Today's reading.
The third chapter of Genesis is extraordinarily foundational for the entire biblical storyline. We could spend days on it, meditating on its truth, examining all the nuances and implications. But since our goal here is to connect the dots to the gospel, that is what I will focus on.
Before Eve and then Adam took the fruit and gave into the temptation of the serpent, there was no need for a gospel. Humanity had no need of any particular good news; every last bit of news to that point was good! God walked regularly with the humans in the cool of day (3:8). What could be better than face time with God? What better news could Adam and Eve receive?
Their sin leads to their removal from Eden, leads them to be exiled from God's presence. Though they had walked with him as you would a friend, now God would have to rightly deal with their sin. God's curse now takes the place of his blessing; where once he said, "it was very good" (1:31), he now says, "you are dust, and to dust you shall return" (3:19). If ever humanity had a low point, this was it.
But after hearing God's curses, Adam doesn't seem to feel low. He's quite optimistic, actually. The moment after he hears that he will die just as God said he would (2:17), he decides to name his wife Eve. It's weird that she still doesn't have a name at this point, but her name proves Adam's surprising optimism. "The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living" (3:20). The humans are doomed to die, destined to return to dust. But when the Judge hands down the death sentence upon his rebellious creatures, Adam names his wife "Life." Why?
Because of the promise of 3:15. God curses the serpent, Satan, and tells him, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." The sinful woman's offspring was the one who would crush the serpent's head. When the worst news in all the universe was first delivered to God, he gave first expression to the good news, the greatest news in all history. When Adam and Eve failed, God immediately told them of another who would come and succeed on their behalf.
This heartbreaking chapter reveals God's love and grace to us in Christ! No matter how bad things seem, no matter how difficult or dark the circumstances, we can trust that the good news is better than any other news we want to hear. God can take the worst of your worst and bring it about for your good. He even did this when the worst that could happen, happened. If God could take the unraveling of the goodness of his creation and turn that into good news, what can he do with your life and circumstances? The bad news is bad, but it makes the good news that God brings to us all the sweeter.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Genesis 3 Postponed!
Sorry, everyone. Crazy weekend, and I'm preaching tomorrow. Why don't we take today off instead of this coming Friday? Hope that's alright with you all!
Saturday, February 19, 2011
February 19: Psalm 21
Today's reading.
Have you ever felt tempted to do what you can, in your own strength, to retaliate? Someone has hurt or offended you, broken trust or confidence, done what ought not to be done, and you want to fight back. You clinch your fists, grit your teeth, and prepare to pounce at the first sign of your opponent. If you could just get your hands on them...
Human justice wants that. We want the satisfaction, feel we are owed the right to mete out punishment on a wrongdoer. We think that whatever wounds we've experienced at their hands will somehow be healed by wounding them in kind. That's all the justice we're capable of, eye for eye, tooth for tooth.
Thank God he is just.
Sometimes the psalms sound harsh in the way they speak of God's enemies (21:8-12). God will swallow them up, consume them in his wrath, cut off their descendants from the face of the earth. I love verse 12 that says God will "aim at their faces with your bows." The psalmist says to his enemies, "God's going to hit you in the face! With an arrow!" The sound of it strikes me as funny (and somewhat disturbing), but I think we are meant to find real comfort in it.
The fact is that there are people in the world (and in the church) who use worldly methods to gain power for themselves. And humanly speaking, they are stronger than the godly. But God's weakness is stronger than man's power, as we've been reminded in 1 Corinthians. And this psalm's opening verse, "O Lord, in your strength the king rejoices, and in your salvation how greatly he exults," shows great faith. The king could strike out against his enemies, but instead he commits himself to the Lord, body and soul, kingdom and family. Little Israel is exposed to the armies of all its enemies, but the king trusts not in the strength of Israel's military strategy, but in the Lord: "For the king trusts in the Lord, and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved" (21:7).
