Not In This Alone

We are not alone. There is a lot of possible inference possible in that statement. Who is “we”? That’s probably the first question to ask. So, if I told you that ‘we’ refers to “disciples of Jesus”, that would clear up only part of the meaning. The other part, “why are we not alone, who is with us?” remains unanswered.

Scripture clearly teaches that we are never left alone by our Savior. His Spirit lives within us, so, in that sense, we are never alone. But there is another sense in which we are not alone that tends to escape us. It has to do with an anomaly in English where the same word is used for the second-person pronoun whether singular, or plural. This obscures for us when Scripture teaches something for many and for a singular person.

Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.

Hebrews 12:12-13 NASB

For instance, the “your” in the above passage, the pronoun that reveals the writer of Hebrews is asking his audience to work on themselves, it’s a plural reference. That’s not surprising, and may be obvious to anyone thinking it through. Why would it be singular? Even so, we want to take this and apply it ourselves, individually, which would be wrong. That’s what escapes us.

Perhaps to call it wrong is to overstate the problem. The letter was written to a group, and this section details the application of the previous 10 chapters to that group. Therefore, when we seek to apply it to an individual, we apply it in a way it wasn’t designed. It may allow for such application, but that wasn’t the intent. How can I know that? Let’s read further…

Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal.

Hebrews 12:14-16 NASB

The verbs beginning these verses are imperatives (commands), but guess what “person” they are in. If you guessed second-person-plural you would be right. That first imperative sets up the remaining verb, “see to it”, which is also plural. The verb “falls short” is also plural, but in reference to “others” it’s third-person. These are clear in Greek, but understood only by inference in English.

The context of these admonitions to apply the truth of the supremacy of Jesus, of His supreme covenant, and the discipline of our Savior as proof of our acceptance, all this application happens in groups. All of it. Yet we are slow to apply it to ourselves within church, although we may judge others by it in church. We are slow to let this command to “live at peace with all men” sink into our souls. Instead we allow hate, anger, even what some may refer to as “righteous anger” drive us. Yet the anger of man never accomplishes the righteousness of God (James 1:20).

I don’t think it is a sustainable position that people out of control doing damage and breaking Scriptural laws glorifies our Creator. I don’t think it is a sustainable position that there is any excuse for it because, from the above passage the root of bitterness defiles many. Just because our Savior died for our sins does not give us leave to create more for Him to die for (Romans 6:1). There are alternatives to wanton mob violence. Although such violence seems to pervade our planet, we, as disciples of Jesus, do not have leave from our Master to join in such things.

So, it falls to “us” to “see to it that no one falls short of the grace of God.” We are to speak out, to call out the sin, to call out the disregard for our Savior. But, let’s do so living at peace with all men, not by joining the violence or starting our own. And, let’s be clear, mobs respond to perceived injustice, and are often right about that injustice. But they also often follow a horribly wrong response.

Many people reading this blog may not know that this isn’t just Minneapolis, it is Hong Kong, Delhi, and places in Indonesia and more places. All of them are violent mobs, but no one religion, no one race, not even the same “injustice”. It is still the same destructive response which falls short of the grace of our Creator and Savior.

So, this isn’t an entry to a single person, but to all y’all claiming Jesus as your Savior, to all y’all following Jesus as His disciples, and to all y’all having “tasted the heavenly gift” of Hebrews 6:4. To all of you, pursue peace with all men and sanctification of the Spirit of Jesus. Please drop the torches and pitchforks, and make peace and holiness your goal and purpose.

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Into The Trinity

It is with some sense of fear and hesitancy that this entry is written. The nature of our Creator is revealed through the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures as “Trinitarian”. How can we speak of One so complex and powerful, Creator of the vast unseen universe of matter, from super-galactic to sub-atomic? In order to accommodate our limited ability to reason and sense, He reveals Himself as Trinitarian in nature. It’s probably woefully incomplete and simplistic, but it suits His purpose.

God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

Hebrews 1:1-3 NASB

The writer of the letter to the Hebrews has the daunting task of describing our relationship with a single Divine Substance revealed in three Persons. And so we are left with dizzying references to an “exact representation of His nature” (Hebrews 1:3), and then the “Author of Salvation” being subjected to suffering (Hebrews 2:10) by Someone. How is it possible for the Divine Substance to suffer punishment without some outside entity subjecting Him to such suffering? It’s an impossible task the writer has undertaken.

But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,

Hebrews 2:9-11 NASB

In Hebrews, chapter 1, Jesus is the exact representation of the substance of the Creator. He is superior to any created thing, including angels. And He is, Himself, Creator. Then, in chapter 2, the writer turns to the topic of how this exact representation of God’s substance is also Savior. As He is described as the Agent of Creation, He now becomes the Agent of Salvation. The precisely indistinguishable Persons of Father and Son are described as the One subjecting, and the One suffering.

