Theology Matters

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I am the Resurrection and the Life.

Image“I am the Way the Truth and the Life, no-one comes to the Father except by me.”
In the last two posts and this post I am looking at Jesus’ claim to be “the way, the truth and the life.” The first post in this (mini-)series looked at what it means to say Jesus is the Way, the second at what it means to say Jesus is the truth. In this post, I want to look at the final claim, that Jesus is the Life.

The Raising of Lazarus by “The Resurrection and the Life”
John 11 tells the story of the death of Lazarus. Jesus had heard of Lazarus’ illness, and though he was a close friend of the family’s had decided to take his sweet time in making the relatively short trip to see him. In the meantime, Lazarus had died. When Jesus finally showed up, Mary was too grieved to come and meet him, but Martha put words to the painful thought that was weighing heavily on both of their minds, and also to the hope that Martha scarcely dared acknowledge. Jesus’ response foreshadows both the miracle that was soon to come and his own glorious victory over death:

“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 

Do you believe this?

Along with “who do people say I am. . .what do you say?” Jesus’ question here is one of the key questions of the Christian faith. I am the resurrection and the Life, says Jesus. Do you believe this?

Most people do not have trouble believing that Jesus existed, that he was a great teacher, and even that he performed miracles. These are near-universally acknowledged facts of history. But the resurrection is a line in the sand. The whole of the Christian faith stands or falls on this event, a fact that the Bible readily admits. “If Christ has not been raised,” says the Apostle Paul, “our preaching is useless and so is your faith.” Indeed, “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.” Morover, “those who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.” And to top it all off, “if only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.” (1 Cor 15:12–18).

Elsewhere Paul makes it clear that the resurrection is not just essential to the Christian hope—that we too will one day be raised from the dead—but to the faith itself. In Romans 10:9 we are told that “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” In other words, belief in the resurrection is essential to salvation. It is not sufficient to believe that Jesus existed. In order to call yourself a Christian, you must actually believe in the Resurrection. But, to return to Paul’s thought in 1 Cor 15, if you don’t believe in the Resurrection—both His, and ours—why would you bother being a Christian at all?

Jesus is Life itself

But Jesus did not only ask Martha to believe in the Resurrection. The latter half of his claim is just as important; I am the Life. And this claim was not only a comforting reassurance for Martha—“Yes, I could raise him then, but I’m going to do it now”—but also a powerful promise for us, “I am Life Itself.” In order to fully appreciate the significance of this promise we must realise that humanity without Christ is spiritually dead. And by ‘spiritually’ I don’t mean figuratively, but actually; in truth, dead. Those that are alive apart from Christ are so only apparently, not truly. To be without Christ is to be separated from God and to be separated from God is death. Or, to state it in the positive, “to live is Christ. . .” (Php 1:21).

Jesus said, “I have come that they might have life, and have it more abundantly.” Again, there are two parts to this text, both of them powerful truths. We often focus on the second part—Jesus is the abundant life that the Father sent him to give us—but miss the first part: Jesus came to give us life. Before him, I was dead. We cannot, and do not truly live apart from him. Perhaps this is why Paul said, when facing the imminent possibility of his own (physical) death, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

And so the promise of coming alive; of truly and abundantly living in Him comes to those who are spiritually dead because of sin (Eph 2:1). God promises that “if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Rom 8:11). We who are in Christ, have been resurrected from spiritual death, and the power and life of Christ’s own resurrection courses through our veins. It is His Spirit, the very same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, who has raised us with him to live a new life in him.  


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What is Truth?

“What is Truth?”

This is the pervading question of the postmodern age, but it is not a new question at all. This was in fact the very question posed by Pilate at the trial of Jesus, just over 2000 years ago.

Jesus answered, “You are right in saying that I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me. “What is truth?” Pilate asked. (John 18:37–38)

In my last post, I began to write about Jesus’ saying, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.” I started with the first claim: “I am the Way.” In this post, I want to deal with the next claim “I am…the truth.” In that post I showed that when Jesus said “You know the way to the place where I am going,” the way that he was talking about was Himself, not just the path of life that they would have to travel in following Him. In the same way, when 1 John 2:20 says that “…you have an anointing from the holy One, and all of you know the truth,” it is not referring (only) to the knowledge of certain facts about God, but about the knowledge of Jesus himself who is the location and fullest expression of the Truth concerning the Father, the Very Truth himself.

The tragic irony in Pilate’s question—What is truth?—is of course that the answer was staring him in the face. Jesus is not a Truth among many, just as he is not merely a way among many. Jesus is not just a teacher who proclaimed truth. Jesus is the Truth. And for that reason he is the necessary beginning and the end (that is, the goal) of any sincere search for truth. For to know Jesus is to know the Truth, and to seek the truth is to seek Him.

