A Saudi-raised Pastor offers an insider's perspective
At 4.55 am, the minaret loudspeaker blared outside my window. I was in Damascus, visiting relatives, and hundreds of mosques all over the city were calling Muslims to the first of five daily prayers. Faithful Muslims weave these into their everyday lives. If they forget their duties in the midst of the details of life, muezzins from minarets throughout the Muslim world cry "Allahu akbar" ("God is great") at the appointed times to bring them back to this most basic of religious tasks.
Throughout the Middle East and in much of North Africa and lower Asia, Islam dominates the religious, cultural, and political landscape. While Islam is not monolithic, many in the Muslim world, particularly in the Mideast, see the U.S. as the stronghold of the "infidels," who refuse to bow to Allah (the God whom Muslims believe rules over all creation), and who therefore must be opposed or even destroyed.
Where does this intense antipathy come from? Radical Muslims in Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq, Iran, Indonesia, and elsewhere regularly chant, "Death to America! Death to the Great Satan!" Some of this is posturing for CNN, but the fact that such chanting can take place indicates the brewing of a storm for which America is the tallest lightning rod. Why?
1. First, devout Muslims see the US as exporting immorality. The international marketing of our movies and TV programs paints a lurid picture of American life for the Third World. Viewers get their ideas of American life from The Dukes of Hazzard, Dallas and Baywatch, so they assume that illicit sex, fast cars, guns, and intrigue are the norm here.
2. Second, Muslims see the United States' foreign policy as a political puppet of Israel and American Jews. They see in our government's positions over the past 50 years a blind support of a nation that most Muslims view as the cause of untold suffering among Arabs throughout the Middle East. A Syrian cousin of mine pointed to all the "Jewish-sounding" names in Cabinet-level and Congressional positions and declared, "The United States is in the pocket of the Jews"
3. Third, the American heart seems to Arabs to have an anti-Arab bias in both foreign policy and human rights issues. Muslims point to the cries of the Palestinians, not just over their displacement from their homeland, but over the ongoing oppression and violence they see them suffer under the rule of Israeli authorities. It is American planes, they say, that bomb their villages, and American helicopters that fire missiles into their apartment buildings, and American bulldozers that knock down their settlements, and American bullets that shatter their children's skulls. One of my Syrian cousins declared to me with undeniable passion, "If I could go to occupied Palestine [Israel] and fight against the oppressors and give my life to help liberate Palestine, I would count it a privilege. I would count it an honor!"
4. Fourth, Muslims (especially non-Western ones) view the USA as a Christian nation, and so a powerful rival to their faith; Though we know there is no such thing as a Christian nation since God has not called us to a kingdom of this world, the Muslim mind cannot conceive of religion apart from political realities. For Islam the kingdom of Allah must in the end become the unrivaled kingdom of this world.
In many quarters of the world, there is a sense of jealousy among Muslims as they look at the military strength of America across the globe, the standard of living and technological advantages of our society - the freedoms and pioneering spirit - that characterize our way of life. American influence in the world translates for some Muslims into Christian advances into Muslim territory, which cannot be tolerated. Even worse is American military presence in Saudi Arabia, the cradle of Islam and home of its holiest shrines.
5. Finally Islam is committed to the complete subjugation of the entire world to Allah. Though there is not consensus among Muslims concerning the use of force to advance Islam, there is unanimity concerning three fundamental principles: Islam is the one true religion, meant to be accepted universally; its ultimate goal is the establishment of a one-world theocracy where the laws of Islam (Sharia) become the laws of all societies; and all human beings will one day be either converted to Islam, subjugated under Muslim rule, or eliminated by the sword.
The term jihad, often translated "holy war" leads Americans to ask, "Is such violence sanctioned by Islam?" There is an intense debate in the Muslim world over how Islam's enemies are to be conquered. Moderates claim terrorism has no place in Islam and point to a verse in the Quran that says, "There is no compulsion in religion." But fundamentalists point to numerous texts in the Quran where Muhammad as Allah's spokesman commands his followers to fight and subdue all who resist Islam, if necessary by killing them.
What leads Muslim men to volunteer for death, even young men with all their lives before them? Islam offers no certain hope of heaven to any of its adherents, with one exception. Those who die while fighting in a jihad are promised immediate access to Paradise, the highest level of heaven with the greatest sensual delights imaginable.
