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Glen Park Gospel Church >> Archive >> Editorial >> 2010
Each month the Glen Park Gospel Church produce a one page newsletter called the Green Leaf. It's available from the chapel each Sunday. Some months include a topical article or report. We thought you might appreciate reading those previously published.
Let the Lord Lead You in 2010
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. Proverbs 3:5-7(AV)
None of us knows what will happen during this coming year. No all that can happen, can we prevent. But we can determine our response to it. In this verse the Bible gives us a God approved response to life’s unfolding mysteries.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Jesus speaks of us having the faith of a little child. A small child does not question. Nothing is more helpless or more dependant upon its parent than the human infant. Innocence is our natural state at birth and into early childhood. God wants us to trust him like that, not just for forgiveness, but in all the ways of life. Children learn to be suspicious and wary by experiencing bad things of other people. We transfer this distrust to our loving Heavenly Father just by being self sufficient. When we come to Him we need to unlearn our self sufficiency and re-learn the art of trust. The word ‘trust’ means ‘security, boldness or confidence.’
Lean not to your own understanding, says the wise man. He does not say ‘obliterate your understanding.’ God expects us to be intelligent in all we do, to act prudently and to respond wisely. The word ‘lean not’ suggests that we are not to gravitate to our own understanding. We are not to be biased toward our own knowledge which is inaccurate and our own wisdom which is limited at best. This Hebrew means ‘don’t rest on or rely on’ our own perceptions. When you have done your best, turn to the Lord and ask Him for deeper insight. Trust Him. Paul speaks of the necessity of a sound mind. Christians ought to demonstrate the wisdom of their God.
In all your ways acknowledge Him. The ‘Ways’ the writer has in mind are journeys or pathways our lives take, like Abram setting out from Ur, not knowing where he would end up. It is wisdom indeed to, at the outset, choose our career path carefully after seeking God’s mind in prayer. But it goes deeper than that. Over ones life time occupations and opportunities change repeatedly. Our expectations are not fulfilled, and capacities are either under-utilised or over ambitious. Life is neither fair or predictable. Competition is fierce and strong. New avenues open up before us. We need to be able to recognise, to see and accept the options. When health fails, finance dries up, doors close, accidents interrupt, wars intervene or catastrophe devastates we find ourselves involuntarily on a new path. This is what the writer means: we are not intended to be sufficient for all this. Here is why: mankind generally and we in particular were created to trust God. God does not expect us to be self sufficient. But our sufficiency is in Christ Jesus, and He is wholly sufficient for all of this. Thus:
And He shall direct your paths. The word for ‘paths’ is different to ‘ways’ above. It means the roads, the highways, the trade routes, and the Lord will guide us in them, safely to our destination without inappropriate deviation. When the omniscient, ever present God, the creator and ordainer of the universe is our guide we may have confidence. This is why we can rest, and why we should trust. When we are wise in our own eyes, we only know as far as we can see. When we trust the Lord whose eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth on behalf of those who are His, we may be confident and we let the Lord lead us in 2010
A Canary at the Pole!
Yes, a canary at the South Pole! Dr. Boreham begins a chapter in one of his books*. He found this bird of song in a cage in the Saloon of the Norse explorer the Fram.
We may have passed it by, but Dr. Boreham remembered that it is a native of the tropics where the climate is continually summer. Whilst the crew donned their heavy winter clothes amid polar ice and snow, this little bird had to rely upon its golden summer dress. And yet, the crew reported, the colder the temperature became, the more constantly the little bird sang. Every man on board opened his door to hear its music. The canary was a missionary. It left its native land to sing a song that rose so naturally, just because it was a canary. It is not unnatural for a canary to sing, but to sing so heartily at the South Pole!
Contrast this with the lament of the older Hebrew exiles in Babylon:
“By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. Upon the willows in the midst of it, we hanged our harps. For there our captors demanded of us songs; and our tormentors mirth, saying, ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion.’ How can we sing the LORD'S song in a foreign land?”
Psalm 137:1-4 (NASB)
Every Christian is required to sing the song that God has put into their heart wherever they may be and under whatever conditions they find themselves.
