The Journey

Born for the Glory

2008-09-17T16:10:00.005+10:00

Part of David's legacy to the Body of Christ is a book co-authored with his parents, Paul and Bunty Collins. He loved the Body of Christ and looked for it immerging as the prepared Bride of Christ ready for His return. It is important that we have clear guidelines and directions from the Word of God as to God's ultimate intention for the Body of Christ which will eventually be presented to the Lord as His Bride. For this purpose we were directed by the Lord to trace the magnificent journey of every believer to the fulfillment of God's glorious plan. "Born for the Glory" has been published by Tate Publishers and is now available in bookstores.

You can contact the publishers directly for the purchase of this book through the following link -

http://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-60462-636-0

or Koorong -

http://orders.koorong.com/search/details.jhtml?code=9781604626360

or your local bookstore.

We would like to have you join us in praying that this message will be a blessing and a unifying factor for the Body of Christ and will bring glory to God. Thank you for praying with us.

Paul and Bunty

One Voice

2007-01-21T20:41:00.000+11:00

The following is a poem that David wrote before he went to be with the Lord....

One Voice

Within a sun of incandescent light
A rainbow prism of unrivaled awe
Sublime in splendor, fearful in its sight
A Throne established in the mists of yore
Reflecting on a sea of blazing glass
In mirrored pair, one glory seen twofold
The brilliance of the Face that none surpass
That gleams the eyes of those that do behold

The myriads who press around that Throne
A roiling sea of human hearts ablaze
All raise their voice in single blended tone
And crown Him with the thunder of their praise
Yet found amid the rapturous acclaim
A tune sets ringing heaven's rolling spheres
One voice amid the throng sings its refrain
And captivates the heart of Him who hears

You angels who approach the blazing coals
And dance the gyring circuit 'round the Throne
Shield not from me the Lover of my soul
But wed my song to echo with your own
Oh that my heart were winged and took its flight
Toward that burning flame, a moth enthralled
Drawn ever to the fire of intense light
Yet not consumed by glory's searing scald

David Collins

Living in the Light of Eternity

2007-01-07T01:20:00.002+11:00

It is just seven weeks today since our precious son went to be with the Lord. There is no way I can put into words the pain and heartbreak I feel, and I will not attempt to do so. Those who have lost a son or daughter will know. But each time I have wept in the agony of grief a clear word of comfort and direction has come constantly from the Lord to my heart...

"Live in the light of eternity!"

Those words paint a picture so clearly in my mind and heart. Life now, down here on earth, is just a short period of time in the midst of eternity. In the light of eternity I can see that we will soon be together again. J.B. Phillips gives a beautiful translation of Colossians 1:9...

"We are asking God that you may see things, as it were, from his point of view by being given spiritual insight and understanding."

That is now my constant prayer and desire. That I may see life now totally from God's point of view...with the light of eternity shining upon it.

I have been amazed at how often the Lord Jesus spoke of eternal life. As a believer in Christ I guess I'd always taken those scriptures for granted. But now they are like precious gems to me. Even the most familiar scripture, John 3:16 - probably the first one a new believer memorises - has become far more meaningful to me...

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

And John 6:40...

"For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."

This is why Jesus came into the world. Twelve days ago, all over the world, people were celebrating his coming to the earth. So many times the emphasis for the Christmas season, though with far deeper meaning than most give it, is the message the angels brought to the shepherds - peace on earth (Luke 2:14). But they also brought the announcement that the Saviour had been born. This is wonderful truth. He had come to save us from eternal death. He had come to bring us Life - eternal life. Because of this glorious truth that eternal life is the gift of God to every believer in Christ, Paul can boldly declare in 1 Corinthians 15:52-58...

"So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body...And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven...Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed -- in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable...When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death is your victory? Where O death, is your sting?' The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you..."

And Paul exhorts us to encourage one another in the realisation of what will happen when Jesus returns...

"Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words." 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.

What has been such a blessing to my heart as I have read this scripture in these recent days is the word "together". I suddenly realised what Paul was emphasising in his words of comfort to those who were grieving. We will be together with our loved ones for eternity. Together we will be with the Lord forever.

In my grief the Lord has also reminded me of what a friend told me a number of years ago when her father went to be with the Lord. She told me of the Lord's comfort to her heart -

"Forget the suffering, remember the glory."

How I would love to see David in the glory he is now experiencing. By faith I can. The Lord led me to a beautiful scripture the other day. Again so familiar, but I saw it in a new light...in the light of eternity. In 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 Paul describes how he experienced "visions and revelations from the Lord". He was "caught up to the third heaven" "to paradise" (he speaks of it as though it were someone else but in the context it is obvious that it was himself). He describes two things he experienced...

1. He "heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell."
2. He saw "surpassingly great revelations."

Paul and I have shared together how we can just see David enjoying this so much. He always has had such a love of knowledge - creation, the universe, everything living both great and small. And always such a hunger to know the Lord more in all His glory. This is now what he is experiencing and we can rejoice with him in this. We can imagine him joining with the angels and the believers around the Throne worshipping the Lord. How he will be loving it.

Some time ago David wrote an article on the Christian's faith for the Online Bible College e-magazine, "CrossRoads". He wrote of the three types of faith a Christian experiences. He wrote of Instant Faith and of Enduring Faith. Here is the last section of his article on the 3rd type of faith...

Unshakable Faith

There is a third kind of faith, and it is just as important as the preceding two. It is the faith we express when things are so contrary to the covenantal promises that there appears no way that God can answer. For example, what happens when we have prayed for someone who is sick, but he has not only not been healed, he has then died of his illness? There are times when God doesn't answer our prayer at all! We have passed what some would call "the point of no return." And it doesn't matter how we theologize it, the fact remains that the big question, "Why?", remains unanswered.

Read: Hebrews 11:39

Speaking of the many heroes of faith, it records:

"And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise."

Now the writer is specifically speaking of the promise of the coming New Covenant, but there are times when the same thing happens to Christians. Does this mean that our faith was lacking? Does it mean that the covenantal promises of the New Covenant have failed? Does it mean that God has been unfaithful? No! We must always remember the wider perspective of the New Covenant. We should rightly apply the promises of the New Covenant to our lives. Should we believe for immediate healing? Of course, we should! Note that James, the same writer who described the perseverance that comes through the trying of our faith, goes on to say in James 5:14-15;

"Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven."

What we need to understand is that God's covenantal promises are never broken. In fact, you will notice that the only difference between the three types of faith described is the time of the answer! In all three cases, the promises of the New Covenant for health are fulfilled. In the case of instant faith, there is instant healing. In the case of enduring faith, the healing is progressive. And in the case of unshakable faith, the covenantal promise of health is fulfilled at the return of Christ, when death itself is overturned and the mortal body puts on immortality (1 Corinthians 15:51-55). Do you have a need? I encourage you to reach out in faith for God's immediate answer. Have you been praying to God for something, but the answer has not yet come? Then be encouraged to "always pray and not give up," for God does indeed reward those who earnestly seek him. Have you experienced a circumstance which seems to have moved past the "point of no return"? Then this is where faith in God is expressed more strongly than at any time. For in the end, every promise of the New Covenant will be fulfilled! And not only that, your faith will have been proved genuine and will "result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."

Posted by Bunty Collins

In Glory

2006-11-20T10:19:00.000+11:00

Dear friends,

At 1:24pm on Saturday 18th November, 2006 David went home to be with the Lord.

This came as a great shock to many of us. We loved David and many around the world were praying in full faith for his recovery. The family were with him, singing with him on several occasions over the past week. The presence of the Lord was very beautiful. He regained consciousness for a short period just before his passing and each one of the family spoke special words to him and he was able to respond to each one.

The celebration of David's life will be held at the Evangelical Community Church, 19-23 Holland Road, Blackburn South, Melbourne on Friday 24th November at 11:00am for the viewing and 11:30am for the service followed by a luncheon.

We would appreciate your continual prayers for the family at this time. We are gathering forces to continue the vision of OBC worldwide - The Online Bible College.

With our special thanks and appreciation,

Paul and Bunty and Rebecca,
Elena, Jessica, Stephanie and Jordan.

All Glory to Him

2006-10-08T08:41:00.000+10:00

This is probably my last post before the final outcome of my battle with cancer. In one sense this is the close of one chapter of my journey and what a remarkable chapter it has been. My faith in the Lord is total and God is still deeply at work in my life bringing His purpose to fulfilment.

The Lord is good beyond measure and I am discovering that again day by day. His grace overflows beyond expectation. For those who have been following this journey - particularly for those who have been walking the journey with me in their own trial of faith - I want to testify that God is faithful and worthy of our trust.

All along in this journey Philippians 1:18-26 has had significant meaning for me.

"....yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labour for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this I know that I will remain, and will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me."

This passage encapsulates for me both my faith and the reality of where things are. Ultimately everything is in God's hands but there is a sure expectation that all glory, victory and praise will go to Him. Amen.

Jesus, My Everything

2006-10-06T14:02:00.000+10:00

How can I capture in one post the depth and significance of what the Lord is doing in my life at this time? And yet "depth" and "significance" really do apply to what God is doing in my life.

I'll start by sharing from Psalm 103 which has meant so much to me particularly in the last week.

"Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits - who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases" Psalm 103:1-3.

The amazing and overwhelming truth of God's Word is that God loves me, is vitally interested in my life and has actively intervened by demonstrating that love in the most practical way possible. The story of salvation is the story of that intervention.

To understand how God went about this we need to come back to the Word and understanding of the word "covenant". In sending Jesus into the world God did much more than just save me, He entered into an eternal covenant through Jesus. The moment we understand this our whole perspective on life changes.

In covenant there are two words that constantly come up - "blessings" and "curses". I encourage you to read Deuteronomy 28 as a classic example of how this works in the covenant God made with Israel through Moses.

In the New Covenant through Jesus, however, blessings and curses of covenant are all wrapped up in one person - Jesus. Jesus actually became the covenant Himself. For example, in Ephesians 1:3 Paul tells us -

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ."

Notice that it is "in Christ" that we are blessed. It is "in Christ" that we receive "everything spiritual blessing...in heavenly places".

But take a look also at Galatians 3:13.

"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."

In the New Covenant Jesus actually took upon himself all the curses. Everything listed in Deuteronomy 28 - every "plague", every "wasting disease", every "disaster", Jesus actually took upon himself. That was what the Cross was all about.

Through the suffering that I've been experiencing personally (and each one of us faces our own challenges and suffering unique to our situation) I have come to realise this truth as much more than theology but as something that totally changes my outlook on life. Jesus has become everything to me - not in a cliche sense, but as a matter of fact. He literally is everything I need, bar nothing. In 1 Corinthians 1:30 Paul says that Jesus...

"...has become for us wisdom from God — that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption."

Can you capture the significance of what this means for your life? Jesus didn't just come to save you He became your salvation. Now take a look again at Psalm 103.

"Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits - who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases" Psalm 103:1-3.

I pray that you, like me, will discover more and more what this means for your life.

The Words of Life

2006-09-20T04:36:00.000+10:00

This last two weeks have been an incredible time for me -- both in terms of faith and experiencing God's mercy and grace. I've had my share of discouragement at times, though, as I've been bedridden with potential bowel obstructions, but the doctors and palliative care nurses have set things up so that I can stay at home, rather than be admitted to hospital, if things aren't too serious. I now have an IV saline drip at home (if my stomach or bowels become blocked), which keeps me hydrated, and this makes a wonderful difference.

I want to share my experience this last week from both the negative and the positive, because this is very much part of the walk I'm experiencing. There have been times when pain and discomfort has been so great, along with a total weakness of body, that I can barely move. And yet in these times, I've also experienced God's grace in ways impossible otherwise.

One of the things I've been asking the Lord for, throughout my experience, is clarity -- the clarity of His Word spoken into my life. You know, you can face anything as long as you know that the Lord is with you and that you are walking with Him. That's the feeling that I had. What counts for me, more than anything else, is to know that I am "on track" with Him, walking the same path that He is. Psalm 23 bears this out in verses 4-5, when it says:

"[My shepherd] guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me."

I knew that I would fear no evil, in the midst of the valley of the shadow of death, as long as I knew my Shepherd was walking the same path with me, and that his rod and staff (symbols of His Word and discipline) were with me, keeping me on track.

At one point, Jesus spoke to some very despondent disciples, in John 6:63, with these words:

"The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life."

Later, in John 6:68-69, when asked if they would turn aside from following Jesus because of the "hardness" of what He had said (and their own difficulty in handling the experience), Peter's response was:

"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."

And so, as I was experiencing some suffering at one point, I responded to the Lord in the same way and cried out to the Lord for His voice -- His rod and staff -- to comfort me with clarity and direction. Immediately, as I was skimming through the Bible, my hand stopped at a particular passage in Job 1:20-22:

"At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.' In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing."

Talk about clarity! This was exactly where I was with the Lord on the "path of righteousness" He had called me to walk with Him. I had right then been saying to the Lord, "Why, Father, do I have to repeat this suffering time and again? What is the value in endless repetition? It seems like at times like this you just sit back and watch, you don't intervene, why?"

My response to Job's attitude in Job 1:22, I declared to the Lord, "In all this, Lord, I charge you with no wrongdoing. You are totally righteous in all your ways. You are the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows (James 1:17). You are my Rock, my righteousness, the ever-faithful God." And this became my recurring thought throughout each time of pain and suffering. And I noticed that when the inner attitude changed, the outer circumstances followed suit.

God began to speak in other ways, too, bringing clarity, encouragement and focus. Sometimes I was too weak to read the Bible myself, but family members would read passages of Scripture. Here's just one example from John 11:21-26:

"'Lord,' Martha said to Jesus, 'if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.' Jesus said to her, 'Your brother will rise again.' Martha answered, 'I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.' Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?'"

There is so much richness in this exchange between Martha and Jesus (especially if you've been following me in previous posts - see Video - The Lazarus Lesson and Outside of the Box). But for me, this became the focus of the Lord's word into my life. His promise was not simply about a future day when I would be raised back to life; even here and now, at the point of death, Jesus is for me the resurrection and the life. And this was where my faith became focused.

Each time I felt total weakness, even despondency, I would declare to the Lord that He is my resurrection and He is my life. This shifted my focus from myself, so easy to happen when you're going through suffering, to the Lord Himself. Instead of finding myself in a "black hole" of despair, I would begin to experience the presence of the Lord in richer ways. And so, at that time, one more of my Father's words -- from Nehemiah 8:10 -- became "Spirit and life" for me:

"Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."

The Cords of Death

2006-09-08T05:52:00.000+10:00

Less than 24 hours have passed since what has been, for me, the most dramatic touch from God I have ever experienced personally in my life. You may remember my post on January 24, 2006, when I shared about my experience of being healed from malaria (if not, then I encourage you to first read "Putting Faith into Action", particularly the section titled "Experience #1 - The Attack of Malaria"). This last 24 hours has seen a turnaround without comparison for me.

On Wednesday, August 30, I was admitted to Box Hill Hospital with a "sub-acute bowel obstruction", with severe vomiting, dehydration and a whole range of associated symptoms. I had to spend Father's Day (September 3 in Australia) in hospital (but it was lovely to be greeted on Father's Day morning with the kids singing "Happy Father's Day" for all the ward to hear!). Because the only real way to clear a bowel obstruction is by fasting, I was "nil by mouth" up until Saturday (September 2), which meant, of course, an unavoidable loss of weight -- I dropped down to 61 kg (134 lbs), and this was the most concerning part of the crisis. Over the next few days, though, I began to add food to my diet -- at first, clear fluids, then milky fluids, and then finally, by the day I was ready to be discharged (Tuesday, September 5), light solids. On Monday, however, something went wrong. Although I could still be discharged, I was extremely tired and all I wanted to do was sleep. When I got home, I slept right through the day and well into the next day.

What I didn't realise was that this was a symptom of a much more serious malady -- an illness that would take me quite literally, I believe, to death's door.

Throughout Wednesday, I found it increasingly difficult to regulate my core body temperature. Although I didn't have a fever (at least nothing measuring on the thermometer), I would find myself extremely cold, but then when I covered myself with blankets, I would easily "overcook" (King David experienced these symptoms, as recorded in 1 Kings 1:1). One of the reasons for this is that I now have very little body fat -- I'm low on natural insulation to keep me warm. On top of this, I also was experiencing the onset of another bowel obstruction. I could only sip a little water every now and again, and once more I couldn't eat. My family put out the word to the Prayer Firewall and the church prayer chain to come before the Lord on my behalf. We all knew that it was a very serious crisis looming.

Last night was a horrific experience. Through the night, I was fighting to keep some semblance of a stable core body temperature. I would doze off to sleep, then my temperature would plummet, and would awake in a panic. Although I was actually well rugged up, and the thermostat in our house was set at a cozy 21 degrees Celcius (70 degrees F), I felt like I was sleeping in the middle of a blizzard, wearing only a thin T-shirt. Frankly, I felt like I was on my death bed, and potentially, I guess, this could easily have been the case. I found out later that I dropped to 55 kg (121 lbs), and my body was probably metabolising muscle to try to gain the energy it needed.

Throughout the night, all I could do was cry out to the Lord for his mercy. Elena was working night-shift last night, and my mother was by my bedside, helping me to massage my legs (which provided some temporary relief from the deep aching, as well as imparting some warmth). But come 5 am, it had become very serious. My mum called Elena's work and asked for her to come back home. We were looking at calling the ambulance again, but I was absolutely terrified of the ordeal of having to face the cold when I'm put onto the stretcher (and then, of course, when I'm fitted again with the IV canula, etc). My dad (who had returned to the small unit that ECC has graciously provided for my parents when they're in Melbourne) arrived at about 5.45 am.

I'm trying my best to describe to you what is ultimately a very subjective experience, but I'm seeking to do so in terms that both honour the Lord fully for what He has done and paint in as clear a picture as possible just how serious my situation was. My body was going into shock. While I was struggling to maintain body temperature, and felt like I was trying to survive a blizzard, I also felt like my chest had been dipped in kerosene and someone had struck a match. I was burning...not the kind of burning you feel when you have a fever, but the kind of burning you feel when you are a burns victim. Remember, all this has happened for me less than 24 hours ago, and I'm trying to recount those sensations, while they are still extremely vivid for me.

I can relate very much to Psalm 18:4-6:

"The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears."

I don't believe the Psalmist here is simply being poetic about his distress. When he describes "the cords of death" entangling him and the "cords of the grave" coiling around him, this was for him, as for me, a very real description of a physical sensation.

My uncle Terry (my dad's younger brother) flew over from New Zealand and arrived two days ago. He had been waiting on the Lord and felt that this was the time to come and join my family in specific prayer. Uncle Terry and my dad have experenced miracles beyond count -- seeing many wonderful interventions from God in healing (if you'd like to read specific stories of my parents' experiences, I encourage you to read their blog "The Living Edge").

When Uncle Terry I arrived, it was the evening I was just about to enter into everything I described above. My family had moved me onto a mattress in the center of our living room, so I that I could be in the center of family life, rather than tucked away in the bedroom. The children had each knelt by my bedside that night and prayed for me (what wonderful prayers of faith they prayed...beautiful expressions of personal trust in the Lord). They knew this was serious. I couldn't even lift my head to take a sip of water, and my voice was extremely weak...my family struggled to understand what I was trying to say, it came out in the barest whisper, and if they didn't hear the first time, I would have to gather my strength to say it one more time.

Uncle Terry told me he had been praying and asking the Lord for specific direction in how we should pray. He encouraged me that there would come a word from the Lord, a word to "Rise up." I gathered my strength, and with tears welling in my eyes, I said, "I'm waiting for the word straight from the Lord. At his word, I will get up." That's all I could say at the time, but my family understood what I meant. Countless times, Jesus had spoken to those he was about to heal and say, "Rise up and walk" (see, for example, John 5:5-9). I knew I had no physical strength to get up, yet in my mind's eye, I could see myself like the paralytic of Acts 3:1-10, "walking and jumping, and praising God"!

I asked my mum to read from Matthew 14:22-36 -- the account of Jesus walking on the water. "That's what I'm waiting for," I said to mum. "The word of Jesus, which says, 'Come!'" (Matthew 14:29). At the word of Jesus, I knew, I would get up from my death bed.

Another passage that my mother read out for me was John 11:1-44 (you may remember I posted my insights into this passage earlier in the year - see, for example, February 8). Once again, what struck me was the simple revelation that Jesus Himself is "the resurrection and the life". I cried out to the Lord under my breath and declared, "Lord, you are, for me, the resurrection and the life!"

Far too much happened overnight for me to share in this post -- my cries to God for His mercy, for His compassion, my declarations of faith, my covenantal calls upon Him. But I'll take up the story now from when my dad arrived at 5.45 am. He leant over my bed, laid his hands on me, and rebuked the spirit of death. And I then remember my dad praying that my body temperature would stabilize and become "as placid as a lake, without a ripple."

Remember, I had been struggling to maintain my core body temperature, and I was overcooking at the time -- rugged up with blankets, yet scared of the cold. But at that time, I knew I had to take a simple step of faith. This was, for me, my word from the Lord: "Rise up and walk." And so I pulled back the blankets from my shoulders. From experience, I knew it would be a matter of seconds and my temperature would crash, and I would begin to shiver from the cold.

But nothing happened! I felt warm! A few minutes passed, and I still had no need to cover myself up. After another few minutes, I asked for some water, and was able to lean on my arm to drink -- not just a sip or two, but several sips. My stomach and intenstinal track had settled down. I began to feel energy surging into my body -- not dramatically, but quietly, step by step, reverse of the "drain of death" I had been experiencing up to that time.

Dad had an appointment with Uncle Terry for breakfast, and with some dear friends, Brian and Ruth, who among many others had been interceding for me. He was going to cancel the appointment. I said, this time with growing strength in my voice, "You go, dad. I know the Lord is healing me." And so, as an act of faith, dad felt to go. "I'll bring them back to pray too," he said.

In the meantime, I was drinking more. I said to mum, "I need to get up and go to the toilet." And so, leaning on her shoulder, I got up and walked to the toilet. When I returned, rather than lying down again, I felt strong enough to sit on the sofa. By this time, I was just covered in a single blanket (my "prayer shawl"). I was now able to drink a full cup of water, and my mum began to get me some clear apple juice -- for the first time taking in real nourishment into my body.

We had one of the praise CDs playing in our CD player, and it was a song about how God had turned my mourning into dancing (see Psalm 30:11). By this time, my mum had gone to go to the bathroom, and so I stood quietly where I was, with my hands raised to the Lord, thanking Him for His healing. As the song played, I began to softly "jig" in time with the music -- it was the barest of a dance, I was still so weak, but for me it was another step of faith. I was putting into action the faith I had in the Lord.

From that time on, my recovery was speedy. An hour or so later, my dad arrived with Uncle Terry, Brian and Ruth, and I greeted my dad at the door with a military salute. Hour by hour, my strength increased. By lunch time, I was walking around as if nothing had happened the night before. When Elena finally woke up from her sleep (she had been on night shift, you may recall), she and I went for a walk with the dogs!

In the days to come, I'll share more of what God is doing in my life. But already, the testimony of God's grace is being sounded abroad. My GP is amazed by what she recognizes is a total miracle from God's hand. My palliative care nurses knew the seriousness of my situation, and have never encountered anything in their experience like this. As far as they were concerned, from the descriptions I was giving of my ordeal last night, I was on my death bed. Everything conformed to what they have witnessed, many times, of people at death's door.

I'll close, for now, with my personal testimony of God's mercy, as described in Psalm 37:17:

"The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles."

Or as The Message so beautifully puts it:

"Is anyone crying for help? God is listening, ready to rescue you."

Update on David

2006-09-03T17:03:00.000+10:00

Dear friends of David,

Because he has been unable to write posts for his blog in recent days we felt it was good if we filled you in with an update.

It has truly been an amazing journey with David, thus far, with his battle with cancer. There have been so many answers to prayer and, even as we have been praying for him, we know there is an amazing army of people praying and this circle of prayer is increasing all the time, which, to us, is really amazing. Whenever he has had pain, after prayer the pain has left. When other difficulties have arisen and on the four or five occasions when he has had to go into hospital, the Lord has answered again, and after two or three days he has been home again where he has been for most of this period.

Until recently, he has been ministering in the church on a regular basis and his messages have been greatly anointed.

Just this last week he had to go into the hospital again, where he is at the moment, and in this crisis time the Lord is answering again. This morning he is looking much better and the Oncologists were "pleased with his progress".

So the calls of prayer are coming in from around the world reminding us of so many friends who are praying. We are also reminded that our focus is not on the cancer but on the power and the glory of the Lord and the Gospel's provision for healing.

Elena and the family are doing well and they want us to thank you also.

Much love from all of us, and once again thank you so much for your prayers and intercession for David.

Paul and Bunty Collins

Writing Project - Become a Cancer Victor!

2006-08-04T00:03:00.000+10:00

I've been in recovery mode for the most part over the last couple of weeks (beginning with the first symptoms of bowel obstruction just over two weeks ago). But I can give testimony to the daily experience of God's grace in my life -- his healing touch, his quiet assurance and his absolute friendship through thick and thin.

Although I haven't put "pen to paper" much in my blogs over the last fortnight, I have been writing. I began writing a book, about two weeks ago, which I'm calling "Become a Cancer Victor!" In this book, I'm seeking to distill all the lessons I'm learning on my "path of victory" that the Lord is unfolding before my feet.

I've attached a link to the Introduction to the book here. I'd love you to read it, and offer any comments you may have. I'll share more about the book later down the track.

Become a Cancer Victor! - Introduction

In the meantime, keep looking to Him always!

BTW, I've just posted a report in The Prayer Firewall Blog, sharing with you the latest results from CT scans and reports.

In Recovery

2006-07-26T23:43:00.000+10:00

I'm resting temporarily while I recover from a recent episode of bowel obstruction (see Critical Prayer Point). I hope to be back writing again soon.

Slow to Anger

2006-07-19T03:15:00.000+10:00

One of the areas in which I am experiencing transformation is in how I respond to others. This obviously isn't just a work that God's Spirit suddenly began to do in my life in the last couple of weeks -- it's been going on for quite some time in my life. However, in the last two weeks I've experienced a significant touch of the Lord. Before I share a little of what this means for me, I want to provide a little background from Scripture.

You will remember, from last Monday's post, that the process of transformation starts with revelation. This is not just a revelation of my condition (i.e. my sin), but rather a revelation of the Lord Himself. A picture of how this revelation-initiated transformation works is found in Isaiah 6:1-3, which describes the personal encounter that the prophet Isaiah had with the glory of God:

"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: 'Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.'"

The next verse explains what resulted from this vision Isaiah had of God's holy presence:

"At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke."

The glory of God will always have this effect on our world. In fact, God has promised that he will "shake not only the earth but also the heavens...so that what cannot be shaken may remain (Hebrews 12:26-27). But the impact of this vision was far more than just a physical shaking of Isaiah's surroundings. Isaiah himself was shaken, for in Isaiah 6:5 we read Isaiah's own words:

"'Woe to me!' I cried. 'I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.'"

This is the nature of revelation. When you see the Lord for who He really is, it cannot but impact your life. For a revelation of the Lord's nature will of necessity entail a revelation of your own. Because Isaiah had caught a glimpse of the holiness of God, he now saw himself in contrast -- a man who was unholy and "ruined." Like Paul, who recognised that he was "wretched" (Romans 7:24), Isaiah too realized the vast gulf between himself and God in terms of righteousness and holiness. This is why Paul said, in Ephesians 4:24, that we are now to "put on the new self, [which is] created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." You cannot step into this God-similitude without first having a revelation of the nature of God's righteousness and holiness.

But God doesn't leave Isaiah in this state of abject self-revelation. Isaiah 6:6-7 tells us:

"Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, 'See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.'"

Hand in hand with Isaiah's revelation of God, and the accompanying self-revelation, came an act of atonement. God didn't just reveal Isaiah's condition; He addressed it through an act of redemption. In the same way, part of the transformation process that we experience as we encounter God, one revelation after another, is that we experience God's forgiveness and restoration.

Isaiah 6:8 finishes the description of Isaiah's transformation process (or at least this specific incident) with these words:

"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!'"

Transformation ultimately results in a total reorientation of one's life with God's plan and purpose. I don't believe a person can experience the transforming power of God and remain self-focused. By its very nature, transformation involves a realignment with God's will, hence God's question and Isaiah's response.

I mentioned 2 Corinthians 3:18 in my last post, and it's worthwhile quoting it here again:

"And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."