We can either put our trust in our own strength or in God's. Those who trust in their own strength and take matters into their own hands will, for a time, appear to prosper. But if we respond in kind, we miss out on the rich blessings of the "joy of [God's] presence" (21:6). Dwelling in God's presence means not returning sin for sin, but singing and praising God's power (21:13).
God holds all justice in his hands. When we put our faith in his justice, we are suddenly free from needing to grasp after power. We are liberated from seeking human justice to put our faith in the Almighty who will one day judge the living and the dead. Refraining from asserting our rights, willingly turning the other cheek when someone has wronged us requires faith in a final judgment in which God will right every wrong and wipe away every tear.
I will sing and praise God's power. All justice and judgment are his. Through the love of the Most High I will not be moved. I don't have to strike my enemy in the face when he's done so to me; God's arrows will find his face on that Day.
Or, by God's grace, perhaps he will so change me, so radically elevate me by the gospel of his love and mercy that I will one day be able to respond to injustice with Christ's own prayer, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." Perhaps the gospel will one day so penetrate my heart that, rather than desire divine justice upon my enemy, I will want them to see mercy as I have. With man, with me, this is truly impossible. Thank God nothing is impossible for him.
Have you ever felt tempted to do what you can, in your own strength, to retaliate? Someone has hurt or offended you, broken trust or confidence, done what ought not to be done, and you want to fight back. You clinch your fists, grit your teeth, and prepare to pounce at the first sign of your opponent. If you could just get your hands on them...
Human justice wants that. We want the satisfaction, feel we are owed the right to mete out punishment on a wrongdoer. We think that whatever wounds we've experienced at their hands will somehow be healed by wounding them in kind. That's all the justice we're capable of, eye for eye, tooth for tooth.
Thank God he is just.
Sometimes the psalms sound harsh in the way they speak of God's enemies (21:8-12). God will swallow them up, consume them in his wrath, cut off their descendants from the face of the earth. I love verse 12 that says God will "aim at their faces with your bows." The psalmist says to his enemies, "God's going to hit you in the face! With an arrow!" The sound of it strikes me as funny (and somewhat disturbing), but I think we are meant to find real comfort in it.
The fact is that there are people in the world (and in the church) who use worldly methods to gain power for themselves. And humanly speaking, they are stronger than the godly. But God's weakness is stronger than man's power, as we've been reminded in 1 Corinthians. And this psalm's opening verse, "O Lord, in your strength the king rejoices, and in your salvation how greatly he exults," shows great faith. The king could strike out against his enemies, but instead he commits himself to the Lord, body and soul, kingdom and family. Little Israel is exposed to the armies of all its enemies, but the king trusts not in the strength of Israel's military strategy, but in the Lord: "For the king trusts in the Lord, and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved" (21:7).
We can either put our trust in our own strength or in God's. Those who trust in their own strength and take matters into their own hands will, for a time, appear to prosper. But if we respond in kind, we miss out on the rich blessings of the "joy of [God's] presence" (21:6). Dwelling in God's presence means not returning sin for sin, but singing and praising God's power (21:13).
God holds all justice in his hands. When we put our faith in his justice, we are suddenly free from needing to grasp after power. We are liberated from seeking human justice to put our faith in the Almighty who will one day judge the living and the dead. Refraining from asserting our rights, willingly turning the other cheek when someone has wronged us requires faith in a final judgment in which God will right every wrong and wipe away every tear.
I will sing and praise God's power. All justice and judgment are his. Through the love of the Most High I will not be moved. I don't have to strike my enemy in the face when he's done so to me; God's arrows will find his face on that Day.
Or, by God's grace, perhaps he will so change me, so radically elevate me by the gospel of his love and mercy that I will one day be able to respond to injustice with Christ's own prayer, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." Perhaps the gospel will one day so penetrate my heart that, rather than desire divine justice upon my enemy, I will want them to see mercy as I have. With man, with me, this is truly impossible. Thank God nothing is impossible for him.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
February 17: Genesis 2
I love Genesis because in it God reveals himself to be a loving, gracious, generous, creative, personal, intimate, glorious God. We learn so much about God in Genesis that is fundamental to our understanding of the entire Bible and to our view of who God is and who we are. In other words, Genesis is important (and awesome!).
