Looking for Jesus in Leviticus: the offering

The Word for today:
Leviticus 6:8-7:38

mark this: Leviticus 1:1-1:4
The LORD called Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying,
"Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When any one of you brings an offering to the LORD, you shall bring your offering of livestock from the herd or from the flock.
If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish. He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the LORD.
He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him."

 

Pictures of an offering are the earliest pictures of Jesus in the Bible.

In chapter one of Leviticus, the people were told to bring an animal, which was then sacrified on the altar. These offerings are a continuation of the offerings we have already seen in the Bible's first book, Genesis.

In chapter 3 of Genesis, Adam and Eve tried to cover their sin with leaves, but they could not. So God killed an innocent animal in order to clothe them in its skins.

In the very next generation, God instructed Cain and Abel to bring an offering for sin.  Abel brought what God required--a Lamb.  But Cain brought produce that he had grown in the fields.  Cain's offering--the works of his own hands--was not accepted by God.

Later in Genesis, God told Abraham to offer his son, Isaac. When Abraham obeyed, God saw his faith and stopped Abraham from slaying Isaac.  Then God himself provided a ram for the sacrifice.

***

These pictures tell us that there is a price to be paid for sin: the wages of sin is death.

These pictures tell us that the blood of an innocent sacrifice will be the only acceptable offering.

These pictures tell us that the price will be unimaginably steep--so steep that only God can pay it.

These pictures tell us that when God sees our faith, he deflects the knife and visits our sins upon his own Son, instead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My Picture Bible

 

The Word for today:
Leviticus 4:1-6:7

My brother and I learned to read before we went to school, and here’s how…

Every week, my Dad left “the funny papers” (the comics section from the Sunday newspaper) on our kitchen table. Then throughout the week, as my brother and I ate breakfast, we would follow the exploits of Charlie Brown and Dennis the Menace and Beetle Bailey and Prince Valiant, before we could understand a single syllable of what was written!

My Dad hoped that those pictures would prime the pump, so to speak. And they sure did. Then, on Saturday morning, he would point to an arrangement of letters that looked like this:

d-o-g

Then he would point to the pictures of Snoopy and Ruff.

Without even knowing that we were reading, we began to understand that d-o-g meant the idea of an animal in general and that S-n-o-o-p-y and R-u-f-f meant particular, actual, real d-o-g-s, belonging to C-h-a-r-l-i-e and D-e-n-n-i-s, respectively!

And that’s exactly how God our Father teaches us the Word of God. In Leviticus (and throughout the Old Testament) he puts the pictures on the table, so to speak. Then, when we come to arrangements of letters that look like these--

s-i-n,
or  s-a-c-r-i-f-i-c-e,
or  r-e-d-e-m-p-t-i-o-n,
or  g-r-a-c-e,

--we “get it” because we’ve already seen what those words mean.

But, best of all, when those words turns into flesh, when r-e-d-e-m-p-t-i-o-n turns into the Redeemer, we know what “Jesus” means.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

how to spell “Jesus”

The Word for today:
Leviticus 2 and 3

Stand in the Rain loves Leviticus, and we hope you will too! But we know that, at first glance, Leviticus can seem intimidating and inaccessible. So we decided to address this undeserved reputation with two introductory articles. Yesterday, we likened Leviticus to an art gallery. Today, we liken Leviticus to an elementary reader! Tomorrow, we will move beyond introduction and dive headfirst into this treasured book.

***

Many people think of Leviticus as something best left to Bible scholars. They say it is too complex for the biblically inexperienced; that to understand Leviticus we need a thorough knowledge of the rest of the Bible.

Ironically, when we think that way, we’ve got it entirely backwards. The truth is that in order to begin to understand the rest of the Bible, we must first understand Leviticus.

Leviticus is elementary.
Leviticus is the Bible’s book of elements, of first principles. It is the Bible’s elementary school, not its graduate school!

The rest of the Word of God assumes, and depends upon, an understanding of the elements of Leviticus. So let’s put these elements on the table:

Fire

Blood

Water

Oil

Grain

Salt

Smoke

Yeast

Priest

Garments

Disease

Clean

Unclean

Holy (Distinct)

Law

Sin

Sacrifice

Substitute

Atonement

Access

Mediation

Grace

***

Those are the ABC’s of the Word of God. They’re the letters we need if we want to spell “Jesus.”

Leviticus isn’t for Bible know-it-alls. It’s for little ones like you, of little faith like me, who want to begin to know God.

So we’ll begin, together, tomorrow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

out of the movies and into the gallery

The Word for today:
Leviticus 1

Leviticus is famous as the book where people stopped reading the Bible! Armed, at the start of a new year, with their resolutions and their “Bible in a Year” bookmarks, they zoom right through Genesis:

Creation!
Eden!
Serpent, sin, and banishment;
Cain and Abel;
Noah’s ark;
The tower of Babel;
Abraham and Sarah and the Son of Promise;
Sodom and Gomorrah;
Jacob Rachel and Rachel and a stairway to the stars;
Joseph and his brothers.

They fly through Exodus:

Mortar, bricks, and taskmasters;
Baby Moses in the bulrushes;
The backside of the desert;
The burning bush and the of Name God;
Aaron’s rod and the magicians of Egypt;
The plagues;
The Passover;
The parting of the Red Sea;
Wilderness and manna;
Sinai and the Ten Commandments;
The golden calf;
The Tabernacle.

Then, with excitement and anticipation they turn the page, only to be met by--a burnt offering?

Now the Lord called to Moses, and spoke to him from the tabernacle of meeting, saying, "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'When any one of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of the livestock--of the herd and of the flock. 'If his offering is a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish; he shall offer it of his own free will at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the Lord. Then he shall put his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him. He shall kill the bull before the Lord; and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall bring the blood and sprinkle the blood all around on the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of meeting. And he shall skin the burnt offering and cut it into its pieces. The sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar, and lay the wood in order on the fire.  (Leviticus 1:1-7)

Well, there were some slow sections in Exodus, too. So they keep on going. They make it all the way through the grain offering in chapter two, then the peace offering in chapter 3.

But by chapter 5 they start to peek ahead to see if anything ever happens in Leviticus. Skimming the pages, they come across some laws about leprosy, some cleansing rituals, and some dietary regulations. Then there’s something about feasts and the garments of the priests…

It can make the reader wonder whether the Holy Spirit, who got off to such an intriguing start in Genesis and Exodus, forgot how to tell the Story. And right there in the midst of Leviticus their Bible in a Year bookmarks get stuck, never to move again.

But do not fret, dear reader. Whenever the well-intentioned believer has gotten lost in Leviticus, it’s because he’s lost sight of Jesus.

He lost sight of Jesus because the straightforward narrative (plot and character) presentation of Genesis and Exodus shifts abruptly to the symbolic abstractions of Leviticus.

Whereas Genesis and Exodus are stories—in fact, movies—the reader, as he turns the page to Leviticus, enters a gallery of perpetually modern art.

The Symbolist paintings are here, and the Abstract Expressionists are there, the sculpture is over there, the Impressionists are down there, and further down the hall are the Cubists.

The pictures aren’t physically moving, like they are in Genesis and Exodus, but once the Bible student aesthetically enters into this gallery and stops expecting theater, then these portraits of Jesus can be as dramatic and as emotionally moving as any to be found in scripture.

So we invite you inside Leviticus, where the very first thing you will notice, of course, is a highly stylized abstraction of a cross.