The Contemporary English Version puts it this way:

"So our faces are not covered. They show the bright glory of the Lord, as the Lord's Spirit makes us more and more like our glorious Lord."

The key to this transformation process, according to 2 Corinthians 3:18, is a revelation of God, which comes about with an "unveiled" or "uncovered" exposure to God's presence -- in other words, coming close to God, close enough that we ourselves "reflect the Lord's glory" (NIV) by "beholding [God's glory] as in a mirror" (NKJV). I've written elsewhere of this "mirror effect" and if you're interested in reading more, you can download the OBC lesson, "Conformed to His Image", from here.

I didn't intend to spend so much time on these preliminary explanations, but having written them, I've decided not to edit them out, because I believe it's important to understand the dynamics of transformation in order to fully appreciate what I'm about to write. I'm now going to share with you that part of the revelation I've had of the Lord -- just one aspect of His glory and His nature -- which has had a dramatic impact on my life in recent weeks. This revelation is not in itself new (I've read this passage before, and I've known this aspect of God's nature before), but it's imprint upon me has been very much new. Like Isaiah, I've experienced the shaking of "the doorposts and thresholds" of my heart and life.

When God revealed His glory (in limited measure) to Moses, He declared His eternal nature in Exodus 34:6-7:

"And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, 'The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.'"

There's a lot that could be explained about this verse, but to suffice it to say at this point that everything in these two verses is the revelation of God that is revealed in the Law of Moses. In this post I want to focus on one facet of God's nature, the attribute that has particularly impacted me in recent days -- God's description as "slow to anger."

Take a look at these other verses:

Numbers 14:18 - "The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation."
Nehemiah 9:17 - "They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them..."
Psalm 86:15 - "But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness."
Psalm 103:8 - "The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love."
Psalm 145:8 - "The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love."
Joel 2:13 - "Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity."
Jonah 4:2 - "He prayed to the Lord, O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity."
Nahum 1:3 - "The Lord is slow to anger and great in power; the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished. His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet."

You'll notice that the Bible doesn't say that God doesn't get angry (note Romans 1:18; Psalm 7:11), nor does it equate anger with sin (note Psalm 4:4; Ephesians 4:26). Jesus got angry (see Luke 11:37-54), but his anger, like His Father's, is a righteous anger, provoked by serious and sustained wickedness, arrogance and hypocrisy (Romans 2:5-8) - not a self-centred irritation that flares up due to lack of self control. In fact, self-control is one of the "fruit of the Spirit" (Galatians 5:22-23) -- in other words, self-control is one of the attributes of the divine nature we are called to participate in (2 Peter 1:4). This is why James 1:19-20 gives this advice:

"My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires."

I like the way The Message puts it:

"...Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. God's righteousness doesn't grow from human anger."

J B Phillips phrases it this way:

"...let every man be quick to listen but slow to use his tongue, and slow to lose his temper. For man's temper is never the means of achieving God's true goodness."

After stating that we must "put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:24), Paul goes on in Ephesians 4:31-32 to give this command:

"Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."

The Lord has been working in my life for many years in this particular area. When you fall into the trap of comparing yourself to others, it's all too easy to come to the conclusion that you're "OK" or a relatively "good guy", but the moment you compare yourself to God, suddenly you see yourself from a divine perspective. Because I'm a person who's goal-oriented, who runs fast and easily outpaces those around me, I all too easily get impatient with people. Generally I can keep mild irritation in check, but sometimes, if I get tired or stressed, that impatience can rise to the fore. I'm not usually on a "hair trigger" when it comes to temper, but I can find myself losing my temper from time to time (and then needing to ask forgiveness from family after the fact).

I'm sharing all of this as background to what God is doing in my life. What I want to write is not just a "hey, I'm changed" kind of post, but rather to explain, at least as best as I can, the actual process I'm going through. You see, it's not good enough for God simply to tell me, "David, you need to change in this or that area." Using temper as an example, I already know I need to change in this area. In times past, Elena made certain that I knew this! And very early in my walk with the Lord, God was already clearly pointing out that this was an area where maturity was needed.

But just knowing is not enough. The Bible tells us that the Law of Moses was given for the precise purpose of showing us where we are wrong. Romans 3:20 reveals this purpose clearly:

"...through the law we become conscious of sin."

Or as J B Phillips renders this verse:

"...indeed it is the straight-edge of the Law that shows us how crooked we are."

The Law, therefore, was given to act like a mirror, revealing where I'm dirty.

But the Bible also reveals that there is another problem with how the Law works. When God gives a command, there is no innate power within me to obey that command. Think of the analogy of the mirror I just gave. Imagine that you've been working in the garden, pulling weeds. Because it's a hot day, you wipe the sweat off your brow everything couple of minutes or so. Without realising it, your face is now grimed with soil -- an absolutely horrendous sight!

You walk inside and suddenly catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror. You walk up to the mirror, and you now see yourself in all your glory! You see your true condition. The mirror didn't create the grime. But until you saw yourself in the mirror, you were oblivious to your true condition. This is what the Bible means when the Law, acting like a mirror, revealed the inner grime that you weren't aware of before.

But having seen yourself in the mirror, do you now take the mirror off the wall and proceed to rub your face with the mirror, in order to get clean? Obviously not. The mirror has no capacity to make you clean. It's sole purpose is to reveal the dirt and let you know something needs to change. But then, if you are wise, you will go to the faucet, turn on the water, and wash your face clean with the cleansing power of water. In the same way, the Law was not given to remedy the problem -- only to point out the problem. After the Law of God reveals where we are dirty with sin, we must then go to another source -- the Water of Life -- in order to get clean (note Ephesians 5:25-27).

But that's not all! The Bible also reveals another problem with the Law. Not only is there no innate power in the commandment itself to change what is wrong in me, there is actually an inner power in me that reacts to the commandment negatively! (check out the whole of Romans 7, particularly Romans 7:11-25, to see this problem explained in detail). The command actually amplifies the power of sin itself! Romans 7:7-8 describes how this problem works:

"...I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, 'Do not covet.' But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead."

What Paul is telling us here is that the Law is very effective at pointing out the problem, but is absolutely of no value when it comes to providing the answer. Worse, it actually reinforces the problem, creating an even stronger problem. We all have had experience with this inner, negative power. Even as a child, I'm sure you can remember times when your parents told you, "Don't touch that!", but the commandment actually stirred within you an even stronger desire to touch the forbidden thing!

This is why God, after pointing out the problem through the Law, takes a completely different approach in order to deal with the problem. Romans 8:3-4 reveals God's strategy of dealing with sin issues:

"For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit."

I like the clarity in J B Phillips' phrasing of this passage of Scripture:

"The Law never succeeded in producing righteousness - the failure was always the weakness of human nature. But God has met this by sending his own Son Jesus Christ to live in that human nature which causes the trouble. And, while Christ was actually taking upon himself the sins of men, God condemned that sinful nature. So that we are able to meet the Law's requirements, so long as we are living no longer by the dictates of our sinful nature, but in obedience to the promptings of the Spirit."

Outside of God's solution, the carnal self is an intractable problem. Devoid of any empowerment from God, I am left with nothing but despair. But the good news is that with God, an internal power gets to work. This internal empowerment is described in Ephesians 3:20:

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us..."

This post has taken me a lot longer to articulate than I originally anticipated (hence the gap of one week between posts), but it's such an important part of my growth in the Lord at the moment, I'm going to take this up further in my next post (maybe even in the next few posts). In this post, I've had to backpedal a lot, in order to bring you up to where God has already worked in my life. A lot of what I shared in this post is not new revelation to me -- it is what I've been learning over the last 20 years. But in order to appreciate what is new, it's important for me to first lay the foundation to that new revelation. This really has been a journey for me -- a journey spanning the entirety of my life.

I also want to emphasize that temper is not the only thing God has been working on in my life. In fact, the list is quite long. He is dealing with issues that, among others, include:

Personal security in relationships
Reactions to others (that's quite a broad category)
Fears, anxieties and worries
The ability to be an "overcomer", despite negative emotions/discouragement

But I want to use the issue of temper as an example of what God is doing in my life, and how He is doing it. So, in my next post, I plan to share with you more on how God is doing His work of change in my life, particularly in the area of temper and impatience. I am indeed being conformed (slowly but surely) to the likeness of Jesus, through the inner empowerment of God's Spirit. God by nature is "slow to anger", and I too am learning what it means to be, by nature, "slow to anger".

The Process of Transformation

2006-07-10T12:51:00.000+10:00

In the last couple of weeks, I've had a deeper revelation of who the Lord is -- His nature and character, as well as His purpose for my life. And the effect of this revelation, quite understandably, is that I also have been changed -- or more accurately, I am in the process of change. We know why this is so, because 2 Corinthians 3:18 tells us:

"And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."

Like all disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm on a journey of discovery. But this journey is not just a discovery of information, but one of transformation. The key word root in both "information" and "transformation" is formation. In other words, God is forming me into something -- in fact, the correct biblical term is conforming me into something, and that something is identified in Romans 8:29:

"For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers."

So, here's how it's working for me:

First, I am informed of God's nature, by a process the Bible calls "revelation" (see Ephesians 1:17).
Then, by the power of God's Spirit -- also called "the Spirit of wisdom and revelation" (Ephesians 1:17) -- I am transformed through a process the Bible calls "repentance" (Acts 3:19; 2 Peter 3:9).
The end result is that I am conformed to the likeness of Jesus (Romans 8:29), which means a change not just in specific behaviour, but a change in the whole pattern of life (my attitude, outlook and actions).

I often use three words (each beginning with "R") to describe this three-step recursive process:

Revelation - being "informed" by God's Spirit through His Word.
Repentance - reorienting my life direction through obedience to God's revealed Word (at which point I am then "transformed" by God's Spirit).
Reality - walking in the truth of God's Word through the empowering of God's Spirit (where I am "conformed" to the likeness of Jesus).

I'll be sharing a fair bit on this inform/transform/conform process over the next few posts.

Running to Keep Up With the Lord

2006-07-09T22:44:00.000+10:00

If you've been following my posts for the last couple of weeks, you'll know that there has been a frequent theme of personal transformation in many of these posts. I've been crying out to the Lord for that personal transformation, considering this to be of higher value and importance than even my healing. And I can now give testimony that the Lord has answered my cry.

In Matthew 5:6, the Lord said:

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."

I believe that every touch from God is preceded by a hunger for Him. In fact, sometimes the Lord will purposely withdraw the sense of His presence in order to cultivate a deeper hunger. And for the last few weeks, my hunger for the Lord has been insatiable. And as Jesus promised, because I have "hunger[ed] and thirst[ed] for righteousness," I have indeed been filled.

The last few days I've been up most of the night just praying. Not praying for my healing, but praying for God to reveal Himself in greater and deeper ways. And I'm now running, just trying to keep up with what God is showing me of Himself. It is, quite honestly, overwhelming. Much of it has to do with His purpose, not just in my life but in the world, His plans for His Church and the wonder of the goal He is heading toward. I'm going to share about this in this blog, but I'm actually creating two new blogs, specifically to begin to share in a deeper way what the Lord is showing to me. The two new blogs are:

A Gospel for the 21st Century - describing issues related to the Gospel, God's redemptive narrative and life-changing power.
A Church for the 21st Century - describing issues related to the Church, God's redemptive vehicle and the living expression of Jesus in today's world.

I'm just starting to put these blogs together, but soon I'll start posting in them. And I'll let you know when that happens.

By the way, I've also been helping my parents over the last couple of days put together three blogs for their own authorship. These can be found as follows:

The Living Edge - true stories of God's miraculous intervention and the many visitations of the Holy Spirit that my parents have experienced over 50 years of ministry as missionaries in Asia and the Pacific.
Sure Foundations - articles on the nature of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and its transforming power in people's lives.
The Birthright - a discovery of God's glorious plan and purpose for every believer, as revealed in Scripture.

Now, back to my own journey of personal transformation. Much of what the Lord has been unveiling to me personally has to do with the 6pm Twilight Service, the congregation I'm pastoring at ECC here in Melbourne. But there has also been a lot of very personal stuff, some of which is still percolating (and thus is not ready for this blog), but some of which is matured enough for me to share. So the personal stuff, I'll share here, while I'll reserve the "deeper" stuff, regarding God's purpose in and through the Church, for the two blogs listed above.

When we are transformed by the power of God's Spirit, we come out a different person than the one that began the process. This is very true for me. I'm a different person from the one that began to write this blog, late last year, and I'm even a different person from the one writing just a couple of weeks ago. That's the nature of transformation. Although you have the same name, the same memories, the same personality, yet the transformation process makes of you someone who is in many ways different. You look at the world differently, you even respond differently to situations.

The Bible calls this the "new creation" dynamic. Take a look at these verses:

2 Corinthians 5:17 - "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"
Ephesians 2:10 - "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
Ephesians 4:22-24 - "You were taught...to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."
Galatians 6:15 - "Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation."

That last verse in particular is interesting. Circumcision was the big theological dissension in Paul's day. There were lots of heated debates was to whether Gentiles should be circumcised or not, as required by the Law of Moses, after they had confessed faith in Jesus Christ. Paul has a lot of things to say in this matter (read Galatians 5:1-12), but at the end of it all, after all the theological discussions are over, he says, "Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation"! You can substitute "circumcision" with any theological debate currently running the rounds in the church. Here are some examples:

Neither Calvinism nor Armenianism means anything; what counts is a new creation!
Neither Evangelical nor Charismatic means anything; what counts is a new creation!
Neither Premillenialism nor Postmillenialism means anything; what counts is a new creation!

How easily we can get caught up in heated debates about things that, in the context of eternity, mean very little (see 2 Timothy 2:23; Titus 3:9) -- and how much has the Church been guilty of waging these theological battles, while the world looks on bemused, at best, and totally turned off, at worst. It's all about the new creation in Christ! It's all about personal transformation by the power of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:4-6). That's my focus as I move forward in this exciting journey of following Jesus.

Considering the Facts

2006-07-08T12:47:00.000+10:00

This last week, I've experienced a real touch from the Lord, physically -- but at the same time, I've also experienced what some might call "reversals", or what I view as retaliations by the enemy, pure and simple -- the last throes, as it were, of an enemy defeated.

I was speaking with my mother today about this, and she reminded me of Romans 4:19-21, which recounts Abraham's experience, so I read this again. In the New International Version, it reads like this:

"¹⁹Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead -- since he was about a hundred years old -- and that Sarah's womb was also dead. ²⁰Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, ²¹being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised."

When the New International Version says that Abraham "faced the fact that his body was as good as dead", that phrase "faced the fact" literally means "considered carefully." But it can also be taken in the negative, meaning "he didn't consider (or take into account)" these facts. This is why the King James Version translates this passage as:

^"19And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb: ²⁰He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; ²¹And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform."

Look at how different Bible translations have rendered this passage:

New American Standard Bible (updated 1995) - "¹⁹Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb; ²⁰yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, ²¹and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform."
New Century Version - "¹⁹Abraham was almost a hundred years old, much past the age for having children, and Sarah could not have children. Abraham thought about all this, but his faith in God did not become weak. ²⁰He never doubted that God would keep his promise, and he never stopped believing. He grew stronger in his faith and gave praise to God. ²¹Abraham felt sure that God was able to do what he had promised."
New Living Translation - "¹⁹And Abraham's faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead -- and so was Sarah's womb. ²⁰Abraham never wavered in believing God's promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. ²¹He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises."
New Revised Standard Version - "¹⁹He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarahs womb. ²⁰No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, ²¹being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised."
The Message - "¹⁹Abraham didn't focus on his own impotence and say, 'It's hopeless. This hundred-year-old body could never father a child.' Nor did he survey Sarah's decades of infertility and give up. ²⁰He didn't tiptoe around God's promise, asking cautiously skeptical questions. He plunged into the promise and came up strong, ready for God, ²¹sure that God would make good on what he had said."
Good News Translation - "¹⁹He was then almost one hundred years old; but his faith did not weaken when he thought of his body, which was already practically dead, or of the fact that Sarah could not have children. ²⁰His faith did not leave him, and he did not doubt God's promise; his faith filled him with power, and he gave praise to God. ²¹He was absolutely sure that God would be able to do what he had promised."
International Standard Version - "¹⁹He did not weaken in faith when he thought about his own body (which was already as good as dead now that he was about a hundred years old) or about Sarah's inability to have children, ²⁰nor did he doubt God's promise out of a lack of faith. Instead, he became strong in faith and gave glory to God, ²¹being absolutely convinced that God would do what he had promised."
J B Phillips - "¹⁹With undaunted faith he looked at the facts - his own impotence (he was practically a hundred years old at the time) and his wife Sarah's apparent barrenness. ²⁰Yet he refused to allow any distrust of a definite pronouncement of God to make him waver. He drew strength from his faith, and while giving the glory to God, ²¹remained absolutely convinced that God was able to implement his own promise."
The Amplified Bible - "¹⁹He did not weaken in faith when he considered the [utter] impotence of his own body, which was as good as dead because he was about a hundred years old, or [when he considered] the barrenness of Sarah's [deadened] womb. ²⁰No unbelief or distrust made him waver (doubtingly question) concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong and was empowered by faith as he gave praise and glory to God, ²¹Fully satisfied and assured that God was able and mighty to keep His word and to do what He had promised."

These translations (or paraphrases) each describe how Abraham took into account his frail condition (which was diametrically opposed to God's promise). He "considered" or "thought" or "looked" on these facts, but he did so through the lens of faith. This was because he took other facts into consideration -- particularly facts about God's faithfulness and ability to fulfill what He had promised. In Hebrews 11:11, we see that Abraham "considered" the others things to be of greater importance:

"By faith Abraham, even though he was past age -- and Sarah herself was barren -- was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise."

I was challenged by the Lord with regard to what I "consider". I too, like Abraham, do not consider the symptoms to have the last say in my life. Instead, I consider other things.

I did a quick concordance study in the Bible on the word "consider" and this is what I came up with:

Romans 8:18 - "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us."
Philippians 3:8 - "What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I considerthem rubbish, that I may gain Christ."
Hebrews 11:2-3 - ²Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."
James 1:2 - "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds."

Like Abraham, I am also "fully assured", "fully persuaded" and "absolutely convinced" that my healing is a matter of certainty, due to God's faithfulness. I'm just waiting for the symptoms to catch up with the reality, as it stands in God, that I am healed!

Milestones and Memorials

2006-07-07T23:19:00.000+10:00

Today, I celebrated the seventh month since my diagnosis. Exactly seven months ago today, I was informed by my operating surgeon not only that I had cancer but also that it was in its last stages. The "mean life expectancy" given, as a rough guide, was that I had approximately 7-9 months to live. And so today was an important milestone in my walk of faith. For seven months has passed, and I'm still very much alive and kicking!

I took my family out for a meal at a Hong Kong-style restaurant as part of the celebration event. And then I had a time of prayer and thanksgiving with my children.

Milestones are important in our lives. By taking the time to celebrate significant points of transition and inflection points in our lives, we refocus our faith and consolidate our confidence in God.

In Joshua 4:4-7, we find this story:

"So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, 'What do these stones mean?' tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever."

I've often wondered at both the value and the utility of this particular memorial. How could you ever be reminded of these stones unless you actually went scuba diving (or unless the Lord once again blocked the waters of the Jordan to allow people to cross on dry land). But then I realised that the memorial wasn't just in the stones, it was also in the story itself -- the retelling of this story memorialized the event.

That's what I'm seeking to do with my kids. I'm creating milestones, not just for me, but for them. I'm retelling the story -- creating a narrative of faith -- which they will understand in the retelling.

In 1 Samuel 7:2-12, we also find an interesting story. After routing the Philistines, Samuel sets up a stone and calls it "Ebenezer," meaning, "the stone of help," and verse 12 tells us:

"Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, 'Thus far has the LORD helped us.'"

The Message phrases 1 Samuel 7:12 in this way:

"Samuel took a single rock and set it upright between Mizpah and Shen. He named it "Ebenezer" (Rock of Help), saying, 'This marks the place where God helped us.'"

July 7 is my Ebenezer. Today, I declared, "Thus far has the LORD helped me," and tonight I proclaimed to my children, "This [day] marks the [time when] God helped us."

As far as I'm concerned, I'm healed already. Now we're just waiting for the symptoms to catch up with this fact! But the establishing and commemorating of memorials -- our virtual Ebenezers -- is important in the walk of faith. Milestones are integral to the journey.

The Cure for Spiritual Vertigo

2006-07-06T01:58:00.000+10:00

In 2 Peter 1:4, we have a remarkable encouragement from God:

"Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."

In His Word, God has given us "very great and precious promises", each of which has a two-fold purpose:

To help us participate in the divine nature -- to conform us to the likeness of Jesus (Romans 8:29).
To help us escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires -- to be set free from all that opposes God's divine nature (2 Peter 2:20)

I was chatting, via email, with my dear brother Tom Gill in Ohio, and he gave me Psalm 91 to read, particularly verses 14-16:

"'Because he loves me,' says the LORD, 'I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.'"

I've been familiar with this passage for a long time, but it came home to me in a very special way tonight. Part of the reason is that it is now 1am, and I've been awake for the last hour because of acute vertigo. If I shift my head to either side, but particularly to the right, or if I tilt my head back, the world suddenly seems to spin violently, and I feel extremely nauseous.

I've had this condition for about 48 hours now, and tonight Dr Sook Lin Lee, my family doctor, made a home visit, and she was able to diagnose it as "benign paroxysmal positional vertigo" or BPPV (click here if you want more details on this condition). Apparently the condition will clear itself up in the next few days, although it means I have to be careful walking, and can't drive at the moment. But it causes me trouble at night too, hence being up right now.

But if I hadn't been up, I don't think I would have connected with Tom in the way we did, and I wouldn't be reading that wonderful promise from Psalm 91:14-16. It's almost as if those three verses were tailor-made for me tonight. And so this time is a very special time with the Lord, which I'm making the most of.

What a wonderful promise Psalm 91:14-16 is -- definitely a "great and precious" promise straight from God to me! "Because he loves me...I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name." Wow. For once, I'm speechless.

Lord, I've been calling on you a lot over the last few months, and I've seen you rescue me many times. And I believe you are going to rescue me in "the big way". Even tonight, Lord, I'm looking to you for your rescue from this nuisance of a condition. You said, "With long life" you will "satisfy [me] and show [me] your salvation." Long life. I take that, in Jesus' name.

I was thinking a little over the nature of vertigo, and in particular the parallels that physical vertigo has with a spiritual condition having similar symptoms. Being a teacher, I'm obviously interested in anything that can be used as an example to teach spiritual truths. So bear with me for a moment while we take a look at this unusual physical condition and its spiritual parallel.

Vertigo occurs because of a misfunction of the inner ear, which includes the semi-circular canals. Fluid in these canals trigger hairs, which signal to the brain and give the sensation of spinning and similar movement, and also give you your sense of balance when you stand or walk. Apparent, with BPPV, small grains or "rocks" interfere with the normal sensations within the semi-circular canals, creating the dizzying sensations of vertigo. So, it's official now -- I have "rocks in my head" ;-)

It's amazing how something as simple as this can interfere with one's sense of balance, and even more amazing how it actually interferes with your sense of sight. Anyone who has spun around crazily as a child will remember the visual sensation of the world "spinning around you." Of course, the world is not spinning around you at all, but you actually see this due to something in your ear! Go figure!

You know, in our spiritual life we also need to keep a fine sense of balance. And I believe it isn't coincidental that in the physical body, it is the ear that controls this sense of balance. In the spiritual, too, it is our spiritual ear which determines our sense of spiritual balance. Hearing from God is essential to walking a straight line with Him.

But it is also possible to get spiritual vertigo. By this, I mean that a person can lose their spiritual balance, become disoriented and "dizzy" with all the confusion of life. And the answer to spiritual vertigo is the voice of the Lord: "Stand still and see the salvation of your God!" (Exodus 14:13).

Elijah is an example, I believe, of someone who got spiritual vertigo. One minute, he had been ecstatic about God's miraculous intervention (read 1 Kings 18), and the next moment, he's running for his very life (read 1 Kings 19:1-3). Elijah completely lost his sense of balance, to the point where he asked God to take his life (1 Kings 19:4-8). But when Elijah reach Mt Horeb, this is what happened in verses 9-11:

"And the word of the LORD came to him: 'What are you doing here, Elijah?' He replied, 'I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.' The LORD said, 'Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by'..."

What happened after that? What great earth-shaking event would God pull off in front of Elijah? What was God going to do to cure Elijah's spiritual vertigo? 1 Kings 19:11-13 tells us:

"...Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, 'What are you doing here, Elijah?'"

On Mt Horeb, God did some minor surgery in Elijah's spiritual ears. He didn't use great pyrotechnics to do it. Just the "gentle whisper" of His voice -- what the King James Version calls "the still small voice" (1 Kings 19:12, KJV) of God's Spirit.

What is the "gentle whisper" of God's Spirit saying to your inner ear? Maybe it's something like Psalm 46:10, where the Lord says:

"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."

For me, it's Psalm 91:14-16, which I'll read this time from The Holman Christian Standard Bible:

"Because he is lovingly devoted to Me, I will deliver him; I will exalt him because he knows My name. When he calls out to Me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble. I will rescue him and give him honor. I will satisfy him with a long life and show him My salvation."

Pressing On Toward the Goal (Part 3)

2006-07-05T06:54:00.000+10:00

In my last post, I began an expository examination of Philippians 3. My motivation for doing this was quite personal, because God had already been speaking to me out of this chapter, particularly in regards to the issue of personal transformation (see "God's Magnificent Goal" and "The Transformation of Moses"). But before you read this post, I encourage you to first read the previous two posts in this series:

"Pressing On Toward the Goal (Part 1)"
"Pressing On Toward the Goal (Part 2)"

Now we're ready for the third and final segment of this three-part series. In my last post, we focused on Philippians 3:10, which is the pivotal verse for the entire chapter. In it, Paul identifies his central driving passion -- to know the Lord Jesus Christ. And this raises an important question for each of us: What is your central driving passion? How you answer that question has far-reaching implications for your life. For Jesus said in Matthew 6:21:

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

In Philippians 3:10, Paul says: "My treasure is Jesus." No wonder that is also where the focus of Paul's heart also is!

In Colossians 3:1-4, Paul wrote:

"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."

Is Jesus your life? If so, it won't be difficult to "set your hearts on things above", because "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:21). But if your treasure is in your bank account, or in the stock market, or in the property market, or in physical possessions, or in your work, or even in your family, then setting your heart on things above will be nigh impossible. You might struggle to do so, but your heart will pull you in a different direction.

For me, well, the answer is very much that my treasure is Jesus. That doesn't mean that I don't have things that I want down here on earth -- oh yes, always would like that next model computer, or the next James Bond gadget -- but all of these things literally pale into insignficance when it comes to the person of Jesus. I'm not bragging, please realise. This is not something superhuman or superspiritual. It is expected of the Christian! This is part of our cultural heritage as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are the ones who have responded to Jesus' challenge, who said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Matthew 16:24). We are the ones whom Peter called "aliens and strangers in the world" (1 Peter 2:11). Is it so strange, then, for a Christian to place Jesus at the top of all priorities, the pinnacle of all desires?

I emphasise again that this is not a prideful, "super-spiritual", "heads-in-the-clouds" attitude. It is what Watchman Nee called "the normal Christian life." Anything less, is subnormal, even abnormal. Jesus expected nothing less.

So let's look back at Philippians 3, and track Paul's thoughts following this grand statement of purpose he made in Philippians 3:10. Remember, Philippians 3 is primarily about personal transformation, and all we've looked at so far is the precursor to that transformation -- the transforming of our thinking, of our mindset, of our worldview. Now begins the real transformative process.

In Philippians 3:12-14, Paul writes:

"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

Paul saw himself as still on the journey, not having yet reached the final destination. It is clear that he hasn't "already obtained all this, or...been made perfect." This is encouraging for me, as it should be for all of us. Setting Jesus is your primary focus in life doesn't mean you've arrived; it just means you've started the journey. Oh, but what a journey it is!

I love Paul's next statement, in verse 12. He says, "I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." Jesus took a hold of me for something -- a goal, a purpose, a master plan that He had since before the creation of the world (see Ephesians 1:4). He took the initiative, and chose me for that purpose (see John 15:16). Now, however, it is my turn to respond to that divine initiative. I now take a hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me!

