God Has Always Had a Remnant--Simeon & Anna

Luke 2:25 introduces us to Simeon, "Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him." Then a few verses later [2:36-37] we meet Anna, "There was a prophetess, Anna, [note that all of Scripture records only four other women in the office of prophetess] the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband for seven years after her wedding, and then was a widow for another 84 years. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying."

Simeon and Anna embodied all that was good in Jewish piety. To those of us who follow Christ, their similarities are delightfully encouraging. First, both were aged. Most New Testament scholars believe Anna was between 103-105 years old at this point in time, depending upon the age at which she married. Though Simeon's age is unstated, the text suggests that he, too, was advanced in years. Both were also devoted to God. Simeon is called "righteous and devout" and Anna "never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying." Whenever the doors were open, she was there. Both were prophets ... Anna was called "a prophetess" and Simeon's song is itself a prophecy. And finally, both were filled with an expectancy. Simeon is described as a man "waiting for the consolation of Israel." Anna joined right in after Simeon's prophetic song and "spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem." [v. 38]. My pastor Erik Braun called them "weird people" in his January 4, 2009 sermon. Only to be followed by John the Baptizer in the next chapter. God's remnant keeps getting weirder. They truly believed in Christ's coming when few others did. Most just thought they were throwing their lives away. It had, after all, been a very long 400 years of prophetic silence. Yet, they never gave up but kept trusting and looking. What an example they are for us even today!

Lives like these are rare, and sadly such longing is not in vogue today ... if it ever really was. The ideal post-modern man sees himself as needing nothing, no one, not even God. Yet Simeon and Anna represent all of us who see that our only hope is in the mercy and grace of God. Along with the poor carpenter and his betrothed and the outcast shepherds, they are living examples of those to whom Christ comes. They embody the paradox of being profoundly empty yet profoundly full -- "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled" [Matt. 5:6]. They came to God's house hungry, and they received as few others have throughout history. We need to ask God to show us our spiritual insufficiency. What grace would come to us if we dared pray for a greater sense of our spiritual need!

It is also important to note that this involves waiting on God. Sadly, this is something we are innately adverse to. "It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ" [v. 26]. Simeon had received an oracle from God, making it clear that though he was advanced in years, he would not leave this life without witnessing the Lord's Messiah. How long had he been waiting? We can only imagine. In any case, it created a joyful sense of anticipation in his life as he came to the temple each day. Would this be the Day? Could this child be the One? Then one day it happened and "Simeon took him in his arms and praised God" [vv. 27-28]. The man of God became at that instant, Theodoches as the early church called him, the God-receiver.

With the baby in his arms, secure in God's presence and resting in the fulfillment of His promise, Simeon experienced a profound peace in his soul. He was, after all, holding the very "Prince of Peace" prophesied so long ago by Isaiah [9:6], the One of whom the angels sang, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests" [2:14]. God's favor was now clearly resting on his old servant Simeon! And Simeon could now go home to be with his God forever! Simeon's reason was unmistakable: "For my eyes have seen your salvation" [v. 30]. Christ is totally sufficient to save us. He is all we need! There is no Jesus plus something else. True peace comes when our souls rest in Him and Him alone.

The salvation of which Simeon sang is universal in its offer -- "which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel" [vv. 31-32]. This, on its very face, must have been a shocking revelation to its hearers and one likely not well received. For the Jews considered salvation as belonging to Israel alone with just a few notable exceptions. Now Simeon is saying salvation is no longer just for the Jews, just as Isaiah did "I will make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth" [49:6]. The significance of this expansion of God's grace cannot be overstated. We [Gentiles] were sung about in the Jewish temple by an aging, faithful prophet as he clutched God's Messiah in his bosom. Jesus is our light in this dark world; He is our salvation; and at the very same time, He is the full realization of Israel's glory!

"Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too" [vv. 34-35]. These words are meant for all of us, though the mention of a sword piercing Mary's soul is for her alone. She, herself, had prophesied that she would be called "blessed" by future generations. But here she learns that the future will also bring her great sorrow.

What is this "sign that will be spoken against?" The sign Simeon refers to is likely the Cross, "no sign will be given to you except the sign of the prophet Jonah" [Matt. 12: 38-40]. The sign of the cross reveals the hearts and attitudes of men...Christ's messy death compels people to respond either one way or the other. It has always been this way. Ghandi stated that he "could not accept any mysterious or miraculous virtue in the cross." Richard Dawkins states "it is parochial to consider God dying on a cross. If there is a God, he will be bigger than anything we can imagine." McLaren described Christ's death as "divine child abuse, one more injustice in the cosmic equation." And so it goes throughout history. Isaiah prophesied as much when he wrote: "he will be ... a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall ... " [8:14-15] and contrasts it with: "I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts [him] will never be dismayed" [28:16]. The Apostle Paul expounds on this mystery: "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.' Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength" [1Cor. 1:18-25].