Fully God and fully human

It is therefore of the utmost importance to understand exactly who and what Jesus was. The Bible reveals Jesus as both Human and Divine; the Son of Man, and the Son of God. In the words of Peter’s confession, Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” (see also Martha’s confession in John 11:27) and in Thomas’ words, he is “my master and my God.” The truth that Jesus is both fully human and fully divine has been codified since the early centuries in the language of the creeds (“true God of true God. . .of one substance with the Father. . .who for us all and for our salvation. . .was made man”).

A true understanding of Jesus then is one that recognizes both his humanity and his divinity. So on the one hand Jesus is the truth about God. Jesus came to do the Father’s will on the Father’s behalf, and by so doing, to reveal the Father to us. When Phillip said to him “Show us the Father and that will be enough for us” (John 14:8), Jesus answered:

Don’t you know me, Phillip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work (John 14:9–10).

On the other hand, Jesus is the truth about us. Jesus did not only come to represent God to us, but also to represent us to God. In Jesus we do not only see what God is like, we see what true humanity is like. Reading a Theology text recently,[1] I was challenged by the thought that we all too often devalue the image of God in humanity. We say for example, when speaking of a fault or a failure in somebody’s character, “well, he’s only human after all.” What we should say instead is “in that area at least, he is less than human.” The Bible tells us that humans were created very good—in God’s image and likeness—but that we fell through sin, becoming in the process something less than God’s original intent; less than human. Jesus came to reveal the Father, but he also came to restore humanity to the Father’s original intent, to be the image bearers of God who rule the planet on his behalf. The truth about Jesus is that he is fully human in a way that we ourselves can never be unless we find our identity in Him.

“Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. . .” (John 8:31–32)

In order to truly know Jesus, it is important to believe and confess rightly about him (the theological term for this correct belief and confession is orthodoxy). Jesus himself said, that true worshippers must worship the Father in spirit and in truth. That is to say, we do not worship God truly unless we believe and confess him as he truly is. But this is only the start. To worship the Father in truth does not only mean worshipping him truly but worshipping the Father out of our true identity in Christ, that is, in Truth. Because it is only in Christ that the Father becomes our Father.

The goal is to know Jesus, not just to know about Jesus, but we must know about Jesus in order to know him truly.

You have to know the truth in order to be set free by the Truth

This blog is called ‘Theology Matters’ because of my conviction that what we believe about God (theology) determines how we live our lives. I pray you would know, fully experience and enter into the truth of Jesus, the one who is Truth, the one who reveals his Father to us, inviting us, in him, to call his father Our Father and the one who shows us what it is to be fully human.

[1] Larry Hart’s Truth Aflame.


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Sorry to be inclusive, but Jesus is the only Way

one way signWhen people say that Christianity is an exclusive religion, they are partly wrong and partly right. Christianity does not exclude people. And this is a point which we would do well to remember when we find God’s grace being extended to people who are not like us and who do not think like us. In this respect, Christianity is radically inclusive. God’s offer is extended to all. All are called to come. Jesus died for all.[1] Indeed, one of Christianity’s most enduring and influential hymns, Amazing Grace, was written by John Newton, a man who as a former slave trader had been the cause of untold misery and suffering to tens of thousands of people prior to his conversion. If anybody was an unlikely candidate for, well, Amazing Grace, it was him (and that’s kind of the point of the song). We, of all people, cannot and should not ever claim that any person (or type of person for that matter) is beyond the reach of His redeeming love.

But on the other hand, Christianity is an exclusive faith, and, might I say, counter-culturally so in this day and age.

There is only one Way. Only one Truth. Only one Life. This means that every other way is a dead end, every other truth is superseded, and no other life is worth living.

This truth is found in John 14:6. Jesus had been reassuring his disciples by telling them that he was going to his father’s house to prepare a place for them and that he will surely return to bring them to be with him. At the end of John 14:4, Jesus says to them, “you know where I am going, and you know the way.” Thomas answered (it would have to be Thomas, wouldn’t it?) “Lord, we don’t even know where you are going, so how can we know the way.” Then Jesus answered with those famous words, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me.”

Thomas was hung up on the destination and the directions, but Jesus was talking about destiny and dependence. When Jesus told them that they knew where he was going he was referring to what he had already told them. He was going to the Father. That is ultimately where he was leading each one of them and is leading each one of us. And that is all that they needed to know. When he told them that they already knew the way, he was not referring to the path of their natural life that they would travel to its end. Little did they know that the way ahead for each man listening to those words involved trials and triumphs, suffering and glory, and in all but John’s case a horrific death. But those were just the details. He was not telling them about that. He was referring to himself, the living Way to the ultimate destiny of relationship with the Father.

