Christ the KING

Perhaps out of envy and pride, there are some who characterise God as a cruel authoritarian, labelling Him a tyrant because He has all power.  But if God truly was cruel and intolerant, why would He create people He gives the freedom to oppose, rebel and hate Him?  Why would He choose to freely put on human flesh, suffer and die so sinners could be saved and reconciled to Himself?  Because God is loving, His will is that none would perish but all come to repentance.  All who perish will do so justly, and all who are saved is due to receiving His grace by faith in Christ.

There is an opposite error to the "cruel ogre" caricature of God by those who despise Him, and it is often perpetuated by professing Christians who view God as a grandfatherly pacifist who ignores the folly in his grandchildren he dotes upon.  Their view of God ignores what they feel are uncomfortable subjects like holiness, justice and eternal condemnation.  The picture of Jesus returning to earth in the future riding a white war horse wearing a robe dipped in blood clashes with their preferred subject matter of Jesus healing the sick and holding infants in His arms to bless them:  meek, mild, never raising His voice, with a touch so gentle and comfort so serene judgment and condemnation seem foreign to His nature.

Let us not forget Jesus is the KING OF KINGS, the almighty sovereign who rules over all He has created.  The power and authority of earthly kings are merely a shadow of God's power He wields forever as LORD over all.  His first coming revealed Jesus as the servant of all, the Good Shepherd of the sheep who sought to save the lost, and His second coming will reveal another side of Him as He rules with a rod of iron.  Anyone who thinks Jesus is soft and squeamish concerning punishing His enemies who hate Him--think again.  Jesus has always been more than a "nice guy" with polite manners as we would frame Him in our own image:  He alone is God, and we have been created by Him and for Him.  Every person God has created and given the gift of life with the myriad of blessings that only come from Him, He will hold to account for their accepting Him or having adversarial judgments of Him.

Jesus spoke a parable about a man who received for himself a kingdom, and then the king went to a distant land with a promise to return.  He gave each of his 10 servants an equal amount of money to invest while he was away.  Luke 19:14 says, "But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, 'We will not have this man to reign over us.'"  The king's citizens did not acknowledge their king or that he had any authority over them.  Upon the return of the king, he settled accounts with his servants and gave those who were faithful to do the task he committed to them greater responsibilities based upon their ability.  The conclusion of the parable must have been sobering to those who hated and rejected Jesus the Son of God in Luke 19:27:  "But bring here those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me.'"  Upon Christ's return, He will settle accounts both with His servants by rewarding them--as well as destroying His enemies who refused His rule.  In the end, all people will bow before Jesus:  some in worship, and others in death.

God's will is for all people to be reconciled to Him as Paul wrote to believers in 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2:  "Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. ²¹ For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. ¹ We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. ² For He says: "In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you." Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation."  God calls believers to declare His glory among the heathen, and of all people Christians ought to have understanding concerning God's nature, character and power.  Today is the day to be saved; today is the day to be reconciled to God by faith in Christ.

Let us be faithful to do as it is written in Psalm 96:9-10:  "Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth. ¹⁰ Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns; the world also is firmly established, it shall not be moved; He shall judge the peoples righteously."

Unbelief our Adversary

On a drive to the shops this morning, I saw a bus was emblazoned with a large "R U OK?" banner to remind people to care for their mental health as well as asking others how they are going.  It is a helpful question to ask because many people are not "OK," and they may struggle to let on how they are feeling and the difficulties they face.  The reality of struggle and suffering are all around, and domestic violence and bullying has led people to think their situations are hopeless.  The sobering reality is the situations may be hopeless--but only when we exclude God from the picture, focus on hurtful things people have said or done, or our inability to do anything to help ourselves.  God who saves souls is able to bring hope to the hopeless, is a safe refuge, can heal our hearts and renew our minds.

The writers of the psalms were not strangers to trials and troubles, for many times in Scripture they express feelings of depression, hopelessness and despair.  It is natural for us to lose heart when no amount of education or awareness can rid ourselves of unkind bullies and memory of their cruel words and deeds.  It does not take much for old wounds to be opened up again and to feel hurt, powerless and alone.  In this case, bad feelings are beneficial to remind and prompt us to seek the LORD who knows what it is to suffer painful injustice, to be hurt by the very people who should have helped.  The psalmist sang in Psalm 94:17-19:  "Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul would soon have settled in silence. ¹⁸ If I say, "My foot slips," Your mercy, O LORD, will hold me up. ¹⁹ In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul."

When others seem to be the obvious culprits for our anxiety, we wish they would cease and desist.  We want to avoid any interactions with them when this may not be possible--like at school, work or in the family.  With God who is our help in the land of the living, He provides a refuge, peace and rest self-harm or suicide cannot offer.  The sorrows of this world produce death, but through sorrow God is able to bring new life and wholeness where there was only brokenness before.  The psalmist felt it impossible to stand without slipping, but God's mercy steadied him.  Though he was buffeted by anxieties and worries, by faith in God he was not cast down because God's comforts delighted his soul.  We would love everyone to praise, approve of us, and accept us like God does, yet consider the bad treatment Jesus endured joyfully who is only good and blameless.  Jesus was judged and condemned without mercy, yet He had fullness of peace and joy in the presence of His heavenly Father who loved Him and was well-pleased with Him.