When we truly encounter Christ and him crucified, our inner thoughts [that is, our evil thoughts] are seen for what they are. Apart from God's merciful intervention, we naturally oppose Him. For Christ reveals what our inner lives are really like. Human goodness is seen as filthy rags. Unable or unwilling to handle this truth, we naturally oppose Christ's work. But if we fall before Him in humility, we receive grace and new life. When we finally "see" our inadequacy, we are finally "ready" for God's grace. Lastly, this is not something we are ever able to do on our own, but it is only through the revelation of the Holy Spirit that our spiritual blinders ever come off. Thus, salvation is completely from God from first to last. "He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things -- and the things that are not -- to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him. It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God -- that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: 'Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.'" [1Cor. 1: 28-31]. Amen!

The Great Leap Down--The Story of Christmas

"In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world..." so opens the most famous passage in all of Scripture, telling the greatest of all stories. Octavian became the first Caesar to be called "Augustus" [meaning 'holy' or 'revered' which up to that point in time had been a term reserved exclusively for the gods] when the Roman Senate voted to bestow that title upon him. I think this is a point not lost on Luke who wanted us to see, that despite the world having at its helm a self-proclaimed and widely accepted god and savior, that on this day came one who would become the true Savior of the world. The contrast between the two could not have been greater.

Rome and Augustus had bludgeoned every foe into submission. "Peace" would reign throughout the Roman Empire for forty years but it was a dark peace -- a Hitlerian peace -- and no man, woman or child could speak against it without fearfully looking over their shoulder for certain retribution. Caesar Augustus' mighty arm stretched out all the way to a tiny village at the far end of the Mediterranean, and thus it came to pass that a village carpenter and his expectant teenage bride were forced to travel to his hometown to be registered for taxation. It was a miserable eighty mile journey made only more miserable by the fact that Mary was now full-term and would likely deliver her first child away from the modest comforts of home and family. Now on a long, dusty road in the cold of winter, she and Joseph trekked southward to Bethlehem. Seen through everyday logic, Joseph and Mary were insignificant nobodies from a nothing town. They were routine peasants, poor, uneducated, of no account. But Mary understood who she was and she knew who God was. Early into her pregnancy during her reunion with Elizabeth, she sang her great Magnificat, beginning with the words, "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, and my spirit exalts in God my Savior, for He has looked with mercy on my lowliness" [1:46-48] and later concludes her song by saying of her Son, "He has performed mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble" [vv. 51-52]. Joseph and Mary epitomize the mystery of grace -- the King of all Kings does not come to the proud and powerful but to the poor and powerless. As it is so often in life, things were not as they seemed to the world around them, because Mary and Joseph were the adoptive father and birth mother to the one true King, the Son of Man, the Ancient of Days. As the Virgin traveled those eighty difficult miles, her steady beating heart, hidden from the world, kept time with the rapidly thumping heart of God within her. For the baby Mary carried was not a Caesar, a man who would become a god, but a far greater wonder -- the one true God, who had become a man!

We are all familiar with the haunting simplicity of Luke's record of His birth: "While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son" [vv. 6-7a]. In Bethlehem the accommodations for travelers were primitive even in the best of circumstances. The near-eastern "inn" was the crudest of arrangements, typically a series of stalls built inside an enclosure and opening into a common yard where the animals were kept. All the innkeeper provided was fodder for the animals and a fire to cook on. And on that cold day, when Mary and Joseph arrived, nothing was available, not even one of those crude stalls. And despite the obvious urgency, no one would make room for them. So it was likely in the common courtyard, where the very animals were tethered, that Mary gave birth to Jesus, with only Joseph attending her. Joseph probably wept as much as Mary did! Seeing his betrothed in such pain, the stinking barnyard, their poverty, the indifference of those around them, the absolute humiliation of it all, the sense of overwhelming helplessness, and the utter shame of not being able to better provide for young Mary on the night of her travail -- all that would make a man either curse, or cry, or both!

Kent Hughes comments on the scene saying if we were to imagine that Jesus was born in a freshly swept, county fair like stable, that we would miss the whole point. It was absolutely wretched ... scandalous even! There was sweat, pain and blood as well as the cries of Mary reaching up to the heavens for help. The earth was cold and hard. The smell of birth mixed with the stench of manure and acrid straw made a contemptible bouquet. Trembling carpenter's hands, clumsy with fear, grasped God's Son slippery with blood -- the baby's arms and legs waving helplessly as if falling through space -- his face grimacing as he gasped in the cold and his cry piercing the night.

It was clearly a leap down! As if the Son of God rose from His splendor, stood poised at the very rim of the universe and then dove headlong through the Milky Way all the way to Earth and into a huddle of livestock. Nothing could be lower. Luke finishes his picture in v. 7: "She wrapped Him in cloths and placed Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn." Mary counted His fingers and toes, wiped Him clean as best she could in the dim firelight, and then wrapped Him in strips of cloth, all without the help of anyone other than Joseph. And then she laid Him in a feeding trough. No child born into the world that day seemed to have lower prospects. The Son of God was born into the world that day, not as a prince but as a pauper. We must never forget that it is here that Christianity began, and where it always begins ... with an overwhelming sense of need, a graced sense of one's own insufficiency. Christ, Himself, setting the example, comes to the needy. He is born only in those who are "poor in spirit."