For those trapped in a religious system where you can never be sure you have done enough good to please God eternally, and whose lives amid poverty, oppression, and despair do not guarantee much of an earthly future, the assurance of a reward of eternal hedonism is undeniably attractive. Add to this the high tribute in the minds of the faithful left behind and the thought of being an underdog who in the name of Allah does grave damage to the Great Satan, and you have a recipe for conflagration.
How should Christians respond? Confidence and Love are the first two words that come to mind. Paul reminds us in 2 Tim 1:7, "God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." Jesus said that to live by the sword is to die by the sword. His followers are to love enemies and pray for those who engage in persecution.
Since our futures are secure in God's hand because of the finished work of Jesus Christ, we are not to fear those who threaten us, nor seek to destroy them. Rather, we are to approach them with the same love by which Jesus first approached and won us to Himself.
In the end, it is not a question of what Muslims think of America, or of Christians. It is much more a matter of what Christians think of Muslims. Will we extend them Christ's love, the only real hope for peace and transformation, or will we turn away in fear or anger? The future is not in the hands either of Muslim terrorists or of Muslim moderates. It is in the hands of Jesus Christ, and He still calls the church to meet the world with grace and love. The next months and years will show whether we are listening.
- MATEEN A. ELASS
Monday, November 9, 2009
One Standard of Character
"Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did." 1 John 2:6
Nothing is more striking to a close observer of human life than the almost infinite variety of character which exists among those who profess to be Christians. No two are alike. Even those who are revered for their saintliness, who alike seem to wear the image of their Lord, whose lives are alike attractive in their beauty--show the widest diversity in individual traits and in the cast and mold of their character. Yet all are sitting before the same model; all are striving after the same ideal; all are imitators of the same blessed life.
There is only one standard of true Christian character--likeness to Christ. It is into His image that we are to be transformed; and it is toward His holy beauty that we are always to strive. We are to live as He lived. We are to copy His features into our lives. Wherever, in all the world, true disciples of Christ are found, they are all trying to reproduce the likeness of their Master in themselves.
One reason for the diversity among Christians is because even the best and holiest saints realize but a little of the image of Christ and have only one little fraction and fragment of His likeness in their souls. In one of His followers, there is some one feature of Christ's blessed life which appears; in another, there is another feature; in a third, still a different feature. One seeks to copy Christ's gentleness, another His patience, another His sympathy, another His meekness.
Therefore, a thousand believers may all, in a certain sense, be like Christ and yet no two of them have, or consciously strive after, just the same features of Christ in their souls. The reason is that the character of Christ is so great, so majestic and so glorious that it is impossible to copy all of it into any one little human life; each human character is so imperfect and limited that it cannot reach out in all directions after the boundless and infinite character of Christ.
- J. R. Miller
Nothing is more striking to a close observer of human life than the almost infinite variety of character which exists among those who profess to be Christians. No two are alike. Even those who are revered for their saintliness, who alike seem to wear the image of their Lord, whose lives are alike attractive in their beauty--show the widest diversity in individual traits and in the cast and mold of their character. Yet all are sitting before the same model; all are striving after the same ideal; all are imitators of the same blessed life.
There is only one standard of true Christian character--likeness to Christ. It is into His image that we are to be transformed; and it is toward His holy beauty that we are always to strive. We are to live as He lived. We are to copy His features into our lives. Wherever, in all the world, true disciples of Christ are found, they are all trying to reproduce the likeness of their Master in themselves.
One reason for the diversity among Christians is because even the best and holiest saints realize but a little of the image of Christ and have only one little fraction and fragment of His likeness in their souls. In one of His followers, there is some one feature of Christ's blessed life which appears; in another, there is another feature; in a third, still a different feature. One seeks to copy Christ's gentleness, another His patience, another His sympathy, another His meekness.
Therefore, a thousand believers may all, in a certain sense, be like Christ and yet no two of them have, or consciously strive after, just the same features of Christ in their souls. The reason is that the character of Christ is so great, so majestic and so glorious that it is impossible to copy all of it into any one little human life; each human character is so imperfect and limited that it cannot reach out in all directions after the boundless and infinite character of Christ.
- J. R. Miller
Consider This
The men that will change and affect any colleges and seminaries are the men that spend the most time alone with God…It takes time for the fires to burn. It takes time for God to draw near and for us to know that He is there. It takes time to assimilate His truth. You ask me, How much time? I do not know. I know it means time enough to forget time. - John Mott
The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray. - Samuel Chadwick
It is because of hasty and superficial conversation with God that the sense of sin is so weak and that no motives have power to help you to hate and flee from sin as you should.