Paul had the same struggle. How do you describe the Divine Substance as becoming something else without “emptying” (Philippians 2:7)? The struggle for the writer of Hebrews is to answer the questions: 1) How can this Divine Substance then be both Father and Son unless He is multiple Persons? And, 2) How are these multiple Persons One? And yet, Jesus is an exact duplicate of God (Hebrews 1:3). So, Jesus is both a Brother to His human creatures (2:11), and their Creator (1:2), being both simultaneously.

If you are honest, you may find yourself in the same place Nicodemus found himself while speaking with Jesus, asking “How can these things be?” How can they be? Simply put, they simply are; how is irrelevant, immaterial, and a futile search. The Creator of the universe is necessarily complex and powerful. Why would we expect Him to somehow fit neatly into our limited view? A Divine Substance with three Persons is a fair representation of One of whom we have no hope of understanding fully.

And so, like the writer of Hebrews, we too struggle on to grapple with explaining how we can have a relationship with such a One. Perhaps, like Andrew, our response should be to the questioning Nathaniel’s of the world, “Come and see.” We can’t explain it, we live it. And invite others to experience the reality of Him for themselves.

Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation

Inspired Action

One of the struggles we have to face as disciples of Jesus is that Who we worship refuses to conform to our imaginations.  Jesus, Yahweh, God refuses to be Who we expect or imagine Him to be.  This is why Bible study is so important.  In Scripture, our Creator has recorded His interactions with His human creatures.  Our relationship with Him is defined therein.  If you want to know the “rules” of the relationship, then that’s where you find them, in Scripture.  Part of that knowledge is learning about the One we worship.  And He is often really unexpectedly weird.

Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother, and came as far as the vineyards of Timnah; and behold, a young lion came roaring toward him.  The Spirit of the LORD came upon him mightily, so that he tore him as one tears a young goat though he had nothing in his hand; but he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. (Judges 14:5-6 NASB)

What is translated here in the New American Standard as “mightily” is the Hebrew word, tsalach (Strong’s 6743).  In the Septuagint, there are two versions, one has the Greek word, hallomai (Strong’s 242), and the other has kateuthuno (Strong’s 2720).  So what? Well, this is the work of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Yahweh, and so, displays the character and will of God in this event, the tearing of a lion.

The Hebrew word, if you followed the link, you’ll see refers to prospering, or being successful.  The Spirit of God worked in Samson to give him success against the lion.  This doesn’t surprise us because God was keeping Samson safe.  Regardless of Samson violating his Nazarite state by touching the body later, the Spirit of God worked in him then to keep him safe.  It wasn’t a statement about Samson’s righteousness, but his usefulness to God.

Flash forward to after his “companions” extort the answer to the riddle out of Samson’s wife:

Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon him mightily, and he went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty of them and took their spoil and gave the changes of clothes to those who told the riddle. And his anger burned, and he went up to his father’s house. (Judges 14:19 NASB)

You’ll never guess which words are behind “mightily” here?  Maybe you would.  The Hebrew is the same, and the two versions of the Septuagint both have the same word choices.  Consider this: what happened in the first instance to save Samson from the lion happened again as he goes to essentially murder 30 unwitting unsuspecting Philistines.  Do you realize that, today, we would brand Samson as a serial killer, and he’d have his own episode of Criminal Minds?  But this is Scripture, so we say that God inspired him to act in this way.  But, today, what do we say about the character of the One we worship?

You may be very uncomfortable with this line of thinking, but we need to go here.  It’s necessary because we must confront what God says about Himself.  We cannot allow ourselves to make up who we think He should be.  We must allow Him to define Himself.  You can’t make your spouse who you want them to be, that never works.  So, why would we turn around and do that with God, our Creator?  Why, because who He is makes us uncomfortable.

The thing is, defining our Master from this one passage is impossible.  That’s not the expectation.  Jesus died for our sins.  “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32 NASB)  The One we worship is still this One.  But He is also the one inspiring Samson to murder the enemies of God’s people, by our modern definition.  The challenge is to hold both things as true at the same time.

Perhaps accepting the difference in societies and cultures between then and now will suffice in explaining why God worked the way He did then.  And that’s fine, as long as both characteristics are true simultaneously.  We must let God be who He is, as He describes Himself.  Keep very close to the surface of your mind as you study Scripture that this is what He wants us to know about Himself.  He wants us to know that He inspired Samson to kill those 30 Philistines as he did.  It wasn’t war, those thirty men didn’t attack Samson (that we know of, at least that detail wasn’t important to record), there was no record of provocation from those who died.

