Tag: Jesus

Becoming and Being a Disciple (John 1:29-42)

On By AaronIn DiscipleLeave a comment

            To be a disciple of Christ starts with a belief about Christ.  To be His disciple you must believe that He is who He says He is and that He has done what He says He has done.

A Disciple Must Believe

            The foundation of discipleship has always been belief.  This is even true in Old Testament theology.  Writing to the Kingdom of Judah Isiah warned, “…the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy.  Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.  And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.  And many shall stumble on it.  They shall fall and be broken; they shall be shared and taken (Isa 8:13-15).”  The Bible Knowledge Commentary summarizes it this way, “The Lord will be a sanctuary, a place of safety, for those who believe in Him, but for those who do not believe Him, He will be the means of destruction (a stone… a rock… a trap, and a snare) (Walvoord and Zuck 2004, 1501).”  Peter quotes this very passage as he speaks of unbelief.  

“So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,
“The Stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”
and
“A stone of stumbling,
and a rock of offense (1Pe 2:7-8).”

            You can not be a disciple of Christ if you are not a believer in Christ and we don’t disciple the unbelieving world.

A Disciple Must Learn

            Discipleship must be more than simple belief.  Again, looking to the Old Testament, Isaiah’s next words are intriguing, “Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples (Isa 8:16).”  The Hebrew word here for disciples is לִמֻּד limmûd, (pronounced lim-mood´) and it means accustomed, disciple, learned, taught, and used (Strong 1890, 3928).  It comes from the Hebrew לָמַד lâmad, (pronounced law-mad´) which means properly to goad and by implication to teach, instruct, or learn (Strong 1890, 3925).  The implication may come from the Oriental idea of the rod as an incentive (i.e., goad) for learning (Strong 1890, 3925).  Isaiah then is telling Judah to “bind up the testimony and seal the teaching” by learning the testimony and the teaching.

            Because the Hebrew word for ‘testimony’ can also mean ‘a precept’ or ‘precepts’ and that the Hebrew word translated into the English Standard Version’s ‘teaching’ is תּוֹרָה tôwrâh, (pronounced to-raw´) the meaning of Isaiah’s exhortation to God’s disciples is that they are to seal the precepts of The Law.  To be a disciple of Jesus then is to first believe that He is who He says He is, the Messiah, and then to seal up His teachings that the precepts of the Law teach about Him.  To be a disciple then is to continue to learn the precepts, i.e., the principles and teachings of Jesus.

Andrew, Peter and You.

            In the Gospel of John two of John the Baptist’s disciples heard John the Baptist proclaim Jesus to be, “the Lamb of God” and because of the proclamation decided to follow Jesus (Joh 1:35-37).  They transferred their discipleship from John the Baptist to Jesus based on what they believed about Jesus; that He was the Lamb of God.

            What John the Baptist understood “the Lamb of God” to be is difficult to discern.  Looking back on the proclamation today we associate it with the sacrificial system and the Pascal Lamb of the Passover.  However, we do know that the Jews of the First Century were looking for a Messiah.  “The evaluation of a messianic claim was both an individual and an official matter. Those who committed themselves to Jesus did so on the basis of their own assessment of him (John 1:38–45; 4:42) (Scott 1995, 320).”  Not unlike how each of us came to Jesus.

            What is cool is Jesus’ reaction to them.  From the first moment He begins to teach them.  “Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking (Joh 1:38)?”  As you read through the Gospel of John you are going to find that He had much to teach them.  Their understanding of who “the Lamb of God” is in the beginning will be transformed and rocked by what they learn from and about Jesus.  At this point in their growth, they can’t even answer Jesus’ first question.  They immediately redirect His interrogation by asking Him where He is staying (Joh 1:38).

            Andrew, went to his brother, Simon, and shared, “’We have found the Messiah’ and then brought him to Jesus (Joh 1:41-42).”  Jesus started Simon’s journey by changing his name to Peter.  Is this Peter the same as the Peter we find in Acts?  No!  Because Jesus revealed Himself to Peter and Peter learned.

Is Jesus teaching you?

Is Jesus teaching you?  Are you spending enough time in His Word that His Spirit can transform you by the Truth of who Jesus is?  It requires a daily commitment to a lifetime of discipleship.  Even Jesus’ Disciples continued to learn and be taught after Jesus’ death.  Have you found the Messiah?  That is only the beginning.  Are you His Disciple?

One last thought on Isaiah.  He wrote that God’s disciples are to ‘seal’ His testimony and teaching.  The idea is that of a royal seal.  A sign of authority and identity.  When we ask the question of ourselves, “am I His Disciple?” the proof is in the seal.  That seal is found in your understanding and your commitment to the precepts of God.  If you are, people will look at you and see God’s authority and identity on your life.  They will know that you are His.  If not, they will see a seal that will identify you with the authority of this world.  There are only two seals and two identities.

Thanks for reading and don’t forget to subscribe to my e-mail below.  I am working on some great things and I would hate for you to miss out.

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Foolishness!

On By AaronIn Uncategorized3 Comments

“For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.  All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person (Mar 7:21-23).”

As a police officer and soldier, you see the worst in people.  I am not saying that good doesn’t exist I’m just saying that I have seen the worst.  When Jesus tells us that their exists in the heart of man sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, and pride it is almost self-evident.  That every legal system has prohibitions against these things seems to witness to the fact of this universal understanding of the evil inherent in these things.  That every religious system wrestle with these things seems to witness to the same fact.  That those of us who strive to be good people rate our goodness in terms of how well we are avoiding these things also seems to witness to the same fact.  If that is true, what sets the Law apart, what sets Christianity apart, and what sets the Christian apart?  I submit that it is in foolishness.

“The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice.  A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.”

Deuteronomy 32:4

Just before the Israelites move out of the wilderness and into the promised land Moses writes a song.  The song was given to him by God to confront the Israelites when they would eventually find themselves in disobedience.  In that song Moses describes the God of Israel.  “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice.  A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he (Deu 32:4).”  Later, in that same song, Moses will contrast that Rock with the rocks of the other nations.

Deuteronomy 32:31–33 (ESV)
31    For their rock is not as our Rock;
our enemies are by themselves.
32    For their vine comes from the vine of Sodom
and from the fields of Gomorrah;
       their grapes are grapes of poison;
their clusters are bitter;
33    their wine is the poison of serpents
and the cruel venom of asps.