- A.W. Tozer
The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray. - Samuel Chadwick
It is because of hasty and superficial conversation with God that the sense of sin is so weak and that no motives have power to help you to hate and flee from sin as you should.
- A.W. Tozer
Friday, November 6, 2009
Denying Self
"If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it." Luke 9:23-24
Only as we learn to die to self do we become like Christ.
Human nature seeks all for self and nothing for Christ. Becoming a Christian is the taking of Christ into the life, in the place of self. Then all is changed. Life has a new center and a new aim. Christ comes first. His plan for our lives is accepted, instead of our own. It is no more what we would like to do, but "What does the Master want us to do?" It is no longer the pressing of our own will, but instead "May Your will, not mine, be done."
This is the foundation of all Christian living--the dying of self and the growing of Christ in the heart. So long as there remains any self-will, any unsubmission, any spirit of disobedience, any unconquered self, and the asserting its authority against the will of Christ, then our consecration incomplete.
This law of the dying of self and the magnifying of Christ is the only way to true usefulness. Not until self has been renounced, is anyone ready for true Christian service. While we are thinking how this or that will affect us, whether it will pay us to make this sacrifice or that self-denial; while we are consulting our own ease, our own comfort, our own interest or advantage in any form--we have not yet learned fully what the love of Christ means.
This law of the dying of self and the magnifying of Christ is the secret of Christian peace. When Christ is small and self is large, then life cannot be deeply restful. Everything annoys us. We grow impatient of whatever breaks our comfort. We grieve over little trials. We find causes for discontent in merest trifles. We resent whatever would hinder or oppose us. There is no blue sky in the picture when self is the center!
But when self decreases and Christ increases, then the life of friction and worry is changed into quietness and peace. When the glory of Christ streams over this little, cramped, fretted, broken life of ours, then peace comes, and the love of Christ brightens every spot and sweetens all bitterness. Trials are easy to bear, when self is small and Christ is large.
This lesson has its very practical bearing on all our common, every-day life. Naturally, we want to have our own way. We like to carry outour own plans and ambitions. We are apt to feel, too, that we have failed in life, when we cannot realize these hopes. But this is the world's standard! The successful worldling is the one who is able to master all life's circumstances, and make them serve him.
But the greatest thing possible in any life is to have the divine plan for it fulfilled, even though it thwarts every human hope and dashes away every earthly dream. It is not easy for us to learn the lesson that God's ways are always better for us than our own!
We make our little plans and begin to carry them out. We think we have all things arranged for our greatest happiness and our best good. Then God's plan breaks in upon ours and we look down through our tears upon the shattered fragments of our fine plans! All seems wreck, loss, and disaster! But no--it is only God's larger, wiser, better plan, displacing our little, imperfect, shortsighted one!
It is true, that God really thinks about our lives and has a purpose of His own for them, a place He would have us fill, a work He would have us do. It seems when we think of it, that this is scarcely possible that each one of the lives of His countless children should be personally and individually thought about by the Father. Yet we know that this is true of the least and lowliest of believers. Surely if God cares enough for us to make a plan for our life, a heavenly plan--it must be better than any plan of ours could be! It is a high honor, therefore, for His plan to take the place of ours, whatever the cost and the pain may be to us!
- J. R. Miller
Only as we learn to die to self do we become like Christ.
Human nature seeks all for self and nothing for Christ. Becoming a Christian is the taking of Christ into the life, in the place of self. Then all is changed. Life has a new center and a new aim. Christ comes first. His plan for our lives is accepted, instead of our own. It is no more what we would like to do, but "What does the Master want us to do?" It is no longer the pressing of our own will, but instead "May Your will, not mine, be done."
This is the foundation of all Christian living--the dying of self and the growing of Christ in the heart. So long as there remains any self-will, any unsubmission, any spirit of disobedience, any unconquered self, and the asserting its authority against the will of Christ, then our consecration incomplete.
This law of the dying of self and the magnifying of Christ is the only way to true usefulness. Not until self has been renounced, is anyone ready for true Christian service. While we are thinking how this or that will affect us, whether it will pay us to make this sacrifice or that self-denial; while we are consulting our own ease, our own comfort, our own interest or advantage in any form--we have not yet learned fully what the love of Christ means.