I find that a wonderfully encouraging thought. I may not always know where I’m going day to day, how my life will end up here on earth or where I will end up. But I know the Way. And that is all I need to know. He is the road that I travel on. It’s a narrow road (Mt 7:13) and its the only one to where I’m going. I don’t get to see the whole road at once.

I don’t know what it will take me through, but I know who He will take me to. And that is all that matters.

(c) Clayton Coombs

Theology Matters is a ministry of David McCracken Ministries

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[1] This post is written from an Arminian perspective. I have been profoundly blessed to have studied under and alongside some of the brightest Calvinist theologians during my time at Fuller Seminary and Wheaton College. Nevertheless, I am still predominantly Arminian in my thinking. If you know what I’m talking about, please feel free to dialogue about it. I may well post on this issue in due time. If you don’t know what I’m talking about please ignore this footnote.


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Being Image Conscious

Remembering Whose you are

It fascinates me that though cameras are only a recent invention, we can still have a reasonable idea about how ancient people looked through sculpture and portraiture. This is a picture of Tiberius Caesar:

 Image

It is a coin like this that may have been used as an illustration of one of Jesus’ most profound teachings on human beings as the image bearers of God.

I’ve got to be honest, I’ve always thought Matthew 22:21 (see also Mark 12:17, Luke 20:25) was a ‘tithing scripture.’ For the record, I was taught by my parents to practice tithing and have done so for as long as I can remember. I strongly believe in and advocate the principle of tithing and have known God’s provision and constant blessing on my finances. But I think that the account in Matthew 22 is about far more than tithing (no less perhaps, but far more). And I think that Jesus’ hearers knew it.

The Pharisees, we are told, had planned to trap Jesus in his words (Mt 22:15). The trap was a good one. Nobody likes paying taxes—then or now. But for the Jews in Jesus’ day, who were under a harsh and repressive Roman regime; who remembered the glory days of their people, and who longed for those days to be restored; who deeply resented any people or nation who would presume to exercise lordship over God’s people, Roman taxation was an issue that evoked deep hatred. Indeed, many of these people had hopes that Jesus was the one to restore their fortunes; a political and military messiah that would orchestrate, at long last, the overthrow of the Romans and set things to rights again.

So, as I say, the trap was a particularly good one.

“Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

Would Jesus be the one to speak out against Roman tyranny, or would he capitulate to the status quo? If he spoke out and condemned taxation, he would sign his own death warrant, as the Pharisees knew, but if he affirmed taxation in any way, he would lose the influence with the people that the they so deeply coveted.

Before he responded directly to the question, Jesus made it clear that he knew their game: “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me?”

He then asked to be shown a coin. “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” Jesus asked.

“Caesars.” They could say nothing else. Their trap was already thwarted, but they were totally unprepared for what came next. It astonished them (v. 22).

“Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”

There are two reasons I don’t believe this verse is talking about tithing. First, the Pharisees were already good tithers. So Jesus’ response, if it was an instruction to tithe would not have astonished them. But second, all of the money had Caesar’s image and inscription on it. It was not as if 90% of the coins had Caesar’s picture, and the remaining 10% had God’s picture. That’s just silly right? You can’t represent God, at least not on a coin. And that’s precisely the point of Jesus’ teaching.

There was no dispute that the coins belonged to Caesar, because he had placed his image on them. The question that Jesus did not ask, but which was implicit both in the question that he did ask and in his twofold conclusion, is this:

“And whose image do you bear? Whose inscription? Who has stamped his name on your life and written his laws in your heart?”

It is in this context that both Jesus’ conclusion and the Pharisees’ response make sense. Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s—the thing on which he has stamped his image and inscription, but give to God what is God’s—the thing on which HE has stamped his own image and inscription. Your very selves.

The Pharisees were amazed, and, I believe, conscience stricken. As James was later to accuse, they would praise their Lord and Father but in the same breath curse a man who was made in God’s image (James 3:9). And not just any one of Adam’s sons in whom God’s image was marred (though never erased) by the Fall, but God’s very own Son who resembled and represented his Father perfectly and in whom the Image is renewed.

I want Jesus’ implicit question to be heard loud and clear as you read this:

Whose image do you bear? Because the One whose image you bear is the one to whom you belong. Tragically, too many of us vainly try to bear the image of other human beings because of their fame, or position or notoriety. That will just wear you out and let you down. There is only One Image that we are called to bear. And we can only find our true selves in the pursuit of bearing it well. Here’s why:

You have been destined to bear it. Romans 8:29 tells us that “. . .those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness [that is, the image] of his Son. . .”

God has destined you to bear his Image. And the good news is that question of whether you will (continue to) bear the marred image through Adam or the renewed image through Christ does not depend on your effort but on whether you choose to find your identity in Adam or in Christ. By the way, whether you know it or not, these are the only two options ultimately, and, well, the default is Adam.

