Christ and me

He was the carpenter of Nazareth

With skills to take your breath away.

And I wondered what refurbishments

He’d do in me today.

 In the temple He wielded the whip —

A zealot defending His Father’s house.

And I wondered where His whip

Would me afflict.

As the Rabbi, He taught by the seaside

Revealing to all the Father’s heart.

And I wondered what life sessions

Would be my lessons.

 There are other features about Jesus

And His roles and relationships.

And I wondered how they applied

To my walk by His side.

 But there’s a feature of Christ so amazing,

The most glorious revelation of Christ

That makes me wonder at its wonder,

When upon it I ponder.

 He is called the Passover Lamb of God

The title for the Redeemer of Israel.

And I wondered, could it possibly be

He’d include you and me.

 As a sheep before the shearers is silent,

 So, He opened not His mouth

But yielded to scourging and the pain

On the cross of shame.

 As the Lamb, He bore the whole world’s sin.

As substitute, He tasted the Father’s wrath.

He was forsaken so He could be victor

And arise as conqueror.

 

Now as the risen Lord and Saviour

He calls me to come follow Him.

A cross He offers me here and now.

His legacy, my testimony!

 This is the promise of scripture.

We will see Jesus face to face in glory

When all the ransomed ones will sing

Glory to Jesus Christ the King.

©Ray Hawkins June 29 2019

God: getting to know Him

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Deuteronomy 6:4.

Chance has no capacity for introducing itself. On the other hand the Lord God of the Bible reveals Himself, what He has done, and how. This is the exciting discovery you make from the opening verse of Genesis. In our English translation of the names for God we have been robbed of their meaning and the significance of when and why used. This is a shame.

‘God’ in Genesis 1:1 is Elohim. This is the plural form of El, God. Straight away we are introduced to another mystery embracing God. For whenever the term is used it is with a verb in the singular. So? So!  We are confronted with an understanding of the Eternal God which stretches our heart and mind without fully comprehending its significance! Genesis 1:26: ‘Then God said, “Let us make man I. our image, in our likeness…”’ (Emphasis added). In Isaiah 6 a similar thing takes place. “Then I (Isaiah) heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”’ Other verses could be searched out. However the most defining one is from Jesus in Matthew 28:19: ‘Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.’ (Emphasis added.)

Deuteronomy 6:4 is termed by the Jewish people, ‘the Shema.’ It comes from the word, ‘hear!’ In this declaration are two names for God. There is ‘Elohim’ referring to His work in creation and there is ‘Jehovah (also translated Yahweh). We will consider Jehovah’s name later. It is His personal name. We could quite correctly translate the verse, “The Jehovah, our Elohim, the Jehovah is one.’ The mystery of the Godhead will never be explained. Christians do not worship three gods but one. Part of the reason for the coming of our Lord and Saviour to earth was so that we might focus on Him and His work. When we do that we honour the Father and the Spirit. He is Heaven's focal point, majoring in His work on the cross and his resurrection. Claiming Jesus as  our Saviour and  brings us into a wonderful yet hard to define relationship. The Eternal God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. abides within. 1 John 2:23b.3:24. This is why the apostle Paul defines Christians as being the ‘temple of God'

When we try to understand what God looks like we are often befuddled by artistic impressions from caricatures to master painters. I think this is one reason why Jesus never allowed any likeness of Himself to be created. In John 4:24 Jesus tells us that God is Spirit. John 10:30: ‘I and the Father are one.’ This is not referring to purpose but to essence. Again the description of Genesis 1:1 comes to the fore. The apostle Philip couldn’t get his mind around the saying of Jesus in John 14:6: ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except though me.’ Philip said, show us the Father. Jesus reply? You see me and you have an understanding of the Father. This cannot be a physical likeness. Rather it pushed Philip and so too us, to understand God in the character and actions of the One with the title, ‘Emmanuel,’ God with us.

 

The significance of the number '3' arises from its use throughout the Bible in unique but expressive expressions of God. Check it out through the following scriptures: Isaiah 6:3. Numbers 6:24-26 Daniel 9:19. Matthew 28:19 [and others]..