Getting Genesis 1-2 is key because it is the first pillar in the edifice of the gospel story: creation-fall-redemption-restoration. Understanding the fall requires we understand from what heights our first parents fell. Understanding Christ's work of redemption and restoration teaches us how deeply God loves us and helps us see just a glimpse of what a restored world will look like in fellowship with our Creator.
In the first telling of the creation story, man's creation is the culmination of God's work. In the second telling, in Genesis 2, the story becomes much more focused on God's human creatures and their relationship to him.
God cares intimately for Adam: he forms him from the dust of the ground, breathes into his nostrils the breath of life (2:7). Then God creates a Garden home for the man in Eden where he "made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food" (2:9). God takes time out of his busy schedule running the universe to create the perfect home for Adam where the two of them can meet and have perfect, unbroken fellowship. Sounds pretty awesome.
God puts Adam in the Garden "to work it and keep it" (2:15). Then he gives his command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or he'll die. Adam is not to determine good and evil for himself by eating from that tree; he is to be dependent on God to teach him right from wrong.
The Lord has given Adam a magnificent home, all the food he'll ever need, fellowship with him, but he sees that Adam should not be alone (2:18). Adam reviews all the creatures God has made thus far to see if there is anyone in there who is "suitable" to be his helper. The orangutans and hippos don't qualify. Adam is bummed. He's the only one of God's creatures without a mate.
Here again, God provides generously (anyone bummed about waiting for a spouse? God provides!). He takes one of Adam's ribs, makes a woman and brings her to him ("look what I've got for you!"). And when he sees her, he writes history's first poem (or, perhaps, it's first cheesy love song). "At last," Adam sings, this is the one I've been waiting for. Looking for. Longing for. God knows every need, every desire of our heart. He is good. He gives us exactly what we need when we need it.
Adam and the woman (she hasn't got a name yet) are married and become "one flesh" (2:24). They are one. And this marriage was all honeymoon. There was no sin to lead them to argue, no hiding from one another, no showing their best side and keeping their innermost thoughts from the other. They "were both naked and were not ashamed" (2:25). They were completely exposed to one another, perfectly intimate, unhindered in their love for one another. There was nothing to break their relationship with God, nothing to inhibit their relationship with each other. I don't know what perfect is, but this sounds "very good" (1:31).
Your God loves you and has given you everything. He gave humanity everything at creation. And God required nothing more from them than that they love and trust him. If they could simply live rightly before him, walk faithfully in his ways, they could continue in the bonds of perfect fellowship with him and with each other for eternity. If only.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
February 16: Genesis 1
Today's reading.
We are finished with Mark! Now on to one of my favorite portions of Scripture, the book of Genesis. We'll be doing Genesis two days in a row and a Psalm on the third day so that we won't be in Genesis for too long.
I was deeply affected as I read through this passage. Through it, the Holy Spirit really helped me to see how beautiful, how joyful, how playful our God is. I swear I could hear a Triune laugh somewhere around verse 21. After creating the birds and seeing them flutter across the sky for the first time, how could you avoid laughing at the mere glory of it all? I don't think even God was immune to such a magnificent sight.
There is an exuberance to God's voice as he creates. "Let there be! Let there be!" On the first three days, he makes the light and the heavens and the waters and the earth. And when he starts filling those spaces, starts creating things to fill and govern those spaces, you can almost hear the excitement in his voice.
On Day Four, God makes the Lights to govern the light he made on Day One. Let there be lights in the heavens to separate day and night and to give signs for seasons and days and years and to light up the heavens and give light to the earth (1:14-15)! On Day Five, he mades the birds and fish to govern the heavens and waters he separated on Day Two, but he doesn't just make them. He tells them to swarm and fly! "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens" (1:20)! On Day Six, he makes the earthly creatures to roam the earth he made on Day Three, "the livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth" (1:24). And all of it was good!