This effect is achieved in part by the metaphorical usage of fire (1). Placed beneath the grates on the altar of sacrifice, the flames are representative of God, who is, both literally and allegorically, a consuming fire…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(1) see Deuteronomy 4:24; Hebrews 12:29; and Leviticus 1:7 (above)

mark this

The Word for today:
2 Timothy 4

The last chapter of a person’s life can be counted on to provide perspective and reduce the whole to its essence. That’s why you’ll need your marker…

If your Bible has one of those groovy old-fashioned ribbon markers that are sewn right into the binding, and if you’re not marking anything in particular with it, then may I suggest that you park your marker right here in the last chapter of 2 Timothy.

Paul’s death is near and he senses it. Nearing the end of the road, he can now look back and see the whole parade. As he does, he distills it all into one immortal line:
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (2 Timothy 4:7)

The presence of Christ is almost palpable here as he recalls that when he stood alone, he was not alone:
At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them.
But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. And I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. (2 Timothy 4:16-17)

Then, with a sweet flourish, as if he could gather all his years and tears in one cup, he pours them all out just to watch them go up in steam:
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. (2 Timothy 4:6)

There is no more beautiful illustration in scripture than Paul’s “drink offering” as it ascends to Jesus. It was the perfect picture of the life he’d poured out in Jesus’ honor. It hearkens back to the offerings of Exodus and Leviticus, where wine was poured over the sacrifice on a brazen altar with fire underneath it. The wine would just evaporate and disappear, and all that was left was the Lamb.

Paul wanted to leave no trace of himself. His heart’s desire was that his life, when boiled down, was about nothing but Jesus. It was a gesture so lovely and so grand that it had to be his finale.

***

“2 Timothy 4.” Mark it in your mind if you don’t have a ribbon, because you’ll need to find your way back to this spot. You’ll turn here all the time, and when you do you’ll find just what you need.

When you need some perspective on the whole parade of life, you’ll find it here.

When you need someone to stand up for you, you’ll find your Defender here.

When you’re weary and ready to quit, you’ll find a fellow faith fighter here.

And when your life disappears like smoke, you’ll find--standing there in your place, like he did at the cross—the one for whom your life stood.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I can see clearly now

The Word for today:
2 Timothy 3

mark this:
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15)

and this:
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)



Both Peter’s and Paul’s final thoughts—found in 2 Peter and 2 Timothy—emphasize the Word of God and the gospel.

When it came down to their final thoughts, these two great apostles did not emphasize prayer or good works or fellowship or worship. Their parting advice was to hold tenaciously to the Word of God (from whence all of those things will issue.)

I want to re-echo their sentiments today. Moreover, I want us to develop a biblical worldview—a habit of mind that places the Bible not only at center stage, but at the center of a far wider stage…

Because ultimately the Bible will not be thought of in the narrow way it is thought of now—as a religious book. The Bible will, ever more and more so, come to be recognized as the lens through which all reality is to be comprehended, if it is to be comprehended at all.

By all reality I mean all of it. What we normally think of as secular—let’s say the stock market and the Super Bowl--can not be seen for what they are until they enter through the aperture of the Word of God.

That may sound crazy, but only because we have been trained to think that the stock market and the Super Bowl somehow occupy a sphere that is outside of scripture’s purview.

They are not. The Bible is as infinite as its author, as all-encompassing as He who IS; who is the all in all (1); who is the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End who has no beginning and no end.

***

The Bible teaches us that Jesus holds everything together:
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  (Colossians 1:17/NIV, NASB, ESV)

The New King James Version says it in a way that permeates even deeper:
He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.  (Colossians 1:17)

Without him factored in, no equation is relevant—on any topic whatsoever.

I have a great deal of respect for the intelligence of my readers. I don’t dumb down scripture and people who want it dumbed down soon stop reading Stand in the Rain. What I’m left with are some serious heads. So I want you to take your serious head and wrap it around a quote from Graeme Goldsworthy, an Aussie Bible commentator and a hero of mine. I will only help you with vocabulary: hermeneutical (I looked it up!) has to do with interpretation, as I’ve inserted. For all the rest you are on your own, so read slowly and gather as much as you can from what I consider the most all-encompassing paragraph of commentary that I have ever encountered:

The hermeneutical (interpretive) question about the whole Bible correlates with the question, ‘What do you think of Christ?’ … The hermeneutical (interpretive) center of the Bible is therefore Jesus in his being and in his saving acts – the Jesus of the gospel. … We can say that, while not all Scripture is the gospel, all Scripture is related to the gospel that is its centre. … The Bible makes a very radical idea inescapable: not only is the gospel the interpretive norm for the whole Bible, but there is an important sense in which Jesus Christ is the mediator of the meaning of everything that exists. In other words, the gospel is the hermeneutical (interpretive) norm for the whole of reality. --Graeme Goldsworthy from "Gospel-Centered Hermeneutics"

I’m not smart enough to know what Jesus thinks of the stock market, or the Super Bowl, or Facebook, or the presidential primaries, or casinos, or the Constitution, or Mozart, or Mickey Mantle, or Mickey Mouse, or Dickens, or Dostoevsky.

But I am smart enough to know that until we relate all of the above to him, we have untethered them from any meaning at all.

We as Christians may or may not be right on this issue or on that issue, but we are smart enough to know that until we filter everything through the Word of God, our ignorance on those issues is guaranteed.

We must—deliberately and proactively--cultivate a habit of mind that Jesus himself cultivated:
"I can do nothing on my own.  As I hear, I judge."   (John 15:30)

Jesus enforced, for himself, a biblical worldview—an outlook that consults the Word of God on absolutely everything.

On our own, we see through a glass darkly (2). But scripture doesn’t. So let’s emulate Jesus' way of looking at things. We will never see what he sees until we look through the same lens.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(1) 1 Corinthians 15:28; (2) 1 Corinthians 13:12

"Remember Jesus Christ."

 

The Word for today:
2 Timothy 2

mark this:
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God's word is not chained.  (2 Timothy 2:8-9)

2 Timothy is the last will and testament of Paul, with notes of sadness and triumph not found in other epistles. The dark cloud of apostasy is gathering in the background as Paul writes from a prison in Rome, where he is soon to be beheaded.

Paul is normally a man of guarded heart, but the dwindling days and his memories of Timothy combine to bring his guard down.

In a sort of spiritual relay race, he passes the torch to Timothy and challenges him to keep the flame burning:
For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.  (2 Timothy 1:6)

He reminds Timothy that defeat is not the norm for Christian living:
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (1:7)

He exhorts him to unleash the truth.
So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.  (2 Timothy 1:8)

Then he wraps everything he cherishes into a couple verses and leaves it all to Timothy:
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God's word is not chained. (2 Timothy 2:8-9)

***

Currency is just an agreement that one piece of paper is more valuable than another.
I don’t have a lot of money, and from what I gather, neither do most of you. Paul had none. But what he left Timothy was a Savior whom death cannot detain, and a Word that cannot be confined.

The Bible is a long letter, written to God’s children.  I and billions like me have agreed that the paper it’s written on is literally more valuable to us than all of Warren Buffet’s billions of dollar bills and all his stock certificates. (I’ll gladly take a few billion off your hands, Warren--if you happen to be reading--but I’m not trading.) What Warren’s got is chicken feed next to what I’ve been given and what I can give.

If you leave to someone what God left to Paul and Paul left to you, then you will have bequeathed “currency” incalculable.

Take a check.  Write Remember Jesus Christ.  Sign it.  Hand it to someone or toss it in the air and let the wind deliver it.  Make someone very, very rich.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"But who do you say that I am?"

The Word for today:
2 Timothy 1

Yesterday, we looked at “doctrine” in general. Today we conclude with the specifics of sound biblical doctrine.

***

Paul thought sound doctrine was of ultimate importance.