If I choose to find my identity in Adam, I’ll say something like, “Well I’m just a man. I’ll do my best to be a good person. Nobody’s perfect, right?”

But if I choose to find my identity in Christ, I’ll say instead, “I am a child of God, and thus a prince. I am totally new in Christ.”

As you look in the mirror each morning, don’t be tempted to say “I’m just. . .” You bear His Image! And you are called to represent him to your world; to multiply his character and influence and dominion throughout the earth. And as you look into the faces of others, never forget that regardless of who they are or what they’ve done or whether they even know it or not, they too have intrinsic value and worth because he has inscribed his name on their lives. They two are marked with God’s very own image. And it might just be your job to let them know.


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Why I’m not scared of God

Finding Freedom from fear in the fear of God

 The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. (Pr 1:7)

ImageWhen I was a kid, I read CS Lewis’ Narnia series from cover to cover many times. One of my favourite passages is the part in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, where the children first discover that ‘Aslan,’ the king of Narnia, is actually a lion:

 

“Ooh,” said Susan, “I though he was a man. Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.” “That you will, dearie.” said Mrs. Beaver. “And make no mistake, if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knee’s knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”

“Then isn’t he safe?” said Lucy. “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? Of course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the king, I tell you!”

Mrs. Beaver’s wise words are a pretty good paraphrase (at least I think so) of Proverbs 1:7. It is silly not to fear God. When you consider that God created everything that is; that he is the most powerful being in the universe; that quite literally, whether we live or die depends upon his whim and pleasure, it is not difficult to see why fear is the proper disposition towards God, and indeed the only reasonable response.

But we have a problem, don’t we? Here it is, as simply as I can put it. Fear, at least as we understand it, is not a good thing. God is a good God. Why then would he want us to fear him? This is the core of it, but there are other problems too. We know from 1 John 4:18 that “there is no fear in love. . .perfect love drives out fear.” If love and fear are incompatible, how can God be simultaneously loving (not just ‘loving’ but Love itself) and fear inspiring? Furthermore, I have often heard that faith is the opposite of fear. Can we then have both faith in God and fear of God? In order to understand this, we need to understand a little bit more about what fear is and how it works.

First of all, we need to distinguish between fear as an experience and fear as a belief. All of us know what it is to experience fear. It is, first of all, an emotional reaction to certain stimuli. An example that I understand well is the fear of heights. When I stand near the edge of a cliff, or even look down out of the window of a very tall building I experience fear. For me, this goes beyond an emotional experience to a physical one. It is like a sudden churning on the inside that some describe as ‘butterflies.’ For some, this sensation can spiral out of control and lead to panic attacks. Many people experience a debilitating level of fear that prevents them from leading a normal life.

But behind the physical and emotional experience of fear is the substance of fear. This can be described as a belief that one is subject to the power of someone or something, a circumstance or person that is either bad or unpredictable. Think about it for a moment. My cliffside experience stems from my belief that I am subject to the force of gravity and that if I were to fall, this force, while utterly consistent, would not be acting in my best interest. This belief is actually correct and for that reason, it is called a ‘rational fear.’ However, my irrational and disproportionate reaction can best be explained by a traumatic event that I experience a long time ago when I fell from a flying fox (US: zipline) and was severely injured by the landing. There are, of course, also irrational fears, but my point is that a belief, whether conscious or subconscious always underlies the experience of fear. And that belief has to do with being subject to the power of somebody or something.

We may fear our financial future, but if we do, it is only because we believe that we are subject to the power of money. Many of us fear failure, but it is only because we believe that failure has the power to define who we are. Likewise many of us live in fear of the opinions of others. But this is because we believe that somehow our identity is subject to their judgment.

Seen in that way, fear is not the opposite to faith, but its complement. To fear something or someone means to believe that they are more powerful than us and we are subject to that power. And that is why every fear, (except one) is bad. Nothing and no-one is perfectly and consistently Good all the time. (Recall that gravity is consistent though not always, good, at least from the perspective of those who have fallen foul of it). And so to believe that we are subject to the power of anyone or anything except God, is a vulnerable and scary—even for some a debilitating—place to be.

