Archive for the ‘John’ Category

Glory to God in the Highest

December 25, 2011

This year as we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, God is focusing my heart on the glory of Christmas.

There’s only one glory story worth telling. It’s not mine and it’s not yours. It’s God’s. God’s story that gives him glory never grows old. His glory never fades. The glory of God radiates from the manger in Bethlehem. It’s one of his best glory stories, don’t you think?

The word “glory” appears frequently in the Scriptures―194 times in the Old Testament and 161 times in the New Testament to be exact, not including the many variations of the verb to glorify. The Hebrew word for “glory” means “heavy” or “weighted.” If you grew up in the 1960s and used the phrase “that’s heavy, man!” then you have some understanding of the glory of God. Christmas, we might say, is heavy, profound and glorious.

It shouldn’t surprise us that the word “glory” appears in the Christmas story several times, most notably when the angels made the birth announcement to the shepherds (Luke 2:8-14).

Christmas came first to ordinary shepherds, not to the scribes and Pharisees. It’s a reminder that God “chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things―and the things that are not―to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him” (1 Cor. 1:28-29).

The simple shepherds experienced a burst of God’s glory in a way that changed them forever.

On the first Christmas, heaven came down and the glory of God filled a place where an innkeeper kept his animals. A single angel made the trip from heaven to earth to make the announcement of the Savior’s birth. The glory of God arrived with him and enveloped the shepherds. So exciting was the moment that in no time a heavenly choir appeared singing an anthem, “Glory to God in the highest.” A real glory story was in the making.

One author writes, “God’s glory had dwelt in the tabernacle (Ex. 40:34) and in the temple (2 Chron. 7:1–3), but had departed because of the nation’s sin (1 Sam. 4:21; Ezek. 8:4; 9:3; 10:4, 18; 11:22–23). Now God’s glory was returning to earth in the person of His Son (John 1:14). That lowly manger was a holy of holies because Jesus was there!”

The dictionary defines “glory” as “very great praise, honor, or distinction bestowed by common consent; renown.” An athlete’s glory days, for example, refers to how he or she performed with distinction on the athletic field, better than others who played the same game. Football players lay claim to gridiron glory if they make it all the way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The glory of God is best defined as his majestic and manifest presence on display. It’s the sum total of his divine nature, attributes and creative works. Think of it this way. The glory of God is that which makes him the exclusive member of his own hall of fame. He is completely unique, distinct and original. Jesus is his “one and only Son” (John 3:16). There is no other god like him; therefore, we should have no other gods before him (Ex. 20).

No wonder the angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest.”

^{^[1]}Wiersbe, Warren W.: The Bible Exposition Commentary. Wheaton, Ill. : Victor Books, 1996, c1989, S. Lk 2:1

Posted on December 25, 2011
Category: Christmas, Jesus, John

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Breath of God

November 8, 2011

And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” John 20:22

After his resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples in a room where they were huddled together “for fear of the Jews.” He spoke to them with a common Jewish greeting, “Peace be with you!” His presence filled their hearts with joy. He repeated his greeting and then commissioned them with these words, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And then he did something truly amazing. He breathed on them.

Theologians are somewhat divided on exactly what this means. Was this the moment the disciples actually received the Holy Spirit, and if so, what happened on the day of Pentecost? Or, is Jesus speaking prophetically and preparing them for what would happen days later?

I tend to embrace the later view, but in either case we know this is true: the Holy Spirit, the Breath of God, is closer than the air we breathe. A popular praise song says it this way, “You are the air I breathe, Your holy presence in me.”

The first time we hear about the Holy Spirit is in the creation story. Genesis 1:1 says, “And the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” The Hebrew word for spirit is ruach which means “air in motion.” It’s the same word for “breath.”

The Spirit or Breath of God also played a role in the creation of mankind. Genesis 1:26 says, “Let us make man in our image.” The plural pronouns give us the first hint in the Bible of the tri-fold nature of the Godhead. Father, Son and Holy Spirit each played a role in creation.

More details about mankind are given later in the creation story. Genesis 2:7 says, “The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”

Yes, God literally breathed life into Adam’s dusty body. Job picks up on this idea and makes a connection to the Holy Spirit when he says, “The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty God gives me life” (Job 33:4).

