What the Rainbow Means

I've seen a lot of rainbows on Facebook recently,  in light of the Supreme Court decision, and it occurred to me that it is not being used correctly.  It's a symbol, to be sure, but not originally of the LBGT community, and its adoption by that group is simultaneously sinister and a portent of things to come.  I feel like it is my duty to point out what the rainbow stands for and what it certainly does not.

Let me begin with a disclaimer of sorts.  I am a follower of Christ.  I believe the Bible to be the inerrant word of God.  What I mean by “inerrant” is that there are no mistakes in the original manuscripts of the Bible.  It is perfect.  There are differences in certain translations or versions of the Bible today, but its core message has persisted for nearly 5,000 years since its earliest books were authored.  I trust the Bible completely.  I believe everything it says.  I work hard to live according to its commands.  I know that not everyone agrees with this, but I want you, the reader, to know that this is the place I begin, and I won’t argue this point with you.  If, after reading this, you disagree with what I believe because you reject scripture, that is beyond the scope of what I intend to address here.  

Also, let me clearly state that, while the end of this essay will focus on the LBGT community in particular, what I write here applies to all sinners.  I am included.  My struggles against sin don’t fall in the same category as those who fall to homosexual desires, but my sin is just as heinous and would damn me just as surely were it not for the love, grace, mercy, and sacrifice of Christ on my behalf.  

Lastly, as a final preface, let me define what I mean by “sin.”  That word is used widely in Christian circles, but outside of the conversations of those who are familiar with scripture, it has a judgmental tone.  When someone is called a “sinner,” they feel that we, the church, are condemning them.  We are not.  It is only God who judges, God who condemns.  When I use the word “sin,” I mean any action that falls outside of the will of God for our lives.  Scripture has several lists of sins.  Let me nutshell it for you.  If God has told you to do it (positive commands), and you don’t, you sin.  If God  has prohibited it (negative commands), and you do it, you sin.  My sins, which include pride, gluttony, anger, and many others, are just as much of a problem and separate me just as much from a Holy God as those whose sins I will address pointedly at the end of this essay.  We are all sinners, and we all have to deal with that reality before God.

Anyone with any kind of Sunday school or church exposure can identify the first appearance of the rainbow in scripture at the Noahic covenant in Genesis 9, and I'll get to that passage soon, but I want to point out the real origin of the rainbow in Heaven first, to help us better understand the importance of what happens in Genesis 9.

Let's begin in the throne room of Heaven, as described for us in Revelation 4:2-3

"At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald."

The rainbow here is part of the glorious picture of God enthroned in Heaven.  In fact, it is described as being his throne itself.  Picture this, would you?  God's throne is a rainbow.  Now, before you get all Care-Bears in your imagination,  let me assure you that there is nothing soft or cuddly about this image.  Just look at the rest of that paragraph if you need help setting the mood in your mind....

"From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal."

This in not a calm, quiet, the-storm-is-over-so-everyone's-safe-now kind of rainbow.  Not only is the storm still raging, but the thunder and lightning are coming from the throne itself--from the rainbow!  This is an all-out display of the power of God enthroned in the Heavens, and the best that John can do to describe it is to say it's like a terrifying rainbow.

Let's look at another passage before we dive into our main text in Genesis 9.  Consider with me the vision of the pre-incarnate Christ in Ezekiel 1:27-28.

"And upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him. Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around."

Notice again the feeling of this passage.   Nothing is soft.  Nothing is friendly.  Nothing is safe.  There's fire, molten metal, and terror.  And there is a rainbow.  This time it's a part of Christ's person, or perhaps a garment He wears.  In either case, the rainbow is nothing you'd embroider on the chest of a stuffed bear, unless you wanted the child who received the bear to learn at an early age the fear of a Holy God and the power at His disposal.