Many have wondered over the centuries about the absolute wonder that is the Incarnation. St. Augustine said of the infant Jesus: "Unspeakably wise, He is wisely speechless!" Lancelot Andrewes, who crafted much of the Old Testament in the King James Version, preaching before King James on Christmas Day in 1608, picked up on Augustine's idea and described Christ in the manger as: "the word without a word." He is in His person the Word of God! This is the One who asked Job, "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the world? Tell me, if you understand ... when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness" [Job 38: 4, 9] now Himself lay wrapped in swaddling clothes. The wonder of the Incarnation! The omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient God became a baby!

Hughes described the Incarnation as "the great historic doctrine of the church [where] the Son of God became a real man--not just someone who only appeared to be a man. When He was born, God the Son placed the exercise of His all-powerfulness and all-presence and all-knowingness under the direction of God the Father. He did not give up those attributes, but He submitted their exercise in His life to the Father's discretion. Though He was sinless, He had a real human body, mind, and emotions -- complete with their inherent human weaknesses." He did not feign babyhood ... He was an actual human baby. I am convinced this mystery is beyond any earthly analogy or understanding. Truly human, the Son subjected Himself to His own creation and its physical laws, to life's ups and downs, its highs and lows. He would experience the development of human reason and language as we all do. He would be taught the things He didn't know. He would walk like a baby before He walked like a man. He thought and talked like a baby before He thought and talked like a man. He suffered the pains of growing up just as we all do. The only difference was that as Jesus learned, grew, and matured, He did so sinlessly and perfectly. But as Harold Best remarked "this does not mean that He was an instant learner." He learned carpentry from His earthly father, Joseph. He really did all these things. It really did happen like this. Paul was right when he wrote: "Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body ..." [1Tim. 3:16]. The implications of this reality are absolutely breathtaking, not just at Christmastime but also throughout the entire year and, in fact, throughout the entirety of our lives.

The story moves quickly along as Christ's birth was announced to the shepherds who were the first to hear. "And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks by night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified" [vv. 8-9]. That the message came first to shepherds, and not to the high and mighty, again reminds us that God comes to the needy, to the poor in spirit. Shepherds were despised by the upper class, the respectable people of that day. The only people lower in the social pecking order in that day were lepers. Scholars speculate that the only reason the flocks were even kept so close into town was that these men were keeping the sacrificial animals for the temple. Again the take home message is that God comes to those who sense their need. He does not come to the self-sufficient. Remember the words of the Apostle Paul, "Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things -- and the things that are not -- to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him" [1Cor. 1:26-29].

The words of the angel, spoken not only for the shepherds but for all of us, were wonderful, for they promised a Savior: "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord" [vv. 10-11]. It is exactly because of Christ's incarnation and His perfect identification with humanity -- His taking on our nature, though sinlessly -- that He could, in fact, save us. He became "perfect" in regard to temptation by suffering temptation as a real man and putting the tempter to flight [Heb. 5:8-9; Matt. 4:1-11]. As a real man, He became a perfect surrogate for us so that He could take our sins upon Himself, become "sin for us" [2Cor. 5:21], and die an atoning death for us. As Peter explained, "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness" [1Pet. 2:24]. Whatever our situation, He can deliver us. The angel said that the "good news" was "for all the people." Whoever you are, he can deliver you, help you, save you. "Because Jesus lives forever ... He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them" [Heb. 7:24-25].

After the angel's marvelous words something truly spectacular occurred: "Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests'" [vv. 13-14]. A heavenly flash and suddenly the bewildered shepherds were surrounded by angels! "A great company" is literally "a multitude" ... not 50, not 500, not even 5000 ... but beyond count. Likely every one of God's angels was there, because this was the most amazing thing to have ever happened in the entire universe. The heavenly host likely stretched from horizon to horizon obscuring the winter constellations. Imagine the radiated golds, pinks, crimson reds, electric blues, ultraviolets ... perhaps some were even sparkling. And when they lifted their voices to God, it was in cosmic surround-sound. They were announcing the long-awaited "Sunrise from on high" [1:78] -- literally star music! Job tells us that at the creation of the world, "the morning stars [angels] sang together and all the angels shouted for joy" [38:7]. Now the angels again joined voices at the greatest creation of all -- the birth of the God-man -- the perfect sympathizer and Savior. How we all would liked to have been there!!! But we on earth have the best part, because it is we who receive God's grace! He became man and not an angel. He redeemed us, not the angels. We should even more praise Him for all eternity!