Look at how different translations and paraphrases render that particular portion of Philippians 3:12:

New International Version - "...but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me."
King James Version - "...but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus."
English Standard Version - "I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own."
New Life Version - "But I keep going on to make that life my own as Christ Jesus made me His own."
New Living Translation - "But I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be."
Holman Christian Standard Bible - "...but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus."
New English Translation - "...but I strive to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me."
New International Reader's Version - "But I move on to take hold of what Christ Jesus took hold of me for."
J B Phillips - "But I keep going on, grasping ever more firmly that purpose for which Christ grasped me."
The Message - "But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me."
The Amplified Bible - "...but I press on to lay hold of (grasp) and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus (the Messiah) has laid hold of me and made me His own."

All these translations (or paraphrases) seek to bring out the nuances of Paul's original Greek, which has a meaning essentially as follows: Christ Jesus took a hold of (grasped) Paul for something, and so Paul now takes a hold (grasps) that something will all his heart and energy.

I particularly love J B Phillips' translation/paraphrase of Philippians 3:12-14, which goes like this:

"Yet, my brothers, I do not consider myself to have 'arrived', spiritually, nor do I consider myself already perfect. But I keep going on, grasping ever more firmly that purpose for which Christ grasped me. My brothers, I do not consider myself to have fully grasped it even now. But I do concentrate on this: I leave the past behind and with hands outstretched to whatever lies ahead I go straight for the goal - my reward the honour of being called by God in Christ."

Like us all, Paul had made mistakes, some of them even recorded in Scripture. But he refused to allow himself to be a prisoner of the past, because he was a prisoner of hope (Zechariah 9:12). So he said: "I leave the past behind and with hands outstretched to whatever lies ahead I go straight for the goal..."

I spent a whole post sharing about this goal in "God's Magnificent Goal", and this, for me, is what drives me forward each day. For Jesus is not just for me the subject of a personal relationship, He is also the object of my life's goal. Like Paul, I too am being "conformed to the likeness of [God's] son" (Romans 8:29), and am "being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:18). And as 1 John 3:3 says: "Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure."

I think it worthwhile mentioning here what I consider this "prize" to be. First of all, it is clearly not salvation itself, for salvation is a gift from God as part of the package of His grace (see Ephesians 2:8-9). Rather, the "prize" Paul is talking about is in the context of Greek games of competition, such as track events, where a runner would run for a prize, which was awarded to him upon successful completion of the event (see 1 Corinthians 9:24-25; Colossians 2:18; Hebrews 12:1-2; 2 Timothy 2:5; 4:8). For me, the "prize" -- sometimes also referred to as "the crown of righteousness" or "the victor's crown" -- is none other than Jesus and all His glory. Or, if you like, the honour of sharing in His glory (Romans 8:17-18; 2 Corinthians 3:18).

In Philippians 3:15-16, Paul then says:

"All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained."

Transformation is a step-by-step process, not a snap-of-the-finger, I'm-suddenly-there experience. But Paul advises that we should "live up to what we have already attained." In other words, don't take a backward step. Don't grow so comfortable, that we lose ground on what God has done in our lives. This means, as always, "forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead," and "press[ing] on toward the goal to win the prize..." The race is not over until it's over (2 Timothy 4:7).

On the basis of this, Paul now says, in Philippians 3:17:

"Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you."

There is a pattern of life which has been set in Scripture which we are to live according to and model for others. Paul encouraged the Philippian Christians to follow his own example, as he also said in 2 Thessalonians 3:7-9. And in 1 Corinthians 11:1 he said: "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ." Once again, living according to this biblical pattern is all, ultimately, about being conformed to the likeness of Jesus Himself.

In the next two verses, Paul speaks with great grief about Christians who have refused to embark on this process of personal transformation -- refusing to be conformed to the likeness of Jesus. In Philippians 3:18-19, he writes:

"For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things."

Here are people doing the exact opposite of everything Paul has described in Philippians 3:7-17. Instead of fixing their eyes on the eternal, "their mind is on earthly things." Instead of striving toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called [them] heavenward in Christ Jesus," their "destiny is destruction." Instead of their driving passion being to know Jesus, their driving passion is their own appetites. And instead of being conformed to the glory of Jesus, they have pursued their own glory, which Paul calls their very "shame." They are, says Paul, "enemies of the cross of Christ."

But we're not like that, says Paul! In Philippians 3:20-21, he writes:

"But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body."

What a grand finale to Paul's chapter on personal transformation! And what a journey we've covered in three days, as we've explored this extraordinary chapter. At last, here at the end, Paul reveals the great goal to which we are all moving. Our citizenship is in heaven, because that's where our hearts and minds are fixed. When Jesus returns, "by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control", he will "transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body."

That is a fixed event awaiting us, sometime in the near future. But even now, on the journey of transformation leading toward this goal, we are able to experience a foretaste of this final physical transformation, for even before then, Paul's desire was to know "the power of his resurrection" outworked in his day-to-day life (Philippians 3:10). Even now, before His return, Jesus still has "the power that enables him to bring everything under his control" (see Matthew 28:18; Ephesians 1:19-21). And so, as I myself am on this journey of transformation, I'm reaching forward by faith to experience "the power of his resurrection" in my life (see Romans 8:11).

1 John 3:2 describes the end-goal of this process of transformation in this way:

"Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is."

1 John 3:3 then closes that thought with these words:

"Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure."

We are on a path of transformation, in which we can choose to purify ourselves "just as he is pure." But this purification comes by "the washing of the water by the word" of Jesus (Ephesians 5:26; John 15:3) on the basis of "the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith" (Philippians 3:9). Let's respond then to the encouragement of 2 Corinthians 7:1:

"Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God."

Pressing On Toward the Goal (Part 2)

2006-07-04T23:48:00.000+10:00

"Pressing On Toward the Goal (Part 1)"

In this post, we saw how a transformation in thinking -- a shift in worldview and perception of values -- must precede a transformation of behaviour. Now let's take a look at Philippians 3:10, which is the pivotal verse in the whole chapter:

"I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death."

Paul here identifies his primary desires in life, expressed in three specific goals:

To know Christ (personally)
To know the power of Christ's resurrection
To know the fellowship of sharing in Christ's sufferings

Before I go on to explore what this really means, I want to read this same scripture from The Amplified Bible:

"[For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death..."

I did a little digging in commentaries and Greek lexicons in order to understand the nuances of what Paul was seeking to communicate in this passage, and I made a remarkable discovery in the process. I discovered that the original Greek words that launch verse 10, indicate a flow-on connection with verse 9. I'd always seen these two verses as independent segments of thought, but verse 10 is grammatically connected to verse 9. In essence, I discovered, the Greek grammar is written in such a way that the basis by which Paul is able to 1) know Christ and 2) know the power of His resurrection and 3) know the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings was because, as he expressed in verse 9, Paul was "found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ -- the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith." Because, and only because, of this foundation of righteousness that "comes from God and is by faith" could Paul then be able to "know Christ, and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death." One flowed automatically from the other.

Surprisingly, The New Living Translation brings out this dependence of verse 10 upon verse 9 quite clearly. Here's how Philippians 3:8-10 reads in The New Living Translation:

"Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I may have Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own goodness or my ability to obey God's law, but I trust Christ to save me. For God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith. As a result, I can really know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I can learn what it means to suffer with him, sharing in his death..."

I was meditating on this specific passage today, seeing verses 8-10 in their context.

I love the way The New Living Translation links two concepts clearly together in verses 8-9:

Having Christ
Becoming one with him

It really couldn't be made any clearer than that. By "having" or "acquiring" Christ Himself (through faith), a believer "become[s] one with him" -- this summarises the Christian experience. And it is only on this basis that a person can then genuinely know Christ, or as The Amplified Bible puts it, to "progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly." On the basis of my clumsy attempts at righteousness I simply do not have an adequate foundation to genuinely know Christ, because my pseudo-righteousness, which Isaiah 64:6 calls nothing but "filthy rags", creates an obstacle for me to get to come close to God, let alone get to know Him better (Isaiah 59:2). This is why, as I said in my last post, personal transformation must begin with a transformation in my thinking. The old way of thinking simply will not work.

Interestingly, Albert Einstein once made a comment which I think applies very well to our lives. He said (my paraphrase): "The significant problems in our lives cannot be solved at the same level of understanding that we were at when we created them." In other words, a transformation in thinking is not a luxury; it is a necessity. And this is what the Bible is all about -- transforming our thinking so that we begin to see things the way God sees them.

So the transformation in thinking that is required is summed up in The New Living Translation's expression - "to become one with Christ." It is only when I become one with Christ, through faith, that His righteousness becomes my righteousness, as a "credit transaction" on my spiritual balance sheet (note again Romans 4:1-5). At that point, like Paul, I have been "found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ -- the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith" (Philippians 3:9). Now, and only now, am I ready to truly discover Jesus, to genuinely "know Christ" -- "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:3).

My great desire, like Paul's, is to "know Christ." If you'd think there would be anybody qualified to say that he knew Christ, it would be Paul. Yet Paul recognised that there are depths which he hadn't yet explored, beyond the superficial understanding to a depth of relationship where one knows the heartbeat of the Lord. As far as I'm concerned, it is this hunger to know the Lord that is the primary driver behind spiritual transformation. There is no substitute for this hunger. Even Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled" (Matthew 5:6). And since Jesus has become our righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30), then "hungering and thirsting for righteouseness" is scripturally equivalent to "hungering and thirsting for Jesus".

And this is essentially what Paul is expressing. He's not satisfied with superficially knowing the Lord, but wants to plumb the depths of His relationship with the Lord. And this is my desire too. And by "progressively becom[ing] more deeply and intimately acquainted with [Jesus], perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly", I will also begin to discover Him on two levels of experience:

The power of His resurrection outflowing in my life
The fellowship of personally sharing in His sufferings

As I've discovered, these two things can't be separated. You can't pick and choose which level of knowing Christ you want to embrace, because both are aspects of knowing Him! In short, to know the power of His resurrection means you will share in His sufferings, and to share in His sufferings means that will experience the power of His resurrection in your life!

Romans 8:17 brings this out clearly:

"Now if we are children, then we are heirs -- heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory."

I've already written in detail on both these subjects, so I encourage you to dig a little deeper by reading the following posts:

To know the power of His resurrection -- read "The Power of the Resurrection"
To know the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings -- read "The Fellowship of His Sufferings"

Tomorrow, I'll wrap up this three-part series on the process of personal transformation, as it's revealed in Philippians 3.

Pressing On Toward the Goal (Part 1)

2006-07-03T21:32:00.000+10:00

In my posts of June 30 and July 1 -- "The Magnificent Goal" and "Greater Is He", I quoted from Philippians 3:8-9 and 3:12-14, which say this:

Philippians 3:8-9 - "What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ - the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith."
Philippians 3:12-14 - "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

If you've been following my blog for the last few days, you'll know that in my "daily conversation" with the Lord (see "Entering Into a Daily Conversation with God"), I've been focusing on personal transformation. And for this reason, I've been meditating on the whole chapter of Philippians 3 since Friday, and want to share with you a little of what I got out of that chapter. For me, this has a strong bearing not just on my healing process, but on the whole process of spiritual growth itself.

Let's start with verse 7:

"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ."

Paul is speaking here of exchanging everything for something of higher worth. In fact, the "everything" that he is willing to "consider loss" is nothing less than what he would have earlier in his life considered for his profit -- all the credentials he had accumulated which had earned him spiritual accolades before his peers. In other words, all that this world might consider to be of value, Paul suddenly counted not just as worthless, but actually a liability -- a "loss" on his spiritual balance sheet. As The Message puts it:

"The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I'm tearing up and throwing out with the trash -- along with everything else I used to take credit for."

As I read this, and was speaking to the Lord about it, I realised that personal transformation must first begin with a transformation in my way of thinking. Romans 12:2 then immediately came to mind:

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is -- his good, pleasing and perfect will."

Two other passages of scripture also came to mind as I was looking up Romans 12:2 (both of which are almost mirror-like in similarity):

Ephesians 4:22-24 - "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."
Colossians 3:9-10 - "Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator."

Paul then goes on in verses 8-9 to explain what he means by the expression "I now consider [everything] loss for the sake of Christ." He writes:

"What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ -- the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith."

Paul is willing to take what the world calls "gain" on its spiritual balance sheet and call it "loss", because he had discovered something worth far more than anything he himself could accumulate by his own efforts. It was because of the "surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord" that he was willing to lose everything else and even consider it all "rubbish" so that "I may gain Christ"!

The word translated "rubbish" literally means "refuse, excrement, dregs, what is cast to the dogs." In other words, it doesn't just have zero value...it has negative value! As far as Paul was concerned, his own accumulated credentials of self-righteousness is something to throw away as quickly as he can, lest it fester, contaminate and begin to develop a stench. Quite extreme language, yet it conveys the dramatic nature of Paul's turnaround in thinking.

The Amplified Bible translates Philippians 3:8-10 in superbly exquisite and nuanced language:

"Yes, furthermore, I count everything as loss compared to the possession of the priceless privilege (the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth, and supreme advantage) of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him [of perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and clearly]. For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all to be mere rubbish (refuse, dregs), in order that I may win (gain) Christ..."

It was "the possession of the priceless privilege" or what The Amplified Bible connotes as "the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth, and supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him" that drove this value change in Paul's life. You see, you can be begged, cajoled or even pestered, but you won't willingly give up something you consider to be of value unless something you consider to be of even greater value is given in exchange. This is what I call Collins' First Law of Spiritual Economics: "Relinquishing something of perceived value must be preceded by a change of values." (Sometime later I might share my Three Laws of Spiritual Economics with you).

And Philippians 3 is all about a massive change in values, which drove Paul to give up everything this world considers valuable in order to gain something of far greater worth. And the crux of this value change -- and the accompanying "renewing of the mind" (Romans 12:2) -- centres on a new understanding of how to attain a righteousness that is acceptable to God. Whereas before, Paul had seen righteousness as something that was to be gained through self-effort, Paul now realised that righteousness is a gift from God (see Romans 1:17; Galatians 2:21). This is why Paul emphasises so strongly, in Philippians 3:9, that his goal is to be "be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ -- the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith." This same concept is clearly spelled out in Romans 1:17, which says:

"For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: 'The righteous will live by faith.'"

So important is this concept that I want to underline it clearly before I move on. The two elements of this new kind of righteousness that Paul had discovered are summarised, in both Philippians 3:9 and Romans 1:17, by two phrases:

"From God" -- this describes the direction flow of this righteousness -- i.e. from God to me, not the other way around (note 2 Corinthians 4:7).
"By faith" -- this describes the method by which this righteousness is acquired -- i.e. by faith, not my own good works (note Ephesians 1:8-9; Romans 4:1-5).

No wonder Paul uses such emphatic language in Galatians 2:21, when he says:

"I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"

In The Message, Paul's meaning comes across very clearly:

"Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God's grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily."

So now that we've established this value change, together with an inner transformation through "the renewing of your mind" -- a total reorientation of one's thinking and a complete shift in one's worldview -- we're ready to look at the next part of Philippians 3, which I'll examine tomorrow. For once there has been a transformation in thinking, the next step is a transformation in behaviour.

The Transformation of Moses

2006-07-02T23:05:00.000+10:00

Today I preached a message at the ECCI 11am service called "The Transformation of Moses." I'm not going to cover everything I shared in that message, but I want to highlight a few of thoughts that meant a lot to me personally.

You may remember that yesterday, in my post called "God's Magnificent Goal", I shared about God's promise of personal transformation. Well, as I studied the life of Moses, I saw how God transformed him through a process that took him through three clear stages:

Stage One - The first 40 years of his life - This was the stage of natural development, learning and personal capability. As a prince in Egypt, Moses "was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action" (Acts 7:22). He had everything going for him. He had the equivalent of today's best education - a degree in psychology, a degree in sociology, a degree in political science, a degree in history and an MBA all mixed into one. At the end of Stage One, however, Moses tried to exercise his leadership gifts in his own strength and failed miserably (see Acts 7:23-29). He ended Stage One by fleeing from the anger of Pharaoh and starting a new life in Midian.
Stage Two - The second 40 years of his life - This was the stage of personal despondency and a sense of failure. For 40 years, Moses led the life of a shepherd, out of sight in the wilderness of Midian and Sinai. As this stage ended (with Moses' encounter with God at the burning bush), Moses declared to God: "O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue" (Exodus 4:10). This is a remarkable backward step, it would seem, from his description as "powerful in speech and action" in Stage One (Acts 7:22).
Stage Three - The final 40 years of his life - This was the stage of the fulfilment of God's purpose in and through Moses' life, which takes up the majority of the chronicled story of his life, starting in Exodus 3 and ending in Deuteronomy 34.

At the end of Deuteronomy 34, we find this epitaph of Moses' life:

"Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, who did all those miraculous signs and wonders the LORD sent him to do in Egypt -- to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel."

So what interests me is this: What was it that transformed Moses to become the great leader he eventually became? What was it that made the difference in his life?

Have you ever felt like you failed God? Have you ever thought that you were past your "use by" date? Well, that was Moses' frame of thinking when God interrupted his life in Exodus 3. In fact, when God announced that he was sending Moses back to Egypt to deliver His people from bondage (Exodus 3:7-10), Moses responded with five excuses:

Excuse #1 - "Who am I?" (Exodus 3:11-12) - Moses by this time had a well-established inferiority complex, nurtured for forty years in the wilderness. Whereas in Egypt, in Stage One of his life, he had been a Somebody, he had by this time convinced himself that he was a Nobody. In answer to this excuse, God encouraged Moses and told him that He would go with him to Egypt.
Excuse #2 - "Who are you?" (Exodus 3:13-22) - Moses turned the tables on God and admitted to an ignorance of God's identity (even though he knew that the God who was speaking to him was "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob" -- Exodus 3:6). In answer to this excuse, God identified Himself as the Great I Am (Exodus 3:14).
Excuse #3 - "They won't believe me!" (Exodus 4:1-9) - Moses was still haunted by his rejection 40 years earlier (Exodus 2:11-15), and his imagination worked overtime, conjuring up images of continuing rejection by the very ones he had been sent to rescue. But in answer to this objection, God encouraged Moses and established a set of miraculous signs that would be proof of his anointed leadership.
Excuse #4 - "I'm not eloquent" (Exodus 4:10=12) - Some people have considered it possible that Moses was a stutterer, and this of course might be possible. But in the light of Acts 7:22, I think it more likely that Moses' lack of eloquence was the result of his inferiority complex and poor self-image. Once again, God encouraged Moses and even made a concession to him, allowing Aaron, his older brother, to act as his mouthpiece.
Excuse #5 - "Send someone else!" (Exodus 4:13-17) - This was the point where God finally got angry with Moses. Yet ultimately Moses did obey God and was indeed transformed into the powerful leader that Israel needed, the prophet described in Deuteronomy 34:10-12.

What was it that made the difference? That's what interested me today. Remember, this isn't for me just a nice study in biblical history. These last few days I've been conversing with the Lord about issues related to personal transformation, and so my study of Moses was driven by a desire to experience what he experienced -- at least the more positive elements of that experience ;-) So, what exactly was the process of transformation that ultimately made Moses into the man who lead God's people out of Egypt and toward the Promised Land?

The first thing I noticed, as I studied the life of Moses, was that God's transformation process had, for him, two important parts:

Part 1 - Humility
Part 2 - Empowerment

The first part of the transformation process is, I believe, extremely important, for 1 Peter 5:5 reveals the importance of humility in God's plan for our lives:

"...All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.'"

I love the way Peter terms it in 1 Peter 5:5: "...clothe yourselves with humility." In other words, just as we put on clothes, so we can also put on humility. And why is humility important? Because "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

Why did Moses have to spend 40 years hidden in the wilderness before God could use him? Why did he have to experience rejection by his own people, and the trauma of self-recrimination? Obviously, God has His own timing. But apart from that, I also believe that humility needed to be worked into Moses' life -- and, boy, did God do a great job of that, for Numbers 12:3 tells us that Moses ended up being "a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth"!

If God had skipped Stage Two and immediately sent Moses to deliver His people from Egypt, I believe the whole endeavour would have self-destructed. Moses' pride wouldn't have just been his personal downfall (Proverbs 16:18; 29:23), but possibly also the downfall of the whole nation. Not only that but Proverbs 8:13 tells us that God "hate[s] pride and arrogance," and unless God first dealt with Moses' inner pride issue, then God would have continued to oppose Moses on a personal level -- not a good start to his job as deliverer of God's people. This is why Peter goes on to say in 1 Peter 5:6:

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time."

Notice that it is "in due time" that God will lift you up. Once again, we see that God has His own timetable by which He works. Many of the heroes of faith, recorded in Scripture, went through a "wilderness preparation" before being launched on their prophetic or kingly career. Isaiah, for example, described this period of seclusion in Isaiah 49:2:

"He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver."

It was only after this intense (and lengthy) period of imposed humility that Moses became ready for the second part of God's transformation process. After the humbling, the time came for God to lift him up. As Jesus described it in Matthew 23:12:

"For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."

In the second part of Moses' transformation -- empowerment -- the key, it seems quite clearly, is faith. In reading Hebrews 11:23-29, which describes Moses' life story, it's amazing to see how many times the phrase "by faith" is used -- five times in just seven verses! Even though Moses' gave plenty of excuses to try to get out of obeying God, the Bible tells us that Moses did eventually respond positively to God's command, and Hebrews 11:23-29 indicates that it was faith that motivated Moses' obedience, despite his initial misgivings.

So there it is: the two key elements to God's transformation process -- humility and faith. Both are needed to access God's grace, which is what ultimately transformed Moses into the powerful leader we all know and recognise. So after sharing this in the morning service, I had a long chat with the Lord. My desire is to be transformed into the likeness of God's Son (Romans 8:29), because I desire to expend my life in the purposes of God. And I recognise that, over the last 30 or so years, the Lord has indeed been working in my life developing both these attributes -- humility and faith.

The result of Moses' own transformation was that he became a person "whom the LORD knew face to face" (Deuteronomy 34:10-12) and who knew the ways of God (Psalm 103:7 - read also my post on "The Ways of God"). This is also my desire -- not just to be used by God in His purpose, but to know God on the closest personal level possible. And so, Lord, I'm willing to submit to your process of transformation. I take a hold of the promise of 2 Corinthians 3:13,18:

"We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face...[But] we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."

God's Magnificent Goal

2006-07-01T23:04:00.000+10:00

In my journey with the Lord, I've long acknowledged that God is at work in my life on a deeper level than simply healing me from my physical condition (if you haven't read it yet, I recommend you read "The Oncologist's Report" first). Yes, I believe that God will heal me from cancer, and is in fact right now in the process of healing me (see my post "Torn Between the Two"). But more than that, God is at work refining me, purifying me and preparing me for eternity! This is happening for every single believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's part of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, for as Romans 8:29 declares, God's goal for each of our lives is clear:

"For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers."

Because God's goal is to conform us to the likeness of Jesus, He is at work on every level of our life to bring this about, as described in the previous verse, Romans 8:28:

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (i.e. the purpose of being "conformed to the likeness of his Son).

Quite frankly, I often wonder at how God will ever conform me to be like Jesus. You see, I know myself too well. I am all too aware of my weaknesses and frailties and deficiencies and faults (it seems, at times, like a very long list). All too easily I can become irritable or short tempered -- especially when driving. My family is wonderfully understanding and patient with me, knowing that my illness is at least in part to blame for some of that irritability and frustration. But beyond the excuses, what is really happening is that I have existing "fault lines" in my character which, when under stress or pressure, tend to buckle and fail. We all have such character "fault lines" and I know mine all too well.

I was praying today about this. I was firstly expressing appreciation for God's amazing forgiveness and grace, and secondly asking the Lord to override my character flaws -- both with forgiveness (to cleanse me from sins committed) and with the empowering of His Spirit (to enable me to overcome these flaws). This is, after all, what the "meno experience" is all about (see my post on "The Meno Experience"). But today I was also voicing my sense of frustration with myself. "Will I ever change?" I was asking the Lord. "How will I ever reach the goal you have for my life? How will I ever be conformed to the likeness of your Son, in all His purity of character and focus of purpose?"

The Lord began to minister to me, but before I share with you what He said in this regard, I first want to provide a little bit of background as to what God's goal actually is for your life and mine. Only when we realise the nature of His goal will we appreciate the process He is taking us through in order to reach that goal. Without understanding the goal, the process is meaningless. Without a clear destination, the journey is aimless.

So let's take a look at God's goal, straight from His own mouth, so to speak. Ephesians 5:25-27 declares:

"...Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless."

Although this is speaking of the Church as a whole, it is also talking about God's goal for me, as a part of that Church. The Lord's aim is that I, eventually, will be "radiant", "without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish", and "holy and blameless." This is definitely God's goal for me personally, because Philippians 2:15 says that God's plan is for me to "become blameless and pure, [a child] of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which [I] shine like [a star] in the universe."

We've already read in Romans 8:29 that God is "conforming" us to the likeness of Jesus. Well, what is Jesus like? There is one word which summarises the essence of Jesus' character: perfection. In fact, in Matthew 5:48, Jesus phrased God's expectation of me very succinctly:

"Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

Just in case you think that this is so totally beyond the reach of any mere mortal, think again. Paul, in 2 Corinthians 13:11, says: "Aim for perfection."

In Philippians 3:12, Paul recognised that he (like me) hadn't yet reached that goal of perfection, yet not once did he seek to lower the bar of God's expectation, for he wrote these words:

"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me."

In other words, Christ Jesus took a hold of me so that I might take a hold of perfection through Him! With this in mind, let's read Paul's words in Colossians 1:28:

"We proclaim [Jesus Christ], admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ."

I don't know about you, but this goal is both daunting and, potentially, discouraging. When I realise what God is aiming for in my life, and then I look at where I actually am right now, I wonder: "How can this ever come to pass? How can I ever reach God's goal?"

But then I remember the method by which God works in my life. I remember the "meno connection" that I have with Jesus (once again, check out "The Meno Experience"), which Jesus prefaced with these words: "Apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). The whole thing can only work because, like a vine branch, my life is connected to Jesus and draws life, strength and transforming power from Him.

The Bible is very clear that if I try to change myself, I doesn't work. The very best I can do is become, like the Pharisees, a master of legalistic self-righteousness (Philippians 3:6), which is merely a hypocritical mimicry of true perfection (and oh, how easily and how often the Church has fallen into that seductive trap). This is why Paul, in Philippians 3:9, said so clearly that his goal was to be "found in [Jesus], not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ -- the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith." This is because, as the writer to the Hebrews explained, "the law made nothing perfect" (Hebrews 7:19). In other words, no religious system of self-effort -- even one provided by God Himself -- can ever fulfil God's goal of perfection in our lives.

This, in one sense, permits me a sigh of relief. In myself, I cannot reach God's goal of perfection, no matter how hard I try. So what does God require of me? All I'm required to do is ensure that I remain connected to the vine -- abiding in Jesus through the "meno connection". And that simplifies things a lot. Rather than concentrating on trying to obey 1001 rules and regulations, which I could never consistently keep, all I need to do is focus on my relationship with Jesus, which is based on 1) hearing His Word and 2) obeying His Word (Matthew 7:24-27; John 15:4-12).

And so this was the essence of the Lord's encouragement to me today. All I need to do is continue to abide in Him. Keep my ear open to His Word, and my heart ready to obey His Word. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less. After all, even in Ephesians 5:25-27, we discover that the way that Jesus will purify His Church, bringing her to the point where she can genuinely and accurately be describes as "radiant" and "holy and blameless" is by a cleansing process which Paul calls "the washing with water through the word" (verse 26).

So I'm soaking in God's Word -- not for the purpose of gaining more biblical knowledge or anything like that, since knowledge in itself does nothing to bring about God's goal. No, I'm soaking in God's Word in order to get to know Him more, in order to learn His ways, and in order to obey Him from the heart. After all, Jesus Himself summarised the "meno connection" in John 15:7 with these words:

"If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you."

Remaining in Christ is equated with His words remaining in me. Abiding in Christ means His words abiding in me. You cannot separate those two things, because they are equivalent. This is why, you will remember, Colossians 1:28 says: "We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ." It is the Word of God, received and acted upon, which does the work of perfecting the believer.

In Galatians 4:19, Paul wrote:

"My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you..."

This was the second part of how God spoke into my life today. Not only did He say, "All you need to focus on is immersing yourself in my Word and obeying it," He also said, "The result of this will be Christ formed in you!"

