A Living Hope!

     A few years ago we visited the English mansion of Chatsworth, in Derbyshire. Amid the beauty of the gardens, the sculptures, the paintings, and the architecture, was one item that astonished us— a plaster copy of a cast by Johann August Nahl the Elder (1710-1781). It is a graphic statement of firm belief in the resurrection and the Lord’s return; it is a detail from the tomb of Maria Magdalena Langhans with her child:

“On the last day, with a raised arm, she breaks the stone slab in three pieces and comes with her child alive from the grave.”                   Ì

A Cryptogram: Moses', John's and God's Intros

Song of the Month: Four Days Late

     Aaron Wilburn makes his living as a comedian. You may have caught him at a Gaither Homecoming or…You may even know some of his jokes… (There was a lady who made the nicest pies with the neatest crust patterns— achieved by taking out her false teeth and pressing their pattern into the pastry!) But this gentleman is a musician with the heart of a poet—his song writing has brought him Dove awards and Grammy nominations and his home state of Alabama honored him with an exhibit in their Music Hall of Fame, along with Jake Hess and Vestal Goodman.
     From an interview in 2009 comes this quotation: “I am a word lover. I love words, I love rhymes. I love what a spoken line can do as far as affecting an audience. The spoken word can become a healer. A lot of times my spoken words in my humor bring laughter. Words are such an important vehicle, and I’m sure that’s the reason the Bible teaches us to watch the words that you speak, because they will affect yourself and other people.”
      One song in particular has become a Southern Gospel classic and in the year 2000 it was the Song of the Year: Four Days Late. iTunes lists the composers as “Roberta Wilburn/ C. Aaron Wilburn.” Others have sung it, including Aaron himself, but the most notable rendition seems to be that by Karen Peck and New River. Karen was asked if she gets tired of singing Four Days Late but her reply was, “I will sing that song until the day the Lord calls me home.” Again, it was Aaron himself who said to her, “You need to record it.” Three months later, when she actually did record the song, she says that after the piano intro and she sang out the first line, “The news came to Jesus…” she knew and even the drummer said, “Boy this is a powerful song.” To summarize the message of the song:— God’s time is the right time!

The news came to Jesus, “Please come fast.

Lazarus is sick and without Your help he will not last.”
Mary and Martha watched their brother die.
They waited for Jesus;
He did not come,
And they wondered why.

The death watch was over—Buried four days.

Somebody said, “He'll soon be here, the Lord's on His way.”
Martha ran to Him and then she cried,
“Lord, if you had been here
You could have healed him—
He'd still be alive!”

“But You're four days late

And all hope is gone.

Lord we don't understand why You've waited so long.”
But His way is God's way
Not yours or mine.
When He's four days late, He's still on time.

Jesus said, “Martha, show me the grave.”

But she said, “Lord, You don't understand—
He's been there four days!”
The grave stone was rolled back,
Then Jesus cried, “Lazarus come forth!”
Then somebody said,
“He's alive, He's alive!”

You may be fighting a battle of fear

You've cried to the Lord, “I need You now!”
But He has not appeared.
Friend don't be discouraged
‘Cause He's still the same.
He'll soon be here, He'll roll back the stone
And He’ll call out your name.      Ì                                         

Book Review: From GETHSEMANE to PENTECOST

Danna, Elizabeth
From GETHSEMANE to PENTECOST: A Passion Study.  
Wipf & Stock, Eugene, Oregon,
2011, ix, 155 pages.

    This book, as the author says at the outset, is “an eight-week study designed for small Bible study groups meeting once a week.” I came to this book from The Trial and Death of Jesus Christ by James Stalker (1894), looking for a more modern and lighter read. This is not a light read! In fact, it may be a dense read but, at least, I was warned. To get the most benefit, Gethsemane to Pentecost should be read daily, in the prescribed doses. It should be a personal commitment rather than “entertainment” or “an interesting read.”

    Ms. Danna’s divisions of the story have such titles as:- Second Garden, Second Adam; Jesus (and Peter) on Trial; Sealed in a Stone-Cold Tomb; and Wind and Fire.

Literary

     And now some details of what I learned:--  “Irony” features largely in this story. “The reader [of the Gospels] is expected to ‘get it,’ even when the characters do not.” The prime example is the high priest suggesting that one man should die for the people—he means politically—we know what God means.      

