Archive for December, 2023

God’s Love for his Creation and the Christmas Story

December 23, 2023

We come now to Week 4 and the theme of this Week is love. I noticed that in our Church calendar that the fourth week of advent and Christmas Day happens at the same time.  This is perfect as John the Apostle wrote:

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​“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16

This is the reason why God came into the world through the incarnation.  Tradition has it that there were animals where Mary had the baby.  Whether or not there were animals we do know, but we do know  that our Lord and Saviour slept in a manger that night in which he was born. 

“And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” Luke 2:7

The word manger comes from

“A manger or trough is a rack for fodder, or a structure or feeder used to hold food for animals. The word comes from the Old French mangier (meaning “to eat”), from Latin mandere (meaning “to chew”).”(Taken from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manger)

Apart from the manger I am reflecting on where, what location inside Bethlem our Lord Jesus was born. One blogger wrote in his page heading:

“Where Was Jesus Born: A Barn, Cave, or House?”

(From: “youthpastortheologian.com/blog/where-was-jesus-born-a-barn-cave-or-house”)

It wasn’t very luxurious where our Lord was born, and I like to think that there were animals.  The reason being that our Lord as the Second Person of the Trinity was present and active in the creation of the world including all the animals. 

The other interesting fact is that our Lord was wrapped twice:

  • Swaddling cloths at his birth
  • Linen when he was buried.

So, our Lord had cloths wrapped around him twice and we see the Scriptural evidence below:

  • And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Luke 2:7​
  • So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. John 19:40

We do know that there is a lot of imagery around shepherds, mangers and swaddling cloths.  We also know that our Lord was wrapped in cloths twice once at his birth and once at his death.  We also know that our Lord was called the ‘Lamb of God’:

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“Again, the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 ​and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”” John 1:35-36

It is interesting that lambs in the second Temple era in Jerusalem usually had their feet bound before they were sacrificed.  This is clearly an image for the reason of why our Lord came into the world.  Even the name of Jesus from the Hebrew means the Lord is Salvation (yeshuah). 

From my perspective Jesus was the true lover of our souls.  That he came from heaven knowing full well that at the age of 33 he would be sacrificed for our sins.  Paul writes something interesting about the advent (coming) of Jesus into the world.  I quote a fuller section here from Philipians 2

​“Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any  affection and compassion, 2 ​make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. 3 ​Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 ​do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 ​Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 ​who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 ​but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 ​Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 ​For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 ​so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 ​and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. “Philippians 2:1-11

Then I quote the verses that touch on our Christmas story:

“Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 ​who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 ​but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 ​Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 ​For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name.” Philippians 2:5-9

In the text above a bond servant was a willing party in being in this context God’s slave.

Reflection

The story of Christmas is very deep if only we can find the clues.  We have seen from the clues that even in the swaddling cloths Jesus wore at his birth was a sign of his sacrifice for our salvation and eternal life because when Christ also died, he was wrapped in linen.  Lambs had their legs wrapped in linen before being sacrificed (killed). So, our Lord was wrapped in linen at his death.  What can we take away from this?

Anyone can give presents away and they do at this festive season.  Jesus the ultimate sacrifice was the ultimate gift with pure motives for our salvation so that we can be brought into the presence of God.  The Question is how do our motives, attitudes and intentions compare to God’s?

Happy Advent and Christmas at this time as we remember the birth of our Saviour!

Addendum

I also forgot to mention that as well as the death of Christ, king Solomon was also mentioned in the Apocrypha as being wrapped as a baby Wis 7:4-5

Some scholars therefore have looked for a kingship meaning too.  This is another line of thought. Below I quote the Apocrypha:

Apocrypha: Wisdom Chapter 7

1 myself also am a mortal man, like to all, and the offspring of him that was first made of the earth,

2 And in my mother’s womb was fashioned to be flesh in the time of ten months, being compacted in blood, of the seed of man, and the pleasure that came with sleep.

3 And when I was born, I drew in the common air, and fell upon the earth, which is of like nature, and the first voice which I uttered was crying, as all others do.

