You Were There (11/05/08-11/06/08)
The one main exploration I should like to make in this regard is how the thoughts of these three might have unfolded. Mark tells us that their conversation was all about working out what Jesus meant by His mention of the resurrection, yet that term seems to have been sufficiently well understood as to its meaning, particularly with ‘from the dead’ being conjoined. It should be pretty clear what He was talking about. Then, this leap to the matter of Elijah: what is the connection they have made in their minds, that would cause this topic to come up whilst they are wrestling with the matter of resurrection?
To begin with, I am inclined to take the Evangelists at their word as to what Jesus commanded, even though both are recording their records well after the event. My point is this: what the three apostles were debating was not what Jesus meant by some word He had spoken. They understood well enough what resurrection from the dead was, at least in theological theory. It was not some new and novel concept never before heard in the land. Recall that Paul would later stir up controversy between the Sadducees and the Pharisees by speaking in support of this very concept. Why? Because it was a concept that the Pharisees propounded, but which the Sadducees did not agree with. It was known.
Therefore, it would make more sense to suppose that what these men were discussing had more to do with the implications of the statement than with the fundamental definitions involved. It’s the meaning of the event, not the words. This begins to make some sense. After all, if He is speaking of rising from death, then there is rather necessarily a death which must precede that. Given His talk of late, what this might then bring to mind is His discussion of what awaited Him in Jerusalem. This might also bring them back to Peter’s confession. Indeed, it would not take much imagination to suppose Peter himself might have brought that up. So, now, their thoughts are on the reality that this is Messiah they are discussing, Messiah who is going to die, and Messiah who is going to be resurrected.
Thinking about that later event, the resurrection of Lazarus, I could look at Martha’s response to Jesus on that occasion as something of a measure of general understanding in the group. It’s all well and good to believe in resurrection conceptually. Yes, Lord, we believe that some day, at the close of the ages the dead will rise. But, to think of it happening any earlier than that, to consider that it might happen before our eyes; that’s a harder belief to believe. Even when it happened with Lazarus, it was hard to believe. Of course, with him there alongside them after that, it was also rather impossible not to. I wonder how often one or the other of this group wondered in his private thoughts whether maybe Lazarus hadn’t really been dead after all.
Be that as it may, those events are yet future for these three. They don’t have even that much experience to lead them to contemplate any sort of immediate resurrection. Indeed, their wondering thoughts may have gone along the line of trying to figure some way of preserving their witness for that future generation which would witness this resurrection, since it hardly seemed likely to happen in their own lifetimes.
There is plenty of room, then, to suppose a great deal of confusion on their part as to the timing and implications of the resurrection part. But, death they understand pretty well, or so they suppose. It is a rather final thing, an ending of the story. But, if Messiah is come, and the end of His story is approaching, what of those related prophecies that have yet to be fulfilled? In particular, what about Malachi? These are the words Israel has been hanging on to for the last several centuries. They are the very bastion of hope for that oppressed nation.
So, what’s up, Jesus? Was Malachi a false prophet, that we haven’t seen Elijah on the scene, as was prophesied? Or, is it You who is false, given that You have set Yourself forth as Messiah and Elijah has not come to confirm Your office?
No. Given the setting for these conversations, I sincerely doubt that they were doubting the person of the Son. His office had already been confirmed by a much greater testimony. For these men, there was no particular reason for Elijah to come making announcements. Of Jesus, I think we can say they were certain, even if they were not certain as to events and the flow of history future.
I think I could even go so far as to say that they have no particular doubts as to Malachi, either. I’m not sure it would be in their nature to even think along such lines. Far more likely that they would hold that, as it was written in Torah so it must be. Their confusion, then, lies simply in the fact that it doesn’t appear to be. Messiah is here, beyond all doubt. Torah is True beyond all doubt. And yet, we have not noticed Elijah appearing to any other than ourselves, and that, just now. Simple logic dictates that something in this equation must give. Either You must turn out not to be You, or Torah must turn out to be false, and all our faith a sham, or we have so completely misunderstood the message that we really have no idea what we’re talking about. And in this case, as their question shows, that ‘we’ extends far beyond the three there talking. It’s the whole understanding of the best minds in Jewish religious life that is called into question.
Now, put in those terms, it should be pretty easy to discern which part of the equation is most likely to be in error: God, His Word, or man. Hmm. Not such a tough call, is it? So, these men do what is really the only logical thing to do. They look to the living Word of God to correct them where they appear to have misunderstood the written Word. What are we missing, Lord? Here is an apparent contradiction, and there can be no contradiction in Truth, so where have we erred?
As I think upon things in this light, I have to say that these three have proven themselves worthy. Confronted with an occasion for great doubt, they do not succumb to their doubts, they seek to understand. They do not fall into the trap of over-valuing their own intelligence. They do not pursue the skeptic’s course. They instead acknowledge their limitations and come to God for wisdom. This is, in the end, the only appropriate behavior when we face what seems a contradiction or paradox in the Word. God, what is it we have missed here? These two things must be simultaneously true, and yet we cannot see how. Explain, my King, for it is clear I don’t get it.