One last note before visiting the Noahic passage: in Hebrew, the word is never "rainbow,"  like it is in English.  There is no compound word of that meaning.  It is, like in the Ezekiel passage above, a bow in the sky.  The term "bow" in Hebrew means exactly what it does in English, an object you go to war with.  Something you launch arrows with. Something that is meant to take life.  This goes even further to help us understand that when Jesus wears a rainbow, he isn't, by any means, "gay" (whether by that word you mean happy or effeminate).   He's dressed for war.  He has girded himself for battle.  If this image were to be given to us today, we might describe him as having on camo and carrying a .50cal rifle.  That's what you are supposed to see when you see a rainbow.  It's God's Armory on display.

Understanding this,  then, let's go to Genesis 9,  to the Noahic covenant.

"Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

God, after annihilating every air-breathing creature on the planet because of the sin of man, declares that He will never flood the whole earth again, and He gives testimony to this pledge by hanging his weapon up.  In modern terminology, He has unloaded his weapon, lowered his gun.  He allows us to see his arsenal, in mothballs, whenever it starts to rain so that we can have confidence that it is not currently pointed at us.  It's like a U.N. weapons inspection.  "Here's the instrument of my wrath.  I'm not holding it right now. It's not going to hurt you today."

Not only is it no longer pointing at you and I, notice where it does point. It points upward,  toward heaven.  Toward God himself.  Picture a Russian team of ICBM inspectors visiting a nuclear silo in Wyoming in the 1990's and not being satisfied that the warheads were removed and the fuel was drained.   Instead, they demand that the targeting software of the missile be reprogrammed to deliver its destruction to our nation's capital or to New York City.  Imagine that we agreed.   Now, should the system ever misfire,  we would annihilate ourselves,  not the enemy.   That is what God has done.   He has made Himself the target for a season.

You see, we live in an age of grace.  2 Corinthians 6:1-2 says:

“Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, ‘In a favorable time I listened to you,and in a day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

For a while, God has hung His weapon in the sky, pointing at Himself, as a testimony to this age of grace.  When we sin, He does not take the weapon off the pegs and point it at the sinner.  He has pointed it at Himself, at His Son.  Jesus took the wrath of God because of sin.  He will not fire his wrathful arrows at you and I, sinners who deserve to receive His blows.  He instead has already fired them, already spent His wrath against sin upon His Son.  Christ took the blows for our punishment, and “by His stripes, we are healed” (Isa 53).

This season will not last forever, however.  While the love of God is infinite, so is His justice perfect and His holiness uncompromising.  He will again judge sin with His terrible weapons, with his bow.  Read the description of the final judgement in Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and most clearly in Revelation.  God will again take up his weaponry and punish sin.  All the sin that has occurred during this season of grace which has not found its payment in the blood of Christ will again find itself in the way of the wrath of a Holy God.  Don’t be deceived, my brothers and sisters, saying to yourself (as 2 Peter 3 warns us),

“‘Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.’ For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

“But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 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. 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.”

You see, this age of grace will end.  God will again take up His bow and judge sin, and the vehicle of his wrath will come as fire, in the final apocalypse.  There will be a day of reckoning, to be sure, but until that day, God is biding his time, being patient with us, so that there is the greatest opportunity for us to repent of our sin, place the penalty of our sin on Christ crucified for us, and escape that horrible day.  

In various armed conflicts, when a nation wanted to minimize the civilian casualties of war, they would drop leaflets warning the innocent civilians to flee from a military target and save themselves from the coming destruction.  This is what God is doing every time He lets us see His bow in the heavens.  “Be warned!  My weapons are here!  They are pointed at my Son now, but I will take them up again!  Repent and be saved from the coming wrath!”

Before you dismiss this view as just more judgmental hate-mongering by the religious conservatives, hear the mercy in the warning.  God doesn’t owe us a warning.  He doesn’t owe us a chance, and He certainly doesn’t owe us the courtesy of pointing His weapon at Himself.  Yes, this is a militaristic picture, but it is also one that is dripping with grace and mercy.  Also, before you reply with, “Don’t Judge Me!”  or something similar, let me be very clear again, that this is God’s judgement of sin.  That is his weapon to wield, not mine, not the church’s.  Christ alone will judge the living and the dead.

