Tag: sin

Look Up (Isaiah 42:10-18)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment

Sing to the Lord a new song,
    his praise from the end of the earth!
Let the sea roar and all that fills it,
    the coastlands and their inhabitants.
Let the desert and its towns lift up their voice,
    the villages that Kedar inhabits;
let the inhabitants of Sela shout for joy;
    let them shout from the tops of the mountains.
Let them give glory to the Lord
    and declare his praise in the coastlands.
The Lord goes forth like a soldier;
    like a warrior he stirs up his fury;
he cries out; he shouts aloud;
    he shows himself mighty against his foes.

For a long time I have held my peace;
    I have kept still and restrained myself;
now I will cry out like a woman in labor;
    I will gasp and pant.
I will lay waste mountains and hills
    and dry up all their herbage;
I will turn the rivers into islands
    and dry up the pools.
I will lead the blind
    by a road they do not know;
by paths they have not known
    I will guide them.
I will turn the darkness before them into light,
    the rough places into level ground.
These are the things I will do,
    and I will not forsake them.
They shall be turned back and utterly put to shame—
    those who trust in carved images,
who say to cast images,
    “You are our gods.”

Listen, you who are deaf,
    and you who are blind, look up and see! (New Revised Standard Version)

All creation, along with all creatures, are to praise the Lord. The coastlands and borderlands serve as witnesses to God’s justice and to human injustice.

The trees aren’t just standing there with their majestic trunks and branches. They are present to any and all of the wickedness that people may do.They experience all good that God does, and the evil which humanity does.

The rocks, the hills, the plants, all that is alive around us are sacred witnesses to what is happening on this earth – both the good and the bad.

All of creation declares God’s praise, and testifies to God of what is going on in the world.

As a result, the Lord is roused to action; God comes to attention like a soldier and is ready to move out.

The Lord will lead the (spiritually) blind in new directions. God’s active participation will put to shame all the people who trust in alternative gods or other things.

The prophet Isaiah says that the people were called to look up and see.

Everyone, look up. Look. Up.

Because the Lord knows that if folks will look up, and see God, that it changes everything for them.

We are invited to look up and sing praises to the Lord. The singers include every creature on earth, the oceans, the seas, the waters, the desert, the coast, the land, and the people.

Look up and see that God is about to act. And the action will be good for some, and not so good for others.

Whenever God moves, you know it. There will be some noise to it, like a woman in labor.

Nothing is beyond the reach of God. The Lord will do divine work of building up, tearing down, and building up again – all according to the divine will.

God will act on behalf of the faithful, the humble, the needy, and all those who look to the Lord. So, we must look up.

We cannot see what is happening, or who is there, if our heads are down. Everything has the potential to be different and changed if we will but lift our heads and look up.

There are a lot of reasons why we may be looking down. We might believe God doesn’t see or isn’t watching. But the Lord is neither deaf nor blind – we are. For us to notice, we must look up.

We may lack self-awareness, not realizing who we truly are, or what the state of things with us really is. Perhaps there is discouragement, despondency, or depression. Maybe hope has disappeared.

It could be that there is guilt, or shame, or uncertainty, and so fear is keeping the head down and eyes looking at the ground.

So, look up.

Abram looked up, saw an incredible future, and heard an amazing promise:

He [the Lord] took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:5-6, NIV)

Mary Magdalene looked up at Jesus, and her deep sorrow turned to great astonishment and joy:

Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in.She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her.

“Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”

She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”

She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”

“Mary!” Jesus said.

She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”). (John 20:11-16, NLT)

Stephen looked up, and his persecution turned to glory:

When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” (Acts 7:54-56, NIV)

We are to look up so that we can see how things truly are, and whom we really serve. Only then can we accept what is, and what God is doing.

Spiritual awareness enables us to see clearly and discern well. It comes when we look up, see the glory of God, and accept the invitation to respond.

Lord God almighty, Creator of heaven and earth:

How awesome are your works!
    Because of your great strength,
        your enemies cringe before you.
All the earth worships you,
    sings praises to you,
        sings praises to your name!

If I had cherished evil in my heart,
    my Lord would not have listened.
But God definitely listened.
    He heard the sound of my prayer.
Bless God! He didn’t reject my prayer;
    he didn’t withhold his faithful love from me. Amen. (Psalm 66:3-4, 18-20, CEB)

Christ Is Effective (Hebrews 10:10-18)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
Orthodox icon of Jesus Christ

Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:

“This is the covenant I will make with them
    after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
    and I will write them on their minds.”