As promised, those who have come to Jesus for wisdom in this case are blessed to receive the wisdom they seek. He both has come and will come. Just as Messiah has come and yet, will be coming later. The failure, it seems, is in expecting a singular fulfillment of the prophecy. In looking only for the ultimate fulfillment, it becomes very easy to miss the lesser fulfillments along the way. Thus, they had missed the significance of John, the lesser fulfillment, just as most all of Israel missed the significance of Jesus as He fulfilled the Suffering Servant part of the prophecy. They were all to focused on the Victorious Warrior King part, much as we find ourselves today. Let us not, like them, miss the real fulfillment of Scripture around us because we are too focused on the end of the story to live our part in the middle.
New Thoughts (11/08/08-11/15/08)
When Mark speaks of how Peter, James and John seized on this matter of rising from the dead, and discussing amongst themselves what it meant, it comes across as if they didn’t get the concept. That perception is strong enough that some of the less literal translations make it a matter of repeated conversations. They “often talked about it”, says the Living Bible. “They often asked each other what he meant by ‘rising from the dead’”, says the NLT. Notice the implication of this. They didn’t understand the phrase. Even the NRSV, which is generally a more literal handler of the texts, leans in this direction, as it tells us they were “questioning what this rising from the dead could mean.”
In short, the view one gets of these three men who were closest to Jesus is that they really weren’t terribly bright. After all, resurrection was one of the tenets which separated the Pharisees from the Sadducees. Surely, they had heard some discussion of it in their time. So, how is it they find it so confusing now, hearing it from Jesus. Did they suppose that just because He wasn’t a big fan of the Pharisees that He therefore rejected everything about them? Did they suppose He had a different definition of rising or of death which made His use of the phrase something apart from what they had known before?
There are two terms, one from each of the accounts we have of this matter, that sum up for me the nature of their discussions. First, from the verse I have been considering, there is this matter of discussing. This word speaks of joining together closely so as to investigate. In other words, they are holding a joint investigation into what Jesus has just said. Now, shift with me to the closing comment Matthew makes on this event. They understood that He was talking about John the Baptist. Here again it is useful to look at the word being translated for us. That root of sun which was present in the issue of discussing is also here in the mode of understanding. It is a matter of putting it all together, taking the information just presented, fitting it together with other bits of information, and working the whole together until it all begins to make sense. I really like the way Zhodiates describes this word. It is “the activity of knowing.” It is the brain exercised upon the data.
Taking these two data points together, I understand in just this fashion, that what they have been discussing here is not the meaning of the phrase Jesus used, but how it fits with what they know already, when He now speaks of rising from the dead. Of course, to rise from the dead must necessarily mean that He is to die. If He is to die, where is that fulfillment of Elijah’s coming, for surely the prophecies must be fulfilled! Thus, as Mark relates, there is that lead in to their question: “Why is it, then…”. In other words, if You are about to die, and Torah remains true, as it must, where is the fulfillment of this matter? Where is Elijah, who must come first?
Now, notice the response Jesus gives them: Elijah does come first. Now, so long as you have your mind on the prophecies regarding what must precede Messiah’s death, how about this one? It is written that He must suffer many things, being treated with contempt. Won’t this need to be accomplished as well? What goes unsaid in that is, “This is what I’ve been telling you.” Only then does He move on to explaining to them that the prophecy regarding Elijah has already been fulfilled, at least as it applies to the present.
Now, why did He bring up the matter of His coming mistreatment? Was it really just to reestablish in their minds that He was speaking truly? No. It strikes me that He has a greater purpose in this, and that is to keep them mindful that there are smaller fulfillments of prophecy that transpire along the way to the ultimate fulfillments. This is exactly why everybody missed the point of John’s ministry. They did not see him as Elijah’s return because he was not Elijah. Likewise, the great majority of the people would fail to grasp that Jesus was Messiah, especially in light of the coming abuses He would suffer, because He was not the Victorious Warrior King which fully fulfills the message. He is but the intermediate Suffering Servant in this case, and as this image was not nearly so pleasing to the national pride, it had not really been associated with Messiah. He would come to establish Empire or He would not come at all. So the people conjectured.
It is because of this incorrect viewpoint that so many false claimants had been able to stir up such trouble. As I have been reading elsewhere, it was this tendency for such claimants to show up just in time for Passover that had the temple officialdom particularly on edge. They saw Jesus as being no different than the others that had come before, and they were determined to put Him down before He got the crowds roiled up. After all, everybody knew how Rome would react to such riotous rebellion. They would not be particular about who got caught in their retribution, and that retribution would be swift as well as powerful. In short, their actions were guided by the fear of man rather than the fear of the Lord.
Returning to these three coming down the mountain with Jesus, though; I had asked myself along the way why they didn’t ask Him what it all meant rather than each other. Well, of course they do just that eventually, if rather obliquely. In reality, though, these three men are disciples – students. By their attempts to reason out and connect this new truth together with what they know to be true already they are actually doing what students should do. They are not just jotting down notes at the lecture, they are wrestling with the material. It is only after they have reached a dead end that they turn back to the Teacher and seek to get from Him what seems to be the missing key to resolving it all.