What does it mean, then, when the LBGT community adopts this image as their own?  Certainly, they don’t mean to wrap their sinful lifestyle in the glory and judgement of God, but it is a most sinister move of the adversary to choose the very symbol of God’s delayed judgement for a “lifestyle” of destruction and sin.  Imagine if North Korea were to choose for their national emblem the demilitarized zone keeping them away from American might just a few miles away from their southern border.  How odd would that be?  Or how strange would we think it if Japan were to change their flag to the USS Missouri, the weapon of war upon which they surrendered at the end of WWII, and which currently floats as a museum a few hundred yards out my back window?  The LBGT community is basking in this period of mercy, this cease-fire, this unilateral armistice, and flagrantly sinning while they proclaim, by their choice of symbol, that God will not judge them for it.  

Sadly, they’re only half true.  God is not judging them for it now.  His weapon is still in mothballs, still pointed at His Son.  There will come a time, though, when that changes, and then they will know the terrible folly of their “lifestyle” of sin.  I pray to God that they will repent before it is too late.  

So what does the rainbow mean?  It is a symbol of the terrible righteous power of a Holy God, of His sovereign choice to enter into a period of Grace, of His indescribable love at taking the penalty for our sins on His Son, and a clear warning that there will come a day when sin will again be judged and accounts settled.  Won’t you accept His grace today?  For today is the day of salvation.

Celebrate Shavuot With Us!

Shavuot is a complex holiday. Much like most other Judeo-Christian observances, it has portions which are strictly Biblical, portions which are tied to yearly cycles of seasons and life events, and portions of it which are, in all honesty, just silly.   The plan I'm posting here is what we do, borrowing some of the extra-biblical "tradition" of the Jewish celebration, to lend a sense of authenticity to the history of the holiday, and packing in as much Biblical symbolism as possible.

The Food: No holiday gets past "go" without food.  This holiday coincides with the barley harvest, and as such, much bread is baked and eaten.  It is also a peak production period for milk in Israel, so dairy is high on the list as well.  We start by baking bagels in the morning.  Recipes abound online. Pick one.  They take time to make, so don't make everyone wait for breakfast for them.  Have something quick to hold you over, then make these.  Enjoy the process. While they're baking, we make fresh homemade butter by shaking heavy whipping cream in cleaned out plastic ware or baby food containers.

Throughout the rest of day, food should be bread-and-dairy focused. We had homemade Fettuccine Alfredo with Chicken last year for dinner (That's a no-no in Kosher food laws--combining dairy and meat in one meal--but we get to celebrate the fulfillment of the Law on our behalf, right? We also get to live on this side of Acts 10!).  

The Family Time: This is one of the three pilgrim feasts of the year.  In Israel, that means that Jewish men over the age of 12 must appear before the Lord in Jerusalem.  Usually, whole families went.  That means that families spent a lot of time together, talking about the Lord and learning from one another.  Find time to just talk about God with your family. Ask questions, answer them with scripture.  Marinade in the greatness of God together.

If you have younger children, as I do, google "Shavuot Crafts."  There are many.  Do something together to help them understand what this day is about.

The Scripture: Two sections of scripture are typically read on this holiday.  I'd suggest you may add a third.  First, sometime early in the day (perhaps over fresh homemade bagels and fresh butter) read the book of Ruth together.  It takes place during this time of year (the barley harvest) and is about the inclusion of foreigners (gentiles) into the plan of God's salvation through the Jew.  That's a pretty awesome fit for us gentiles who are celebrating this high Jewish holiday.

Later in the day (maybe as dinner is cooking), read the story of the 10 commandments from Exodus 19 and 20.  Talk about the meaning of the Law for the Jew and its fulfillment for those of us who follow Messiah.  In a typical Jewish home, this conversation, the studying and discussing of the law, goes all night.  I'd suggest you change subjects after dinner.

In the evening, at the conclusion of the day, read some of the New Testament scriptures which discuss Jesus' fulfillment of the Law and our ability to live in His perfect completion of the Father's demands.  Examples might be taken from numerous places in the book of Romans or Hebrews.  You may even read some of Jesus' own statements about His relationship to the Law in the gospels.