Posted on November 8, 2011
Category: Holy Spirit, John

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A People for His Temple

September 7, 2011

In John 14:17, Jesus made this remarkable statement about the Holy Spirit to his disciples, “But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” The words “will be in you” only applied to the Twelve because the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was still future.

However, as New Testament, post-Pentecost believers in Jesus Christ, we have something the disciples never had when they walked with Jesus on this earth. We have the Holy Spirit living inside of us. Jesus was with the disciples, but the Holy Spirit is in us as a permanent resident.

Don’t let yourself gloss over this reality without it gripping your soul. Be astonished that God would choose you as his dwelling place. Elsewhere in the New Testament, we learn that the Holy Spirit has made our bodies his temple.

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own, you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. 2 Timothy 1:14

Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. As my kid’s would say, “That’s sick!” which, if you can believe it, means cool, amazing and awesome. Think about it this way. In the Old Testament, God built a temple for his people; in the New Testament, God has a people for his temple.

Allow this truth to change the way you approach your day. As you go to work, drive the kids to school, shop for groceries, share a family meal, coach a Little League team, walk the dog, build friendships and more, remember that the Holy Spirit is in you and goes with you to assist you wherever you go.

Posted on September 7, 2011
Category: Holy Spirit, John

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Jesus: The Full Expression of God

June 14, 2010

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. – John 1:1-2

Nobody can really know our thoughts until we express them in words. Likewise, we cannot know the mind of God apart from the Word of God. God expressed himself through the Word or Logos who is Jesus.

By introducing the Word, John also connects with a philosophical concept his readers would immediately understand, and then he builds a bridge from philosophy to theology.

John’s sophisticated audience, made up of Jews and Greeks, understood the Logos as the power that made the universe, giving man the ability to reason and know the truth. In the minds of the first century cultured elite, the Logos was an abstract philosophical concept that explained the workings of the universe through God.

The Stoics, for instance, taught this:

All things are controlled by the Logos of God. The Logos is the power which puts sense into the world, the power which makes the world an order instead of a chaos, the power which sets the world going and keeps it going in its perfect order.

Philo was a key figure among philosophers in the first century. He was a Jew who studied both Jewish and Greek wisdom. According to William Barclay, Philo taught this about the Logos:

The Logos was the oldest thing in the world and the instrument through which God had made the world. He said that the Logos was the thought of God stamped upon the universe; he talked about the Logos by which God made the world and all things; he said that God, the pilot of the universe, held the Logos as a tiller and with it steered all things. He said that man’s mind was stamped also with the Logos, that the Logos was what gave a man reason, the power to think and the power to know. He said that the Logos was the intermediary between the world and God and that the Logos was the priest that set the soul before God.

Philo never said the Logos was Jesus. He talked all around the subject, but never clued in to the fact that the Logos of God became a man and lived among us.

If Philo is not your kind of guy and you get lost in a sea of philosophical musings, the Star Wars movies provide a clue as to how first century people thought of the Logos. Star Wars made popular the phrase, “May the Force be with you?”

According to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, “The Force is a binding, metaphysical and ubiquitous power that is the object of the Jedi and Sith monastic orders.” Said another way, The Force is an abstract power in the universe that holds everything in check. If the Force is with you, that is a good thing.

The Force is not unlike how sophisticated Jews and Greeks thought of the Logos in the first century. Sadly, their understanding of the Logos fell short of a living God with whom they could have a personal relationship.

Essentially John was saying this to the philosophers of his day: “When you talk about the Logos, you’re truly on to something. But you missed Him by this much! Yes, I said ‘Him.’ The Logos is a Person named Jesus. Do you remember Jesus of Nazareth who walked among us?” Barclay says it this way:

For centuries you have been thinking and writing and dreaming about the Logos, the power which made the world, the power which keeps the order of the world, the power by which men think and reason and know, the power by which men come into contact with God. Jesus is the Logos come down to earth. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

John’s introductory thoughts about Jesus rocked the philosophical and religious worlds of his day. He turned an abstract philosophical concept into flesh and blood and in turn spoke of a personal relationship with Jesus who is the full expression of God.

Posted on June 14, 2010
Category: Apologetics, Jesus, John

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