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Christ’s Birth: Ransom!

It is December. Luminaries lined our streets this weekend. Stars of all sizes shine in the night above our villages and farms. Colored lights and candles and cars topped with trees and long checkout lines and nativity scenes and Christmas secrets and old carols and full schedules … The Christmas season is suddenly upon us.

(And did you notice I even have snow on this page?)

Actually, season openers started weeks ago with holiday events, sales promotions, and the usual decorations. But here it is, December, the month we Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus. Why are we celebrating? What difference does an event 2000 years ago make in our lives today? 

Redemption. Redemption. Redemption! That’s the difference that the Baby in a manger brings to our lives.

The Greek and Hebrew words for redeem both refer to a buying back, paying a ransom to remove from bondage. The word “Redeemer” is a title given to God, who rescues His people from bondage and reclaims them as His own.

The baby born that night — in a shelter for animals, to a young couple far from home, a mother who was pregnant though unwed and a father who undoubtedly had many questions and moments of uncertainty — that baby would be the ransom God would pay to reclaim you as His own child.

Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine.   (Isaiah 43:1)

For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity–the man Christ Jesus. He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone.  (1 Timothy 2:5-6a)

When we can do nothing to escape the bondage that holds us, when we are helpless to crawl out of the darkness ourselves, He comes to rescue us and claim us as His own.   

A baby’s cry in the night. He was born to pay the price for our freedom. I didn’t deserve it. You didn’t deserve it.

Wow. He must love us dearly.

Father, Remind us, “reclaim” us every day as Your children and bring us back to You.

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The Kingdom of the Prince of Peace (Part 2)

By 3:24 p.m. today, December 1, 2011, this road will have vanished.

No, this is not a doomsday forecast. This is knowledge of an event that happens with regularity and predictability.

The tide will come in, the waters will fill the sea, and this road in Starboard, Maine, will disappear under a glittering expanse of water. The land in the background will be accessible only by boat.

A few miles down the road in Roque Bluffs, a sandbar and most of the beach will be swallowed by the water. In Cutler, hundreds of acres of mud flats dotted with jutting rocks will transform into Holmes Bay, and you’ll see only rippling waves stretching to the horizon.

All along the downeast coast, the tide comes in and covers rocks, sandbars, mud flats, and beaches. Waters flow into bays and inlets, rivers and creeks. The sea swells and fills up the boundaries set for it, changing completely the landscape, seascape, and life itself in what is called the intertidal zone.

I know this analogy is not perfect, but keep those images in your head …

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When Christ rules, peace comes to His kingdom.

And that is the key: When He rules. We call Him our Lord and Master, but does He truly govern us? “Master” implies total control. What controls you? You know what it is to be controlled by other things: anger, ambition, parental protection of your children, a desire for revenge, or the craving for attention or chocolate cake.

I must ask myself: What moments of my life are ruled and controlled by someone other than the one I call Master, Teacher, Lord, King? When are my thoughts and actions dictated by something other than the laws of His Kingdom?

I must examine this question because I still do things I do not want to do; I still fail to do what I want to do. I still hurt others; I still feel hostility, battle an urge to strike out, and fight for what I want. I am still being taught by His Spirit, but I am not always a quick or willing student.

We even carry such things into the church. Paul warns us that if we’re always biting and devouring one another, we’ll destroy each other. Instead, he says, let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace.

In Christ’s kingdom,

Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,
      for as the waters fill the sea,
      so the earth will be filled with people who know the LORD.

This image resonated with me because I have seen the waters fill all the boundaries of the sea and bring drastic change. A Midwestern landlubber, I had, of course, read about tides, but I never understood what a change they could make in the land and seascape until I watched the extreme tides of downeast Maine.

Learning to know the One we call Father and LORD changes us just as surely and extremely as the tides change the downeast coast. Scripture says it:

All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.

Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.

Learning to know the Father changes us! I have seen it in my own life and the lives of others. Knowledge of the Lord expands His kingdom here on earth (we pray for that in the Lord’s prayer). When the Prince of Peace rules, lions lay down with lambs.

I know the tide of His Spirit is still coming in, changing the landscapes of my own heart and of Jesus’ church. As we learn to know our Father, we become more like Him. We are given new natures. Extreme, I know. But we were also once dead, and now we live with the Spirit of Christ himself in us. That’s extreme, too!

　

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Scripture: Galatians 5:15; Colossians 3:15; Isaiah 11:9; Colossians 1:10; Colossians 3:10 (All NLT)

Thanks to friend Dorothy for pointing out to me the Scriptures that depict God setting boundaries for the seas. (Proverbs 8:29) Never thought about it in that way before.

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The Kingdom of the Prince of Peace (Part 1)

By the time of the prophet Isaiah, Judah’s wickedness and God’s anger against them have destroyed what great King David and his wise son Solomon once ruled. The history of this chosen people has been turbulent and bloody. The tree of Jesse’s lineage of kings has been chopped down, leaving only a stump.

