).
The writer of Hebrews has no intention of giving his readers a false peace. In fact, in a number of passages, his Holy Spirit-inspired words are clearly meant to strike fear in the hearts of some of his intended audience; especially those who either openly scoff at the truth, and those who put on an outward show of belief, but whose words and deeds reveal the falsenessfalseness of their confession.

To this first group his warning is that, whether you take it seriously or not, you will be required to give account of your earthly existence. Every utterance, thought, and action will be judged according to God's perfect standard. This is not good news. 

All of us fail to live up even to our own anemic ideas of right and wrong, let alone those absolute conceptions of good and evil that God has taken great pains to reveal. In essence, the writer is saying that the Holy and Righteous God will judge you, whether or not you believe He exists. Indeed, your very unbelief will be the first offense upon which your sentence of eternal punishment will be based.

Nor does it matter that you may feel the judgment harsh. Your feelings in the matter are utterly irrelevant. In truth, in view of the extravagant measures He has undertaken to enable you to escape this eternal death sentence, any rejection of it is not only insane, but completely blasphemous.

Not only this, but it is entirely in accordance with His character that sins against an eternal God require an eternal penalty, just as forgiveness of those sins through Christ results in eternal life. Logically, there cannot be Heaven, without Hell, else neither means anything.

And to the second group, the pretenders, the writer's warning is that there is nowhere to hide. God is not fooled by pretense. All creatures are naked and open to His sight. To think otherwise is to maintain an infantile view of the Eternal Transcendent Sovereign, like a toddler who believes he is invisible by merely covering his own eyes.

Now, if all we had was this warning, we would be in sorry shape, perhaps concluding that it would be better never to have been born.

But the gospel serves as the perfect counterbalance to the alarms raised in this verse. Those who have acknowledged Jesus as Lord and Savior, may suffer loss of reward on that Day, but they themselves will be saved.

What it does provide for us is tremendous incentive to live each moment of our lives with God as our witness.

Because He is.

And He doesn't miss a thing.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Sharp and Piercing

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 04:12, NKJV).
If you have ever suffered a serious cut from a very sharp blade, then you know how painful it can be. Yet that same type of blade, in the form of a skillfully wielded scalpel, can reveal and excise life-threatening malignancies.

If you are an unbeliever, then thinking that the Word of God is irrelevant is equivalent to ignoring an oncoming storm.

“He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him--the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. (John 12:48, NKJV).
Likewise, if you are a believer and consider the Word of God optional in your daily walk, you are deliberately leaving yourself open for calamity and trial, for its purpose is to act as a guide, and a source of wisdom in all the issues of life in a Fallen world.

One day we will all stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ. We know that deep in our hearts. And on that day, we will either stand in His righteous, or be cast down in our own unrighteousness.

Don't get me wrong. There is nothing you can do to make restitution for even your smallest sin. The soul that sins must die. There is no ritual, or penance that you can perform that will mitigate the punishment due you.

No matter what you have done, no matter how long you live, if you break one of the least of the commandments of God's perfect law, you are guilty of all. There is no grading on a curve. There are no exceptions. It is either perfect righteousness, or doom.

That's the bad news.

The good news, the gospel, is that the same Word that guarantees your condemnation also guarantees your clemency, provided you allow it to pierce your heart with your own depraved sinfulness, and separate you from all illusion that you are "OK" with God.

This living and powerful revelation is intended to bring each and every human being to that place of brokenness of spirit, and contriteness of heart, so that you fall on your face in helplessness and ask God to forgive you in the name of His Son. It does not matter what evil you have done. The horrific sacrifice of Jesus Christ paid for it all, for all time.

But you must accept that revelation. You must believe that it is true, and then your sanctification, your moral and spiritual surgeries, will begin.

As you walk ever more closely with your Lord, your Old Nature will be cut away, slowly, often painfully, but in a necessary procedure to make you fit for eternal life.

You must trust Him. You must not attempt to leap off the operating table. Or the altar.