He warns Timothy, repeatedly, that he must insist upon true doctrine. In 1 and 2 Timothy, the word “doctrine” appears 11 times. (1)

He warns Titus just as emphatically. In the three short chapters of the letter to Titus, “doctrine” shows up four times.

Jesus warned the disciples to beware “the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” When they didn’t understand his figure of speech, he told them, plainly, that he was talking about doctrine:
Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. (Matthew 16:12)

In Matthew 13:33, in a one-sentence parable (which some commentators believe to be the key verse of Matthew, which is the key book of the Bible) Jesus illustrated how false doctrine would work its way into his kingdom:
Another parable He spoke to them: "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened." (Matthew 13:33)

(Leaven in the Bible is a principle of evil. Unleavened bread can be seen as the Word of God, which is food for the child of God. When the woman in Matthew 13 mixed in leaven--unsound doctrine--then it makes the Bible palatable to the natural man. The true Word of God--unleavened bread--is unpalatable to the natural man.)

So what is sound doctrine?
Because Jesus is the issue (he’s the question and the answer) in the universe, crucial doctrine has to do, of course, with him:

"But who do you say that I am?" (Matthew 16:15)

There is interpretive leeway in many biblical matters, but doctrine concerning the person (who he is) and work (what he has done) of Jesus Christ cannot be trifled with or compromised or watered down. Most good churches, somewhere on their websites, will list a statement of their doctrine. Boiled down to their essence, they look like this:

The person of Jesus Christ:
He is God, the eternal Son of the eternal Father. He divested Himself of heaven's glory, to become like one of us--born of woman, born under the law--so that he could take my place on a cross that I had earned. Seed of the woman, Son of Man, Son of Abraham, Son of Promise, Son of David, Son of a virgin named Mary, he was baptized in identification with us as we are baptized in identification with Him. Coming up out of the water, driven by the Spirit, he withstood temptation by wielding the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, against the devil in the wilderness. In the power of the Holy Spirit he lived a sinless life.

The work of Jesus Christ:
He personified the grace and truth of God. He performed miracles, the Creator with the means to direct his creation to his chosen ends. He set his face like flint for Jerusalem, where he died at the hands of secular government and organized religion for the sins of the world, then rose from the dead in accordance with--and fulfillment of--scripture. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. Of the increase of his kingdom and peace there will be no end.

That’s who He is, and upon this Rock we make our stand. We give no ground. We take no prisoners.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(1) word count taken from the New King James Version

Beware the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

The Word for today:
Titus 3

mark this: 1 Timothy 4:16
Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

and this: Titus 2:1
You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine.

Over time, words take on certain tinges and tints and overtones. “Doctrine,” for example, is considered to be a word tinged with narrowness, exclusivity, and fundamentalism.

To which I say, “Hallelujah!  There’s still a word which means what it’s meant to mean!”

Doctrine is exclusive! It excludes error from creeping into our minds, just like walls keep the cold out of the house. Which is a good thing, unless you’ve got something against keeping warm.

Correct doctrine means that what you are taking from the Word of God are the things God meant when he said them.

False doctrine means that you are taking from the Word of God something other than what God meant when he said it!

Just because someone is quoting the Bible doesn’t mean he has your best interests at heart. The devil quoted Genesis 2:17 (to Eve) and Psalm 91 (to Jesus) in an attempt to topple the moral order of the universe.

Paul said, in Acts 2:42, that the early church devoted themselves to just a few things:
1. the apostles’ doctrine
2. fellowship
3. the breaking of bread
4. prayer

Throughout his letters (sometimes in terms that make us wince) Paul insists upon none other than the apostles’ doctrine:
I wish the people who are bothering you (with doctrinal error) would go the whole way and castrate themselves!  (Galatians 5:12)

He warns Timothy, repeatedly, that he must insist upon true doctrine. In 1 and 2 Timothy, the word “doctrine” appears 11 times. (1)

He warns Titus just as emphatically. In the three short chapters of the letter to Titus, “doctrine” shows up four times.

Jesus warned the disciples to "beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”  When they didn’t understand his figure of speech, he told them, plainly, that he was talking about doctrine:
Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.  (Matthew 16:6, 12)

In Matthew 13:33, in a one-sentence parable (which some commentators believe to be the key verse of Matthew, which is the key book of the Bible!) Jesus illustrated how false doctrine would work its way into his kingdom:
Another parable He spoke to them: "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened."  (Matthew 13:33)

(Leaven in the Bible is a principle of evil. Unleavened bread can be seen as the Word of God, which is food for the child of God. When the woman in Matthew 13 mixed in leaven--unsound doctrine--then it makes the Bible palatable to the natural man. The true Word of God--unleavened bread--is unpalatable to the natural man.)

So what is sound doctrine?

We'll boil sound doctrine down to its essence tomorrow.   See you then.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(1) word count taken from the New King James Version

out of this world

The Word for today:
Titus 2

Today we behold one of the most beloved passages in scripture. It presents an exquisite picture of what we refer to as the “Rapture”--
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. (Titus 2:11-13)

We hear a great deal about the Rapture. Stand in the Rain, about a year ago, devoted a 2-part article to the subject, which can be found here and here.

Some people make fun of the Rapture, and in the case of unbelievers, I can understand why. If you don’t know God, the Rapture is just too miraculous to even imagine. So most of the unbelieving world just snickers.

Some believers also find the Rapture unbelievable. (I know this because I used to be one of them.) They either can’t see it in scripture; or else, saved as they are, their Jesus is too little to pull off such an outrageous, outlandish, outstanding, out of this world (literally!) and outta sight (literally!) miracle.

First, let me say that salvation does not depend on your belief in miracles like the Rapture. Salvation depends on whether you believe that God died for your sins (just like scripture said he would) and rose again from the dead--just like scripture said he would:

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)

What I am trying to slyly infer is that if you believe that God became a man in order to die for your sins, and (to verify that the plan worked) rose from the dead, then what in tarnation could keep you from believing some of the less spectacular miracles--like a virgin giving birth, or the parting of the Red Sea, or the time when that virgin’s son (who’d been engendered by the Holy Spirit, no less) did Moses one better and walked right over the top of the water without bothering to part it!

***

My intention is not to tease you or belittle your faith. Remember, I’m that guy who was saved --as saved as I ever will be—for years and years before I would, before I could, before I did stop questioning some of the Bible’s more miraculous moments.

But, over time, Jesus—just as the Bible says (1) — grew in stature! He just kept growing and growing in my eyes until one day it was impossible for the virgin birth not to have happened! And of course he could feed 5000. That’s a piece o’ cake when you can make an infinite cosmos out o’ nothing! And when you don’t owe sin any wages (like the rest of us do) then of course you can tell death (in the case of Lazurus) to go take a hike. (2)

***

The Rapture is foreshadowed throughout scripture. Enoch was raptured way back in the Bible’s fifth chapter. Elijah was raptured. The Apostle Paul was caught up into heaven and came back to tell us he was forbidden to tell us about it!

The Apostle John was raptured into heaven and (lucky for us) was told to tell us everything he saw there. He called his report “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” and you’ll find it at the extreme other end of the Bible. So Enoch, Elijah, Paul, John, and (you thought I forgot) Jesus were all taken up—raptured.

The Rapture is simply the resurrection of the church. The Bible calls Jesus the "firstfruits" (3) and we, of the same seed, will follow in kind.

Through Jesus, God restored his image in us:
Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:49)

He gave us his righteousness:
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

He made us his sons:
To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:12)

Given all that, it is perfectly logical that we would emulate his resurrection as well.