First, to trust in another rock is to be alone.  The Rock of Israel is the LORD.  The rock of the nations is at best an idea devoid of power at worst is an idea; a lie sold by demons.  It comes from Sodom and Gomorrah.  It is poisonous and destroys.  Foolishness is to trust in anything other than the God of Israel!

Deuteronomy 32:37–39 (ESV)
37    Then he will say, ‘Where are their gods,
the rock in which they took refuge,
38    who ate the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the wine of their drink offering?
       Let them rise up and help you;
let them be your protection!
39    “ ‘See now that I, even I, am he,
and there is no god beside me;
       I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.

There are no other rocks!

There are no other rocks!  Foolishness is to trust in anything other than the God of Israel!  So let me ask you in what Rock do you take refuge?

Jesus will make this same point in the Gospel of Luke.  He starts by asking who will leave ninety-nine sheep to search for the one that is lost (Luk 15:3-7)?  He builds by asking who does not sweep their entire house to find a lost coin (Luk 15:8-10)?  This is the build up to the parable of the lost (prodigal) son in which Jesus ultimately describes a father who rejoices at the repentance of his lost son (Luk 15:11-32).  While the unrighteousness of the prodigal son is apparent and his need for repentance is clear if you are not careful you can miss that Jesus is also describing the unrighteousness of the brother and his need for repentance.  In doing so Jesus is describing the unrighteousness of the Pharisees which provoked the telling of the parable (Luk 15:1-2).

There is a hint of sarcasm here.

Where Jesus points to their foolishness is at the conclusion of the parable of the shrewd manager (Luk 16:1-9) and encourages the Pharisees to, “make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails, they may receive you into the eternal dwellings (Luk 16:8-9).” There is a hint of sarcasm here. The Pharisees were trusting in their own righteousness and were using that pretend righteousness to enrich themselves within the sacrificial system. That righteousness would fail and when it did who could they trust for eternal life? No one! The sarcasm is found in the foolishness of trusting in anything other than the God of Israel!

There is only one way to eternal life.  This way has accounted for the evil that is in your heart because He became that evil (2Co 5:21).  Jesus is the way (Joh 14:6)!  He is the Rock upon which the Christian church has been built (Mat 16:18).  Are you depending on your own righteousness?  This is foolishness.  Are you depending on another truth?  This is foolishness.  Are you depending on any other gospel?  This is foolishness.  Are you perpetuating the idea that any of these things can lead to eternal life?  This is foolishness.

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is (Eph 5:15-17).”  Anything other than that which is true is foolishness.

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Unclean!

On By AaronIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. Every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem (Exo 13:13).

Recently I have been reading through Exodus and often I struggle because it is so foreign to our contemporary culture and worldview.  Granted, the Western/Christian world view is a Judeo/Christian worldview but the sacrificial system which was the central and defining element of the Jewish worldview as found in the Old Testament has not been my experienced worldview.  It is often difficult for me to understand. 

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

John 1:29

The redemption of the firstborn among the sons of Israel by a lamb is familiar to me.  In the Gospel of John, John the Baptist announces “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (Joh 1:29)!”  Jesus is presented as the Lamb of God and an exploration of that concept leads to The Law as established in the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible).  The lamb that is the redemption price is of those animals designated as clean and as such it represents a righteous sacrifice.  A righteousness that an unclean animal could never represent.  The Donkey, an unclean i.e., unrighteous animal, could not redeem itself, it needed to be redeemed through the death of a clean or righteous animal.  What caught me by surprise though is that to declare a Donkey needs to be redeemed because it is unclean is followed by a declaration that the firstborn of Israel needed to be redeemed.  By implication that declaration declares the firstborn of Israel as equivalently unclean.

What follows then is that the declaration of every firstborn of Israel as unclean is symbolic of the fact that everyone in Israel is unclean.  And because Israel is the firstborn of nations (Jer 31:9) that everyone in Israel is unclean is symbolic of the fact that everyone in every nation is unclean.  Moreover, they are unclean in and of themselves not because they have been made unclean by contact with uncleanness.

However, by nature, apart from redemption, mankind is unclean before God.

Hold on a minute A~A~Ron (That’s a reference to a Saturday Night Live skit just in case the translation was lost in the typing.)!  The Law does declare that to touch an unclean animal is to become unclean (Lev 11:24-26) and this implies that the person who touched the unclean animal was clean before the touching.  I would agree that could be implied but I think it would be the wrong implication.  The declaration that touching an unclean animal makes a person unclean follows that portion of Leviticus that designates the sacrifices required to make a person clean.  They were made clean from their uncleanness prior to touching the unclean animal.  However, by nature, apart from redemption, mankind is unclean before God.

Fast forward to the New Testament and Jesus makes the same statement when He says, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him (Mar 7:14-15).”  When His disciples were confused, he had to elaborate, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him.  For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.  All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person (Mar 7:20-23).”  This, I think, also sheds some light on that from which we are being redeemed.  We are being redeemed from the judgment required for our evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.  They are all unclean acts that come from an unclean heart.

However, the truth is that this system was only intended to point to Christ.

I think the Israelites had made the wrong assumption; that they by nature were clean and were not made unclean until they encountered uncleanness when in fact, they were unclean because of what was coming out of their own hearts.  Perhaps they thought that the lamb offered at their birth was sufficient for their redemption.  Perhaps they thought that the sacrifices offered after those encounters in which they became unclean would be sufficient.  However, the truth is that this system was only intended to point to Christ.  It could never make a person truly clean (Heb 10:1) because it could not change the heart of man.  If this is true, then the Jew like the Gentile remains unclean, or unrighteous before God.

The good news for us is that the Gentile too has been declared clean.  When Peter was offered in a dream all kinds of animals to eat, he responded, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean (Act 10:14).”  Peter was still operating under the assumption that he could be made unclean by eating an unclean animal.  But God rebuked Peter by reminding him that he had declared those animals clean (Act 10:14).  This occurred just before Peter was to meet Cornelius, a Gentile.  God was using this dream to show Peter that Jesus had cleansed not only the Jewish believers but also the Gentile believers.

The need to be cleansed is there and it is universal.  Only the blood of Jesus can cleanse.