If you are truly His by faith, He will do His perfect work in your life. He will complete that good thing that He began when you first believed.

For some, like the thief on the Cross, the operation will be drastic and instantly successful. That thief had no opportunity to do other than believe and then die. He could make no amends. He could perform no good deeds. But in his last minute heart-deep confession of faith, he has since provided an example for all those who think they are guilty of too much, and/or have waited too long.

In addition to surgery, the Word of God also lays bare the underlying truth of every man's words and deeds - that without Christ, all the thoughts and intents of the human heart are evil.

Even the best that we do, no matter how noble and self-sacrificing in appearance, is tainted by our inherent evil.

In Romans, the Apostle Paul states unequivocally that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; that there is none who does good. No, not one.

It is only when a human heart sees that about himself or herself in the light of God's Word that hope and healing can begin. Until that time, it cannot heal, but can only condemn.

These things are true regardless of how we feel about them. Truth is like that.

It can hurt. It can destroy, but it can also save. It is the only thing that can.

But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:8-10, NKJV).

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Living and Powerful

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 04:12, NKJV).
Before I became a Christian, I did not understand the Bible, nor did reading it hold any attraction for me.


When I finally did read it, my motivation was to find fault, to undermine the growing faith of someone very close to me because ongoing changes in that person's behavior toward me, scared me, and not for the reasons you might think.

The situation at that time in our relationship was such that anger, resentment, bitterness, and even hatred, I could understand. What I received unexpectedly instead was understanding, gentleness, patience, and love. I did not trust it, but I knew it was directly related to that person having begun reading the Bible herself - a lot. The connection between her changed heart, and that book was undeniably clear.

I wanted none of it.

So I embarked on a mission to discredit the Word of God. To do that effectively, I knew I had to do some first person research, and I must admit I was intrigued by the prospect that I would finally be able to lay this faith in God nonsense to rest. I would employ my vaunted and laser-like intellect to undermine all of Christendom.

That is not what happened. Not even close.

I finished reading the Old Testament fairly quickly, at first just because I wanted to get through it, but later because my fascination (and hunger) grew with each chapter. When I was done, I came to the surprising conclusion that I could believe that God existed and had intervened in human history for His good purposes.

The reasoning behind this conclusion, though important, is not nearly as significant as the fact that what I had consciously set out to do was the opposite of what, in fact, happened. I can honestly attest that my intentions were not only unfulfilled, but transformed, and not by any conscious volition on my part. As I said, I was surprised, and so were the people who knew me, and some, unpleasantly so.

As I continued into the New Testament, I hit a real stumbling block when I realized, perhaps for the first time, that the writers of the gospel accounts and epistles wanted me to understand that this Man, Jesus, was God Incarnate. Being raised where and how I was, I, of course, had heard the words before, but did not understand what that really meant.

This was a hurdle of immense proportions for me because I now wanted to believe in God, and it seemed that just when that was about to happen, I got hit with Jesus.

I recall completing the Gospel of Matthew and being sorely disappointed. I was supposed to believe that the Almighty God of the Old Testament, He who dwelt in eternity, outside of time and space, was also this Jesus of Nazareth who was born of a virgin woman in the backwoods of ancient Jerusalem?

There was still something (Someone?) that compelled me to keep reading, even through my disappointment.

During this entire endeavor, that person who served as my initial motivation continued to grow in the grace and knowledge of the One she now called Lord and Savior. Her transformation was… miraculous.

And all from this ancient and disturbing collection of writings written over the course of 1600 years by 40 different authors and yet - and yet - containing an obviously unified message that appeared to recount history before happened. 

By the end of the New Testament, I knew in my head it was all true; everything from Genesis to Revelation. God wanted us to know Him so lavishly that He sent His Son to become one of us, to be a partaker of flesh and blood just like us.

And more than that, He wanted to rescue us from certain damnation so that we could continue to know Him… forever.

I knew it in my head, but not yet in my heart.