But God is Good. And, what’s more he is consistently good. He is good, all the time. So to fear God is a radically different experience than fearing anything else. Because to fear God is to believe that we are subject to him, and that he may exercise power over us. And to be subject to the power of one who is Goodness, and Love personified, who is able to work all things together for the good of those who love him, is profoundly positive. The fear of God is simply faith in his character—the right belief about who and what he is. That is why I can say that while I fear God, I am not scared of him. But there’s more. When we properly fear God, that is, when we really believe that we are subject to God’s power and Goodness, then we are truly free, because it is impossible to fear God and to fear anything else at the same time. If I am subject to God’s approval, then nobody else’s opinion of me can possibly matter. If I am subject to God’s provision, then no financial setback has the power to deny me my destiny. If I am subject to God’s plan, I have nothing to fear from suffering or hardship or rejection—even death. I will finish soon, but on this last point, I think that the early Christian martyrs have a lot to teach us. They endured the cruelest torture (something which, if we are honest, most of us fear) without fear. Because they understood that they were subject to God’s power, their tormentors quickly realised that despite what they inflicted on them, they were powerless to change their resolve to confess Christ. This stubborn and fearless resolve led many who witnessed those barbaric events—even the perpetrators—to themselves profess faith in Christ.

So how can a loving God want us to fear him? How could a God of love want anything less? If we fear (believe that we are subject to the power of) Perfect Love, we will never be afraid, because his Perfect Love drives out every competing (and negative) fear. And that is true freedom.

© Clayton Coombs

Theology Matters is a ministry of David McCracken Ministries


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The Lord will provide

This week in my theology class I was teaching about the doctrine of God—His essence, names and attributes. One of the ways that God reveals himself in Scripture is through the Divine names. Today I want to focus on just one – Yahweh Jireh (or Jehovah Jireh if we’re speaking Old King James or singing the song), though its more testimony than theology this week.

Around the middle of last year my family of six was preparing to move from Wheaton, Illinois, back to Melbourne Australia. For months before we left, we had been praying that God would provide a place for us to live. These prayers became understandably more fervent as our departure became imminent. At the beginning, we had prayed quite specifically. We wanted a four bedroom place within walking distance of the kids’ school and we didn’t want to pay any more than we were currently paying rent. It was a tough ask to be honest, but we were full of faith. But as the weeks rolled by and we were no closer to finding anything that even remotely met our criteria we began to wonder.

One morning, after a fruitless search online for properties, I got onto google earth and looked at the area surround the school where we had enrolled the children for perhaps the hundredth time. I jokingly put my finger on the street closest to the school and prayed “Fleur Court Lord. Fleur Court. That would be ideal.” Frustrated and defeated I closed the application down. About a week later we were becoming desperate. We totally let go once-and-for-all of all of our precious criteria. We prayed something like this: “Lord we know that you always provide for our needs. We know that you have gone before us. We have told you what we think we want, but what we really want is what you have provided for us. We trust you Lord.” We slept that night in the peace of surrender.

The next morning when I logged on to the real estate site for my daily search a house on Fleur Court had become available. Four bedrooms, literally across the road from the school, the exact same rent as we were paying in Wheaton—indeed the very street I had named! We rejoiced and claimed it in faith. The matter was of course by no means settled at that point, but deep down we knew that God had spectacularly answered our prayer.

I only found out this week that another couple with kids enrolled in the school who were moving into the area had also been praying for a house within walking distance of the school (the wife does not drive). They too had rejoiced when the house we now live in came onto the market, but despite submitting an application, they were unsuccessful. Amazingly, God provided a house for them several weeks later three houses away, which actually suited their own needs better than the one that we now live in. We met this week at a literacy night at the school and as the other father and myself were taking the (incredibly short!) walk home, we were sharing with one another God’s wonderful provision for our families. It was fascinating to me that God had allowed the answer to our prayer to be their contradiction, but that our own answer had not come without much contradiction, and it kind of got me thinking that prayer for provision is often like this.

Indeed, when God first revealed himself as Jehovah Jireh (sorry – sticking with KJV, it just sounds more familiar) it was in a context where Abraham, the ‘father of faith’ was praying fervently for God’s intervention and provision, and choosing to believe despite contradictions—contradictions, I might add, that make the minor setbacks that I have described above seem petty and utterly insignificant. God had asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. On the way to the place of sacrifice, Isaac began to wonder. “Father,” he said. “We have brought fire and wood…but where is the lamb for sacrifice?” Abraham replied, in spite of his circumstances, “God himself will provide a lamb.” And at the last minute—the very last minute, when Abraham had already bound his son, laid him on the altar and was ready to kill him—God did provide a lamb. In response, Abraham called the place of sacrifice “The LORD will provide” or “Jehovah Jireh.”

God will and God does provide spectacularly for all of our needs; often despite conviction; more often than not at the very last minute; always with the motivation that we would trust him despite circumstance. But it is important to see that this temporal provision, vital at times though it may be, is secondary to and dependent upon God’s ultimate provision of his own son, Jesus—the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Happy Easter!


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Trash or Treasure? What you believe about the Bible matters

How do you see the Bible? A literary classic? A pious fiction? A historical artifact? Or God’s authoritative and inspired self-revelation? I firmly believe that what we believe about the Bible will determine our approach to it.