To wrap up, all of us by default are unclean.  Not because we were born into uncleanness or because we came into contact with uncleanness.  Our uncleanness is attested to by our own evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.  The need to be cleansed is there and it is universal.  Only the blood of Jesus can cleanse.

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Behold, The Lamb of God

On By AaronIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

A regular daily blood sacrifice is an alien concept to us.  The very idea seems foreign and barbarian.  What an irony of history that it is the foundation of Christian doctrine.  That Jesus, the Christ, is our sacrifice; the Lamb of God.  In Old Testament times through the intertestamental period, right up until the destruction of the Temple in 70 a.d., the priests would put on their robes and go through the prescribed sacrifices given in God’s Law.  Julius Scott writes a wonderfully concise description of the process.

“Each day, near dawn, the priests who had slept in the temple were summoned. An officer cast lots to determine priestly responsibilities. Those priests who had been selected for duty that day washed their hands and feet; the others were dismissed. The temple precincts were inspected to assure that the courts had not been defiled. Ashes were removed from the bronze altar, and wood placed upon it. Worship began when daylight arrived. The lamps were cleaned, and fresh oil put in them, ashes removed from the altar of incense, and the temple doors opened to indicate the beginning of worship (Scott 1995, 151).”

“A sacrificial lamb was led into the slaughter area on the north side of the bronze altar. It was given a drink of water from a golden bowl and then killed. Its blood was collected, and its bodily parts divided, arranged, and kept on a marble table until they were to be carried to the altar. Priests and worshipers recited the Ten Commandments, the Shema, benedictions, and other prayers. The Mishnah set the particular psalm to be sung each day of the week (Scott 1995, 151).”

“…the priests who had been selected to offer the burnt offering threw the body parts of the sacrifice onto the altar. When the high priest officiated, the other priests handed the parts to him, and he performed the rite. The pouring out of the drink offering which followed was the signal for the Levites to begin singing, which was interspersed with the blowing of two silver trumpets. The people prostrated themselves with each trumpet blast. The end of the singing concluded the worship (Scott 1995, 152).”

            When John the Baptist first meets Jesus, he proclaims, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (Joh 1:29)!”  But before that, in the angel’s announcement to Mary, she is told that Jesus, “will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.  And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end (Luk 1:32-33).”  When the angels appeared to the shepherds, the shepherds were told, “unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord (Luk 2:11).” And the wise men came looking for the one, “who has been born king of the Jews (Mat 2:2)?”  Great, Son of the Most High, heir to the throne of King David, King of the Jews and Lamb of God.  It seems so incongruous.

            But Jesus had come to be the Lamb.  “And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour (Joh 12:27-28).”  He came to be the blood sacrifice that the justice against my sins requires!  The Son of the Most High came for this purpose.  He, “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Php 2:7-11).”

            This is why we worship on Sunday!  This is why we sing!  This is why the angels sang joy to the world!  This is the source of peace between men and God!  This is why we worship on Sunday!

Thanks for reading and do not forget to subscribe to my e-mail below.  I am working on some great things and I would hate for you to miss out.

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Pregnancy, Punishment, and Prophecy

On By AaronIn Stuff About Me2 Comments

It is almost Thanksgiving and I wanted to give everyone an update on our expected Christmas gift.  We are getting closer!!! If you haven’t heard my wife and I are expecting a daughter towards the end of December.

I put the car seat in the car the other day.  There are two ways to anchor the seat to the frame.  I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to engage both systems when the instructions state you should only use one or the other.  Of course, as soon as you know you should only use one then installing the seat becomes a lot easier.

For the most part our hospital bag is packed.  I had not even considered that I might need some things in a bag as well.  We are not yet close enough that I worry that we could go to the hospital at any moment, but we are close enough that it is not outside of the realm of possibilities.  Soon, I will meet my daughter as she takes her first breaths.  I am excited!!!

“My hat is off to all those men and women who have been called to service in this endeavor we call childbirth.”

I do have to say that those portions of the birthing class that depict the details of the process, specifically the pain and pain management, are not comfortable.  At one point a scream could be heard in the video’s audio and I had to swallow hard.  And it is not just the pain.  Just about everything to do with childbirth and pregnancy is painful, uncomfortable and/or inconvenient.  I just learned about breastfeeding and it is not as easy as I thought.  There is such a thing as a breastfeeding consultant.  My hat is off to all those men and women who have been called to service in this endeavor we call childbirth.  Thank you!

Anyway, I have often wondered, “why are we being punished?  we didn’t eat the apple.”  That question has always existed, but it is very apparent for me today.

The reference is to the fall as recorded in Genesis.  Satan had convinced Eve to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 3:1-5).  When she did, she gave a portion to Adam who was with her, implying that he heard the whole argument and could have stepped in at any time (Gen 3:6).  The ultimate consequence of this action is that sin is let loose on the creation and as a result death.  But the immediate consequences are that Satan, or the serpent, is cursed to crawl on his belly and eat dust, man is cursed to work a ground that will fight his efforts, and the travail of women in childbirth will be greatly increased.

“To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children.”

Genesis 3:16

But is this a punishment for Adam and Eve’s sin or is there more to this?  Punishment in the bible comes from the idea of judgment.  It is what is owed for an offense.  It is both the recognition that something is not fair and the appeal that it be put right.  Adam and Eve have committed an offense and a judgment is owed.  But what is that judgment?  What is the cost?  Today we hear about the unjustness of a God who would punish someone for an eternity on the account of a finite offense.  But that is based on a misunderstanding of the offense (more on that here).  The cost of an offense has as much to do with who was offended against as it does with what the offense was.  Adam and Eve had offended against an infinite creator the judgment will carry in its value an infinite cost.

What this means is that Eve’s difficulty bearing her child can not be a punishment in that it can not pay the judgment owed.  It is finite.  It would be a finite payment in exchange for an infinite debt.  That check would be returned insufficient funds.  In fact, should all the difficult childbearing of every women down through time be offered in payment the check would still be returned insufficient funds.  That is why Jesus was required.  He is the only eternal man capable of paying that check.

“The sins that lead to the divorce can be forgiven by the atoning work of Jesus but, this side of His return, the consequences often remain; divided custody and the challenges of mixed marriages.”