If the desire of your heart is to be like Jesus, and to follow Jesus, then you will--right out of this world.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(1) Luke 2:52; (2) see Romans 6:23, John 11; (3) 1 Corinthians 15:20

Have Bible. Will travel.

The Word for today:
Titus 1

mark this: Titus 1: 5, 10-11
The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished.
For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers. They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach.

note: The letter from Paul to Titus is another of the “Pastoral Epistles,” along with 1 and 2 Timothy.
The letters to Timothy emphasize sound teaching; the letter to Titus emphasizes God’s order for the conduct of the church.

***

Titus, like Nehemiah of old, was one of those people who could turn a situation around. When his name comes up in the New Testament, he is usually serving as Paul’s troubleshooter. When problems erupted in stormy congregations, Titus hit the road.

This wasn’t his first rodeo. He’d been sent to rowdy Corinth twice. Now he faces an equally challenging task on the island of Crete. Like a Wyatt Earp sent to clean up Dodge and Abilene, Titus was routinely dispatched to rough and tumble churches to restore order.

Crete was notorious for misbehavior. One of the island’s own poets described Cretans as always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons. (1:12)

Paul tells Titus to search for church leaders who are not arrogant or quick-tempered; not heavy drinkers, violent, or greedy for money (1:7).  Reading between the lines, we gain some insight into the average Cretan. The implication is that a handful of Cretans with those qualifications were not going to be easy to find.

In some letters, such as Galatians, Paul fought against legalism. But the church on Crete, full of immature Christians, needed basic lessons in morality, and Paul spelled them out for Titus in a straightforward style.

So the book of Titus reads like a troubleshooter’s manual.  Chapter 2 lists some of the diverse groups in the church: older men, older women, younger women, young men, and slaves. Each presented a set of problems that needed attention.

Titus was sent to a tough town full of tough people, but you get the sense that Titus was the toughest of them all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

unapproachable light

The Word for today:
1 Timothy 6:3-21

mark this: 1Timothy 6:16
…who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.



Sometimes, I just get stopped in my tracks. I comment on this, then that, then the other; and all the while I’m pretty cocksure of myself. Then I come to a verse like this one:

He alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light.

I can’t grasp the meaning of a line like that…which is exactly what it means!

We don’t know where God came from, because he has no point of origin. He just IS -- that’s His Name (1) -- and there never was a time when he was not.

For us, immortality means eternal life going forward. For God, who has no point of reference to time, immortality means been there, done that—in the opposite direction!

I used to ponder words like immortality until my head ached. The concept mocks our intelligence. I used to try to make God fit into my frame of mind. Sometimes he did, but oftentimes he did not.

Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) said that, “A God whom we could understand would be no God.”

R.C. Sproul (b. 1939) said,
“The finite can "grasp" the infinite, but the finite can never hold the infinite within its grasp. There is always more of God than we apprehend.”

John Dick (1764-1833) said,
“We believe that it our knowledge of God will be progressive, and that as our views expand, our blessedness will increase. But it will never reach a limit beyond which there is nothing to be discovered, and when ages after ages have passed away, He will still be the incomprehensible God.”

Isaiah (writing from 740-700 B.C.), quoting God (who always was and always will be), said:
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," says the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.” (55:8-9)

***

I used to be perplexed by infinity, and by other attributes of Jesus that are too profound for me (2). For the longest time, I thought that I would never get to know him. Then, one day, something clicked. A thought snapped into place, that if Jesus is too much for me to take it all in, that just proves I’m getting to know him.

He lives in unapproachable light, Paul tells us. Paul ought to know. He'd encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus, and his eyes were never the same.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(1) see Exodus 3:14; John 8:58; (2) Psalm 131:1; Psalm 139:6

playing out of position

The Word for today:
1 Timothy 5:1-6:2

In the further annals of how screwed up our churches are (he said, calling them as he sees them) I must direct our attention to this verse:

Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine. For the Scripture says, "You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain," and, "The laborer is worthy of his wages." (1 Timothy 5:17-18)

The Bible decrees (and the early church complied) that if anybody in the church were to be paid, it would be the Bible teacher. We, of course, don’t do things that way. Most people know a professional (paid) pastor or two or ten in their town. But ask if they know a professional Bible teacher, and they will wait for the punch line.

I point this out only as an example of how far we’ve gotten from God’s blueprint and priorities. That blueprint – the most instructive verse in scripture for what church leadership should look like — is right here:

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. (Eph 4:11- 13)

***

An apostle is an explorer and strategist/visionary, expanding the geographical frontiers of the faith.

A prophet is an enforcer, proclaiming God’s Word while stressing obedience and reinforcing the frontiers of human volition (the will.)

An evangelist proclaims the Good News, bringing the moment of personal decision to its crisis. His frontier is the heart.

A teacher explains God’s Word so it can be understood. His frontier is the mind.

A pastor is God’s nurturer. His frontier is the human condition. He meets people where they are, just as they are, bearing God’s mercy and forgiveness.

About the funniest and saddest thing that you will see (because it confirms how far away we are from the way that things should be) are the signs in front of our churches. They, invariably, tell what time the Sunday service is. (All across town, services are at the same time. I’ve always wondered why.)

Half the time, near the top or the bottom, the name of the pastor is prominently displayed. As if it would make a difference to the people passing by whether it’s Pastor Mojo Jones or Pastor Dewey Decimal who is presiding.

Much better, if you’re going to be stupid about it, to be big-time stupid. So if ever I go by a church that lists the names of their apostle, their prophet, their evangelist, their pastor, and their teacher, I will know that, vain and inane as their sign is, at least they’re trying to be scriptural about it!

Most of our pastors would be great pastors, but we’ve made them administrators and speechmakers, which many of them aren’t particularly gifted to accomplish. So instead of being great at what they were meant to do—consolation, compassion, empathy, and understanding—we’re playing them out of position.

Asking pastors to be prophets and teachers and evangelists and administrators is like a track coach asking his distance runners to be shot-putters and high jumpers as well. That’s a formula for defeat, and that’s how out-of-kilter and out-of-sync our church structures must look to God. He designed church leadership to function according to giftedness, which means that what He asks us to do is what He equipped us to do best.

The church has been designed (if only we’d follow the plan) to be strong and smart and fast and agile. But most of the time we do well just stay out of our own way.

When the church decides to make pastors pastors and prophets prophets and teachers teachers; when the church (and the pastors themselves) stop making one ill-equipped brother to be all-of-the-above, then the world had better get out of our way.

But that would mean we’d have to do things God’s way. Wow, what an interesting concept.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The only way to get in the church is to know Somebody.

The Word for today:
1 Timothy 4:6-16

1 Timothy and 2 Timothy and Titus – known as the “Pastoral Epistles” – are all about the church:

Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these instructions so that, if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. (3:14-15)

As we read the New Testament, we can be confused by the phrase “the church” until we understand that sometimes “the church” is used to describe

1. the visible “church,” which Jesus said would contain both “wheat and tares (weeds) ” -- believers and unbelievers mixed together:

The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. (Matthew 13:24-25)

And sometimes “the church” is used to describe

2. the true church—which is 100% “wheat:”

You have come to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood. (from Hebrews 12:22-24)

The Visible Church -- Wheat and Weeds

People in the visible church are there for all kinds of different reasons:

Cultural “Christians” are there because people are innately religious. So, if the surrounding culture is considered “Christian,” the innately religious person finds his way into a building beneath a steeple topped by a cross. But that same person, were he in another culture, would just as surely find his way into a building beneath a minaret--because he's religious and that's where religious people go, don't ya know.