Then he adds:

“Their sins and lawless acts
    I will remember no more.”

And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary. (New International Version)

We are reminded in this Advent season of the Christian Year, that the coming of Christ had a purpose: Offering himself for all of the guilt and shame of the world.

Through the incarnation of Christ, God entered the world in order to deliver all creation from the power of evil, to give freedom from sin, death, and hell, so that people could come to God.

The old sacrificial system of Levitical priests offering sacrifices was good, but it was not effective. Jesus, as both priest and offering, is infinitely better. Christ’s offering was so superior that it was the sacrifice to end all sacrifices.

Jesus Christ was willing to do the work of offering himself, and was the perfect person to do it. No other could have done it.

The perfect sacrifice, offered by the perfect priest, was precisely what humanity needed. And that offering was so effective that it still lasts. The sacrifice of Christ has permanence.

In the Christian religious tradition, Jesus is the logical, reasonable, and promised way of reversing the curse upon humanity and doing away with sin forever.

The person and work of Christ is both a simple project to understand, as well as so complex that we will spend an eternity exploring Jesus and his ministry.

So, let’s make sure to maintain the tension of a message everyone can understand, as well as a message so deep and wide that we need to keep discovering how it continues to unfold, even up to this day and beyond.

The priest in the old covenant made daily offerings. The sacrifices were a reminder of guilt; none of them could take away sins. But Christ made one offering that potently took care of the sin issue once and for all.

By sitting down at the right hand of God, the symbolism tells us that the redemptive work of Christ is finished.

The offerings of the Levitical priests in the old system were repeated because they were insufficient to take away human shame. But Jesus “endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)

The author of Hebrews tells us that the once-for-all offering of Jesus made the worshiper perfect. It makes sense that a perfect Savior offered a perfect sacrifice, with the effect of making perfect those who are coming to God.

“Perfect” does not mean that the worshiper is now completely without sin, as if an instant moral and ethical perfection occurred. The author was not communicating that Christians are completely unblemished, pure, and never error in their ways.

Rather, the Book of Hebrews has the message that we can come to God without any obstacles. Worshipers are now in a situation where they can engage in the project of Christian maturity without any hindrances to access with God.

Even death will not stop the believer from coming to God. Death, hell, and sin have been conquered by Christ’s offering of himself. We can now spiritually grow, instead of spiritually wither. The way is open to God.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:15-16, NIV)

In Christ, we have shed our human weakness and have obtained an indestructible life. (Hebrews 7:16)

The “perfection” or maturity and full realization of God’s promises in Christ will culminate at the end of the age. So, it is theologically (doctrine of God) and anthropologically (doctrine of humanity) appropriate to say that we are perfect and not yet perfect.

Put a different way, in the context of soteriology (doctrine of salvation), we have been saved, are being saved, and will be saved. The Cross of Christ has secured perfect deliverance for us.

Yet, we must live into that deliverance, which is what we call “sanctification” or the process of being made holy, pure, and mature as Christians.

And we will not be completely free of the world’s evil machinations, our own sinful proclivities, and the devil’s stratagems against us until the second advent when Christ returns to judge the living and the dead.

For now, we are in the process of being made perfect. We struggle daily with the tension between good and bad, right and wrong, justice and injustice.

Its as if the offering of Jesus, the Cross of Christ, made the largest splash in history, with ripples still extending out in all directions into the past and the future that keep making significant waves.

Eventually, there will be serenity, reconciliation, and harmony across the earth. But until then, we can have peace now, knowing that where there is forgiveness of sins, there is no longer any offering for sin.

Thank you, Jesus. Praise the Lord.

Heavenly Father, in you we live and move and have our being: We humbly pray you so to guide and govern us by your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are ever walking in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

An Advent Message of Suffering and Deliverance (Micah 4:8-13)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
The Prophet Micah Exhorts the Israelites, by Gustave Doré, 1866

As for you, Jerusalem,
    the citadel of God’s people,
your royal might and power
    will come back to you again.
The kingship will be restored
    to my precious Jerusalem.