Has God worked in your heart? Are you the object of His good pleasure? It is not enough to hear about Jesus. It is not enough to peek into the manger and say, "Oh, how nice. What a lovely scene. It gives me such good feelings." The truth is, that even if Christ were born a thousand times in Bethlehem but never in your heart, you would be eternally lost. Religious sentiment, even at Christmastime, without the living Christ in our souls is the yellow brick road to eternal darkness. The point of the Christmas story is that the Savior of the world is not a Caesar, nor will it ever be any great world leader. Jesus is the Savior, the very Son of God who came to earth veiled in Mary's flesh, born in human flesh, lived and died in that flesh, was resurrected in that flesh and now lives in the same but glorified flesh at the right hand of the Father. That baby, God's Son, demands our complete allegiance. He really did come into the world, and because of this, He really can come into your heart! Your present and your eternal future will never be the same!

Surprising Grace En Route to Golgotha

Just a few reflections [Luke 23:26-34] regarding some previously unnoticed [at least by me] gracings given by our suffering Savior as he agonizingly trod the Via Dolorosa to his crucifixion on Golgotha's cross. Having been beaten in the face by the Sanhedrin's guards, scourged to the point of exposing gaping muscle and bone by Pilate's soldiers producing a veritable shock-like state, and then having a crown of thorns pressed deeply into his scalp and brow covering his face in even more blood, he now had to carry a 100+ lb. patibulum [cross beam] strapped across his shoulders along the longest and most circuitous route possible from Pilate's palace to Golgotha... a practice employed by the Romans to induce a cold fear in the populace so as to deter future crime. He truly reflected His prophetic description in Is. 52:14 "his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form beyond human likeness." A shocking sight to behold, especially for one so enthusiastically and cheerfully welcomed into the city just five days before.

Jesus, having already suffered the above-mentioned prolonged agonies, began to reel like a wounded animal and the soldiers correctly discerned that he would not make it all the way to Calvary. In fact, there was a very real possibility that He just might die under the cross beam right there in the middle of the road. The Gospels concur in their record that the soldiers would be surprised at the swiftness of Jesus' death once He was crucified [Mk. 15:44; Jn: 19:33]. Thus, the soldiers desperately needed an impromptu solution to this complication impeding the completion of their mission. A north African man from Cyrene [now Libya] who had just at that instant "happened" upon this procession was involuntarily conscripted into the ongoing spectacle and was forced to carry Jesus' cross [v. 26] behind Him as He staggered up the hill along the road to Golgotha.

Quite unbeknownst to Simon at the time, this sovereign and providentially orchestrated gracing would change his soul's eternal destiny. Church historians record that Simon became a Christian as a result of witnessing Jesus' every movement and hearing His every word as He was tortured and executed before him that day; and perhaps he, too, was witness to Jesus' resurrection. Mark's Gospel lists the names of Simon's sons--Alexander and Rufus [15:21] which he would not have done had he not come to know Simon subsequently, and there was no reason for Mark to know Simon had he not become a believer. Furthermore, Mark's Gospel was written to the church in Rome and in Romans 16:13 Paul wrote: "Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too." It would appear that Simon's family may well have ended up being pillars of the expatriate church in Rome! What a testimony to the sovereign grace of Christ during the most outwardly helpless moment of His life!

But Simon's story goes even further, as it provides a dramatic picture of what exactly is required of us to be counted as a disciple of Christ. After Peter's confession of Jesus as the Messiah, Jesus made it clear that He would die at the hands of the Sanhedrin, and then He said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" [Luke 9:23]. And then He reiterated this in 14:26, 27 where He said that anyone who loves his family or even his very life more than me, "he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple." So the bent silhouette of Simon from Cyrene trudging after Jesus made a striking profile for every disciple of the Savior. The image is sobering, because if we do not feel the very weight of the beam, if there is no sacrifice, if there are no occasions of humiliation, it is quite likely that we are not truly following Christ.

As Simon followed behind Jesus, "A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him" [v. 27]. These women are not to be confused with His devoted followers who had come up with Him from Galilee and who would stay with Him to the bitter end. Rather, these were devout women of Jerusalem who regularly attended executions both to provide opiates and drugs to ease the pain of the suffering criminals and to serve as professional mourners. These daughters of Jerusalem were well-intentioned, sympathetic, kind souls who were beating themselves and bewailing him as He trudged up Calvary's road. They, however, were in no way prepared for what would happen next as Jesus marshaled His remaining strength and turned to face them and said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children" [v. 28]. How surprising that the wretched prisoner, suffering indescribably and literally dying a little more with each and every step he took, would be thinking of them. As He did this, Jesus followed the Old Testament pattern of addressing the women as representatives of the nation [2Sam. 1:24; Zeph. 3:14; Zech. 9:9; Song 2:7]. He then drove home His gracious warning with both a terrifying prophecy and proverb. "For the time will come when you will say, 'Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!' Then 'they will say to the mountains, "Fall on us!" and to the hills, "Cover us!"'" [vv. 29, 30]. The coming judgment would be so dreadful that barrenness, normally held to be a reproach in Israel, would be counted as a blessing. The coming judgment would be so unbearable that Israel would cry out with language used by ancient unfaithful Israel [Hos. 10:8], pleading for an earthquake to put them out of their misery. The following proverb was remarkable for the "how-much-more" aspect of it. "For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?" [v. 31]. Trees do not naturally burn when they are green, but they are highly flammable when dry. Righteous [green] Jesus was not a natural object of disaster, but the sinful [dry] nation was.