It, childbirth, must be a consequence then.  Sometimes our sins bear consequences.  The brokenness of a home divided by divorce can be a good example.  The sins that lead to the divorce can be forgiven by the atoning work of Jesus but, this side of His return, the consequences often remain; divided custody and the challenges of mixed marriages. The payment is made but the scars remain.

Still, as a consequence, difficult childbirth is strange.  It does not appear to be connected to the crime.  It follows that an adolescence who commits a crime and comes out of years of prison as an older adult would have their development arrested.  Although they have paid for their crime, they now find themselves in a world without the skills that their peers, who did not go to prison, developed in that time.  It follows that a thief and an adulterer would not be trusted as readily, and a convicted child molester should not be put in charge of a daycare.  Most consequences follow from the sin, but a difficult childbirth does not seem to follow from the sin of disobedience to God.

“…that something is of great joy.”

Then the other day, our midwife reminded us to remember that every pain, every discomfort, is moving us towards something and that something is of great joy.  I was reminded of another great joy.  The writer of Hebrews tells us that we are to look, “to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross (Heb 12:2).”  It is one of my regular “go to” verses because I am always reminded that Jesus did what we needed Him to do for us because we are the joy that is set before him.  The difficulty of childbirth is endured for the joy that is set before the parents.

Could it be then that the penalty placed on Eve and handed down through her was not meant to pay the judgment but rather to point to the necessity of a worthy payment and then to the results of that payment?  I think so.  Looking through the Bible the labor of childbirth is often synonymous with most of what we would call the result of the fall.  Jesus describes the coming of the end with wars and rumors of war, famines, and earthquakes as the beginning of the birth pains (Mat 24:6-8).  I have often wondered how we will recognize those birth pains from what we already see today.  The reality is that they are all the birth pains that could one day lead to great joy.

“In the midst of the nation’s sin Hosea pleads with the people of Israel to recognize their situation.”

But beware!  There are risks.  Hosea, writing in the Old Testament gives us a little more clarity.  In the midst of the nation’s sin Hosea pleads with the people of Israel to recognize their situation.  He writes, “The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is kept in store.  The pangs of childbirth come for him, but he is an unwise son, for at the right time he does not present himself at the opening of the womb (Hos 13:12-13).”  Hosea is describing a still birth.  Ephraim has gone through a life under the consequences and influence of the fall and failed to come into real life.  You must be born of The Spirit offered freely by the blood of Jesus.

How difficult would childbirth have to be to be synonymous with the reality of sin?  If sin can be understood through the paradigm of difficult childbirth what would constitute the joy that is on the other side of the labor?  How great is the loss at spiritual still birth?  I don’t yet know why the fall was necessary but what I do know is that Jesus has paid the judgment price for my sin and the sins of the world and the day I believed that to be true I became an inheritor of the joy that was set before Him.  Do not go through this life to miss that!

“What would it take for a human being to be born into eternity?”

“Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you (Joh 16:20-22).”

What would it take for a human being to be born into eternity?  A judgment equal to the penalty must be paid.  Jesus after telling Nikodemus that he must be born again, (Joh 3:1-8) concludes that in order to be born again you must believe that the Son of Man was lifted up to bear the sins of all (Joh 3:9-15).  It turns out that the difficulty of childbirth is one of those earthly things that God uses so that we can understand spiritual things.

Thanks for reading and do not forget to subscribe to my e-mail below.  I am working on some great things and I would hate for you to miss out.

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There is a good chance we’ll get there with DIRTY FEET

On By AaronIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Recently, I was dispatched to assist our local police department in a death notification.  A woman had committed suicide and we had the duty to notify her mother.  It is among the most difficult things that a police officer must do.  I have done them as a police officer and now I have done a handful as a chaplain.  I am always amazed at how different the experience is as a chaplain.  It is not better, it is not worse, it is just different.

Today, the officer’s heart was on his sleeve as he interacted with the family.  He gently answered their questions, I could tell that in his heart, he wanted to be able to undo what had been done; to remove the grief from this family; to take away their pain.  He had all the rapport with the family, and I was of little help except to ask a few questions about arrangements and then to conclude the encounter in prayer.  They appeared to be a church going family that had not been able to attend recently due to Covid and the elderly status of the mother.  They were comfortable with and even appreciative of my prayer.

“Suicide is not an unforgivable sin and there is the same hope for one who dies as the result of suicide as there is at the death of any of our loved ones.”

There are very few pains that rise to the level of that experienced by those left behind by suicide.  So many regrets and so many questions.  Among them is the question of hope.  Can we hope to see our loved one who has committed suicide again?  I am going to be right up front and then explain; suicide is not an unforgivable sin and there is the same hope for one who dies as the result of suicide as there is at the death of any of our loved ones.  Jesus is that hope!

“Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.  Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him (Joh 13:1-5).”

“Jesus knew that His hour had come.”

Jesus knew that His hour had come.  Jesus knew that He was to be the sacrifice that would cleanse the world of sin.  And in this moment, he gets up and prepares to wash His disciple’s feet.

“He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?”  Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”  Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me (Joh 13:6-8).”

This was classic Peter.  It makes sense.  Should you allow the creator of all creation to wash your feet?  Probably not… It could be a test.  But, Jesus rebukes Peter and there is little surprise here.  Peter is probably getting used to this.  However, in His rebuke, Jesus connects what is happening now, the washing of feet, to an understanding of what Jesus is going to do soon, wash us all of our sins, and He reassures them that when it is done, they will understand.  Furthermore, Jesus leaves out Peter’s feet in the rebuke; “If I do not wash you…”  That’s significant.

Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean (Joh 13:9-11).”

“The cleansing that Jesus was about to accomplish, on the cross, was going to be complete.”

Again, classic Peter.  Do not just wash my feet then, wash my hands and my head.  But Jesus comment next is what intrigues me; He brings Peter back to the washing of his feet but in the context of a complete wash. “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean (Joh 13:10).”  The cleansing that Jesus was about to accomplish, on the cross, was going to be complete.  Jesus was going to wash us of all our sins leaving nothing behind.  Not one blemish.  The moment we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior that cleansing is ours and we are clean!

The problem is that we do not immediately go to be with the Lord.  It begs the question, “If the purpose of all creation is our salvation through redemption then why are we to remain here once we are saved?”  The answer is that at the moment of our salvation our lives are no longer our own and are no longer about us.  They are about those Jesus who Jesus also loves; those who are still dead in their sins.  We are left to walk this world in service to those who need Jesus that they might accept His offer of eternal life.  What that means is that our feet are going to get dirty.