They are, in short, showing themselves to be worthy. I say this on two counts. They show themselves worthy in that they try to work things out for themselves. They wrestle with the Truth they are given rather than just jotting it down and saving thought for some other day. They show themselves that much more worthy in that, when they see what seems to be a contradiction between the new data and the old, they do not summarily dispose of either. They do not foolishly set themselves as the arbiters of Truth. They turn to the True Arbiter of Truth. They seek the living Word of God to correct whatever it is they have misapprehended. Jesus, these things seem to stand at odds. Would You, then, explain to us what it is we have missed?
That is ever and always how we ourselves must respond when we find ourselves faced with what appears to be contradiction in the material given us in Scripture. The skeptic seizes upon the first hint of such contradiction and mouths his, ‘Aha!’ Foolishly presuming himself to be some infallible genius, an expert in parsing the texts, and surely far superior to those foolish benighted yokels that cling to religion, he is certain that his wisdom has found just cause to reject the whole text as anything inspired by God. If it were inspired by God, he reasons, it could have no contradiction. Thus far, he is correct. But, he then leaps to the conclusion that, if I see a contradiction, it must stand that God did not inspire the text. In this leap he departs from reason and settles for egotistical vanity. The real response of reason must at least suppose the possibility of misunderstanding. Reason which is joined with faith knows how to respond to this, and it is just as these three men have done. Holy One, these two things seem to stand at odds with one another, and yet, as You have declared both, both must be True. Please, God, enlighten my understanding that I may see how these two Truths fit together, for clearly, I have misunderstood until now.
In short, the skeptic sees the data and happily succumbs to doubt and darkness. The disciple sees the same data, and indeed, the same contradiction and just as happily holds to faith, seeking wisdom and the light of understanding. They may not see how the puzzle pieces fit together at present, but of one thing they are certain: The pieces are indeed from the same puzzle, and will fit together when properly understood.
This morning I have another take on this conversation, particularly the response Jesus gives in Mark’s account. They have asked, in essence, why it is that there has been no fulfillment of the prophecies regarding the return of Elijah. When Jesus replies, one part of His reply is to turn their attention to another bit of prophecy regarding the suffering Messiah must undergo. As often happens in listening to Jesus, my first reaction to this was that He seemed to be asking a rather unrelated question. Perhaps He was just trying to get their attention back on the immediate future. But, really, as I think upon it this morning, this is a very relevant question to ask.
What I see is that Jesus is saying, how is it you are so concerned that these specific prophecies must be fulfilled, but you are all but insisting that this other group of prophecies ought to be set aside and ignored? Oh, isn’t that just like us, though! When the prophecies are good and pleasing to our ears, we are all about the prophetic and the wonder of serving God. But, when the prophecies are of trial and tribulation, it no longer matters to us what will best advance the purposes of God. Like Peter, we are quick to proclaim our pious, “this shall not happen to God’s people!” How much history we must ignore to come to such a blind conclusion!
Isn’t that what the disciples have been doing? Isn’t that, indeed, a hint as to the answer they hope to hear as they ask their question? They are still looking for ways to circumvent what Jesus has been teaching them about His death. If You are going to die, Lord, (and even if You are going to be resurrected, there must first be a death), then shouldn’t You wait until Elijah gets here? After all, as Messiah, surely You must fulfill that prophecy about Your forerunner.
Jesus accedes to the need of fulfilling this prophecy as well, but then notes that just as one prophecy must be fulfilled, so must the other. We are not given to pick and choose which prophecies or portions of prophecies we are willing to accept. Let’s face it. It really doesn’t matter what we accept anyway, does it? If the prophecy is truly of God, it shall be, and it shall be whether we think it to be of God or not. When we find a need for change – particularly the change of repentance – in the message, it is probably best to assume the truth of it and repent. God has been known to at least appear to change course where there has been true repentance. The reality is that this has always been His course, but sometimes we stubborn mules need a swifter kick to pursue the path we ought.
When Isaiah or Jeremiah or Ezekiel spoke the oracles of God, those who heard really didn’t have the option of erasing the woes and jumping straight to the blessings to follow. It is indeed marvelous that God seemingly always includes hope in His message. The immediate future must needs bring punishing sorrows, but it shall not always be so. Even though these sorrows are to last for decades, be of good courage, for I shall again look upon Israel to bless her. The people of God shall be restored. There is a remnant and that remnant shall grow strong and flourish.
So it is with the immediate future for these three. There will be deep sorrow, and great cause for mourning, for the Son of Man must go as it is written of Him. Indeed, He shall suffer terribly, though the things done to Him by the hands of man are as nothing compared to that brief separation from that eternal fellowship He has always known, and always shall. Of all that transpires, it is that separation which wrests a cry from Him. Until then, He had accepted God’s purpose in the cruelty of His tormenters, and remained mute, as a lamb going to slaughter. But, when the Father must needs turn His eyes from the sin guilt which His Son had taken upon Himself, then the cry came. This was too terrible to be borne, even if He knew it was for but a moment. “Why have You forsaken Me?” It’s not quite a cry of betrayal, but it’s very close.