I've known that verse for a long time, but it struck me in a totally new way today. I suddenly realised that I'm pregnant with God's perfection! (I know it sounds a little weird, but that was how God encouraged me today). Just as a pregnant woman carries a child to full term before delivering that child into the world, so I'm pregnant with the purposes of God! It hasn't yet come to birth in my life, but I'm "showing"! And once the period of gestation is complete, "Christ in me" will come forth in all His glory! This is why, in Colossians 1:27, Paul writes about "Christ in you, the hope of glory"! It's not about me, by myself, trying to perfect myself, because that is, without question, totally beyond my capability. But it is all about the Lord Jesus Himself being formed in me, which is what being "conformed to the likeness" of Jesus is all about! This is the final result and ultimate goal of the "meno experience", which will bring glory to the Father (John 15:8).

After the Lord encouraged me in this way, I realised that I'm on track! Like Paul in Philippians 3:12-14, I have to make this admission:

"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

Tonight a number of things went wrong, as they often seem to do, all at the same time. Jessica, my eldest daughter, was going to a formal dinner this evening, and needed to be driven to her date's home (about half an hour away). Elena hadn't yet returned from gym, and her mobile phone wasn't switched on. I had just woken up, and was feeling very ill. Jessica was upset about being late, and concerned that the hired limousine wouldn't wait for her if she arrived late. Elena had our main car, and the second car was not so reliable -- not a car I would normally trust for an hour's return trip. Although feeling decidely unwell, I pulled myself together, wrapped myself up, and drove Jessica to her destination. But, being unwell, I made some wrong turns on the way back.

Now I share all of this because I could so easily have gotten stressed out by all of this. But the Lord had been speaking into my life earlier in the day. And as I'm driving back home, somewhat lost and hoping that the direction I had taken was correct, I began to sing an old, old song. If I get the opportunity, I'll record it later for you, and place a link to the song in this post, but for now I'll simply quote the scripture verse from which the song is taken. Jude 24 declares this powerful doxology, which has become my own personal doxology for today's walk with God:

"Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen."

Greater Is He

2006-06-30T23:02:00.000+10:00

In my post on June 28, I described how I can magnify God in my own life and experience. When you think of it, that is an incredible, and humbling, statement to make. The fact that my life, like yours, can make a difference in how God is viewed by others is quite something. That means, in fact, that it is my life that becomes, as it were, a magnifying glass. When people view God through my testimony, they get an enlarged view of who God is, seeing Him in greater detail than they would otherwise have seen Him. Your life too, in its own unique way, can become a magnifying glass, a lens through which people can understand God in fresh and new ways. After all, isn't that what a "testimony" is all about?

In this post, I want to take up something that I mentioned in my post on "The Spiritual Magnifying Glass". In that post, I quoted 1 John 4:4 which says:

"You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world."

This has been a great encouragement to me as I've had to face what appear to be insurmountable circumstances -- in particular an illness which medical science calls "terminal." What is interesting to note is that this illness is, at this time, greater than medical science. People put a lot of faith in medical science -- and it is indeed amazing what science has done, and will continue to do -- yet human knowledge will always have its limits. Even when medical science finally conquers cancer, there will always be something else that will define the limits to human capability. But those limits do not apply to God. By definition, He is greater than every limit, every obstacle, every thing that might seek to oppose His will and purpose.

And the amazing thing, revealed by 1 John 4:4 and other scriptures, is that this almighty God is now residing in me! (note Luke 17:21; Ephesians 3:16; Colossians 1:29). He is not outside of my personal frame of reference -- someone whom I address from a distance, trying to get His attention. No, He has become a vital part of my life, and now it is from within me that He works. This is emphasised in Ephesians 3:20, which says:

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us..."

This next couple of weeks are a time of focused prayer and intercession for me and my family. On Saturday, my parents are driving down from Newcastle, arriving in Melbourne on Sunday, and for the next several days we'll be pressing in "to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me" (Philippians 3:12).

So let's take a brief look at the power of God, remembering that, according to Ephesians 3:20, this power is now "at work within us" -- a power that is "able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine."

Exodus 15:6 - "Your right hand, O LORD, was majestic in power. Your right hand, O LORD, shattered the enemy.
Psalm 66:3 - "Say to God, 'How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you.'"
Psalm 89:13 - "Your arm is endued with power; your hand is strong, your right hand exalted."
Psalm 147:5 - "Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit."
Psalm 150:2 - "Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness."
Isaiah 40:10 - "See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him."
Isaiah 40:26 - "Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing."
Jeremiah 10:6 - "No one is like you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is mighty in power."
Jeremiah 32:17 - "Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you."

I particularly love Psalm 150:2, which speaks of God's "surpassing greatness." In fact, many verses use superlative language when describing the power of God (see 2 Corinthians 4:7; Ephesians 1:19; 3:20).

2 Thessalonians 1:9 speaks of "the majesty of his power," and this awesome power is now living within me! 2 Corinthians 4:7 calls this "all-surpassing power" a "treasure [hidden] in jars of clay" -- in other words, in the weakness and frailty of my human body there resides a power that surpasses anything that can possibly come against it!

Isaiah 63:12 describes how God "sent his glorious arm of power to be at Moses' right hand, who divided the waters before them, to gain for himself everlasting renown..." Now this same "glorious arm of power" -- the same arm that "divided the waters" before the people of Israel -- undergirds my life.

Isaiah 40:29 tells us that God "gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak." For this reason, Joel 3:10 says: "Let the weakling say, 'I am strong!'"

In response to Paul's request for help, God made this promise to him in 2 Corinthians 12:9:

"...My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

Paul's response is also my response:

"...Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses...For when I am weak, then I am strong."

We started off this post with a quotation from 1 John 4:4:

"You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world."

As I face the hardships ahead, I know that I have within me the power to overcome -- not because of any innate strength or power that I possess, but simply because the One who has overcome the world has taken up residence in my heart. No matter what I may face, "the one who is in [me] is greater than the one who is in the world"!

The Joy of Seeking God

2006-06-29T22:34:00.000+10:00

In yesterday's post, I quoted Psalm 34:1-4 which says:

"I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. My soul will boast in the LORD; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together. I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears."

This has very much been my experience over the last couple of weeks, in particular. If you'd like to learn a little more of where I am right now, in the ongoing "narrative" of my healing, then check out the following update I posted on "The Prayer Firewall":

The Call to Prayer

Yesterday I focused on the first part of that quoted psalm -- the part that says I can "magnify" the Lord in my life through my praise and thanksgiving. Today I want to focus a little on the second part of Psalm 34:1-4, particularly verse 4:

"I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears."

The key to faith is in seeking the Lord. Faith is not about a distant mental assent about God's existence or his characteristics. It is a vital motivation that drives you to seek God's face. As David wrote earlier in Psalm 27:8:

"My heart says of you, 'Seek his face!' Your face, LORD, I will seek."

You cannot separate true faith from seeking God. That's why Hebrews 11:6 tells that one of the two important components of faith is believing "that [God] rewards those who earnestly seek him." Seeking personalises faith and focuses it upon a Person, not on a need.
In Matthew 7:7-8, Jesus gave the ultimate promise to the one who believes. In The Amplified Bible, this reads:

"Keep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened."

The key to seeking the Lord (and thus the key also to genuine faith) is to seek the Lord "with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:13 tells us:

"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

As far as God is concerned, it is -- and always has been -- an issue of the heart. Faith is not some magical formula that forces God's hand so that we get what we want. Faith is the stuff of relationship. God seeks to draw faith out of our heart, so that we focus with all of our being on Him. That's why Hebrews 11:6 says that "without faith it is impossible to please God..."

Psalm 9:10 provides a wonderful insight into the character of God, particularly in the light of Hebrews 11:6. It declares:

"Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you."

I particularly love Psalm 40:16, in The Amplified Bible, for it ties together the last two posts with these wonderful words:

"Let all those that seek and require You rejoice and be glad in You; let such as love Your salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified."

Some time ago, the Lord gave me Psalm 105:4 as a command:

"Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always."

So that is what I continue to do. In my weakness, I "look to the LORD and his strength." In my time of need, I "seek his face always." And the result, as I shared yesterday (see "The Spiritual Magnifying Glass"), will be that the Lord will be magnified in my life -- not just in my own personal experience, but in the view of others. My prayer is that, in all things, God will indeed be magnified!

The Spiritual Magnifying Glass

2006-06-28T23:30:00.000+10:00

In my post on June 26, I sought to establish the importance of "The God Factor" in our personal lives, and that, for each and every person, there is "no more profound question demanding an answer." And as my quotation of Paul Little goes on to say, the question "Is there a God?" is the question "that must be answered by every human being, and the answer is far-reaching in its implications for every individual."

The nature of God is absolute, totally independent of my personal frame of reference. And yet I've discovered in my own personal walk with God that my experiencing of God is not absolute. It is relative -- in other words, my experience of the absoluteness of God's character depends on certain factors in my life. I've discovered that my experience of God is relative to my attitude and focus in life. The Bible has a word for this important factor of relativity: "faith".

You will remember that Hebrews 11:6 says:

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."

Faith is a gift from God to me (note Ephesians 2:8-9), but how I use that faith is entirely up to me. If I choose to use that faith toward God, and put my trust and hope in Him, then something happens. God -- the eternal, unchanging God -- is "magnified" in my life!

In the New International Version, Psalm 34:1-4 says this:

"I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. My soul will boast in the LORD; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together. I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears."

David, who wrote this psalm, was experiencing great difficulties at that juncture of his life. And yet he chose to "extol" God, to "glorify" him and "exalt his name." I particularly like the way the New King James Version translates the original Hebrew of this psalm. In the NKJV, Psalm 34:3 reads this way:

"Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together."

In the New King James Version, Psalm 69:30 also says something similar:

"I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving."

Through my praise and thanksgiving, I can actually "magnify" God! This doesn't mean that God actually gets any bigger. What it means is that my personal view of Him does! It is like putting a magnifying glass over an object. The object doesn't grow in size, but my view of that object is enhanced and magnified. Suddenly I see details I haven't seen before. Under the power of the magnifying glass, the object is enhanced in ways I would never have thought possible.

That's the way it is with our experience of God. When we praise Him and thank Him, our faith focuses on God and this has a "magnifying effect" -- God suddenly enlarges and can be seen in closer detail. He suddenly looms larger in our lives -- relative to everything else that is going on around us. He hasn't grown or changed in any way, because He is absolute -- unchanging in all his attributes. But my view of Him relative to my own life has changed! And so I like to call this my Special Theory of Spiritual Relativity ;-)

1 John 4:4 says:

"You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world."

The statement made by this verse is an absolute fact. The "one who is in you" -- God -- is far greater than "the one who is in the world" (usually interpreted as Satan, but this could apply to anyone who opposes God). But it is my faith in God -- my personal agreement with this absolute fact -- that makes it a reality for me on a personal basis.

The reverse, however, can also be true. My lack of faith can have an opposite effect -- reducing God, instead of magnifying Him! Once again, God Himself has not changed, but the appearance of His size, from my perspective, has. The original disciples of Jesus constantly fell into this trap, and for this reason Jesus often rebuked them, as He did in Matthew 14:31:

"You of little faith...why did you doubt?"

Have you ever looked down a telescope from the wrong end? Instead of magnifying the distant object, the reverse happens. Everything suddenly appears smaller -- even more distant than before! That's what happens when fear takes hold of a person's heart -- when faith melts away and, like Peter (see the whole story in Matthew 14:22-33), our focus becomes distracted by "the wind and the waves" around us. The gross effect then becomes one of magnification of our circumstances and demagnification of Jesus in our lives. We amplify the obstacles and reduce God.

Faith turns this around. Through praise and thanksgiving, the telescope of my focus is spun back into its proper orientation, and God is once again magnified in my life. Suddenly the circumstances -- those massive waves that threatened to drown me -- become miniscule compared to the might and wonder of my God (read Isaiah 40:6-31).

This is an important lesson for all of us, and something I'm continually putting into operation in my own life. How easy it is, like Peter, to become distracted -- to lose focus. But I declare that my God is "greater than the one who is in the world" (1 John 4:4)! I invite you to join me in responding to Psalm 34:3 (NKJV):

"Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together."

The God Factor

2006-06-26T23:36:00.000+10:00

In yesterday's post, I made a statement which I'd like to take up and explain a little. In the post, "Reality Check", I wrote:

"...I came to the conclusion long ago that without God nothing actually makes any sense. All the intricate paradoxes of quantum physics are resolved, at least in my mind, the moment you add God to the equation of physical reality. Without Him, simply put, there can be no reality at all."

I'm fascinated by both philosophy and quantum physics (it takes a lot just to pull me back from chatting ad nauseum on these subjects). But what I particularly want to discuss in this post is a subject which fascinates me even more -- God Himself.

A belief in God is not a luxury. It changes the way a person approaches life. So not only does God need to be added "to the equation of physical reality," as I wrote yesterday, God also needs to be added to the equation of our personal reality. Personally, this is very true for my life. Without God, I really don't know how I would be able to handle the problems I'm facing now (see "The Oncologist's Report"). He is the "rock" on which I've built my life (Psalm 18:2; Matthew 7:24-27), and because of Him I'm able to withstand the onslaught of the "wind and waves" that are pounding against my life right now (if you think this is just a "crutch", then I suggest you read "The Anchor of My Soul"). For me, "The God Factor" is what makes all the difference in my life.

In Isaiah 40:28, the prophet asks:

"Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth."

The Bible never tries to explain the existence of God. In fact, when God introduced Himself to Moses, he did so with these words: "I am who I am" (Exodus 3:14). God simply is. He doesn't try to explain the finer philosophical points of how He came into existence or provide scientific explanations of how He created the universe. He simply exists, as the ever-present "I am" (see my previous posts on this subject -- "The Ever Present God" and "Jesus Christ - The Same Yesterday, Today and Forever").

But although the Bible never tries to prove God's existence, it does clearly state God's view of those who would deny His existence. Psalm 14:1 tells us:

"The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'"

The Hebrew word here translated "fool" also denotes "one who is morally deficient". In other words, it is out of a desire to be relieved of moral accountability to God that a person says, "There is no God." If you read what follows Psalm 14:1, you see the consequences of that foolish denial of God's existence. Psalm 14:2-3 goes on to say:

"The Lord looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one."

The issue of God's existence is not just a theoretical or philosophical exercise. It has profound consequences for the moral foundations of society. According to Mortimer Adler, in Great Ideas Syntopicon:

"More consequences for thought and action follow the affirmation or denial of God than from answering any other basic question."

Paul Little, in his book Know Why You Believe, has this to say:

"There is in human existence no more profound question demanding an answer. 'Is there a God?' is the question that must be answered by every human being, and the answer is far-reaching in its implications for every individual."

Hebrews 11:3 says this:

"By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible."

The expression "by faith" is important, because belief in God is all about faith. By this, I don't mean "blind faith" (i.e. believing in something based on a rejection of logic and evidence). Rather, I mean a faith which is seeing on a different level (for more on this, see my post "Faith Without Wavering"). Faith is not blind; it is an "eyes wide open" experience of trusting the word of someone else about something you yourself don't have direct proof for (note Hebrews 11:1).

Hebrews 11:6 goes on to say:

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."

You'll notice that the faith that pleases God involves two elements:

Believing that God exists

Believing that God responds personally to our seeking Him

Both elements are important. It's not good enough just to believe that God exists (note James 2:19). We must respond personally to that axiomatic belief with a total reorientation of our thinking to include God in the equation of our personal lives.

Regarding God's existence, the Bible is pretty unequivocal. Romans 1:20 says:

"For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities -- his eternal power and divine nature -- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."

The Message phrases Romans 1:18-20 in this way:

"But God's angry displeasure erupts as acts of human mistrust and wrongdoing and lying accumulate, as people try to put a shroud over truth. But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can't see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse."

But this post is not actually about trying to prove or disprove God's existence (if you want to learn more about this, you can download a lesson I wrote on this subject: "Does God Exist?" from the following location: http://www.online-bible-college.com/downloads/es108-02.pdf). No, this post is more about the consequences of believing or disbelieving in God, or more importantly, about the application of one's belief (or disbelief) of God to one's life.

In Romans 1, Paul goes on to say what happens when people reject the axiomatic truth of God's existence and treat themselves as morally independent of His rules of righteousness.

In the New International Version, we find this translation of Romans 1:21-32:

"For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

"Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator -- who is forever praised. Amen.

"Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

"Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them."

In The Message, we find this colloquial paraphrase of Romans 1:21-32:

"What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn't treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand.

"So God said, in effect, 'If that's what you want, that's what you get.' It wasn't long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out. And all this because they traded the true God for a fake god, and worshiped the god they made instead of the God who made them - the God we bless, the God who blesses us. Oh, yes!

"Worse followed. Refusing to know God, they soon didn't know how to be human either - women didn't know how to be women, men didn't know how to be men. Sexually confused, they abused and defiled one another, women with women, men with men - all lust, no love. And then they paid for it, oh, how they paid for it - emptied of God and love, godless and loveless wretches.

"Since they didn't bother to acknowledge God, God quit bothering them and let them run loose. And then all hell broke loose: rampant evil, grabbing and grasping, vicious backstabbing. They made life hell on earth with their envy, wanton killing, bickering, and cheating. Look at them: mean-spirited, venomous, fork-tongued God-bashers. Bullies, swaggerers, insufferable windbags! They keep inventing new ways of wrecking lives. They ditch their parents when they get in the way. Stupid, slimy, cruel, cold-blooded. And it's not as if they don't know better. They know perfectly well they're spitting in God's face. And they don't care - worse, they hand out prizes to those who do the worst things best!"

What an indictment! Yet the downward spiral of moral depravity all starts with how people treat God -- at first rejecting the knowledge of God, which the Bible says is "clearly seen". From there, it spirals into "rampant evil" and the breakdown of society.

But remember, as Hebrews 11:6 points out, it's not just about believing in God; it's about seeking Him. In his address to the Athenian philosophers (the intellectuals of his day), Paul made this declaration in Acts 17:24-27:

"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands...From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us."

Let's personally respond to this invitation that God has given us. I encourage you to add the God Factor to your life equation, for that's the only way the equation will properly balance. Seek Him with all your heart, for in Jeremiah 29:13-14, God gives this personal promise to you:

"'You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,' declares the LORD..."

And adding his personal vouchsafe to His Father's promise, Jesus said in Matthew 7:7-8:

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."

In closing, I will quote from the closing sentence in the book A Beginner's Guide to Reality. Jim Gaggott, himself an atheist (or at least a non-religionist), ends his book with these words:

"The answers are here, but to understand them you must first choose what to believe."

I choose to believe in God. What about you? If you're not yet sure, then may I suggest you read the lesson I wrote for the Online Bible College on proof for God's existence called:

"Does God Exist?"

Reality Check

2006-06-25T03:29:00.000+10:00

I've recently been reading a book called A Beginner's Guide to Reality, by Jim Baggott. I've thoroughly enjoyed the book, and I'm particularly tickled by the cover, which includes a shopping list series of philosophical questions, topped by: "Does this book exist?" :-)

Jim Baggott's book provides a "beginner's guide" to the philosophical questions that have been asked by mankind, down through history, starting with Plato and Aristotle (or, even before Plato, with Parmenides and Heraclitus), and continuing into modern times with Decartes (of "I think, therefore I am" fame), Berkeley, Hume and Kant, to name but a few. In the 20th century, the philosophical mantle of determining the nature of reality then passed on to quantum physicists, who explored through scientitic theory and experiment the fundamental basis of reality, and discovered it to be fundamentally very strange indeed!

It's not my purpose in this post to give a running commentary on the nature of reality, or quantum physics for that matter (as much as I enjoy both topics), but rather to provide a "reality check." The book A Beginner's Guide to Reality seeks to answer some ancient questions that still ring in people's minds today, such as, "What is real?" and "What is the nature of reality?" But the Bible has been around a lot longer than A Beginner's Guide to Reality, and it has very clear answers of its own.

Before I answer these questions from a biblical perspective, I do want to note that I came to the conclusion long ago that without God nothing actually makes any sense. All the intricate paradoxes of quantum physics are resolved, at least in my mind, the moment you add God to the equation of physical reality. Without Him, simply put, there can be no reality at all. And this is not a brilliant conclusion on my part. It was in the Bible long ago. Not only does the Bible itself begin with the words, "In the beginning, God..." (Genesis 1:1), it also says in Psalm 14:1:

"The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'"

So back to the ancient question, "What is real?" This is important, because what you believe to be real will determine how you build your life. The lure of consumerism and materialism is based on the assumption that the only thing real is material things, but this philosophical belief has disastrous consequences for a person's life, not to mention it being one of the most innately hopeless and meaningless of philosophies.

In The Message, we find this rendition of Proverbs 1:1:

"These are the wise sayings of Solomon, David's son, Israel's king -- Written down so we'll know how to live well and right, to understand what life means and where it's going; A manual for living, for learning what's right and just and fair; To teach the inexperienced the ropes and give our young people a grasp on reality..."

So what does the Bible have to say about reality? First of all, the Bible distinguishes between the visible and the invisible levels of reality. In Colossians 1:16, Paul writes:

"For by [Jesus] all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible...all things were created by him and for him."

In fact, God himself is described as being "invisible" (Romans 1:20; Colossians 1:15; 1 Timothy 1:17). Not only that, but God also sustains and provides continuity to all of visible reality (Colossians 1:17). In other words, the invisible underpins the visible.

Secondly, the Bible distinguishes between the temporary and the permanent levels of reality. In fact, counter to intuition, it is the visible reality that is described as being "temporary" while the invisible reality (i.e. God himself and the invisible spiritual realm) that is described as being "eternal", for 2 Corinthians 4:18 says:

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

Seen in this way, the invisible realm of spiritual existence is actually, according to the Bible, more real than the visible, material universe in which we live -- the mountains, the oceans, the cities, even the stars and planets -- which we tend to call "reality"!

This is restated in Isaiah 34:4, which gives us a preview of what will happen to the physical universe:

"All the stars of the heavens will be dissolved and the sky rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled figs from the fig tree."

In a similar vein, Isaiah 51:6 says:

"Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail."

Do you see what the Bible is saying? The salvation and righteousness of God will outlast the physical universe! So, once again, in the light of verses like these, we ask the question is more "real" -- physical or spiritual reality? The biblical answer is that the spiritual/eternal is, for all practical purposes, the "real" reality. This is backed up by Psalm 102:25-27:

"In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded. But you remain the same, and your years will never end."

Once again we come back to the fact, pointed out time and time again in the Bible, that God is eternal and is therefore the solid "Rock" of reality upon which you can build your life (Psalm 18:2; 18:31; Psalm 62:2). In His parable about the wise and foolish builders, in Matthew 7:24-27, Jesus points out that it is important to "build on the rock", and identifies that "rock" with his own teachings. Further, in Matthew 24:35, Jesus declared:

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away."

In other words, if you want to build your life on that which is "reality," build them upon Jesus' words, because Jesus' words will outlast even the material universe!

I started off this post (more or less) with a quote from The Message's paraphrase of Proverbs 1:1:

"These are the wise sayings of Solomon, David's son, Israel's king -- Written down so we'll know how to live well and right, to understand what life means and where it's going; A manual for living, for learning what's right and just and fair; To teach the inexperienced the ropes and give our young people a grasp on reality..."

The Bible is indeed a "manual for living, for learning what's right and just and fair", but it is also there to "teach the inexperienced the ropes" of life, and to give us "a grasp on reality." So here's some more advice from the Bible (again, these are Jesus' words, as paraphrased in The Message). Matthew 6:30 says:

"What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met."

It is the "God-reality" that counts in the long run, and for me, that is what I fix my eyes upon.

Here's another couple of quotations from The Message:

Ephesians 4:17 - "And so I insist -- and God backs me up on this -- that there be no going along with the crowd, the empty-headed, mindless crowd. They've refused for so long to deal with God that they've lost touch not only with God but with reality itself. They can't think straight anymore."
1 John 3:18 - "My dear children, let's not just talk about love; let's practice real love. This is the only way we'll know we're living truly, living in God's reality. It's also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves."
Romans 1:19 - "But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is!"

So it turns out that you don't need to study Plato or Aristotle, Hume or Kant, in order to get a handle on what is real and what is not. Nor do you need to have a degree in quantum physics. All you need to do is determine what is eternal and what is not. And as I shared in yesterday's post -- "Numbering My Days Aright" -- a wise person would respond by "banking" on the eternal, not on the temporary (Matthew 6:19-21).

Once you've been able to distinguish between the two realities -- the material vs the spiritual, the temporary vs the eternal -- you need to decide which you will "bank" on for your life -- or, in other words, which of the two "realities" will be the "rock" upon which you will build your life. And just in case you're having trouble making that decision, can I remind you of a promise that God made? In Hebrews 12:26-27, the Bible says:

"At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, 'Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.' The words 'once more' indicate the removing of what can be shaken that is, created things so that what cannot be shaken may remain."

That last passage, rendered in The Message, has these compelling words:

"...[God's] voice that time shook the earth to its foundations; this time -- he's told us this quite plainly -- he'll also rock the heavens: 'One last shaking, from top to bottom, stem to stern.' The phrase 'one last shaking' means a thorough housecleaning, getting rid of all the historical and religious junk so that the unshakable essentials stand clear and uncluttered."

What most people call reality -- their world of bank accounts and credit card statements, stock markets and job opportunities -- and even the very solid ground on which they stand, which seems so permanent and lasting -- is going to be shaken by God. And why will God shake this apparent reality? So that what cannot be shaken -- the "real" reality -- will remain! Let's be wise and not wait for earth-shaking events to re-adjust our view of reality. Let's build our lives now on that which will last!

Numbering My Days Aright

2006-06-24T02:17:00.000+10:00

I was watching a video documentary earlier today, and it showed shots of life as it was in the 1930s -- automobiles on the streets, people walking across the road, signs advertising hot pizza. I was challenged by the fact that these were real people, not actors. They had lived their lives almost a century ago, facing many of the same kinds of problems that we face today -- relationship difficulties, work challenges, battles with illness, life struggles of all kinds. I wondered what they had thought at the time -- their hopes, their despairs, their dreams for the future. That future has come and gone, and is now my past. Their lives are, for me, mere momentary recordings on film, that showed up on a black-and-white documentary that I viewed in the comfort of my home, circa 2006.

I'm always challenged by the Lord when I see old documentaries like this. And the challenge is this: How will I spend my life? Will I waste my days? Or will I do something that will matter for eternity? Because soon enough, I too will be merely a momentary recording on a blog that someone else may read, generations from now. When you take a step back like that, and realise that your lifespan, no matter how long or short, is barely a click of the finger in the vast expanse of eternity, this puts things in a totally different perspective, doesn't it?

In Psalm 144:3-4, the psalmist wrote:

"O LORD, what is man that you care for him, the son of man that you think of him? Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow."

When you think of the trillions of years that make up eternity, what is the "threescore years and ten" (Psalm 90:10, KJV) given to us in comparison? Well, unless I was made for eternity, my short lifespan is actually totally futile. Even the lifespan of the human species, if there was no God, would be meaningless in the infinite stretches of eternity -- here now but gone in the twinkling of an eye. No wonder, from the Lord's perspective, all the glory of the nations is nothing when it is "weighed on the scales" of God's priorities. Isaiah 40:15 says:

"Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust."

What Isaiah is saying is that when measured on God's scales, the nations of the earth barely even register -- like dust on the scales. How much more an individual life!

And yet in answer to the question of Psalm 114:3, amazingly, God does care for us! Jesus, in Matthew 10:29-31, said:

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."

Despite being miniscule on both the scales of space and time, God still loves us and cares for us. In that light, how much more should we care about how we use the time allotted to us?

Psalm 90:12 says:

"Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom."

I believe it is important for us to have a clear sense of perspective as we go through life. Each day is valuable. In fact, Psalm 139:16 says: "...All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." That means we need to approach each day with "a heart of wisdom" and "number our days aright." Paul says the same thing in Ephesians 5:15-16:

"Be very careful, then, how you live -- not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil."

I made a statement a little earlier that I want to explain more fully: "...unless I was made for eternity, my short lifespan is actually totally futile." Most people don't try to comprehend the perspective of eternity, because without God, it robs each day of value. What does it matter, in the long run, if I am good or bad? What does it matter, one million years from now, whether I treated my neighbour well, or was kind to animals, or was honest when calculating my taxes? If I was not created for eternity, all my actions become ultimately meaningless.

