Category: Jesus Christ (Page 3 of 3)

God Has Glorified His Servant Jesus

January 11, 2016 / Allan Babcock

I often hoped God would work a miracle. A miracle would attract crowds. And that would be a chance to preach the Gospel to unbelievers. That’s what happened in Acts 4:11, 12a

While the beggar held on to Peter and John,
all the people were astonished and came running to them
in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade.
And when Peter saw it he addressed the people . . .

Peter’s address is the 2nd sermon in “The Acts Eight”—“God Has Glorified His Servant Jesus”.

Glorified and Guilty.

When Peter saw this (all the people running to him), he said to them: “Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you (3:12-14).

Faith-healers are spiritual superstars. They exude power beyond the ordinary. And they eat it up. However, when Peter saw starry eyes staring at him , he quickly re-aimed their focus to Jesus.

Speaking to Jews, Peter connected Jesus with “the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”. Jesus was the servant of the God of their fathers. In Jesus, God has continued (and consummated) his saving work begun with the patriarchs. Jesus-crucified, God glorified. Jesus sits at the Father’s right hand in the seat of the universe’s sovereign power. The healed cripple proves it.

At the same time, Peter calls Jesus the servant of God, echoing Isaiah 52:13—“Behold, my servant (wounded for our transgressions—Isaiah 53:5) shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted” (Isaiah 52:13).

Despite their ignorance and God’s fulfillment, Peter’s audience is guilty. They rejected Jesus. Cried, “Crucify him!” Preferred a murderer to God’s Holy and Righteous One.

We don’t use this in-your-face language. We’d rather talk about Jesus filling a void or making our lives better. Jesus is like “Gumout”: add him to your gasoline and your engine runs better. Peter will have none of it. Men and women are guilty sinners.

Jesus’ Name.

You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see (3:15,16).

Humans killed “the author (originator, source) of life”. (Would we do differently today?) ” . . . but God raised him from the dead.” Over and over the apostles heralded the news.

“The cripple had been healed because Jesus had been glorified. From His place of exaltation He endowed His disciples with power to act in His name, to perform mighty works such as He had performed in the days of His bodily presence among them” (F.F Bruce, The Book of Acts, p. 88).

Peter must have often passed that cripple at the gate and heard him beg. But on this day he stopped and “directed his gaze at him” (3:4). Perhaps in that moment “the faith that comes through Jesus” came to Peter. And he knew.

“It is Jesus’ name (all that Jesus is) . . . that has given this complete healing to him.” Sadly today’s “faith healers” preen themselves for the spotlight. Peter redirected it on Jesus. The ultimate aim of all miracles is the fame of his great name.

Repent for Remission, Refreshment & Restoration.

“Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer. Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you– even Jesus. He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets (3:17-21).

Even though the Jews “acted in ignorance” and even though “this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold”, Peter calls them to “repent”. That sounds like a word from great-grandmother’s generation, but it’s as crucial today as it was in Peter’s. It means to change our mind about whom we thought Jesus was to who he really is. (In this case, the glorified servant of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.) And we live that repentance out by living as he taught us to.

With repentance, Peter promises . . .

remission of sins (his audience can be forgiven for preferring a murderer to the Holy and Righteous One!),
refreshment from the Lord (the gift of the Holy Spirit to live in them, Acts 2:38), and
the restoration of all things when Jesus comes again with the new creation.

John Newton echoes this Gospel with his wondering words . . .

Alas! I knew not what I did,
But now my tears are vain;
Where shall my trembling soul be hid?
For I my Lord have slain.

A second look He gave, which said:
“I freely all forgive;
This blood is for thy ransom shed;
I die, that thou mayest live.”

Thus, while His death my sin displays
In all its blackest hue;
Such is the mystery of grace,
It seals my pardon too.

With pleasing grief and mournful joy
My spirit now is filled,
That I should such a life destroy,
Yet live through Him I killed.

Ancient Prophecies Fulfilled.

For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people.’ “Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days. And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.’ When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways” (3:22-26).