The very fact that Jesus warned the devout women [and thus, by extension, devout Israel] shows us that not all who would experience the coming devastation would deserve it. Not all Israel was hostile to Christ and thus, Jesus left open the possibility that God, who even at that very minute was in the process of redeeming Simon's heart, could also redeem the hearts of those who were lamenting what was being done to Jesus. This, of course, gloriously occurred through the New Testament church which was founded in Jerusalem. It is also wonderfully true that many Christians were spared the holocaust of A.D. 70 when Rome besieged the city, because the Jewish persecutions had previously driven most of them out of Jerusalem [the diaspora].

Lastly, we see another unexpected gracing of Christ, as he was impaled and hung on the cross. Between agonizing gasps for breath, He asked His Father "to forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" [v. 34] even as His very blood splattered down on them. It, however, should be noted that this was a specific forgiveness for a specific sin and not for all their sins nor for their sinful condition in general. Yet, it is remarkable that His crucified heart is able to offer such forgiveness in the midst of its agony. And for at least one of the soldiers, Jesus' prayer was not in vain; for some hours later when Jesus said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit" [v. 46], "the centurion seeing what had happened, praised God and said, 'Surely this was a righteous man'" [v. 47]. The Crucifixion was for him, too, the dawning of amazing grace.

The Searing of a Conscience

In Luke 23:1-12, we find Jesus, having emerged at dawn from his religious trial before the Sanhedrin, condemned to death by a body whose right to inflict capital punishment had been stripped from them by the occupying Romans. Thus, a political trial under secular Roman authority was necessary. And the most infamous trial in history would soon commence. But not before wily Pontius Pilate would try to pass the buck to King Herod. He had found Jesus to be innocent of all three charges brought against him: subverting the nation and its rulers, opposing taxation by Caesar, and claiming to be an earthly king with an earthly kingdom. But when the religious leaders refused to be swayed and Pilate learned that Jesus was a Galilean, he referred the case to Herod, whose jurisdiction included Galilee and who also just so happened to be in Jerusalem for the Passover.

Herod Antipas and his wife Herodias had come under fire from John the Baptist after he had seduced his sister-in-law and then persuaded her to leave her husband, Herod Philip [Antipas' half-brother], and marry him. This was completely forbidden under Jewish law [Lev. 18: 6, 16]. In Mark 6:18 John told Herod that "it is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife" and so, for very personal reasons, "Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him" [v. 19]. But she was not able to because Herod feared John and protected him [despite the fact that he had thrown him into a dungeon prison] because he considered "him to be a righteous and holy man." When Herod would hear John, he would become "greatly puzzled" and yet he still "liked to listen to him." One has to wonder WHY? John must have been a breath of fresh air amidst the debauchery of Herod's court. Perhaps Herod's spirit would feel inexplicably elevated in John's presence. Perhaps there were even some failed attempts at self-reformation. Nonetheless, Herod's discomforting fear of John was evidence that his conscience was at least stirred by John's words.

Herodias, on the other hand, hated John and wanted him dead. "Finally, the opportune time came" during Herod's birthday banquet [v. 21]. Her teenage daughter, Salome, sensuously and seductively danced before Herod and his court and was a smash. This was unheard of among women of stature, being typically relegated to the hetarai, the professional court dancers and prostitutes. Drunk and very pleased, Herod promised to give her anything she wanted up to half his kingdom [v. 23]. And with that, the trap was perfectly set. Salome conferred with her mother and then returned to Herod and his guests demanding "the head of John the Baptist on a platter" [v. 25]. The room went silent and Herod became suddenly sober and "greatly distressed" [v. 26]. The only other time in entirety of the New Testament that this Greek word was used was to describe Jesus' anguish in the Garden of Gethsemane. For a moment at least, Herod was having a crisis of conscience! His moral shudder was, at last, a sign of life. For an instant everything was possible, including his repentance.

But what would his friends think? News of this would inevitably make it all the way back to Rome and he would be the laughing stock of the entire Imperial Court. That he could not suffer. "So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John's head" ... and shortly afterwards he returned with John's head on a platter, which he presented to Salome who, in turn, "gave it to her mother" [vv. 27, 28]. What a heartbreaking turn of events! Herod's conscience had begun to speak one last time, but he silenced it because he feared what others would think; he feared loss of reputation; he feared his "honor" would be besmirched. And now only a deep and gaping darkness awaited Herod.