Then God made man. But he didn't just make man. He made man "in our image" (1:26). But he didn't just make man in their image. He made man "in our image, after our likeness." Image and likeness mean the same thing, but when you're excited about something, you can't help saying more about it than you otherwise would (at least, I can't!). God's enthusiasm is palpable. He's creating man! He's making image bearers, the crowning achievement of his creation! In a very real sense, God is giving life to new children. And he loves them so much, the first thing he does is give them the whole world.
First thing God does with his new kids is bless them (1:28)! God hasn't even talked to them yet, they certainly haven't done anything yet, but he's blessing them. These are his kids! Penny didn't have to do anything to win my love on the day she was born; she was my "beautiful baby girl" when she was still all messy from birth. God's fatherly love for his children is no less automatic. He blesses them and then gives them the keys to paradise (1:28).
There was no worry, fear, shame or guilt on humanity's birthday. There was nothing but sweet, effortless, unbroken fellowship between us and God. Every longing of our heart was fulfilled in our Father, every itch scratched, every need provided. Imagine what it would have been like to look out across a brand new earth and say with God, "it was very good" (1:31). That is the God we worship and serve. That is how he created our world.
We are finished with Mark! Now on to one of my favorite portions of Scripture, the book of Genesis. We'll be doing Genesis two days in a row and a Psalm on the third day so that we won't be in Genesis for too long.
I was deeply affected as I read through this passage. Through it, the Holy Spirit really helped me to see how beautiful, how joyful, how playful our God is. I swear I could hear a Triune laugh somewhere around verse 21. After creating the birds and seeing them flutter across the sky for the first time, how could you avoid laughing at the mere glory of it all? I don't think even God was immune to such a magnificent sight.
There is an exuberance to God's voice as he creates. "Let there be! Let there be!" On the first three days, he makes the light and the heavens and the waters and the earth. And when he starts filling those spaces, starts creating things to fill and govern those spaces, you can almost hear the excitement in his voice.
On Day Four, God makes the Lights to govern the light he made on Day One. Let there be lights in the heavens to separate day and night and to give signs for seasons and days and years and to light up the heavens and give light to the earth (1:14-15)! On Day Five, he mades the birds and fish to govern the heavens and waters he separated on Day Two, but he doesn't just make them. He tells them to swarm and fly! "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens" (1:20)! On Day Six, he makes the earthly creatures to roam the earth he made on Day Three, "the livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth" (1:24). And all of it was good!
Then God made man. But he didn't just make man. He made man "in our image" (1:26). But he didn't just make man in their image. He made man "in our image, after our likeness." Image and likeness mean the same thing, but when you're excited about something, you can't help saying more about it than you otherwise would (at least, I can't!). God's enthusiasm is palpable. He's creating man! He's making image bearers, the crowning achievement of his creation! In a very real sense, God is giving life to new children. And he loves them so much, the first thing he does is give them the whole world.
First thing God does with his new kids is bless them (1:28)! God hasn't even talked to them yet, they certainly haven't done anything yet, but he's blessing them. These are his kids! Penny didn't have to do anything to win my love on the day she was born; she was my "beautiful baby girl" when she was still all messy from birth. God's fatherly love for his children is no less automatic. He blesses them and then gives them the keys to paradise (1:28).
There was no worry, fear, shame or guilt on humanity's birthday. There was nothing but sweet, effortless, unbroken fellowship between us and God. Every longing of our heart was fulfilled in our Father, every itch scratched, every need provided. Imagine what it would have been like to look out across a brand new earth and say with God, "it was very good" (1:31). That is the God we worship and serve. That is how he created our world.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
February 15: Psalm 20
Today's reading.
Psalm 20:7 is one of my favorite verses in Scripture. It hits me like a song lyric: "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God."
Why should we be so confident in the name of the Lord? An updated version of this verse might read something like, "Some trust in fighter jets and some in nuclear submarines..." or "Some trust in ballistic missiles and some in smart bombs..." When you think of it in those terms, can you say, "but I trust in the name of the LORD our God"?
