"I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."
John 6:35-40
From the beginning of time, God has been transcendent over everything else. When it was dark, his words were more powerful than the darkness, and when he commanded light to shine forth, it happened. When there was increasing evil on the earth, he was powerful enough to send enough water down to flood the earth and bring the destruction he meant to. When he told Moses to lead Israel out of Egyptian slavery and follow him to where he would take them, he was powerful enough to defy physics and gravity and make water stand on end. Before this, he was powerful enough to "harden Pharaoh's heart", and make him hard-hearted enough to refuse Moses' request so that God would show His glory over even humanity's arrogance and pride (and regardless of what you may say, God does harden Pharaoh's heart, and we're living in a fantasy world if we attempt to refuse this). He's powerful enough to rain down food from heaven when Israel is in the wilderness, along with water from a rock. We could continue on with all that the Bible tells us about God's power over his creation.
But in the Prophets, God begins to speak of a new display of power that he will perform--in this display He will "put (his) law within them and write it on their hearts" (Jeremiah 31:33) and He will "put the fear of (him) in their hearts, that they may not turn from (him)" (32:40). He also says He will "remove (hearts) of stone and give (hearts) of flesh...and will put (his) Spirit within you and cause you to obey (his) rules" (Ezekiel 36:26-27).
Whereas since the beginning all of God's works...even the ones involving people...have been outward, this new work is going to be inward. In this work, He will change people's hearts...even going so far as to say that He will cause them to obey Him. In this work, He will bind up people's wills by making them realize "what other option do I have, and why would I want to go down that road?"
And this is exactly what Jesus is referring to in John 6. Jesus says that whereas before, when all of God's provisions have been outward (ie. providing bread from heaven to feed people's stomachs), Jesus has come down from heaven to be the Bread which will change people's hearts. In 6:29-33, He's speaking of His importance, and the people doubt and question, reminding Him that Moses gave Israel bread in the wilderness proving why they should trust him. To this, in 32-33, Jesus tells them, "It was not Moses who gave you bread...but my Father...for the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."
Did you get that? Jesus said not only that God's bread is a He, but that this bread gives life. He is different (and better) than an it (which is what physical bread would be), and life is different (and better) than a full stomach.
Of course, this is a tough teaching, especially for people (like them, and us) who have been so stupefied over the years by the thought that our physical (and more recently, emotional) needs are the only needs we have, and if those are met, we're satisfied. These are scraps off the table, but we're satisfied with them.
But Jesus is saying that there's more. To Jesus, man is meant to live, and this life will only be given by partaking in the "bread which comes down from heaven"--this bread that is a He. And the bread is Christ Himself. Any who turn to receive this bread are promised to "never hunger...and never thirst". What a wonderful promise!
And yet, Jesus takes it a step further--a step into more uncomfortable territory (at least for us). He says "All that the Father has given me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out". Jesus is saying that whereas in the wilderness wanderings the purpose of the bread coming from heaven was to feed man, now, with this Bread, the purpose of the Bread coming down is for man to come to Him. The focus isn't man--the focus is the Bread. It's not about man--it's about the Bread.
This is because of what God earlier spoke in the Prophets--He said that He will change people's hearts and that He will save many by putting His own Spirit inside of them. Jesus later on (three chapters prior to the Bread discourse) told a religious leader "Unless one is born of...the Spirit, he cannot see the Kingdom of God" (3:5), and then a little after the Bread discourse He said "It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh is no help at all" (6:63). What is the point? The point is that the Sovereign and Holy and Transcendent God of all things is going to save people by changing people by His powerful Spirit. And He'll do this by a) drawing them to His Son the Bread, and b) feeding them with His Son the Bread. This means that regardless of (and in spite of) these people's wanderings and mistakes and sins, those who have truly fed on Christ Jesus who is the Bread, will be changed, and will continually be changed until God takes them home.
This is why Jesus said, "This is the will of my Father, that I should lose nothing of all that He's given me...that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day" (6:39-40). To Jesus and His Father, this salvation is one that will be secure, if it's a true salvation. This is why He calls the person's new life eternal, because it IS eternal, and won't end.
Of course, we all will throw up red flags and say "Oh no, I've known many who have come to Jesus and have fallen away!" and truly we all have people in our lives who appear to have been on the right track and have went off the track, and it breaks our hearts because we love them.