Peter assures the Jewish crowd what they must know: that Jesus doesn’t do away with the prophets they’ve trusted all their lives; Jesus fulfills their words. The Gospel of Jesus doesn’t oppose God’s Old Testament revelation; the two are bound in holy unity. What God promised through the prophets, he has fulfilled in Jesus—his now-glorified servant.

God, who raised your servant Jesus from the dead,
I don’t want to repeat the sin of that generation;
I don’t want to reject the Holy and Righteous One
for what will kill me in the end.
I confess my sins to you
and trust your servant to forgive, refresh and restore me.
I give my life to Jesus in whom all your prophecies are fulfilled.
I bow with humble and glad heart to your Servant whom you’ve glorified
and pray my life will give him glory too.
For the sake of the name above all names. Amen.

Guns Are Us

January 7, 2016 / Allan Babcock

The Rev. Franklin Graham slammed President Barack Obama’s gun actions Wednesday, saying that they “will do nothing to change this horrific problem.” Graham is quoted in a “Newsmax” article today written by Todd Beamon ( http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/franklin-graham-sin-humans-kill/2016/01/06/id/708454/#ixzz3wZmAJe9V).

Graham went on to say, “you can take all the guns in America and put them in a pile on the Mall in Washington, D.C—and those guns will stay there and will eventually rust and decay. Not one gun will crawl out of that pile and shoot or harm anyone.

“It takes a human being, and a human heart bent on evil, to pick up a gun, load it, and pull the trigger. The problem we have in this country is sin.”

Graham laid blame on the removal of God from society and a Hollywood industry that glorifies violence. He proposed a heavy tax for manufacturers of any movie or game that graphically displays violence.

Tuesday President Obama had announced plans to tighten federal background checks for gun sales, require gun sellers to be licensed or face criminal prosecution, and to expand mental health treatment. Most critics argue that these measures would have done little or nothing to prevent mass shootings the nation has suffered.

Graham lamented our nation collectively turning our backs on God and reaping horrible bloodshed. “The only cure?” he asked. “Jesus Christ. That’s what will make a difference in our nation.”

I say “Amen” to that. The question is, however, “What will we followers of Christ do about it?”

We are as guilty as anyone in expecting the government to fix whatever is broken—unless it impinges on our freedom. And I’m as guilty as anyone. Illegal immigrants? Sluggish economy? Threatened recession? Terrorism? Mideast firestorm? Healthcare? Government should solve it all. If they don’t or won’t, we complain.

I’m not a politician-sympathizer. Government has acerbated the country’s problems, not alleviated them. It frightens me when I see this administration’s flagrant disregard for the Constitution. For the president to declare we are a nation of laws, then ignore or break those laws is the height of hypocrisy and a genuine threat to America’s freedoms.

As long as they’re not the start of a slippery slope, the president’s announced gun control measures are not unreasonable. But laws have limits. When Graham diagnoses sin as the root of the nation’s problems, he’s pointing to the human heart—sinful human nature. The Bible makes it blatantly clear that even God’s laws can only curb evil, never remove it. For that we need a new heart, a new righteous human nature. This is what God promised through the new covenant established in the blood of Jesus Christ . . .

“I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God, and they will be my people.
No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying,
‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”
(Hebrews 8:10–12).

Graham is right, of course. The only cure for gun violence is Jesus Christ. Only he can remove guilt that plagues us, turn us toward righteousness and justice and love, and give us rock-solid hope instead of artificial escape.

Typically we regard spreading the Gospel as good for the sinner or a means of building up the Body of Christ. But we also must think of it in terms of societal good. I’m reminded of the question, “If you were walking alone down a dark street one night and met a group of intimidating-looking guys coming toward you, would you feel better if you knew they were returning from Bible study?”

In Christ, we have the cure for the vicious curse of deadly violence. The question now is . . .

. . . what will we do about it?