For me that required an encounter with His people in a church that convened in a warehouse off a congested, but second-rate interstate highway.

There I saw the love of Christ worked out in hearts and heads other than mine, and a man I will never forget and will always be indebted to, invited me in to pray with him, seeing that I was obviously emotional after being in the service.

I told this man, though I was barely able to speak coherently, that I would do whatever it took, sign whatever paper was needed, pay whatever fee, to be part of what I had just experienced.

"If this is what you want," he said to me, "you need merely to ask with all your heart, and it is yours freely given."

Almost overnight I was fundamentally changed without effort on my part. It just happened.

Since that day, the Word of God has continued to transform me from a mere man to a child of God, saved by grace through faith.

What was dross and horror behind a facade of bare civility became something very much different. Sometimes the transformation seemed painless. At others, it was like deep surgery without anesthetic.

It was not magic, but it was supernatural. It was not me. It was God working in me through His Word.

I am, and will always be, forever grateful.

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12, NKJV).

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Rest - Part 5: Diligence

Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. (Hebrews 04:11, NKJV).

The opposite of diligence is carelessness, and herein lies a crucial difference between God's rest and human rest.

The Father's rest is not passive inactivity or indolence, but a lack of striving in our own strength.

To NOT strive to achieve our own ends, no matter what they are, is a challenge that we will fail without Christ within us, the hope of glory.

It is impossible without faith to let God work in our lives, and letting God work means ceasing from our own work. Don't get me wrong. I do not mean what you might think I mean.

I do not mean, for instance, that people in general are naturally industrious in the sense of having a decent work ethic. I do not mean that at all. 

I mean that most people will go to just about any lengths to get what they really, really want. They will strive to obtain satisfaction.

Just look around at the extremes that can be seen in the realm of politics, or business, or celebrity, to obtain power, or wealth, or fame. Amazing and strenuous effort is expended - sometimes against all odds, or sense, or sanity - to achieve a desired end at whatever means.

Some of those involved have neither decency nor a work ethic, but, they strive nonetheless, sometimes without ceasing.

If you have been alive for any length of time, you have encountered driven people. Some are driven to achieve something that might be considered good, others something bad, and still others something merely selfish.

Driven people are not restful. They may be single-minded, or have admirable endurance, but by and large, they are not nice to be around. And ironically, it is the most outwardly lazy people who are often driven the most, with their goal being self-indulgence.

Now, the example of disobedience referred to in the above verse is the faithless Children of Israel who came out of Egypt, led by Moses. In their natural striving for safety and security in their own strength, they refused to believe and obey God in regard to His giving them possession of the Promised Land. They got scared of the giants and walled cities, and the hopeless battles they envisioned in their future, and they stubbornly refused to have faith in God.

They attempted to change course when they finally understood the dire consequences of their disobedience, striving to convince God that they had a sincere change of heart, but by then it was too late. Just like it will be too late to choose faith when the object of that faith, Jesus Christ, makes His reality clear beyond all doubt - when He rips open the fabric of time and space to take possession of everything and everyone as Lord of Lord and King of Kings.

Someone who is diligent to enter God's rest is not driven. They are peaceable. They may work at something to the point of exhaustion, but in the midst of it they do not strive, they allow God to empower and direct. These kind of people stand out primarily because their most prevalent characteristic is a kind of calm cheerfulness, sometimes mistaken for resignation, but really its opposite.

They do whatever God puts before them, trusting in Him for the results.

But their doing is not self-propelled, it is through His strength and guidance. It probably won't look much different on the outside from any other form of work or activity, but at the center of it will be a heart at peace.

This can only happen through diligent practice at joyful self-surrender. Failure should be expected, but giving up is not an option.
The natural man is so twisted and bent by the Fall, that his only hope of remedy is to let the Father straighten him out.

And that requires a soul-deep acknowledgment that his own efforts and goals are useless and damaging, like a toddler trying to set his own broken leg.

God's rest is the key to transformation, but He will not force it on you.

You need to walk through the door on your own.