I get the feeling all the time that I'm in the midst of cultural Christians who have never encountered the unique Son of God, the Christ of the Bible. (Or maybe they have and I haven't--but whichever way it goes, we are not on the same page!)

A ritual “Christian” is just going through the motions, because he doesn't know any better. He doesn't know any better because he was never taught any better. His church did not teach him the saving gospel as proclaimed in scripture, so he is lost for lack of knowledge. Listen as Paul stresses the crucial significance of correct doctrine:
Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you. (1 Timothy 4:16; cf. 1 Timothy 1:3)

This rote, ritual “Christian” represents the saddest case of all. He might have responded to the gospel of Jesus Christ, but no one ever clearly expressed it to him. He unwittingly let “the church”-- not the Word of God--speak for God.

A third group of tares is there for “personal” reasons that are all about other people.  Joe Seek-her attends because dreamy Debbie the Christian chick invited him. John the insurance salesman knows that contacts are good for business. The couple who live down the street think their kids should get some religion.

The True Church—Whole Wheat

The true church, collectively known as the body of Christ (1), is found within the visible church--just as the believing remnant (“true Israel”) was within “national Israel,”

for they are not all Israel, which are of Israel.  (Romans 9:6)

Every person in the true church is there because he or she knows Somebody! Evangelists call it “a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.” It means you know a person—not a concept, or a statue, or a philosophy, or a theology, or a creed, or a code of conduct. And it means that He knows you.

That’s why two or three, on a bench in the park, gathered in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and redeemed by His blood--fulfill the Scriptural definition of the true church. (Matthew 18:20)

And that’s why two or three thousand, gathered together in a lavish sanctuary, under a splendid steeple topped by a shimmering cross--may or may not fulfill the Scriptural definition of a true church. (Matthew 18:20).

If “church” to you means a steeple and people, a building and a meet-and-greet, then I would steal one of their Bibles and head straight for the park.  I would sit there, alone, until I wasn’t alone anymore.

And I would never go back to church until I brought Someone with me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(1) see Ephesians 1:22-23

doctrines of demons: "Did God really say...?"

The Word for today:
1 Timothy 3.14-4.5

mark this: 1 Timothy 4:1
Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.

Wouldn’t it be remarkable to see a replay of the Garden of Eden—especially the scene where the snake is standing on his feet, enticing Eve with the fruit of the tree…

Well, if you go to the window and look outside, there it is!

Eden is replayed every day. It’s been played out in your life and mine. (We succumbed / flunked / fell.)

It was played out in Jesus’ life. (He passed, slicing the devil’s seductive suggestions to pieces with the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God (1).

All those replays were personal, one-on-one encounters. But there is coming a day (I know it’s coming, because it’s already here) when the world, collectively, will face an onslaught of what the Bible calls the doctrines of demons:

Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons. (1 Timothy 4:1)

Every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. (1Jn 4:3)

The battle line runs between your fingers (if you are holding a Bible). The assault, as in Eden, will be on the veracity and trustworthiness of the Word of God. It will sound exactly like this:

Did God really say…? (Genesis 3:1)

The devil has a religion, and its text is the Bible. Starting with the very text you hold in your hands, he then twists, contorts, distorts, adds, and subtracts from it for his purposes.

He has his ministers just as surely as your church has a pastor. Their powerful “pulpits” are bombarding us with mis-information and dis-regard for the Word of God.

The only defense against the devil’s doctrines and his minions is the Word of God, aptly spoken (2). But even if we’ve memorized every verse, we are no match for an angel of light (3) quoting scripture! Our advantage as believers is that it’s the Spirit’s Sword, so He knows how best to deploy it—as seen when Jesus (in the power of the Spirit) cut the devil down to size.

It’s Eden-all-over-again out there. Every day the (S)Word of God is demeaned and discredited; or – worse yet – left to gather rust and dust on a shelf.

But in the hands of a believer whose Sword shines with constant use, and who depends on the Spirit to wield it, no weapon forged against it will prosper:

“No weapon forged against you will prevail,
and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.
This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,
and this is their vindication from me,"
declares the LORD. (Isaiah 54:17)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(1) see Genesis 3:1-6; Matthew 4:5-1 and Luke 4:1-13; Hebrews 4:12 and Ephesians 6:17; (2) see Proverbs 25:11; (3) 2 Corinthians 11:14

retreat

The Word for today:
1 Timothy 3:1-13


mark this: 1 Timothy 3:2
Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach…


As Mom told us, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”

But if I have a few nice things to say, does that clear me to say the rest?  Well, I hope so, ‘cause here goes…


To be honest with you, I think the greatest problem in the local church is the professional pastorate.

When a man ain’t got nothing, he’s got nothing to lose.  But when the mortgage, car payment, health insurance, and tuition depend upon maintaining a job, then what a man does is maintain.  He certainly doesn’t go for broke, because “broke” is where he might find himself.

Our pulpits are manned by a cautious lot whose positions and paychecks factor into their decisions and their sermons.  They tell the truth, for the most part, but not the whole truth.  They faithfully reflect a few prosaic aspects of Jesus’ character, but the power of his persona and the poetry of his word rarely find their way into the average local pulpit--because those things might rock the boat, and rocking the boat might make waves.  And we can’t have that.

I worked, for a while, in a professional (paid) position in a church.  I had to go to a lot of meetings with local pastors and what I saw was not impressive.  They were the nicest guys in town, but that’s about all I have on my list of nice things to say.

They weren’t particularly gifted in scripture.  They weren’t particularly gifted in leadership.  They were diligent, but creativity evaded them.  They were brave, in a defensive posture.  But they weren’t about to storm the fort, because going on the offensive might, you know, offend someone.

They were certified by seminaries and ordained by denominations, but whether or not they were commissioned by God was never clear to me.

They met for three years (while I was there, and probably a dozen years before that) to discuss what should be done to bring the gospel to everyone in our town.  What they decided to do was hold a seminar (replete with an “expert” from California, at considerable cost) to further study this “initiative;” and to attend a retreat (at considerable cost for lodging and a facilitator) to pray over this initiative.

“Retreat,” in fact, remains my lasting impression of them, and a damning metaphor for their efforts.  While I’m sorry to have to say that, my sorrow is not for their sakes.

The ones I’m sorry for are the people who sit in their pews, who never really learn scripture (except in some rote sense) because their pastor never really did; who never encounter the wild and wonderful, radical and revolutionary Jesus because their pastor either never has or (if he has) isn’t gifted to express Him.

Nice guys, all.  They worked from sunrise to moonrise.  I’m not sure what they’re taught in seminary, but they all, seemingly, majored in Diligence and Steadfastness and Earnestness and Consistency and Constancy and Prudence and Discretion.

Fine words, all.  But they reflect just a portion of the persona of Jesus, just a sliver of the spectrum of the Light of the world.

***

In biblical terms, they had the fruit of the Spirit; most of them had the whole cornucopia, in bountiful abundance.  But church leadership is organized according to the gifts, not the fruit, of the Spirit.

They had, to be sure, certain gifts of the Spirit, but not the gifts which church leadership is based upon.

It was dismaying and disturbing.  But most of all it was just sad, because by and large we have organized the church around diplomas and denominations -- the dictates of man.

Three or four years in a seminary and they hand you a diploma.  They are accredited to do so.  But they're not authorized to hand out gifts.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

the narrow road is wide enough

The Word for today:
1 Timothy 2

mark this: 1 Timothy 2:5
For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.


Scripture doesn’t make sense until you are lost. That is the concept Jesus chose for the topic sentence of the greatest speech ever spoken:
"Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor; the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them!” (Matthew 5:3 / GNT)

That is the fountainhead from which all understanding flows, so until you get there, you are spiritually nowhere.