Read Acts 2 to bring the symbolism into the New Testament.  God has not only given us an invitation to relationship, but He has filled us with Himself! What an amazing truth in which we get to live!

Close the day by thanking God that He invites us to know Him, has given us His standard for living in the Law, and has fulfilled His own requirement by sending Jesus to live it perfectly for us!

Happy Shavuot!

Seventh Saturday of Omer: A Tale of Two Times

Mt. Sinai Today

In Exodus 19, the wandering people of God get to their destination. They arrive at Mount Sinai for the first Shavuot.  God has been teaching them all along that He is the initiator of relationship and its boundary-setter.  He freed them through Passover according to His rules.  He allowed them to cross the Red Sea according to his power.  He delivered spiritual food and spiritual drink if they would obey His plan, and He defeated Amalek through a very peculiar methodology, so that all would know that it was the hand of God that had brought the victory.  He invites.  He sets the rules.  That is nowhere more true than here, at the giving of the Law.

First, God lays out the invitation:

"The Lord called to him [Moses] out of the mountain, saying, 'Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel:  You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.  Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;  and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.'” Exodus 19:3-6

"Come to me.  Know me,"  God invites them.  This is not a God who needs to be sought out, whose will and nature are hidden from mankind.  We are not working toward a relationship with the Almighty.  He has come to us!  The has born us "on eagles' wings and brought [us] to [Himself]!"  This is the God who calls to the Jew here but to all of mankind through Jesus' church and invites us all to come and know His love, His grace, and His nature.

The invitation does not come on our terms, though.  We are invited to know Him, but we cannot come any old way.  All roads do not lead to God.  In fact, only the one road that He has laid takes us to Himself.  The way is open, but narrow.  Notice the terms of the invitation: "If you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant...."  Come everyone!  The invitation is open, and the road to fellowship is called, "obedience."

God then defends his holiness.

"Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments and be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.  And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death.  No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot; whether beast or man, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.” Exodus 19:10-13

God's holiness is tied to His glory, and as such is closely guarded by the Almighty.  Over and over again, we are warned that sinful man cannot see a holy God and live.  Here, God is making a special provision for them.  Again, it's invitation and regulation together: "Purify yourself and keep away until you do." Then, when I tell you to, come into my presence.

God's instructions are obeyed, and the people prepare for an encounter with the Living God.  The smoke, fire, wind, and trumpet blasts increase until the end of the third day, when God descends to the top of the mountain, and a long blast on the trumpet is heard.  We know from the text's instructions that the trumpets were not the shofar horns of the Levites but were in fact the blast of heavenly instruments (think the rapture's announcement).  At the signal, the people assemble at the base of the mountain.

It is a point of contention among Rabbis if the people were meant to stay only at the foot of the mountain throughout the experience or if they were meant to ascend with Moses after the initial giving of the law.  God makes it clear to Moses that the initial decalogue is meant for Moses alone. He reiterates the prohibition against touching the mountain, and Moses conveys it again to the people, but if they were not to ever come up, why did God say, in vs 13, that they were to go "up to the mountain"?

In either case, when Moses comes down again, the people are terrified by what they have seen and heard.  If the point of this experience was an invitation into intimate relationship trough the law and then the sharing the Spirit with them (which is the opinion of the majority of Messianic Jews) to empower this obedience, the people only get half the gift.  Instead of the invitation being accepted, they reject the fullness of the gift on Sinai and settle only for the law.

"Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was. Exodus 20:18-21

This is where many Rabbis believe that the people were meant to ascend the mountain and receive, along with the law, the indwelling of the Spirit to empower its obedience.  They don't follow through, though.  Moses tells them not to fear, that this display is meant to instill a holy fear into them, and he invites them up and in.  They reject the invitation, though.  Instead of intimacy, they choose distance, and instead of hearing God directly, they choose to use Moses as a mediator. They stand far off, and Moses draws near.