Coming Christmas Morning

December 25, 2015 / Allan Babcock

Christmas morning. Lois in the kitchen preparing for children and grandchildren coming later. A few quiet moments for me to pray and ponder. Reminiscing about long-ago Christmases when our son and two daughters were children. A familiar reminder to you who have young children: enjoy them this Christmas season. They will soon celebrate in their own homes with their own little ones.

For some reason, woke this morning with these fascinating words from the apostle Paul . . .

The night is far gone; the day is at hand.
(Romans 13:12a)

It’s his reason for urging us to live morally upright lives as Jesus’ followers . . .

. . . you know that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep.
For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.
The night is far gone; the day is at hand.
So then let us cast off the works of darkness
and put on the armor of light.
(Romans 13:11,12)

I’m not thinking of Paul’s exhortation as much as the far-gone night and at-hand day.

I tend to see this world as “day.” What lies out there in the future, even though Jesus promises glory beyond comprehension, seems “night” both because (unless Jesus comes first) I have to pass through the “night” of death and the future beyond death is unfamiliar territory. But here Paul writes of life in this world as “night” and the future in the world to come as “day.”

It reminds me of Christmas morning when my brother and I were kids. How hard to fall asleep the night before! Too excited! Too much anticipating what would be under the tree! (Our parents never put our presents out until we were safely in bed.) Struggling to sleep made Christmas Eve the year’s longest night.

But then the night was over! I opened my eyes in record time (not like on school days). I think my brother and I had it in our genes to naturally be as noisy as possible to wake up Dad and Mom. Finally they rolled out, warning us to wait in our rooms until they made sure everything was ready, turned the tree lights on, and called us. “Okay, kids. Al. Glenn. Come on.” Down the hallway we hustled toward the living room and the thrill of Christmas morning around the tree half-hidden behind piles of presents.

This world—the world where we live, the world we know, the only world we know—is “night.” It’s filled, as Paul writes here in Romans, with “orgies and drunkenness”, with “sexual immorality and sensuality,” with “quarreling and jealousy.” It’s also marked by disappointment and dissatisfaction and disability and death. It never delivers on its promises. Its “toys” always break down or wear out. Oh, there’s goodness and joy to be sure. After all, despite sin’s ravages, this is still my Father’s world. But the evil one and our fallen natures corrupt and darken even the best of what God has made.

It is night. But it’s “far gone”! The day is at hand! Christmas morning like none other is about to break into this darkness. Jesus, born that first Christmas day, is coming again. He who is the Light of the world will split the night with his glory. He will call us: “Okay, children.” He’ll call us by name. “Allan, Glenn, come.” And we will rise with pounding hearts and wide-eyed looks and breathless hearts at the thrill of this “Christmas morning” around the One who gave his life for us and comes now to gather us home to a world where it will never be night.

That day is at hand!

Merry Christmas!

Rubio On Jesus (& More)

December 1, 2015 / Allan Babcock

I’m curious whenever a politician is asked about Jesus. So when I found this video from Marco Rubio, I watched and listened—and was thrilled to hear his witness.

Donald Trump brought his childhood Bible to a campaign rally to show the world he’s a good Methodist. (Please!) Rubio, on the other hand, articulately seems to speak from his heart about a relationship with Jesus founded on God’s Word and infused with the Holy Spirit. Some may wish he had left the Roman Catholic Church behind. But who are we to say where God can be doing his saving work?

I post this today not to endorse Rubio (though he and Dr. Ben Carson are running neck-and-neck in my mind). I post this because I usually view politicians with a healthy dose of cynicism. Not here. At least by his words and what I sense from his heart, Rubio really knows Jesus. He’s to be applauded for speaking openly about him.

Secondly, I post this today to encourage us all. God is at work in some of the most unlikely of places. That should keep us praying for those needs that seem most unlikely to be met.

Poached Egg

November 21, 2015 / Allan Babcock

“Robins fly south for winter over sprinkled ice cream cones so tasty on a warm summer’s day.” I used to think Jesus’ teaching to the temple courtyard crowd seemed almost as loony.