You get a real sense of this "meaninglessness" of life when you read Ecclesiastes!). Take a look at these samples:

Ecclesiastes 1:2 - "'Meaningless! Meaningless!'" says the Teacher. 'Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.'"
Ecclesiastes 1:14 - "I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind."
Ecclesiastes 2:1 - "I thought in my heart, 'Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.' But that also proved to be meaningless."
Ecclesiastes 2:11 - "Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun."
Ecclesiastes 2:15 - "Then I thought in my heart, 'The fate of the fool will overtake me also. What then do I gain by being wise?' I said in my heart, 'This too is meaningless.'"
Ecclesiastes 2:17 - "So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind."

Do you pick up the sense of futility and, as the King James Version puts it, "vanity" of human life without an eternal context? But in the very same book, Ecclesiastes 3:11 says:

"[God] has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end."

God has set eternity in your heart. And it is eternity that gives a proper context for your life here on earth. This is why Jesus said in Matthew 6:19-21:

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

I love the way The Message phrases Jesus' words:

"Don't hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or -- worse! -- stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it's safe from moth and rust and burglars. It's obvious, isn't it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being."

Where is your heart? If your heart's focus is, ultimately, on eternity with God, then this will affect the way that you approach each day down here on earth. For with a proper eternal perspective, you will indeed be able to "number your days aright" (Psalm 90:12) and live "not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity" (Ephesians 5:15-16).

Seeing As God Sees

2006-06-23T07:24:00.000+10:00

Over the last couple of days, I've focused on the issue of intimacy with God -- simply because that's what God has been focusing on in my life. We've seen in "The Spiritual Intimacy of a True Disciple" that intimacy with God is a mark of the true disciple, and that this intimacy is an integral part of what I call "the meno experience" of being organically connected with the Lord Jesus Christ in one's daily life. Then, in "Developing Spiritual Intimacy", we saw that intimacy with God emerges from two components of a disciple's walk with the Lord -- hearing ("quality time" with the Lord) and obeying (doing what pleases the Lord) -- which then results in the "fruit" of intimacy with God (righteousness and "every good work").

Now I want us to explore one more dimension of intimacy. In my previous post "The Ways of God", I wrote about how the Bible expects the disciple of Jesus to not only learn the ways of God but also to walk in them. A product of genuine intimacy with God will be an "eye to eye" experience of seeing the world through the same lens that God does.

Take a look at John 4:35:

"Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest."

The Amplified Bible phrases it this way:

"Do you not say, It is still four months until harvest time comes? Look! I tell you, raise your eyes and observe the fields and see how they are already white for harvesting."

Jesus is here encouraging His disciples to open their eyes and see what He can see. This involves looking beyond the natural perspective and seeing the world as God sees it.

In my previous post, "Faith Without Wavering", I explained that faith is "seeing on another level", but I didn't specifically identify exactly on who's level faith is seeing. The answer, of course, is God's level. God has his own way of seeing the world, and part of being a disciple of Jesus is learning to see the world the way God sees it -- taking on a God's-eye view, so to speak.

Jesus constantly saw the world around Him through His Father's eyes. As so, as disciples of Jesus, we need to learn from the Master. Let's take a look at some scriptures on how Jesus saw people and events around Him. We find this account in Matthew 9:35-36:

"When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.'"

With Jesus, how He viewed things outworked in His actions. He saw the real need of the crowd, as opposed to the obvious need, and this stirred His compassion, spurring Him forward in the purposes of His Father.

In Matthew 14:14, we see a similar observation-reaction process at work:

"When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick."

According to Mark 10:21, "Jesus looked at [the young ruler] and loved him." In a similar way, Luke 7:13 tells us: "When the Lord saw [the woman], his heart went out to her..."

Do you see the pattern emerging here? In each instance recorded in these verses, Jesus saw people through the eyes of His Father and the result was compassion and love (followed by Him acting on that compassion and love). In other words, Jesus saw the world through the eyes of love.

But before I apply this on a personal level in terms of how the Lord is speaking to me, let's take a look at some other verses, for at this point we're still only seeing half the picture. In Luke 19:41, we find this account:

"As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it."

Why did Jesus weep? It is because He saw something in the city which caused Him to weep. Unlike the disciples, who only saw the glory of the city (see Luke 21:5-6), Jesus saw its impending destruction due to the judgment of God (Luke 19:42-44). In other words, Jesus didn't just see through the eyes of love; He also saw through the eyes of truth.

In God's character, love and truth go hand in hand (2 John 1:3; Ephesians 4:15). God is not just a God of love; He is also a God of holiness, justice and truth. That means if we are to see our world as God sees it, we also must see the world both through the lens of love and the lens of truth. In fact, Jesus demands nothing less from His disciple.

In John 5:19, Jesus said of Himself:

"I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does."

There are two important things to learn from Jesus' self-description:

Jesus observed what His Father was doing
Jesus acted on what He observed

I've been thinking on this a fair bit for the last couple of days. As a disciple of Jesus, joined to Him vitally and organically in the meno connection, I must learn also that "apart from [Jesus], [I] can do nothing" (John 15:8). And -- think about it for a moment -- if the Church as a whole becomes a people who are genuine disciples of Jesus -- seeing their world as Jesus sees it, and responding in the same way that Jesus would -- what kind of impact would this have on the world?

So in closing, take one more look at the two verses (both as translated by The Amplified Bible) that summarise, for me, what being a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ is all about:

John 15:5 - "...Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing."
John 15:8 - "When you bear (produce) much fruit, My Father is honored and glorified, and you show and prove yourselves to be true followers of Mine."

Bearing the fruit of intimacy with God is the mark of a true disciple of Jesus. My prayer is: "Lord, let me experience more depths of intimacy with you -- both hearing Your voice and obeying Your voice -- so that I can bear the fruit of that intimacy, bringing honour and glory to You. Amen."

Developing Spiritual Intimacy

2006-06-22T23:19:00.000+10:00

In the light of what I shared yesterday, on "The Spiritual Intimacy of a True Disciple," I was meditating today on Ephesians 4:30. Different Bible translations render this verse in different ways:

New International Version - "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."
New King James Version - "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."
New Living Translation - "And do not bring sorrow to God's Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he is the one who has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption."
Young's Literal Translation - "And make not sorrowful the Holy Spirit of God, in which ye were sealed to a day of redemption."
New Life Version - "Do not make God's Holy Spirit have sorrow for the way you live. The Holy Spirit has put a mark on you for the day you will be set free."
Worldwide English (New Testament) - "Do nothing that makes the Holy Spirit feel sad. He is the mark God has put on you until the day you will belong to God altogether."
God's Word - "Don't give Gods Holy Spirit any reason to be upset with you. He has put his seal on you for the day you will be set free [from the world of sin]."
New Testament in Modern Speech - "And beware of grieving the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you have been sealed in preparation for the day of Redemption."
The Amplified Bible - "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God [do not offend or vex or sadden Him], by Whom you were sealed (marked, branded as God's own, secured) for the day of redemption (of final deliverance through Christ from evil and the consequences of sin)."
The Message - "Don't grieve God. Don't break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don't take such a gift for granted."

That last quotation, from The Message, is what I quoted in yesterday's post, and it is the version that really struck me today. Eugene Peterson describes the Holy Spirit as "the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself." And you notice that Paul's encouragement to live a holy life is a warning that to do the opposite -- to live a life not fit for God -- actually grieves the Holy Spirit Himself. That means that I don't merely anger God when I choose a life contrary to God's holiness, I actually bring grief to God's heart! That puts a whole different spin on my motivation to live a holy life!

And take a look at the context of Ephesians 4:30. In the very next verse, Ephesians 4:31, we find these words:

"Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice."

That verse is not a non sequitur. It has everything to do with not grieving the Holy Spirit! In other words, how do we grieve God's Spirit? By harbouring "bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice"!

Sin is much more than just doing the wrong thing. Sin is an intimacy breaker. We see this in everyday relationships - there is no quicker shortcut to breaking intimacy in a human relationship than to be unfaithful to your partner, or to wrong your partner in some way. It is no different with God.

So, I've been meditating on Ephesians 4:30. I've been asking the Lord, "How can I develop a greater spiritual intimacy with you?" And the answer, it seems, is a two-fold one. Part one of that answer is: "Spend time with Me!" That part is the obvious part. But it is the second part of the answer that has been ringing in my ears all this evening: "Walk with me!"

The first part of God's answer involves spending "quality time" with the Lord. It means hearing His voice. The second part of God's answer, however, involves obedience. It means putting what you hear into practice (note Matthew 7:24-27; James 1:22).

It always seems to come back to John 15:4: "Remain in me, and I will remain in you." And the fruit that John 15:4-8 speaks of is, of course, nothing less than the fruit of intimacy with God! Check out Galatians 5:22-23 and Ephesians 5:8-10 for a detailed list of the fruit of intimacy with God, but I especially like Colossians 1:10, which describes it as "bearing fruit in every good work" and Philippians 1:11, which describes the fruit of intimacy with God as "the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ."

Developing and maintaining a genuine intimacy with God depends not just on spending quality time with the Lord (i.e. in personal devotions) but in walking with Him in everyday life (i.e. in obedience to God's Word). The two components of genuine intimacy with God are:

Hear
Obey

Jesus brings this out clearly in John 15:9-14:

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love...You are my friends if you do what I command."

Where Jesus says, "You are my friends if you do what I command," read: "You will experience true intimacy (i.e. genuine friendship) with me if you do what I command." Disobedience breaks intimacy with God, just as genuine, heart-motivated obedience builds that intimacy. So in closing for today, I encourage you to meditate on that same passage from Ephesians 4:30, as found in The Message:

"Don't grieve God. Don't break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don't take such a gift for granted."

The Spiritual Intimacy of a True Disciple

2006-06-21T23:16:00.000+10:00

I shared yesterday about what I call "the meno experience", which is my term for the intimate connection with the Lord that underpins the Christian life, as described by Jesus in John 15:1-8. In fact, as I mentioned yesterday, I believe it is crucial to the disciple's pattern of life. You cannot be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ without being organically connected (meno) with the Lord in a give-and-take relationship which the Wuest Extended Translation calls "a living communion" and The Amplified Bible calls "a vital union" with Christ.

This last Sunday, Alwyn Wong shared a passage of Scripture at ECC's Twilight Service. Luke 10:38-42 relates this intriguing account of Mary's "meno connection" with Jesus, and from this passage we can learn a lot about how the ongoing meno connection actually works.

"As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, 'Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!' 'Martha, Martha,' the Lord answered, 'you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.'"

This passage has meant a lot to me, and the Lord often brings me back to it. This is because I can relate so easily to Martha's position, and in particular recognise the rebuke of the Lord to Martha as being, all to often, to me also. Like Martha, I can all too easily become "distracted by all the preparations that had to be made" for ministry and life in general. And like Martha, I too can easily become "worried and upset about many things." As The Amplified Bible puts it, she was "overly occupied and too busy" and "distracted with much serving."

As I shared in my previous post, "The Question of Value", I am a very goal-oriented person. This translates into a propensity toward busyness in my relationship with the Lord -- a lot of "doing" for Him. Some friends have found themselves exhausted after I've passed through for a couple of days, simply because of the pace I set for myself. And so, like Martha, I can all too easily become "overly occupied and too busy", and in the process miss out on what is really important in my walk with the Lord.

What was Mary's secret? What was it that Jesus pronounced as being the "only one thing [that] is needed", which would not be taken away from Mary? First of all, a little lesson on first century culture would be helpful.

In the time of Jesus, a rabbi would teach by sitting down (note Matthew 5:1-2; Luke 5:3). The rabbi's disciples would sit at their rabbi's feet as he taught and listen to his parables and instructions for life (note Luke 8:35). But according to Luke's account, when Jesus came into the home of Martha, Mary and Lazarus, Mary joined the male disciples at the feet of Jesus -- in other words, she took upon herself the position of a disciple of Jesus. Martha was upset about this, and not just because she felt abandoned in the kitchen; she also saw Mary's audacity as a cultural affront, and felt that Jesus would surely back her up and rebuke Mary for her insolence and cultural faux pas. Instead, Jesus commends Mary and declares that she has "chosen what is better" and "it will not be taken away from her."

Apart from the obvious elevation by Jesus of woman to a position where they too could be disciples, there is a broader teaching for all of us...and for me, in particular. The "better part" (KJV) that Mary had chosen was to sit at the feet of Jesus and learn from Him. This wasn't just a matter of getting educated. The rabinnical method was to teach a pattern of life, not just a theory of life (note Philippians 3:17), for a disciple was one who learnt by following his rabbi and imitating his pattern of life (1 Corinthians 11:1).

I believe the act of sitting at the feet of another is a picture of spiritual intimacy -- the act of coming close to a teacher in order to learn from him in close proximity, where the lessons are rubbed off onto another as much as they are verbally taught. I actually coined a term for this kind of teaching (adapting a concept used by Charles Kraft in his book, Communicating the Gospel God's Way). Kraft taught that there are three modes of communication:

Monologue -- This is what we, in Western culture, mainly use when a teacher tries to impart knowledge to a class of students. One person (the teacher) speaks and the class listens, with very little interaction allowed. This is also the model upon which pulpit ministry is based. It can work, but not as effectively as the other two modes of communication; yet it remains the most popular methodology within the Church.
Dialogue -- This mode of communication is more appropriate for smaller groups, or even one-on-one communication. This involves more interaction -- more give and take between the teacher and the student, and is vastly more effective than monologue for genuine, life-changing communication.
Paralogue -- That's the word I coined for the third mode of communication. It is similar to dialogue, in that it allows plenty of one-on-one interaction and interplay between the teacher and the student. However, it is longer-term, for it is communication in parallel -- side-by-side, so to speak -- in the course of ongoing events in everyday life. This is why the disciple "followed" the rabbi, for in following the rabbi in mundane and everyday events in life, the rabbi was able to exemplify to his disciple the true pattern of life, beyond merely teaching the theory of that pattern of life.

Jesus is my Saviour (Titus 3:4-6) and He is my Lord (Colossians 2:6). But He is also my Rabbi (Matthew 23:8). I best learn from him in the mode of paralogue, where I come close to Him and follow Him throughout the course of my walk each day.

Out of this paralogue -- long-term dialogue that emerges from real life events we encounter throughout the day -- I learn to think like my Master thinks. This is the "renewing of the mind" that Romans 12:2 speaks of. For how can I walk with the Lord each day, in a genuine "living communion", and not be shaped by what the Lord has to say into my life?

Isaiah 30:20-21 gives this prophecy:

"Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."

Although this prophecy is speaking of a time in Israel's future (fulfilled in the years following Israel's exile in Babylon and Persia) when God would multiply teachers within the covenant community, it also speaks of the Holy Spirit's activity, for the Holy Spirit is the ultimate teacher who will be the one who speaks in our ear with the words: "This is the way; walk in it" (note John 16:13-15).

For me personally, the secret to living the Christian life has been found in moving beyond drily obeying God's commands to discover an intimacy with God in that emerges as a direct result from obeying those commands. The link between obedience and intimacy is often missed by those not experienced in obedience, but it is found in Jesus' statement found in John 15:9-10:

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love."

This means that the meno experience (which is the foundation of true intimacy with God) is based on obedience to God's commands. How do we remain (meno) in God's love, Jesus asks? By obeying His commands. "If you obey my commands," says Jesus, "[then] you will remain in my love..."

The drive toward intimacy is the key to a healthy Christian life and to a genuine walk of discipleship to Christ. Paul discovered this for himself. He had previously been the master of legalistic obedience (see Philippians 3:4-6), but after a life-changing encounter with Christ, Paul's priorities were turned upside-down. Intimacy through obedience became his prime goal, and Paul described it this way in Philippians 3:7-10:

"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ - the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ..."

The Message gives a modern twist to those ancient words:

"The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I'm tearing up and throwing out with the trash along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant -- dog dung. I've dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn't want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ -- God's righteousness. I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally..."

The result of this intimacy with God is that we move beyond just being a disciple of Jesus; we become a friend of Jesus. In James 2:23, Abraham is described as "God's friend," and in John 15:15, Jesus told his disciples:

"I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you."

But Jesus once again links the intimacy of friendship with obedience in John 15:14:

"You are my friends if you do what I command."

Mary commenced her meno experience by sitting at the Lord's feet -- a position of intimacy -- listening to Jesus' teachings. According to Acts 2:42 (NKJV), the early disciples "continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers." These four things -- the apostles' teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer -- are all elements of the disciple's meno experience, and also dimensions of intimacy we can have with God. There is an intimacy to be found in reading God's Word, just as there is an intimacy to be found in worship, in prayer and in other expressions of obedience in the Christian life. And with this simple yet profound revelation has come a realisation that has profoundly changed the way I look at life. It is a desire for intimacy with God that drives you into all those things we know we are supposed to do - read the Bible, pray, fast, even witness!

Here's how The Message describes the embrace of spiritual intimacy with God:

Deuteronomy 4:7 -- "...What other great nation has gods that are intimate with them the way God, our God, is with us, always ready to listen to us? "
Psalm 2:10 -- "Worship God in adoring embrace..."
John 15:5 -- "I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you're joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant."
John 15:9 -- "I've loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you'll remain intimately at home in my love. That's what I've done -- kept my Father's commands and made myself at home in his love."
Romans 8:31 -- "I'm absolutely convinced that nothing...absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us."
2 Corinthians 13:14 -- "The amazing grace of the Master, Jesus Christ, the extravagant love of God, the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit, be with all of you."
Galatians 4:4 -- "Doesn't that privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child? And if you are a child, you're also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance."
Ephesians 4:30 -- "Don't grieve God. Don't break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don't take such a gift for granted."
Philippians 3:7 -- "I've dumped [my own righteousness] all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him."
2 Peter 1:3 -- "Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received!..."
1 John 2:4 -- "...Anyone who claims to be intimate with God ought to live the same kind of life Jesus lived."
1 John 4:13 -- "This is how we know we're living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He's given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit...Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God's Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we've embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God."

Mary discovered the "better part" -- a deep intimacy with God discovered in hearing and obeying His teachings -- and Jesus said this would not be taken from her. I'm in the process of discovering this same deep intimacy with the Lord. My cry is to know the Lord -- deeply and intimately -- and that cry is the driving force behind my study of God's Word. What riches I've discovered so far in God's Word; what riches remain yet to be discovered!

The Meno Experience

2006-06-20T00:11:00.000+10:00

Having shared about the true meaning of covenant in my last two posts -- see "The Eternal Covenant (Part 1)" and "The Eternal Covenant (Part 2)" -- I must now share one more revelation that has transformed my thinking and significantly shaped my life. This revelation is so fundamental to a proper understanding of how the Christian life works, and yet so counter-intuitive to the religious mindset most of us inherent from our upbringing, that it requires what the Bible calls "a renewing of your mind" (Romans 12:2; Ephesians 4:23; Colossians 3:10). In fact, before we look at this revolutionary subject, let's take a brief look at Romans 12:2, this time from The Amplified Bible:

"Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude]..."

To be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ means two things happening at the same time:

The act of not conforming to this world, or what the NIV calls "the pattern of this world."

The process of being transformed by "the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude]" -- in other words, conforming to a new pattern of life!

You'll find these twin concepts in many parts of the Bible. For example, take a look at 2 Peter 1:4:

"...[God] has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."

Can you see the same two vital principles at work? Here they are:

Principle #1 -- Not conforming to this world: "...escap[ing] the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."

Principle #2 -- Being transformed by the renewing of your mind: "...participat[ing] in the divine nature."

I believe that the application of these two principles to a person's life is the essence of what it means to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. And these two principles must both operate at the same time; you can't have one without the other. If you are not to conform to the pattern of this world, you must instead conform to another pattern -- the pattern of the life of a true disciple of Jesus (note John 8:31-32; Matthew 7:24-27). And if you are to be conformed to the likeness of Jesus (Romans 8:29), then you must first not be conformed to the pattern of this world! This repentance-transformation principle underpins the great Christian journey -- a journey in which one "escape[s] the corruption in the world caused by evil desires" (what you leave behind) and in which one "participate[s] in the divine nature" (what you move toward). Without these two things in operation, there can be no journey.

Well, I've taken a long time to build up to my main point, haven't I? But believe me, unless we understand this twin principle of repentance-transformation, what I'm about to share with you will be little more than a nice chat about a Bible verse. Without being prepared to turn your back on something old and embrace something new (i.e. repentance), there can be no transformation. My prayer is that what I'm about to share with you will have a genuine transformative value in your life -- simply put, that it will change your life forever!

OK, buckle up and let's begin!

In John 15:1-8, Jesus opens his disciple's minds to a revelation of how the Christian life has been designed to work. And he uses a horticultural analogy to explain it all:

"I am the true vine...Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing...If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."

I'm going to start from the end backwards. In the last verse quoted above (verse 8), Jesus says that if we apply the principles he is teaching here, then we will truly show ourselves to be His disciples. In other words, as He said in John 8:31, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples." And part of the essential teaching of Jesus that we "hold to" is found in John 15. Simply put, Jesus says that the Christian life involves an organic connection with him, in the same way that a branch is organically connected to the vine stem -- drawing life and nourishment from the vine and thus producing the fruit of the vine. In other words, your life as a Christian is not an independent experience. It is a connected experience, and the quality of the fruit you produce is equal to the quality of the connection you have.

Let me emphasise this again. According to Jesus, "bear[ing] much fruit" (verse 8) depends on one's connection to the stem of the vine. An independent branch may temporarily have the outward semblance of life, but that life quickly withers and no fruit is produced. In the same way, says Jesus, "If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." Jesus is absolutely clear about this. Independent action on our part, no matter how well intentioned, will ultimately prove "fruitless".

The Greek verb that Jesus uses, which is translated by the NIV as "remain", is meno. It has the following shades of meaning:

To remain, abide, live in
To sojourn, tarry, wait
Not to depart, not to be moved, to stay in a given state or relationship
To be held, kept continually, fixed immovably, stuck steadfastly
To continue to be, to last, to endure, to survive
To remain united, not to become separated or cut off

It is rendered by different Bible translations as "remain", "abide", "joined" and "dwell", to name just a few. All these different words have one common meaning: to be connected securely and continually, so that life may flow.

Take a look at how Eugene Peterson's The Message renders John 15:1-8:

"I am the Real Vine...Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can't bear fruit unless you are joined with me. I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you're joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can't produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is -- when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples."

Earlier, in John 14:10, Jesus had already described His own relationship with His Father as having exactly the same meno connection:

"Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living (meno) in me, who is doing his work."

The meno experience that Jesus Himself experienced is the same meno experience He has extended to us. Everything in the Christian life revolves around this meno connection with God, through Jesus -- what The Amplified Bible calls a "vital union" or what the Wuest Extended Translation calls "a living communion." Even the quality of our wider unity, as the global Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, is based very much on our common meno experience in Christ, for in John 17:20-23 Jesus said:

"...I pray...that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me..."

The unity that Jesus prayed for is based on the same "intimate and organic" relationship that Jesus Himself has with His Father - "I in you and you in me" (read again John 14:10). No matter where I look, I keep coming face to face with this description of total intimacy between the Father and the Son, an intimacy that has been extended to you and me -- not as a optional extra for the Christian life, but as an absolute requirement for it (please download my OBC lesson "The Amazing Secret" for a more detailed description of what this means). In fact, when Jesus told his disciples that "apart from me you can do nothing," in John 15:5, He was simply echoing what He had earlier said of His own experience in John 5:19, using the same descriptive terms:

"...I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does."

The relationship between the Father and the Son is a meno experience, and our relationship with Jesus is, likewise, also a meno experience. And the strength of this meno connection determines both the quantity and quality of the fruit we produce -- fruit that ultimately brings glory to the Father and "show[s] yourselves to be my disciples" (John 15:8).

If you would like to learn more about how to develop this meno experience for yourself, you can download my OBC lesson on this subject, called "Abiding in the Vine," from the following address:

http://www.online-bible-college.com/downloads/dsc-03.pdf

The Eternal Covenant (Part 2)

2006-06-19T03:07:00.000+10:00

In the last post, we started to explore a subject that I hold very dear to heart, since understanding it lies at the heart of my eternal relationship with God. That subject is the "eternal covenant" (Hebrews 13:20-21) that God has made with us through Jesus Christ.

If you haven't yet had an opportunity to read the first part of this two-part series, I recommend that you read it before starting this post:

The Eternal Covenant (Part 1)

There are many different types of ancient covenant, but only one has survived, more or less intact, into the twenty-first century. And by examining this one surviving type of covenant, we can understand more fully the covenant that God has made with us in Jesus. That covenant type is, of course, the marriage covenant.

Jesus gave the definitive description of marriage, as God intended it, in Matthew 19:4-6:

"'Haven't you read,' [Jesus] replied, 'that at the beginning the Creator "made them male and female," and said, "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh"? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.'"

Jesus is quoting from the Book of Genesis, specifically Genesis 2:24. But let's look at the context of this quotation and read the whole of Genesis 2:20-24:

"...But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, 'This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man.' For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

In this passage we discover the true meaning of covenant. Look more closely at verse 24, which says:

"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh."

Covenant is about the uniting of two people as "one flesh" -- in other words, although the two people remain unique in personal identity, they merge into one in covenantal identity. This is the essential meaning of covenant -- a meaning that has largely been lost in our age of pre-nuptual agreements and temporary marriages. You see, from the beginning God designed marriage to be of a quality of unity that can only be described as two people becoming "one flesh." In fact, Adam, quite poetically, describes this "one flesh" unity in the previous verse. In his own words, in Genesis 2:23, he says:

"...This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man."

And although this applies, of course, to the marriage of a man and woman, it also applies to the covenant between Jesus and you. In fact, the Bible indicates that this "one flesh" description is primarily about you and Jesus, for Ephesians 5:25-32 gives these instructions, together with some background explanation:

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church for we are members of his body. 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.' This is a profound mystery -- but I am talking about Christ and the church."

Once again, Paul, like Jesus, quotes from the same original declaration in Genesis 2:24, but this time he refers not only to natural marriage but also to your relationship with Jesus! In fact, says Paul, this "profound mystery" is primarily "about Christ and the church." The natural marriage covenant is a picture of the spiritual marriage covenant that has been enacted between Jesus and the Church!

Have you been awestruck yet? Has the full import of this really hit you? Just as Adam pronounced over Eve, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh," so Jesus has pronounced the same thing over you! You are now, as far as Jesus is concerned, "bone of my bones" and "flesh of my flesh"! In fact, the picture of Eve being taken out of the side of Adam extends, I believe, to the Church being taken out of the side of Jesus upon the Cross (Jesus bears a scar in the same place that Adam did, after the divine surgery which extracted Eve!). This is why Paul says this "profound mystery" is, in the final analysis, really describing the relationship between Jesus and His Church!

In the "eternal covenant" that God made with you, the key is you being united with Jesus. In fact, right throughout the New Testament, one phrase is repeated, time after countless time. That phrase is "in Christ" or "in him". Take a look, just as one example, at Ephesians 1:3-13:

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillmentto bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit..."

Get the idea? I sure hope so. Because when you believed in Jesus, you became a new creation "in Christ" (see 2 Corinthians 5:17), and it is from this covenantal position "in Christ" that you now live your life. When God looks at you, He sees you not on your own, but "in Christ". And so God now deals with you as if He was dealing with His own Son! That is why the Bible says you have received redemption and forgiveness "in him." You did not deserve it on your own, but by being covenantally united with Christ, God can extend full forgiveness, as well as all the covenantal blessings that belong to His Son, Jesus.

If you want to learn more about the nature of covenant, then I recommend that you download two Online Bible College lessons that I wrote on this vital subject. You can download these lessons from the following links:

The Amazing Secret
The Bond of Covenant

But in closing this post, I want to share with you one last thought in this matter. In ancient times, there were three important stages in the marriage covenant:

Courtship
Betrothal
Marriage

As you are probably aware, betrothal in biblical times was not the same as modern engagement. When a couple became betrothed, they were from that moment considered husband and wife, and to break a betrothal required a certificate of divorce, just as with a proper marriage (note Matthew 1:18-19).

It is also interesting to note that the promise of Jesus in John 14:2-3 uses the same terminology that is used by a bridegroom, in biblical times, who must depart from his betrothed bride to return to his father's house, in a distant village, to build an extension in preparation for the day when he returns for his bride, to take her to be with himself in the final stage of marriage.