4 I was nursed in swaddling clothes, and that with cares.

5 For there is no king that had any other beginning of birth.

6 For all men have one entrance into life, and the like going out.

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The Nature of Joy: Beyond Emotion and a State of Being

December 17, 2023

There doesn’t seem to be a lot of joy in many parts of the world.  There are too many wars and too much death and destruction. The Christian says God is love and his Church therefore ought to show love to others.  Not only this Advent but everyday of the year.  Unfortunately, selfish people get into power and make decisions based on greed no matter what the consequences.  On the news we see:

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  • Buildings and homes bombed including hospitals and schools.
  • Children maimed or dead.
  • Families wiped out.
  • People made homeless.
  • Et al

Joy as an emotion can be fleeting.  For these people in the middle of war where can happiness come from? There is an answer to this question but before we move into this area perhaps we should begin at the start:

What does Joy mean to you?

The third Week of Advent is about joy.  Before we look at what the Bible says let us find a definition from a common English dictionary:

(These ideas were taken from merriam-webster.com)

joy

“The emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires:

  • delight
  • the expression or exhibition of such emotion: gaiety
  • a state of happiness or felicity: bliss
  • a source or cause of delight

intransitive verb

  • to experience great pleasure or delight: rejoice

transitive verb

  • archaic: gladden.
  • archaic: enjoy.

Synonyms

Noun:  beatitude, blessedness, bliss, blissfulness, felicity, gladness, happiness, warm, fuzzies.

Verb: Crow, delight, exuberate, exult, glory, jubilate, kvell, rejoice, triumph.”

(from: merriam-webster.com/dictionary/joy)

Scenario of Joy

The wife was watching television at home and all of a sudden, she realized it was time to go to hospital to have a baby.  The husband is at work 30km away, so an ambulance came to pick her up.  The mum talked to her neighbour who was also her best friend and was asked to take care of the children because obviously she couldn’t make it to the school.  Her husband goes directly to the prenatal ward and gets there just in time within half an hour the baby comes into the world and there is happiness and joy in the air. 

In this joy we see an emotion at work, and it will last for a while, but it may be that when that child has grown up and become a teenager, he/she may rebel against the parents, take drugs, go stealing and end up in a gang fight and bring much sorrow to the parents.

Joy as an emotion is fleeting but perhaps there is a deeper joy that touches the soul, and it becomes ever present no matter what sufferings might be around the corner.  The question: Where can we start to answer such a question? 

My own opinion is to think about what people in the world have said about joy over thousands of years from the various continents.  This discussion is still general, but it will show that in human culture and religion around the world there is a hearkening after a joy that is eternal and infinite.

In this section now then we are going to look at what other religions say about joy.  I haven’t written these two pages because sometimes I think they can say it better than I can.  The quotations are from (WORLD SCRIPTURE; A Comparative Anthology of Sacred Texts; A PROJECT OF THE INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FOUNDATION; pages 246-247)

SOME CONCEPTION OF HEAVEN AND HELL is found universally among the religions of the world. Descriptions of these abodes are often full of graphic and fanciful imagery, conveying in metaphor a reality that can hardly be part of the ordinary experience of mortals. Are these realms objectively real? The scriptures are unanimous in affirming they are. Yet they do not have any physical location: “up” or “down” is a matter of spiritual geography, not of astronomy or geology. The View found in some texts, that Heaven or hell is derived from one’s state of mind,1 does not make it any less real. For the attitudes and desires of people’s hearts, which may be hidden by the external features of mortal life, are the equivalent of material reality in the realms of spirit.

A number of the Hindu, Buddhist, and Taoist passages speak of Yama, the Indic god of the dead. Yama is not comparable to the devil or Satan who, in Christian belief, is the author of evil. In the Vedas, he presides over the bright realms and is the object of offerings and supplications for the benefit of the departed. As the lord of hell in Buddhism, his acts are strictly in accordance with divine law, meting out punishments according to people’s karma, and in one Taoist text reprinted here he even gives an object lesson to turn people away from evil.