It has always seemed remarkable, those words of Isaiah:
“How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace and good news of happiness, who announces salvation, and says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’”
Isaiah 57:7 (NASB)
It is significant that Isaiah did not say, ‘How lovely is the mouth of him who brings good news.’ But he said, ‘the feet.’
To the Christian the Good news is natural, like the song of the canary at the South Pole. What requires practice is the footwork. It is the footwork that wins the day. We were watching Roger Federer at the Australian Open tennis. One thing that stood out in his masterful play was not so much his deft skill with the racquet, or his searing forehand, but his excellent footwork. Winning strokes were almost always achieved because he was where he ought to be at the split second the ball was delivered. An opponent caught on the wrong foot, going in the wrong direction or even just out of reach was already defeated. It is the same for the Christian.
Our footwork must be practised protocol not an option. Sometimes we, like the canary, are shut up in a cage. For Bunyan like Paul, the prison cell that was his cage, for the missionary it is his field, the preacher his pulpit, the pastor his round, accountants their desk or the carpenter his bench, the mother her children. But this should only be because we have walked with the Lord under the direction of the Holy Spirit. ‘If we say we abide in Him,’ John the apostle says, ‘we ought to walk in the same manner as He walked.# ’ ‘They wondered at the gracious words that were falling from His lips.# ’
*Mountains in the Mist p219 #1 John 2:6. Luke 4:22
Autumn’s Glorious Days
Much of our traditional English literature turns our world up-side-down. Mad March winds and April showers mean little here. Long golden days lay before us; days of relaxation and refreshment after a long thirsty summer; days that turn work into pleasure; but days that have a habit of slipping by until that balmy breeze turns unexpectedly to a cruel chilly, southerly and the golden opportunity is lost.
“The narcissus, the rose, and the chrysanthemum - these are the natural emblems of our human life! Bright youth and no cloud to dim the sky - the narcissus. Maturity and power -the rose. And then through the more sober and perhaps sadder period of later life, when sometimes a strong faith is needed to make us realise that the gathering clouds still have a silver lining. And that there remains behind them a sun which may yet shine for us - our floral help and cultivator - the chrysanthemum.” C E Shea’s* words are right-side-up even for us. They tell the truth for us too.
In the garden we are enjoying the second and final display of roses for this cycle and the chrysanthemums are coming into bud. We are not so foolish as to miss the meaning of God’s metaphor. The course of life is but a season. “A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever” said the philosopher. Within the continuity of God’s eternity our lives are very short.
This season is a season to enjoy, but it is also a season given to us to bring summer to a fitting close. There is fruit to bring in and store. There is the rampant growth to prune. Unsightly weeds must be removed. Many abandoned tasks to be finished. We are not so foolish as to miss the meaning of God’s metaphor. The golden days are long and balmy. But sometimes they are cut short and there is hardly any golden autumn at all. Winter is upon us.
A search for CE Shea’s work source has not been successful.
Joan Smith writes:
I have just found my diary for 1948 just before I started my nursing
training at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. This is what I wrote
on May 28th:
Inspired by the song 'He Leadeth me, O blessed thought.'
Practical Proverbs
When travelling in New Zealand recently, we were annoyed by a rattle in our hire car. It was a loose petrol tank cowling. A bolt had come away. It was not dangerous, just irritating. We decided it was easiest to wire it up in the well tried Australian method, and asked our innkeeper if he had an odd piece of tie wire. He provided a length of quite thin plastic coated communication cable. It was obvious that the sharp punched holes of the sheet metal would cut it through with vibration. Then we remembered a Bible proverb, ‘a threefold cord is not quickly broken’ Ecclesiastes 4:12.
There was sufficient length to cut the cord into three and tightly plait it. We tied the plait into place and it lasted for hundreds of kilometres. It was still in place when we reported it to the hire company at journey’s end.
The Bible is literally full of workable instructions for everyday practical problems. This month’s daily readings provides Thirty Practical Provisions for life’s Perplexing Problems. Take time to meditate over each one, and perhaps, as the writer suggests, memorise them.
Wealth Management for Christians
Money is a means of exchanging value and storing wealth. The Bible has much to say on the subject. Sometimes its admonitions seem to conflict with rather than clarify the question. We are told to acquire it, give it away, despise it, save it, use it and not depend on it. What attitude should we adopt toward money? How can we manage money in a way that honours God?
