I am reading Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy With God by Timothy Keller and am resolved to journal through each chapter to solidify and think through what I am reading.
Chapter One, The Necessity of Prayer
Prayer is a necessity because, as Augustine wrote in Confessions, to live well and worthily we must have a reordering of loves. "Fire tends upwards, stone downwards. By their weight they are moved and seek their proper place. Oil poured over water is borne on the surface of the water, water poured over oil sinks below the oil: it is by their weight that they are moved and seek their proper place....My love is my weight: wherever I go my love is what brings me there."
Dr. Keller explains that prayer is "with Another, and he is unique. God is the only person from whom you can hide nothing. Before him you will unavoidably come to see yourself in a new, unique light. Prayer, therefore, leads to a self-knowledge that is impossible to achieve any other way." Through prayer, Flannery O'Connor says, we come to see our ridiculous selves by degrees. As I commune with the One who commands me to love Him with all my heart, soul, and mind, I discern the misplaced loves of my heart for the purpose of reordering them. Prayer keeps me honest. I can't fool God. I must be genuine. Prayer then is the beginning of profound changes in our hearts. "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasating." (Psalm 139:23-24)
But how do we pray? Is it all emotion and subjectivity? Is it an experience? In Dr. Keller's search for truth he discovered that there was "no choice offered between truth or Spirit, between doctine or experience." One Scottish theologian, John Murray, called communion "an intelligent mysticism." "It is necessary for us to recognize that there is an intelligent mysticism in the life of faith....of living union and communion with the exalted and ever-present Redeemer...He communes with his people and his people commune with him in conscious reciprocal love...The life of true faith cannot be that of cold metallic assent. It must have the passion and warmth of love and communion because communion with God is the crown and apex of true religion." Communion with God is intelligent, engaging the mind and reason, theology and doctrine. Yet it must reach the affections of our heart. It is essential, Dr. Keller exhorts, that we experience our theology.
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Saturday, January 25, 2014
The Most Beautiful Place on Earth
“It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining.” (Luke 23:44-45)
“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, who is the image of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:4)
Darkness, like a blanket, covered the place of the cross. Jesus lay on the cross beams. His head bloodied from the crown of thorns beaten into His kingly head, face bruised and swollen from punches and slaps, back ripped open with lacerations so deep that it appeared like a plowed field. Isaiah said, “his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness.” Each ring of the hammer as it fell upon the nails brought sickening pain. A scene so repelling that the people who had vigorously shouted to have him crucified just stood watching (Luke 23:35), perhaps repulsed by the reeking smell of sweat in the air and the torturous groaning of the victims. The rulers sneered, the soldiers mocked, and fellow prisoners hurled insults. It was a grotesque and ugly sight. No wonder the sun stopped shining when such indignities were heaped upon the holy Son of God.
And yet the sun didn’t need to shine because His light shone out of that darkness, the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. When we look at Calvary with physical eyes, it is dark and repulsive. But when we view it with spiritual eyes, we come face to face with His glory- the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We see the glory of God all around us. In fact the heavens declare the glory of God. We see His glory as we read in the gospels how He walked this earth, showing compassion, healing the sick, and speaking the truth. But no where do we behold His glory with more clearness than at the cross. The darkness of the place only made His light shine brighter. The incongruity of it all is stunning. Only God could turn such ugliness into beauty. How beautiful the heart of Christ is shown to be when they stood the cross upright and the weight of His body sagged heavily downward on His diaphragm, and the King of kings had to push on his nail pierced feet to raise Himself up enough to lift his diaphragm in order to exhale and say, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” I know no other heart like that.
Mark tells us, “The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to call out to him. ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid mock homage to him.”Where do we see a clearer picture of grace and mercy and love? Several hundred Roman soldiers came together to make sport of the King of Glory, the One who is the” radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, the one who “sustains all things by his powerful word.” (Hebrews 1:3) They, a whole company of soldiers, spit in their Creator’s face and mockingly bowed their knees, beating the crown of thorns into the head of the One who made the heavens by His word and the starry host by the breath of His mouth. (Ps. 33:6) He could have called down twelve legions of angels, yet, like a lamb, he opened not his mouth. No words can express such divine grace. No canvas can depict such beauty. To the redeemed soul, Calvary is a beautiful place because a beautiful God hung there and a radiant place because a glorious God shined there.