Why could the psalmist put his trust in a name rather than the military muscle of the nations of his day? Why is he more confident in God than in the latest, most powerful, most destructive weapons available?
Because "the Lord saves his anointed" (20:6).
He is the answer to all the prayers of 20:1-5, he is the reason that "we rise and stand upright" (20:8). Whatever the danger, whatever struggles we may face, God has set forth his purpose in his anointed—his Son, the Lord Jesus. The truth of the gospel—God's desire to save a people for himself—is the most fundamentally true thing about the universe. When we let that truth sink into our innermost being, we can't help but shrug off tactical missile strikes and nuclear crises. The most dangerous force in existence—the wrath of the Almighty—has been pacified. Christ has delivered us from harm's way. What are a few chariots or horses?
What seeming danger do you face right now? Yesterday, I was tempted to fear for our financial well-being again (it seems like that always happens on Mondays). I was letting myself be overwhelmed by powerful, earthly forces. I was forgetting that every heavenly force is aligned on my side. Whatever the outcome of our current circumstances, we can't lose. In Christ, "we rise and stand upright."
Trust in the name of the Lord our God today. On account of Christ, he has delivered you from your greatest danger. What makes you (me) think he won't deliver you (me) from all others? Trust him.
Psalm 20:7 is one of my favorite verses in Scripture. It hits me like a song lyric: "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God."
Why should we be so confident in the name of the Lord? An updated version of this verse might read something like, "Some trust in fighter jets and some in nuclear submarines..." or "Some trust in ballistic missiles and some in smart bombs..." When you think of it in those terms, can you say, "but I trust in the name of the LORD our God"?
Why could the psalmist put his trust in a name rather than the military muscle of the nations of his day? Why is he more confident in God than in the latest, most powerful, most destructive weapons available?
Because "the Lord saves his anointed" (20:6).
He is the answer to all the prayers of 20:1-5, he is the reason that "we rise and stand upright" (20:8). Whatever the danger, whatever struggles we may face, God has set forth his purpose in his anointed—his Son, the Lord Jesus. The truth of the gospel—God's desire to save a people for himself—is the most fundamentally true thing about the universe. When we let that truth sink into our innermost being, we can't help but shrug off tactical missile strikes and nuclear crises. The most dangerous force in existence—the wrath of the Almighty—has been pacified. Christ has delivered us from harm's way. What are a few chariots or horses?
What seeming danger do you face right now? Yesterday, I was tempted to fear for our financial well-being again (it seems like that always happens on Mondays). I was letting myself be overwhelmed by powerful, earthly forces. I was forgetting that every heavenly force is aligned on my side. Whatever the outcome of our current circumstances, we can't lose. In Christ, "we rise and stand upright."
Trust in the name of the Lord our God today. On account of Christ, he has delivered you from your greatest danger. What makes you (me) think he won't deliver you (me) from all others? Trust him.
Monday, February 14, 2011
February 14: Mark 16:1-8*
Today's reading.
The women's response to the angel is interesting. Their first response was not to jump for joy. They didn't throw a party or go shouting about the good news through town. Their initial response to the news of the resurrection was to tremble and fear and say "nothing to anyone" (16:8). (Of course, they eventually told someone; otherwise, we wouldn't know who was there or what they saw.)
Wouldn't you respond the same way? You go to the grave of your friend who was brutally executed last week and arrive to find no body, a disturbed tomb, and a shining, white-robed guy telling you your friend isn't there but is up walking around somewhere. I hear that and I think Night of the Living Dead or something. And then the angel says that "you will see him" in your hometown, in Galilee, "just as he told you" (16:7). Now, not only is my dead friend not in his grave where I last saw him, but he's going to meet me at home. That's scary.
Most every person on the planet fears death. It is an inevitable, awful event that is utterly beyond our control. Our society tries to tame it, tries to dress it up in flowers and Disney songs, tells you to quit crying and "celebrate" the deceased's life rather than mourn their death. But death is real, it is tragic, it is horrible and it is the end that every single living thing on this planet will one day meet. Mary and Mary and Salome have just witnessed the death of their friend a few days earlier. They are sad and in mourning. Now they hear that Jesus is alive. How are they supposed to respond to that?