One wise writer of a former generation put it: The acquisition of wealth is legitimate if there is a use for it, but to acquire money for money's sake is miserly and it becomes sinful greed.
What then is a use for money? Money is useful to keep body and soul together, to buy bread, to provide medical care, clothing, shelter, daily transport, simple enjoyment and the like, so that we are not a charge on the charity of others; and further keep a generous heart toward those in need. Money can be used, for the earning of interest - but how far do we go? Sufficient should be productively stored to provide for the wet day and the years when we cannot work. Money is a tool to be used in the work of life.
The Bible severely questions over indulgence in any of the above. But more than that, when we come to depend on the money rather than the grace of God behind provision, it becomes positively destructive, demeaning and sinful: By your great wisdom, by your trade you have increased your riches. And your heart is lifted up because of your riches 1 That's when we become proud of our success, trusting in our own ability, forgetting that the opportunity is given by God.
Make this your prayer: Keep deception and lies far from me, give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is my portion, that I not be full and deny You and say, “Who is the LORD ?” or that I not be in want and steal, and profane the name of my God 2.
This month's daily readings are a portfolio of texts dealing with true and temporal wealth. The purpose is to encourage us to put this question into biblical perspective. Each is true in its contextual setting.
1. Ezekiel 28:5 2. Proverbs 30:8&9 (NASB)
The Gospel We Preach
“My, that is good news!” How often have we heard it, or even said it. The statement presupposes two things, first that we are in need of good news, because things have been looking particularly bad, and secondly, given that, the news could have been decidedly worse. We are relieved and the news has brought us joy.
It is pointed out that one of the characteristics of humanity is a hunger for news. What is happening? Dr. Livingstone had been lost in Africa for many years and Mr. Stanley was sent to find him. The first thing that the Doctor asked Stanley was, “What’s the news?”
The Church is in the business of telling the good news. The word Gospel means ‘good news.’ Now, the funny thing is that the Church is often reluctant to tell it, and the recipients are often reluctant to hear it. How can that be?
Go back to our opening paragraph. Good news is only good news if the hearers are aware of there being a negative situation that needs to be negotiated. There are many such situations in life such as, if there has been, or there is likely to be a death in the family; or if someone has lost their employment or investments have been reduced; if there is a threat of war or violence; or in the event of family break-up; or when someone is frustrated in their life’s goals or disappointed about their achievements. All of these and many, many more situations constitute negative conditions under which most of us live.
These kinds of things are part and parcel of the stuff of life. They are what we meet every day. Sometimes they are our own doing, directly or indirectly. Sometimes it is due to the incidental or intentional actions of others. Sometimes it is just trouble that comes along all on it’s own. We need four things: we need sympathetic understanding; we need forgiveness for our failures; we need a new start and we need the hope of a better tomorrow. That is precisely what the Gospel provides.
The Gospel says, ‘There is an answer.’ There is an answer to our failures. There is an answer for our fears. There is an answer to injustice for God shall judge the secrets of men by Christ Jesus and there is no need to hold vengeance or harbour bitterness. He understands for He has learned by experience the deepest needs of man. He is man, God’s chosen man, God’s Son, the man Christ Jesus. At Calvary He suffered for us and is able to fully sympathise, He can carry, if you allow him to be, He is your answer too.
The Gospel changes lives; sometimes dramatically if the need is deep enough and sometimes quietly. Sometimes that change is instantaneous and sometimes it takes time. And something else the Gospel does is that it provides a community of people who also have already experienced and continue to experience God at work in their lives. It is a community of people who serve to encourage others. This community is called the Church. It is not perfect because it is comprised of like people undergoing change. You will find people like this everywhere if you look for them, but at the Glen Park Gospel Church we are there for you.
Come and see, come and see what God is doing.
You Don’t Need Much Faith
Why do we find it so hard to trust in God? Everyday things we take for granted until we face a crisis. “O ye of little faith . . . take no thought for tomorrow, for tomorrow will take thought for the things of itself.” Jesus did not tell us to be indolent about our responsibilities today, after all each day has it’s own troubles to look after; just don’t add to them. The words ‘little faith’ mean ‘lacking confidence.’ Confidently leave things outside your control to God.