“There is so much dirt that can get on our feet.”

That dirt could be the discouragement of a loved one who does not accept Jesus.  That dirt could be the discouragement of not receiving a well-earned promotion or recognition of our work.  The dirt could be the discouragement that comes with the loss of a loved one or the loss of a loved relationship.  And in those moments of discouragement when we fall back into whatever sin is most comfortable that dirt sticks to our feet.  There is so much dirt that can get on our feet.

To persevere, in order to remain close to God as we ambassador for Him we need to wash our feet and wash the feet of our brothers and sisters in Christ.  We confess our sins because He is faithful to forgive them (1Jo 1:9).  It is in these moments that we begin to believe the lie that we are not forgiven; that we are somehow not good enough!  Adam Clarke comments that,  “he who is washed—who is justified through the blood of the Lamb, needeth only to wash his feet—to regulate all his affections and desires; and to get, by faith, his conscience cleansed from any fresh guilt, which he may have contracted since his justification.”  The blood of Christ has already cleansed us of yesterday’s sins, today’s sins, and tomorrow’s sins but our own guilty conscience will keep us from a close walk with God; it will keep us from being effective for God.  Unless we confess, we keep ourselves from God and when we confess, He is faithful in reminding us that we have been cleansed.  Where we go wrong is thinking that our new sin disqualifies us from salvation.

“There is a good chance we could enter heaven with dirty feet.”

If we make that false assumption, then it becomes absolutely necessary that before our death we must confess our very last sin lest we die in transgression.  I do not know about you, but I have been close to death and in what could have been the last moment of my life I dropped some foul language that could have bordered on blasphemy.  Had that been my last moment would I have died apart from salvation!  Absolutely not!  Does this give us license to sin with impunity?  Absolutely not!

What this means then is that there is a good chance we could enter heaven with dirty feet.  Do not get me wrong, none of that dirt will get into heaven but there is a good chance that we could show up at the door to heaven with dirt on our feet.  Would God turn us away?  Not if at some point we had already repented of all our sins and accepted His free gift.

“What a comfort it will be for them to know that I have gone to be with the Lord no matter the circumstances of my death.”

What does this mean for the hope of those who have lost a loved one to suicide?  Bottom line, suicide is not an automatic disqualifier.  I did not know the person who died today.  I do not know if she had accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior.  If she had then her salvation is assured.  Her disobedience was punished on the cross and her last act of disobedience is no more disqualifying than the rest of the dirt that will fall from her feet as she steps across the threshold of heaven.  That is my hope for her and that is my hope for all the deceased I encounter in the course of my duties.  Delivering the news that a loved one has died is no easy task.  It is made easier with the hope that the deceased person is with the Lord.  An act of suicide is a disobedient act just like any other disobedient act.  And because Jesus’ work on the cross is sufficient for every disobedient act suicide can not remove the hope of eternal salvation any more than any other act of disobedience.

What I want my law enforcement brethren to know is that when we deliver the message to a family that their loved one has committed suicide, we are not giving them a message of hopelessness.  What I want everyone to know who makes it all the way through this message is that apart from Christ there is no hope.  Turn to him now.  Don’t wait! One day my wife and/or my mother will receive the news that I have passed from this life to the next. What a comfort it will be for them to know that I have gone to be with the Lord no matter the circumstances of my death.

Thanks for reading and do not forget to subscribe to my e-mail below.  I am working on some great things and I would hate for you to miss out.

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Baptism… That Which Unites Us

On By AaronIn Uncategorized2 Comments

When the writer of Hebrews tells us to, “leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation… of instruction about washings (Heb 6:1-2)” we have to ask the question what are the elementary Christian instructions about washings?  Many English translations translate Greek baptismôn into baptism and render the passage, “teaching about baptisms (LAB)” or “the doctrine of baptisms (NKJV)” but this can be a little misleading.  David Stern commenting on this scripture notes that the, “Greek baptismôn is the normal New Testament word not for the immersion which accompanies coming to faith (Act 2:37, 8:38, 16:32; see Mat 3:9) but for washings or purifications, of which the initial immersion is but one.” 

In the Old Testament there were laws relating to unclean people, food, and other objects as well as the requirements for cleaning them (Scott 1995, 254).  “There were indeed numerous prescribed ceremonial washings for all practicing Jews, both natural-born and proselytes; these washings were a major part of the requirements to become clean after contracting defilement (Scott 1995, 344).”  In the Gospel of Mark we read, “…the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders… (Mar 7:3-4).”  The Jews at the time of Jesus were so zealous that at the Wedding of Canna, recorded in the Gospel of John, were found six stone jars that could each hold twenty or thirty gallons of water (Joh 2:6).  That is from 120 to 180 gallons!

“…these ceremonies were never intended to make a person clean or undefiled.”

The Old Testament makes a clear distinction between clean and unclean; defiled and undefiled.  To be defiled or to be unclean was to be ceremonial disqualified from worship during special times and seasons.  But here is the rub, these ceremonies were never intended to make a person clean or undefiled.  They were used to teach the concept of clean and unclean and then to illustrate that we are all unclean.  Isaiah, prophesying to Israel, declared, “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment (Isa 64:6).”  Isaiah was speaking to those who were practicing the ceremonies!  Jesus later explained, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him (Mar 7:14-15).”  It is our hearts that defile us and none of us are capable of changing our hearts.

If then, we are unclean and defiled, how are we to get clean?  That is the central question of all Scripture.  That is the central question of God’s plan of redemption.  How is God going to make us clean?  The blood of Jesus has cleansed us from our sin (1Jo 1:7).  That was the mission of His first coming and He was sufficient for the task and the task is complete.  “He [Jesus] is the propitiation for our sins, and not for our only but also for the sins of the whole world (1Jo 2:2).”  He has washed us with His blood.  Grotesque when you take it word for word but when you understand that “His blood” is a reference to the only sacrifice sufficient to pay the debt owed to justice for your sins and that the debt has been, in fact, paid then it leaves the realm of the grotesque and enters the realm of the revolutionary.

“Confess your sins to God and He is faithful to forgive them.”