All of this is just as much a fulfillment of the prophetic message as Elijah’s coming. The disciples have shown their very human nature by skipping past the painful parts. Jesus, the great Teacher, is not willing to let it go with that, though. This is a teachable moment and He shall teach. No, My children, you cannot choose the blessing without the suffering. You cannot have the blessing without the cross. God does not offer you a menu from which to choose. He commands from you an obedience to the whole of His purpose.
If we have made Christianity a menu of options from which to choose, then we have surely done our God and Savior a terrible disservice. It would seem to be in our human nature to obey only when it suits us, and to disobey to such degree as we can when it doesn’t. But, we are no longer of the human nature. We are of the nature of the Christ. He is that One who did only as the Father does, only as the Father authorized. He is that One who willingly set Himself to obey every command of the Father, even when that command was that He submit to the tortures of Roman soldiers, even when that command was to accept death upon the ignominious cross, even when that command was to abide a breach in the fellowship they shared as He took all the sins of the world upon Himself. And, still we think we have some right to choose which parts of His word we will live by!
This is not about holding to right doctrine, not entirely. Although, I don’t see how it is possible to obey the One who defines right doctrine apart from holding to it. That said, it is clear from the example of the scribes that one can be quite right in doctrine and yet absolutely wrong in application. It is in the move from theory to practice that we tend to lose our perspective. Think about what the discussion is about in this passage. It is the scribes who have been teaching that Elijah must come. They have looked at the prophecies and reached this quite correct conclusion. However, they have failed to consider that nature of prophecy which shows that it may be fulfilled in quite unexpected ways, and may well be fulfilled on multiple occasions. So, teaching that Elijah must come, they have taught their expectation that it is a literal, physical return of Elijah that we are to expect. It would not surprise me if they were expecting that return to be by means of those same chariots which had taken him away. Until they saw this very literal return, they were not about to accept any claimant to the title of Messiah.
What Jesus has explained is that, so far as this period of redemptive history was concerned, the return of Elijah had been accomplished in John. Yet, there remains a future return of Elijah as well. He is coming and he has already come. He will restore all things, but he has already cried out in the wilderness, already prepared the way. In the same fashion, we know Messiah is to come, but has already come. He will come as the King of kings, but He has already come as the Suffering Servant. We have, in this regard, the inestimable benefit of hindsight. As to that future event, we are as likely to get it wrong, I suspect, as were the scribes and Pharisees, and for much the same reason. We are settled in our doctrine and are not inclined to accept anything that runs counter to it, though God Himself were to deliver it into our hands.
We, too, are absolutely focused on that great and final fulfillment when the Christ returns to claim His victory over sin and death. We, too, are so tied up with the end times that it seems we often lose sight of present times. But, in the end, we are responsible for our present times. We live in our present times and, however correct we are shown to be about our eschatology, if we have failed to live in accord with sound doctrine in our lifetime, I feel certain our theories and knowledge will mean nothing.
We are creatures born into time and we live our days in time. What has become the past, we are powerless to rearrange. We may be permitted to make amends for past wrongs, but we cannot erase those wrongs. This is the terrible reality of sin. We cannot unsin. We cannot, having sinned against God, come to a place in our lives where we have not done so. It is for this cause that we discover ourselves in dire need of a Savior. The punishment for sin is already read out against us, and there is no hope that we can, by living clean from here on out, avoid that punishment. However much we begin to obey now, the sin remains. It required another to take upon Himself the punishment that was our due. It required another to give the court its rightful payment for our crimes that we might hear it declared that for us, the sentence is time served. That is the situation of our past when Redemption is our present.
As to the future, God makes it sufficiently plain for us. What can you do to change so much as one hair on your head? Oh, we can paint it when it grays, but the gray remains the reality. We can perhaps get a wig or a toupee when our hair begins to depart our head entirely, but the departure remains a rock-solid fact. We like to think we have our hand on the reins of the future, but the future has an annoying habit of showing us just how wrong we are. We like to think that if we work hard, live clean, tithe religiously and so on, we can be assured of easy street being our path from here to the close of our days, but that is nothing that God ever promised us. Quite the contrary! He gives sufficient warning that, “in this life you will have trials.” That is the promise. He does not leave it as one possibility and maybe, if we make all our choices right we’ll avoid it. No. He says, “you will.”
God alone has full comprehension of the future. God alone can declare, “I know the end from the beginning,” because God alone is outside of the time He created. He stepped into time, lived a lifetime as a man, that He might show man how it is done, but He dwells outside the arc of time. Only thus can He make that claim. Only thus can He look upon our present condition already aware of what He is reshaping us to become. He has known our finished product since before we were so much as a sperm or an ova swimming in the womb, even before the generations which preceded us were in that same condition.
We are not given to live with such foresight, and it is perhaps just as well for us that we aren’t. Even with such limited light on the future as we have through the prophets of God, we are really no more inclined to choose rightly in the present. Think about it! We have the Revelation which John relays, warning us just how horrible it’s going to get before it gets better. We have so many warnings about what must come, about what happens when God’s people stray from the Way; and yet we choose sin daily. Daily! And, we’re the ones who know where that leads! How dare we get all worked up about how the lost and ignorant ones around us behave!