God is the greatest of mysteries. But He wants to make Himself known to us. This is the purpose of the Bible.  He is indescribable, yet He is 'touchable'  because of Christmas, the gospel accounts, the cross and resurrection and by your conviction born of research and faith, He is Lord and Saviour. 

 

 

 

 

 

Recognising the Creator.

Creation tantalizes! The creator is unseen yet defined in some-way by what is created. Powerful, majestic, wise and glorious are words which come to mind through such ‘handiwork’. But what nature shows still doesn’t reveal who or what created it. Was it a personal being or something undefinable, perhaps chance?

Neither, microscope or telescope can tell us the character and personality behind the seen and unseen. Does the design come from a he or she or something nebulous such as chance? If a being of some type how could he, she, it be described? Capricious or benevolent? Evil or righteous? Indifferent or merciful? Could we ever know unless the designer was unmasked!

The Judeo-Christian Scriptures proclaim the news “the architect of the universe has made Himself known!” Genesis 1 began the unveiling. The 'How' is stated as coming from the power of the spoken word. In turn this requires omniscience under-pinned by unlimited power. it says little about His character though this comes to the fore later on. Now this births a problem for those who want to discredit the Scriptural timeline from seven literal days into billions of years. Such a belief system changes the Biblical revelation of the essential being of God. The ‘very good’ cannot apply to the evolutionary process because of its trial and error, cruelty and death mixed with deformity and pain. What it says about its maker can never ever be summed up as being ‘good.’ A better term would be ‘malicious.’

The Bible is insistent and consistent in what it reveals about the designer of the universe. His goodness is expressed in numerous ways and most evidently in the keeping of His word. The psalmists repeatedly write about this and their experiences of the goodness of grace. The most expressive testimony comes from Jeremiah following the overthrow of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. The Lord had warned the nation of this impending catastrophe due to their degrading of Yahweh’s worship. Now it had come. Was this the end of God’s promises and purposes? What is written in Lamentations 3:22-25 is the height of trust in the goodness of God to His word. ‘The Lord is good to those who wait for Him…’ Jesus endorsed this view of His Father’s being when speaking to the young ruler in Mark 10:19. ‘No one is good but God alone.’

However, this raises complex problems. What's gone wrong? Goodness seems to be contaminated by varying degrees of evil, heartbreak and tears.  Is it conceivable that He who declared His handiwork as 'good' would be mischievous and malicious by playing the evolutionary game. There is no clever way of manipulating the Biblical account of Creation with the evolutionary process without defaming, dethroning and diluting God of His goodness. In turn, such thinking calls into question the very nature of Christ Jesus who is the person designated as the Creator.

Some Bible passages are here offered for your edification. Job 38-42 Psalms 8, 19, 139,

Next week Getting to know  God beyond the superficial

©Ray Hawkins 

 

in the beginning.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1.

These ten English words begin a journey of knowledge, faith and revelation beyond the capacity of the human mind to exhaust. In the realm of science they are as unalterable and confronting as another list of ten. Of course that list is the Ten Commandments which deal with faith and morality.

Briefly we meditate upon the first three words. The next meditation will direct our heart and mind to the Creator.

Who wrote such confronting words? He must have been told about the event, not being present at the beginning. I’d suggest it was Adam who kept the record from his conversations with God. As we will discover Adam was no grunting, evolving ape. He was created fully endowed with physical, mental and spiritual capabilities beyond our comprehension.  To get some idea of this man you need to see him through the lens, as it were, of the 2^nd Adam as Jesus is called. Ultimately it would be Moses who compiled the account with other sources to give to us the first five books of Scripture.

 This verse in one breath sweeps away any notion that the universe is eternal or imbued with God’s nature. Later on this is re-enforced by the announcement of Isaiah 65:17: ‘See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.’ Why was this necessary? We will consider the reason in a future meditation..

The word for ‘beginning’ also is translated as ‘first, chief and first-fruit.’ Would I be off beam to say God is here establishing a principle He would require from His people? They were expected to bring of the first-fruits of their crop and herds as a gift to Him. In the opening verse of the Bible the Lord God prepared a magnificent first fruit gift of His creative act for Adam and future generations. The heavens not only declare the Lord’s glory, they express His generosity.