But according to Jesus, those who have truly come to Him and partaken of Him the Bread will continue to come to Him and partake of Him. "I will never cast them out." He later says, "My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of his hand" (10:27-29). True sheep hear Jesus' voice and come to Him, feed off of Him, love Him, and continue to love Him. Again Jesus says that they have "eternal life", and says that their remaining Christians is because of the fact that His Father, "who's given them to me", is 'greater than all'.**
This is the whole nature of being united with Christ--later on Paul said that God, "rich in mercy...even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ...and raised us with (Him) and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:4-6). To Paul, God did this, just like the Prophets said He would.
So we're back to the beginning of this blog: the God who is transcendent over all things. If He really is (which we'd almost all agree He is), wouldn't it stand to reason that He could transform someone's heart and make them into a faithful disciple? It appeared in the Prophets that He said He could, and Jesus testified to this by saying that this Bread that they eat from will give them eternal life...couldn't God do it?
I'll leave you with that question. It's not that man is not responsible to repent and live a life of obedience (Paul speaks pretty clearly to that in Romans 6-8)--it's just that if this does happen, it's because Jesus the Bread of Life is empowering this and causing obedience like God said He would.
Look at yourself...with all of your unfaith and unbelief and unrepentant sin and pride and self-righteousness, has the God of grace continually and patiently worked on your heart and not given up on you? Do YOU feel like you could walk away? "Yes I could, but I don't want to, and I won't," is the typical response. And you're right--you won't. But why won't you? It's because you've partaken of the Bread, and you know that He's good. You've been changed, and you've seen His power in your life (truly, His power has given you life). So why not accept Jesus' words for what He says and accept that He's the author of salvation and will continue to shepherd you and any who come to Him like only the Good Shepherd can?
Couldn't God do it?
**"No one will snatch them out of my hand" is usually responded to with "But someone could jump out of His hand!" But this isn't a well-thought out retort--when Jesus said "no one", doesn't that mean the sheep themselves, too? Otherwise, Jesus would have said, "No one can snatch them out...accept for they them self". But He didn't say that.
Scott Stine - Pastor of First Baptist Church, Newton NJ. Follower of Jesus; husband, daddy, PhD student, too distracted by basketball.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Apart From Me, You Can Do Nothing
"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, and you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing...By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples."
John 15:5, 8
The 'vine' metaphor is used throughout Scripture over and over again. Arguably the most chief text (other than the present one) is found in Isaiah 5, in which God chastises and condemns Israel, which "yielded wild grapes" when God had been looking for it to yield grapes (5:2). He says, "What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it?" (5:4) and promises "I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard...I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned and hoed...I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it" (5:5-6), concluding "for the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting, and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!" (5:7). In this prophetic text, God hates what Israel has become, because Israel, though chosen to be a holy nation unto God, has turned from Him towards their earthly idols. They've defamed the name to which they've been called and made a mockery of God's kindness.
This is why Jesus tells His disciples of their need to "abide in me". Some translations render meno as 'abide' while others use 'remain', and either one works within the context of the rest of the Gospel of John. But Jesus' point is that whereas an entire nation has proven to be a poor and incapable vine, He Himself is the new Vine. Whereas before, people considered themselves justified before God simply because of the fact that they were born into a particular nation of chosen people, Jesus is now saying that the only way to be justified before God is to be in Him. This is why He had just said "I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you" (14:20) and then "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him" (14:23). Those who remain in Him and abide in Him are those who are justified before God because they find their life in Him.
Works have never justified a person before God--faith has always been more important. This is because one can do good things, but not have faith, whereas faith always brings forth good works if it's real faith. It was the same with Abraham as it has been throughout Scripture (see Hebrews 11). Works certainly prove whether a person's faith is genuine or not (see James 2:26)--especially to God who sees the heart (Gen. 6:5. 8:21, 1 Sam. 16:7, Jerem. 11:20) and would know the motive behind a person's good works. This is why He's so angry with Israel in Isaiah 5--He looks at Israel for righteousness and goodness (especially in light of how good He's been to them), and instead He finds "wild grapes...bloodshed...outcry".
Jesus says a person can't bear fruit unless he abides in Him--in essence, "if you seek to carry out good works and bear good fruit on your own, through your own understanding, by your own goodness, do you think you'll be any different than Israel was?" You'll continue to be idolatrous (just like them), you'll continue to not trust in God to provide what you need(just like them), you'll continue to presume on His kindness and test Him (just like them), and you'll never have a circumcised heart, just like them. Your salvation may be outward, but it will never be inward, where salvation really is if it's there at all. You may "honor (him) with your lips", but your heart will be far from him.
