my burg

  Bible reading for weekend December 10 -- 12  Dec 10 -- Zephaniah 2 and Luke 24 Dec 11 -- Zephaniah 3 and John 1 Dec 12 -- Haggai 2 and John 2 ================ "The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing." (Zephaniah 3:17)  ZEPHANIAH (ch 2-3). The God of justice is also the God who joyfully sings over his people (3:17). The purpose of his judgment is not simply to bring justice to his creation, but also to purify a people for himself (3:9-13). In the NT we read that our Lord Jesus "gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works" (Titus 2:14). One specific area of purification noted by Zephaniah is that of language: "For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of th...

Bible reading for October 8.  1 Kings 11. "For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father." (1 Kings 11:4)  FALLING APART. To say that Solomon had a problem with women is an understatement. How could he even remember the names of 1000 women he had been intimate with? The foreign women, especially, posed a difficult problem. Such marriages were a common way to make alliances with nearby nations, but these wives -- not converts to Yahweh worship -- would want to preserve their own culture and make Jerusalem feel more culturally comfortable. This, of course, brought pressure on Solomon to build worship sites to accommodate them. One compromise led to another, and so, Solomon, who loved these women, introduced pagan worship into God's land. Judgment comes in the form of adversaries, one of whom, Jeroboam, will actually take away ten of the tribes (northern ...

Bible reading for July 6.  Joshua 8. "And there, in the presence of the people of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written." (Joshua 8:32)  ESTABLISHING GOD'S RULE. The second city to fall, one larger than Jericho, was Ai. Joshua used tactics that built upon their previous failure. Afterwards the inhabitants are put to death but the livestock spared.*  Joshua builds an altar, sacrifices are made, and God's law is copied on stone and read to the people. This signified that the pagan land, full of idols, was now to be guided by the law of God. It was the formal establishment of God's visible reign over that land. Some have felt that a good summary of the Bible story-line is that God in stages is re-establishing his visible and glorious rule over creation which was lost in the fall of man. This re-establishment of his kingdom will be consummated at the return of Christ. This is, of course, why we pray, "Our Father...

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. ... No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known." (John 1:14, 18 ESV) Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'"?  (John 14:8-9 ESV) In reflecting upon Jesus Christ being the ultimate revelation of God, here are a few highlights from the third volume of Carl Henry's magisterial work, God, Revelation and Authority :  "In Jesus Christ the source and content of God's revelation converge and coincide."  (III:9) [The Church is] "a transnational, transracial, transcultural beachhead for the transcendent kingdom of God." (III:68) ...

"All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 'Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel' (which means, God with us)". (Matthew 1:22-23 ESV) John Frame writes of the doctrinal importance of the virgin birth (or more accurately, virginal conception) of our Lord Jesus. Specifically, he lists five reasons this truth is vitally important .  The consistency of this doctrine with other Christian truth is important to its usefulness and, indeed, to its credibility. For Matthew and Luke the chief importance of the event seems to be that it calls to mind (as a “sign,” Isa. 7:14) the great OT promises of salvation through supernaturally born deliverers, while going far beyond them, showing that God’s final deliverance has come. But one can also go beyond the specific concerns of Matthew and Luke and see that the virgin birth is fully consistent with the whole range of biblical doctrine. The virgin birt...

"For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, 'I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.'"  (Hebrews 2:11-12 ESV) "Christ was not ashamed of us at His incarnation.  To be sure He had many reasons to be.  For He, Himself, was the only begotten of the Father, of one essence and glory with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, yea, the brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of His person -- who thought it not robbery to be equal with God.  And we were laden with guilt, unclean from the crown of our heads to the soles of our feet, and subject to corruption.  But still He was not ashamed to call us brothers.  He was ashamed of us neither before God nor before the Holy Angels.  He accepted our flesh and blood, went in unto our nature, became like unto us in everything, sin only excepted.  And ev...