Some ambiguity plagues the descriptions of Heaven and hell in the scriptures of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, which can be interpreted either to describe the state of the soul upon death or what will be after the future Resurrection. The qur’anic passages collected here whichdescribe the opening of Paradise and hell are a few of many which refer to the Last Judgment.

Most Muslims, therefore, regard the dead to be sleeping in the grave awaiting that momentous event. Yet other passages, such as the hadith describing Muhammad’s Night Journey,Z point to the present reality of Heaven as the dwelling place for the souls of the righteous. The biblical vision of Heaven from the Revelation and the passage from the same book about the lake of fire are visions of a future recompense after the tribulations of the Last Judgment. Those Christians who hold to a literal interpretation of these verses concur with their Muslim brothers and sisters that the souls of the dead are asleep in the grave, awaiting the future opening of Heaven and hell. But another strand of the Christian tradition, supported by biblical descriptions of the Sheol in Job 3.17—19, the heavenly Jerusalem in Hebrews 12.22—24, and the story of Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16.193 1, teaches that upon death each person immediately enters his appointed place in Heaven or hell. The visions in Revelation are often interpreted in this way, and have spawned such classic descriptions as Dante’s Divine Comedy. The concept of the World to Come in Jewish writings is similarly ambiguous: the World to Come may be a present heaven or describe a future redemption on earth.

My Reflection on this

The major religions of the world including Buddhism have a place for permanent joy that will last forever. This means that in any human experience there is a place for an infinite joy and infinite bliss.

We can now continue on the next page (ibid):

“The world’s scriptures describe Heaven as a place of rest, or as an exalted spiritual state, full of divine splendor and communion with the Absolute. There are also descriptions using more graphic and materialistic imagery: gardens of delights, with riches and pleasures abounding. A number of texts describe it as a place of fellowship with the spirits of the departed or a fellowship of saints.

We conclude with visions or tours of Heaven: the Buddhist description of the Pure Land, the vision of throngs surrounding the divine throne in the Book of Revelation, and Muhammad’s

Night Journey.”

And those Foremost [in faith] will be Foremost

[in the Hereafter].

These will be those nearest to God;

In Gardens of Bliss;

A number of people from those of old,

And a few from those of later times.

They will be on thrones encrusted, reclining

on them, facing each other.

Round about them will serve youths of perpetual freshness,

With goblets, shining beakers, and cups filled

out of clear—flowing fountains;

No after—ache will they receive there from, nor

will they suffer intoxication;

And with fruits, any that they may select,

And the flesh of fowls, any that they may

desire.

And there will be companions with beautiful,

big and lustrous eyes,

Like unto pearls well—guarded:

A reward for the deeds of their past life.

No frivolity will they hear therein, nor any

taint of ill,

Only the saying “Peace! Peace!”

Islam. Qur’an 56.10—27

Chuang Tzu said, “Were I to prevail upon God

to allow your body to be born again, and your

bones and flesh to be renewed, so that you

could return to your parents, to your wife, and

to the friends of your youth, would you be willing?”

At this, the skull opened its eyes wide and

knitted its brows and said, “How should I cast

aside happiness greater than that of a king, and

mingle once again in the toils and troubles of

mortality?”

Taoism. Chuang Tzu 18

Make me immortal in the realm

where the son of Vivasvat [Yama] reigns,

where lies heaven’s secret shrine, where

are those waters that are ever young.

For Indra, flow thou on, Indu!

Make me immortal in that realm

where movement is accordant to wish,

in the third region, the third heaven of heavens,

where the worlds are resplendent.

For Indra, flow thou on, Indu!

Make me immortal in that realm

where all wishes and longings go,

where spreads the Radiant One’s region,

where holy bliss is, and happiness.

For Indra, flow thou on, Indu!

Make me immortal in that realm

where beatitude and joy and cheer

and transports of delight abound,

where the highest desires have been filled.