I received an incredible spiritual inheritance from my parents in learning from a young age to revere and respect the Word of God. I still have the first bible that I received as a child. In the front, my father wrote of the need to read God’s word often, finishing his exhortation with “God needs good men.” I grew up hearing, reading, and meditating on the Bible. I was convinced of its central importance and inherent authority because I had experienced its transforming power; I had encountered God there.

Much later in life, I discovered that not everybody saw the Bible the way that I did. In my first year in seminary I attended an academic conference in San Diego, the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). It was a very stretching time for me, because for the first time, I encountered people who were clearly experts in their field but who (at least apparently) had no meaningful commitment to the Bible’s authority over their lives. Don’t get me wrong. Some of them were clearly wonderful people, but it struck me as odd that somebody would give their entire professional career to studying the Bible as an historical artifact rather than as the Word of God revealed.

To put it simply, these people viewed the Bible just like any other book. There are others who say that though the Bible is a ‘special case’ (because inspired) nevertheless, if we are to interpret it correctly, we must treat it like any other book. But I (and of course, many others) would go one step further. The Bible is absolutely unique. It is like no other book. It is inspired by the Holy Spirit; breathed out by God himself. It is the revelation of One who habitually and intentionally reveals himself, who knows us and desires to be known by us.

Several years ago, while at Wheaton, I was trying to put into words what it was that caused formal biblical and theological education to be a tremendous blessing to some, while causing confusion and cynicism in others. One day I was reflecting on the parable of the treasure in the field (Matt 13:44) and it hit me. The difference is the basic and unshakable conviction that the Bible is a treasure. Inspired by the parable, I sat down to write my own about the treasure that we have in Scripture. I hope you enjoy it:

The Bible is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a young man found this treasure his heart leapt within him and for a moment he seriously contemplated selling all that he had to purchase the field. But, since he was a man of some means, he decided to consult the experts to determine if what he had found really was treasure. To his surprise, the experts were sharply divided. Some cautioned him that what he had found was really no treasure at all, but merely a rock in the ground, and that those who thought it treasure were deluded fanatics. Others contended that while what he had found was incredibly common and indeed a rock, it was a special type of rock. For this reason, it looked felt and smelt the same as any other rock, and was, for the purpose of analysis, to be treated like any other rock. But it was special nonetheless. This seemed strange. It sure did look for all the world like treasure to the man and part of him was sorry that he had not responded to his first impulse. But the experts seemed firmly agreed on one thing. What he had found was a common rock. And after all, he reasoned, they should know. They’re experts. Reluctantly persuaded, the man returned the treasure to the field and buried it again. From time to time he visited the field again, just to look at the treasure. But as he grew older he had less time for childish fantasies and visited less and less. One day as he was passing the field, he noticed some of the same experts he had consulted there. One was holding the treasure up to the light, and they were all gathered around arguing bitterly about it. With a condescending chuckle, the man wondered to himself why people would invest their entire lives examining and arguing about something which they all agreed was nothing but a common rock. Finally convinced by the behaviour of the experts that he wanted nothing more to do with their treasure, he turned on his heel and walked off. He never visited the field again. Indeed, he began to doubt that there even was such a thing as treasure. As a result of his cultivated inability to recognise value in anything, he died poor. Shortly after his final visit to the field however, another young man discovered the treasure in the field. He quickly buried it again and went away and sold everything he had so that he could buy the field. This he did, and his investment paid great dividends for the rest of his life.

I trust that you will appreciate the treasure that you have in God’s Word today. I would welcome your feedback and comments. How do you see the Bible? How has it impacted your life? How have you encountered God in it?


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Jesus our Sabbath Rest

I grew up Seventh Day Adventist, and I was taught that God had ‘made the Sabbath’ on the Seventh day in much the same way as He had made the birds and fish on the fifth. We believed that the purpose of God’s rest was to establish the principle of working six days and resting the seventh.

And that may well be so. But I have discovered that there is a far more profound principle to grasp here, which the Sabbath commandment, that came later, is only a shadow of.

Hebrews 4:3 tells us that ‘His work has been finished since the creation of the world.’ God rested then, because He had finished His work, not primarily because He intended to set an example for us to follow. It is, rather, in the example of the pre-Fall Adam and Eve that we find the deeper principle: Adam and Eve did not earn their rest by their work. They merely entered into Rest on the basis of the work that God had already done.

Think about it. The first full day that Adam and Eve experienced was a day of rest. They had, as yet, done nothing. They were born into a state of Rest.

And what a rest that must have been! For this Rest is about far more than a break for tired bodies, and the rejuvenation of the spirit. Adam and Eve could not possibly have been fresher.

But this Rest is the state of perfect harmony between God and humanity and creation, the natural state that God intended, and the state to which humanity has, since that rest was broken by the Fall, yearned to return.