Carl Trueman explains Martin Luther's "theology of the cross"... "The theology of the cross is more than just a way of looking at God, however. For Luther, it brings to the fore both the depth of God’s love for sinful humanity, that God himself was willing to undergo such suffering, weakness and humiliation on behalf of helpless sinners, and also underlines that suffering and weakness is a central part of the Christian’s strength experience here on earth. In Christ, God has so identified himself with humanity as to become one with fellow humans. He has endured not only the mundane inconveniences of our existence but has even suffered in a supreme sense on our behalf, that suffering which is captured in a deep and inexplicable way in the cry of dereliction on the cross. These are, of course, deep theological waters, but for Luther the crucial dimension of God’s saving power was precisely this profound humiliation of himself in human weakness. He had a saying: Don’t...

Jesus made it clear that he came to our world on a mission .  His incarnation, and his life here, were filled with purpose.   By studying statements he  made that are recorded in the gospels we can see the purpose behind his coming.   Phrases like, "I came that..." or "I was sent to..." or "for this  purpose I..." will help us see what that is.  Below are listed ten statements the Lord made about his purpose for coming to earth.  (Parallel statements from the synoptic gospels are included in the parentheses.)   1)  To fulfill the Law and Prophets :   "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill  them."  (Matthew 5:17*) 2)   To proclaim the good news of the kingdom :   "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for  this purpose." (Luke 4:43; cf. Mark 1:38) 3)...

"Right in the middle of all these things stands up an enormous exception... It is nothing less that the loud assertion that this mysterious maker of the world has visited his world in person.  It declares that really and even recently, or right in the middle of historic times, there did walk into the world this original invisible being; about whom the thinkers make theories and the mythologists hand down myths; the Man Who Made the World.  That such a higher personality exists behind all things had indeed always been implied by the best thinkers, as well as by all the most beautiful legends.  But nothing of this sort had ever been implied in any of them.  It is simply false to say that the other sagas and heroes had claimed to be the mysterious master and maker, of whom the world had dreamed and disputed.  Not one of them had ever claimed to be anything of the sort.  The most that any religious prophet had said was that he was the true servant of such a bei...

Martin Luther was a "theologian of the cross", whereas medieval scholastics were in his view, "theologians of glory."  That is, many theologians considered God in himself in ways that did not begin with the "alien" (his incomprehensible) work of Christ in his humanity and upon the cross.  There is a cradle and a cross to be understood before we can see the glory of God.   Carl Trueman explains this further...   "The theology of the cross is more than just a way of looking at God, however. For Luther, it brings to the fore both the depth of God’s love for sinful humanity, that God himself was willing to undergo such suffering, weakness and humiliation on behalf of helpless sinners, and also underlines that suffering and weakness is a central part of the Christian’s strength experience here on earth. In Christ, God has so identified himself with humanity as to become one with fellow humans. He has endured not only the mundane inconveniences...

"When Jesus Christ came to Earth, one of the names given to Him was Immanuel, which means 'God with us.' The Incarnation means that God became man and lived with us. And when Jesus ascended to Heaven in His resurrected body, it demonstrated that the Incarnation wasn’t temporary but permanent. This has great bearing on where God might choose for us and Him to dwell together. The New Earth will be Heaven incarnate, just as Jesus Christ is God incarnate."  ~ Randy Alcorn, Seeing the Unseen .

"One of the greatest privileges and advancements of believers, both in this world and unto eternity, consists in their beholding the glory of Christ." "No man shall ever behold the glory of Christ by sight hereafter, who does not in some measure behold it by faith here in this world." "Grace is a necessary preparation for glory, and faith for sight." "For nothing can perfectly comprehend that which is infinite, but what is itself infinite. Therefore the blessed and blessing sight which we shall have of God will be always 'in the face of Jesus Christ.'” ~ John Owen, from The Glory of Christ . 

The Nativity Story (2008) "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth... No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known."  (John 1:14, 18 ESV) "Through revelation, the incomprehensible and utterly transcendent God places himself within our reach. The sovereign God, who eludes our attempts at mastery, by speculation, good works, or mystical experience, places himself in our hands as a free gift. Instead of being consumed, we are reconciled, redeemed, and made adopted heirs of his kingdom in the Son and by his Spirit, through his Word."   ~ Michael S. Horton, Pilgrim Theology .

"Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.  Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves."  (John 14:10-11 ESV) "You believe in Christ. You believe that his saying is true: “He that hath seen Me, has seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?” On bended knee you confess him as your Lord and your God. But what is the incarnation of the word except that God became man? And what profit can this be to you, unless you realize that in Christ God has come close to you in a human way? Before the days of the Bethlehem birth God spoke to us in the human word, but in Christ God is manifest in human nature. He reveals himself to us as the son of Man. A human heart speaks here in human language and in human ways. As the Apostle John asserts: In Jesus they have n...

Below is a lightly edited excerpt from the second section of Athanasius' writing, On the Incarnation , written about AD 320.   "The Divine Dilemma and Its Solution in the Incarnation" Now He [ the Word ] entered the world in a new way, stooping to our level in His love and Self-revealing to us.  He saw the reasonable race of men that, like Himself, expressed the Father's Mind, wasting out of existence, and death  reigning over all in their corruption. He saw that corruption held us, because it was the penalty for the transgression.  He saw how unthinkable it would be for the law to be repealed before it was fulfilled.  He saw how unfitting it would be for the very things which He Himself made should disappear. He saw how the surpassing wickedness of men was mounting up against them.  He saw their universal bondage to death.  All this He saw. And He pitied our race.  He was moved with compassion for our limitation, and was un...

At the center of the history of redemption is a cradle, a cross, and a crown.   All of the Old Testament, from creation to the fall of the first Adam, from the calling of Abraham and God's purposes for Israel, and including all the prophets, spoke in preparation and in foreshadowing of the Coming One, the last Adam, the God-man who would make all things right.   "When we could not come to him, he came to us."  The truth of the incarnation is vital to the gospel: unless the Messiah would be both man and God he could not accomplish what he needed to accomplish.  He must be infinitely strong to save (God) and he must be a perfect Substitute for us (fully human).  Then his death could be a full atonement, a completely gracious redemption.  We could not come to him unless he came to us. This is the center of history: the life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. An accomplished salvation at his initiative.  A Savior in every sense of the word. ...

"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 2:7) In my reading recently I pondered this passage in 1 Peter... "As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious , you yourselves like living  stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God  through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture: 'Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious , and  whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.' So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, ' The  stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone ,' and 'A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.'  (1 Peter 2:4 -8a ESV) Being born in a stable was just the first of many rejections.  Jesus was born in a b...

"Certainly what the Bible says about Jesus contains many mysteries; but the distinctive features of it at least can be put  almost in a word.  Jesus of Nazareth, according to the Bible, was no product of this world, but a Savior come voluntarily  into this world from without.  His entrance into the world was a stupendous miracle.  While he was on earth he manifested a  wondrous control over the forces of nature.  His death was no mere holy martyrdom, but an event of cosmic significance, a  sacrifice for the sins of the world.  His resurrection was no mere vain aspiration in the hearts of his disciples, but a  mighty act of God.  That is what the Bible says about Jesus."   (J. Gresham Machen, Selected Shorter Writings , p. 33)

Notes and quotes from David Kingston's New Year's Day sermon.  The mp3 of this message is available here . The Certainties of 2012  1. We can be certain of God’s love for us because of Jesus’ birth . (John 3:16; Phil 2:6-7) "Jesus--a simple name with so much power and meaning, but on that night so long ago, the tiny baby, wrapped by Mary in swaddling clothes, waving little arms, hungrily sucking a fist, was like any other newborn baby. He was helpless and dependent, and Mary was His hope of survival, His nourishment,  his very lifeline. God entrusted His most priceless gift to a  very human, very young, earthly mother. Why? Because God so loved--that He gave. He relinquished His hold on His Son and placed Him in fragile human arms. (Janet Oke, in "Reflections on the Christmas Story".) 2. We can be certain of God’s forgiveness because of Jesus’ death and resurrection . (2 Cor 5:21; Phil 2:8; 1 Cor 15:3-8; John 1:10-13) He was condem...

Fragile finger sent to heal us  Tender brow prepared for thorn Tiny heart whose blood will save us  Unto us is born Unto us is born So wrap our injured flesh around You Breathe our air and walk our sod Rob our sin and make us holy Perfect Son of God Perfect Son of God Welcome to our world (Chris Rice, "Welcome To Our World")