As people who cannot escape hurtful words, toxic environments or hateful bullies, we must decide if we will take the words of bullies to heart or if we receive the comfort and mercy God offers us in His word.  Will we choose to despair because our feelings are crushed by criticism or will we turn to the LORD who is merciful and helps us?  As believers, we are called to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:4-6), identifying and arresting in our minds thoughts the teaching of Jesus exposes as lies and untrue, like:  "I am worthless," "Life is hopeless," or "I would be better dead than alive."  Do we sin and experience pain from sins of others?  Yes, and this is why God sent us a Saviour who heals, restores and redeems.  Bullies are a problem, but they are not our enemies:  our adversary is unbelief that approves and accepts the caustic and condemning words of bullies rather than trusting Jesus, taking His words to heart, and holding fast to what He has said to us.  In Christ, Song of Songs 4:7 speaks the truth about Christians from God's perspective:  "You are all fair, my love, and there is no spot in you."  Will we dwell on the hatred of men or glory and rejoice in the love of God?

Wonderful Jesus Christ

In the Law of Moses, God forbade His people from fashioning likenesses of people or animals lest they be worshipped in Deuteronomy 4:15-19:  "Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, ¹⁶ lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female, ¹⁷ the likeness of any animal that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, ¹⁸  the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth. ¹⁹ And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the LORD your God has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage."  Man has a tendency to worship the works of his hands as well as creatures and hosts of heaven God has made.  This prohibition of making carved images was a boundary intended to prevent God's people from stumbling into idolatry.

Interestingly, the prohibitions of the Law were inadequate to keep people from worshipping the creature rather than Creator.  When the people were judged by the LORD for their murmuring against God and Moses with deadly, venomous serpents that bit them, God directed Moses to make a bronze serpent and set it on a pole so that anyone who looked upon it would be healed (Numbers 21).  This bronze serpent was kept for centuries as a relic of God's deliverance, and 2 Kings 18:4 tells us it among other things became an object of worship in Israel:  "He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden image and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it Nehushtan."  King Hezekiah broke the bronze serpent in pieces so it would no longer be reverenced, and his action was a call to return to the worship of the almighty God only.

In Israel today, objects as well as "holy sites" are reverenced by pilgrims who kiss and weep over stones because the feet of Jesus may have graced them.  I have travelled to Israel many times, and every time has been a spiritually enriching experience.  Yet we do not have to go to the Holy Land to draw near to the Holy God, for He is with us wherever we go.  We ought to make a distinction between remembrance and reverence.  Seeing a cross ought to remind us of Christ's sacrifice and His love for lost sinners, but the wood or shape is not worthy of worship.  There are worship songs Christians sing that in my mind toe the line of moving from remembrance to reverence, to glorify the "wonderful cross" or to "love that old cross" when we ought to look with wonder upon our Saviour Jesus who first loved us with love and devotion.  There is no intrinsic spiritual power in the wood fibres of the cross itself, for it is merely the implement God employed where the life of Christ was poured out to atone for sinners.  The physical blood of Jesus that stained the cross and dripped on the ground had no cleansing or life-giving power in itself, for Christ accomplished miraculous spiritual labour through His sacrifice.

I have heard Christians say there is power in prayer, but it is more accurate to say all power is in the living God who hears and answers prayer.  People pray to saints or deceased relatives without effect, yet Jesus Christ is our mediator who intercedes on our behalf with the Father by His Spirit.  To worship saints, Christ's blood or the cross is to fall short of veneration and adoration of our Saviour Jesus Christ, to whom belongs all glory and honour.  It is no sin to sing of the cross in hymns or to wear a cross that identifies us with Jesus Christ our LORD (who is wonderful), but let it be a symbolic reminder and reflection of our spiritual and personal reality than an object we reverence and worship.  It may be a good thing we do not possess the cross or nails used to crucify Christ, for people would travel the world to see those relics and not realise that is the sort of devotion we ought to give Jesus Christ right where we are today with grateful worship and humble obedience.

Heeding God Daily

The benefits of studying through the word of God are immeasurable.  While we may tend to gravitate to what is familiar and comfortable, it is useful to read the Bible in its entirety.  There will be much we do not understand, for God's thoughts are not our thoughts, nor are His ways our ways.  At the same time, reading through the whole Bible ought not to be viewed as a race or an accomplishment we can take pride in.  The point isn't how many times we have read through our Bible in a year but that God's word daily goes through us.  If we see the benefit of fueling our bodies with food every day, we ought to feed spiritually on God's word daily as well.

Our stomachs have limited capacity, and our minds also can be full.  For this reason, I prefer quality over quantity when it comes to reading and studying God's word.  Ironically, the more we read at a time the less opportunity we have to absorb and apply personally what we are reading.  Reading five chapters at once is like grazing on light snacks while systematically breaking down a passage or even one verse in study is like a spiritual feast that sticks to the ribs with many leftovers.  It is possible to read chapters of the Bible at once and not perceive anything impactful God has said to us--though it is all His voice.  We may have observed many divine truths on the page, but it is important for us to reflect on the manner of our lives in light of them.

Thorough Bible study includes observation, interpretation and application.  It is not a complex practice, but it can be a time-consuming exercise that ought to involve our hearts as well as our heads.  Having been born again by faith in Jesus, we must rely upon the Holy Spirit to help us understand what we are reading, grow in our understanding of God's character, and further refine our lives according to God's wisdom.  God's word can have a purifying, beneficial effect when we submit ourselves to believe and practice what God has said.  As Jesus submitted to His heavenly Father, so we ought to submit ourselves to God's word He has provided that instructs, guides, corrects, rebukes and inspires.

If you are someone who enjoys a daily reading to go through the whole Bible in one year, wonderful.  In your reading I encourage you not to treat Bible reading as a tradition or a chore to be accomplished so it can be laid aside, but to take intentional action to ensure the Bible is actually going through your heart, mind and impacting your daily life--besides the time it takes to read.  Reflect on what you have read and take it to heart; have a key takeaway of personal impact you did not bring to the text but God said to you through the Scripture.  In a world full of voices, when we open the Bible and read it is important to give God the floor and our full attention with intent to heed His voice.