By stating the universe and everything it in had a beginning points to the Lord as being before it. Within the pages of Scripture we come across one of His titles, Alpha and Omega. Revelation 1:8: ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega’ says the Lord God, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.’ In the Greek alphabet Alpha is the beginning and Omega is the end. Again we are confronted by a principle. The Lord claims the right by His very being as well as by His creation of Humankind to be their and our, Alpha. Only then can we be assured He will be our Omega when our life comes to its full stop. We need to heed Isaiah 45:21-22: ‘There is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Saviour; there is none like me. Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.’

If you or I take the accounts of Genesis as beautiful fiction, fantasy or fable we will succumb to a mishmash of theories. These will weaken our foundation for faith and cause malnutrition of the spirit. Genesis is fact, plain and simple it may be, but fact it remains. You will never need to apologise for your faith because God’s word is eternally true and not subject to ever recurring changes to so called scientific findings.

In the beginning, God!

He is pre-eminent in creation.

Is He in my life?

Therefore I resolve to make it my business to build my life on the foundation of God being my Alpha and Omega.

Check Christ out.

The four Gospels give us an understanding of the formation of knowing who Jesus is. We appreciate this as we follow the lives of the first men to check out Jesus.  What caused Andrew and the other disciple to get to investigate Jesus more closely? The words of John the Baptist aroused their interest by the statement ‘Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’’ The term ‘Lamb of God’ so permeated their upbringing and National psych it drove them to know more about this Jesus.

 

What would [or did] arouse you to give a more serious consideration to knowing this Man from Galilee? Could it be aroused by someone you know who arouses the interest in He who is more than an historical figure. This happened to some members of John the Baptist's group. ’Two of John the Baptizer's disciples said to Jesus  “Rabbi, where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and see.” Why did they ask Jesus about his lodgings? Presumably, they had the intension of dropping by one day. Jesus took their inquiry and turned it into an invitation, “Come and see.” He didn’t bombard them with irrefutable proofs about Himself and His ministry. Rather, Jesus gave them ‘breathing space’ to simply get to know Him. 

I wonder what they saw! What did they hear? What did they ask? Whatever took place they wanted more, and they needed to share what they had found. Andrew’s conviction about Jesus is revealed in his comment to Peter, “We have found the Messiah.” That is intriguing. Building on John the Baptist’s words, whatever Andrew asked, or answers Jesus gave, a conviction was born. Over the next three years Andrew and the others would have that statement of faith severely tested. This will be true for you and any others who come to the same conclusion on the evidence presented.

From a prophetic statement of John a monumental movement began because Jesus simply said “Come and see.” A look down the time tunnel of history sees similar incidents occurring when individuals have an encounter with the Messiah. Such names as Augustine, Francis of Assis1, Martin Luther, John Wesley, C.T. Studd and a myriad of others spring to mind. You may even have your own list.

As you read the account of the first disciples there is a growing intensity in understanding this Jesus. The Lord has some subtle, some profound and very personal effects upon those who agree to 'come and see!'  Simon is a prime example of this. He had a major make-over with his name. He will be called Cephas which means a piece of stone. It would be some time before the unstable components of his character were forged into the significance his new name. When we meet the Master and yield to Him we are given a new name and undergo other make-overs in our lives. However, it will take the daily pressures of life interacting with our faith in Christ for these  to ring true.

 On what was probably the third day Jesus begins to move back to Galilee. Why did Philip respond to Jesus invitation “Follow me?” How did he come to the conviction that Jesus was the fulfilment of what Moses and the Law pointed to?  In sharing it with Nathaniel this conviction aroused what today would be a politically incorrect comment “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

Once again the personal encounter with Jesus and Nathanael illustrated the grace of the Lord. In combining the six individual encounters with Jesus there is a movement of conviction summed up by man under the fig tree. “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Easy words! Words Jesus accepted but knew they would be tested later. For us, when we come and see this Jesus and place our trust in Him, our words will be tested. We can go further than the original six statements whilst agreeing with them. For we believe Jesus is the crucified and risen Saviour of the World, the promised Messiah, Son of God, Lord of Glory. We have bowed by faith before Him and in the words of Thomas called Him “My Lord and My God!” (John 20:28).

All that began for us, as it did for the disciples because Jesus through His servants says similar words to us, as to the original six “Come and see!”