"Apart from me you can do nothing." There's no possibility of bearing fruit for those who don't seek Jesus to find their strength to bear fruit. Truly, unless they're actually in Jesus, they'll never want to bear fruit in the first place...they'll still think their work is to justify themselves before God, instead of letting Jesus justify them, and their message to the world will be "come, justify yourself before God...come build with us a Tower to the heavens, to make a name for ourselves".
The fruit that the Father is springing forth from the branches on His Son the Vine is the fruit that itself find its life in Christ who is the Vine. The whole point of the the Vine metaphor is that just like the branches are absolutely and completely dependent upon the vine to supply them their life, so their fruit doesn't spring forth unless the life from the vine brings forth the fruit. This means that for Christians who truly abide in Christ, if there is fruit that springs forth from their ministering in this world, Jesus will get all the glory, because Jesus is the one who brought the fruit in the first place. We're reminded of Jesus' words with Zacchaeus, "Today salvation has come to this house" (Luke 19:9)--(salvation came there because Jesus came there. He brings salvation; it's never taken.)
So what is man's job? Obedience, and faith. Notice Jesus says in v.8, "By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples." Jesus doesn't say "By this you become my disciples, by bearing fruit." Instead He says, "By this you prove you already are my disciples--by bearing fruit." We must be those who a) keep Jesus' commands (14:15), and b) bear fruit. But truly the only way we can bear fruit is if we're keeping Jesus' commands, walking in Him, trusting in Him, and letting our very nature as branches on Him the Vine bring forth fruit.
May we not be those that seek to justify ourselves by our works; instead, may we be those who seek to be justified by Christ the Vine giving us life as branches, so that He can give us good fruit for His own glory. "Truly truly I say to you, unless one is born again (or from above) he cannot see the Kingdom of God" (Jn. 3:3); "Whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God" (3:21).
If we would be Christians, we must understand two things as our foundation:
1. It's only new life if God's the one who gave it (hence, BRANCHES on a VINE), and
2. They're only good works if they're carried out in God (hence, FRUIT, supplied by the VINE).
By complete dependence on "Christ who is our life" (Colossians 3:3-4), we bear fruit. Otherwise, we'll spring forth "wild grapes", and Christ has called us to so much more than that.
John 15:5, 8
The 'vine' metaphor is used throughout Scripture over and over again. Arguably the most chief text (other than the present one) is found in Isaiah 5, in which God chastises and condemns Israel, which "yielded wild grapes" when God had been looking for it to yield grapes (5:2). He says, "What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it?" (5:4) and promises "I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard...I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned and hoed...I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it" (5:5-6), concluding "for the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting, and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!" (5:7). In this prophetic text, God hates what Israel has become, because Israel, though chosen to be a holy nation unto God, has turned from Him towards their earthly idols. They've defamed the name to which they've been called and made a mockery of God's kindness.
This is why Jesus tells His disciples of their need to "abide in me". Some translations render meno as 'abide' while others use 'remain', and either one works within the context of the rest of the Gospel of John. But Jesus' point is that whereas an entire nation has proven to be a poor and incapable vine, He Himself is the new Vine. Whereas before, people considered themselves justified before God simply because of the fact that they were born into a particular nation of chosen people, Jesus is now saying that the only way to be justified before God is to be in Him. This is why He had just said "I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you" (14:20) and then "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him" (14:23). Those who remain in Him and abide in Him are those who are justified before God because they find their life in Him.
Works have never justified a person before God--faith has always been more important. This is because one can do good things, but not have faith, whereas faith always brings forth good works if it's real faith. It was the same with Abraham as it has been throughout Scripture (see Hebrews 11). Works certainly prove whether a person's faith is genuine or not (see James 2:26)--especially to God who sees the heart (Gen. 6:5. 8:21, 1 Sam. 16:7, Jerem. 11:20) and would know the motive behind a person's good works. This is why He's so angry with Israel in Isaiah 5--He looks at Israel for righteousness and goodness (especially in light of how good He's been to them), and instead He finds "wild grapes...bloodshed...outcry".