But why are you now screaming in terror?
    Have you no king to lead you?
Have your wise people all died?
    Pain has gripped you like a woman in childbirth.
Writhe and groan like a woman in labor,
    you people of Jerusalem,
for now you must leave this city
    to live in the open country.
You will soon be sent in exile
    to distant Babylon.
But the Lord will rescue you there;
    he will redeem you from the grip of your enemies.

Now many nations have gathered against you.
    “Let her be desecrated,” they say.
    “Let us see the destruction of Jerusalem.”
But they do not know the Lord’s thoughts
    or understand his plan.
These nations don’t know
    that he is gathering them together
to be beaten and trampled
    like sheaves of grain on a threshing floor.
“Rise up and crush the nations, O Jerusalem!”
    says the Lord.
“For I will give you iron horns and bronze hooves,
    so you can trample many nations to pieces.
You will present their stolen riches to the Lord,
    their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.” (New Living Translation)

A lot of people don’t understand much about the Bible, especially many parts of what some call the Old or First Testament of it. It seems to them like it’s all either nonsense or gobbledygook.

I am not exaggerating when I say that I have read the entire Bible not once, but hundreds of times. And there are still many places within Holy Scripture which are an enigma to me.

Part of the reason the Bible can seem so difficult is that, at times, the perspective being written about is so expansive, so large, and so wide that it nearly defies human comprehension.

The Bible reveals a God who is so transcendent that the Lord is able to see the past, the present, and the future all at once, because God is actually above everything, including time.

None of this talk on my part is meant to discourage anyone from reading scripture. Rather, it’s meant to encourage you to keep on reading it, listening to it, talking about it, and exploring its contents.

Instead of a being an impossible puzzle we cannot put together, the Bible is, instead, a deep treasure trove of knowledge, wisdom, and insight into the human condition and the human purpose for being on this earth.

The reason the biblical prophets came along – and included into the canon of Holy Scripture – is that they called people back to their original purpose for being here in the first place.

In every prophetic book, the culture, the society, the religion, and the politics of a people had strayed so far from their reason for existing, that it took what seems to us as extreme language in order to get them back on track.

There were some cases so bad that the prophet’s message to people was inevitable doom. And yet, even then, there was a nugget of grace, showing us that no matter how terrible things may get, the arm of God is not too short to pull the faithful from the brink of annihilation.

Examining the Book of Micah, there is nothing easy about it. The prophet wrote at a time when Assyrian power was dominate, and about to swallow up the northern kingdom of Israel. Yet, he spoke directly to Jerusalem in the southern kingdom of Judah.

Much like a woman in labor and about to give birth, Jerusalem’s cry of suffering will be transformed into a cry of deliverance and freedom.

But we aren’t talking about something that will happen in a few days or even a few years; the prophet was giving the people a panoramic sweep of centuries.

Eventually, the Babylonians come, take the people out of the city into exile to Babylon. It is a cry of pain. Micah was speaking about events which would not occur for another two hundred years.

Yet, at the same time, Micah was talking about his own present generation of people in Israel and Judah. What the people were doing, at that time, was leading to a future of great pain. And there would be a great crying out for salvation from it.

Injustice always creates a state of distress for some, while the ones perpetrating the unjust ways become wealthy on the backs of others who are miserable.

Babylon represented both the place of punishment and of liberation. Out of the exilic darkness, a new age bursts into the light.

Born into a time where many people were longing for God’s deliverance, centuries after the destruction of Jerusalem, after the exile and return to Judea, and after the days of the Maccabees, Jesus subversively entered human history.

Despite all of the human sin, the degradation and oppression of others, the injustice and abuse extant in the world, grace comes in the shape of a baby; mercy enters the world in the form of a child.

The God whom all things depend upon, became dependent, needing a mother to clean him up after a filled first-century diaper. Few people knew at the time that this little baby would be the one to clean up a massive spiritual and metaphorical diaper, full of the world’s nasty stinky injustice.

Presently, it is clear that the nations do not know they will be beaten and trampled – that all who are now in power will be answering to that subversive child born two millennia ago.

Each life may be a mere speck in the scope of history, and yet, at the same time, each life is precious enough to warrant attention from the One who stands above all time.

How you live makes a difference. How you are, matters.

God of both judgment and grace, we pray for all nations, that they may live in unity, peace, and concord; and that all people may know justice, and enjoy perfect freedom. Embrace the most vulnerable members of our society; end the growing disparity between the rich and poor; and grant us courage to strive for economic justice, so that all might know your mercy, and not your wrath. Amen.