Thus begins the sad story of Israel's failure to obey the law.  They have the instruction, but they are lacking the strength--and even the desire--to obey.  Moses is standing on the hill alone, overlooking the battle, and there is neither an Aaron nor a Hur to hold him up.  No wonder Amalek wins over and over in their history.

In case you think that this is an aberrant belief, that the Jews would never reject an offer of intimacy with God made so plainly as an invitation up the mountain, remember what Jesus went through.  He came to bring the Kingdom of God on His terms--invitation and boundaries--and they rejected Him as well.

Several thousand years later, on the same day--Shavuot--the invitation was finally accepted.   The Law had not been written on stone, but on the hearts of Jesus' followers in fulfillment of Jeremiah 31.  The way of righteous living was not merely described to them, but actually lived in perfection before their eyes in the life of Christ.  They were not called merely to obey but to live in the power of the perfected obedience of Christ, applied to their account.  The followers had at first chosen distance when Christ was crucified, but His resurrection had brought them back together, and they were waiting in the upper room, in Jerusalem, on top of the Mountain of God.  They showed up, and so did the Holy spirit.

Read Acts 2 alongside Exodus 19 and 20, and you'll be astonished at the similarities.  God shows up, and miraculous fire declares his presence, accompanied by wind and strange voices (In Exodus, it is not just the "sound" of the trumpets and the lightning, but it is literally the "tongues" of the trumpets and lightning).  In both places, the manifestation of God comes with similar signs.  This time, however, the people are ready. The Holy Spirit comes, and they don't run away.  They are filled.

What the Jews of the Exodus rejected, the Jewish Apostles of Jesus accepted. Whereas the Jews after Sinai were condemned to run after obedience to a law they could never fulfill, Jesus' followers can live in the obedience already wrought for them by Christ. The law served then and still serves today as a reminder of our sin, but in Christ, we have been made new, and with the Holy Spirit's indwelling, we are free to live in obedience.  The picture, only half-rendered at the first Shavuot, was completed at the day that the church has chosen to refer to with its Greek designation: Pentecost.

How appropriate, then, that Peter should echo the invitation of God at Sinai when He declares that the church is, "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." 1Pe 2:9

Praise God that He has not only called us to obey (although that is no less true today), but He has been perfect obedience for us, so that in our failing, we are made whole by Christ.  Praise God that He has not expected us to obey on our own strength and by the power of our own will, but that He has provided the Holy Spirit to be our strength and the buttress of our will when it fails.  He has called us to perfection, but He has become the perfection for us. Bless the Lord!

If you are still trying to live "right" or be "good enough" for God, learn from the failure of the Jews for two thousand years between Shavuot and Pentecost.  It cannot be done.  Call out to God, give Him your failures, you sins, and accept the invitation of the Lord to intimacy through God-empowered obedience.

So, time for confession.  I started the Omer countdown too soon (eek!).  Next Sunday (June 8th) is Shavuot--Pentecost.  We're all learning, right?  If you'd like to know how to celebrate it in a way that honors the Jewish foundation of this holiday and the fulfillment that Jesus and the Holy Spirit brought to it in Acts 2, check back next Saturday, in time for your Pentecost Sunday celebration.  I'll have all the details for you.

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Sixth Saturday of Omer: The Lifter of My Hands

In the second half of Exodus 17, there is the little-known story of the battle between Israel and Amalek.  It's the first armed conflict for God's people in their wanderings.  There will come many more. These people, just a month before, were slaves.  When they left Egypt, they plundered their neighbors so that when the left, they were equipped for battle (Exodus 12:33-51), but they'd never before had to use the swords, shields, and spears with which they left.  

God brought a test of their resolve and of their faith in the form of Amalek and his soldiers.  These were a people who had been in battles before.  They had the upper-hand of experience and the upper-ground positionally.  All was in their favor.  All, that is, except for the God of the Universe.

Scripture does not record God giving the plan to Moses, but He must have.  Moses wouldn't have chosen this strategy himself.  The plan was simple-seemingly.  People would live or die--nations would rise or fall--on the strength of Moses' deltoids.