But there is still hope:

Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot —
      yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.

God says a new Branch will sprout from what little remains. An entirely new kind of king will come to establish and rule a new kingdom. That Branch is Christ, and his government and its peace will never end. 

A ruler who brings peace that lasts. That’s quite a promise. Ever since Adam and Eve decided to act on their own decision-making skills rather than on what God told them, their children have been fighting among themselves, instigating everything from squabbles over toys to killing each other for both selfish and holy causes. We have never been able to establish peace in this world, much less maintain it forever.

A kingdom in which there is unending peace … it sounds like the impossible dream.

In that day, the wolf and the lamb will live together;
      the leopard will lie down with the baby goat.
The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion,
      and a little child will lead them all.

Isaiah says that when this new Branch establishes his government, fierce predators will live peaceably with the weak prey they once devoured. There will be no danger, no killing; safety and rest and peace pervade this kingdom. Those who have previously lived as enemies will live together without any impulse or desire to inflict harm.

Some would say this passage refers to a future kingdom, a new heaven and a new earth that Christ rules after defeating Satan and banishing him forever. I see one problem with that interpretation: This description in Isaiah 11 of the Kingdom of Peace comes between prophecies that have already been fulfilled. The chapter opens with the foretelling of Messiah coming and establishing His kingdom. That has happened. The chapter ends with a description of the new King bringing salvation to all the world, Jews and Gentiles alike. Christ did that. Sandwiched between those two things is a description of His kingdom.

I know too little to debate about the timing of this prophecy. But I can tell you what I believe. I believe this gives us a peek at Christ’s kingdom now. Maybe this passage is not so much a prophecy of a future time, but a glimpse of what Christ will do when he rules.

Jesus says that the Kingdom of God is already here; it is within us. And I believe the lion-and-the-lamb picture of a peaceable kingdom tells us what Christ brings when He rules … now.

When Christ rules, the old habits of hostility and aggression are banished. When Christ rules, old enemies can be friends. When Christ rules, I can forgive and love someone who once tried to destroy me. When Christ rules, lions are no longer lions and lambs are no longer lambs (at least, not as we know lions and lambs now).

Some will think this a Pollyanna view, and label the Prince of Peace a namby-pamby ruler of a timid and faint-hearted people. Might this reaction come because we have no understanding of what peace really is? We have never known a world without strife, hostility, quarreling, being at odds, fights of all sorts and extremes. We can’t imagine a world at peace. We are so accustomed to living in a sphere that cannot grasp peace, that we have even sanctioned battles, pain, and discord as a means to an end … even within the church.

So it’s difficult for us to understand what the Prince of Peace intends to bring with His rule. But Jesus reminds us that His kingdom is not of this world. It’s far beyond what our little imaginations can describe. But we are told again and again that it is a peaceful kingdom. As different as light is from darkness, so is His kingdom different from the world we know.

And as extreme and impossible as this lion-and-lamb kingdom sounds, I do believe it tells us what the Prince of Peace can bring to our lives right now if He rules.

When Christ rules, He changes the nature of the beasts that once lived to harm and destroy.

Let me elaborate, tomorrow …

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Scripture: Isaiah 11:1; 9:7; 11:6,9 (All NLT)

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Glimpsing the Never-ending Kingdom

I caught a glimpse this past week. The glimpses are what keep me going, keep me believing.

After days of clouds and rain, the sky beamed blue, the sun unleashed brilliance, white puffs drifted. At 4p.m., I was running errands, stop at the bank, library, post office. Hurry toward my next appointment.

And then something brought me to a halt, told me to note how far the shadows stretched, how low the sun hung over the hills to the west, and how the cold had seeped into our town in spite of the sun.

This moment came at the end of a day when:

… I read the obituary of a prominent man from our area whose life-long influence in both church and business helped to shape this community, its culture and its economy. He died last week.

… Littlest Grandson came to my door, carefully holding something and wearing a gleeful grin. “Grandma, I have a present for you.” He presented me with copies of their most recent family portraits. Beautiful, each one of them, all spruced up and smiling. But when did this happen? When did Oldest Grandson grow so tall? When did Granddaughter turn into such a lady?

… Sister called. We’re trying to get something on our family schedule. First available day is December 1. December?! What happened to November? For that matter, I don’t think I was quite finished with October yet.

Then the moment of blue coldness in late afternoon whispered of winter, the year slipping away, and … how do I describe what happened?

I only know these moments as glimpses. That’s what I’ve named them. The Spirit permits me a peek through a window in the universe. Or, maybe, for a few seconds, He puts God-dimension glasses over my eyes.

Whatever it was that happened, it was the glimpse that I had been hoping for, asking God for. I had been praying for better understanding of this —

His government and its peace
    will never end.
He will rule with fairness and justice from
        the throne of his ancestor David
    for all eternity.
The passionate commitment of the LORD
           of Heaven’s Armies
    will make this happen!