Let’s get it right with ourselves first! And, returning to the point I find here, let us not become so hidebound in our certainty that we have all our doctrine right and perfect that we cannot hear God’s voice of correction. Let us not be so certain of our interpretation of Christ’s return that we miss it when He comes. If those who neglect human history are doomed to repeat it, how much more so when we choose to remain ignorant of redemptive history? I for one have no desire to repeat the history of the kingdom of Israel. I far prefer to learn from their mistakes, and to remember the warnings they were given as they appear not to have done.
God is faithful to forgive us when we wake up and repent, it is true. God is faithful to bring us back to the Way when we have wandered, it is also true. However, as no discipline is pleasant at the time, I would far prefer it were I able to live so as to avoid the need for discipline. Sadly, I know myself too well to think I shall manage that entirely, but hopefully, I can at least equip myself to be a quick study and an agile learner in those moments, that the discipline need not be stringent or lengthy for me to get the message.
Hopefully, we as a nation can recall the God by Whose Providence we were founded. There are many in the church today that would tell us that God’s wrath will still pass by a nation with so many of His children present. But, this also rejects the lessons of history. Are we to suppose that when Israel went into exile there was not one faithful believer remaining? We know that is not so. Are we to suppose that somehow, the Babylonians skipped over the true believers and struck only the apostates and idolaters? The archeological evidence seems to suggest otherwise. God preserves, but at some point, when the watchmen have failed to give warning, it really doesn’t matter how strong their allegiance to the king has been. They are still guilty and deserving of punishment for failing in their duty. This, too, is the lesson of redemptive history.
Oh, that we who remain watchmen upon the walls of this nation might realize our purpose and give warning. Oh, that such warning might prove sufficient to change the course of the nation over which we watch!
One question I find myself asking is why these three men did not already understand that John filled the role of Elijah. After all, we hear Jesus speak on that point earlier in Matthew’s account. “If you can accept it, John is Elijah who was to come,” He says (Mt 11:14). So, had the disciples been out of hearing range when He spoke about this? It is possible, I suppose, that they were not there at the time. But, He has already dismissed John’s emissaries when He speaks of this matter. It really does seem as though these guys should have known. “If you have ears, listen” (Mt 11:15)! Jesus has marked this out as important. It should have registered.
The three have now been wrestling with what Jesus just told them, trying to sort out how this fits with what they have been taught, what they understand, and yet, they have dropped this piece of data from their thinking. Fair enough. We are all capable of forgetting details that are important to us, particularly in the aftermath of what had to have been a crisis moment for them. Recall that they have just seen something utterly shocking. They have just seen heavens’ Son revealed, and now He is telling them to keep it quiet. Nothing much is making sense to them right now, and really, as much as anything, they are probably trying to regain their equilibrium. So, let’s just forgive them this oversight and accept that Jesus had to repeat Himself a bit in explaining the situation to them. I note that He doesn’t open with an, “I already told you about that!” He just explains, and gives them some new pieces to fit into place as they think upon it once again.
Now I turn my thoughts to some brief points that captured my attention along the course of studying this passage. The first matter I wish to consider is that treatment that Jesus says John received, and that He foreshadows as being His own immediate lot as well. They had their way with him, with John, He says. And, He makes plain that this is fulfillment of the Scriptures. He also points forward to His own situation, as it will unfold in Jerusalem, and seeks to make these guys understand that those events are also a matter of Scripture’s fulfillment. With the power of hindsight, they would come to understand that, as shocking and offensive as those events were as they happened.
They would look back, as we do today, to passages like Isaiah 52:3 – We did not esteem Him. Interestingly, as they began to preach, the message shifted a bit from the prophetic foundations. “You are those builders who rejected Him” (Ac 4:11). Notice the shift. It is no longer we who have erred, it is you. Perhaps, in the case of those twelve upon whom the Church was established, they could speak in such a way and remain honest with themselves. At least, in regards to this period of ministry, it might be reasonably said that they did indeed esteem Him, if not always as highly as they ought. But, they esteemed Him. They followed Him. And, now, they were doing what they could to establish Him as the cornerstone, and they were assuredly feeling the rejection of their countrymen for doing so.
But, I need to drag this point forward in time to my own day. I need to look back at Isaiah’s words and own them, I think. We did not esteem Him. In the highest sense, I think we must confess that we still don’t. Not as fully as we ought. We call Him, “Lord,” but we do not invest in Him the full rights of a Lord. We call Him, “King,” but we will only bow if we feel moved to. At the end of the day, we still insist that we are in charge of ourselves, not Him. He can bless us, and we’ll appreciate it, to be sure. But, if He doesn’t, our first inclination is to do what we intended anyway, and maybe if we run into trouble, we’ll give Him a call. After all, we know He’ll answer!
How we need to learn from redemptive history! How we need to realize that all those warnings God gave to Israel were not just for those foolish Israelites of old. They are for us, as well. Though we find out that those who call us the endtime generation are right, still they apply. Still we are perfectly capable of all but ignoring God as we pursue our pious lives. When the markets turn against us, when the workplace isn’t the bountiful source of provision it once was, we will cry out to Him once again, but as He said from the start: when times are good, we’ll trust in ourselves, thank you very much.