“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, who is the image of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:4)
Darkness, like a blanket, covered the place of the cross. Jesus lay on the cross beams. His head bloodied from the crown of thorns beaten into His kingly head, face bruised and swollen from punches and slaps, back ripped open with lacerations so deep that it appeared like a plowed field. Isaiah said, “his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness.” Each ring of the hammer as it fell upon the nails brought sickening pain. A scene so repelling that the people who had vigorously shouted to have him crucified just stood watching (Luke 23:35), perhaps repulsed by the reeking smell of sweat in the air and the torturous groaning of the victims. The rulers sneered, the soldiers mocked, and fellow prisoners hurled insults. It was a grotesque and ugly sight. No wonder the sun stopped shining when such indignities were heaped upon the holy Son of God.
And yet the sun didn’t need to shine because His light shone out of that darkness, the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. When we look at Calvary with physical eyes, it is dark and repulsive. But when we view it with spiritual eyes, we come face to face with His glory- the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We see the glory of God all around us. In fact the heavens declare the glory of God. We see His glory as we read in the gospels how He walked this earth, showing compassion, healing the sick, and speaking the truth. But no where do we behold His glory with more clearness than at the cross. The darkness of the place only made His light shine brighter. The incongruity of it all is stunning. Only God could turn such ugliness into beauty. How beautiful the heart of Christ is shown to be when they stood the cross upright and the weight of His body sagged heavily downward on His diaphragm, and the King of kings had to push on his nail pierced feet to raise Himself up enough to lift his diaphragm in order to exhale and say, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” I know no other heart like that.
Mark tells us, “The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to call out to him. ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid mock homage to him.”Where do we see a clearer picture of grace and mercy and love? Several hundred Roman soldiers came together to make sport of the King of Glory, the One who is the” radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, the one who “sustains all things by his powerful word.” (Hebrews 1:3) They, a whole company of soldiers, spit in their Creator’s face and mockingly bowed their knees, beating the crown of thorns into the head of the One who made the heavens by His word and the starry host by the breath of His mouth. (Ps. 33:6) He could have called down twelve legions of angels, yet, like a lamb, he opened not his mouth. No words can express such divine grace. No canvas can depict such beauty. To the redeemed soul, Calvary is a beautiful place because a beautiful God hung there and a radiant place because a glorious God shined there.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Sin Bearers
Have you ever read those hard portions in the Old Testament and thought that God was unfair, even cruel? That the punishment just didn’t fit the crime? I have, too. I came upon one such passage recently in 2 Samuel 21. I read that when David was king there came a famine in the land of Israel. After seeking the Lord, God told David that it was on account of something Saul did while he was king. Saul had broken a covenant that Israel had had with the Gibeonites. He had put the Gibeonites to death even though Israel had made a treaty with them.
David summoned the Gibeonites and asked, “What shall I do for you? How shall I make amends so that you will bless the Lord’s inheritance?” Amends needed to be made because the Gibeonites had every right to call down curses and not blessing on Israel for the breaking of the covenant. The Gibeonites asked David for seven male descendants. Seven men related to Saul would pay the price, not for their own sin, but for Saul’s sin. “So the king said, ‘I will give them to you.’”
David chose seven of Saul’s descendants, put them to death, and hanged them on a hill before the Lord. The mother of two of the men, Rizpah, took sackcloth, a garment of grief, and spread it out for herself and held a vigil, grieving over her sons “from the beginning of the harvest till the rain poured down from the heavens on the bodies.”
Then I read, “After that, God answered prayer in behalf of the land.” I thought, “How do I understand this, Lord? Why would it please you that seven innocent men would bear the sins of another? That is so unfair!” But He said, “Isn’t that what happened to my Son for you? Was He not innocent of the crimes that you have done and yet He groaned upon the tree?” And suddenly I appreciated this story in a completely new light. What a tremendous picture of Christ and us!
Amends had to be made so that the Lord could bless His chosen people. A curse was upon us, the curse of sin, “for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.’” We had broken God’s holy law. While it took seven men (the number of completeness) to bear the curse for Israel, it took one perfect (complete) Man to bear the curse for us. He was put to death and hung on a cross. Paul said, “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.’”
Too, the men had to be related. Not just any seven men would do; they had to be descendants of Saul. This is exactly why the Son of God came into this world and became a man. “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death…for this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest.” (Hebrews 2:14,17)
The text says that the men were hung on a hill in the presence of the Lord. Rizpah, the mother of two of the men bearing the curse for Israel, took sackcloth, a garment of grief, and spread it out on a rock for herself, and there she grieved. What a beautiful picture of Christ bearing the curse of mankind on the hill of Calvary in the presence of His grieving Father.