This law of the dying of self and the magnifying of Christ is the secret of Christian peace. When Christ is small and self is large, then life cannot be deeply restful. Everything annoys us. We grow impatient of whatever breaks our comfort. We grieve over little trials. We find causes for discontent in merest trifles. We resent whatever would hinder or oppose us. There is no blue sky in the picture when self is the center!
But when self decreases and Christ increases, then the life of friction and worry is changed into quietness and peace. When the glory of Christ streams over this little, cramped, fretted, broken life of ours, then peace comes, and the love of Christ brightens every spot and sweetens all bitterness. Trials are easy to bear, when self is small and Christ is large.
This lesson has its very practical bearing on all our common, every-day life. Naturally, we want to have our own way. We like to carry outour own plans and ambitions. We are apt to feel, too, that we have failed in life, when we cannot realize these hopes. But this is the world's standard! The successful worldling is the one who is able to master all life's circumstances, and make them serve him.
But the greatest thing possible in any life is to have the divine plan for it fulfilled, even though it thwarts every human hope and dashes away every earthly dream. It is not easy for us to learn the lesson that God's ways are always better for us than our own!
We make our little plans and begin to carry them out. We think we have all things arranged for our greatest happiness and our best good. Then God's plan breaks in upon ours and we look down through our tears upon the shattered fragments of our fine plans! All seems wreck, loss, and disaster! But no--it is only God's larger, wiser, better plan, displacing our little, imperfect, shortsighted one!
It is true, that God really thinks about our lives and has a purpose of His own for them, a place He would have us fill, a work He would have us do. It seems when we think of it, that this is scarcely possible that each one of the lives of His countless children should be personally and individually thought about by the Father. Yet we know that this is true of the least and lowliest of believers. Surely if God cares enough for us to make a plan for our life, a heavenly plan--it must be better than any plan of ours could be! It is a high honor, therefore, for His plan to take the place of ours, whatever the cost and the pain may be to us!
- J. R. Miller
Thursday, November 5, 2009
What Is the Glory of God?
The glory of God is the holiness of God put on display. That is, it is the infinite worth of God made manifest. Notice how Isaiah shifts from “holy” to “glory”: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3). When the holiness of God fills the earth for people to see, it is called glory.
The basic meaning of holy is “separated” from the common. Thus, when you carry that definition all the way to the infinite “separation” of God from all that is common, the effect is to make him the infinite “one of a kind”—like the rarest and most perfect diamond in the world. Only there are no other diamond-gods. God’s uniqueness as the only God—his God-ness—makes him infinitely valuable, that is, holy.
The most common meaning for God’s glory in the Bible assumes that this infinite value has entered created experience. It has, as it were, shined. God’s glory is the radiance of his holiness. It is the out-streaming of his infinite value. And when it streams out, it is seen as beautiful and great. It has both infinite quality and infinite magnitude. So we may define the glory of God as the beauty and greatness of God’s manifold perfections.
I say “manifold perfections” because specific aspects of God’s being are said to have glory. For example: “the glory of his grace” (Ephesians 1:6) and “the glory of his might” (2 Thessalonians 1:9). God himself is glorious because he is the perfect unity of all his manifold and glorious perfections.
But this definition must be qualified. The Bible also speaks of God’s glory before it is revealed in creation. For example, Jesus prays, “Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed” (John 17:5). So I would suggest a definition something like this: God’s glory is the outward radiance of the intrinsic beauty and greatness of his manifold perfections.
I am aware that words are poor pointers here. I have replaced one inadequate word with two others: glory with beauty and greatness. But we must try. God has revealed himself to us in words like “the glory of God.” And he does not want them to be meaningless.
We must constantly remind ourselves that we are speaking of a glory that is ultimately beyond created comparison. “The glory of God” is the way you designate the infinite beauty and the infinite greatness of the Person who was there before anything else was there. In other words, it is the beauty and the greatness that exists without origin, without comparison, without analogy, without being judged or assessed by any external criterion. It is the all-defining absolute original of greatness and beauty. All created greatness and beauty comes from it, and points to it, but does not comprehensively or adequately reproduce it.
“The glory of God” is a way of saying that there is objective, absolute reality to which all human admiration, wonder, awe, veneration, praise, honor, acclaim, and worship is pointing. We were made to find our deepest pleasure in admiring what is infinitely admirable, that is, the glory of God. The glory of God is not the psychological projection of human longing onto reality. On the contrary, inconsolable human longing is the evidence that we were made for God’s glory.
