On this Monday, May 25, 2009, Americans will celebrate Memorial Day (originally Decoration Day), by remembering all who have given their lives in the military service of our country. Estimates of war-deaths vary, but one source reports 1,321,000 American fatalities from 1775-2009, nearly half that number during the Civil War alone. Many more persons have been grievously injured, and millions of Americans have lost spouses, parents, children or siblings to the rapaciousness of armed conflict. Our hearts go out to them all this weekend as we recall their sacrifices. Throughout history, God … [Read more...]
GOD’S FLAG STILL THERE
This Monday, May 31, 2010 is Memorial Day here in the United States of America. Regardless of our antipathy to any particular conflict or even to war in general, on this national day of remembrance we honor the sacrifices of the fallen, the injured, and the families of them all. On Monday, patriotic music will fill the air. Some songs will highlight our country's natural beauty, others the virtues of its diverse and often dissonant people. Our national anthem recounts the heroics and horrors of battle, including the observation that "the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave … [Read more...]
TAX-TIME, GOD & CAESAR
"In view of governmental waste and funding of some projects which I consider immoral," someone asks, "can a Christian properly protest by refusing to pay income taxes on April 15?" (which is annual income tax day in the USA.) * * * Most thoughtful tax-payers probably share your frustration from time to time, but the biblical command is too clear to avoid. "Render to all what is due them," writes the Apostle Paul, "tax to whom tax is due" (Rom. 13:7). The Apostle Peter also instructs his readers to fulfil their civil duties (1 Pet. 2:13-17). The Roman government under which both apostles … [Read more...]
IS AMERICA GOD’S NATION? Independence Day
A gracEmail subscriber asks whether the United States is God's nation in any special sense, and whether Americans as such can claim God's Old Testament promises to Israel as his covenant people. * * * Americans are not God's people in any special sense, although the United States inherited a semi-Christian culture from its European founders and it includes many Christians today. The much-quoted promise of 2 Chronicles 7:14 was not given to any modern nation but to God's ancient covenant people of Israel. It applies indirectly today to God's people in Jesus Christ, whether they be Nigerians, … [Read more...]
JULY 4, 2009
This unusually lengthy gracEmail is political rather than spiritual (although it contains some spiritual allusions). This Saturday is Independence Day here in the USA, marking the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Because of the Declaration's significance, and because of its elevated formal language, I thought it might be interesting to restate it in simple modern English. Although the signers themselves did not live up to their fundamental premise of human equality, or even of universal liberty, they set in motion an ideal which has borne much fruit during the 233 … [Read more...]
HOLDING THE WORLD LIGHTLY
We live during an interim on God's calendar, a defined but unknown period of time that began with a significant event and that will end when Jesus comes again. This is the period of God's conquests, which began when Jesus was enthroned at God's right hand in heaven and will continue until the last enemy, death, has been destroyed (Psalm 110:1). It is simultaneously the period of heaven's reception of Jesus, which will end with the redemptive restoration of all things spoken by the ancient prophets (Acts 3:20-21). In both respects, we live between the Already and the Not Yet. Because the … [Read more...]
JESUS ENTERED HEAVEN FOR US
The following is an excerpt from my booklet titled One Life, Death and Judgment, which summarizes the gospel as found in the Epistle to the Hebrews. The entire booklet is free online at my website. * * * "Under the Old Testament economy, only the High Priest entered the Most Holy Place, and he on but one day of the year. On that great Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) he entered two times, first for his own sins, then for those of the people. But he entered in simple linen garments, a man for men. He entered only with blood--of a substitute that was ceremonially spotless. And he brought the … [Read more...]
JESUS SAT DOWN IN HEAVEN (2)
"What does it mean that Jesus sat down at the right hand of God in heaven? It seems the New Testament mentions that several times." * * * This imagery of Jesus at God's right hand captures the main point of the Epistle to the Hebrews -- from the Epistle's beginning words right through to its end (1:4; 12:2). Not even angels have a seat at God's right hand, but Jesus does (1:13-14). That main point is that Jesus does not need to make repetitive offerings, for he has taken away all our sins forever by offering his own perfect life to God on the cross, "once for all" -- for all time, for all … [Read more...]
JESUS SAT DOWN IN HEAVEN (1)
"What does it mean that Jesus sat down at the right hand of God in heaven? It seems the New Testament mentions that several times." * * * The imagery comes from Psalm 110:1, which says: "The LORD said to my Lord: 'Sit at My right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.'" New Testament writers quote this Psalm more often than any other text in the Jewish Scriptures (in Matthew, Mark, Luke, Acts, 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, Colossians and Hebrews). Even in the Psalms, this imagery of Jesus seated at God's right hand suggests intimacy with God (Psalm 16:8, 11) as well as our … [Read more...]
JESUS’ BURIAL NAPKIN
Over the past year several subscribers have asked if I can verify a popular internet explanation of the folded "napkin" that Peter and another disciple saw in Jesus' vacant tomb (John 20:7). The anonymous email describes the purported first-century Jewish practice of a master who temporarily leaves the meal but neatly folds his dinner napkin to signal his servant that he is coming back. The email concludes that Jesus folded his "napkin" as a subtle promise to his followers that he also would return. * * * When the King James Version was translated in 1611, the English word "napkin" … [Read more...]