Rizpah grieved “from the beginning of harvest till the water poured down from the heavens on the bodies.” Harvest is a metaphor for a time of judgment. Those men hung there reaping the consequences of Saul’s sin until waters poured forth from Heaven, so ending the famine. Christ also hung on a tree, taking the judgment owed to us, and He hung there until the waters of judgment poured forth upon His soul, so ending any judgment for us. It is finished. The rains from heaven marked the end of the famine and God’s wrath poured out on the Lord Jesus marked the end of our judgment. “And the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” After that, there was no curse on the land and God could bless Israel. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus.”
Let us say with David, “You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.” (Psalm 30:11-12) He is so worthy.
David summoned the Gibeonites and asked, “What shall I do for you? How shall I make amends so that you will bless the Lord’s inheritance?” Amends needed to be made because the Gibeonites had every right to call down curses and not blessing on Israel for the breaking of the covenant. The Gibeonites asked David for seven male descendants. Seven men related to Saul would pay the price, not for their own sin, but for Saul’s sin. “So the king said, ‘I will give them to you.’”
David chose seven of Saul’s descendants, put them to death, and hanged them on a hill before the Lord. The mother of two of the men, Rizpah, took sackcloth, a garment of grief, and spread it out for herself and held a vigil, grieving over her sons “from the beginning of the harvest till the rain poured down from the heavens on the bodies.”
Then I read, “After that, God answered prayer in behalf of the land.” I thought, “How do I understand this, Lord? Why would it please you that seven innocent men would bear the sins of another? That is so unfair!” But He said, “Isn’t that what happened to my Son for you? Was He not innocent of the crimes that you have done and yet He groaned upon the tree?” And suddenly I appreciated this story in a completely new light. What a tremendous picture of Christ and us!
Amends had to be made so that the Lord could bless His chosen people. A curse was upon us, the curse of sin, “for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.’” We had broken God’s holy law. While it took seven men (the number of completeness) to bear the curse for Israel, it took one perfect (complete) Man to bear the curse for us. He was put to death and hung on a cross. Paul said, “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.’”
Too, the men had to be related. Not just any seven men would do; they had to be descendants of Saul. This is exactly why the Son of God came into this world and became a man. “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death…for this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest.” (Hebrews 2:14,17)
The text says that the men were hung on a hill in the presence of the Lord. Rizpah, the mother of two of the men bearing the curse for Israel, took sackcloth, a garment of grief, and spread it out on a rock for herself, and there she grieved. What a beautiful picture of Christ bearing the curse of mankind on the hill of Calvary in the presence of His grieving Father.
Rizpah grieved “from the beginning of harvest till the water poured down from the heavens on the bodies.” Harvest is a metaphor for a time of judgment. Those men hung there reaping the consequences of Saul’s sin until waters poured forth from Heaven, so ending the famine. Christ also hung on a tree, taking the judgment owed to us, and He hung there until the waters of judgment poured forth upon His soul, so ending any judgment for us. It is finished. The rains from heaven marked the end of the famine and God’s wrath poured out on the Lord Jesus marked the end of our judgment. “And the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” After that, there was no curse on the land and God could bless Israel. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus.”
Let us say with David, “You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.” (Psalm 30:11-12) He is so worthy.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
A Better Word
Blood speaks. But what does it say? Well, it depends on whose blood is speaking. After Cain had murdered his brother Abel, the Lord said to him, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.” (Genesis 4:10) Abel’s blood was crying out for justice and retribution. Punish the guilty one! But someone else’s blood is speaking, and it speaks a better word. “…Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” The word “better” is the Greek word, kereitton, meaning more excellent. Just as the Lord Jesus is more excellent, His blood speaks a more excellent word than justice and retribution. His blood cries forgiveness, redemption, and grace. The verb “speak” in this verse is a present active participle, which really isn’t all that complicated. It just means that the blood of Jesus is continually and presently speaking this more excellent word. He lives always to intercede for us, speaking forgiveness, redemption, and grace. We are accepted in the Beloved.
Paul says in Ephesians 1:7 that “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.” He lavished grace on us in the form of redemption and forgiveness. Lavished means, “to exceed a fixed number or measure.” I love that. There is no end to His grace. You can’t measure it, and you can’t out sin it. Whatever number man can count up to, His grace exceeds that. So God can afford to lavish this grace on us. In fact His whole purpose in saving us was so that for all of eternity He could show us this grace by His kindness to us in Christ. (Ephesians 2:7) Amazing. He died for our sins, shed His blood to save us so that He could, for all of eternity, lavish grace on us. There is no better word than that.