The tests of faith that come in times of loss, trial, and meager means: these are difficult tests to be sure. Yet, in the end, there is nothing but faith upon which to place our trust in those times, so to faith we turn. The real test of faith comes when times are good. When that sense of desperation has departed, the coffers are full, the fruits of our labors fairly jumping off the vines, family happy and healthy; will we remember Him then? Will we function as a people dependent upon Him for everything then? Or will we just build a bigger barn to hold all that great stuff coming our way? All Scripture, we accept, is written for our edification. That includes the warnings. That includes the worst moments of Israel’s history as we have it recorded. That includes the lowest points in the lives of the Apostles every bit as much as the high points. That includes the Exile right alongside the Empire.
It seems to me that the greatest, most fundamental call of that whole record of Scripture is: Esteem Him as you ought. Make Him truly Lord of all of you, not just the parts you don’t care about that much. Submit every decision unto Him. Give Him absolute veto power over your every thought, your every dream. Anything less fails to esteem Him as we should. Anything less is a rejection of the One who has shown Himself worthy to be the Cornerstone of our lives, however we may try and convince ourselves that our faith remains in Him.
Israel still considered herself the chosen nation, the sole possessors of the True God, even as Jerusalem was destroyed, and the Temple leveled around them. They simply could not accept the truth about themselves. Look at what happened when Jeremiah gave them God’s warnings and instructions. Submit to the invaders? Not us! God would never advise such a thing, you must be false! No, God is all about peace. He’s the God of love. There’s no wrath in Him, not towards us! We are His people. Here is His temple. He would never forsake us, certainly not here!
In all of this, they failed to take note that they had long since forsaken Him. They clung not to God but to the building that man had erected to His honor. They clung not to God but to their perception of safety. They clung to the excuse for their sins rather than the righteousness of the God who had forgiven.
Welcome to modern Christianity! It is no different. We preach a God of love, and neglect His wrath. We tell one and all about forgiveness, but we barely whisper about the evils of sin. We speak of our nation as a special project of God’s, sure that He will preserve us in spite of the despicable practices of the culture around us, despite of the increasing frequency of heresy and perversion in our midst. Hello! The people of Israel trusted in Shiloh to preserve, and God found it necessary to destroy Shiloh. They fell to worshiping the staff of the serpent that He had instructed Moses to make for one specific occasion, so that staff had to be destroyed. They fell to trusting in Israel as the chosen nation, no longer subject to losing, and so the nation had to be scattered. Why? Because in every case they had made the provision of God an excuse for sin.
When we fall into accepting the inevitability of forgiveness as an excuse to allow our sins to continue, we are in the same fatal trap. When we hold up our nation as uniquely under God’s care and incapable of failing because of that, we are in the same fatal trap. When we hold the structures of religion in higher esteem than the God we claim to worship, we are very much in the same fatal trap. We are setting ourselves up for a time of discipline.
That is what the Exile was for Israel. It is, for all that, what the rule of various and sundry miserable kings was for Israel. These were times of chastening discipline upon the people of God. They were lousy times to go through, deadly times. Yet, they were not sent to destroy the nation, but rather to inspire repentance. They were dispensed with an eye to preserving. They were the work of the vinedresser in the vineyard, pruning off the branches that were sapping strength to no purpose.
Here in New England, if one has lived near an apple orchard, one is likely to be aware of those branches that form year after year which grow vertically, but will assuredly bear no fruit. They make their approach to heaven, but they are fruitless. Not only are they of no worth in themselves, but they drain vital energy from the fruitful branches around them. Therefore, the wise man lops those branches off. God does not equate Himself to the keeper of orchards or the vineyard owner for no good reason. It is exactly because these acts of such men are reflective of His dealings with man.
There comes a time when the deadwood must be trimmed. The sapping branches may grow for a season, but He will cut them off. For all that, a branch which has been fruitful for years, but later fails to produce, should its fruitlessness continue, He will remove that branch as well, for like the sappers, it steals strength from what remains fruitful. So, there are those seasons where false claimants to faith are no longer able to stand in the Church. There are those seasons where the Church undergoes great trials, great persecutions, for the very purpose of testing the faith of its people. Those whose fruitfulness remains are able to withstand the pains of such persecution. Those who have nothing but the form, the appearance; these will be revealed as false, and will fall away.
Now, I would have to note that one may discover some of those fallen branches being grafted back in at a later date, for our Lord is indeed Merciful. He is able to save even those dead branches if it suits His purposes. This, too, has been seen in the history of God’s people. In times of the greatest of persecutions, some have felt it would better serve the kingdom were they to falsely recant their faith for a season. They were reviled by those who willingly martyred themselves rather than recant, and they were reviled by many who never faced the test, for it seemed they had taken the coward’s way out. Yet, could it not be said that they chose the more difficult path? Those who went to martyrdom, though they faced such hideous pains in the torments of their dying moments, also knew that it was but a momentary thing and the Lord Jesus awaited them immediately on the other side. Those who chose the soft martyrdom of recanting for a season, bore the reproach of those they loved most, and they bore it for so long as the season lasted and even beyond. They would live with the consequences of their decision for so long as they lived. They would live with the misunderstanding of their fellow believers, and with a degree of mistrust from their fellow believers, until their passing.