For Indra, flow thou on, lndu!

Hinduism. Rig Veda 9.113.8—11

In the World of religions including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Taoism, there is room to discuss permanent joy.  In these scenarios joy becomes an ultimate question that cannot be reached in our time and space without the Infinite (God) reaching out to us.  When we talk about finitude we mean our history and our time. To cross this boundary of the Now and History there has to be a first move from the Eternal.  The concept of eternal joy however has moved great people to do great deeds. 

Reflection

Martin Luther King once said,” “So even though we face difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.” (From inspirekindness.com/blog/martin-luther-king-jr-kindness-quotes)

Joy as an Ultimate Question a question that cannot be answered today can be a hope driver. 

As Bruce Lee once said, “A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.” (From sofoarchon.com/31-life-changing-bruce-lee-quotes-happiness-love-god-truth-failure-death/)

So then my friends in the end we come to the conclusion that in the Faith life, joy is not only an ultimate question rather it is also an Ultimate Path that we must walk.

Advent and the Ultimate Joy Question

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Joy therefore is not only an ultimate question but part of our being, in every human who has ever lived, desires a lasting joy.  Theist, atheist, agnostic no matter who we are, we cry out for joy and in a lot of situations we look in the wrong places. 

For me Christmas is the ultimate answer to the ultimate question of joy. As Paul one wrote in the Book of Philippians:

Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 ​who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 ​but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 ​Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 ​For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name, which is above every name, 10 ​so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 ​and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:5-11

So essentially Jesus as the Eternal Logos (God the Son) became a human being this in itself is a mystery that we will never fathom but it fills the Christian with Joy. This unspeakable joy is guaranteed by the seal of the Holy Spirit for the Church:

“In Him (In Christ), you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, Ephesians 1:13”

A true understanding of the Beatitudes of the teachings of Christ and the life, death and resurrection of Christ is the ultimate answer to the joy question. So then in that case meditating on aspects of the Christmas story can therefore deepen our joy as we come closer to our master in remembrance of His goal for our lives that we can be richly blessed with heavenly gifts that this world cannot touch.

Within the Birth Narrative of our Lord Luke tells us about the experience of some Shepherds and the Angel:

“In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 ​And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. 10 ​But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; 11 ​for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 ​This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 ​And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14 ​“Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”” Luke 2:8-14

The angel declares that a Saviour would be born.  Our Lord and Master indeed throughout his life was working for us and for our salvation.  The Hebrew form of Jesus, Yeshuah is made of the shortened personal name of God (from the tetragrammaton) + saves.  Its meaning the Lord who saves. The question had been; What does the Messiah save us from?

  • Military Occupation of the Romans or another superpower
  • Saving us by making our relationship with God right and hence eternal salvation.

The Messiah did not come to wage war and set up a kingdom in Palestine Israel. It is not a political and militaristic takeover.  The messiah came into the world so that we could be brought into a right relationship with our Trinitarian God in order to give us lasting joy, a joy that in the present age cannot be attained but will take place in its fullness in the Eschaton.

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John the Baptist and the Advent of Christ: Week 2

December 10, 2023

Outside of religion John the Baptist has an important place in human history.  Not only for Muslims Jews and Christians but other religions too.  From a  non-theological perspective John has always been a very important prophet in various religions.

  • Islam (founded 610)
  • Mazdeism (Goes back to the 1st century)
  • Druze (Possibly founded 11th century)
  • Bahai (Founded in the 19th century)
  • Josephus (Lived at the time of Christ)

John the Baptist has never been a fictitious character but a very important prophet.  John the Baptist is not only mentioned By Josephus and the New Testament, but he is also spoken about in the Koran and other religions in the Middle East. (From en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_the_Baptist)

So then what does this mean for us in the 21st century.  I will be speaking from the Christian tradition of the New Testament.  We can certainly say that John was the last and greatest of the Old Testament Prophets in the Role and Function of Elijah.  His job was to begin the work of preparing the hearts of the people in Judea to meet the King of Kings and the Lord of Lord (Our Saviour Jesus Christ the Messiah). John as the Prophet was physically here to point to the Messiah.  He in fact made the Jewish people aware of who Jesus the Messiah was. This would eventually lead to his murder by the political establishment of his day as they were afraid of him and his message.