This is a hard thing to take hold of. How can something never end? Everything of this world begins and ends and is measured by the time between those events. We do not know how to live without that regulation.

For just a breath, a blink, I glimpsed my life outside of time. My real life, your real life, child of God, is in a realm outside of the time by which we arrange our lives now. In that realm, Christ rules forever. “My kingdom,” said Christ, “is not of this world.” (see John 18:36)

Our life in that kingdom is not a separate thing from our life on earth. We do not live earthly lives and then move into Christ’s kingdom. Our life in the kingdom is right now and is not of this world.

The end of our earthly life is, as the obituary put it, going to see our Lord and moving into a new dimension of being with the living God.

Reading Isaiah can be a roller-coaster of emotions. The harsh words of judgment for those who do not listen to the Lord and descriptions of the wasteland and destruction that await people who forget God, all shake me. I see so much of our society today in these passages, and we are so prone to get entangled with the world around us.

Yet in almost every chapter, there is a message of hope. Hope for rescue and healing. Hope for life in a peaceful and prosperous kingdom. A kingdom that will go on without end.

Why? Why would the God of the Universe bother with all of us who have caused Him so much anger and grief?

He tells us why. He is the Eternal Father, He has claimed us as His children, and his passionate commitment will make this happen. The NIV says the Lord’s zeal will make it happen. He is determined, intensely devoted to healing His creation and His people.

Yet I still dare to hope
    when I remember this:
The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
    His mercies never cease.
Great is his faithfulness;
    his mercies begin afresh each morning.

The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has claimed us as His own, and we live not only today but without end in His kingdom. 

Spirit, give us a glimpse of that realm, the without-end kingdom of the Prince of Peace.

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Scripture: Isaiah 9:7; Lamentations 3:21-23 (all NLT)

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Hope: A great light will shine in the deep darkness

Sometimes we children purposely sought the darkness. In a small storage room under the basement stairs, we shut the door against any crack of light and played with flashlights or some glow-in-the-dark toy. Intentional darkness could be banished at any time by simply opening the door.

Years later, deep in a Kentucky cavern, the tour guide flipped a switch and I felt darkness. It was heavy, pressing on my skin and creeping into my lungs. If I moved even a finger, I thought, I might lose my balance and fall. I was caught, afraid to move and almost unable to breathe.

Still, the guide would soon turn those lights on again … I hoped …

The most terrible darkness is that which we cannot banish ourselves. It comes uninvited, unwanted, and powerful. However darkness comes to your life — through depression, health issues, loss of dreams, divorce, death and grief — it can overwhelm and paralyze.

But for the children of God, there is hope even under the heaviness of such darkness!

Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever. The land of Zebulon and Naphtali will be humbled, but there will be a time in the future when Galilee of the Gentiles … will be filled with glory.

The people who walk in darkness
     will see a great light.
For those who live in a land of deep darkness,
     a light will shine.

This passage is written about the land of Judah, about to be crushed and destroyed. The people would be taken as slaves, and lush vineyards and fertile hillside gardens would become a wasteland of briars and thorns. Everywhere, trouble and anguish and dark despair.

Yet, in the midst of all of this misery, there is a hope. The deep darkness will not last forever; a great light will come. 

For the people of Judah, the prophecy looked forward to the Messiah, their Deliverer. For the people of the world today, for you and I, this passage also points to the One who delivers us, who shines in our darkness.

Zebulon and Naphtali were two of the twelve tribes of Israel, and the land they were given in Canaan was the land called Galilee. Much of Jesus’ ministry is associated with Galilee … and yet, it was also called the land of the Gentiles. Many people lived there who were not of the twelve tribes. Awesome prophecy. To those who do not know God, Jesus carries the only light that banishes darkness.

He comes, first of all, to bring us to God, bring us out of the kingdom of darkness. And then, for those who become children of the heavenly Father, His light can defeat whatever darkness we must walk through here on earth.

God said that He would give a sign that He was with His people. A virgin would give birth to a son who would be called Immanuel, meaning ‘God is with us.’

Christ is still the sign that God is with His people. We’re nearing that time of year when we sing, “To us a child of hope is born …”

What hope does He bring to your life, child of God? How does He shine light in whatever darkness you must walk through?

I almost never write sermon notes in my Bible, but there are notes in the margins of Isaiah 9:6.

And he will be called:
     Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
     Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

His names tell us what hope He brings.**

Wonderful – takes care of the dullness of life
Counselor – takes care of the decisions of life
Mighty God – takes care of the demands of life
Everlasting Father – takes care of the dimensions of life
Prince of Peace – takes care of the disturbances of life

And I would like to add: The Great Light takes care of the darkness in life.

　

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Scripture: Isaiah 9:1,2; 8:22; 7:14; 9:6 (All NLT)

**I’d like to give credit, and I think this list comes from a sermon by Dr. John Williams, Jr., but I’m not 100% certain.