When Pilate transferred Jesus' case to Herod, he was thrilled ... but for all the wrong reasons. He had no spiritual interest in seeing Jesus as he had John in the past. Now it was about SHOWTIME! He wanted to see a miracle! [23:8] He no longer had any spiritual fear or trepidation. His murder of John had produced an incapacity to see anything in Jesus. And Jesus gave Herod no response whatsoever, despite a very lengthy interrogation. [v. 9] In contrast, Jesus was willing to reason with the scandalous high priest Caiaphas and even to prophesy to him [22: 69, 70]. He conversed with Pilate and gave him very substantive answers to ponder [23:3, John 18:33-38]. He grieved over Judas in the Upper Room as he reached out for his very soul. But before Herod, he maintained a dreadful silence. Herod's days of grace were long since over. His conscience had long since been seared and could no longer respond! But beyond even lacking enough life in his soul to respond to the grace of almighty God standing before him, he went even further and openly mocked Christ effectively holding the God of the universe in contempt!

The silence of Jesus before Herod is a shocking and dramatic example not to trifle with holy things and not to suppress the nudgings of the Holy Spirit in our souls. We never know, on this side of eternity, when will be the last time our spirits will hear His call. "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts..." [Ps. 95:7, 8]. May we always have ears to hear!

When Darkness Reigns

In Luke 22:47-53 we see Jesus, having finished His protracted time in prayer, now resolutely facing His imminent execution but sublimely in control of all events including His death. His approaching circumstances were no different but He had complete trust in His Heavenly Father. And despite being diabolically betrayed, with a kiss even, Jesus reached out to Judas much as He had done at the Last Supper. In the middle of the very act of betrayal, Judas was a lost soul, and Jesus always cares about lost souls. The question Jesus asked Judas "are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?" combined both divine foreknowledge with an appeal for repentance. Sadly for Judas, it would go unheeded. But we see even here that, despite Albert Schweitzer's critique to the contrary, in the middle of the night that would devour him, Jesus was not helplessly falling into the gears of history!

"Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had come for Him, "Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs? Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me" [vv. 52, 53a]. There is beautiful irony here. They could have arrested Him at any time they had wanted if they had not feared the people. As a point of fact, they were the lawless ones, and His challenge questioned the legality of His arrest. They came in the middle of the night like armed robbers to "number Him with the transgressors" when their very own conduct was an implicit admission of their guilt. This done, Jesus issued the defining statement for this night: "But this is your hour--when darkness reigns" [v. 53b]. The physical darkness of the night matched and covered the moral darkness reigning in their hearts. R. Kent Hughes asserts that what Jesus called "your hour" was "really three hours in one."

First of all, it was Earth's hour, in that it was the climactic moment when fallen human beings marshaled their forces against Jesus. Remembering Jesus' own words from Luke 11:33-34, their spiritual eyes were not "good" but "bad," so that their entire beings were "full of darkness." As a result of their resolute darkness and their appalling murder of Christ, darkness would fittingly come over the entire land from noon to 3:00 PM on the day of His crucifixion. This was fallen Earth's dark hour of infamy.

This was also Hell's hour. In fact, the very language "when darkness reigns" is used in other passages of Scripture to describe the rule and dominion of Satan [Eph. 6:12, Col. 1:13]. Earth's hour was also Satan's hour because fallen humanity had become Satan's instruments in his assault on Christ. After tempting Christ in the wilderness at the beginning of His public ministry, he had left Christ for a "more opportune time" [Luke 4:13]. He now had his hour! The Sanhedrin and Pilate himself may have thought themselves "free" when they condemned Christ to death, but they were slaves of impulses that came straight from Hell!

When all is said and done, however, "your hour," Earth's hour, which was also Hell's hour, was preeminently Heaven's hour. In the Upper Room Jesus began His oft-quoted prayer by saying, "Father, the hour has come" [John 17:1] -- that "hour" being the foreordained hour for the events that culminated in the cross. Luke records it as, "When the hour came, Jesus and His apostles reclined at the table" [22:14]. Thus, the "hour" for Jesus began with His self-giving at the Last Supper and concluded with His delivering His spirit into the hands of His Father. Ultimately, this was Heaven's hour because Satan was but an instrument in God's great plan for the salvation of the world. Hughes notes that Satan was the unwitting stage manager for God, and every fall and humiliation that he choreographed for Christ was actually a step toward our salvation. A very limited and little God? Not!