Jesus says a person can't bear fruit unless he abides in Him--in essence, "if you seek to carry out good works and bear good fruit on your own, through your own understanding, by your own goodness, do you think you'll be any different than Israel was?" You'll continue to be idolatrous (just like them), you'll continue to not trust in God to provide what you need(just like them), you'll continue to presume on His kindness and test Him (just like them), and you'll never have a circumcised heart, just like them. Your salvation may be outward, but it will never be inward, where salvation really is if it's there at all. You may "honor (him) with your lips", but your heart will be far from him.
"Apart from me you can do nothing." There's no possibility of bearing fruit for those who don't seek Jesus to find their strength to bear fruit. Truly, unless they're actually in Jesus, they'll never want to bear fruit in the first place...they'll still think their work is to justify themselves before God, instead of letting Jesus justify them, and their message to the world will be "come, justify yourself before God...come build with us a Tower to the heavens, to make a name for ourselves".
The fruit that the Father is springing forth from the branches on His Son the Vine is the fruit that itself find its life in Christ who is the Vine. The whole point of the the Vine metaphor is that just like the branches are absolutely and completely dependent upon the vine to supply them their life, so their fruit doesn't spring forth unless the life from the vine brings forth the fruit. This means that for Christians who truly abide in Christ, if there is fruit that springs forth from their ministering in this world, Jesus will get all the glory, because Jesus is the one who brought the fruit in the first place. We're reminded of Jesus' words with Zacchaeus, "Today salvation has come to this house" (Luke 19:9)--(salvation came there because Jesus came there. He brings salvation; it's never taken.)
So what is man's job? Obedience, and faith. Notice Jesus says in v.8, "By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples." Jesus doesn't say "By this you become my disciples, by bearing fruit." Instead He says, "By this you prove you already are my disciples--by bearing fruit." We must be those who a) keep Jesus' commands (14:15), and b) bear fruit. But truly the only way we can bear fruit is if we're keeping Jesus' commands, walking in Him, trusting in Him, and letting our very nature as branches on Him the Vine bring forth fruit.
May we not be those that seek to justify ourselves by our works; instead, may we be those who seek to be justified by Christ the Vine giving us life as branches, so that He can give us good fruit for His own glory. "Truly truly I say to you, unless one is born again (or from above) he cannot see the Kingdom of God" (Jn. 3:3); "Whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God" (3:21).
If we would be Christians, we must understand two things as our foundation:
1. It's only new life if God's the one who gave it (hence, BRANCHES on a VINE), and
2. They're only good works if they're carried out in God (hence, FRUIT, supplied by the VINE).
By complete dependence on "Christ who is our life" (Colossians 3:3-4), we bear fruit. Otherwise, we'll spring forth "wild grapes", and Christ has called us to so much more than that.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Transfiguration
"He took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and those who were him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him...Peter said to Jesus, 'Master it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah"--not knowing what he said. As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. And a voice came...'This is my Son, my chosen One; listen to him!' And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen."
Luke 9:28-36
When dealing with the things of God we should always remember that He exists in glory, outside of time and space. That doesn't mean He doesn't put His presence IN time and space--just that He, the eternal God (Deut. 33:27), is eternally existent outside of it as well. On the contrary, humans are made of material, the Earth is made of material, and the universe is made of material. We have days, seasons, times, generations, and when our bodies have worn themselves out, we die from time and space. In and of ourselves, we can only live in and experience the material, and our minds, in and of themselves, can only think in material terms. We are living in a material world, and we are material girls, or boys--(name that movie).
The first words of the Bible tell us that God was there before anything else was, and that the anything else came to be because God simply spoke, and it was there because He told it to be. This means that before the days when he created matter and certainly before the days that he spun the earth and set the sun in place, He was there. God doesn't exist as we do, being tied to the creation because of being PART of creation. God, the uncreated One--the eternal One--can't be understood in creation's terms unless He speaks or reveals Himself in ways that the creation can understand. This would have to be done in grace, because His absolute transcendence above the creation means that His dealing with creation is unnecessary to Himself and definitely not something He could gain from.
This line of thinking is where get such phrases as:
--"The nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as dust on the scales" (Isaiah 40:15)--every country in the world, added up with each other would equal the weight of dust on God's scales, and a drop of water in God's bucket.