So why is John so important to me at this time of year?  In the Christmas version of John’s Gospel it says:

John’s Witness of Jesus
“There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 ​He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. 8 ​ He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.” John; 1:6-8

This is very simple and down to earth, and it was his main goal.   Let us look at the fuller text of John including the above:

“There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 ​He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. 8 ​ He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.
9 ​There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. 10 ​He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 ​He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. 12 ​But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 ​who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
The Word Made Flesh
14 ​And the Word became flesh, and  dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 ​John *testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’” 16 ​For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. 17 ​For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. 18 ​No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” John 1:6-18

These events were the birth pangs for the Reformation of the Jewish Religion that would eventually bring about Christianity and decisions would have to made by the various faith communities of the time. Two major things we know of the time was:

  • The destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans
  • The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Rome went out of its way to completely destroy the Jewish revolt.  Even so it is interesting that there is no more a Moab or an Edom or other localized nations in that area but the Jewish nation survived all this even with a 2000 year diaspora and all the persecutions and tragedies that befell them including the gas chambers of World War 2. 

For the Jewish Christians who are mentioned in the book of Hebrews the destruction of the Temple did not mean the end as all of the functions of the Jewish Temple were found in him. The book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus was greater than Moses, greater than the angels, Prophet, the perpetual high priest, and sacrifice on our behalf.  

For Jews however that did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah, through the pharisees leading up to the modern rabbis they had to find another way.  The community was therefore the temple et al.  If this was a proper answer, then there would not be a need to build a third temple with the hope of bringing animal sacrifice back.

Scroll of Isaiah from the Dead Sea Scrolls (wikimedia)

John was sent from God pointing to the One Messiah who is our salvation. There are no needs for sacrifice anymore:

from wikipedia Grunewald Isenheim1

Preaching of John the Baptist
​“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2 ​As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
“BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER AHEAD OF YOU,
WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY;
3 ​THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS,
‘MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD,
MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT.’”
4 ​John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness  preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 ​And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. 6 ​John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist, and his diet was locusts and wild honey. 7 ​And he was preaching, and saying, “After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals. 8 ​I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
The Baptism of Jesus
9 ​In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 ​Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; 11 ​and a voice came out of the heavens: “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”
12 ​Immediately the Spirit *impelled Him to go out into the wilderness. 13 ​And He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan; and He was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to Him.” Mark 1:1-13

Some scholars would like to base religious text on human experience, and they would look for ways to get rid of the supernaturality of what took place. One way they did this in the past was to read the text and to find what were the original words Jesus used and the rest of the text could be dispensed with or seen as less important (Bultmann).  Everything had to be verified as historically accurate based on human experience.

My friends this goes against any major religion.  Major religions such as Christinaity Judaism and Islam have a basis of revelation.

from wikipedia

The infinite needs to break into our time and space and make God known to us. When talking about the knowledge of God, John Calvin in his knowledge of God was correct to base God’s knowledge having priority over finite human knowledge (This can be found in Calvin’s Institutes book 1). 

John was sent from God my friends not to explain his own experiences, but to show us that Jesus was God the Son who would become a man.  It is impossible for the finite to break into the kingdom of Heaven because God is infinite.   John based his life on this message as has already been already said, he was murdered for it.

We need to beware of those who would want to give us a beautiful picture of universals for example that all roads lead to God.  No some roads lead to Hell and complete separation from God for all eternity.  No, the Gospel is made of particulars and by faith God can be made known:

I believe in God, the Father almighty,

    creator of heaven and earth.

    And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.

    He was conceived by the Holy Spirit

    Born of the Virgin Mary.

    Suffered under Pontius Pilate,

    was crucified, died, and was buried.