And that’s why the Bible starts out with what is called “the law”—a bunch of rules that we, on our own, cannot consistently keep.

And that’s why Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount (quoted above) did us the favor of ratcheting up God’s standards, making it obvious that they are impossible to reach:
"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire.” (Matthew 5:21-22)

And that’s why the Bible says some odd things like this one:
Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. (Romans 5:20)

Until we are stripped of any inkling of self-salvation, the cross of Jesus Christ – which offers help only to the helpless — offends our pride:
But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. (Gal 5:11)
(Here circumcision represents saving ourselves by keeping God’s rules, which would leave our spiritual pride intact. The offense of the cross is that we must look to another--to Jesus on the cross--because we are helpless to save ourselves.)

Somewhere--in the midst of all this brokenness, blood, and sin—lies the reason that God “permits bad things to happen to good people.”

Since only drowning men can see him, he sent the flood. He sent the Ten Commandments in order to increase the trespass (see Romans 5:20, above.). The grim reality is that when we pray for another’s salvation, we are inviting the torrent and the tide to sweep away any sense of security that person might have. Are you desperate enough to pray for that?

God is. He was so desperate to save us that he sent his one and only. If there had been any other way, you can bet that the genius of the universe would have done it that way. But there was not, so He could not.

The degree to which we approach his desperation is the degree to which we will understand the unique claims the Bible makes for Jesus Christ:

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. (1Timothy 2:5)

He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. (1John 5:12)

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)


God made a way for us to return to him, but it cost him everything he had. God the Father spent it all so that God the Son could pay it all. There was simply nothing left to build another road.

Jesus told us that the way would be narrow (1). But no one can say it’s not wide enough.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(1) Matthew 7:13-14

the chief of sinners

The Word for today:
1 Timothy 1

mark this: 1 Timothy 1:15 / NLT
This is a true saying, and everyone should believe it: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – and I was the worst of them all.

I teach scripture by means of “pictures.” Technically called “types,” they are prophetic illustrations of the King, Jesus Christ, and of his Kingdom to come.

The lamb at Passover is prophetic of the coming Lamb of God. The blood on the doorposts is a prophecy of the cross. The hyssop which applies the blood of the lamb to the doorposts is a picture of faith. You get the picture.

Those are all types of the Redeemer, but is there a type of the redeemed? Is there a prototypical picture of those who are saved?

There sure is, but the “picture” is the “painter” himself!

The Apostle Paul, the voice behind most of the New Testament, is himself a picture of the church, boiled down to one man.

We alluded to this a few articles ago, when we wrote about Paul’s thorn in the flesh: (1)

Precisely what Paul's thorn in the flesh might have been is an enduring fascination among Bible commentators. I mean, you just aren't a real Bible commentator until you've weighed in on that issue!

Which is kind of odd, considering God didn't weigh in on it -- when he knew what it was, having caused it.

So Stand in the Rain is going to treat this issue with silence, like God did. We don't know what Paul's thorn in the flesh was -- and we don't care to, because that's the point!

Scripture's silence is as sure a mark of inspiration as its revelations are. Paul's particular "thorn" is not described in order that his consolations may avail for all to whom any thorn is given.

So in a very real sense, Paul's thorn in the flesh is whichever one you have.

***

Today we encounter another way in which Paul’s life and experiences are meant to be representative of all of us:
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst. (1Timothy 1:15/NIV)

Other versions translate this to say that Paul is the chief of sinners (NKJV), the foremost of sinners (NASB).

However you say it, what it means is that if ever there were a day when you thought you were the worst sinner ever, you were wrong. The logical conclusion is that if Jesus could save Paul—the worst -- then He can save anybody, even me. Paul himself, then, is the Bible’s prototypical proof that no person is beyond salvation.

We are about to embark on what are known as the Pastoral Epistles. They were written by Paul to two of his young converts—Timothy and Titus—who had followed him on many of his missionary journeys and whom he had established as pastors of churches.

As you read the Pastoral Epistles -- which are all about the church -- don’t lose sight of the fact that the teller himself is the living breathing picture of what the body of Christ should look like!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(1) see 2 Corinthians 12:1-10

it won't rhyme until the end

The Word for today:
Micah 7:7-20

mark this: Micah 5:2
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.


Sometimes, when the whole truth is too much for me to understand (let alone express) I open my Bible to the shiny parts.

When Jerusalem--a man-sized city where prophets go to die--is too big for me, I slip away to Bethlehem. Bethlehem is a boy-sized city, where the Savior went to be born. So when I'm feeling more like a child of God than a man of God, that's where I go.

Bethlehem isn't very far from Jerusalem, just a few miles. I've often wondered whether Jesus could see the stable in Bethlehem from his cross atop Golgotha.

I wouldn't be surprised if he could. It would be just like God to bring them together at the end; because, right from the start, the stable and the cross rhymed in God's mind. I mean, where else could the Lamb of God be born but in a stable amongst shepherds? Certainly not in an inn!

***

When I escape to Bethlehem, I always start back here in Micah, where the Savior's birth is foretold:

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. (Micah 5:2)

Then, in my imagination, I backtrack way over to "the east," to join the caravan of wise me. I want the whole shining experience! I gloat along the way, ‘cause I know what Micah said about Bethlehem, when all the wise men knew, at first, was the prophecy of their countryman, Balaam:

I see him, but not now;
I behold him, but not near:
a star shall come out of Jacob,
and a scepter shall rise out of Israel. (Numbers 24:17)

So, I figure, the real wise man in this caravan is none other than me! Because the wise men follow the Balaam prophecy and the star all the way to Jerusalem, but then they have to stop and ask for further directions from there—which I (and Micah, of course) knew all along…

Jesus wasn't long in Bethlehem, maybe a year or two. Then an angel came and told Joseph that Herod would seek him out to destroy him.

That's when the Light left and the fears of all the years eclipsed Bethlehem's shining moment.
We know they were poor, because when Jesus was eight days old, they offered a few pigeons (1), which was what poor people brought to the Temple.

So we can assume that they had to sell the gold to pay for their escape to Egypt. That's a long, dark, and dangerous road, so they probably had to pay for protection, too. So there goes the frankincense, as well.

But remember when I said that God will rhyme -- every time-- the beginning with the end. Well, he does it again. Myrrh was a precious aromatic ointment, used as a perfume. Just a little dab would sweeten the situation.

But whenever a person died, all the myrrh that a household could muster was thickly applied to the body, to anoint it for burial.

The Bible doesn't really say so, but you just know that the poetic heart of God arranged it so that Mary never parted with the myrrh. She may as well have stored it in her heart, for all the good it would do anyone to try to steal it. It was the only baby "picture" she had left.

But when Joseph of Arimethea and Nicodemus took Jesus' body down from the cross, Mary knew what she had to do. The myrrh, after all those years, had found its purpose.

The sweetest rhyme in the whole story doesn’t come until the end.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(1) Luke 2:24

what we want or what we need

(by Pastor Joe)

The Word for today: Micah 6:1- 7:6

Micah is a book all about wants and needs.

So is 7 Eleven. I want the donut, I need the milk, what will I choose?

(Please, anything but those off colored "hot dogs" that have been rotating on those off-colored rollers since the Clinton Administration.)

And the people of Micah's time, just like me in a convenient store, have a hard time distinguishing which is which. The humor begins towards the beginning of this book.

Micah has been given the Word of the Lord- exactly what the people need. But their appetites are inclined in a different direction.

"Do not prophesy," their prophets say. "Do not prophesy about these things; disgrace will not overtake us (1) ."