--"(Elihu speaking to Job) If you are righteous, what do you give Him? What does He (God) receive from your hand?...""(God speaking to Job)Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole of heaven is mine" (Job 35:7, 41:11)--God gains not whatsoever from any of my praise, worship, or good works; He's absolutely self-sufficient and my worship doesn't benefit Him, because any gift given by a creature was already God's anyways
--"Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise" (Nehemiah 9:5)--again, God gains not from my worship; His name is glorified ABOVE my praise--my feeble worship doesn't gain Him, because everything worships Him anyways--remember Jesus' words 'if they (disciples) don't worship me, the rocks will cry out!'
--"God said to Moses 'I AM WHO I AM.' And He said, 'Say this to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me'" (Exodus 3:14); "I tell you the truth, before Abraham was, I AM" (John 8:58)--outside of time, where there's a past, present, and future, God exists eternally as never-changing, and constant. Even Jesus, who said these words IN time, is saying them as the eternal God who exists for eternity outside of it.
The Bible presents a transcendent God who is completely separate from and transcendent over His creation. How offended He must be that we aren't more humble when we worship Him--especially when He's revealed to us in His Word how much higher and greater than us He is! (see Isaiah 55:8-9 and Psalm 50:21) Furthermore, Isaiah 66:1 has God saying "Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool". The place where God is--the Above and Outside (if you will)--is where God, who is Spirit (John 4:23), sits on an eternally sprawling throne, and He uses the earth as a feeble footstool. This place where God is, the Above and Outside, CAN'T be fathomed by the natural mind, because the natural mind only knows nature. But this place is above and outside of nature.
In this story that Luke (along with Matthew and Mark) tells gives us a glimpse into the glorious eternity that is "the Above and Outside".
First, this exchange is enacted and preceded by Jesus' being in prayer. He travels up the mountain with James, John, and Peter, for a time of prayer--a time of communion and conversation with God. It's here that the supernatural is going to intersect with the natural. We find out three things about the Above and Outside in this story:
1. Above and outside, Moses is alive, and Elijah is alive. If you're a Bible student (or...just a person with a brain) you know that Moses and Elijah haven't been around for a very long time. Moses died before He entered the promised land, and Elijah was taken up into heaven before he died. And neither one of them, at the time of Luke 9, lived in the natural below and inside that is earth.
This had to be astounding for James, John, and Peter, who no doubt we wetting their cloaks. "How could this be?" they may have asked, as they were "heavy with sleep, but...they became fully awake" (9:32). In all three accounts of this story (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), the disciples have already seen many miracles, including the two most miraculous of all: the feeding of thousands from a basket-full, and the calming of a sea-storm. We can imagine that their faith in this man Jesus is beginning to round into the form of faith in a god--or faith in THE God. This encounter with the Above and Outside would only push it further. Not only can Jesus perform miracles that it seems only God could perform--Jesus is actually talking with Moses and Elijah, as though He's known them for a long time already.
And how did the three who would tell the Gospel-writers this story even KNOW it was Moses and Elijah in the first place? They didn't have pictures or drawings of them--just the Scripture and oral tradition. Nevertheless, they knew who this was.
And knowing who this was, Peter begins stammering over his words (like he so often does) and he offers Jesus to build "three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah" (9:33). Luke then tells us that Peter didn't know what He was saying! He's flabbergasted, and has no words to describe what he's seeing--just that he wants to build something so that this experience might be prolonged.
Why does he want to prolong it? Because Jesus has just told them that He would be killed (9:21), after which he spoke of 'taking up your cross', letting the disciples knows He would die by on a Roman cross (9:23). Jesus goes from that somber teaching to this glorious moment, and Peter doesn't want to leave.
2. Above and outside, Jesus speaks with Elijah and Moses about his death and resurrection, "which he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem". The greek phrase used in Luke to describe "his departure" (9:31) is exodon. Jesus spoke with Moses and Elijah about his exodus.
Truly, we know about Moses' exodus. It was THE Exodus! He led Israel, the people of God, from slavery to freedom by crossing through the dried-up aisle Red Sea, escaping Egypt (see Exodus 14).
We also know of Elijah's exodus. As he walked with Elisha, he was about to be taken up by God to heaven, and before he did, he rolled his cloak, struck the Jordan (not unlike Moses and his staff), and the water came up on two sides just like Moses and Israel at the Red Sea. Elijah and Elisha walk to the other side, where Elijah is taken up (see 2 Kings 2:6-14).