    He descended into hell.

    On the third day he rose again from the dead.

    He ascended into heaven

    and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

    He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

    I believe in the Holy Spirit,

    the holy catholic Church,

    the communion of saints,

    the forgiveness of sins,

    the resurrection of the body,

    and the life everlasting.

    Amen.

(From simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostles%27_Creed)

God broke into our time and space and used John the Baptist to point and show us who the Messiah was.  The Dead Sea scrolls certainly explains to us that they were looking for the teacher of righteousness. John the Baptist certainly pointed the way to the Messiah. 

As an after-note Karl Barth kept a picture of Grunewald’s crucifixion in his office. On the lower right-hand corner there is an image of John the Baptist.  Barth as a preacher saw himself as this.  I think in Church Dogmatics he wrote over a million and a half words.

Reflection

Karl Barth’s work space

John is not an after thought in the Gospels.  John is an example who points us in the correct direction to find solace and peace with a Holy God in Christ.  John’s message for us at this time is groundbreaking.

God Became a man and through the life and work of the Messiah it is possible to find eternal life. At this advent time let us think about these deep truths of repentance that God’s salvation has now for the first time entered into the world:

​“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 ​fixing our eyes on Jesus, the  author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 ​For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary  and lose heart.” Hebrews 12:1-3

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Advent 1; A Time of Spiritual Preparation for the Great King.

December 6, 2023
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Before I begin my Advent blog I want to wish everyone a Happy Finnish Independence Day.

This is now the season of Advent and I want to focus on our Lord Jesus as the coming King. In actuality the first coming of Christ led to his second Coming.  When we walk with God we need to think about spiritual things. We need to consider what state our souls are in before the Majestic King who was involved in the very creation itself and Humanity. 

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For many people at this time Christmas is not about the above but rather a time of celebration, eating and drinking the wrong stuff, meeting with our friends and getting expensive presents.  At the work place it can be that there are expensive celebratory bashes before going our separate ways.  I am not passing judgement on these things because we are all free to make our own decisions. 

But perhaps sometimes it is time to start to think about what really matters to you as a human being.  Celebratory bashes come and go but at the end of the day what really matters to you? For the Christian prayer and meditation can bring spiritual renewal for the things that really matter.  Perhaps you belong to another religion, or you are an atheist perhaps in reading my take on the importance of Christmas you too will be rejuvenated by the Living and Everlasting God that perhaps in the past you denied his existence.

As we move towards Christmas, we prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ’s first coming. At this seasonal time, we prepare for the Coming King Jesus to come into the world for the first time and to begin his saving work. For me these next three Weeks are going to be a type of pilgrimage for the purification of the soul, as we reflect on the very fact that God became a man in the person and work of Christ. Obviously, we cannot in our own strength purify our souls, it is a work of God’s grace in our live and that by the gift of faith which God gave to his children in the first place.  Even the purification of our sins can only take place when we bow our knee to king Jesus at the cross with the hope of his second return.

We need to remember that without the first coming of Christ there would not have been the hope of his second coming.  Both are linked. As John says:

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“​1 ​In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 ​He was in the beginning with God. 3 ​All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 ​In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5 ​The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. John 1:1-5”

The second Person of the Trinity left heaven and became a real man.  God became a man.  In the Person of Christ dwells the infinite and the finite.  Jesus is fully God and Fully man.  This is indeed the mystery of Christmas.  Karl Barth was correct on this point.  The ordinary natural person cannot comprehend this amazing truth. Only when a person is born a new (from above) can his spiritual eyes be awakened to the full knowledge of this.  For the person who has come into faith he, she understands that God became a man for us.  For Barth, it is faith seeking understanding. We believe that we may understand and understanding only comes by way of worship and devotion to our Lord.

It is interesting that John’s Gospel begins with ‘in the beginning’. This was no accident and in the Greek version in the Old Testament it begins like this. The Word with the Father and the Holy Spirit were instrumental in bringing human life into the world in the first place.  The Lord Jesus from his divine side was instrumental in bringing us into existence. We as human beings have replace God’s love with hate and sin.  God still did not give up on His creation but decided to take on human flesh and become a baby in a manger.