First John 1:9

Just the other day I was reading in Isaiah and found this gem.  “Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes… (Isa 1:16)”  Do you know at the time that this was written there was not yet a propitiation for sin?  Jesus had not yet paid the penalty for their sins.  The command to wash yourself or make yourself clean from your evil deeds was impossible and God’s perfect justice could never forget the debt.  Almost 2,000 years ago God took care of that impossibility and today you can wash yourself and make yourself clean.  Confess your sins to God and He is faithful to forgive them (1Jo 1:9).  Revolutionary then and still revolutionary today!

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him (1Pe 3:18-22).”

“Your Baptism into Christ was an event in which you identified with His act of sacrifice on your behalf and became identified with Him as one of His own.”

Baptism then, is not a washing that can remove your uncleanliness.  It is an identification with “the” washing that has removed your uncleanliness.  Your Baptism into Christ was an event in which you identified with His act of sacrifice on your behalf and became identified with Him as one of His own.  Soldiers speak of their baptism by fire.  That moment, after which they are forever identified with those who have also experienced combat.  It is something that they each share that binds them into an identity that apart from that baptism cannot be shared.  The Israelites were baptized into Moses through the sea and the cloud not because those things served as a ritual of initiation but because everyone who was not an Israelite could point to those things and say there goes someone who passed through the Red Sea and followed the pillar of fire (1Co 10:1-4).  I too can point to my own Christian baptism as the moment I was united with every believer in Christ as a believer in Christ not because the water made me clean but because going through the water pointed to the one who did make me clean.

People have asked me, “do you need to be baptized to be saved?”  The answer is yes!  You must be identified with Christ to be saved.  And although that baptism may not look like the baptism found in our contemporary church it must be there.  The thief on the cross was not sprinkled or immersed and yet he was baptized into the Cross of Christ!  The real question is not whether you need to be baptized to be saved the real question is have you been baptized?  Have you accepted the cleansing that can only come from the sacrifice of Jesus and have you identified yourself with Him in a way in which He will identify Himself with you?

This was a continuation of a previous post. You might want to check it out here. Thanks for reading and do not forget to subscribe to my e-mail below.  I am working on some great things and I would hate for you to miss out.

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What Was That About?

On By AaronIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

             Have you ever come to a story in the Bible and thought, “what was that?”  The other day as I was again making my way through First Samuel and I came across just such a story.

             The Israelites were fighting the Philistines and it was not going well.  The Israelites had lost about 4,000 men and so they called for the Ark of the Lord.  They knew that in days before Israel had been defeated when they did not bring the Ark and that they had been victorious when they had.  So, bring up the Ark.  “And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God (1Sa 4:4).”  Now these guys had not been representing Israel well.  In fact, the allegation was that they, “were blaspheming God (1Sa 3:13).”  However, in their current station their job was to bring up the Ark.

“Amazing!  They remembered the “gods” who had delivered the Israelites from Pharaoh.”

             Now, when the Ark was brought up all the Israelites gave such a great shout that the Philistines wondered what was going.  They must have consulted their intelligence officer because they knew that the Ark had been brought forward and they were afraid.  “These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness (1Sa 4:8).”  Amazing!  They remembered the “gods” who had delivered the Israelites from Pharaoh.  As a result, they were so disheartened that their commander had to appeal to their manhood, “…Take courage, and be men… (1Sa 4:9).”  This rousing speech motivated the Philistines to fight and the Israelites were defeated; thirty thousand Israelites died, including Hophni and Phinehas, and the Ark was captured.

             The Philistines took the Ark of God and placed it in the house of Dagon.  Dagon was the god of the Philistines who may have been, according to their ancient pantheon, the father of Baal.  Baal was one of the gods that the Israelites were continuously turning to in their rejection of God.  This was not a place of honor for the Ark of God either.  It was customary to give the spoils of war to the god of the victor in thanks for the god’s efforts in the victory and to show the superiority of one nation’s gods over another (Clarke 1810-1826, 1Sa 5:2).  However, when the Philistines woke up the next morning, they found their statue of Dagon tipped over on its face before the Ark.  They set him back up and the next morning they found him tipped over with his head and hands broken off.

             But that was not all.  The Lord afflicted the Philistines with tumors.  It was so bad the people in the city said, “hey get that Ark out here” and they moved it to another town.  The next town panicked because they had heard about the tumors and rightly so because they were also afflicted with the same tumors, so they sent it back to the original town.  That town said, “what are you trying to kill us?  Send it away!”  For seven months the Philistines wrestled with these tumors.  Finally, they considered sending it back to Israel and here is where the story gets really weird.

             The priests of the Philistines said, “hey, if we send it back, we can’t just send it back empty.”  They ended up putting the ark on a cart pulled by two milk cows along with five golden tumors and five golden mice. The milk cows used bare a strange similarity in that they almost match the requirements of the red heifer used in some Jewish sacrifices. Could the Philistines in their imperfect understanding of the law been trying to get their sacrifice right?

             Anyway, these passages and these stories are so foreign to us because they are written in a context that is removed from our own culture and contemporary understanding of the world that we can be discouraged in our attempts at finding their meaning.  Scholars believe that Samuel was called of God almost 1100 years before the birth of Christ and the times of Jesus predate us by 2000 years.  This chronological distance is one of the things that makes it difficult to understand the intent of the authors. But that doesn’t mean that the meaning is lost to us.

“This next part will blow your mind.”

             Let us take a closer look at one particular element of this story.  What is this thing called an Ark?  We find the instructions for the construction of the Ark in Exodus 25 and 35 and we find the account of its construction in Exodus 37.  According to those passages the instructions came directly from God.  He had explicit intentions concerning its construction.  It was a box, almost four feet long three and a half feet wide, made of acacia wood and overlaid with gold.  It had rings that handles could be thread through so that no one would touch it in the process of moving and carrying it.  The lid was called the mercy seat and was solid gold with two cherubim statues on its top.  Inside, were kept the table of the law, upon which was written the law as given to Moses by God. This next part will blow your mind. Are you ready?

“The mercy seat, placed on top of the Ark, is the symbolic representation of the place of propitiation; the place where Jesus would fulfil the law.”