Paul says in Ephesians 1:7 that “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.” He lavished grace on us in the form of redemption and forgiveness. Lavished means, “to exceed a fixed number or measure.” I love that. There is no end to His grace. You can’t measure it, and you can’t out sin it. Whatever number man can count up to, His grace exceeds that. So God can afford to lavish this grace on us. In fact His whole purpose in saving us was so that for all of eternity He could show us this grace by His kindness to us in Christ. (Ephesians 2:7) Amazing. He died for our sins, shed His blood to save us so that He could, for all of eternity, lavish grace on us. There is no better word than that.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
An Uninvited Guest
"And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn." Luke 2:6-7 ESV
The Greek word for inn in this passage is kataluma, meaning a loosing down (from kata=down, luo=to loose). Hence, a place where you unloose your burden and relax. It is the same word in Luke 22:11 translated guest chamber or guest room in connection with the upper room. In the Eastern culture the guest, when invited, was an honored member of the household and continually served. It was customary to pay homage to a guest with a kiss of greeting, to wash his feet and annoint his head with oil. Such was the honored place of an invited guest.
But the Lord Jesus, Creator and Sustainer of all things, was not an invited guest into our dark world. "He was in the world and the world was made by Him and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own and His own received Him not." (John 1:10-11) "He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." (Is. 53:3) Here was a Guest worthy of all honor and praise. This was a holy night, a Savior was born which was the very Christ of God. It was good news of great joy for all people. But He was not recognized. He was not honored. He was not praised.
Malachai, the last prophet of God before a 400 year silence, recorded the Words of the Lord. The priests of the Lord were dishonoring the Lord with defiled offerings: blind, lame and sick offerings. He said they wouldn't offer such offerings to their governor and expect favor and neither would He show them favor. "For I am a great King, says the Lord of Hosts." There is something so sad in that statement. How far the people were from God that He should have to tell them that He was a great King. Yet, with the Lord there is mercy for Malachai also recorded these words. "For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed." Praise God for His mercy for it is the only reason I am not consumed. I thank God that He enabled me to recognize the Light. I thank God for a Savior and a Guest who came, even though uninvited and unwanted, and loved and healed and died. I thank God for a risen, living Savior. And I pray with my whole heart that I be strengthened to honor Him in such a way that He would be magnified, for He is a great King.
The Greek word for inn in this passage is kataluma, meaning a loosing down (from kata=down, luo=to loose). Hence, a place where you unloose your burden and relax. It is the same word in Luke 22:11 translated guest chamber or guest room in connection with the upper room. In the Eastern culture the guest, when invited, was an honored member of the household and continually served. It was customary to pay homage to a guest with a kiss of greeting, to wash his feet and annoint his head with oil. Such was the honored place of an invited guest.
But the Lord Jesus, Creator and Sustainer of all things, was not an invited guest into our dark world. "He was in the world and the world was made by Him and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own and His own received Him not." (John 1:10-11) "He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." (Is. 53:3) Here was a Guest worthy of all honor and praise. This was a holy night, a Savior was born which was the very Christ of God. It was good news of great joy for all people. But He was not recognized. He was not honored. He was not praised.
Malachai, the last prophet of God before a 400 year silence, recorded the Words of the Lord. The priests of the Lord were dishonoring the Lord with defiled offerings: blind, lame and sick offerings. He said they wouldn't offer such offerings to their governor and expect favor and neither would He show them favor. "For I am a great King, says the Lord of Hosts." There is something so sad in that statement. How far the people were from God that He should have to tell them that He was a great King. Yet, with the Lord there is mercy for Malachai also recorded these words. "For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed." Praise God for His mercy for it is the only reason I am not consumed. I thank God that He enabled me to recognize the Light. I thank God for a Savior and a Guest who came, even though uninvited and unwanted, and loved and healed and died. I thank God for a risen, living Savior. And I pray with my whole heart that I be strengthened to honor Him in such a way that He would be magnified, for He is a great King.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Herein is Love
"And some began to spit on Him..."
For the Jew, to spit in a person's face was the most shameful form of insult one could give. According to the Gospel of Mark, they did this to their Messiah, to the Holy One of God. That the high and lofty One was willing to endure such irreverence, such disrespect to His person is breathtaking. Herein is love.
Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us. 1 John 3:16
For the Jew, to spit in a person's face was the most shameful form of insult one could give. According to the Gospel of Mark, they did this to their Messiah, to the Holy One of God. That the high and lofty One was willing to endure such irreverence, such disrespect to His person is breathtaking. Herein is love.
Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us. 1 John 3:16
Saturday, February 13, 2010
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