And therein, I suggest, lies the point. This Rest did not cease because the day changed. Had Adam and Eve not sinned, this state of Sabbath—a Hebrew word that simply means Rest—would have continued. It is sin that broke this Sabbath-Rest and produced the state of Restlessness that is felt by every human heart, regardless of whether or not they acknowledge its source. There can be no true Rest while sin reigns.

But the good news is that God is at work to restore this Rest. John 5 tells the story of Jesus healing a crippled man at the pool of Bethesda. Because the healing occurred on the Sabbath—and I can only assume this was no accident—the Jews accused Jesus of breaking the Sabbath by doing the work of healing.

Jesus’ response indicates that the Pharisees had missed the wood for the trees: “My Father is always at His work to this very day, and I, too, am working.” In effect, Jesus’ response to the accusation of Sabbath breaking is, “The Sabbath is already broken. I am working to fix it. And I will continue working until the work is finished.”

And this is precisely what Jesus does. Hanging on the Cross, after enduring hours of agony, Jesus, at last declares in a loud voice, “IT IS FINISHED.” Then, just as God rested the seventh day after he had finished the work of Creation, Jesus rests in the tomb on the seventh day after He had finished the work of redemption. It is finished. The work is done. Sin is atoned for. Rest is restored.

Now Jesus invites those who are striving and struggling in the painful toil of the Curse (Gen 3:16, 17) to enter His rest.

“Come to Me,” He says, “all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matt 11:28–30).

When we come to Him, we lay down the heavy burden of painful toil; the striving in our own strength to produce fruit that will not last. By the Spirit, we are united to Him and receive instead His easy yoke and the light burden of simple obedience to His Father, whom He now invites us to call Our Father.

Just as Adam and Eve rested in God’s finished work, so we, who are united to Christ, enter into God’s Rest on the basis of the finished work of the Cross.

There remains then a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from His. Let us, therefore make every effort to enter that rest. . . (Heb 4:9–11).

Today is a day to cease striving. Today is a day to stop working in our own strength. Today is a day to cast off the difficult yoke and lay down the heavy burden at the foot of the Cross. And leave it there.


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How Can I Understand?

How can I understand the Bible? The answer is pretty simple. Read it faithfully, and pray for God’s help.

I love the story of Acts 8:26–40, the conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch. In brief, Philip was  directed by the Holy Spirit to go to a particular road. Upon arrival the Holy Spirit directed him to approach a particular chariot on the road. In this chariot was a particular man— an important official of the Queen of the Ethiopians, a eunuch. When Philip got close he heard the man in the chariot reading and recognised that he was reading from Isaiah. Intrigued Philip asked him if he understood what he was reading, to which the man replied: “how can I unless someone explains it to me?” Perceiving that Philip possessed the required insight, the man invited him to sit in the chariot and asked him to explain the passage. When he learned the truth about Jesus Christ, the Eunuch confessed his belief and requested baptism from Philip. After the baptism, Philip suddenly disappears and reappears elsewhere for his next assignment while the Eunuch goes on his way rejoicing.

Some time ago, while I was enrolled in a theological degree, I read an article in which the author used this story to build a case for a special educated class of Christians who could explain the bible to those less fortunate. “How can they possibly understand” the author asked in the words of the eunuch, “unless somebody explain it to them?” The article was the subject of discussion in class one day and I remember at the time feeling uneasy about it. There was no good reason for my reaction to the article. After all, I myself, along with my colleagues, was enrolled in a course of theological education. I myself aspired to be one who could help people to understand the Bible. After all, was that not the reason for the huge investment of money and time I had made to be here? This article seemed to be an affirmation; a vindication of that sacrifice.

The problem is, I don’t see my vocation that way. I am indebted to the Holy Spirit and at his disposal. He is not indebted to me. So I was uneasy. Actually, I’m probably being a little unfair. It really was a good article. Well written, helpful, and honestly, humble. But back to my reaction. At first, I could not put it into words, but then all of a sudden, it dawned on me. What seemed (at least for me) to be missing from the argument that the article made was the agency of the Holy Spirit. It was the Holy Spirit who had sent Philip! It was the Holy Spirit who was helping the Eunuch to understand! Philip had no special training, though he obviously knew his bible. And the Eunuch, though pleased for the help, had not sought him out.

Indeed, when we look at this encounter from the Eunuch’s perspective we see a different picture. Here was a man who was desperately seeking God. Though he did not understand, he faithfully read the Word of God, and in all probability was crying out in his heart for understanding, when the strangest thing happened. A man who he had not noticed suddenly appeared beside his chariot and asked “do you understand what you are reading?” His faithful devotion had been rewarded. His prayer had been answered. God began to speak to his heart through the Word. And it changed his life forever.