Can you see the beautiful picture of your covenant relationship with the Lord? Jesus described Himself as the Bridegroom (Luke 5:34-35) who He has returned to His Father to prepare a place for you, promising to return to take you back with Him (John 14:2-3). Upon his return, the great wedding feast will take place (Revelation 19:7-9), after which we enter into the final stage of our covenantal union with the Lord -- entry into the purposes He has planned for us throughout all of eternity!

The all-important question is this: What stage in the covenant are you at? Since the third stage begins only after Jesus returns for His Bride (what we call "the Second Coming"), which, of course, hasn't happened yet, this means that you can be in only one of the first two stages. One possibility is that you are right now being courted by the Lord. If so, are you responding to His wooing? Are you willing to make a commitment of your life to Him -- to enter into the eternal covenant that has been made for you in Christ Jesus?

Alternatively, if you have already responded in faith to the Lord's promise of redemption in Christ, then you are now betrothed to Jesus. Remember, even though the "wedding supper of the Lamb" has not yet taken place, this betrothal is still part of the eternal covenant God has made with you in Christ Jesus! What an incredible relationship we've been called to be involved in! The Christian life is, as far as I'm concerned, all about discovering the depths of this covenantal love and learning to walk with the Lord in the intimate communion of that covenant.

The Eternal Covenant (Part 1)

2006-06-18T10:41:00.000+10:00

About three years ago, I began to ask the Lord to reveal more to me about the nature of my relationship with him. I had been reading Hebrews 13:20-21, and felt that there was more I had yet to discover about the meaning of the word "covenant." The Bible continually uses that word to describe the nature of my relationship with God, yet I felt that I, a product of 20th/21st century culture, didn't fully comprehend what covenant was really all about. Sure, I knew the dictionary definition, but I felt I didn't have a handle on the meaning of the word, as a first century believer would have understood it.

So began a journey of discovery that spanned about four months in 2003. And I want to share with you what emerged from that discovery process, and what I am continuing to discover in this matter. It is, to put it lightly, a life-changing discovery. And I'm not exaggerating. When you realise exactly what kind of relationship you have entered into with God, through the blood of Jesus Christ, your view of God, yourself and the world around you will change forever!

Let's start with Hebrews 13:20-21:

"May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."

I want to pinpoint three important ideas that emerge from this verse:

"...through the blood of the eternal covenant..." - Everything in the Christian life is on the basis of an "eternal covenant" that God has made, based on the shedding of Jesus' blood. In this post, we're going to discover the nature of this "eternal covenant."
"...equip you with everything good for doing his will..." - Unlike what most people think, the Christian faith is not just about God telling us what He expects us to do, but it's about him equipping us to do what pleases Him. And you'll notice that it is "through the blood of the eternal covenant" that we are "equip[ped] with everything good for doing his will". It's all about God "work[ing] in us what is pleasing to him..." (see also Philippians 2:13).
"...through Jesus Christ..." - This is the key phrase that distinguishes the Christian faith from every other faith on earth. Every religion has teaching on morality and moral expectations. But only the Christian faith provides an inner power to fulfil that moral standard.

As Hebrews 13:20-21 tells us, the whole of the Christian life is founded on an "eternal covenant" based on a "through Jesus Christ" experience. If you don't believe me, just take a look at the following verses from the Bible (and these are just a few examples):

John 1:3
John 1:17
John 3:16-17
Acts 13:38
Romans 5:9
Romans 5:21
Romans 8:37
2 Corinthians 1:20
Ephesians 2:18
Philippians 1:11
Philippians 4:13
Colossians 1:19-20
Titus 3:5-7
Hebrews 7:25
Hebrews 13:15
1 Peter 1:21
1 Peter 2:5
1 John 4:9
Jude 1:25

So the starting point for understanding the biblical concept of the "eternal covenant", as described in Hebrews 13:20-21, is that it is "through Jesus." The whole of the Christian life is through Him, not through me! (note Ephesians 2:8-10). But before we move on further, let's define exactly what the Bible means when it uses the word "covenant."

If you ask the average person what he or she thinks the word "covenant" means, the answer will probably be something like "an agreement" or "a contract". In fact, this is quite accurate. This is precisely how the dictionary defines the word "covenant" (click here for an online dictionary definition).

But the biblical definition of covenant has shades of meaning far deeper than this. Our modern understanding is tainted by legal connotations, which in turn is based on the fact that we are a litigious and largely untrustworthy society. We tend to think of a covenant as being something similar to a legal contract, drawn up by lawyers and signed by two parties, that protects both parties in case of default by either party. But when the Bible speaks of covenant, it is meaning something quite different.

To understand the biblical meaning of covenant, I want to tell you the story of Henry Morton Stanley -- a man who discovered, through personal experience, the real meaning of the word "covenant." Stanley was American journalist who, in the second half of the 19th century, embarked on several expeditions of exploration in what was then known as "deepest, darkest Africa" (he is famous for one of those expeditions, which was a search for the missionary-explorer David Livingstone, who had been "lost" in Africa for a few years, and he is remembered for the now-famous greeting: "Dr Livingstone, I presume?").

In his many expeditions into uncharted African territory, Stanley would travel through regions under the control of different warring tribes. It was not uncommon to climb a hill and be faced with the spears of a hostile tribe. So how did Stanley survive his many trips through such dangerous territory? He survived because he discovered the meaning of "covenant."

And this is how covenant works. As Stanley moved into a new region, he would ask which tribe was the strongest in that region. He would then approach the chieftain of that tribe and enter into a pact -- a covenant -- with him. This always involved a ceremony called the "cutting of the covenant" -- the shedding of blood. And as I describe this ceremony, bear in mind what Jesus did on the Cross. And keep in mind Jesus' words in Matthew 26:28:

"This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."

Note: In the last six posts, I engaged in an exercise of "debunking" The Da Vinci Code's theory of Jesus, and in yesterday's post, I shared with you what I believe to be the true "Holy Grail" - Jesus Himself! Almost all the grail objects in the grail stories and legends were related to the blood of Jesus -- the "blood of the eternal covenant", as Hebrews 13:20-21 calls it -- and I encouraged you, in yesterday's post, to embark on your own "Grail Quest". For more details on this, read "Seek the Truth - Exposing the Da Vinci Hoax (Conclusion)".

OK, back to our story of Henry Stanley. When Stanley entered into covenant with an African chieftain, he would go through a special ceremony that involved the "shedding of blood" (note Ephesians 1:7; 2:13; Colossians 1:20; Hebrews 9:22). Stanley's arm would be sliced with a ceremonial knife, allowing his blood to flow freely. The chieftain's arm would also be sliced in the same way. Then Stanley's blood would be commingled with the blood of the chieftain. Ashes would be poured into the wounds of both men, so that a permanent scar would form -- a scar which symbolised the permanent nature of the "eternal covenant" that had been struck between the two men. Then an emblem would be exchanged -- a spear, for example, from the tribe -- that represented the identity of the tribe. From that point on, Stanley "belonged" to that tribe, just as if he had naturally been born into it. But more than that, he was now, through covenant, a "blood brother" of the tribe's chieftain himself!

When I was 10 years old, I had a best friend called Stephen Howell. One day, we were out in the bush, and one of us had the brilliant idea of becoming "blood brothers." So we took out a pocket knife. Stephen cut his thumb, and I cut my thumb, and we commingled the blood together, and pronounced ourselves eternally "blood brothers" from that point on. The only problem is, we didn't really understand the significance of blood covenant, or what it really meant to be a blood brother. In the 34 years since that day, I've only visited Stephen once, when I was 28. I knocked on the door of his house, and when Stephen came to the door and saw me, he exclaimed: "Blast from the past!" We had a great time together, reminiscing on "the old days", but our relationship is just that -- a "blast from the past". There has been no enduring quality to that relationship. Instead, our paths have diverged. We never did discover the meaning of what it meant to be "blood brothers".

So what does it really mean to be a "blood brother"? One scholar, Clay Trumbull, explains the ancient roots of the concept of "blood covenant":

"The use of covenants is traced back to an ancient Semitic rite known as blood covenanting. A form of mutual covenanting, by which two persons enter into the closest, the most enduring, and the most sacred of compacts, as friends and brothers, or as more than brothers, through the inter-commingling of their blood..."

You'll notice that the concept of the blood covenant has not so much a legal meaning as a relational meaning. As Trumbull puts it, the two people "enter into the closest, the most enduring, and the most sacred of compacts, as friends and brothers, or as more than brothers..." What does it mean to have a relationship that is "more than brothers"?

The Italians have a saying, "Blood is thicker than water," which means that the blood ties of family are stronger than any other kind of relationship or commitment. There's a similar Arabic saying, however, that reflects an even older tradition: "Blood is thicker than milk." What does this strange statement mean? It means that the relationship forged out of a blood covenant is even stronger than the natural bond between brothers nursed on the same mothers milk. In other words, the bond between "blood brothers" is stronger than the bond between "milk brothers".

When Stanley entered into "blood covenant" with an African chieftain, he became that chieftain's "blood brother." Their relationship was considered stronger than even if Stanley had been born the man's natural brother. From that point on, any attack on Stanley would be viewed as an attack on the chieftain and on the village. Stanley's identity had now merged with that of the chieftain, with whom he was now eternally in covenant. As Stanley travelled to the next region, if he was challenged by another tribe, he would show the scar of the covenant, and brandish the tribal emblem he had been given. The other tribe would know, then, that if they attacked Stanley, it was as if they were attacking Stanley's covenant-tribe. And they would back off.

Stanley realised the power of blood covenant and used it extensively throughout his travels. In fact, according to Stanley's journals, he "cut the covenant" at least fifty times during his travels through the interior of the African continent.

As you can see, covenant is much much more than simply "a legal contract" or "a binding agreement." This is a modern legal concept that has little bearing on the true meaning of covenant. No, covenant actually means the merging of two identities into one. That is why a hostile tribe, once they discovered Stanley was in covenant with other stronger tribes in the area, would immediately back off. They knew the meaning of covenant, and knew that attacking Stanley was equal to attacking the tribal chieftain with whom he had struck the covenant.

When God says that he has made a covenant with you, through Jesus, this is what He is talking about. He is not meaning that he has drawn up a legal agreement, and notarised it with his signature. It means he has entered into a covenantal relationship through the shed blood of Jesus on our behalf. You'll remember that in Stanley's experience, they would smear ashes into the wound in order to create a permanent scar? The same thing happened with Jesus. Do you realise that when Jesus was resurrected, His body was raised "glorified" (Philippians 3:21) and "incorruptible" (1 Corinthians 15:42-44, 52-54)? Yet despite the miraculous nature of this resurrection, the scars of the crucifixion remain in his hands, his feet and his side (see John 20:20 and 20:27).

Why would God keep those scars intact? Why not heal them when He resurrected His Son? Because they are the scars of the "eternal covenant", a permanent reminder to all that a covenant relationship has been entered into by two previously warring parties (note Colossians 1:21-22). The scars of the crucifixion are the eternal reminder of the covenant that God has made with you through Jesus (note 1 Peter 2:24).

I don't know about you, but this totally amazes me! I'm awestruck by the wonder of Jesus still bearing the marks of what He endured on my behalf! In the deepest reaches of eternity future, when I too will have an immortal resurrection body "without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish" (Ephesians 5:27), as a direct result of the eternal covenant I have with God through Jesus (see Philippians 3:20-21), Jesus will continue to bear the scars of the covenant -- throughout all eternity! And because of this covenant, my identity has become that of a covenantal child of God and "blood brother" of Jesus himself (Romans 8:29; Hebrews 2:10-11).

In Numbers 22, we see the power of blood covenant at work. Balaam was a "prophet-for-hire", and Balak, king of Moab, paid Balaam money to put a curse on Israel. But when Balaam tried to do this, he came face to face with the divine protection innate to God's covenant with Israel. He discovered that he could not curse those whom God had covenantally blessed. Because the people of Israel were in blood covenant with God, an attack on Israel was the equivalent of an attack on God Himself! And so Balaam declared, in Numbers 23:19-21:

"God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? I have received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I cannot change it...[because] the LORD their God is with them; the shout of the King is among them."

This is also the strength of the covenant that you have with God through faith in Jesus Christ. It is not idly that the Bible declares that "we are more than conquerors through him who loved us" (Romans 8:37), and then goes on to describe, in Romans 8:38-39, the eternal bond of covenantal love that we have through Jesus Christ:

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Covenant, by its very nature, is an unbreakable eternal bond. But this is not the only facet of the meaning of covenant revealed in the Bible. There are deeper dimensions of meaning in the word "covenant" yet to be discovered. And tomorrow I'll explore these deeper dimensions in more detail.

Next: The Eternal Covenant (Part 2)

Seek the Truth - Exposing the Da Vinci Hoax (Conclusion)

2006-06-17T12:06:00.000+10:00

We now come to the end of my response to Dan Brown's challenge: "Seek the Truth." Before you read this conclusion of the series, I encourage you, if you haven't already, to read the previous posts in this series:

Seek the Truth - Exposing the Da Vinci Hoax (Introduction)
Seek the Truth - Exposing the Da Vinci Hoax (Part 1)
Seek the Truth - Exposing the Da Vinci Hoax (Part 2)
Seek the Truth - Exposing the Da Vinci Hoax (Part 3)
Seek the Truth - Exposing the Da Vinci Hoax (Part 4)

Dan Brown's book and movie, The Da Vinci Code, has caused quite a stir, hasn't it? It has sparked an industry in its own right and countless discussions on the Internet, both for and against, and all of this has been to Dan Brown's benefit. He is not opposed to all this discussion, because it sells more books and more tickets to the movie. But we need to realise that, for Dan Brown, this wasn't just fiction. He sincerely meant what he wrote at the beginning of his book when he stated his "facts." In fact, Dan Brown sincerely believes that Jesus really was married to Mary Magdalene, that they produced a child, and that there exists today descendants of Jesus -- a royal bloodline guarded by a secret society called the Priory of Sion.

On November 3, 2003, Dan Brown made this public confession:

"I began as a skeptic. As I started researching The Da Vinci Code, I really thought I would disprove a lot of this theory about Mary Magdalene and holy blood and all of that. I became a believer."

When asked by host Matt Lauer on NBC's Today Show, "How much of this is based on reality in terms of things that actually occurred?", Brown replied, "Absolutely all of it."

We have not explored all of the possible ways that Dan Brown's beliefs can be disproven, but instead have limited ourselves just to the four primary premises that underpin The Da Vinci Code:

The Authority of Alternative Gospels
The Beliefs of Leonardo Da Vinci
The Historicity of the Priory of Sion
The "Culturally Unacceptable" Marital Status of Jesus

I purposely restricted the scope of this series because, quite honestly, discussions on these and related issues could go on indefinitely. Scholars will continue to debate these questions for years to come, and Internet forums will overflow with posts both for and against the theories proposed by The Da Vinci Code, Holy Blood, Holy Grail and dozens of other books in this genre.

Did you know that the genre that The Da Vinci Code falls under has a history dating back 800 years? The first Grail story was a novel, just like The Da Vinci Code, called Perceval, le Conte du Graal (Percival, and the Story of the Grail), written by Chretien de Troyes, and, just like The Da Vinci Code, it took the medieval world by storm. It was the bestseller of its day. In other words, this fascination with grail quests has proven just as marketable in the 21st century as it was in the 12th century.

Dan Brown's marketers came up with the phrase, "Seek the Truth", in order to promote the movie version of The Da Vinci Code. I agree. Seek the truth. But in seeking the truth, get back to the original source material. Don't just rely on hearsay -- people's opinions of who Jesus is. We must get back to what Jesus Himself said, and as we saw in Part 3 of this series, the Gospel record is the best historical evidence that we have for Jesus' life. In John 8:32, Jesus said:

"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

But this isn't just any truth that will set you free. Jesus was very specific about what kind of truth he was talking about, for in the preceding verse (John 8:31), Jesus said this:

"If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

In other words, the "truth" that Jesus is referring to -- the truth that has an innate liberating power -- is His own teaching.

Jesus said the same thing in Matthew 7:24-27, where he told a parable of two construction workers to illustrate the two ways a person can build his or her life:

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

Can I challenge you to go on your own "Grail Quest"? But this grail is not a chalice, or any physical object. In The Da Vinci Code, Teabing says:

"...legend tells us the Holy Grail is a chalice -- a cup. But the Grail's description as a chalice is actually an allegory to protect the true nature of the Holy Grail. That is to say, the legend uses the chalice as a metaphor for something far more important."

Teabing then goes on to explain that the Holy Grail was, according to him, a woman. I both agree and disagree with Teabing. The Holy Grail is indeed "a metaphor for something far more important." But I disagree with Teabing as to the identity of what the Grail represents. He says it is Mary Magdalene. I say it is Jesus Himself.

Think about it for a moment. The Holy Grail, in ancient legend, was many different objects, but it was primarily understood to be the chalice used by Jesus at the Last Supper, the cup described in Luke 22:20:

"In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.'"

The Bible tells us that God personified salvation in a person (note 1 Corinthians 1:30). He wrapped up the "whole package" in Jesus (Ephesians 1:4-8). So I encourage you to embark on your own personal Grail Quest - discover Jesus for yourself. After all, Jesus described Himself not just as a teacher of the truth. He said, "I am the truth" (John 14:6).

In John 5:39-40, Jesus challenged the religious people of His day:

"You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life."

I think Jesus would say the same thing to us, in response to our fascination with the grail legends. He might say something like, "You diligently read the latest books, because you think that through them you will discover the truth, yet you refuse to come to me to discover the truth for yourselves."

So, if you're interested in taking up the challenge, may I suggest you download the "Grail Package" that I've put together for you:

http://www.online-bible-college.com/journey/grailpackage.zip (4.6 MB)

The Grail Package contains 40 lessons that I've written for the Online Bible College, which can kickstart your understanding of what the Bible teaches about Jesus and what He means for you personally.

In conclusion, and as a good critic, I want to rate Dan Brown's novel, The Da Vinci Code. As a work of detective fiction, I give The Da Vinci Code four stars. As a work of scholarly investigation, however, I give The Da Vinci Code half a star, and even then I think I'm being generous. As long as you can separate fact from fiction, it's a great book - a real "page turner." But if you do purchase the book, make sure that it stays in the "fiction" section of your bookshelf. And if you're genuinely interested in the facts behind the grail legends, I encourage you to first go to the original source material. Pick up a Bible and read the Gospel of Mark (it's short -- just 16 chapters, so you can easily read it in a couple of nights). If you don't have a hardcopy Bible, you can access a Bible online by clicking here.

And if you're still really keen to learn more about answering the questions raised by The Da Vinci Code, then you can listen to the two-part audio presentation that Ken Li Koh and I conducted recently at ECC, by clicking on the links below (you will need QuickTime to listen to the files):

Cracking the Da Vinci Code: Separating Fact From Fiction (Part 1)

Cracking the Da Vinci Code: Separating Fact From Fiction (Part 2)

I wish you all the best on your own journey of discovery.

Seek the Truth - Exposing the Da Vinci Hoax (Part 4)

2006-06-16T23:29:00.000+10:00

Over the past few days, we've dissected three of the four "building block" premises of The Da Vinci Code and found the supposed evidence for Jesus Christ's marriage to Mary Magdalene more than a little wanting. Before we look at the fourth and final premise, I encourage you, if you haven't already, to read the previous posts in this series:

Seek the Truth - Exposing the Da Vinci Hoax (Introduction)
Seek the Truth - Exposing the Da Vinci Hoax (Part 1)
Seek the Truth - Exposing the Da Vinci Hoax (Part 2)
Seek the Truth - Exposing the Da Vinci Hoax (Part 3)

Unlike the previous three premises, the final premise of The Da Vinci Code's Jesus-Was-Married-To-Mary-Magdalene Theory is based on a cultural assumption about Jewish life in the first century. On page 245 of The Da Vinci Code (at least on page 245 of my copy of the book), we find Teabing explaining to Sophie about the hidden M in The Last Supper (which, by the way, is one of the most way-out elements of Dan Brown's hypothesis - art critics find this assertion particularly ludicrous). Here is some of the narrative:

Sophie weighed the information. "I'll admit, the hidden M's are intriguing, although I assume nobody is claiming they are proof of Jesus' marriage to Magdalene."

"No, no," Teabing said, going to a nearby table of books. "As I said earlier, the marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene is part of the historical record."

I'll interrupt the narrative here, because I simply cannot let this statement go past without comment. "...the marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene is part of the historical record." What? Forgive me, but that statement is an outright lie and a total misrepresentation of genuine historical evidence. It's one thing to say that you believe Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. It's another to claim, completely without any backing proof whatsoever, that it is "part of the historical record" - in other words, an incontrovertible historical fact. I challenge Dan Brown to back up that statement with proof - an example from the "historical record" which shows that Jesus was indeed married at all, let alone to Mary Magdalene.

Now, continuing with the narrative...

He began pawing through his book collection. "Moreover, Jesus as a married man makes infinitely more sense than our standard biblical view of Jesus as a bachelor."

"Why?" Sophie asked.

"Because Jesus was a Jew," Langdon said, taking over while Teabing searched for his book, "and the social decorum during that time virtually forbade a Jewish man to be unmarried. According to Jewish custom, celibacy was condemned, and the obligation for a Jewish father was to find a suitable wife for his son. If Jesus were not married, at least one of the Bible's gospels would have mentioned it and offered some explanation for His unnatural state of bachelorhood."

Teabing uses strong words. According to him, first century Jewish culture "virtually forbade a Jewish man to be unmarried" and "celibacy was condemned." According to Teabing, if Jesus had been unmarried, this would have been nothing less than a scandal in first century Galilee, and yet 1) the Bible doesn't specifically mention Him as being unmarried and 2) the Bible doesn't provide any explanation for His "unnatural state of bacherlorhood."

Is this a valid argument? In this post, I want us to dissect this premise by addressing three sub-premises:

A celibate rabbi in first century Palestine would have created a scandal

The Bible doesn't specifically mention Jesus as being unmarried

The Bible doesn't provide any explanation for His celibacy

Let's look at the first sub-premise. Would a celibate rabbi indeed have been a scandal in first century Palestine? The short answer: no.

Historical research has shown that although it would have been "normal" for Jesus to have been married, it was not necessarily a problem for him not to be. And there are plenty of historical precedents to prove this.

Firstly, in the Bible there are a number of prominent characters who were unmarried, yet performed a rabbinic or prophetic role in Jewish society. One important example, contemporary with Jesus, is John the Baptist, whose life is recorded not only in the Bible but also by the Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus. John the Baptist was an ascetic, and this caused a definite scandal among some in Jewish society (note Luke 7:33), but it is noteworthy that that scandal did not include the fact that he was unmarried. Jesus, likewise, created plenty of scandal in his time (note Luke 7:34), but in both scandals the issue of marriage didn't appear to be a factor. Even Josephus makes no issue with the fact that John the Baptist was unmarried.

Furthermore, Jesus was still quite young. He was only 30 years of age at the time he began his messianic ministry (Luke 3:23) -- which, interestingly enough, was the age at which a priest became eligible to begin his ministry (Numbers 4:3; 1 Chronicles 23:3; ) and also the age when David became king (2 Samuel 5:4) and the age when Ezekiel began receiving his visions from God (Ezekiel 1:1) -- and, even though many Jewish men got married as young as 18, just because Jesus was unmarried at time he was 30 didn't preclude him, in the mind of his countrymen, from the possibility getting married later. In fact, postponement of marriage was permitted to students of the Torah so that they could concentrate on their studies without the distraction of marital responsibilities, so as you can see, there was no hard and steadfast rule in this matter. Even a noted rabbi, Simeon be 'Azzai, is quoted as saying:

"What shall I do [about getting married]? My soul is enamored of the Law; the population of the world can be kept up by others."

But celibacy, although not overly common in first century Jewish life, was actually more widespread than even this. There was, at the time of Jesus, a Jewish sect called the Essenes, many of whom lived in religious communes with strict membership requirements, rules, and rituals. Part of their communal discipline involved celibacy. Not only that, but the Jewish philosopher, Philo of Alexandria, described another Jewish sect called the Therapeutae, who practised celibacy. So as you can see, Jewish culture was not monolithic, and there was enough room within Jewish theology to allow celibacy, even though it was frowned upon by mainstream Jewish thought.

We also have the words of Jesus himself, quoted in Matthew 19:10-12:

"The disciples said to him, 'If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.' Jesus replied, 'Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.'"

Jesus speaks here of those who have "renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven." This expression is very much the key to understanding the concept of celibacy in Jesus' day. There is no question that marriage and family were important institutions in first century Jewish culture. But like in any culture, there were also exceptions. And these exceptions related to Jewish "eschatology" (or, simply put, their understanding of "the end times" or what, today, we might call "the end of the world").

Paul made the very same point when he spoke of marriage, divorce and celibacy in 1 Corinthians 7. When Paul explained that "those who marry will face many troubles in this life" (1 Corinthians 7:28), he wasn't referring to ordinary troubles of life, but the troubles that will arise because of the persecution that he knew they would need to face in the near future. It was Paul's "eschatology" that informed his teaching on marriage and celibacy, for he goes on to say in 1 Corinthians 7:29-31:

"What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away."

That phrase, "For this world in its present form is passing away," is the key to understanding the motivation behind celibacy, both in Jesus' day and in the time of the early Church. Some critics have claimed that the Pauline teaching on celibacy was non-Jewish in origin, but in fact it was very Jewish in its eschatalogical context, with strong precedence, for example, in Essene thinking. And as Paul goes on to explain in 1 Corinthians 7:32-35, his reason for encouraging celibacy was not because it was somehow purer or more holy than a non-celibate lifestyle (which is what was taught by the Roman Church much later), but so that a disciple of Jesus might be "free from concern" and " live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord." Celibacy was not for its own sake, but so that a person could focus more on the priorities of the kingdom of God. This was what Jesus was referring to when he said that some have "renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven."

So, in this context, it is entirely permissible, in a Jewish cultural context, for a man like Jesus to either postpone or renounce marriage for eschatological reasons. And although the Rabbis later prohibited celibacy -- Rabbi Eliezer, for example, proclaimed: "Whoever does not engage in procreation is like someone who spills blood" -- these rigid guidelines were codified only after the fall of Jerusalem, well after the time of Jesus.

What we've looked at so far are the reasons that would allow Jesus to be celibate without stirring too much fuss. But what is even more important than this is the reason why Jesus would be celibate. Some scholars have rejected the celibacy of Jesus because they see this as an intrusion of Gentile (and later Church) thinking into pristine Jewish thought. After all, the Roman Church later taught that all sexual activity is a venal sin, and for this reason Jesus (and later Mary, his mother) could not have tainted themselves through sexual activity. But is this what celibacy meant in Jesus' mind (or in Paul's mind, for that matter)? I disagree very strongly.

The elevation of celibacy to a purer, more holy state is very much a product of later Roman theology, not of biblical teaching. Jesus taught that marriage was ordained by God, and early Christian teaching, reflecting the same Jewish theology, taught that, when undefiled by adultery or sexual immorality, the marriage bed is pure (Hebrews 13:4). Even Paul, by inference, taught that the married state, like its spiritual counterpart, was "holy and blameless" (Ephesians 5:25-33). So if Jesus didn't view sexual activity as innately "unholy" or "impure", and if Jewish culture strongly encouraged marriage, why would He choose to be celibate? Why, as even some Christians have asked, is it wrong to even think that Jesus might have been married.

The answer is that Jesus was already betrothed! He already saw himself in marriage covenant (note that in biblical times, betrothal wasn't just the precursor to marriage but was viewed as just as binding as marriage). Take a look at Jesus' own words in Mark 2:19-20:

"Jesus answered, 'How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.'"

Even John the Baptist spoke of Jesus in similar terminology. In John 3:27-30, he says:

"A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him. The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegrooms voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less."

If Jesus is called "the bridegroom", who is He the bridegroom of? Who is the bride who "belongs" to Him? The bride, in John's thinking, is Israel. As Messiah, Jesus was the bridegroom of God's covenant people! This is why Jesus was unmarried: because He was betrothed to the people of God as their Messiah!

Paul takes up this same betrothal theme in 2 Corinthians 11:2-4:

"I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached...you put up with it easily enough."