How Central Is the Glory of God in the Bible?
The glory of God is the goal of all things. “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). All things were created for God’s glory (Isaiah 43:6-7).
The great mission of the church is to declare God’s glory among the nations. “Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!” (Psalms 96:1-3; Ezekiel 39:21; Isaiah 66:18-19).
What Is Our Hope? Seeing the Glory of God
Seeing the glory of God is our ultimate hope. “We rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:2). God will “present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy” (Jude 24). He will “make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory” (Romans 9:23). “He calls you into his own kingdom and glory” (1 Thessalonians 2:12). “Our blessed hope [is] the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).
Jesus, in all his person and work, is the incarnation and ultimate revelation of the glory of God. “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Hebrews 1:3). “Father, I desire that they . . . may be with me where I am, to see my glory” (John 17:24).
What Is Our Hope? Sharing in the Glory of God
“So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed” (1 Peter 5:1). “The creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). “We impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory” (1 Corinthians 2:7).“This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17). “Those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:30).
Summary
Seeing and sharing in God’s glory is our ultimate hope through the gospel of Christ. Hope that is really known and treasured has a huge and decisive effect on our present values and choices and actions. Get to know the glory of God. Study the glory of God, the glory of Christ, the glory of the world that reveals the glory of God, the glory of the gospel that reveals the glory of Christ. Treasure the glory of God above all things.
Study your soul. Know the glory you are seduced by, and know why you treasure glories that are not God’s glory. Study your own soul to know how to make the glories of the world collapse like Dagon (1 Samuel 5:4) into pitiful pieces on the floor of the world’s temples.
- John Piper
The basic meaning of holy is “separated” from the common. Thus, when you carry that definition all the way to the infinite “separation” of God from all that is common, the effect is to make him the infinite “one of a kind”—like the rarest and most perfect diamond in the world. Only there are no other diamond-gods. God’s uniqueness as the only God—his God-ness—makes him infinitely valuable, that is, holy.
The most common meaning for God’s glory in the Bible assumes that this infinite value has entered created experience. It has, as it were, shined. God’s glory is the radiance of his holiness. It is the out-streaming of his infinite value. And when it streams out, it is seen as beautiful and great. It has both infinite quality and infinite magnitude. So we may define the glory of God as the beauty and greatness of God’s manifold perfections.
I say “manifold perfections” because specific aspects of God’s being are said to have glory. For example: “the glory of his grace” (Ephesians 1:6) and “the glory of his might” (2 Thessalonians 1:9). God himself is glorious because he is the perfect unity of all his manifold and glorious perfections.
But this definition must be qualified. The Bible also speaks of God’s glory before it is revealed in creation. For example, Jesus prays, “Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed” (John 17:5). So I would suggest a definition something like this: God’s glory is the outward radiance of the intrinsic beauty and greatness of his manifold perfections.
I am aware that words are poor pointers here. I have replaced one inadequate word with two others: glory with beauty and greatness. But we must try. God has revealed himself to us in words like “the glory of God.” And he does not want them to be meaningless.
We must constantly remind ourselves that we are speaking of a glory that is ultimately beyond created comparison. “The glory of God” is the way you designate the infinite beauty and the infinite greatness of the Person who was there before anything else was there. In other words, it is the beauty and the greatness that exists without origin, without comparison, without analogy, without being judged or assessed by any external criterion. It is the all-defining absolute original of greatness and beauty. All created greatness and beauty comes from it, and points to it, but does not comprehensively or adequately reproduce it.
“The glory of God” is a way of saying that there is objective, absolute reality to which all human admiration, wonder, awe, veneration, praise, honor, acclaim, and worship is pointing. We were made to find our deepest pleasure in admiring what is infinitely admirable, that is, the glory of God. The glory of God is not the psychological projection of human longing onto reality. On the contrary, inconsolable human longing is the evidence that we were made for God’s glory.
How Central Is the Glory of God in the Bible?
The glory of God is the goal of all things. “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). All things were created for God’s glory (Isaiah 43:6-7).
The great mission of the church is to declare God’s glory among the nations. “Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!” (Psalms 96:1-3; Ezekiel 39:21; Isaiah 66:18-19).