Who wants to hear bad news? Not me, and definitely the people of Micah's time. They preferred the sticking your fingers in your ears approach to anything that challenges their status quo.

How 'bout this zinger?

"If a liar and deceiver comes and says,`I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,' he would be just the prophet for this people (2)!"

This "prophet" and his "good news" would go over particularly well at college campuses and parking lot tailgates all over this nation. (He may actually be currently employed by Anheuser- Busch.)

Nope, folks who don't want to hear the truth rely on several vague notions that they will be somehow spared the consequences of their choices. They mutter to themselves things like this:

"Is not the LORD among us? No disaster will come upon us (3)."

Surely not them.

No, in this book of Micah, the people wanted a "get out of jail free card" so they could continue their own way, even if going that way was literally the road to Hell. But God, like any good parent, did not give them what they wanted, He gave them what they needed. What the people needed was a national kick to the pants. That kick came to them in the form of the Babylonians.

"You shall go to Babylon... (4)"

Not much fun- in fact this whole ordeal was full of death and suffering and pain. A temple razed, a proud nation humbled, God's own children cast out of their own Promised Land. But one thing can be said of this exile, it actually cured the Israelites of idolatry: "you will no longer bow down to the work of your hands (5)." Of all the areas where they fell short of afterwards, chasing after Baal or Molech or Asherah was no longer one of them. They took their national medicine, even if it were more bitter than vinegar, and it worked.

Times change, but people don't. The more I read about the people of Israel, the more I identify with them. How quickly we turn the Christian faith into a system to meet all our demands and wants. How quick we are to protest even God's truth when it becomes difficult. We know we need the meat and milk of the Word, but the competing Twinkies and Slurpees go down so much easier. Praise God that there is a way out!

We wanted a neat religious system that we controlled ourselves, instead what we go was the Untamable One who kicked our religious mumbo jumbo to the curb (6).

We wanted for God to leave us alone as we turned our back on Him, what we got was One who came to "seek and save the lost(7)."

We wanted a God who would say that our sin was no big deal, instead we what we got was One who told us it was such a big deal that only by His bloody sacrifice could we ever overcome it.

Thank God we don't always get what we want!

******************

(1) Micah 2:6

(2) Micah 2:11

(3) Micah 3:11

(4) Micah 4:10

(5) Micah 5:13

(6) Matthew 21:12

(7) Luke 19:10

subway walls and tenement halls -- part 2

The Word for today:
Micah 4:8-5:15


Yesterday we asked:

Are the prophets speaking to America today?

Today we will draw our conclusions on the wall.

***

The biblical prophets spoke specifically to their own time and place--to Israel and surrounding nations. But here is the biblical principle that makes their words as valid and immediate to us, now, as they were to Israel then:

God is no respecter of persons. (1)

Which means that God treats all alike--whether rich or poor, old or young, black or white, now or then.

The last phrase--now or then--is the one that writes the words of the prophets on our "subway walls and tenement halls" (2). God is eternal and unchanging, and so are his judgments. His spiritual laws apply just as universally as his physical laws do. Justice, and mercy, and faith--which Jesus called the weightier matters of the law (3) --have spiritual mass and volume, exerting consequences that are as predictable as the gravity exerted by the mass and volume of the spheres…

The overriding prophetic constants are these:

1. The soul that sins, it shall die (Ezekiel 18:20). The New Testament says it this way: The wages of sin is death… (Romans 6:23a)

2. When I see the blood, I will pass over you (Exodus 12:13). The New Testament says it this way: …but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. (Romans 6:23b)

Any person who does not apply the blood of principal #2 faces the judgment of principal #1. These principles form the breath--the inhalation and exhalation--of prophecy. They account for the prophetic voice, which seems at irreconcilable odds with itself -- breathing out pitiless judgment, breathing in unconditional forgiveness -- as it expresses the kindness and the severity of God (Romans 11:22).

These truths have been in effect from the foundation of the world (4), but did not collide, in time and space, until the cross of Jesus Christ.

Just so, the words of the prophets will be seen, ultimately, as no respecters of nations, or of eras. Though prophecy is enforced for some now, for others later, it will ultimately be enforced for all.

We can, and should, read the prophets with urgency--with a sense of immediacy and proximity. Certainly their prophecies were written to Israel, but just as certainly they are written for us.

Prophecy has engraved the initials "USA" on a card, and placed it at a certain seat at the table. We -- not the prophets -- are the ones who are late for the party.

But when we get there, we will face the music. And the song remains the same:

You have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways. Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription. This is the inscription that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN

This is what these words mean:
Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.

Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.

Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.

That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain. (excerpted from Daniel 5:22-30)

Whatever a nation sows--whether in Babylon, Israel, or America--it shall surely reap. Sooner or later, now as then, it's only a matter of time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(1) Acts 10:34; (2) Paul Simon, "Sounds of Silence," 1964; (3) Matthew 23:23; (4) see Matthew 13:35; Revelation 13:8

subway walls and tenement halls -- part 1

The Word for today:
Micah 3:1-4:7


Are the prophets speaking to America today?

The biblical prophets spoke specifically to their own time and place--to Israel and surrounding nations.   But here is the biblical principle that makes their words as valid and immediate to us, now, as they were to Israel then:

God is no respecter of persons. (1)

Which means that God treats all alike--whether rich or poor, old or young, black or white, now or then.

The last phrase--now or then--is the one that writes the words of the prophets on our "subway walls and tenement halls" (2).   God is eternal and unchanging, and so are his judgments.  His spiritual laws apply just as universally as his physical laws do.  Justice, and mercy, and faith--which Jesus called the weightier matters of the law (3) -- have spiritual mass and volume, exerting consequences that are as predictable as the gravity exerted by the mass and volume of the spheres.

Though God can -- and does -- delay the application of these spiritual constants, he does not cancel them outright.  Their implementation merely awaits another day.  Micah, for example, prophesied to both the northern kingdom ("Israel") and to the southern kingdom ("Judah").

When the northern kingdom fell first--to Assyria, during Micah's lifetime--it didn't mean that the southern kingdom was exempted from judgment.  Their day was not yet, but it was coming: 150 years later, Judah's "day" was upon them, and they fell to Babylon

God's mercy delays judgment:
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)

But his mercy does not thwart judgment.  In the very next verse of 2 Peter, spiritual "gravity" reasserts itself, and fire engulfs the planet as water did in the days of Noah:
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. (2 Peter 3:10)

***

From Babylon to Washington, the handwriting is on the wall.   We will conclude "subway walls and tenement halls" tomorrow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(1) Acts 10:34; (2) Paul Simon, "Sounds of Silence," 1964; (3) Matthew 23:23

Who is like God?

The Word for today:
Micah 1 and 2

Mark this: Micah 7:18-19
Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.

Did you ever notice that God is a real nick-namer? He often gave names to people--names that captured their essence.

He renamed a guy named "Jacob" (which means "heel grabber" or "deceiver"--probably both) to "Israel" (which means "God's fighter" or "he struggles with God"--probably both).

He renamed the notoriously unstable "Simon," calling him "Peter" instead--a nickname that would translate today to "Rocky." At the time it was like nicknaming a fat guy "Slim." But Peter would live up to it, becoming a pillar of strength for the early church!

The gospel writer John, the "love disciple," didn't start out that way. When some people rejected Jesus, John and his brother James asked Jesus if they should call fire down from heaven to destroy them! Jesus, with a wink (I think) nick-named them "Sons of Thunder" on the spot. (1)

The essence of my teaching is that Jesus is "bigger." (How big? Bigger!)