But now they speak with Jesus about HIS exodus. And they can, because His exodus will be much like both of theirs:
*Like Moses in that He will be forced to stand toe-to-toe with the enemy and not flinch, and by His 'departure' He will lead God's people from slavery into freedom which will eventually culminate in the Promised Land for forever, and He will be given all of the power to carry out all that the Lord has called him to, even if no one else understands or even wants him.
*Like Elijah in that He's been a prophet who has spoken God's very words to the creation that hates His word, has also stood toe-to-toe with the enemy and been proven superior, and will eventually be taken up with God again.
Truly, if you're a Christian, you know that Christ's exodus is the absolute central focus of the faith--it isn't enough to just say "we love Jesus" or "we're all about Jesus" (which I say all the time)...we need it to be clear, we're all about Jesus' work on the cross and out of the grave. It is in His exodus that we have freedom and the promised land.
3. Above and outside, God glorifies Jesus, and commands the same from everyone else. I've wondered why it is that Peter, James, and John were the ones who got to witness this and hear God the Father say "this is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!" (9:35). But I believe it's because these were (arguably) the three most important Apostles of the early Church (other than Paul), and to proclaim Christ with the passion and conviction they eventually would (Peter as the messenger of Christ to Jews and Gentiles, James as the first apostle martyred for Christ, and John as the care-giver to Jesus' mother Mary and eventual writer--as an old man and longest-living apostle--of the New Testament's grandest words of Christ's glory, built on a lifetime of thinking about it and witnessing to the ministry of the early Church), these men would have needed to be absolutely sure of what it is they're preaching. Since man is so fallible in his judgments and convictions, these men had to 'behold the glory of the Lord', so that the Word of Christ which would turn the world upside down would be preached from complete and sincere faith; see John 1:14 and 1 John 1:1-2. (It should be remembered that Paul had a special revelation of Christ's Above and Outside glory as well).
It is a Christian's imperative to ask one's self the simple question: "Have I followed Jesus on his exodus?" In a Church where everyone wishes they could see a sign such as what the three in Luke 9 saw, this shouldn't be the case--we are supposed to be those who have been led by Jesus on our exodus out of the slavery to the world and its effects. Of course, in the state we're in right now, we are on the journey from the Red Sea to the promised land--which is still the exodus--but just like Israel, we've seen His power, and have no reason NOT to believe He's delivered us and led us out, to be "a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation' between here and the promised land. The difference is that the present covenant is one characterized by changed hearts and a propensity to not worship idols the way Israel did after THEY were led out (see Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 36-37, and Malachi 3). Whereas 'proof of God's power and goodness' was never enough for Israel (just count how many times they complain to Moses between Exodus and Numbers), we, the people of God, bought by the blood of Christ for good works and pure hearts and consciences, should have no such qualms. Of those times Israel complains to Moses, count how many times they say some variation of "Oh that we could go back to Egypt" (you'll be amazed how often they say it). Since our exodus hasn't been geographical, but spiritual and eternal, we are convicted as we wish we could go back there, to which Paul replies, "How could we who died to sin still live in it?" (Romans 6:2), further reminding us that in Christ, we are "a new creation--the old has passed away, behold, the new has come" (2 Cor. 5:17).
The work of Christ, in THIS exodus, is not just to physically lead us out of slavery--the slavery he leads us from is the slavery to sin and Satan's lies. "For all who sin are slaves to sin". What makes 'the old' pass away and 'the new' come? The fact that the Above and Outside has intersected with the material below and inside--and the point of intersection is at the life of the believer in Christ. Oh for more grace from the eternal and dependent and glorious and majestic God who has dwelt fully in Christ His Son and Word to shine His light on us and implant the word of truth in our hearts more.
Luke 9:28-36
When dealing with the things of God we should always remember that He exists in glory, outside of time and space. That doesn't mean He doesn't put His presence IN time and space--just that He, the eternal God (Deut. 33:27), is eternally existent outside of it as well. On the contrary, humans are made of material, the Earth is made of material, and the universe is made of material. We have days, seasons, times, generations, and when our bodies have worn themselves out, we die from time and space. In and of ourselves, we can only live in and experience the material, and our minds, in and of themselves, can only think in material terms. We are living in a material world, and we are material girls, or boys--(name that movie).