How you deal with that challenge is on you.  The consequences of Samson’s actions were felt by Samson.  The Philistines didn’t excuse him because he was inspired.  Jesus clearly instructs us to love our enemies, to pray for those who persecute us.  Yet, in this passage, that same Person inspired Samson to murder some of the enemies of God’s people.

This isn’t saying we should be violent.  But perhaps it is saying we need to be aware that our Master sometimes is violent.  This is another lesson that sin is defined by our relationship with our Master, not by a list of unapproved actions.  The same actions by different people may result in sin for one and righteousness for the other.  It all depends on the relationship.  This is only “situational ethics” as long as the “situation” is always our relationship with our Master.

Well, that’s my strange view through the knothole this morning.  What do you see of our Master through yours?

The Spirit of God and Faith

Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the sons of the east assembled themselves; and they crossed over and camped in the valley of Jezreel.  So the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon; and he blew a trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called together to follow him.  He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, and they also were called together to follow him; and he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they came up to meet them.  Then Gideon said to God, “If You will deliver Israel through me, as You have spoken, (Judges 6:33-36 NASB)

If you have the Holy Spirit, you have all you need, right?  Well, yes, except, having the Holy Spirit, is not like having a cool new power tool.  The Holy Spirit is His own Person.  So, when He comes upon you, it’s still sometimes a struggle for control.

The common understanding of the Hebrew Scriptures is that the Spirit of Yahweh would come upon a person rather than upon a people.  In the Christian Scriptures we see groups being affected by Him at once, and the effects are durable.

So, when the Spirit of Yahweh comes upon Gideon, then Gideon should be all set to accomplish all Yahweh has for him, right?  Well, yes.  But, while even faith is a gift of Yahweh, having His Spirit present upon us doesn’t guarantee we receive the faith He has for us.

Clearly Gideon needed more than the Spirit of Yahweh to fall on Him in order to have the necessary faith.  Gideon needed some proof, actually, more proof.  And Yahweh acquiesced to his need.  It’s possible we have higher expectations of ourselves and others.

Paul says, in Ephesians 2:8 and 9, that we are saved by grace through faith, and that this is a gift of God.  The antecedents of the pronoun “this” is the “this” that says, “…and this is not from yourselves…”  So, the “this” refers to the whole, “…saved by grace through faith…” phrase.  It’s the entirety of salvation, not just any one part.  But it has to include the parts.  So, faith is a gift as part of salvation.

The point is that the Holy Spirit on Gideon provides the faith, but as a gift, Gideon must accept the gift.  Fear, fear of a vast army of nomads, impeded his reception of the gift.  Those nomads weren’t a figment of his imagination, they were real, and a real danger.

So, reality, a firm grasp of our circumstances can impede our reception of faith.  When our Master asks us to do the scary thing, to face the scary circumstance, the terrifying person, place, or action, faith can be difficult to receive.

But on the other hand, rather than the Holy Spirit “coming upon us”, He’s within us already, if we have a relationship with our Master.  So, the faith is available, immediately.  It’s the game of “what-if” that impedes our reception of it, our fear (Future Events As Real).

God understands our fear.  He already knows we can’t see as He sees.  But as He accommodates our weaknesses, let’s take steps ahead in His plan.  Obey as we have faith to continue to receive more faith.  Let’s work the work He has for us as He provides for us.

It’s time to stop operating in fear, which keeps us from acting (therefore halts operations).  Instead, lets receive the faith offered, take the next steps, and seek the faith for the next steps of obedience.

Well, it’s time for me to carry out the trash, metaphorically as well as concretely.  I’m putting what fears I can into a separate bag, and kicking them to the curb.  How will you deal with yours today?  Obedience awaits!

What’s your view of our Master through the fence?

But Before Being Dismissed…

And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him.  And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. (Luke 2:25, 26 NASB)

Simeon is an anomaly in this account.  He’s somewhat like John the Baptist, somewhat like Zachariah John’s father, and somewhat like a respectable old man.  He does stuff by the prompting of the Holy Spirit, which means, in his day, he’s really weird and unpredictable.  On the other hand, he loves his people, and he loves his God.  He’s probably one of the most upbeat people in the temple any time he’s there; and that’s with the people suffering under Roman rule and the religious leaders being ridiculously unrighteous.

Magnificent Mother of Jesus

And Mary said: “My soul exalts the Lord,
And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
(Luke 1:46-47 NASB)

The Magnificat is one of the beginning ‘hymns’ included in Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth.  This is the song of Mary sang when she visits her very elder relative, Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John (the Baptist).  Mary is very far from her immediate family visiting Elizabeth.  Suddenly, Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit, and affirms the angel’s proclamation to Mary.  The pregnant teenager, Mary, then sings this song.  It’s called the Magnificat in church tradition because that’s the first word in the Latin version of it.