One day they were in a boat when a great storm blew up. Jesus was sleeping through it all. How could He when the boat was in danger of capsizing! They woke Him up. ‘O ye of little faith!’
Why suffer little faith when we can have great faith, like the Centurion who sought Jesus to heal his servant. “Speak the word only and my servant will be healed,” Jesus was taken by his response. “I have not found so great faith,” He said. This man is our model.
“Lord,” the disciples said to Jesus one day, “Increase our faith.” They were asking for second helpings. You don’t need a massive faith to do great things. Jesus said that faith as small as a mustard seed would suffice. What counts is obedience. When you have one you will have the other.
Insecure Securities
You did not have to see the Global Financial Crisis coming. Jesus gave you warning 2000 years ago.
"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
Matthew 6:19-21.
The moth is the destroyer, the natural predator, the drought, the storm, the locust that ruins crops and cargo ships that are wrecked. The rust is depreciation, just as mildew, or obsolescence, or copyright or fair wear and tear. What cost a million dollars yesterday is next to worthless today. The thief is dishonest, be it extortion, graft, lying, cheating, nationalisation or plain simple burglary.
These three asset assassins are silent killers. You can’t see them coming. You can’t hear them working - but they are eating your heart out. All you have left is the shell. Destruction, depreciation or deception, the result is the same - asset depletion. Just to ensure you understand Jesus repeated His list.
You can’t take it with you. You can’t keep it safe
down here. Why, said Jesus, don’t you expend your energies
building up treasure where it is 100% government guaranteed, the
Government of Heaven.
Pray for a Better Election 2010
Little by little the heritage and traditions of the Christian way of life in Australia is being eroded as antagonistic forces push atheistic humanist values upon our people. Access Ministries tells us that the Chaplaincy Program is under threat in the new government to be initiated into Canberra.
We refer from their letter telling us that whereas Kevin Rudd was a great advocate of the Chaplaincy program the new Labor Party plans to convert it to a secular counselling service. The Greens’ Party also favour this model. If these parties hold power after August 21, the Chaplaincy work in the schools is probably lost. The Liberal Party alone have indicated that they will continue, but not expand the work. The work is good and needs to be expanded to all schools, especially in this evil day.
We are told in 1 Timothy 2: to pray for rulers and all those in authority. Paul is emphatic. He says supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving, indicating that this kind of prayer can affect the outcome. There is much about the current election presentation that feels like we are being sold a used car. Be careful we will get some old patched up wreck, just poorly resprayed. Talk to your pollies, talk to your friends, but most of all talk to your God.
Access Ministries is found at Level 2, 695 Burke Road Camberwell Vic 3124.
Wanted: Intercessors for Government
“I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
1 Timothy 2:1-4
Events transpiring in our political world over recent weeks demonstrate the validity and urgency of Paul’s exhortation. So much of our well being depends upon it.
He calls us to the place of urgent prayer, either together or in private, to meet with God and bring Him particular requests and petition on behalf of the people for the right function of men in the place of power within our nation.
‘On behalf of all men?’ Because most people do not do it, even Christians. It is one of the duties we tend to neglect, and that to our detriment and pain. Maybe we are ignorant of this instruction, or are too busy to take the time. Perhaps we do not believe that this prayer will achieve anything. If so we ought to remember that in another place Paul says that the government is the servant of God.
Paul’s implication is that if we do not take up the challenge our life’s liberties and freedoms that we daily enjoy and which enables the open sharing of the Gospel may be lost. However we are not powerless. We have immediate acceptance before a higher authority, one who knows the secrets of men. Do you remember the confidence of Daniel?
“Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever,
For wisdom and power belong to Him.
“It is He who changes the times and the epochs;
He removes kings and establishes kings;
He gives wisdom to wise men
And knowledge to men of understanding.”
Daniel 2:21&22 (NASB)
Wanted: Prayer Representatives - people who know how to pray
in faith. Will you join with us in petitioning Almighty God that
men and women of true spiritual and moral principle will be put
in the place of authority, and that those who deny God and the
principles of His word will be negated.