We cannot know the motives of one who chose such a course. We have such a strong tendency to suppose that the decisions God leads us to make must be the only correct decisions for any men in any circumstance that, should He direct another to serve Him in a different fashion, we find that other one suspect in his faith. I wonder if there weren’t those who looked upon John, that one Apostle who was not martyred, and found him just a little suspect. But, the truth may well be that God is leading both the martyr and the recanter to do as they do that His kingdom might not only be preserved on the earth, but might flourish. We, in our finite wisdom cannot say with certainty one way or the other, and we are foolish if we insist on judging the case for ourselves in spite of that. The servant answers to his Master and no other.
Turning to another matter, I find myself a bit bemused by Jesus’ use of the term ‘vision’ in His command to the three. “Tell the vision to no one.” As a first point, I have to say I find the literal meaning of this word rather amusing. If one looks at the roots of the thing, one comes to something along the lines of, ‘what was that?’, or ‘How? Who? What?’ It is, Strong tells us, “a conjunction of coincidence.” Ah! Well, that’s an explanation that resonates with me. If I connect that with the tenet that there really is no such thing as coincidence, then I must modify his definition slightly and say that it is a conjunction of God’s providence. Now we’re onto something. A vision, in this usage, is a conjunction of God’s providence. We might say it is a particularly strong conjunction, but is that a necessary distinction?
What is that conjunction? It is generally understood to be a divinely granted vision. It might be something that comes to us in a dream which, upon waking, seems clearly to have deeper significance than ‘just a dream’. It might be something witnessed in some sort of ecstatic state, as Thayer suggests, but to me, that sounds more like a hallucination. There is nothing to say that this lesser form of the experience ought not be included in the word’s definition, but in terms of Biblical application, it seems as though it ought to be discounted. As part of our Christian experience, it certainly ought to be. Such hallucinogenic experiences are the stuff of various pagan rites and pseudo-religious practices. They have no place in our experience as children of God.
Yet, it is clear that among the prophets of old, there were things they experienced that went beyond dreams, for they were awake and were not the stuff of hallucination, for they were sober. Consider Ezekiel’s experience by the river as just one example. Or, look at the case I read this morning, thanks to a reference in Table Talk. Moses, Aaron, his sons, and the seventy elders of Israel went to meet with God, and they (all 74 of them) saw God, in such fashion that He was visible to them, and they could see His feet upon what seemed like a sapphire pavement (Ex 24:9-10). I don’t know as I had ever taken particular notice of this before, but it really struck me this morning in several regards. But, for the purpose of this discussion, I would simply note that these men were not hallucination en masse. They saw God. They heard God. They stood stunned in the realization that He had not struck them down, as one might have expected. But, of course, He had called them there.
The point is this: This is clearly ‘a divinely granted vision’. That they are permitted to see God and live requires that divine grant. They are neither asleep nor in any altered state. They are simply the recipients of a particularly magnificent grace from God. This also covers the case for these three on the mountain with Jesus. They, too, have been permitted to see God in the transfiguration of the Christ. They have had a glimpse of something very near to the fullness of the Godhead, and by His grace alone they have not been struck dead in their sins for their proximity to Holiness.
Over the centuries, there have been many who have claimed to witness something or another which manifested the nearness of God by its impossibility. These are spoken of as miracles, yet they are miracles that it seems all but impossible to confirm. There have also been those who have claimed to have had visions of one sort another, even into our own day (and particularly in the circles of Pentecostalism and the Charismatic movement). We have this one claiming to have been lifted right into heaven in a dream. We have that one claiming to have had personal audience with our Lord and Savior and told to do thus and so.
Sadly, the record would seem to show that the majority of these claims have been either false or terribly misunderstood. How many of our current denominations were begun on the basis of one person’s purported vision? Oh, they knew that the return of the Christ would be at such and such a time. They saw it in a dream. Forget what the Scriptures say about that! God showed them, so it must be true. And, when that date passed, they discovered they had misheard Him. Oops, must have written it down wrong. No, it’s such and such a date. And then that date likewise passes with no return, until eventually this visionary is forced to acknowledge that it was all imagination and no more. And yet, the church they established on this lying vision remains. Indeed, in some cases, the churches which were thus established have actually turned out to be quite sound once they got this nonsense out of their systems. Truly, God’s grace is amazing!
However, He makes clear that we are not supposed to be led by dreams and visions. They are, as we can see, to easily subjected to abuse and misuse and just plain out and out misunderstanding. He can and does work these things out to the good of His purposes, it is true, but that is no reason for us to make Him work harder by our foolishness. Nor is it a call to completely discount the very real capacity of God to influence our dreams, to set before our waking eyes visions, or even to reveal Himself in very tangible fashion when events warrant. He is God. He can do as He pleases. We are His people, His sons, His servants. We are well advised to accept what He chooses to do, and to recognize His actions in whatever form they may come. But, we are also well advised to keep His instruction close to mind and heart. These things are not to be our steady diet, our own means of determining the way. We might better look upon them as confirming messages.