What Is Our Hope? Seeing the Glory of God
Seeing the glory of God is our ultimate hope. “We rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:2). God will “present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy” (Jude 24). He will “make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory” (Romans 9:23). “He calls you into his own kingdom and glory” (1 Thessalonians 2:12). “Our blessed hope [is] the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).
Jesus, in all his person and work, is the incarnation and ultimate revelation of the glory of God. “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Hebrews 1:3). “Father, I desire that they . . . may be with me where I am, to see my glory” (John 17:24).
What Is Our Hope? Sharing in the Glory of God
“So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed” (1 Peter 5:1). “The creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). “We impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory” (1 Corinthians 2:7).“This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17). “Those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:30).
Summary
Seeing and sharing in God’s glory is our ultimate hope through the gospel of Christ. Hope that is really known and treasured has a huge and decisive effect on our present values and choices and actions. Get to know the glory of God. Study the glory of God, the glory of Christ, the glory of the world that reveals the glory of God, the glory of the gospel that reveals the glory of Christ. Treasure the glory of God above all things.
Study your soul. Know the glory you are seduced by, and know why you treasure glories that are not God’s glory. Study your own soul to know how to make the glories of the world collapse like Dagon (1 Samuel 5:4) into pitiful pieces on the floor of the world’s temples.
- John Piper
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
The Blood of Jesus: Divine or Human?
For centuries, there has been a view of Christ's blood that has been taught and preached which goes something like this:
Jesus' physical blood was not human, but was only divine, derived directly from God the Father and not from Mary, his mother. The main verse that is used for this teaching is Acts 20:28: "Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which HE obtained with his own blood."
The final two phrases are the issue here--"to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood." Those who espouse the view that Christ's blood was purely divine and not human, say that it was God's blood, which, they argue, this verse proves. It was the blood of the Father, the blood of God, and thus, was not human blood at all.
According to this view, Christ did not derive his blood from Mary through the physical developmental process in the womb. He did not get his blood from Mary, because, it is argued, that would mean it would have been corrupted; so they argue that God the Father gave the Son divine and pure blood which was not human.
Such preaching goes something like this: "The blood of Jesus!- it was holy and pure because it was God's blood-- God's blood-- it wasn't human in origin-- it was God's blood-- God the Father put special, newly created divine blood in His Son which was only of divine origin, so he would be pure and holy--it wasn't from Mary--it was from the Father-- God's holy blood!"
Such preaching excites the undiscerning and causes them to think that the deity of Jesus and his holiness is being honored by this view. Such a view is still around and is often expressed by conservative and fundamentalist preachers who think they are protecting the purity of Christ. It has amazed me for a long time to hear professing evangelical preachers put forth this idea about Christ's blood. But the fact is, to put it in simple terms, this teaching is heresy at its worst. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The physical blood of Jesus Christ was fully and truly human, derived from Mary, his mother. If not, then we have no salvation.
A couple of main thoughts:
1. The phrase in Acts 20:28 'the church of God' is just as easily translated 'the church of the Lord'; the word 'Lord' is proper here, equally as much as the word 'God'. But even if one says that it is the church of 'God', that in no way means that it is referring to the God the Father particularly.
2. To say that the blood of Christ was divine and not human is to deny the true humanity of Christ. Jesus had to be fully human in every way, which means his physical body and blood, and his human nature in totality, was received from Mary. Everything about him physically and humanly, body and soul, were derived from Mary. In every way, he was made like us in all things (sin excepted).
The wrong view says that his blood could not have been derived from Mary or it would have been corrupt, fallen, impure, etc; but blood is purely physical and not moral. The logic is very weak, at best. If his blood would have been impure if it came from Mary's body, then anything else he derived from her would have been as well, which includes his true physical body and his human nature. Thus you would not have a human Jesus at all. In other words, if one part of Jesus' humanity (his blood) was not fully derived from Mary, then none of his humanity could have been and he would fail to be truly human in every way.
If Jesus could not have derived his physical blood from Mary because he would have received corruption from a human parent, then we must also say that none of his human nature and physical body could be derived from Mary. But if his physical body and human soul came from Mary and the entire process was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit (see below), then there is no problem about his blood coming from his mother. If you deny one aspect of Christ's humanity as being human, then you are denying and rejecting the true humanity of our Lord. And if you do not have a fully human Jesus, in every way like us, then you do not have the Christ of the New Testament.