The Jesus that Paul preached was a Jesus betrothed to the people of God, and this, by its very nature, precludes His marriage to any other woman -- whether Mary Magdalene or otherwise. The whole theology of Jesus as the Bridegroom would unravel if Jesus had, in fact, already been married. The nature of the covenant God has made with us, through Jesus, is described as being like a marriage covenant. And upon Jesus' return, the actual wedding itself will take place, as described in Revelation 19:6-8:

"Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: 'Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.' (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)"

The Bible rings with the theme of Jesus' marriage to the Church (read again Ephesians 5:25-33). And so it is for this reason that I completely reject the possibility that Jesus was married, not because I see a married Jesus as somehow impure or less holy, but because a natural marriage would destroy the whole purpose for His coming to the earth. And this is why I view the claims of Dan Brown, and others, that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene not just as unjustified, but as an affront to everything that Jesus stands for. Jesus is my Bridegroom, and I am part of His Bride.

Next: Seek the Truth - Exposing the Da Vinci Hoax (Conclusion)

Seek the Truth - Exposing the Da Vinci Hoax (Part 3)

2006-06-15T01:08:00.000+10:00

In this post, we look at the third premise of The Da Vinci Code: the claims of a secret society called the Priory of Sion. But first, if you haven't already, I encourage you to read the previous three posts in this series:

Seek the Truth - Exposing the Da Vinci Hoax (Introduction)
Seek the Truth - Exposing the Da Vinci Hoax (Part 1)
Seek the Truth - Exposing the Da Vinci Hoax (Part 2)

Dan Brown opens The Da Vinci Code with the following bold claim:

FACT: The Priory of Sion - a European secret society founded in 1099 - is a real organization. In 1975 Paris's Bibliotheque Nationale discovered parchments known as Les Dossiers Secrets, identifying numerous members of the Priory of Sion, including Sir Isaac Newton, Sandro Botticelli, Victor Hugo and Leonardo da Vinci.

In fact, much of the authority of the novel's claims is based upon the supposed revelations made by this secret society. On this basis, it's important for us to look at 1) whether this secret society really exists and 2) whether it is what it claims to be.

Dan Brown makes it clear that he fully believes that the Priory of Sion is not a work of fiction but a genuine secret society which was founded for one purpose -- to protect a secret that had been covered up by the Church, the secret of Jesus' marriage to Mary Magdalene and his resulting lineage that descended down through the Merovingian royal bloodline. This is emphasised, once again, at the beginning of the novel with this initial claim:

"All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents and secret rituals in this novel are accurate."

So who are the Priory of Sion?

Dan Brown draws his information on the Priory of Sion primarily from one book, Holy Blood, Holy Grail, which was published in 1982 by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln. Brown, with his characteristic love of puzzles, codes and plays on words, used the names of these authors as the basis for his character, Leigh Teabing. "Leigh" is the surname of one of the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail, and "Teabing" is an anagram of "Baigent." These three authors, however, didn't smile at Brown's side-reference to them. They took him to court for plagiarism, claiming that he had stolen the essential plot and much of the content of The Da Vinci Code from Holy Blood, Holy Grail. The judge eventually found in the favour of the defendant, legislating that a novelist has the right to adapt historical works into works of fiction. The irony is that the court case would have been successful for the plaintiffs if they had categorized Holy Blood, Holy Grail as fiction, but by insisting that their book was a non-fiction (i.e. genuinely historical), they lost. It must have been hard for the co-authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail to see all the attention (and money) going to The Da Vinci Code when, as we shall see, the substance of the novel really was based upon a superb piece of fiction pioneered in Holy Blood, Holy Grail. Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln really did invent the story of The Da Vinci Code.

According to Holy Blood, Holy Grail, the Priory of Sion is a secret society created in the early twelfth century by Godfroy de Boullion just before he captured Jerusalem. The Priory was charged, again according to that book, with guarding the secrets of the Holy Grail, and later, in 1118, created a military arm called The Poor Knights of Christ and Solomon's Temple (also called, for short, The Knights Templar). The authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail had direct contact with Pierre Plantard, who claimed to be the then current Grand Master of the Priory of Sion. However, it was the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail who took an imaginative leap that would become the basis, twenty years later, for the best-selling novel, The Da Vinci Code.

Simon Cox, in his book Cracking the Da Vinci Code, explains:

...Plantard was the main source of information behind the international best-seller, Holy Blood, Holy Grail, having had direct contact with the authors as they were writing it. It was this book that brought the story of the Priory of Sion to the attention of the English-speaking world in 1982. In preparation for the book, co-authors Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln spent years tracing and dissecting the genealogies, secret codes, and history of the secret society which were drip-fed to them via the strategic release of arcane documents and face-to-face interviews, which led them on a chase through the last 1,000 years of European history and political intrigue.

The trio never did ultimately discover what the real purpose of the Priory of Sion was. The restoration of a Merovingian monarch to the throne of France was high on Plantard's list of priorities, but so was the realisation of an economic and political United States of Europe, which has now largely been achieved with the advent of the European Union and the implementation of the euro replacing the majority of local currencies.

Therefore, in the absence of any clear statement of purpose, Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln themselves developed the revolutionary theory that the Merovingian bloodline might represent the vestiges of a lineage descending from the children of Jesus and Mary Magdalene (who, it is believed, found refuge in France after the Crucifixion) and that the purpose of the Priory of Sion was, in fact, to guard this sacred lineage.

This is where the "fiction" of Holy Blood, Holy Grail kicks in (and readers of The Da Vinci Code will immediately recognise it). Remember: Pierre Plantard never claimed that the Priory of Sion guarded the supposed secret that the Merovingian kings were, in fact, the descendants of Jesus Christ. This, it turned out, horrified Plantard, who himself claimed to be a descendant of the Merovingian line, and so Plantard went on French television, publicly denouncing this conclusion. I watched the relevant part of this French documentary, and I saw Plantard stating clearly, and very nervously, that at no time had he ever claimed to be himself a descendant of Jesus Christ.

Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln's revolutionary piece of fiction - the suggestion that the grail secret being guarded by the Priory of Sion was not a cup or chalice, but was in fact the royal bloodline descended from Jesus himself - became the basis for Dan Brown's novel (and you can understand now why the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail sued Dan Brown for plagiarism). This intuitive leap was based on an ingenious play on words. Instead of the original words for "Holy Grail", being in old French san greal (which means "holy cup/chalice"), the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail claimed that it should really read sang real, which means "royal blood" (this is something we'll take up in more detail in tomorrow's post). And upon this play on words, an ingenious new theory of grail legend - the core material of Holy Blood, Holy Grail - was meticulously constructed.

Even though Dan Brown uses Holy Blood, Holy Grail as his primary historical source material, true historical scholars regard the book as "pseudohistorical" at best. It is based on "what if" queries and mind-numbing leaps of imagination. In short, Brown's source material is hardly a scholarly work held in high reputation. It has only one thing in its favour, however: it is popular. It was a bestseller back in the 1980s and today, thanks to The Da Vinci Code and the associated court case, Holy Blood, Holy Grail is in reprint and is once again climbing the bestseller charts. Despite their loss in court, Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln are, I'm sure, making millions in new-found revenue.

So what is the truth behind this supposed secret society, The Priory of Sion? Here are the real facts:

In 1956, a Frenchman called Pierre Plantard (together with two others) founded a group in France called the Priory of Sion, claiming that it had ancient roots.
Although there is mention of a monastic order of the same name, founded in Jerusalem in 1100 and absorbed into the Jesuits in 1617, everything we know about the present-day Priory of Sion comes from the Dossiers Secrets, which was disclosed by Plantard, who claimed to be its (then) current Grand Master. Both The Da Vinci Code and Holy Blood, Holy Grail base their historic "facts" on the contents of the Dossiers Secrets.
The claims that Leonardo Da Vinci and Sir Isaac Newton, among others, were Priory Grand Masters also come from the Dossiers Secrets.
In 1993, Plantard admitted under oath to a French judge that he had fabricated all the documents relating to the Priory of Sion. The judge warned him not to toy with the judicial system and dismissed him.
Pierre Plantard's motivation behind the Priory of Sion hoax appears to be his desire to be identified as rightful heir to the Merovingian throne.
Even the fake Priory of Sion (founded by Pierre Plantard) was never interested in goddess worship. This is a very important point, because you will remember that at the beginning of his novel, Dan Brown claims, "All descriptions of...secret rituals in this novel are accurate." This is a blatant lie. The so-called "secret rituals" of the Priory of Sion that Dan Brown describes in his book are 100% fiction. Although they may be accurate representations of pagan rituals, they are not accurate representations of the rituals of the Priory, and somehow it wouldn't surprise me if the modern Priory of Sion (the fake society created originally by Plantard) sues Brown for misrepresentation. Now wouldn't that make an interesting news headline?

Although "alternative gospels" and the supposed symbology of Leonardo da Vinci's artwork underpin the storyline of The Da Vinci Code, it is the Priory of Sion's Les Dossiers Secrets which are the primary foundation for the novel's bizarre claims. So let's take a closer look at Les Dossiers Secrets.

I haven't personally read the documents themselves (I really do have better things to do with my time), but I've read a number of books which describe their contents. The Dossiers mostly deal with genealogies (remember, one aim of the Priory of Sion, according to Plantard, is the restoration of the Merovingian throne) and include a lot of arcane writings relating to gnostic themes. The Dossiers are, frankly, massive in scope, and Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince, in their book The Templar Revelation, struggle to make sense of their "absurd" contents. They write:

Once again, one is faced with a sense of high strangeness. An enormous amount of time, effort and perhaps even personal danger must have been involved in setting up such an elaborate ploy. But at the same time, in the final analysis, it appears to be completely and utterly pointless. In that respect, however, the whole business is merely following in the tradition of intelligence agencies, in which few things are as they appear to be and the most seemingly straightforward matters may well be exercises in disinformation.

There are, however, reasons to make use of paradoxes - even blatant absurdities. We tend to remember the absurd, and, furthermore, illogicalities that are deliberately presented as scrupulously argued facts have a curiously powerful effect on our conscious minds. After all, it is this part of ourselves that creates our dreams, which operate with their own kind of paradox and non-logic. And it is the unconscious mind that is the motivator, the creator, which, once it has been "hooked", will continue to work even on the most subliminal meaning from a tiny scrap of apparent gobbledygook...For example, what better way of attracting attention on the one hand, but filtering out unwanted interlopers or the casually curious on the other, than to present the public with apparently intriguing but also virtually nonsensical information? It is as if even getting close to what the Priory is really about constitutes an initiation: if you are not meant for it then the smokescreen will effectively put you off deeper investigation. But if it is in some way meant for you then you will soon be given that extra material, or will discover for yourself, in some suspiciously synchronistic fashion, that extra insight into the organization which suddenly makes everything about it fall into place.

On the basis of this reasoning, Picknett and Prince then go on to say:

It is, in our opinion, a great mistake to dismiss the Dossiers Secrets simply because their overt message is demonstrably implausible. The sheer scale of the work behind them argues in favour of their having something to offer.

I can't help but shake my head as I read this, and marvel at the awesome capacity of the human mind for self-deception. Yet this "demonstrably implausible" work, which excels in "apparent gobbledygook" and "virtually nonsensical information" in a concoction of "[its] own kind of paradox and non-logic", is being presented as the basis upon which billions of Christians should question the biblical account of Jesus. I don't know about you, but if I am asked to choose between the Bible and Les Dossiers Secrets, the answer is a no-brainer!

Did the Priory of Sion ever exist? Probably. Does it exist now? Probably. Are the ancient and modern Priories one and the same? Unlikely.

But let's once again give Dan Brown the benefit of the doubt. Let's just allow for a moment the possibility that the Priory of Sion instituted by Pierre Plantard really is what it claims to be - an ancient secret society dating back to the twelfth century. What does this really mean for the message of Jesus? We have to remember that even in the first, second and third centuries, gnostic heresies vied with the Christian message. And there have existed, down through history, strands of heresy - the offshoots of early gnosticism - which has, like the mythical hydra, reared itself with many heads and many guises. Even if the Priory of Sion did exist today, and could prove a legacy dating back one thousand years, this does not automatically make it the keeper of the truth. There are many, many such strands of heresy that each vie for the same title. Some, like the Cathars, were destroyed by the medieval Church during the Crusade and Inquisition eras. Others, like the Rosicrucians, continue to exist today. And new ones are constantly emerging, usually some form of New Age rendition of an Old Age gnosticism.

Remember what Dan Brown writes at the beginning of The Da Vinci Code? "All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents and secret rituals in this novel are accurate." What he should have written, instead, was: "Many descriptions of...documents and secret rituals in this novel are based upon conjectures that depend on the statements made by people who claim to be members of a secret society called the Priory of Sion." And, as we have seen, even the very secret rituals portrayed in the novel are not accurate descriptions of those used by the Priory of Sion - so what on earth are we left with that is actually true and accurate? The artwork? Not really, as we saw in yesterday's post. The architecture? Well, not to pick too fine a point, but even Dan Brown's descriptions of the architecture have some glaring flaws. So I ask again, looking at the claims Dan Brown makes at the beginning of his book, where does that leave us?

The first three important premises of the novel -- the authority of alternative gospels, the supposed symbology of Leonardo da Vinci's artwork and the historicity of the Prior of Sion -- have been found to be the poorest of proof -- evidence that no lawyer would be game to submit in a court of law. Let's take a look, tomorrow, at the last standing premise -- the supposed "culturally unacceptable" marital status of Jesus.

Next: Seek the Truth - Exposing the Da Vinci Hoax (Part 4)

Seek the Truth - Exposing the Da Vinci Hoax (Part 2)

2006-06-14T17:35:00.000+10:00

In this post, I'll continue to examine the credibility of Dan Brown's claim, put forward in his novel, The Da Vinci Code, that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and sired a royal bloodline that still exists today. But first, if you haven't already, I encourage you to read the previous two posts in this series:

Seek the Truth - Exposing the Da Vinci Hoax (Introduction)
Seek the Truth - Exposing the Da Vinci Hoax (Part 1)

Yesterday, we examined the first primary premise used by Brown, which is that the so-called alternative gospels (the Nag Hammada codices) are both more credible than the biblical Gospels and that they support the idea that Jesus was married to the Magdalene. As we saw, both parts of this premise are faulty and the so-called "alternative gospels" thus provide extremely poor evidence - evidence that would not survive a court of law, let alone proper scholarly examination.

Now let's look at the second premise for the "Jesus was married" idea: the symbology supposedly hidden in Leonardo da Vinci's artwork.

Leonardo da Vinci's beliefs are central to the book's plot, even to the point of giving the book/movie its title. Much of the arguments presented by the novel's characters emerge from the supposed codes and symbolism hidden in the artwork of da Vinci. So what did da Vinci really believe? Does his artwork really contain coded messages which reveal what the Church has been covering up for 2000 years?

In The Da Vinci Code, a critical point of "revelation" in the story -- the equivalent of a religious ephiphany -- happens when Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu speak with Leigh Teabing (a grail expert) in his home. Teabing shows Sophie pictures of paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, in particular his mural, The Last Supper. Here is a quote from the book:

"Hold on," Sophie said. "You told me the Holy Grail is a woman. The Last Supper is a painting of thirteen men."

"Is it?" Teabing arched his eyebrows. "Take a closer look."

Uncertain, Sophie made her way closer to the painting, scanning the thirteen figures -- Jesus Christ in the middle, six disciples on His left, and six on His right. "They're all men," she confirmed.

"Oh?" Teabing said. "How about the one seated in the place of honour, at the right hand of the Lord?"

Sophie examined the figure to Jesus' immediate right, focusing in. As she studied the person's face and body, a wave of astonishment rose within her. The individual had flowing red hair, delicate folded hands, and the hint of a bosom. It was, without a doubt...female.

"That's a woman!" Sophie exclaimed.

Teabing was laughing. "Surprise, surprise. Believe me, it's no mistake. Leonardo was skilled at painting the difference between the sexes."

Sophie could not take her eyes from the woman beside Christ. The Last Supper is supposed to be thirteen men. Who is this woman? Although Sophie had seen the classic image many times, she had not once noticed this glaring discrepancy.

"Everyone misses it," Teabing said. "Our preconceived notions of this scene are so powerful that our mind blocks out the incongruity and overrides our eyes."

"It's known as skitoma," Langdon added. "The brain does it sometimes with powerful symbols."

This is the part of the story that has impacted some Christians, shaking their faith and causing them to question all they had known about Jesus -- exactly as Dan Brown intended for it to do. It makes good fiction, but is it historically true? Does Leonardo's The Last Supper really depict Mary Magdalene sitting next to Jesus? And if it does, what does this really mean for Christianity?

First of all, let's take a look at the painting in question.

It's a little blurred, so here's a close-up of the section of the painting in question:

Is this really the image of Mary Magdalene who, according to Dan Brown, is "the woman who singlehandedly could crumble the Church?" Well, according to art experts, this claim is simply laughable. One art historian, Elizabeth Lev, says:

"Along with trashing Christianity, Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code is a veritable museum of errors where Renaissance art is concerned...The novelist's imaginative notions of iconography may make for best-selling fiction, but they are wildly at variance with what is known about the life and work of Leonardo."

She calls Dan Brown's theory (that the person on Jesus' right hand side is Mary Magdalene) "preposterous" and explains how Leonardo's soft-featured, long-haired and beardless depiction of John was typical of Renaissance art's depiction of young men. In fact, it was common in da Vinci's day to portray holy men in an effeminate or androgynous way. Even Jesus, though sporting some facial hair, is painted quite effeminately by Leonardo. You can read Elizabeth Lev's full essay debunking the Apostle-John-is-really-Mary-Magdalene Theory at http://www.jesusdecoded.com/leonardo1.php

Want some proof? Let's take a look at another painting by Leonardo...

Is this a painting of a woman? I'm sure you would answer, "Yes." The subject is, after all, unbearded, and very effeminate. But this painting is titled St John the Baptist! No one -- not even Dan Brown, I'm sure -- would claim that this painting of John the Baptist is really depicting a woman, yet it contains all the same effeminate style that Leonardo uses for his painting of John in The Last Supper. It is for this reason that the vast majority of art historians find Dan Brown's claims ludicrous, the mark of an amateur art critic. It is also why Dan Brown has Leigh Teabing himself admit, on page 236, that "most scholars either do not see or simply choose to ignore" this critical information underpinning Brown's theory. Why do these art scholars, who have devoted years to the study of paintings, "either do not see or simply choose to ignore" this hidden symbology? Because it is historically unfounded and culturally unjustified.

Let's now examine the issue from another angle. In order to determine the identities of the characters in Leonardo's The Last Supper, we need to go back to Leonardo's source material - which was not the gnostic gospels of Nag Hammadi (which had not been discovered at that point in history) but the four Gospels of the New Testament. Here's how Luke 22:14-23 describes the event that we call "The Last Supper":

"When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, 'I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.' After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, 'Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.' And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table. The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed, but woe to that man who betrays him.' They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this."

John 13:21-26 provides some more detail to this important scene in the story of Jesus:

"After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, 'I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me.' His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, 'Ask him which one he means.' Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, 'Lord, who is it?' Jesus answered, 'It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.' Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, son of Simon."

Leonardo's painting of The Last Supper is meant to capture this one moment in time. It is like a snapshot, taken at the precise moment when Jesus has revealed that "one of you is going to betray me." Each figure in The Last Supper is responding, in his own unique way, to that declaration, asking one another "which of them it might be who would do this." According to John 13:23, "the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him." Dan Brown's Teabing would say, of course, that this "disciple that Jesus loved" was, in fact, Mary Magdalene. The only problem is that the gender used for all the pronouns is male, not female. An example of later editing, you might say? Well, why is it that, all along, early church tradition has held that "the disciple that Jesus loved" was the apostle John? And we get into real trouble with Dan Brown's theory, just six chapters later, when John 19:26 records the words of Jesus upon the cross:

"When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, 'Dear woman, here is your son,' and to the disciple, 'Here is your mother.' From that time on, this disciple took her into his home."

Not only is the male pronoun used here, there is simply no way that Jesus' declaration to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," referring to "the disciple whom he loved", could mean anything other than what it literally implied, that "the disciple whom he loved" would, from that time, look after his mother as if he was her own son, in replacement of Jesus. Furthermore, Mary Magdalene is specifically referred to in the previous verse (see John 19:25), showing a clear indication that she cannot be the "disciple whom [Jesus] loved." And earliest church tradition states that the apostle John did, in fact, take Mary, the mother of Jesus, to live with him from that point on, in obedience to Jesus' request. So, no matter how you look at it, there is simply no way that "the disciple whom he loved" could in any way be referring to Mary Magdalene!

Now, having established the identity of "the disciple whom [Jesus] loved", let's return to the story of the Last Supper. According to John 13:24, "Simon Peter motioned to this disciple [whom Jesus loved] and said, 'Ask him which one he means.'" This is the moment in time captured by Leonardo in The Last Supper. Peter is leaning over to John, who is at Jesus' side, telling him, "Ask him which one he means." The hand motion that Peter is using is not, as some claim, a slicing motion (symbolising Peter's conspiracy to assassinate Mary Magdalene), but rather a finger pointing to Jesus. It takes a vivid and very liberal imagination to read anything into Leonardo's depiction of this scene other than what he originally intended to portray - the emotional response of twelve men to the startling revelation given by Jesus of his impending betrayal by a member of their inner circle.

Dan Brown's Teabing would probably respond to this rebuttal by saying, "Ah, but the Church deleted all references to Mary Magdalene being at the Last Supper because her marriage to Jesus was too inflamatory and threatening to the Church's power." Teabing, in fact, has this to say on page 244:

"The Church needed to defame Mary Magdalene in order to cover up her dangerous secret."

How did the Church defame Mary, according to Teabing? By calling her a prostitute. In this, Teabing is partially correct. Nowhere in the Gospel record is Mary called a prostitute. It was not until much later in church history - the 6th century, the time of Pope Gregory the Great - that Mary was accorded this dubious distinction. But think about it for a moment. If this is a later change to Mary's legacy, how could this have any impact on the content of the documents we call the New Testament, for which scholars have reliable extant manuscripts dating from the second century? There was no "smear campaign", as Teabing calls it, at the time when the New Testament was compiled - if there was any "smear campaign" at all, this came much later. And even then, this "smear campaign" hardly was damaging to Mary Magdalene. Even today, in the Catholic Church, she is a canonised saint - "the patron saint of harlots" - with her own feast day, July 22. Although there is no evidence that Mary Magdalene can be identified with the "sinful woman" of Luke 7:36-50, as Pope Gregory the Great assumed, it can be argued that if she was indeed a former prostitute, this in fact merely demonstrates the magnitude of God's love and the depth of the redemptive power of Jesus' message! So much for the "smear campaign" theory!

In fact, as you read the New Testament, you will be amazed at the high regard that is accorded to Mary Magdalene. She is recorded as the first to speak with the resurrected Christ (John 20:1-18). Indeed, the very fact that Mary Magdalene is recorded as being an eye-witness at all (in those days, a woman was not allowed as a credible witness in a Jewish court of law) was, if anything, detrimental to the Gospel's message, due to the culture of the day. How easy it would have been for scribes to edit out all references to Mary Magdalene as a witness of the resurrection. If she was indeed such a threat to the Church heirarchy, then why leave her in at all? And why doesn't the New Testament call her, outright, a prostitute, as later generations of the Church did? In fact, the New Testament records Mary Magdelene showing greater faith in the Lord's word than his innermost disciples - a scandal for the early Church leadership, if ever there was one. But this is not edited out, giving the recorded testimony of the New Testament a very credible ring - what J B Phillips called "the ring of truth." No, whichever way you look at it, you cannot find evidence of any "smear campaign" by the writers of the New Testament. Quite the opposite, in fact. They honoured Mary Magdalene, along with other female followers of Jesus, but in so doing, they did not infer that she had any special relationship with Jesus whatsoever.

Did Leonardo intend his painting of The Last Supper to portray Mary Magdalene at the right hand of Jesus? It is extremely unlikely. But for just one moment, let's allow Dan Brown this dubious leap of imagination. Let's allow him this one claim: that the disciple at Jesus' right hand, depicted in The Last Supper, is not really John but Mary Magdalene. Here, then, is the important question. How exactly does this prove that Jesus was indeed married to Mary Magdalene? All it proves, at best, is that one man believed this to be true. Remember, we are not looking at a photograph of the actual Last Supper. Leonardo is almost fifteen centuries removed from the actual historic event! At the very best, if Dan Brown is correct about the symbolism hidden in Leonardo's painting, this would make Leonardo's beliefs heretical, not true. Just because Leonardo painted religious subjects doesn't make him an expert in theology or an uncontested historian -- neither would it make his particular depiction of The Last Supper historically verified.

The Da Vinci Code's use of Leonardo's The Last Supper as "proof" is simply a plot device -- an interesting one, granted -- but fictional all the same. Leonardo's beliefs do not prove, one way or the other, the marital status of Jesus. It makes a great title for a book, but the so-called Da Vinci codes are very much the product of a novel writer's fertile imagination.

So far we've looked at two of the primary premises of The Da Vinci Code:

The Authority of Alternative Gospels

The Symbology of Leonardo Da Vinci

Tomorrow, we will look at the third premise: the claimed historicity of a secret society called the Priory of Sion.

Next: Seek the Truth - Exposing the Da Vinci Hoax (Part 3)

Seek the Truth - Exposing the Da Vinci Hoax (Part 1)

2006-06-13T13:30:00.000+10:00

In this post we continue to take up the challenge laid down by Dan Brown's fictional story, The Da Vinci Code: "Seek the Truth." Before reading this post, please first read the introduction to this series:

Seek the Truth - Exposing the Da Vinci Hoax (Introduction)

Let's start with the most important of Dan Brown's premises first. Without this premise, the entire factual basis for The Da Vinci Code falls apart.

The primary "authority" that Dan Brown uses to make his claim that Jesus fathered a royal bloodline which exists today is a set of scrolls/codices called:

The Dead Sea Scrolls

The Nag Hammadi Documents

In The Da Vinci Code, the Grail expert Leigh Teabing explains the supposed significance of these ancient documents to Sophie Neveu:

"Jesus Christ was a historical figure of staggering influence, perhaps the most enigmatic and inspirational leader the world has ever seen...His life was recorded by thousands of followers across the land...More than eighty gospels were considered for the New Testament, and yet only a relative few were chosen for inclusion -- Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John among them."

"...the early Church needed to convince the world that the mortal prophet Jesus was a divine being. Therefore, any gospels that described earthly aspects of Jesus life had to be omitted from the Bible. Unfortunately, for the early editors, one particularly troubling earthly theme kept recurring in the gospels. Mary Magdalene. He paused. More specifically, her marriage to Jesus Christ."

"Fortunately for historians," Teabing said, "some of the gospels that Constantine attempted to eradicate managed to survive. The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the 1950s hidden in a cave near Qumran in the Judean desert. And, of course, the Coptic Scrolls in 1945 at Nag Hammadi. In addition to telling the true Grail story, these documents speak of Christ's ministry in very human terms."

It sounds convincing doesn't it? If you took these statements at face value, you might think that a strong case had been made that 1) the biblical record (particularly the four Gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) is not only inaccurate but purposely disguises the real Jesus; and 2) the alternative gospels (more than 80, according to Teabing) provide not only a more accurate description of the historical Jesus, but also support the essential claim of The Da Vinci Code (Jesus fathered a royal bloodline).

Nothing, however, could be further from the truth. Dan Brown is using the academic equivalent of "smoke and mirrors" to prove his point. He is throwing up unsubstantiated claims (each of which can be disproven with the snap of a finger), offering far-fetched conclusions based upon what he calls "facts": statements that are not simply tenuous, but are outright misrepresentations of the real facts.

First, let's correct the most glaring errors:

Constantine did not try to eradicate any alternative gospels.

Constantine did not commission and finance a new Bible.

The Bible authorised at the Council of Nicea did not omit those gospels that spoke of Christs human traits.

The Dead Sea Scrolls do not, in fact, contain any gospels at all, as claimed in The Da Vinci Code.

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls was in 1947, not the 1950s (a small "slip of the pen", you might say, but an example of erroneous representation of the facts that is indicative of the entire book).

The Coptic documents found at Nag Hammadi (which include alternative gospels) were codices (in book form), not scrolls. This is a distinction that any genuine historian would consider important.

The Dead Sea Scrolls do not mention anything to do with the Grail story.

The Nag Hammadi documents do not humanize Jesus; to the contrary, they tend to dehumanise Jesus and emphasize his divinity in weird and non-biblical ways.

The Nag Hammadi gospels are gnostic gospels, not Christian gospels. They capture the esoteric teaching of peripheral gnostic sects that flourished in the second and third centuries.