Korah’s Rebellion (Numbers 16:20-35)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
Korah’s Rebellion, by John Bradford

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Separate yourselves from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once.”

But Moses and Aaron fell face down and cried out, “O God, the God who gives breath to all living things, will you be angry with the entire assembly when only one man sins?”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to the assembly, ‘Move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.’”

Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. He warned the assembly, “Move back from the tents of these wicked men! Do not touch anything belonging to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.” So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing with their wives, children and little ones at the entrances to their tents.

Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea: If these men die a natural death and suffer the fate of all mankind, then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the realm of the dead, then you will know that these men have treated the Lord with contempt.”

As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, and all those associated with Korah, together with their possessions. They went down alive into the realm of the dead, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community. At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, “The earth is going to swallow us too!”

And fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense. (New International Version)

Rebellion in the community was afoot. There were certain Levite leaders who rejected the leadership of Moses, and especially Aaron. They failed to discern that these men were God’s appointed leaders.

On the surface of things, Korah the ringleader, put the matter in a pious sounding way by presenting Moses and Aaron as against democracy. He insisted that all the community is holy, so therefore, Moses and Aaron were exalting themselves over everyone else.

It becomes apparent, however, that Korah and the other Levites were with him to gain the priesthood. It was the age-old play for power and authority. At the least, the rebels were ungrateful for their own place in the religious system that God, not Moses, had set up.

Moses responded by having Korah and his followers act like priests. He had them come to the tent of meeting with censers to burn incense before the Lord. Then, they could clearly find out whether God would accept their priestly service, or not.

The entire camp, of course, showed up, looking like the townspeople in an old Western movie. The Sheriff and the gunslinging bandit, in the street, about to duel each other.

Since the Lord is a big God, the Lord showed up big.

Yahweh’s glory appeared, threatening to exterminate everyone, townspeople included. Clearly, God had had enough of the people’s continual grumbling and their incessant rebellious spirit.

To demonstrate, once and for all, which side of things God is on, the Lord caused a singular disaster to occur – which had never happened before or since. The ground opened up and the earth literally swallowed up the rebels’ households and all who were with them in the rebellion.

As for the 250 men who were challenging Moses and Aaron with their censers in hand, were seen for who they were: Rebels against God. The little fires in each of their censers erupted into great flames of fire which completely consumed them. They were dead on the spot.

That experience clarified forever who was supposed to be doing the priestly service in Israel.

Although today’s Old Testament lesson is one of the more famous (or infamous) stories of divine judgment in the Bible, it seems to me that perhaps we might focus a bit more on the grace which existed with Moses and Aaron.

After all, if we want to see humanity’s better angels, then let’s talk about them.

I’m not really sure if I would have the humility and wisdom of Moses and Aaron to be concerned for the entire community in such a suspenseful and vitriolic situation. And yet, the two of them appealed to God for mercy on the nation. As a result, it was only the 250 men and their households who experienced condemnation.

There will always be persons like Korah and his followers on this earth. No matter where we go, and no matter how much we may try to avoid them, they’ll show up. And we will have to deal with them.

At such a point, we certainly have a biblical warrant for praying great imprecatory (judgmental) prayers upon them, just as the psalmist did many times.

And there is nothing wrong with our feelings of anger, that is, unless we allow that anger to come out sideways and add to the problem.

Yet, we really do have other options, which is what I think Jesus was getting at with his followers when he said:

“You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the supple moves of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.

“In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.” (Matthew 5:43-48, MSG)

We, of course, see the real stinker that Korah was, along with those who followed him. Yet, we also see the real deal with Moses the leader and Aaron the priest.

In the crucible of a very difficult situation, their true muster came out. They did not try to become judges themselves, nor did they encourage God to raze the entire place and start all over again. Instead, they prayed with humility and wisdom, demonstrating why God had them as leaders over the nation of Israel.

And we are left with the realization that people like you and me will always need to be cognizant and aware to keep developing those virtues of wisdom and humility in our lives.

For there is always a new situation which arises, needing our better angels to show up and handle things well.

O God, you guide the humble in all things, and cause light to bear upon the darkness. Help us, in all of our doubts, uncertainties, and insecurities, to depend upon your grace and ask what you would have us to do. May the Spirit of wisdom save us from foolish choices, so that in your light we can see light, and walking your straight path we may not stumble. Amen.