Gethsemane

At Gethsemane we see a Jesus who has never before appeared in any of the Gospels. Kent Hughes calls it the Sanctus Sanctorum of Jesus' heart demanding of us a profound reverence, almost a reticence, lest we get it wrong. Up to this point, Jesus has been absolutely fearless...from his temptation in the wilderness, to the initiation of his public ministry in Nazareth where his hometown people tried to kill him, to his encounter with a screaming demoniac whom he silenced with two words, to his bold preaching where he pronounced six scorching woes on the religious leaders of his day which was followed by repeated confrontations with the religious and political authorities in the various synagogues and lastly his righteous cleansing of the Temple in Jerusalem. He could neither be intimidated nor matched theologically. He was always in control whether healing the sick, raising the dead, feeding the multitudes or even calming a terrible storm. He fearlessly approached his own death from the Mount of Transfiguration where he told his disciples that "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men." [Luke 9:44] and then a short time later in v. 51 it is recorded that "Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem...as the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven." And just a few miles from the gates of the Holy City Jesus told his disciples "We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again" [18:31-33]. Finally, he was eager to share the Last Supper with his own -- though he knew that he was the Passover lamb who would be devoured. Through all of this Jesus knew no fear!

Then, a few hours later in the Garden, everything changed. Jesus was overcome with a fearful dread of his upcoming death. "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death," he said to them [Mark 14:33, 34]. Jesus in his anguish prayed more earnestly and his sweat was like great drops of blood falling to the ground [22:43]. God sent an angel to comfort and strengthen His Son but He would not take away the cup Jesus was about to drink. Jesus body and soul were wracked to the very core with fearful anguish of his impending death. An overwhelming fear! Many men and women before and after have died brave, fearless deaths. Why such fear from Jesus?

Jesus knew that the "wages of sin is death" [Rom. 6:23] -- and he would pay those total wages in full. He also knew that death is the result of the judgment of God [Rom. 5:12] -- and he knew that he would bear that judgment. He knew that he would become sin [2 Cor. 5:21] and that death would bring on him the full wrath of God [1 Jn. 2:2] -- and that he would propitiate it to the full. That is why he was filled with such unremitting dread. That is why he was so fearful. Hughes makes the point that Jesus could well have died before the cross!

Jesus plea to "take this cup from me" was grounded in the fact of his absolute sinless purity, and the fact that the cup was filled with sin and wrath. Hughes describes the cup as "steaming with a brew that was so awful, so fearful, so dreadful, so unbearable, so appalling, so horrendous that Jesus' soul was both revulsed and convulsed." How could he drink such filth? How could he bear his father's wrath? Though in the Upper Room he had declared this cup "to be the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you" [22:20] he now recoiled at the personal horror he was about to endure. Nevertheless, he asked not that his will but that the Father's will be done. And he did it with complete sincerity, unlike Peter's ignorant boast that he was ready to go to prison and even death for Jesus. Jesus knew what he was assenting to. "Your will be done!" ends up being the cry of a conqueror because "the man who does the will of God lives forever" [1 Jn. 2:17].

Of the very many things we should learn from this passage [Luke 22:39-46] five stand out in my mind:

1. Prayer is more than content--it is a process of relating to God. While it is true that we often get the things we ask for, more than that, prayer gives us God Himself. [see also Rom. 8:32]

2. We see how biblical submission is lived out. Jesus submits to the authority of His Father though they are equal. He said "I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do was pleases Him" [Jn. 8:28, 29]. Charles Williams noted that "within the Godhead, this is a particular means of joy." Our submission is our entrance into this sweet joy.

3. Prayerful waiting is the secret to not succumbing to temptation [see also 1 Cor. 10:13]. But so often we miss the "way out" that God provides us because we are asleep!

4. We see that real death is due to God's wrath for our sin. We see the very oneness of God assaulted by sin. As Martin Luther said of the cross, "Mystery of mystery, God deserts God."

5. There in the Garden we see God's Son agonizing and pleading for an alternative way, and there's no question that if there were any other way God would have done it. But since there was not, God willed His own Son's death.

-- What a blasphemous affront to God to think that sin does not matter!

-- What an outrage to imagine that we are good enough for God to accept us!

-- What a cosmic affront to hold that there is any other way apart from Jesus!

-- What a slur to say that God does not care about us!

-- We join the Apostle John in amazement: "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God!" [1 Jn. 3:1]

As the late Paul Harvey used to say, "and now you know the rest of the story" ... in this case, the true story of "Christmas." Just what it means to have "God with us" -- Emmanuel! He is our "Christmas present" both now and for eternity!

The New Covenant

At the conclusion of the Last Supper when, in a candlelit room with his closest friends the twelve disciples, Jesus took the cup of wine in hand and said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you," [Luke 22:20] it was one of the most glorious moments in redemption's history. That single sentence marked the end of the blood sacrifices of the Old Covenant to be replaced once and for all by His soon-to-be shed blood on the cross and the establishment of the all-surpassing superiority of the New Covenant.

The blood of the Old Covenant sacrifices covered sin but could not remove sin. As the writer of Hebrews so explicitly makes clear, "It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins [10:4] and "Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins" [10:11]. In fact, it was precisely because no dumb animal was competent to serve as a substitute for a human sinner that there was an unending repetition of sacrifices and those very repetitions bore constant witness to their impotency.