             “The word for propitiation is translated, “mercy seat” in Hebrews 9:5 (KJV) where it refers to the lid on the Ark of the Covenant (Forlines 2001).”  Propitiation is a term that denotes atonement.  It is that which Christ accomplished on the cross.  Paul writing in the book of Romans writes, “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith (Rom 3:23-25, ESV).”  The mercy seat, placed on top of the Ark, is the symbolic representation of the place of propitiation; the place where Jesus would fulfil the law.  “The tables of the law represented the demands of the law which were: (1) absolute righteousness and (2) a penalty against sin in case of disobedience. When the High Priest slew the goat on the day of atonement and took his blood into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled it on the mercy seat, it was as if he were saying to the Law, “This symbolizes the meeting of the demands that you require from sinners (Forlines 2001).”  The Ark, that the Israelites were carrying, was the symbolic representation of God’s plan of salvation 1100 years before it was to be enacted and 3100 years later it is still the only path to salvation for you and me.

             When we add this understanding to this story what do we find that is relevant for us today?  First, is the seriousness with which God took the pre-planned execution of His plan as contrasted with the near disdain with which the people of Israel, at least in this story, and particularly Hophni and Phinehas placed on that with which they had been entrusted by God.  When the Philistines had returned the Ark some of the men of Beth-shemesh, Israelite men, looked inside the Ark.  A violation of a specific command of God (Num 4:20) and He struck them down; seventy of them (1Sa 6:19).  God’s plan of redemption is precious to Him because you are precious to Him.  So precious that He will brooch no offense against it in order to keep it open for you.  How seriously do you take your salvation?  When you sin do you recognize the level of contempt that it shows for what God has done for us?  Do you rest lightly in God’s forgiveness?  Do you take His forgiveness for granted to the point that repentance is unnecessary? In doing so you bring contempt upon the Word of God.

“Could it be that to accept God’s forgiveness apart from a heart of repentance is to blaspheme that very forgiveness?”

The Israelites brought forward the Ark in order that they could bend God’s will to their own.  They thought that they could continue in their disobedience with an expectation that they could bend God’s power to their own desires.  I am afraid today that these very same men can be found amongst us.  They are on our church boards, church committees, and even preach from our church’s pulpit not to mention those who sit in our pews.  Are you among them? They are those who willfully continue in their sin on the expectation that God will forgive them with the utterance of a word and a complete lack of repentance.  For all intents and purposes there is no heart of repentance, no desire to change, only a desire to continue in the pursuit of their own selfishness. Could it be that to accept God’s forgiveness apart from a heart of repentance is to blaspheme that very forgiveness?  The allegation against Hophni and Phineas was just that charge. They were brining contempt upon the Word of God.

Christian, I am not calling you today to a life of perfection.  I am calling you to perfect your heart before your Lord and savior.  Take your salvation as seriously as God does because its preciousness is the source and proof of your preciousness before Him.  Do not cheapen it by continuing in your desire to sin!  Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was set before him (Heb 11:2).  You are that joy and when you continue in your own selfish desires you are treating His joy with contempt; your are blaspheming the Word of God.

“Christians, find a church body, get involved, and study God’s word for all that it is worth!”

I’m going to leave today’s thoughts right here.  There is so much more to this passage that needs to be explored and I would encourage you to do so.  I want to explore if the Philistines in offering a guilt offering to the nation of Israel is a foreshadowing of an offering that Pilot would officiate before Israel thousands of years later.  There is an interaction here between the Jewish and Gentile world that might provide insight into the later interaction.  Christians, find a church body, get involved, and study God’s word for all that it is worth!

Thanks for reading and do not forget to subscribe to my e-mail below.  I am working on some great things and I would hate for you to miss out.

Clarke, Adam. Adam Clarke’s Commentary On The Bible. Public Domain, 1810-1826.

Forlines, F. Leroy. The Quest for Truth: Theology for Postmodern World. Nashville: Randal House Publications, 2001.

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Therefore…

On By AaronIn Uncategorized1 Comment

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.  Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.  And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,   not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near (Heb 10:19-26, ESV).”

It has been used so often that I cannot remember where I first heard the idea. Not to say that the idea is overused it is still truly relevant as we read God’s Word. The idea is usually expressed like this, “When ever you see a therefore in the text you have to ask the question, ‘what is it there for?’” Here the word is translated from the Greek οὖν and as a conjunction it means “and so” or “now then” and is being used to connect the first clause with a clause to come.

I love two things about this particular “therefore” in Hebrews. First, it is pointing back to a little over nine chapters of stuff; that is a big first clause. Because Jesus is the Son of God, because as the Son of God He is superior to Moses, Malchizedek and even to the angels, because Jesus is the founder of our salvation, because Jesus is the Great High Priests, because God’s promises are secure, because Jesus is the guarantor of a better covenant, because we are redeemed by the blood of Jesus, because of all these things, and more, all of which are found in Hebrews leading up to this “therefore” it is a big “therefore.” The first clause is so huge I am already anticipating the second clause. It is going to be equally huge!

Second, the writer of Hebrews sums up the first clause beginning with the word “since.” “…since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God… (Heb 10:19-21)” In other words, the blood of Jesus provides a way for you and I to enter into His presence in the holiest place where He resides as our atonement. Since all of this is true the writer of Hebrews is going to tell us that we ought to do something; that something is the second clause.

What ought we to do? How should we respond to what God has done for us? Are you sitting on the edge of your seat? Are you so awe struck by the selfless humility of the perfect and all-powerful God of the universe who has given all of Himself for you that your only desire is to know what you should do right now? Here it is… we are to draw near to God. We are to draw near to God and in that nearness, we are to be true in heart; true about ourselves, true about who God is, and true in our intentions towards Him. We are to trust, know, or have faith, that our consciences are clean, sprinkled with the blood of His sacrifice and our flesh purified through our baptism into His death. And, we are to encourage one another to the good works of love. I know, you probably thought that I was going to tell you that we ought to obey God’s commands or that we should live as better people. Nope, we are to abide in our faith, what we know about God, we are to abide in our hope, what we know God is going to do, and we are to abide in love, doing for others that which God has done for us (1Co 13:13). This is how we are to draw near to Him.

What is also astonishing is that is not a concept new to the New Testament and absent in the Old. The prophet Micah, writing to the Israelites around 750–700 B.C., writes, “[The LORD] has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God (Mic 6:8)?” Have faith in what is good, walk in the confidence of what God is going to do, and do justice and kindness from an attitude of love.