"So Moses said to Joshua, 'Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand. So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed." Exodus 17:9-11

If the battle were short-lived, Moses could have done this on his own.  Holding your staff above your head isn't exactly a crossfit routine.  The problem was stamina.  Battles are not won in five minutes, or even five hours.  After a time, Moses' strength began to fade.

"But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun." Exodus 17:12

The real point of this story is the support that the body is to a person of God in times of difficulty, community, and the way God triumphed through seemingly impossible odds.  I'm seeing this passage, though, through the eyes of the Omer, through the season that we're in  where we look at the invitation to relationship that began at Passover and culminated at Sinai.  In that light, I'd like to make a few observations.

If the plan of God had been to have Moses stand on the top of the hill, raise his staff over his head, and God would send an angel to kill all the Amalekites, there wouldn't have been a need for Aaron and Hur to hold him up. If God had needed  an action in obedience and faith, Moses could have risen to the occasion on his own.  That wasn't the plan, through.  This called for protracted effort, for a seemingly impossible act of endurance, especially from an 80-year-old man.

God is about to give His people the law.  Up until now, they have had folk knowledge of God's requirement for living as passed down through oral tradition from the patriarchs, but there are not yet any of the "thou shalt not's" for which the law is famous.  God is about to call his people to obedience in a new, fuller, more life-altering way than they can imagine.  His call to obedience will not be something that they can accomplish short-term.  God does not call them to live righteously for an hour, a day, a season, or even for a span of holy days (think Mardi Gras before Lent).  Rather, God is calling His people to live differently for the rest of their lives, and for the rest of their generations to come.

"Honor Me Before All Others" FOREVER.

NEVER STOP "Keeping my Name Holy."

ALWAYS "Keep the Sabbath day."

AS LONG AS THEY LIVE "Honor your Mother and Father"

Every day. Always.  Never-Stopping.  Obedience.

We can't hold it up that long.  If it's up to our strength, Amalek wins every time.

This aspect of the enduring obedience of the Law is what makes it such a good schoolmaster for us regarding our sin.  Most people, if they knew it mattered, could live a day without breaking the 10 commandments.  Some would even stand a chance against all 613 requirements of the law for a few hours.  It's the fact that the record keeps going, that the time keeps counting.  You have to be perfect FOREVER.  Nobody's up for that task. I know I'm not.

So God sends two avenues for help to us.  We have our Aaron and our Hur, but they're better... because they're God.

The law has not passed away. Christ himself said that he had "not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it" (Matt 5:17).  So it's not that the battle is over.  Christ didn't come and remove Amelk from before us.  That will happen when we're glorified and enjoying the new Heavens and the new Earth.  No, for now, we still struggle against sin.

The Holy Spirit provides the first support.  He serves as our Aaron.  The Third Member of the Godhead is here to equip us to do rightly through "works of service,"  through gifts, and through the conviction of sin when our hands fall. He came in power at both Sinai and at Pentecost.  The first time He came, He was rejected by the Hebrews (we'll get to that next week), but He came to indwell fully at Pentecost.  The Jews were given the Law without the One who would empower them to live it out.  That is why so much of the OT is a train-wreck of sin that goes from bad to worse.  They couldn't keep the staff up in the air without their "Aaron."  They weren't that strong.  

Before you get too haughty--you aren't either.  Apart from the indwelling Spirit, you'd be bowing before Baal too.

The second support is Christ.  He came to fulfill the law, and He did it. Through the miracle of God's grace, Christ's satisfaction of the Law is credited to us when we fail, and our failure  is added to the account of Christ, which he paid on the cross.  When we lie, covet, take God's name in vain, steal, dishonor our parents, and work instead of worship, Christ is there, holding up our hand, and saying, "I got you.  I did that one right.  You can use my perfection here."

"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2Cor 5:21

You see, on one hand, we are being constantly supported in our spirit by the Holy Spirit, who is speaking into our souls, "Live this way.  Say these things.  Meditate on these scriptures. No. Don't go there.  You shouldn't have done that.  You need to confess."  On the other hand, we have Christ, who is standing in the gap created between our best efforts and God's perfect standard.  He is speaking to the Father, "I have paid his debt. He failed here, but I am perfect.  Look at me for his righteousness.  Punish me for his sin."