This last point is important. Many gnostic sects began to flourish in the second and third centuries, and a number of these produced "gospels" which supported their teachings, much in the same way that modern cults, such as Heaven's Gate, Branch Davidian or The Unification Church, produced tapes or booklets based on the cult leader's teachings. No one today would claim, for example, that the suicidal cult, Heaven's Gate, represented the beliefs of Christianity. It doesn't matter that the cult's leader, Marshall Applewhite, quoted verses from the Bible. His teachings were syncretic, drawing from a wide source of divergent belief systems, producing a "heretical" (i.e. non-orthodox) religious system with catastrophic consequences. The gnostics, though not necessarily as dangerous as Heaven's Gate, used a similar method of syncretism - fusing selective Christian and Jewish teaching with non-Christian and non-Jewish religions, such as the Egyptian mystery religions. They were hardly representative of mainstream Christianity. Instead they were "deviations" of orthodox Christian beliefs. In fact, they were very much the "New Age" cults of their day.

Contrary to Dan Brown's claims, the authority of what we today call the New Testament had already been established as early as the end of the first century, and even by the second century, no "gospels" were considered authentic or canonical unless they passed by a simple three-rule test:

That gospel account must be proven authoritatively to have been written by an apostle or under apostolic direction.
That gospel account should already be widely accepted by the Church at large as Scripture.
The content of that gospel account should be shown to have intrinsic value and doctrinal consistency.

By the time of the Nicean Council, the body of what we today call the New Testament had already long been established. In fact, the main contentions that had to be resolved by the council weren't so much whether there were other gospels that should have been included, but rather over some existing books that some believed should not be included. Unlike the chaotic scene in the movie, which shows members of the Nicean Council vigorously arguing with each other over which material to include in the Bible, the only points of dispute were over books which a few members felt did not pass the three-point test of canonicity, listed above. In other words, the council erred, if anything, on the side of leniency, not strictness.

Most of the alternative gospels found in Nag Hammadi tried to get around the first rule by claiming authorship by one of the apostles. But even a cursory reading of most of these documents show them to be clearly of second or third century origin. Which brings us to the next important point. The "alternative gospels" are not actually Christian gospels at all, but gnostic gospels. Gnosticism, which began to compete with mainstream Christianity in the second and third centuries, had teachings very different from true Christianity. In summary, the various strands of gnosticism all believed that spirit is good, flesh is evil, and for this reason, Jesus did not really take on human flesh, but merely "appeared" to have done so. They generally taught that the god (or demiurge) who created this world was an evil god (and they identify this god with the God of the Old Testament), and that the world is inherently evil, and that human spirits must escape the evil, material bodies in which they are trapped. Furthermore, they taught that the world was created by a series of evil "archons" or prince-powers, who wish to keep the human soul trapped in the flesh. In order to gain salvation (or escape from this world), one needs to receive a secret knowledge, or "gnosis", which has been given to a select group. Usually, the different gnostic sects claimed that the original gnosis, or secret knowledge, was entrusted to a special member of Jesus' inner disciples and not given to the others.

For example, in The Gospel of Mary Magdalene we find the following exchange between Peter and Mary:

"Peter said to Mary, 'Sister we know that the Savior loved you more than the rest of woman. Tell us the words of the Saviour which you remember which you know, but we do not, nor have we heard them.' Mary answered and said, 'What is hidden from you I will proclaim to you.'"

In order to understand Gnosticism, you need to understand the difference between "exoteric" and "esoteric" teaching. Exoteric teaching refers to the teaching Jesus gave in biblical Gospels - the teaching for the masses. In contrast, esoteric teaching, according to the Gnostics, was the teaching that Jesus reserved for the few higher initiates. Only by going through special initiations, claimed the Gnostics, could the "ignorant" Christian discover the "true" teaching of Jesus, which enabled him to gain access to higher levels of salvation. Thus, the gnostic gospels cannot claim to be "original" gospels at all; they are, by their very nature, later creations, designed to provide their initiates with deeper knowledge beyond the accepted four Gospels in the New Testament.

Dan Brown claims that these gnostic gospels emphasize Jesus' humanity rather than his divinity, portraying him as a very-human prophet, rather than the divine Son of God, as taught in mainstream Christianity. This is an outright lie. The gnostic gospels, if anything, tend to exaggerate Jesus' divinity, not his humanity. If you compared the four Gospels of the New Testament with the alternative gospel accounts, you will find that, opposite to Teabing's claim, it is, in fact,the Bible that portrays Jesus in a real, down-to-earth, human sense. The gnostic gospels, on the other hand, often present a Jesus who is vindicitive, outlandishly superhuman and not touched by the frailties of human life. Their rejection as true Scripture is not the result of a supposed conspiracy by power-hungry Church leaders, as slanderously claimed by Dan Brown. Rather, they were rejected because they demonstrably failed the three-rule test.

Even a cursory reading of the gnostic gospels shows them to have a completely different "feel" from the biblical Gospels. In the four Gospel accounts in the New Testament, the teachings of Jesus emerge from events in real life and are grounded in what the Gospels themselves claim are "eyewitness accounts" (see Luke 1:1-4; Acts 3:15). One of the original apostles, John, wrote this is 1 John 1:1:

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched - this we proclaim concerning the Word of life."

As you read the four Gospels of the New Testament, you quickly discover that they have an "eye-witness" feel to them. They present a Jesus that clearly fits into his historical context. His teaching, unlike that found in the vast majority of gnostic gospels, has a very Jewish rabbinic style. By contrast, the gnostic gospels presents Jesus who comes across more like a philosopher, lecturing on metaphysics, than a Jewish rabbi/prophet. For example, in the gnostic Letter of Peter to Phillip, the apostles ask the resurrected Jesus, "Lord, we would like to know the deficiency of the aeons and of their pleroma." Such abstract philosophical questions were never on the lips of the disciples, who were mostly unschooled fishermen or earthy tax collectors (see Acts 4:13). Yet in the gnostic Letter of Peter to Phillip, Jesus proceeds to lecture on the precosmic fall of "the Mother" who acted in opposition to "the Father" and thus produced ailing "aeons". What is this teaching? It is nothing more than the teachings of a deviant gnostic sect, recorded in "gospel" form.

Even in the first century, proto-gnostic teaching had begun to vie with the message of the Gospel that was being preached by the apostolic leadership of the Church, and Paul warned his young churches against this deviant teaching. In 2 Corinthians 11:2-4, he writes:

"I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached,...you put up with it easily enough."

The gnostic gospels preach "a Jesus other than the Jesus [that the original disciples] preached." The Council of Nicea did not act conspiratorially; it simply enacted on the instructions given by the first century Church leadership - to safeguard the pure message of the Gospel that had been originally preached by Jesus' disciples.

But let's not take my word on this. In order to disprove the statements made by Teabing (quoted, above, from The Da Vinci Code), let's start by looking at the evidence, not from the Bible, but from the very alternative gospels that Teabing claims show the "true" Jesus. We'll start with the Coptic Gospel of Phillip, which is the only -- let me emphasize that again, the only -- document that in any way could be read as stating that Mary Magdalene was married to Jesus (and even then such a conclusion can only be inferred indirectly). Here are the two relevant quotations:

"There were three who always walked with the Lord: Mary, his mother, and her sister, and Magdalene, the one who was called his companion. His sister and his mother and his companion were each a Mary."

"...the companion of the [Lord], Mary Magdalene. [Jesus] loved her more than all the disciples, and used to kiss her often on her [mouth]. The rest of the disciples...said to him 'Why do you love her more than all of us?' The Savior answered and said to them, 'Why do I not love you like her?

You can probably already see there are problems with including this statement as credible authority for Jesus being married to Mary Magdalene. Firstly, the document is in Coptic, not Aramaic (as claimed by Dan Brown), but even if you accepted the claim that the word "companion" actually means "spouse" (and this doesn't stand up to close scrutiny), it is still only one statement. Is there any other corroborating evidence? No, there isn't. Even the gnostic gospels, which Teabing uses so authoratively, are amazingly silent on this issue.

But let's not leave it there. If this were a court of law, the first thing the defendant's solicitor would do is call into question the credibility of this document as a viable source of information about Jesus. So let's look at some other quotations from exactly the same gnostic gospel -- the one Dan Brown holds up not just as an alternative version of the Gospel story, but as more credible than the New Testament account. The Coptic Gospel of Phillip goes on to say things like this:

"A Gentile does not die, for he has never lived in order that he may die. He who has believed in the truth has found life, and this one is in danger of dying, for he is alive." - This is just one example of the teachings found in the rest of this so-called gospel.

"Light and Darkness, life and death, right and left, are brothers of one another. They are inseparable. Because of this neither are the good good, nor evil evil, nor is life life, nor death death. For this reason each one will dissolve into its earliest origin." - Do you understand what is being said here? In case you missed it, try reading it again. This is an example of why this gospel was rejected by the early Church, for its content simply is not consistent with the teachings of Christ.

"Some are afraid lest they rise naked. Because of this they wish to rise in the flesh, and they do not know that it is those who wear the flesh who are naked. It is those who [are willing] to unclothe themselves who are not naked. "Flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Corinthians 15:50). What is this which will not inherit? This which is on us. But what is this, too, which will inherit? It is that which belongs to Jesus and his blood. Because of this he said "He who shall not eat my flesh and drink my blood has not life in him" (John 6:53) - I've included this quotation, because it quotes directly from two other parts of the Bible. Any textual scholar will tell you that for this gospel to quote, for example, John 6:53, it would mean that it would have to be written later than the document it was quoting. Seem reasonable? Yet Dan Brown infers that this Coptic Gospel of Phillip is somehow of higher authority than the Gospel it is quoting!

God is a man-eater. For this reason, men are sacrificed to him. Before men were sacrificed, animals were being sacrificed, since those to whom they were sacrificed were not gods" - Would even Dan Brown claim that this is of higher quality than the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John?

"In this world, there is good and evil. Its good things are not good, and its evil things not evil. But there is evil after this world which is truly evil - what is called 'the middle'. It is death. While we are in this world, it is fitting for us to acquire the resurrection, so that when we strip off the flesh, we may be found in rest and not walk in the middle. For many go astray on the way. For it is good to come forth from the world before one has sinned" - Do you understand what is being said here? Probably not. Because this is classic gnostic esoteric teaching (and the Nag Hammadi documents are full of it).

"The world came about through a mistake. For he who created it wanted to create it imperishable and immortal. He fell short of attaining his desire" - This totally contradicts the rest of what the New Testament, and the Bible as a whole, teaches.

"Philip the apostle said, Joseph the carpenter planted a garden because he needed wood for his trade. It was he who made the cross from the trees which he planted. His own offspring hung on that which he planted. His offspring was Jesus, and the planting was the cross." - This is one example of what these gnostic gospels often do - elaborate on the Gospel story in some way so as to support a particular aspect of that cult's esoteric teaching. No scholar would claim that this is a genuinely early document, for it is clearly an elaboration of earlier teaching from in the Bible.

That is just a few quotes from the Coptic Gospel of Phillip. Most of this so-called gospel is more of the same (you can find the entire translated document here). It is not, in fact, even an account of the life of Jesus, on par with the four Gospels of the New Tesatment - instead, it is just assorted sayings that He supposedly spoke, but most of which can be shown to have originated from later gnostic teaching, not the true rabbinical teaching of Jesus.

I'll give you just one more example. This one is from the Gospel of Thomas, which of all the gnostic gospels is by far the highest quality. In fact, much of the content of the Gospel of Thomas (bar some glaring exceptions) are direct quotations which can be found in Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. But take a look at this one quotation, remembering that the Gospel of Thomas is the best of the gnostic gospels:

"Simon Peter said to him, Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of life. Jesus said, I myself shall lead her in order to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every woman who will make herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven."

Can you see why the Gospel of Thomas was not included in the Bible? There was no conspiracy, no cover up. The Gospel of Thomas (the best of the gnostic gospels) simply didn't measure up to the three-point rule of authenticity.

But look at that quotation again. According to Dan Brown, these gospels are the superior gospels. Why? Because, according to him, they support the doctrine of the "divine feminine." The Gospel of Thomas does nothing of the sort. In fact, it demeans women and shows a very unbiblical misogyny - the antithesis of Dan Brown's "divine feminine."

We don't have time to explore every facet of the scholarly evidence against Dan Brown's case, however, and so if you would like to learn more, particularly about the reason why I have high confidence that the biblical Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - are accurate representations of what the earliest Christians believed about Jesus, I recommend that you read a lesson I wrote for the Online Bible College on this subject, which can be downloaded here:

Lesson ES108-03 - "Is the Bible God's Word?"

In summary, the so-called "alternative" gospels, cited by Dan Brown's character, Leigh Teabing, are poor evidence for his contention that Jesus Christ was married. In a real court of law, these documents wouldn't stand the scrutiny of cross-examination (let alone the microscope of rigorous scholarly enquiry), and would be thrown out as unsubstantiated. And so tomorrow we will move on to look at the next foundational premise of The Da Vinci Code - the symbology of Leonardo da Vinci.

Next: Seek the Truth - Exposing the Da Vinci Hoax (Part 2)

Seek the Truth - Exposing the Da Vinci Hoax (Introduction)

2006-06-12T05:01:00.000+10:00

I recently conducted an evening seminar called "Cracking the Da Vinci Code: Separating Truth From Fiction." This seminar was a response to the challenge laid down by the novel The Da Vinci Code and by the movie of the same title. The teaser at the bottom of the movie posters reads "Seek the Truth," and so I took up that challenge at our Twilight service.

I read the book when it first came out (I've read all of Dan Brown's other novels too, including Angels and Demons, the prequel to The Da Vinci Code). Furthermore, long before reading The Da Vinci Code itself, I'd already read Holy Blood, Holy Grail and other pseudo-historical books upon which The Da Vinci Code is based. The fact is, I quite enjoyed the novel The Da Vinci Code - it's a fast-paced, exciting thriller, and all around, it's a well-crafted novel. The main problem is that this is no ordinary novel. Most works of fiction have a disclaimer which says something in the order of "This is a work of fiction. All characters are fictious..." But Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code is very, very different. Dan Brown did not write this book merely as a work of fiction, simply to entertain; he had another objective. He sought to argue an alternative view of Jesus Christ, and he clearly wanted to present this alternative view as both superior to that held by Christians and, in fact, demonstrably the true history of Jesus.

If this was just a work of fiction, so be it. After all, fiction depends, by nature, as a "temporary suspension of disbelief" for the purpose of enjoying a vicarious experience. We don't need to believe in a fictional work in order to gain value from it; we just need to suspend our disbelief long enough to enjoy it. As an example, millions flocked recently to another movie, showing at the same time as The Da Vinci Code. That movie was X Men III: The Last Stand. The producers of this film, however, had no intention of contending that the content of their film was, in fact, "true." They were not trying to tell the world that there are, right now, mutants running around who can control metals with their mind, read thoughts, control the weather, zap people with laser beams from their eyes, or run through solid walls. Why do people enjoy watching something like this? Because the film creates a version of reality which is self-consistent and in which, for a couple of hours, viewers can "suspend their disbelief" and thus enjoy the story.

The Da Vinci Code, however, is very different. The marketing strategy for both the book and the film present the story as a genuine quest for the truth behind Jesus Christ, blatantly declaring that the Church has hidden this truth. This is epitomised in the teaser found at the bottom of the marketing posters for the film: "Seek the Truth."

That line is what has angered me the most. And anger is an understandable emotion, because Dan Brown and his marketers are slandering the One that I love. And slander it is, because the so-called historical premises of the book and the film are based on very shoddy scholarship, if "scholarship" is even what you dare call it. Long before the novel was written, I had investigated the claims of Holy Blood, Holy Grail, and other like books, and found what I knew would be the case - imaginative leaps underpinning specious conclusions.

Having said that, I think it is a mistake for the Church to react with a call to boycott the movie. While I hardly want to give Dan Brown money, I think the boycott strategy will backfire on us. Instead, we need to rise to the occasion with a credible voice in response to these slanderous claims. For those already convinced that Jesus is not who He says He is, of course, the book and the film will be merely more ammunition to use against the Gospel message. But for those who are on the borderline of faith (on either side of the border), the film can be devastating. I was approached, in fact, by one girl who felt her faith was being shaken by the movie. For this reason, I, as a believer in the Jesus Christ of the Bible, want to take some time to explore the "real" truth behind both the book and the movie. Over the next few days, I will take a 6-part series on The Da Vinci Code, looking particularly at four essential premises on which the book/movie is based.

At the start of his novel, Dan Brown asserts the following:

FACT: The Priory of Sion - a European secret society founded in 1099 - is a real organization. In 1975 Paris's Bibliotheque Nationale discovered parchments known as Les Dossiers Secrets, identifying numerous members of the Priory of Sion, including Sir Isaac Newton, Sandro Botticelli, Victor Hugo and Leonardo da Vinci.

The Vatican prelature known as Opus Dei is a deeply devout Catholic sect that has been the topic of recent controversy due to reports of brainwashing, coercion and a dangerous practice known as "corporal mortification." Opus Dei has just completed construction of a $47 million World Headquarters at 243 Lexington Avenue in New York City.

All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.

Of the above statements, the only one that I maintain is in any way strictly true, or "fact", is the paragraph on Opus Dei. All the others can be shown to be incorrect. In fact, here is a summary of some of the more important errors found in The Da Vinci Code:

Jesus life was not recorded by thousands of followers across the land (p.231).

It is not true that eighty gospels were considered for the New Testament (p.231).

It is not true that Jesus was not considered divine until the Council of Nicaea, before which he was merely a mortal prophet (p.233).

Constantine did not commission a new Bible that omitted references to Jesus' human traits (p.234).

The Dead Sea Scrolls were not found in the 1950s (p.234). It was 1947.

The Dead Sea Scrolls were definitely not among the earliest Christian records (p.245). They do not even mention Jesus once.

The Nag Hammadi documents do not tell the Grail story, nor do they emphasize Jesus human traits. Instead they actually overemphasize Jesus divinity!

No one knows the lineage of Mary Magdalene but if she does indeed descend from the house of Benjamin (p.248), she would actually be disqualified from being of royal descent (because the royal line descended from the Tribe of Judah - and specifically the line of David - not the Tribe of Benjamin).

The "Q" document (p.256) is not a surviving source hidden by the Vatican. It was created by scholars as a hypothetical source to account for the similarities between Matthew, Mark and Luke. There is nothing secretive about it. In fact, most Roman Catholic scholars openly regard it as a viable tool in biblical scholarship.

Dan Brown's challenge is an important one that the Church must respond to, for the accusation maintained by The Da Vinci Code (and I make no qualms about regarding this as a "slanderous accusation") is that the Church is guilty of conspiring to cover up three so-called "facts":

That Jesus was married to Mary Magdelene
That Jesus, through Mary, fathered a child, and thus a royal bloodline
That this bloodline exists today and is, in fact, the "Holy Grail" of legend

In the seminar I conducted, we examined the four premises upon which this accusation of The Da Vinci Code is based:

The Authority of Alternative Gospels
The Beliefs of Leonardo Da Vinci
The Historicity of the Priory of Sion
The "Culturally Unacceptable" Marital Status of Jesus

In the next four posts I'm going to examine each of these four points, for if these do not hold ground, then the accusation against the Church, found in The Da Vinci Code, is invalidated.

The approach one must take when investigating these claims is to look at the evidence as if it were submitted to a court of law. Historical evidence works in a similar fashion to legal evidence. In order to justify a historic claim, the source of information must be deemed credible. In the academic world, as in a court of law, imaginative leaps linking coincidental information is simply not good enough. And as in a scientific investation, "extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof."

So let's take a look, over the next few days, at the claims of The Da Vinci Code and see whether the so-called "artwork, architecture, documents and secret rituals" really do support a counter-claim to the historical Jesus found in the biblical Gospels.

Next: Seek the Truth - Exposing the Da Vinci Hoax (Part 1)

Exposing the Lie

2006-06-11T00:04:00.000+10:00

Today I began reading an interesting book, called A Beginner's Guide to Reality, by Jim Baggott. My taste in books is quite eclectic (this is a secular book on philosophy, aimed at a popular, non-Christian readership) and I often read several books at the same time (I'm also currently reading Holiness and the Spirit of the Age, by Floyd McClung, The Second Coming of the Church, by George Barna, and The Synaptic Self, by Joseph LeDoux). But this particular book fascinates me, because it explores the issue of reality and how we perceive it.

It starts off by posing a question: "Are you living in a dreamworld?"

Most of us would answer, "Of course not!"

But the book, on page 13, goes on to say this:

You are living in a world created almost entirely by the modern consumer society of which you are a part. You work hard and earn money just so that you can pursue a dream in a world fabricated almost entirely from your fertile imagination, aided by a relentless barrage of images from the media, in which it has become impossible to distinguish image from reality, style from substance. Some would argue that this is a world that has become a simulation, one in which all contact with or reference to the "real" reality beneath has been lost. A world where...the images and the style and the substitutes have become more real to us than reality itself.

The book then, on page 14, goes on to say this:

For sure, this is still a world of physical things, of houses and cars and planes and credit cards. But these physical things have become much less important than the images they create, or the messages they send. So, we no longer drive a car, we drive the ultimate driving machine, one with Vorsprung durch Technik, hand-built by robots. We board a plane and fly the friendly skies, with the world's favourite airline. We use a credit card because it's everywhere you want to be, your flexible friend, and you don't leave home without it. We buy consumer goods that are designed for living, made with us in mind, through the appliance of science. We talk to our friends on the phone because it's good to talk, and the future's bright...We try harder. We just do it, because we're worth it and we know where we want to go today.

Few of us realize just how persuasive this consumer-driven reality is and how much even Christians have bought into this counter-reality. As Jim Baggott points out:

You will insist that you can tell the difference between reality and the images, woven by the marketers, the public relations executives, the government spin doctors, or the news media. But you can't. In every case what you receive is an imperfect representation or a simulation of reality that will be more or less distorted, depending on what's being sold, or the size of the lie...Modern consumer society runs on a simple principle. We are fed an illusion of what we would want our world to be: a world in which we are more handsome or beautiful, slimmer, more successful, more respected, cleverer, richer, happier. We allow ourselves to become convinced that we can achieve this world if only we buy this car, own this home, this stereo, this mobile phone, read this book, eat this food, drink this beer, use this credit card, fly this airline...Not for nothing is it called the American dream...We are living in a dreamworld.

Have you bought into this Lie? Many don't realise it, but this Lie is being preached from some pulpits, cloaked in Christian terminology and sweetened by a sprinkling of Bible verses. But Paul is clear about the insiduous trap that this Lie represents. In 2 Timothy 6:3-5, Paul warns Timothy:

"If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain."

In 2 Timothy 6:6-10, he goes on to explain:

"But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."

In Ephesians 2:2-3, Paul describes the way of life we experienced when we "followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts..." As Paul describes it, there is a "spirit who is now at work" in society, feeding "the cravings of our sinful nature." Today, we would describe the "spirit of this age" as a materialistic, consumeristic, even narcissistic worldview energised by "spiritual forces of evil" (Ephesians 6:12).

This consumeristic worldview is in direct conflict with the message of the Gospel and yet, unbelievably, great swathes of the Christian population have bought into this worldview, seduced by its deceptive promises. This is not surprising, since in 2 Corinthians 4:4, Paul says:

"The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ..."

Sadly, though, it is not just the minds of unbelievers that the "god of this age" has blinded. Believers, too, have been co-opted into this deception, and like all those blinded by deception, they are totally unaware of the deception - save by a direct revelation from the Spirit of God. But this should not be wholly unexpected. After all, Jesus calls Satan "the father of lies" in John 8:44, and he has had, literally, thousands of years of practice at the art of deception. He is the Master of the Lie.

The Message puts John 8:44 in this way:

"...the Devil...couldn't stand the truth because there wasn't a shred of truth in him. When the Liar speaks, he makes it up out of his lying nature and fills the world with lies."

Floyd McClung, in his book Holiness and the Spirit of the Age, states that this world "is dominated by a spirit which is opposed to holiness and righteousness - what the Bible calls the spirit of the age...[It] is the spirit of selfishness. Though it takes many forms, it boils down to one thing: me first. Call it what you like - self-fulfillment, pleasure, whatever. It is evil. Satan is seeking to destroy the church of Jesus Christ by turning our attention away from Him and toward ourselves" (p.12). Floyd then encourages us to ask ourselves some very specific questions:

"Am I caught up in the spirit of the age? Am I materialistic and independent? Have I pushed God to the margins of my life? Am I so overwhelmed with modern life that I have withdrawn from others? Do I think God owes me a good life: health, wealth, happiness, etc? Am I actively pursuing these things?"

He then perceptively addresses the Lie, as it has infiltrated the Church, in the form of what he calls "the good-life gospel":

"The good-life gospel is a very subtle and convincing expression of the spirit of the age. It has seduced thousands of believers. In a world sold out to self-fulfillment, Christians have been duped into believing that the good life is their inheritance. Instead of calling us to lives of holiness and service in a self-centered culture, the perpetrators of the good-life gospel are urging us to grab what belongs to us by divine right...The same spirit of the age motivates both believers and nonbelievers; only the surface rationale is different. Christianity has merely translated the world's line into Christian lingo."

If we are truly to be the "light of the world" and the "salt of the earth" (Matthew 5:13), we must be distinguishably different from the world. As Jesus said, although we are in the world, we are not "of the world" (read John 17:14-19).

Jesus said, "...you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32), and later qualified the nature of this truth when he said, "I am...the truth" (John 14:6). If you would like to learn more about the Lie and how you can personally respond to the Truth in your life, feel free to download a lesson I wrote for the Online Bible College on this subject from the link below:

http://www.online-bible-college.com/downloads/es102-16.pdf

This is the great challenge - possibly the ultimate challenge for this generation of Christians. We are not to "conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but [to] be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Romans 12:2). Let's be renewed in our thinking today! Let's recognise the Lie for what it is! Let's respond to the Lord's challenge and be a People of the Truth!

Writing Projects

2006-06-10T01:47:00.000+10:00

Over the last few weeks, I've starting to focus once again on writing - not just the blog but also other writing projects. Writing is an important outlet for me, particularly at the moment, when my stamina is not yet adequate to take on too much in the way of pastoral duties. I've been preaching once or twice a week (although I've spoken with the leadership of ECC, and we've agreed that it would be better for me to cut that back to a maximum of once a week, since I'm often seriously drained, and sometimes quite ill, after each Sunday). I also try to meet up with several people during the week, keeping up my discipling/counselling/pastoral role.

But writing is also important because I'm investing in the future. Through writing, I can extend the horizon of my ministry, in both space and time. I also get great joy from seeing words form on the page, knowing that these words will encourage and strengthen others.

Apart from writing on the blog, I'm currently working on three main writing projects:

A book called Old Me, New Me - This book is a popularised version of the teaching manual, Back to the Gospel, that I co-authored with my parents, Paul and Bunty Collins. I cannot over-emphasise the value I place on this up-and-coming book. It contains what I consider to be the most important, practical truths for effective Christian living. My goal is to have this book finished by the end of this year.

A book called The New 95 Theses: A Call to Radical Reformation - In 1517, Martin Luther marched up to the Castle Church in Wittenburg and nailed his 95 Theses to the door. This act launched what would later be called "The Reformation", which aimed at a major "reforming" of the Church. Luther's 95 Theses pinpointed areas of excess and error within the Church of his day. In my book, The New 95 Theses, I aim to elucidate 95 essential truths that are needed to be re-established, in order to see a furtherance of what has been called "The Second Reformation" in the Church today.

A movie script called Soldiers Mustn't Cry - My grandfather, Alexander Henderson, wrote a novelisation of his personal story during World War II. His daughter, Gillian, was hit by a bus and killed, while he was at war in Italy in 1944. Knowing that compassionate leave would take a while to get processed, he went AWOL and hitchhiked across Europe in order to get to England to be with his family. The story of his adventures is quite amazing - a real "thriller" - and I'm writing it as a screenplay, which I hope to get made into a movie.

I'm also working on various writing projects for the Online Bible College (together with another writer, I hope to complete the Discovering Jesus Course, which is currently half-finished). I also continue writing on this blog (I've almost completed a 5-part series on "The Da Vinci Code Challenge", which I will post soon).

There is power in the printed page. Paul wrote his epistles, which shaped the early Church, and today I want to play a part, even a minor one, in doing the same. My desire is for Acts 12:24 (NKJV) to be fulfilled in our generation:

"But the word of God grew and multiplied"

May the communication of God's Word "grow and multiply" in and through our lives, in order that we may impact this generation for God!