It's an infinite word for an infinite God. He's bigger than me, bigger than sin, bigger than death, bigger than our problems, and -- literally -- bigger than the cosmos he created. So I hope that God's nickname for me would reflect my ministry of magnification.

That's why I envy Micah -- because his name does reflect the core of his teaching, which is captured in these verses:

Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. (Micah 7:18-19)

The key to this book can be found in the meaning of the prophet's name. In Hebrew, Micah means "Who is like God?" or "Who is like Jehovah?"

So "Micah" was most likely a nickname given to this prophet because his message was characterized by the ringing question, "Micah? Micah?"

***

In the New Testament, Jesus had a cousin whose first name was John. But his last name wasn't "Baptist" or "Baptizer!" That was a name given to him by (I suspect) his cousin. He was nicknamed the Baptizer because, well, that's who he was!

I hope you take a second to step outside yourself long enough to wonder what nickname your life is forming. Nicknames tend to stick, so let's make it a good one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(1) see Mark 3:17 and Luke 9:54; cf. Mark 9:38

you're Cain until you're Abel

The Word for today:
2 Corinthians 13

mark this: 2 Corinthians 13:5
Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you--unless, of course, you fail the test?



All the following traits and activities may characterize a real Christian, but they don't make a person a Christian.

Being born into a Christian family.
You can't inherit Christianity like a genetic trait. Every individual has to make a personal choice to believe in and obey Jesus Christ.

Going to church.
It's a good place to start, but you can go to church every week for your entire life without really knowing God.

Believing in God.
Followers of any number of world religions believe in God. But that doesn't make them Christians.

Praying to God.
Adherents to countless religions all over the world pray. Christians don't have a monopoly on prayer.

Doing good things.
Or at least, not doing bad things. Many atheists live decent lives and even do laudable things for humanity. They would be the first to say they're not Christians. So just being a good person is not enough.

Reading the Bible.
You can read the Bible without applying it to your life. Jesus said, "Blessed are hose who hear the word of God and obey it" (Luke 11:28).

***

Christians often look like the list above. The problem is that a lot of people who aren't Christians look like that, too. So that list is not at all a reliable indicator.

Probably the best test consists of just one question:
Am I a Cain or an Abel?

God doesn’t want us in suspense about where we stand. So in the first few pages in the Bible (Genesis 4), in the very first family, we find two brothers. Together, they stand as two great systems, two classes of people:
The lost and the saved;
The self-righteous and the broken-spirited;
The formal professor and the genuine believer;
Those who come God’s way and those who go their own way.

Abel came God’s way--
By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead. (Hebrews 11:4)

Cain came his own way, with his own offering. God wanted a lamb brought, which points to the sacrifice of Christ.

The difference between the boys wasn’t a character difference. The difference was the offering they brought.

When you come to God as a sinner, with nothing to offer except the blood of Jesus Christ, then you are a Christian. You are saved and no one can take away your birthright because He won’t let anyone take it away. Mark the day down, and hold yourself a birthright party.

You’re not a Christian by being born in this so-called Christian nation. You’re not a Christian because you were born in a Christian home. You’re not a Christian because you are a member of a Christian church.

You’re a Christian because you individually came to Christ and said, “God save me, a sinner.”

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable:
"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'
"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'
I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God.” (Luke 18:9-14)

If you have never come to God on those terms (his terms) I would not let the sun set on another day before that conversation in prayer was held. You might have been teaching Sunday school for 20 years. You might be the pastor. It doesn’t matter. By default, we are all Cains until we are Abels:

All of us like sheep have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way. (Isaiah 53:6)

So take stock of your faith--
Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you--unless, of course, you fail the test? (2 Corinthians 13:5)
This verse is asking us to examine whether we trust God for our salvation, or whether we trust ourselves for salvation. If it’s Jesus you look to for salvation from sin, then you are in the faith; you passed the examination!

If you are depending on Jesus Christ for eternal life, then welcome home. But if, like Cain, your faith is really in yourself--in your sparkling personality, your obvious virtue (everybody says you’re a great guy), or in the good deeds you've done---then you’ve got a prayer to pray:

God save me, a sinner, by the blood of your Only Son, Jesus.

Now, you’re a Christian.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

the eloquence of silence

The Word for today:
2 Corinthians 12:11-21

The Bible is full of subtle proofs that man did not write it! Here's an example:

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know-- God knows. And I know that this man--whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows-- was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell. (2 Corinthians 12:2-4)

If a man had written this, he would not have stopped where Paul does. He would have laid it on thick, sensationalizing what he saw and glorifying himself in the process.

I don't pay too much attention to this kind of thing, but it seems that every year there's another book about someone who slips through death's door into heaven and then makes his way back to tell us all about it.

I don't believe a single syllable.

But if ever a person were to tell me that he'd seen Paradise but, sorry, he wasn't allowed to say anything more, that would be the person I would have to take seriously--because silence concerning such a matter would sound a lot like God:
It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out. (Proverbs 25:2)

That Paul would rather glory in his infirmities and not in the fact that he'd had a vision is another subtle but sure sign that the Author behind the "author" of 2 Corinthians is God.

***

Precisely what Paul's thorn in the flesh might have been is an enduring fascination among Bible commentators. I mean, you just aren't a real Bible commentator until you've weighed in on that issue!

Which is kind of odd, considering God didn't weigh in on it -- when he knew what it was, having caused it.

So Stand in the Rain is going to treat this issue with silence, like God did. We don't know what Paul's thorn in the flesh was -- and we don't care to, because that's the point!

Scripture's silence is as sure a mark of inspiration as its revelations are. Paul's particular "thorn" is not described in order that his consolations may avail for all to whom any thorn is given.

So in a very real sense, Paul's thorn in the flesh is whichever one you have.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kingdom reversals

The Word for today:
2 Corinthians 11.21b-12:10

mark this: 2 Corinthians 12:10
For when I am weak, then I am strong.


You will note, as you go through the Bible, that in the Kingdom of God, things often get turned inside out and upside down.

You will find that many of these "kingdom reversals" turn our presumptions on their heads.

The kingdom of heaven has priorities that -- relative to our way of seeing things -- go beyond paradox, beyond irony, and all the way to antithesis. Oftentimes, the kingdom of heaven's values are actively opposed to ours.

When we understand this, many of the questions we have are cleared up:

Q. Why didn't God answer my prayer?
A. Well, he did! But you got an answer that you weren't expecting because God answers according to his way of seeing things and not ours.

Here's an example of what answered prayer can look like:

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know -- God knows. And I know that this man -- whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows -- was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell. I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say. To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:2-10)

I know a man, it begins. (So do we--his name is Paul!)

Paul was caught up to heaven, where he saw inexpressible things that he was forbidden to tell! (This, by the way, is the Bible's clearest hint of what the "Rapture" will be like. The word here translated "caught up" is the same Greek word -- harpazo -- which we see in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, from which we derive the term "Rapture." )

Then God allowed a physical ailment (1) -- a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan -- so Paul wouldn't think he was more special than the rest of us earthbound types! And God would not take it away, because, he said, My power is perfected in weakness.

At first, this may have sounded as strange to Paul as it does to us. But over time, his experience with this "weakness" proved to him that it was indeed a source of strength. So, it seems, he quit praying for it to go away!

These Kingdom reversals are shown all the way through scripture. In the Bible's earliest chapters, Joseph's life is a specific example of God allowing bad in order to bring about good:
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. (Genesis 50:20)

But for the best example, I refer you to the cross of Jesus Christ -- where God allowed not just a single thorn in the flesh, but a whole crown of them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(1) Paul's "thorn in the flesh" was some kind of bodily weakness or disease; possibly it may have been an eye affliction (cf. Galatians 6:11).