So here’s my plea: Don’t put off reading the Bible—even the difficult bits—because you don’t understand it. Read it and ask for the Spirit’s help. This is the way that God has always used His Word to speak to His children. Does that mean that we can’t learn from those who have studied the Bible more than we have? Of course we can. What it means is that the education of others should never be used as a shortcut to our own diligent seeking of God in His Word. A helpful supplement for sure, but never a shortcut. Seek God. Read His Word diligently. Pray for understanding. God answers those kinds of prayers. But if he chooses to do so by sending someone, don’t be too proud to invite that answer (be it in the form of books, leaders, courses, preachers etc) into your chariot. It could change your life.


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How to make sure you’re ‘on the money’: The other side of the Revelation coin

A shorter post this time (I promise). I want to look at the other side of the revelation ‘coin.’

In my post last week, I shared my desire to hear from God and to experience His revelation. For what its worth, I don’t think this desire is particularly unique. As a matter of fact, I believe that deep in the heart of every human soul (so far down, perhaps, that some do not realise or acknowledge it) there is a yearning to know and to experience God. I also spoke of the distinction that the discipline of theology is careful to make between the notion of once-for-all revelation (the written word of God, Jesus himself, and the Creation) and personal illumination—the experience of the lights going on, for an individual; and while I acknowledged that some distinction was necessary, I suggested that the notion of ‘illumination’ was insufficient to account for the sorts of truly revelatory encounters that Christians experience with God. These revelations are, of course, no longer universal, in the same way that the Bible is, but the bottom line is, God is still speaking and still ‘revealing’ himself. Christians experience it. You can expect it.

Nevertheless, most theologians are concerned that elevating the value of ‘personal revelation’ will undermine confidence in the Bible. And I think that this concern is one that Charismatic and Pentecostal types need to take much more seriously than we do. And let me be blunt. We will only do this by engaging with our bibles a lot more diligently than we do.

The Word of God revealed

In the account of Samuel’s call we find that the reason Samuel had trouble recognising the voice of God calling out to him was that he “did not yet know the Lord: the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.” The ‘word of the Lord’ here of course refers to the prophetic encounters that Samuel was to have, but it was equally true that God’s written word was not fully revealed at that time. Samuel would probably have only had the Pentateuch. In short, his instinct for hearing God’s voice was not especially well trained. But the same cannot be said for us who live on the other side of the Cross. Not only do we have God’s written word revealed in its entirety, but we also have encountered the Living Word in Jesus Christ.

But this does not mean that the tide of revelation is now stemmed. Rather, the floodgates have opened. Surely we who have encountered Christ, who read the Scriptures and who are filled with the Spirit have a better chance of understanding God when he speaks?!

It is not as if God only reveals himself by means of Scripture these days, but that by immersing ourselves in the revelation of Scripture we can be more certain of discerning his voice when he speaks. And that is not only an awesome privilege—think of the many faithful Christians throughout history who would have paid any price to be able to have the access to God’s word that we have today—but a sovereign responsibility.

Understand the Priorities of the Holy Spirit

I hope that you are hungry for revelation, but here are a few ways to ensure that you are ‘on the money’:

1. A ‘revelation’ must accord with Scripture. God spoke and continues to speak through Scripture. God revealed and continues to reveal himself through Scripture. If we claim to have a ‘revelation’ from God that is inconsistent with what God has already revealed and is currently revealing through Scripture, it can’t be from God.

2. A hunger for personal revelation goes hand in hand with a hunger for God’s word. Anybody who seeks to set the Word in opposition to the Spirit has failed to understand the Spirit who inspired the Word. Want to experience Revelation? Get stuck into the Bible. Read a lot. Read it often. Read it prayerfully.

3. A deeper experience of the Spirit will be accompanied by a greater love for God’s people and his Church. If somebody is isolated from the Church and ‘getting revelations’ that justify the isolation, that’s a red flag. To state this positively, revelation flourishes among those who are deeply connected and humbly submitted to the local church. Want to experience revelation? Stay connected, get submitted, love God’s people—even the difficult ones like yourself.

I yearn for a deeper revelation of God. I pray for a greater visitation of the Spirit in the Church. I hunger for renewal and revival in this nation and around the world. I long to see and experience signs and wonders, tongues and prophecy, healing and deliverance, dreams and visions. I passionately desire for God to reveal himself in fresh ways in this generation. It is because of this that I will not settle for a sanitized ‘illumination.’ But it is also because of this that I want to bury myself in the Scriptures. Here’s a thought: If you want to go on a pilgrimage to somewhere that God is speaking, go to the Bible!

(For another great resource on this topic I recommend Helen Calder’s blog. See in particular Six Questions to Ask about Supernatural Signs