Obviously, his blood was pure and perfect, but not because it was the blood of God, but because of the work of the Holy Spirit in His overshadowing work in the conception of the Saviour. We must remember that the Holy Spirit "overshadowed" the conception and birth of the baby Jesus. This divine and miraculous work would have protected and kept anything sinful or fallen of Mary's nature from being imparted to the baby Jesus. If we believe in the supernatural nature of Christianity, it is no problem at all that the Holy Spirit created the human person of Jesus, body and soul, from Mary's body and person, and then preserved his human person from all impurity and kept any effects of original sin from being passed down to Jesus.
The truth is, Jesus Christ the divine Son, eternally one with the Father as God, became a true human being-- physical body, physical blood and human soul, receiving all this from his mother's body and her human nature. He was fully God and fully man without limitations. His rue humanity, in its totality, came fully from Mary's body and her DNA. His blood was true human blood just like ours, made of a woman. To deny this is to evidence a clear lack of understanding of the full humanity of our Lord.
So if you ever hear anyone say that Jesus' blood was divine and was the blood of God, don't believe it and don't be fooled. Quickly say to yourself, "Whoa--error! that is not accurate and not biblical." Be discerning. Such a view changes the biblical person of Christ and it thus changes even our redemption. To be our faithful and merciful High Priest, he must qualify for that office. And to qualify to be the High Priest in the redemption of all His people, He has to be one of us fully, made like us in all things, in order to redeem man. Only a true and fully human Man can redeem human sinners.
The true and full humanity of the man Jesus is so wonderful, so glorious, and so essential, that you do not have a true gospel without it and you do not have true salvation without it.
"Behold the Man!"-- Jesus, our kinsman Redeemer
- Mack Tomlinson
Jesus' physical blood was not human, but was only divine, derived directly from God the Father and not from Mary, his mother. The main verse that is used for this teaching is Acts 20:28: "Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which HE obtained with his own blood."
The final two phrases are the issue here--"to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood." Those who espouse the view that Christ's blood was purely divine and not human, say that it was God's blood, which, they argue, this verse proves. It was the blood of the Father, the blood of God, and thus, was not human blood at all.
According to this view, Christ did not derive his blood from Mary through the physical developmental process in the womb. He did not get his blood from Mary, because, it is argued, that would mean it would have been corrupted; so they argue that God the Father gave the Son divine and pure blood which was not human.
Such preaching goes something like this: "The blood of Jesus!- it was holy and pure because it was God's blood-- God's blood-- it wasn't human in origin-- it was God's blood-- God the Father put special, newly created divine blood in His Son which was only of divine origin, so he would be pure and holy--it wasn't from Mary--it was from the Father-- God's holy blood!"
Such preaching excites the undiscerning and causes them to think that the deity of Jesus and his holiness is being honored by this view. Such a view is still around and is often expressed by conservative and fundamentalist preachers who think they are protecting the purity of Christ. It has amazed me for a long time to hear professing evangelical preachers put forth this idea about Christ's blood. But the fact is, to put it in simple terms, this teaching is heresy at its worst. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The physical blood of Jesus Christ was fully and truly human, derived from Mary, his mother. If not, then we have no salvation.
A couple of main thoughts:
1. The phrase in Acts 20:28 'the church of God' is just as easily translated 'the church of the Lord'; the word 'Lord' is proper here, equally as much as the word 'God'. But even if one says that it is the church of 'God', that in no way means that it is referring to the God the Father particularly.
2. To say that the blood of Christ was divine and not human is to deny the true humanity of Christ. Jesus had to be fully human in every way, which means his physical body and blood, and his human nature in totality, was received from Mary. Everything about him physically and humanly, body and soul, were derived from Mary. In every way, he was made like us in all things (sin excepted).
The wrong view says that his blood could not have been derived from Mary or it would have been corrupt, fallen, impure, etc; but blood is purely physical and not moral. The logic is very weak, at best. If his blood would have been impure if it came from Mary's body, then anything else he derived from her would have been as well, which includes his true physical body and his human nature. Thus you would not have a human Jesus at all. In other words, if one part of Jesus' humanity (his blood) was not fully derived from Mary, then none of his humanity could have been and he would fail to be truly human in every way.
If Jesus could not have derived his physical blood from Mary because he would have received corruption from a human parent, then we must also say that none of his human nature and physical body could be derived from Mary. But if his physical body and human soul came from Mary and the entire process was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit (see below), then there is no problem about his blood coming from his mother. If you deny one aspect of Christ's humanity as being human, then you are denying and rejecting the true humanity of our Lord. And if you do not have a fully human Jesus, in every way like us, then you do not have the Christ of the New Testament.