While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he asked, “How is it that the teachers of the law say that the Christ is the son of David? David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared: “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.”‘ David himself calls him ‘Lord.’ How then can he be his son?” The large crowd listened to him with delight. (Mark 12: 35-37).

Who is “The Lord” and who is “my Lord”? Who’s putting whose enemies under whose feet? David calls who Lord? What’s the point of the whole lesson? And what difference does it make to me? Hint: It all has to do with who Jesus really is.

It’s still Tuesday. In the Jerusalem temple courtyard air hangs heavy with excitement and tension. Since Sunday, when Jesus “triumphantly” entered Jerusalem, Jewish authorities have vainly tried to verbally beat him into self-incrimination. Friday they’ll do far more: crucify him.

The words Jesus quotes are the first verse of a familiar messianic psalm. Here it is in its entirety . . .

1The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” 2The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion; you will rule in the midst of your enemies. 3Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy majesty, from the womb of the dawn you will receive the dew of your youth. 4The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” 5The Lord is at your right hand; he will crush kings on the day of his wrath. 6He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth. 7He will drink from a brook beside the way; therefore he will lift up his head (Psalm 110:1-7).

In 110:1-3 King David prophesied how the Messiah-King would fight and rule over his enemies. In 110:4 David prophesied how the Messiah-Priest would intercede for his people forever. And in 110:5-7 how the Messiah-Warrior would fight and crush the rulers of the whole earth.

We know the Jews expected a political Messiah who’d deliver Israel from Rome and establish a David-like kingdom in Jerusalem. However, when Jesus says, “David himself calls him ‘Lord'”, then asks, “How then can he be his son?”, Jesus is identifying Messiah as both king and priest forever who will extend his rule beyond the Middle East to “the whole earth.”

Unlike most preachers (and bloggers) today who wish to leave no question unanswered, Jesus leaves the crowd with a question to answer for themselves: “If King David calls this one Lord, how can he be his son?” Answer: the one about whom Psalm 110 speaks is far greater even than King David. He is David’s descendant, but David bows to him as Lord because he is THE LORD!

In this teaching to the temple crowd, Jesus identifies his lineage (he’s the son of King David) and his destiny (to provide sacrifice for his people’s sins and to rule the whole world). In short, he will be enthroned as the divine King-Priest of (the new) creation forever.

I have trouble connecting that to “the real world” today. For example, when I see TV news reports of the Middle East wars, of radical Islamist terrorist attacks (like Paris, the Russian airliner, the hotel in Mali West Africa), of the massive migration from Muslim countries into Europe, of famines and floods on the African continent, and of ever-present racial and political divides in America, Jesus the Messianic Warrior doesn’t come first to mind. I think, “Trump or Hillary would make the mess worse” or “Which Republican would be best equipped to deal with these crises?”.

I remember I mustn’t think of Jesus as merely a religious king. I must see him as the King who is the world’s only hope. Just as first-century Israel groaned for a leader to free them from Roman oppression, I should be groaning for the Leader to free us from the oppression of this evil-one empowered world. Sound fanatical? That brings me finally to this profound quote from C.S. Lewis . . .

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Or is there a Rapture at all?

Bathroom-Fall Theology

November 16, 2015 / Allan Babcock

I fell last night. Good thing I fell on my head.! I was standing by the bathroom sink, my walker at my right side. I turned, somehow lost my balance and fell, my right temple hitting the ceramic tile floor, my legs twisting in my walker, and my glasses breaking. (If my blog seems dark, it’s my prescription sun glasses!)

I’m okay. Not as well-dressed as this guy, but okay. Just a minor bump and a darker-than-usual day. But it got me thinking. Questions.

How do persecuted Christians handle suffering? Even though my hard head meeting hard floor hurt (the fall didn’t hurt, just the sudden stop), some of my brothers and sisters suffer far worse. When a man’s wife is raped, when his daughter is kidnapped, when he cries to God and gets silence, how does he maintain faith?

The only answer can be 2 Corinthians 12:9 . . .