Just look at the behavior of Peter as we have it in this passage. Led by the vision he just experienced, his immediate reaction is to slide into something that borders on the idolatrous. Oh! Let’s establish monuments to these friends of Yours, Jesus, as well as Yourself, of course! Pay attention! He has just decided in his mind that these two men, Moses and Elijah are to be esteemed as equals with the Son of God, and therefore as equals with God Himself. But, we know better! We know better because He has told us repeatedly that there is no other God, that He shares His glory with nobody else! Period. There is not room for another upon the throne, and no other being in all of heaven would dare to lay claim to deserving a place in our worship. Certainly not those two who were just talking with the Lord of lords. Angels refuse such misplaced adulation. How much more, the saints of God who await His reign over all the earth?
So, we have in Peter’s reaction a very fine parable of exactly why God warns us against taking visions as our direction. They were given not to lead, but to confirm. By what he had just witnessed, Peter should have found his previous confession of Jesus as being the Christ, the Son of the Living God confirmed in full and beyond all doubt. But he has let the vision speak too loudly to him, and overstepped. Let us learn from this.
The last thing I want to consider at this point is why Matthew 8:20 seems to be considered such an important verse in understanding the Son of Man. “Foxes have their holes, and birds their nests. But, the Son of Man? Not even a place to rest His head.” So, is this simply a case of ‘first mention’? As far as the New Testament account goes, that could be the reason that it is referred to whenever the phrase Son of Man occurs. Barnes notes that His saying this is a discouragement to the avaricious scribe who has come to Him. More importantly, he notes that what Jesus declares is that He is Himself “a stranger in his own world – a wanderer and an outcast from the homes of people.” JFB notes that this reply Jesus makes to the scribe is not a rejection of that man, only a matter of making certain he knows what he is getting into. He gives the man the opportunity to decide whether this is just the emotion of a poignant moment’s preaching, or a real determination to live the life Christ teaches.
That is reason enough to be constantly brought back to this verse. But, it is only of use if one recalls the setting. We, too, are inclined to respond excessively to the emotion of the moment. We, too, are easily influenced by charismatic speakers and fine oratorical style. My goodness! We’ve just elected a new president to run this country on little more than such a basis. Jesus does not reject such emotional conversions. He does, however, look to more than conversion. He never sent His co-laborers out to go and make converts. He never said, ‘go and see how many you can get to sign this form saying they have accepted Me.’ He said, ‘go and make disciples’. This is exactly what He is doing in that scene. He is making sure this conversion is more than just a temporary thing. He is not soft-selling what it means to follow Him. If anything, He is offering some pretty good reasons not to. It’s going to be hard, He warns this man. It’s not going to be something to set your retirement on. It’s not going to bring you fine houses and fine wine. It’s going to require sacrifice on your part, as it does on Mine. You are by no means rejected from accepting such a mission for yourself, but I would not have you enter into it blindly. Count the cost. Then, if you still deem the kingdom worth the price (and the price is high indeed!), come, and follow Me.
There is, as the old song says, no turning back. I am reminded of the verse, ‘many are called, but few are chosen’ (Mt 22:14). I know I have commented on that in a fashion that held it in isolation from its setting. But, in that place Jesus speaks it, in the parable of the wedding guests, it follows the closing scene of those who came to the wedding, but did not dress for the occasion. These, also, the king rejected, and it is upon this rejection that we hear that closing comment: “Many are called, but few are chosen.”
How this strikes to the core of the beliefs of many! How it ought to encourage us to strive the more to be like Jesus, to prepare ourselves in righteousness and to confess quickly to our sins! These words were spoken to one who had answered the invitation. They had, if you will, prayed the sinner’s prayer, signed the card of conversion, done whatever trivial little task had been required of them that day. And, they thought this was enough. Maybe they even started coming to church now and again, maybe even regularly. But, in the end, we find that they did not really value the church as the Church. They saw it as a social club, or a means advantageous to their business ventures. They were called, and they answered that call. They showed up. But, they had not been chosen by the One who called. Had they been chosen, they would have been properly prepared for His presence. They would have been robed in the righteousness of His Son, the Groom. That is, after all, the only clothing fit for this wedding! But, they had no such robe to wear, and this was, in the end, the proof of their falseness.
So it shall be with us on that final day. We either enter in wearing His righteousness as the only thing covering our nakedness, or we stand exposed. We either plead the forgiveness He purchased for us, or we face our guilt and its due punishment. If we are truly chosen, there can only be one outcome. If we merely answered a call, there can only be the other.
If there be any reading this who are uncertain of their position, oh how I pray you will do all you can to make certain that you are counted amongst the chosen of God! Here is the place to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, as Paul writes. There is a place where the believer can have full confidence in the reality of his salvation, but it does not lie in a paper signed, or a prayer spoken, or the welcome of the congregation. It is found in the reality of a life that gives evidence of the transformative power of God. As we see ourselves grow and change, as we recognize that our wicked ways are, while not wholly a thing of the past, at least waning, these serve to confirm to us that God is truly at work within us. And, if He be working within, we are given good reason to hold confidently to the fact that He will complete it. For, He is faithful, even as we are not!