The men and women of the Old Testament knew that God was good and relied on His promises of redemption.  Today as men and women of the New Testament we know how God has redeemed us and we rely on His promises of eternal life, bodily resurrection, and ultimate glorification.  Adam Clarke writes that, “He is faithful that promised eternal life, which is the object of your hope, is promised to you by him who cannot lie; as he then is faithful who has given you this promise, hold fast the profession of your hope (Clarke 1810-1826, Heb 10:23).”  How wonderful is it that when we gaze into the heavens what we find is a God of love who is faithful first to His own word and then to the word He has given to His creation?  I shudder to think that we could gaze into the heavens and see anything else; anything less.

Thanks for reading and do not forget to subscribe to my e-mail below.  I am working on some great things and I would hate for you to miss out.

Clarke, Adam. Adam Clarke’s Commentary On The Bible. Public Domain, 1810-1826.

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The Significance of a Sign

On By AaronIn Uncategorized1 Comment

Twenty-Four years before Abraham received the covenant of Circumcision God spoke to him saying, “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great (Gen 12:2).”  Later, as God was confirming that promise, Abraham reminded God that he had no heir.  God responded, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars…” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be (Gen 15:5).”  As time passed Abraham and his wife Sarah were still unable to conceive and in a moment of impatience took matters into their own hands.  In disobedience, Abraham and his servant Hagar bore a son together.  Abraham was ninety-nine when Ishmael was born to Hagar and right after Ishmael’s birth God confirmed again His promise to Abraham that through his own progeny God would deliver.  In that confirmation Circumcision was given as the sign of the covenant between God and Abraham.

“This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised.“

Genesis 17:10-11

“And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations.  This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised.  You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you (Gen 17:9-11).”  It would be one more year until Isaac was born to Sarah beginning the fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham.

Normally, I would leave those passages and move on, confident in my understanding of circumcision.  Most of us are fully aware that the descendants of Abraham to this day circumcise their sons on the eighth day after birth.  However, Paul, in the New Testament, explaining the nature of The Law wrote that, “circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter (Rom 2:29).”  And I wonder, “wouldn’t it have been easier to have conveyed his message by simply stating that righteousness is found in the heart and not in the letter of the law?”  But he did not.  In conveying his message, he pointed back to circumcision of all things.  So, I should probably take a deeper look at the sign of circumcision.

“Circumcision of the heart is not a New Testament phenomenon.”

The first thing I notice is that circumcision of the heart is not a New Testament phenomenon.  We read in Deuteronomy that we are to, “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn (Deu 10:16)” and “the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live (Deu 30:6).”  The prophet Jeremiah commands the Israelites to, “Circumcise yourselves to the Lord; remove the foreskin of your hearts… (Jer 4:4)” and warns them that, “the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will punish all those who are circumcised merely in the flesh— …and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart (Jer 9:25-26).”   This is not a new idea introduced by Paul in order to “spiritualize” the life and death of Jesus.  This is an Old Testament concept that Paul is connecting to Jesus.

Circumcision is the sign of the covenant given to Abraham in that God had promised to make Abraham a great nation and a blessing to all peoples.  The promise was given to Abraham that would be fulfilled entirely and completely by God.  Abraham would have to do nothing but believe God would be true to His word.  However, God did require Abraham to take a sign that would point to that promise.  A sign that demonstrated Abraham believed.  To not take the sign would be to invalidate or to reject the promise.  “Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant (Gen 17:14).”  Abraham and his progeny could do nothing to fulfill the promise.  However, they could cut themselves off from the promise by rejecting the trustworthiness of the one who gave it.

“In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh…”

Colossians 2:11

The wording of the sign also gives a clue as to the nature of the sign; “the flesh of the foreskin.”  Paul, writing to the Colossians, explains, “In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh… (Col 2:11).”  The idea of the sinful flesh is an idea that Paul develops further in Romans.  The Law could not produce righteousness in that it was weakened by sinful flesh (Rom 8:3).  Those who walk according to the flesh could not hope to keep The Law, the righteous requirement for righteousness.  “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on things of the flesh…” and to set your mind on the things of the flesh is death in that it is to place your mind in opposition to God (Rom 8:5-7).  James described our own desires as that which brings us into opposition to God, “…each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.  Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death (Jas 1:14-15).”  Flesh is the term used to describe our own sinful desires and “those who are in the flesh cannot please God (Rom 8:8).”  For Abraham to circumcise his sons and for Abraham to circumcise their sons was to take the sign of a promise in a single act of obedience.  That obedience was the symbolic act of removing their own sinful and selfish desires.

Our hearts are the seats of our desires.  To remove the foreskins of our hearts is to remove our own selfish desires so that all that remains is a true heart for God.  Perhaps the thing that intrigued me most about my contemplation of the sign of circumcision was the discovery that while God commands His elect to, “circumcise themselves to the Lord (Jer 4:4)” He also declares that “the Lord your God will circumcise your hearts (Deu 30:6).”  Our sinful desires are what separate us from the Lord.  The sin for which we are justly accountable to God require a just God to act and to act against those who have sinned.  How can you love a God who you know will one day execute that judgment?  In the absence of salvation all you have are the pleasures of this world ahead of that judgment.  But that same God, sent His only Son as the embodiment of flesh (Rom 8:3) to receive the justice that you deserved.  He has removed the consequences of your selfish desires.  When you know this to be true the only thing that now remains is the love that you have for a God who first loved you (1Jo 4:19).  He has given you a new heart circumcised unto Him.

One final thought.  God has done this entirely of Himself.  Apart from Jesus’ work on the cross salvation from a just verdict is impossible.  Apart from that act the foreskin of your heart remains.  And you must take the sign of that circumcision.  Not to do so is to reject the New Covenant offered by God.  Anyone who doubted whether Abraham, or one of his sons, had taken the sign of the covenant could merely look and know for sure.  If someone were to doubt that you had taken the sign of the New Covenant what would, or should, they be looking for to know?  What does the sign of the New Covenant look like?  What does circumcision of the heart look like?  I think it would look like obedience.  I think it would look a lot like what James describes in his letter.  Have you accepted Jesus promise of eternal life in Him?  Does your life bear the sign of that promise?

“In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead (Col 2:11-12).”

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