“My grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

It’s not the strength of the man’s faith; it’s the gracious power of the Lord. It’s a gift of faith from the Holy Spirit that surpasses our “normal level” of believing (1 Corinthians 12:9a). It’s the shield of faith which smothers all the flaming darts of the evil one (Ephesians 6:16a).

The 5 Types of Power Revisited | The Fast Track

He will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5b). In other words, when our suffering is great and our “normal” faith seems small, our Lord is with us throwing the punch of his power into us, so we can keep trusting even when the agony is beyond reason.

Is all our suffering ordered by our Father? Somehow it’s easier to believe that persecution-suffering—or even judgment-suffering—are ordered by God than suffering from falling in the bathroom. After all, we’ve got biblical warnings of persecution and judgment.

If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also (John 15:20).

... continue to face persecution from their Communist slavemasters

The LORD is angry with all nations; his wrath is upon all their armies.
He will totally destroy them,
he will give them over to slaughter (Isaiah 34:2).

PostHaste - Wrath of God - YouTube

But we have no biblical warnings of bathroom falls or flat tires or broken air conditioning. Does our Father order the “big stuff” but the “little stuff” just happens? I remember Jesus’ encouraging words . . .

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?
And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.
But even the hairs of your head are all numbered” (Matthew 10:29,30).

Many versions, such as the NIV, translate “apart from your Father’s will.” But the ESV (above) correctly omits “will” because it’s not in the original Greek. So what exactly did Jesus mean? That our Father wills even the fall of an insignificant sparrow or that our Father knows about the fall of each insignificant sparrow? Does Matthew 10:30 mean our Father determines the number of our hairs or knows their number?

Charles Spurgeon beautifully answered this way . . .

“I believe that every particle of dust that dances in the sunbeam does not move an atom more or less than God wishes – that every particle of spray that dashes against the steamboat has its orbit, as well as the sun in the heavens – that the chaff from the hand of the winnower is steered as the stars in their courses. The creeping of an aphid over the rosebud is as much fixed as the march of the devastating pestilence – the fall of . . . leaves from a poplar is as fully ordained as the tumbling of an avalanche.”

So did our Father order my fall? Did he command that only my glasses break and not my arm? Or was my fall devil-inspired or merely the natural result of my disability?

Such questions lead to others: Does God really work for the good in all things? If so, how in the world does my bathroom fall conform me more to the likeness of God’s Son?

And we know that in all things
God works for the good of those who love him,
who have been called according to his purpose.
For those God foreknew he also predestined
to be conformed to the likeness of his Son,
that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified;
those he justified, he also glorified (Romans 8:28-30).

Honestly, I find it hard to believe that our Father will use my fall for good, especially to conform me more to Christ’s likeness. Yet maybe one good thing is this: someone who reads my blog may be encouraged in their suffering.

When it comes down to it, in a situation like this, while I don’t fully understand, I’m like Peter. To many of his followers, Jesus made some hard statements. John recorded what happened next . . .

From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.
Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life. (John 6:66-68).

I choose to believe that persecuted Christians endure suffering by God’s grace and gift of faith. I choose to believe that all suffering is ordered by our Father (even though I don’t understand). But my bottom line, when I’m hurting and confused and tempted is Peter’s statement:

“Lord, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life. (John 6:66-68).

No one else–no place else–to go with my hurt and pain and ignorance, but to Jesus. Because he alone speaks the words that lead to eternal life.

Jesus Open Arms photo: Jesus' Arms JesusArms.jpg

Ungovernable?

July 23, 2015 / Allan Babcock

I wondered last week while watching the news: “Is the world becoming ungovernable?”

By “ungovernable” I mean, “Are the world’s governments becoming unable to rule in such a way that a reasonable number of people enjoy a reasonable amount of safety, security, justice and happiness?”

The question arose as I watched TV news cover the shooting deaths of four Marines and one Navy sailor by a young Muslim male in Chattanooga last week. Let’s use that as a case study (though we could use the exploding Middle East, Iran’s nuclear threat, Putin’s Ukraine invasion, an expanding China, the illegal immigration travesty, racial conflict, the national debt and global economy and so on).