Paul’s Friend, Dr. Luke
Luke is almost undisputedly the author of Acts, and he joined
Paul at Troas and then quite often travelled with Paul’s
missionary party. He was with Paul during his first imprisonment
in Rome.1
There is every probability, that Luke ministered to Paul with
his medical skills, as Paul writing from his prison house in Rome
calls him ‘Luke the beloved Physician'.2 And it is
evident Paul told him about the life and ministry of Jesus on
earth, His work as Jesus the Great Physician as foretold in Scripture,
and from this to God’s great plan of Salvation through faith.
Luke, a recently new Christian, just had to go and find out for
himself. Even though others had written down the stories of Jesus,
as a medical man he just had to go and check it all out thoroughly.
He writes, “It seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated
everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you
in consecutive (successive) order.”3
With these things in mind, it is not surprising that we find the
pages of the Gospel saturated with the thoughts, themes and phrases
that Paul also uses in his writings. Many of these we have included
in our daily readings for this month
September daily readings contain two references; first Luke then Paul. Each set contains the same words, phrases, themes or thought patterns. Different Bibles translate differently from the Greek, so you may have to think them through.
1. See the ‘we’ passages of Acts
16:10-17, 20:5-15, 21:1-18, 27:1 through 28:16.
2. Colossians 4:14.
3. Luke 1:3. These readings and comments are largely adapted from
Guide to the Gospels A, W G Scroggie, P&I Ltd, London 1948
No Copyright.
There are several good examples in the Gospel of Luke which
strongly resemble Paul’s thinking and writing. See Luke 4:16-30,
7:36-50,15:1-32 and 19:1-10 as examples. It is clear that Paul
drew heavily on the Old Testament, and Luke takes up some of these
thoughts and words to use in his gospel.
Luke uses 103 Greek words that are found only in his Gospel and
the writings of Paul, and that is many more than are found in
all the other Gospels together. He also uses many of Paul’s
favourite words; for example, Paul and Luke use the ford faith
190 times between them, four times more than all the other writers
together.
Our selection is limited to comparisons that are more easily detected
in our English Bibles. Some of these are included in our devotional
readings for September. This list includes the answer key to the
readings exercise included in the printed copy of Green Leaf:
| Luke 1:1 | 2 Tim 4:17 | Things fully believed or accomplished |
| Luke 1:28 | Eph 1:6 | Highly favoured |
| Luke 1:80 | 1 Cor 16:13 | To become strong |
| Luke 4:22 | Eph 4:29 | Gracious words |
| Luke 4:32 | 1 Cor 2:4 | Speaking with authority |
| Luke 5:10 | 2 Tim 2:26 | Catch men alive |
| Luke 6:36 | Rom 12:1 | Mercies of God |
| Luke 6:39 | Rom 2:19 | Guide leading the blind |
| Luke 6:48 | 1 Cor 3:10 | Foundation laid |
| Luke 8:12 | Rom 1:16 | Believe for salvation |
| Luke 8:13 | 1 Thess 1:6 | Receive the word |
| Luke 8:15 | Col 1:10&11 | Fruitfulness with patience |
| Luke 9:56 | 2 Cor 10:8 | Destroy not |
| Luke 10:7 | 1 Tim 5:18 | Labourer worthy of his hire |
| Luke 10:8 | 1 Cor 10:27 | Eat whatever is provided |
| Luke 10:20 | Phil 4:3 | Names recorded in heaven |
| Luke 10:21 | 1 Cor 1:19,27 | Wise & intelligent |
| Luke 11:7 | Gal 6:17 | Don’t disturb / cause trouble |
| Luke 11:22 | Eph 6:11,13 | Full array of armour |
| Luke 11:41 | Titus 1:15 | Things clean and pure |
| Luke 11:44 | 1 Cor 14:8 | Concealed things, not evident |
| Luke 11:49 | 1 Thess 2:15 | Persecuting the prophets |
| Luke 12:35 | Eph 6:14 | Dressed for action |
| Luke 12:42 | 1 Cor 4:2 | A faithful steward |
| Luke 13:17 | Eph 5:27 | Glorious things |
| Luke 16:14 | 2 Tim 3:2 | Lovers of money |
| Luke 18:1 | 2 Thess 1:11 | Pray always |
| Luke 18:5 | 1 Cor 9:27 | Wear out or hold down / discipline |
| Luke 21:24 2 | Cor 10:5 | Lead into captivity |
| Luke 21:34 | 1 Thess 5:3-8 | Careful for sudden disaster |
| Luke 22:25 | 1 Cor 7:4 | Have authority over |
How Did Moses Part the Red Sea?