Moses had Aaron and Hur to hold him up during a trying time that he could never have endured on his own, and an infant nation was saved.  We have God the Holy Spirit and God the Son holding us up and guaranteeing our inheritance for an eternal reward.  Praise be to God for His unfailing love!

The first step toward a relationship with God on his terms, according to His rules, is to know that you are flawed.  You can't do it on your own.  You are not good enough to keep the staff in the air.  God already knows this about you.  Do you know it about yourself? 

The second step is to invite the support of the Holy Spirit and the Perfect work of Christ to stand in the gap of your failure and turn the mission of righteousness from impossible to accomplished in you. God is waiting to help in your battle.  Will you let Him? 

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Community Bible Study Sermon, May 22nd, 2014

Please follow the link below for an audio recording on my sermon tonight over Luke 9:28ff, the Transformation of Jesus.

Follow the story of the Glory of God, starting in Exodus 13 and ending in Ephesians 2. When you see it all in context, you understand Peter's overzealous excitement at the Glory of God showing up after such a long absence, and you will see the promise of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in a whole new light.

The Transfiguration, Luke 9:28ff

Follow the above link to download the mp3 file.

I hope this blesses you.

Jason

Community Bible Study Sermon, Luke 9:18-27

Hello, friends.

I am experimenting with ways to upload my Community Bible Study Sermons.  I'm not going to use this recording software again, as it only makes .wma files, but here's my first attempt.

Luke 9:18-27, May 15th, 2014

Clicking above will give you an option to download the file. Drive won't play it for you because it's a .wma file.  Next time, it will be an MP3 file for easier use.

Let me know what you think!

Jason

Fifth Saturday of Omer: The Living Water

In the Winter of 1999, just before I graduated from college, I went on a short-term field research class with Biola to Baja and stayed, for most of our trip, in a small fishing village on the sea of Cortez, called Bahia de Los Angeles.  Behind the field station, there was a mountain that rose several thousand feet into the desert sky.  We called it "Mike's Mountain," in honor of an old hermit who once lived there and was friendly to our professor.  It was once the tradition for the men on this trip to hike up with Mike and enjoy the views of the Sea of Cortez from his cave.  It was called "Hike with Mike."  Mike had died before the year I went, so the traditional hike had come to be known as "Hike Like Mike."

"Mike's Mountain" rising up over the Sea of Cortez

I was not a complete stranger to hiking when I went, but I was not ready for that steep trail that rose four thousand feet in six miles. I didn't bring anywhere enough water for the journey.  When I reached Mike's cave, I realized that I was in real trouble.  My bottle was almost completely empty, and I still had to get home.  My canteen was empty completely when I was still a long ways from camp, and the cramps set in.  My hiking buddy poured some of his precious water into my bottle, but it wasn't enough.  My head was pounding.  Every step was torture.  I'm not one to swear, but I think every few steps came with a curse out of my mouth for the last mile's hike back to camp.  When I got there, I laid down in the shade and guzzled nearly a gallon of water, sweating profusely, and kicking myself for my lack of planning.  

In Exodus 17, the people of Israel are having a "Mike's Mountain" experience of their own.  Once again, they are away from natural resources, and they again cry out against Moses and Aaron.  This time, they aren't hungry.  They're thirsty. The Bible tells us that they are hiking through "Rephidim," which doesn't mean anything to those of us not native to that land, but it's very inhospitable.  This is Rephidim, in what is today known as "Wadi Reyfayid."

There's not a lot of water here.  In fact, there's not much of anything here.  God is providing for their food, but they have run out of water, and they're thirsty.  In fact, they're in pain, and they're angry.  Their uproar against Moses is to such a level of hostility that he is in fear of his life.  When he turns to God for relief, he confesses, "They are almost ready to stone me!" (Ex 17:4).  