The point of the Gospel is that God broke into our history.  This is not a fairy tale; on the contrary it is historical fact.  When I think about the characters of the Apostles:

  • Were they crazy and made the Gospel up?
  • Were they sober minded to the point of dying for their beliefs that Jesus indeed rose from the dead?

The facts are that out of all of these Apostles only John made it to old age and even then he was a prisoner on Patmos Island away from civilization!

St Paul had his head chopped off; James the Lord’s brother James was murdered; Peter was crucified upside down et al.

I hope you see the point I am trying to make. I have good reason to be persuaded that the Christmas story is not a fairy tale in its original form.

There are those theologians who would put the Christmas story on a back burner and not take it so seriously.  The Romantic theologians such as Schleiermacher were more interested in moving away from the external objective facts and focus on the internal workings of the mind having been influenced by the philosophy of Kant. This whole movement to the modern day started from Schleiermacher.  For Barth the break with this movement happened when his teacher Adolf von Harnack signed a declaration with the leading scholars of the day.  They were pro-war and very nationalist:

(wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Manifesto_of_the_Ninety-Three_German_Intellectuals)

Anyhow for Karl Barth, his teachers who sided for WW1 was the last straw.  He dumped liberal theology and looked for objective foundations.  As it was with John Calvin, Luther and the other Reformers centuries before; Karl Barth saw the importance of a new Reformation for the Gospel with truer epistemic foundations.

So then Christmas matters and how it is interpreted matters.  For Schleiermacher ‘the feeling of absolute dependence’ was more important than historical foundations.  For Barth the objective historical fact that God broke into our time and space is more important and the concept of revelation is back to where it ought to be (As found in the Bible and the Apostolic Creed).  (Whether or not knowledge is immediate or mediated, we can leave this for another day).

For Schleiermacher on the other hand including the whole liberal tradition, the goal posts for Christian knowledge were moved.  No longer did revelation have centre stage but this changed to experience.  The emphasis was the search for universal building blocks. I think a good case can be made that Schleiermacher used Kant’s ideas to come to his theory of ‘gefuhl’.  The theory of the feeling of the absolute dependence. 

So then what am I really saying:

I am saying that advent is about the Coming Universal King who would have the offices of

  • Prophet
  • Priest
  • King
  • Sacrifice

God becoming man took on the role of prophet and in that role he would:

  • Show us how we ought to live (by faith)
  • He would explain to us how much his Church would suffer.
  • He would show us about the end of the world.
  • And the New era of His Second Coming into the world.

As a man he would hold the office of priest:

  • not according to the law because he was born of the tribe of Judah, rather as a perpetual priest in the order of Melchisedek.
  • As this High Priest there would be no need for sacrifices because he is the Eternal Son of God

As King:

  • Jesus is king of the line of King David.
  • King Jesus was greater than David in that his kingdom would never end “Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.”’ 2 Samuel 7:16(NASB)

Our Lord Became the sacrifice:

God had a plan that was set in place since the early days of creation for our salvation and the hope of eternal life:

  • ​By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
    11 ​Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 12 ​but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, 13 ​waiting from that time onward UNTIL HIS ENEMIES BE MADE A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET. 14 ​For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. Hebrews 10:10-14 (NASB)

Reflection

From my point of view, the true meaning of Christmas should always be protected because at the moment of the incarnation God became a man.  It was decided in heaven that our lord would be born of a virgin.  Our Lord had to be the perfect candidate for the possibility of having our sins washed away.  For Christians what happened in Bethlehem is a real historical even that would lead to the cross and the resurrection and the salvation of many from every nation. 

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We need to protect the Christmas story from anyone who would try to move the goal posts from God’s revelation to human experience and attempt to de-mythologize (separate myth from history). This story is no myth, it is historical so let us protect the story of our Saviour.

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