The terrorist (certainly terrorist-influenced) shot up two shopping center military offices. Military was prohibited by regulation to carry firearms (though apparently one or two did). The attacks occurred toward the end of Muslim Ramadan. Weeks earlier ISIS (or another of those demonic groups) announced plans to attack U.S. military and their families.

Why weren’t military personnel better protected? I get it: 123 such facilities around the country make better protection prohibitive . . . the enemy needs to “get lucky” only once to succeed . . . . it’s impossible to pin-point-predict where and when a terrorist will strike. I get all that—but “all that” only pushes us closer to “Yes, the world is becoming ungovernable.” No government agency adequately prepared.

Here are three additional reasons why I think “ungovernable” may be looming.

One, God’s wrath. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of man, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth . . . For although they knew God (through creation), they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened (Romans 1:18,21, ESV).

Wrath. The Greek word means “a divine upsurge of anger” against humans’ unrighteousness. Humanity has “exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator” (Rom. 1:25). God, who made and sustains us, will not allow his name to be shamed. Consequently, while he loves the world (John 3:16), he exercises “displeasure” (to put it mildly) in giving us over to the consequences of our own way. And, because our way is unrighteousness and godless, things go from bad to worse.

Cumulative consequences of being “given over.” Three times in Romans 1:24-32 Paul explains that God expresses his wrath by giving us over to or giving us up to.

Therefore (since we exchanged God’s glory for images–1:23), God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves (1:24). Rampant sexual immorality is a consequence of God’s wrath.

For this reason (because we exchanged God’s truth for a lie–1:25), God gave them up to dishonorable passions (1:26a). Sexually-transmitted diseases are the consequence of God’s wrath.

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done (1:28)—evil, envy, murder, maliciousness, insolent, inventors of evil, ruthless (to name just a few things that ought not be done).

God hasn’t “given us over to” these consequences one time, but progressively. Therefore, as these moral and mental evils continue among us—and as world population increases—consequences snowball. Things don’t just seem worse; things are worse. We all suffer the increasingly cumulative consequences of God’s “giving us over to” wrath. Therefore, governing becomes increasingly difficult.

The fallenness of human leaders. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Leaders are no less sinful because they’re “famous.” Presidents, senators, representatives, kings, ambassadors are no less fallen because they belong to “the political class.”

Often we shake our heads at government ineptness. The problem runs deeper; it lies in the sinful human nature. Gather a group of sin-fallen leaders (who may be intelligent and skilled) and their leadership will inevitably produce fallen results.

The King we need. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this (Isaiah 9:6,7).

Isaiah predicted his birth. John saw his coming.

I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS (Revelation 19:11-16).

LISTEN TO THE VIDEO ABOVE!
TURN UP THE VOLUME!
HE IS OUR HOPE!

MEAN BY UNGOVERNABLE?
EXAMPLES?
REASONS WHY–God’s wrath, cumulative consequences of given over (Rom. 1), fallenness of leaders
HOPE IS KING JESUS

We need the King. The world needs the King. Not a king. The King. The King of all kings. The One whose kingdom does not belong to this world (John 18:36a). Why the need? I’m not a prophet or historian; but from where I sit the world is becoming ungovernable.

Take the latest “lone wolf” terrorist attack in Chattanooga. A 20-something Muslim young man gunned down four Marines and one Navy sailor at a recruiting office and an operations center. “Soft targets” in shopping centers. Military denied weapons from President Bill Clinton’s days. Certainly when Clinton urged this regulation, it was for good reason. Times have long-changed. Radical Islamists for at least weeks have been calling for the deaths U.S. military men and women and their families. Yet, as far as I know, the government did little, if anything, to protect them. How long ago was the Fort Hood massacre? How long does it take for the President and Congress to devise a plan and implement it? This is one small, but grievous, reason why I think the world is becoming ungovernable.