God instructs Moses to gather the elders of the people and go ahead of the multitude to meet the presence of the Lord at "the rock at Horeb."  There, he is to strike the rock with the staff that God has used many times to perform miracles thus far, and water will spring from the rock.  So Moses obeys.  Just a short walk (but agonizing if you're dehydrated, I'm sure) from the camp at Rephidim is a rock that multiple "experts" claim to be the rock Moses struck, and it looks the part.  

It's easy to imagine water flowing down from this imposing rock, and the people of Israel leaning down to drink as it pooled at their feet.  In fact, one artist has helped us with the image.

God again provides for his people in an astounding way, so that the people's question in verse 7, "Is the Lord among us or not?" was answered in a resounding "Yes!".  God is among His people, inviting them into a relationship with Him where they rely entirely on His provision for their needs!

The miracle is repeated again later in the story of the exodus, in Numbers 20.  This happens in a different location with similar limitations in natural resources.  Again, the people cry out to God, and again, Moses brings the problem to the Lord, who tells him to go to a rock, with the staff in his hand, and speak to it, commanding it to yield water.  God promises that it will.  

Moses almost obeys.  He takes the staff from before the presence of the Lord, gathers the congregation, and approaches a rock.  He fails in one detail, though.  He does not speak to the rock.  He strikes it.  Twice. We get the sense that Moses is angry at the people, and it felt a lot better to whack the rock twice than to ask it to produce water.  

No big deal, though, right?  The water came out.  People drank.  Cattle were saved, and everyone goes home happy--especially Moses, who feels a lot better after bashing the rock twice with his miracle-working staff. Actually, there's a big problem here.  God had a definite picture in mind that He wanted played out before the eyes of His people, and Moses ruined the picture with his anger.  God pulls Moses aside (we might say that He 'brought Moses behind the barn') and conveys a sentence on Moses for his disobedience.  

"Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them" (Num 20:12).  Wait.  Really?  You worked through me to do the 10 plagues, cross the red sea, give the law, and set up government, but whacking a rock with a stick disqualifies me from finishing the Exodus? What's going on here?  The Apostle Paul, writing thousands of years later, explains in 1 Cor 10:1-5: 

"For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness."

The rock was Christ.  How does that help us understand why Moses wasn't allowed into the promised land? Jesus was struck once for our provision.  The flood that poured forth from his body does so much more than satisfy our thirst.  His blood does not only restore our physical strength.  It regenerates our souls!  Jesus said so himself, In John 4:13-14, when speaking of the offering of his life to the woman at the well: 

"Jesus said to her, 'Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.'”

Jesus was struck once.  He died once, and that was sufficient to provide atonement for all who would come to Him.  See Romans 6:10: "For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God."  He is not crucified again for the continued forgiveness of our sin.  He has been crucified once, and that is sufficient. Now, those of us who live after His death do not need to wait for him to come and die again for our sins, as if salvation is dispersed in batches.  The riches of Christ's forgiveness are accomplished and are waiting to be dispensed liberally on all who call upon Him--all who will speak to Him. 

Moses was to paint the picture of the striking of Christ and the flow of grace the first time and then to paint the picture of the church speaking to Him in confession of sin and receiving the grace that was in store for them, as we are promised in 1Jn 1:9: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Instead, Moses fell into a rut that felt good in the context of his anger and struck the rock a second time, ruining God's picture that He had meant to paint for our benefit. It is as if he would strike Christ a second time--crucify Him again. We are warned in scripture that this is a bad idea: 

"For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt." (Heb 6:4-6)

You see, God has invited us into a relationship with Him, and he provides all that we need to live and grow in the journey of faith with Him.  He provides spiritual food (as we saw last week) and spiritual drink, but in both cases He demands that we do it His way.  "Come and See," He calls to us, but do not think that you can enjoy the benefits of life while you live according to your own plan.  

God invites.  

God provides.  

God makes the rules. 

Jesus has died once for all. 

"But he was pierced for our transgressions;

    he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

    and with his wounds we are healed"  (Isa 53:5).

He has worked salvation once.  You cannot work it any other way.  

All that is left for you is to speak to the rock and be saved. 

"If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Rom 10:9).

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