We know more of the story now than they did when they first heard the news from the angel. We know that Jesus later appeared to these women, that he comforted them. We know he appeared to his disciples and gave them instructions to spread the gospel of his life, death and resurrection to all people, making disciples of the nations. We know that after he appeared to many of his followers at various times, that he ascended to heaven and sat down at the right hand of the Father. And we know that one day, our Risen Lord will return to earth to gather his people and bring justice to the world.
What does the resurrection mean for us today? Everything. We don't worship a dead man who had a few good ideas about loving others and being groovy. We worship the Son of God who conquered the greatest enemy of the human race, death itself. As human beings have EVERY reason to fear death (which is why our culture dresses it up in pink and smiley faces), but in Christ death has no sting (1 Cor. 15:54-57). The resurrection tames death into Jesus's lap dog; as his people, death is little more than something that licks us on the way to meet our Savior.
If you're sick, the resurrection holds out a promise of healing. If you're having financial troubles, the resurrection promises treasure in heaven. If you're hurting or alone, the resurrection promises the full, glorious presence of Jesus himself. The resurrection is real, historically-rooted, God-promised hope for us both now and forever. The resurrection means that Jesus doesn't merely live in our hearts, but that he truly, physically lives, waiting for the day when he will fully and finally be united to us, his bride, the church. So we say with John, "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!" (Rev. 22:20).
*Below is a brief explanation of why I only treated verses 1-8 of this last chapter. Don't feel obliged to read it, but you may find it helpful.
Mark's account of Jesus's resurrection poses an interesting difficulty for us. This is the case because 99% of biblical scholars agree that Mark 16:9-20 is not really part of Mark at all. The best evidence we have of the earliest Greek manuscripts and the writings of the early church fathers tell us that the version of the gospel of Mark that we have ends at verse 8. It is possible (some would argue, likely) that Mark wrote more than 16:1-8, but we do not have it. 16:9-20 is not Mark's writing, but this should not undercut our confidence in the Bible we do have. The fact is that none but a few scattered verses of our Scriptures are in any doubt at all.
We do not have the original copies of Paul's letters with his signature or the scrolls of prophecy that Jeremiah himself wrote down. We have copies of these books that have been copied and copied over and over again, transmitted through the centuries to us today. Textual criticism is a field of study that sifts through the various copies of the books of the Bible that we have from the early days of the church. Textual criticism is used where any ancient document is concerned: we don't have any original writings from Plato or Aristotle either, but they have been transmitted in the same way the Bible has been.
The fact is that we are ten times more sure of what the original authors of the Bible wrote than we are of what Plato or Aristotle did. We have hundreds more biblical manuscripts than we do copies of Plato. In God's providence we have literally thousands of copies of the books of the New Testament from the ancient world, some of which date back to the first century, the same century in which the Bible was written. That means we have 2000 year old scraps of paper that have verses from the Bible on them. That is an incredible thing. Though some skeptical scholars make hay about the few remaining uncertainties about the biblical text (like the end of Mark), the overwhelming majority of biblical scholars agree that we know with 98-99% certainty how the original documents of Holy Scripture read. And most of the areas where we're unsure are the's and and's. In the end, we can be confident that our Bible is the same one the apostles had.
If you have any questions about these things, please feel free to comment.
The women's response to the angel is interesting. Their first response was not to jump for joy. They didn't throw a party or go shouting about the good news through town. Their initial response to the news of the resurrection was to tremble and fear and say "nothing to anyone" (16:8). (Of course, they eventually told someone; otherwise, we wouldn't know who was there or what they saw.)