Jesus then told his disciples "It is written: 'And he was numbered with the transgressors'; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment." [Luke 22:37] And the future reality for his disciples was that because they followed him, they too would be regarded as transgressors or outlaws. The phrase "and was numbered with the transgressors" in Is. 53 is followed by two other phrases -- "For he bore the sin of many" and "and made intercession for the transgressors." Together these three phrases give us the basis for all the hope we have.

The phrase "and was numbered with the transgressors" was dramatically fulfilled when Jesus was hung on a cross between two thieves. The joyful reality is that we too are the transgressors and on that cross he fully identified with us. And he not only identified with us in our sin, but he atoned for our sin as the next phrase attests "for he bore the sin of many." Whereas it was "impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins," Peter tells us, referring to Is. 53:12, "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed" [1 Pet. 2:24].

The final phrase, "and made intercession for the transgressors," is the final and clenching element in this triad of hope! Jesus makes full identification with us transgressors, and then full atonement, and then seals the deal with full intercession for us outlaws. This is why Peter was able to be restored and lead the church after Satan had sifted him hoping to dispose of the wheat and harvest the chaff. But Christ prayed for Peter, and despite Peter's failure, the chaff blew away and the wheat remained. Jesus' intercession is at the root of the New Covenant's superior power. The Old Covenant was administered by mortal priests who were themselves sinners. But Jesus is the eternal priest in the order of Melchizedek according to the eternal oath of God. [Ps. 110:4] This has untold hopeful possibilities for every believer. Hebrews states that "because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them" [Heb. 7:24, 25] He can save completely because "he always lives to intercede." Though we are finite, he is infinite. Though we are temporal, he is eternal. He prays with the ease of omniscience and omnipotence perfected through his own human suffering. And he is praying for us right now!! And thus we have great hope:)

Spiritual Heart Transplants

"The time is coming," declares the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the old covenant I made with their forefathers ... This is the new covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the Lord. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. ... no longer will a man teach his neighbor or a man his brother, saying 'Know the Lord.' because they will all know me. ... "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." [Jer. 31:31-34]

The problem with the Old Covenant was that it was patently external. It's laws were written on stone and they provided no internal power to live them out. Something far more radical was needed -- a spiritual heart transplant.

John Blanchard in his book The Truth for Life, relates the story of Dr. Christian Barnard, the first surgeon ever to successfully perform a heart transplant, impulsively asking his patient, Dr. Philip Blaiberg, "Would you like to see your old heart?" On a subsequent evening, the men stood in the pathology lab of the Groote Schuur Hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa and Dr. Barnard went up to cupboard, took down a glass container and handed it to Dr. Blaiberg. Inside that jar was Blaiberg's old heart. For a moment he stood there in stunned silence -- the first man in history to hold his own heart in his hands. Finally he said, "So this is my old heart that caused me so much trouble." He handed it back, turned away and left it forever.

This is, in essence, what Christ does for us. He gives us a new heart. God has written His laws within us. He has made His people partakers of the Divine Nature [2Pet. 1:4]. "I will be their God" means He gives Himself to us. And "they will be my people" means He takes us unto Himself. When this happens, everything our complex nature can require is found in Him. St. Augustine said "You've made us for yourself and our souls are restless until they find their rest in You." "They will all know me" [v. 34a] ... The Old Covenant was corporately entered into by a nation, including those who did not know God personally [which was the vast majority]. But those who experience the New Covenant by faith in Jesus' blood come one by one as they are born into a relationship with God. It was Jesus himself who defined eternal life by saying "This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent." [Jn. 17:3]

Amen!

Thankful to be a Friend of God

Marveling today at Jesus' words to those seated around Him at the table on the night of His betrayal..."As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because servants do not know their master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything I have learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit--fruit that will last--and that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other." John 15:9-17

As I ponder this passage, I marvel at v. 15..."I no longer call you servants...instead I have called you friends!" We often call ourselves children of God and members of the Family of God...but as everyone knows we don't get to choose our relatives [or family]. We do, however, get to choose our friends! In fact, we are often judged by the "friendships we keep." And despite all our many failings, Jesus still chooses us and calls us His friends. Wow! And then He showed us "the full measure of His love" in that while we were yet sinners, He died for us. There is no greater love and no greater example of what it means to "be a friend" than that. So while I am thankful this day to be Jesus younger brother and a son of God, I am most thankful that Jesus cared for and loved me enough to count me as His friend!

The Near, But Not Yet, Kingdom of God

Pondering Jesus’ words in Luke 21 “At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near…even so, when you see these things happening, you know the kingdom of God is near….be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”

There it is again…the near, but not yet, kingdom of God. This, however, is the final culmination of all things. It will go from near but not yet, to now and forevermore, in the twinkling of an eye. We must not be numbed by all the earthbound, secular voices that say life will go on and on. It will not! All of life is moving toward Him. For “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation…and all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things and in Him all things hold together.” [Col. 1] We are to keep looking up! While we wait for the “blessed hope, the glorious appearing” [Titus 2] in the same manner as John who exhorted us “Dear friends, now we are children of God and what we will be like has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is!”