The first words of the Bible tell us that God was there before anything else was, and that the anything else came to be because God simply spoke, and it was there because He told it to be. This means that before the days when he created matter and certainly before the days that he spun the earth and set the sun in place, He was there. God doesn't exist as we do, being tied to the creation because of being PART of creation. God, the uncreated One--the eternal One--can't be understood in creation's terms unless He speaks or reveals Himself in ways that the creation can understand. This would have to be done in grace, because His absolute transcendence above the creation means that His dealing with creation is unnecessary to Himself and definitely not something He could gain from.
This line of thinking is where get such phrases as:
--"The nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as dust on the scales" (Isaiah 40:15)--every country in the world, added up with each other would equal the weight of dust on God's scales, and a drop of water in God's bucket.
--"(Elihu speaking to Job) If you are righteous, what do you give Him? What does He (God) receive from your hand?...""(God speaking to Job)Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole of heaven is mine" (Job 35:7, 41:11)--God gains not whatsoever from any of my praise, worship, or good works; He's absolutely self-sufficient and my worship doesn't benefit Him, because any gift given by a creature was already God's anyways
--"Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise" (Nehemiah 9:5)--again, God gains not from my worship; His name is glorified ABOVE my praise--my feeble worship doesn't gain Him, because everything worships Him anyways--remember Jesus' words 'if they (disciples) don't worship me, the rocks will cry out!'
--"God said to Moses 'I AM WHO I AM.' And He said, 'Say this to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me'" (Exodus 3:14); "I tell you the truth, before Abraham was, I AM" (John 8:58)--outside of time, where there's a past, present, and future, God exists eternally as never-changing, and constant. Even Jesus, who said these words IN time, is saying them as the eternal God who exists for eternity outside of it.
The Bible presents a transcendent God who is completely separate from and transcendent over His creation. How offended He must be that we aren't more humble when we worship Him--especially when He's revealed to us in His Word how much higher and greater than us He is! (see Isaiah 55:8-9 and Psalm 50:21) Furthermore, Isaiah 66:1 has God saying "Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool". The place where God is--the Above and Outside (if you will)--is where God, who is Spirit (John 4:23), sits on an eternally sprawling throne, and He uses the earth as a feeble footstool. This place where God is, the Above and Outside, CAN'T be fathomed by the natural mind, because the natural mind only knows nature. But this place is above and outside of nature.
In this story that Luke (along with Matthew and Mark) tells gives us a glimpse into the glorious eternity that is "the Above and Outside".
First, this exchange is enacted and preceded by Jesus' being in prayer. He travels up the mountain with James, John, and Peter, for a time of prayer--a time of communion and conversation with God. It's here that the supernatural is going to intersect with the natural. We find out three things about the Above and Outside in this story:
1. Above and outside, Moses is alive, and Elijah is alive. If you're a Bible student (or...just a person with a brain) you know that Moses and Elijah haven't been around for a very long time. Moses died before He entered the promised land, and Elijah was taken up into heaven before he died. And neither one of them, at the time of Luke 9, lived in the natural below and inside that is earth.
This had to be astounding for James, John, and Peter, who no doubt we wetting their cloaks. "How could this be?" they may have asked, as they were "heavy with sleep, but...they became fully awake" (9:32). In all three accounts of this story (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), the disciples have already seen many miracles, including the two most miraculous of all: the feeding of thousands from a basket-full, and the calming of a sea-storm. We can imagine that their faith in this man Jesus is beginning to round into the form of faith in a god--or faith in THE God. This encounter with the Above and Outside would only push it further. Not only can Jesus perform miracles that it seems only God could perform--Jesus is actually talking with Moses and Elijah, as though He's known them for a long time already.
And how did the three who would tell the Gospel-writers this story even KNOW it was Moses and Elijah in the first place? They didn't have pictures or drawings of them--just the Scripture and oral tradition. Nevertheless, they knew who this was.
And knowing who this was, Peter begins stammering over his words (like he so often does) and he offers Jesus to build "three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah" (9:33). Luke then tells us that Peter didn't know what He was saying! He's flabbergasted, and has no words to describe what he's seeing--just that he wants to build something so that this experience might be prolonged.
Why does he want to prolong it? Because Jesus has just told them that He would be killed (9:21), after which he spoke of 'taking up your cross', letting the disciples knows He would die by on a Roman cross (9:23). Jesus goes from that somber teaching to this glorious moment, and Peter doesn't want to leave.