The world needs the King. Too long it’s been under the control of the evil one (1 John 5:19). John the apostle saw in his revelation the time when the whole world will be dominated by a king called antichrist (Rev. 13: ). We don’t need a king. We need the King. The King of kings.

How High Is Christ?

July 13, 2015 / Allan Babcock

DON’T PLAY THE VIDEO YET!

The Christian church is doomed without a high view of Jesus Christ. That should be self-evident from the name “Christian church.” Yet, just as we take for granted (or even ignore) a familiar person, it’s easy to take for granted (or even ignore) the breath-taking heights of Christ’s deity.

I’m reading Dreams and Visions, a book of narratives about Christ appearing in dreams and visions to unbelievers in countries where Christians are persecuted. It’s a fascinating read I recommend.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_18?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=dreams+and+visions+tom+doyle&sprefix=Dreams+and+Visions%2Cstripbooks%2C201&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Adreams+and+visions+tom+doyle

In the chapter, “The Swords of Baghdad, Part 1”, is the section, “Two Faces of Iraq.” From it, I was reminded that Christianity has roots in (of all places) Iraq. In the 5th century a preacher named Nestorius became patriarch of Constantinople (in today’s Turkey), Nestorius believed Jesus had “part of God’s spirit”, but was not fully God. Because he enjoyed wide influence, church leaders in other jurisdictions of the church convened the Council of Ephesus in 431 A.D. The Council formally denounced Nestorius, removed and banished him to Egypt. But many of his followers moved east to Persia.

Here’s the map to understand the logistics. Turkey is big and orange on the left. Egypt is pink toward the bottom left. Persia is today’s Iraq in the middle, also pink. That’s where Nestorius’ followers ended up. (No extra charge for the map. If you want driving directions, though, I’d suggest Mapquest.)

In Persia (Iraq) Nestorius’ followers found listening ears for their “low-view-of-Christ” theology. The church they planted became known as the Assyrian or Syriac Church and even sent missionaries back to today’s Turkey. Today “Assyrian Christians” are scattered through most of the Middle East. In 1976 the Assyrian Church rejected some Nestorian beliefs, but debate remains over the church’s acceptance of the full deity of Christ.

Tom Doyle, author of Dreams and Visions, makes this telling observation: The Assyrian Church’s weak view of Christ explains, at least in part, why Christianity fell apart in Persia when Islam swept in. Without a proper view of Jesus, the church anywhere is doomed to a mediocre existence. If Jesus, the head of the church is (considered) weak, how can the church be anything but weak? . . . The most troubling aspect of this errant belief system in Iraq is the effect it has on individuals within the church. The understanding that Jesus is somewhat less than God leaves each Assyrian at a sharp disadvantage when faced with the overwhelming presence of Islam—that is, until he or she encounters the overwhelming presence of Jesus Himself (in dreams and visions).”

Most of our churches maintain proper doctrinal statements about the deity of Christ. But usually we picture him walking the roads of Galilee or hanging on the cross. Thank God he did! However, without being less than a man, he was and is so much more, more exalted than we can imagine . Here are just a few Scriptures to raise our sight of him.

In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God (John 1:1).

Long ago, at many times and in many ways,
God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,
but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son,
whom he appointed the heir of all things,
through whom he created the world.
He is the radiance of the glory of God,
and the exact imprint of his nature,
and he upholds the universe by the word of his power (Hebrews 1:1-3a)

He (the Son of God) is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation (i.e., like the “firstborn” who inherits all that is the father’s).
For by him all things were created,
things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—
all things were created by him and for him.
And he is the head of the body, the church.
He is the beginning and firstborn from the dead,
that in everything he might be preeminent.
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell . . . (Colossians 1:15-19).

Then [Jesus] said to Thomas,
“Put your finger here, and see my hands;
and put out your hand, and place it in my side.
Do not disbelieve, but believe.”
Thomas answered him,
“My Lord and my God! (John 20:27,28)

NOW LET’S PLAY THE VIDEO ABOVE
AND WORSHIP OUR HIGH AND EXALTED CHRIST WHO IS GOD!