Obviously, his blood was pure and perfect, but not because it was the blood of God, but because of the work of the Holy Spirit in His overshadowing work in the conception of the Saviour. We must remember that the Holy Spirit "overshadowed" the conception and birth of the baby Jesus. This divine and miraculous work would have protected and kept anything sinful or fallen of Mary's nature from being imparted to the baby Jesus. If we believe in the supernatural nature of Christianity, it is no problem at all that the Holy Spirit created the human person of Jesus, body and soul, from Mary's body and person, and then preserved his human person from all impurity and kept any effects of original sin from being passed down to Jesus.
The truth is, Jesus Christ the divine Son, eternally one with the Father as God, became a true human being-- physical body, physical blood and human soul, receiving all this from his mother's body and her human nature. He was fully God and fully man without limitations. His rue humanity, in its totality, came fully from Mary's body and her DNA. His blood was true human blood just like ours, made of a woman. To deny this is to evidence a clear lack of understanding of the full humanity of our Lord.
So if you ever hear anyone say that Jesus' blood was divine and was the blood of God, don't believe it and don't be fooled. Quickly say to yourself, "Whoa--error! that is not accurate and not biblical." Be discerning. Such a view changes the biblical person of Christ and it thus changes even our redemption. To be our faithful and merciful High Priest, he must qualify for that office. And to qualify to be the High Priest in the redemption of all His people, He has to be one of us fully, made like us in all things, in order to redeem man. Only a true and fully human Man can redeem human sinners.
The true and full humanity of the man Jesus is so wonderful, so glorious, and so essential, that you do not have a true gospel without it and you do not have true salvation without it.
"Behold the Man!"-- Jesus, our kinsman Redeemer
- Mack Tomlinson
Monday, November 2, 2009
The Cost of Resisting Sin
"How can I do this great wickedness--and sin against God!" Genesis 39:9
"After hearing his wife's story, Potiphar was furious! He took Joseph and threw him into the prison!" Genesis 39:19-20
Sometimes it costs very dearly to be true to God. Joseph lay now in a dungeon. But his loss through doing right, was nothing in comparison with what he would have lost, had he done the wickedness to which he was tempted. His prison gloom, deep as it was, was as noonday, compared with what would have been the darkness of his soul under the blight of evil and the bitterness of remorse. The chains that hung upon him in his dungeon were but like feathers, in comparison with the heavy chains which would have bound his soul, had he yielded to the temptation. Though in a prison, his feet hurt by the fetters, he was a free man because his conscience was free and his heart was pure!
No fear of consequences should ever drive us to do a wrong thing.
It is better to suffer any loss, any cost, any sacrifice than be eaten up by remorse!
Better be hurled down from a high place for doing right than win worldly honor by doing wrong.
Better lose our right hand than lose our purity of soul.
Better to rot in prison than to sin against God!
It was the prayer of a young queen, which she wrote with a diamond point on her castle window, "Keep me pure; make others great." That is the lesson of Joseph's victory over temptation-- dishonor, loss, dungeon, death--anything before sin!
- J. R. Miller
"After hearing his wife's story, Potiphar was furious! He took Joseph and threw him into the prison!" Genesis 39:19-20
Sometimes it costs very dearly to be true to God. Joseph lay now in a dungeon. But his loss through doing right, was nothing in comparison with what he would have lost, had he done the wickedness to which he was tempted. His prison gloom, deep as it was, was as noonday, compared with what would have been the darkness of his soul under the blight of evil and the bitterness of remorse. The chains that hung upon him in his dungeon were but like feathers, in comparison with the heavy chains which would have bound his soul, had he yielded to the temptation. Though in a prison, his feet hurt by the fetters, he was a free man because his conscience was free and his heart was pure!
No fear of consequences should ever drive us to do a wrong thing.
It is better to suffer any loss, any cost, any sacrifice than be eaten up by remorse!
Better be hurled down from a high place for doing right than win worldly honor by doing wrong.
Better lose our right hand than lose our purity of soul.
Better to rot in prison than to sin against God!
It was the prayer of a young queen, which she wrote with a diamond point on her castle window, "Keep me pure; make others great." That is the lesson of Joseph's victory over temptation-- dishonor, loss, dungeon, death--anything before sin!
- J. R. Miller
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