2. Above and outside, Jesus speaks with Elijah and Moses about his death and resurrection, "which he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem". The greek phrase used in Luke to describe "his departure" (9:31) is exodon. Jesus spoke with Moses and Elijah about his exodus.
Truly, we know about Moses' exodus. It was THE Exodus! He led Israel, the people of God, from slavery to freedom by crossing through the dried-up aisle Red Sea, escaping Egypt (see Exodus 14).
We also know of Elijah's exodus. As he walked with Elisha, he was about to be taken up by God to heaven, and before he did, he rolled his cloak, struck the Jordan (not unlike Moses and his staff), and the water came up on two sides just like Moses and Israel at the Red Sea. Elijah and Elisha walk to the other side, where Elijah is taken up (see 2 Kings 2:6-14).
But now they speak with Jesus about HIS exodus. And they can, because His exodus will be much like both of theirs:
*Like Moses in that He will be forced to stand toe-to-toe with the enemy and not flinch, and by His 'departure' He will lead God's people from slavery into freedom which will eventually culminate in the Promised Land for forever, and He will be given all of the power to carry out all that the Lord has called him to, even if no one else understands or even wants him.
*Like Elijah in that He's been a prophet who has spoken God's very words to the creation that hates His word, has also stood toe-to-toe with the enemy and been proven superior, and will eventually be taken up with God again.
Truly, if you're a Christian, you know that Christ's exodus is the absolute central focus of the faith--it isn't enough to just say "we love Jesus" or "we're all about Jesus" (which I say all the time)...we need it to be clear, we're all about Jesus' work on the cross and out of the grave. It is in His exodus that we have freedom and the promised land.
3. Above and outside, God glorifies Jesus, and commands the same from everyone else. I've wondered why it is that Peter, James, and John were the ones who got to witness this and hear God the Father say "this is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!" (9:35). But I believe it's because these were (arguably) the three most important Apostles of the early Church (other than Paul), and to proclaim Christ with the passion and conviction they eventually would (Peter as the messenger of Christ to Jews and Gentiles, James as the first apostle martyred for Christ, and John as the care-giver to Jesus' mother Mary and eventual writer--as an old man and longest-living apostle--of the New Testament's grandest words of Christ's glory, built on a lifetime of thinking about it and witnessing to the ministry of the early Church), these men would have needed to be absolutely sure of what it is they're preaching. Since man is so fallible in his judgments and convictions, these men had to 'behold the glory of the Lord', so that the Word of Christ which would turn the world upside down would be preached from complete and sincere faith; see John 1:14 and 1 John 1:1-2. (It should be remembered that Paul had a special revelation of Christ's Above and Outside glory as well).
It is a Christian's imperative to ask one's self the simple question: "Have I followed Jesus on his exodus?" In a Church where everyone wishes they could see a sign such as what the three in Luke 9 saw, this shouldn't be the case--we are supposed to be those who have been led by Jesus on our exodus out of the slavery to the world and its effects. Of course, in the state we're in right now, we are on the journey from the Red Sea to the promised land--which is still the exodus--but just like Israel, we've seen His power, and have no reason NOT to believe He's delivered us and led us out, to be "a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation' between here and the promised land. The difference is that the present covenant is one characterized by changed hearts and a propensity to not worship idols the way Israel did after THEY were led out (see Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 36-37, and Malachi 3). Whereas 'proof of God's power and goodness' was never enough for Israel (just count how many times they complain to Moses between Exodus and Numbers), we, the people of God, bought by the blood of Christ for good works and pure hearts and consciences, should have no such qualms. Of those times Israel complains to Moses, count how many times they say some variation of "Oh that we could go back to Egypt" (you'll be amazed how often they say it). Since our exodus hasn't been geographical, but spiritual and eternal, we are convicted as we wish we could go back there, to which Paul replies, "How could we who died to sin still live in it?" (Romans 6:2), further reminding us that in Christ, we are "a new creation--the old has passed away, behold, the new has come" (2 Cor. 5:17).
The work of Christ, in THIS exodus, is not just to physically lead us out of slavery--the slavery he leads us from is the slavery to sin and Satan's lies. "For all who sin are slaves to sin". What makes 'the old' pass away and 'the new' come? The fact that the Above and Outside has intersected with the material below and inside--and the point of intersection is at the life of the believer in Christ. Oh for more grace from the eternal and dependent and glorious and majestic God who has dwelt fully in Christ His Son and Word to shine His light on us and implant the word of truth in our hearts more.
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