Wouldn't you respond the same way? You go to the grave of your friend who was brutally executed last week and arrive to find no body, a disturbed tomb, and a shining, white-robed guy telling you your friend isn't there but is up walking around somewhere. I hear that and I think Night of the Living Dead or something. And then the angel says that "you will see him" in your hometown, in Galilee, "just as he told you" (16:7). Now, not only is my dead friend not in his grave where I last saw him, but he's going to meet me at home. That's scary.
Most every person on the planet fears death. It is an inevitable, awful event that is utterly beyond our control. Our society tries to tame it, tries to dress it up in flowers and Disney songs, tells you to quit crying and "celebrate" the deceased's life rather than mourn their death. But death is real, it is tragic, it is horrible and it is the end that every single living thing on this planet will one day meet. Mary and Mary and Salome have just witnessed the death of their friend a few days earlier. They are sad and in mourning. Now they hear that Jesus is alive. How are they supposed to respond to that?
We know more of the story now than they did when they first heard the news from the angel. We know that Jesus later appeared to these women, that he comforted them. We know he appeared to his disciples and gave them instructions to spread the gospel of his life, death and resurrection to all people, making disciples of the nations. We know that after he appeared to many of his followers at various times, that he ascended to heaven and sat down at the right hand of the Father. And we know that one day, our Risen Lord will return to earth to gather his people and bring justice to the world.
What does the resurrection mean for us today? Everything. We don't worship a dead man who had a few good ideas about loving others and being groovy. We worship the Son of God who conquered the greatest enemy of the human race, death itself. As human beings have EVERY reason to fear death (which is why our culture dresses it up in pink and smiley faces), but in Christ death has no sting (1 Cor. 15:54-57). The resurrection tames death into Jesus's lap dog; as his people, death is little more than something that licks us on the way to meet our Savior.
If you're sick, the resurrection holds out a promise of healing. If you're having financial troubles, the resurrection promises treasure in heaven. If you're hurting or alone, the resurrection promises the full, glorious presence of Jesus himself. The resurrection is real, historically-rooted, God-promised hope for us both now and forever. The resurrection means that Jesus doesn't merely live in our hearts, but that he truly, physically lives, waiting for the day when he will fully and finally be united to us, his bride, the church. So we say with John, "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!" (Rev. 22:20).
*Below is a brief explanation of why I only treated verses 1-8 of this last chapter. Don't feel obliged to read it, but you may find it helpful.
Mark's account of Jesus's resurrection poses an interesting difficulty for us. This is the case because 99% of biblical scholars agree that Mark 16:9-20 is not really part of Mark at all. The best evidence we have of the earliest Greek manuscripts and the writings of the early church fathers tell us that the version of the gospel of Mark that we have ends at verse 8. It is possible (some would argue, likely) that Mark wrote more than 16:1-8, but we do not have it. 16:9-20 is not Mark's writing, but this should not undercut our confidence in the Bible we do have. The fact is that none but a few scattered verses of our Scriptures are in any doubt at all.
We do not have the original copies of Paul's letters with his signature or the scrolls of prophecy that Jeremiah himself wrote down. We have copies of these books that have been copied and copied over and over again, transmitted through the centuries to us today. Textual criticism is a field of study that sifts through the various copies of the books of the Bible that we have from the early days of the church. Textual criticism is used where any ancient document is concerned: we don't have any original writings from Plato or Aristotle either, but they have been transmitted in the same way the Bible has been.
The fact is that we are ten times more sure of what the original authors of the Bible wrote than we are of what Plato or Aristotle did. We have hundreds more biblical manuscripts than we do copies of Plato. In God's providence we have literally thousands of copies of the books of the New Testament from the ancient world, some of which date back to the first century, the same century in which the Bible was written. That means we have 2000 year old scraps of paper that have verses from the Bible on them. That is an incredible thing. Though some skeptical scholars make hay about the few remaining uncertainties about the biblical text (like the end of Mark), the overwhelming majority of biblical scholars agree that we know with 98-99% certainty how the original documents of Holy Scripture read. And most of the areas where we're unsure are the's and and's. In the end, we can be confident that our Bible is the same one the apostles had.
If you have any questions about these things, please feel free to comment.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)