Moses didn't part the Red Sea! It was in God's plan. Moses was at his wits end and he cried to God. He had a restless mob of runaway slaves with him. Pharaoh behind him and the Red Sea in front of him. What a predicament! God was for him, but God chided Moses for his prayer because he had already been told what to do. "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward. As for you lift up your staff and stretch it out over the sea and it will divide . . ." Read the story in Exodus 13.
It was in all Melbourne's daily papers for Wednesday 22nd September, a report on how Moses, er, God, achieved it according to the laws of science. "Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land." The miracle was not in the mechanism, but in the precision of God's timing.
The study was conducted by the US national Centre for Atmospheric Research and the University of Colorado which used multi computer models to detail a 63mph east wind blowing for 12 hours as being an adequate agent to achieve an effect similar to that described in Exodus at one specific location in the Nile delta. You can read the study paper on line at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2932978/
The research paper also quotes the experience of Major General Alexander B Tulloch (British Army, in January-February 1882) who saw this event reenacted on site at Lake Menzaleh, East Suez, when an East wind blew the lake dry overnight, leaving boats lying in the mud and locals walking about on the lake bed.
Recent research (over the last 20 years) by conservative archaeologists detail changes in the Nile Delta river courses, lake depths, land forms, coastline and ancient wide security canals with steep embankments, all of which suggest the area as affording the possible Exodus route through this region. See Israel in Egypt by James K. Hoffmeyer (1996 - Still in print) and others.
These studies encourage us in that they show us that the Bible record that much of the world about us decries as myth and legend are not only possible, but most highly probable. They cannot yet prove that this is exactly where it all happened, but they do demonstrate that believing what is recorded in the Bible is absolutely reasonable. As time passes, more and more information is coming to hand that verifies the Bible record as true.
If these things are true and reasonable, then it is also true and reasonable to believe that Jesus Christ came into this world to die so that our sins could be forgiven; and that having our sins forgiven we are made anew to live a life which pleases God. Now that really is a miracle. But it is a miracle you can make your own. Trust Jesus as your Saviour today!
(Scripture quotations from the NASB)
The Uniqueness of Jesus
"And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself. But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die."1
We read these verses and say to ourselves, ‘His death was to be crucifixion!’ Jesus however, was saying that His death was to be strategic. He was speaking to the Jewish leaders of the day who were mingled with the crowd. They already had a conspiracy to crucify him, and that before the Passover.2 It would be Roman and therefore it would be crucifixion. It would be legal. It would be public. It would be final.
Jesus had just taught that if a grain of wheat were to fall into the ground and die it would multiply.3 Jesus now applies this parable to Himself and warned his enemies that if they persisted with their scheme it would backfire. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,4 so Jesus lifted up would be the one sinbearer for all. He would draw all men to Himself.5 The word all is the same word as whosoever of John 3:16 as ‘whosoever believes in Him shall not perish.
Jesus was lifted up upon the cross as our sinbearer. He was lifted up from the grave in resurrection as our sanctifier. He was lifted up into Heaven as our encourager. When Peter a few days later explained all this to those people who witnessed the events, three thousand of them were drawn to Jesus and trusted Him. A little later it was five thousand. The burden of their message, Luke says, was the resurrection of Jesus.6
So it was that when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.7 It is a message that we cannot, must not, will not compromise or surrender, for there is no hope or help in any other.
... and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us
John was an old man when he wrote his Gospel, and in those days lived amongst Greek speaking people. The opening words of his gospel are strange to our ears: ‘In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.’ But to a Greek educated Jew it was almost every-day. The Word he understood to be the unifying principle, that gives the world meaning and purpose. But the words that would have made him gape in wonder are :-
... and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
To the Christian it tells the simple story of the nativity,
the birth of Jesus. This Word we know to be Jesus. As John tells
a costly thing came in a small parcel, ‘And we saw His glory,
glory as the only begotten of the Father’. And to those who
stand gazing in faith with John, it is redemptive, ‘namely,
that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.’
That is, our own personal acceptance.
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