     Another term we are introduced to is “the divine passive,” explained as “a way of phrasing that, instead of saying ‘God did this,’ says, ‘This was done.’ ” The purpose was “to avoid unintentional irreverent use of God’s name.”

     Toward the end of the book, there is a review of some theories to explain the empty tomb. We were pleased to see that the spiritual resurrection theory “lacks substance!”

Historical

    Ms. Danna fills her study with references to the Old Testament and with bountiful indications of prophetic fulfillment:

·         Amos 3:7. God must foretell of Jesus.

·         Zech.12:10. The One who was pierced.

·         Ps.16:8-11. The One whom death could not hold.

     Some of the most interesting points the author raises deal with parallels between David and Jesus, particularly David in his rejection, during Absalom’s rebellion. The Son of David was, of course, rejected in the same city.

Reasons to Believe

     We believe Scripture and trust that God has given us a true picture of those few days 2000 years ago. We also know that our minds do become focused on ourselves and we lose sight of Jesus; we do have trouble submitting to Him; we can easily appear judgmental if we don’t first show our love for unbelievers; stress and fatigue can “leave us open to attack from the enemy”; remorse can, like Judas lead us to despair or, like Peter, to repentance; and finally, “the flesh does not die quietly.”

Practical Application

    Sometimes the best we can come up with is to, in Joyce Meyer’s words, “Do it afraid.” Sometimes we need to get our minds off ourselves. Jesus “always provides a way out of temptation (1 Cor. 10:13).”

     A question and a statement that piqued my curiosity, were, “Did Abraham and Sarah delay the fulfilling of the promise by ‘helping’ God?” and sixteen pages farther along, “God will not take matters into His hands while we keep them in our hands.”
     We are glad to see the Gospel clearly shining through: “Why is it important that Jesus die by the  Roman method of crucifixion?”; “What does it mean to you that Jesus suffered so much for us?”
    As far as theology goes, we don’t want to be picky with semantics, but we wonder if Jesus was ever “terrified” or even “afraid”.

The Author

     Elizabeth Danna is greatly to be commended for her dedication to this study. She has let us see into her own life at suitable moments and it is here that her suggestions take hold with the greatest power. If you’re serious about studying our Lord’s Passion but don’t want to go it alone, let Beth Danna go with you and guide you.

Reviewed by Glenn Wilson Ì

“Wordles”

     Ron Hughes, from FBH International, introduced us to “Wordles”, coloured graphics with a certain beauty based on the frequency, and partly on the power, of the words in a given passage.

This is a wordle for John 1:1-5.   Ì

A Taste of “Apologetics”

    The word “apologetics” has been coming up more and more in Christian discussions, not the least being the recent RZIM seminars. The Oxford Dictionary defines it as “reasoned arguments or writings in justification of something, typically a theory or religious doctrine.”

     So, to give us a taste of apologetics, let’s look at our Lord’s cursing of the fig tree in Matthew 21:18-22 and in Mark 11:12-25. When Jesus saw the fig tree, it had leaves, but when He walked up to it He found no figs, “because the time of figs was not yet.” In his essay Why I Am Not a Christian, the philosopher/ mathematician/ atheist Bertrand Russell comments, “This is a very curious story, because it was not the right time of year for figs, and you really could not blame the tree.” He then goes on to blame the Lord.

     F.F.Bruce, in his book Hard Sayings in the Bible, indicates that there really was something wrong with the tree. He quotes a missionary from Palestine, W.M.Christie: “Now the facts connected with the fig tree are these. Towards the end of March the leaves begin to appear, and in about a week the foliage coating is complete. Coincident with this, sometimes even before, there appears quite a crop of small knobs, not the real figs, but a kind of early forerunner. They grow to the size of green almonds, in which condition they are eaten by peasants and others when hungry. When they come to their own indefinite maturity they drop off.” These precursors of the true fig are called taqsh. Their appearance is a harbinger of the fully formed appearance of the true fig some six weeks later. So, as Mark says, the time for figs had not yet come. But if the leaves appear without any taqsh, that is a sign that there will be no figs. Since Jesus found “nothing but leaves”—leaves without any taqsh—he knew that “it was an absolutely hopeless, fruitless fig tree” and said as much.

     A botanical study of the fig tree in Wikipedia says, “Two crops of figs are potentially produced each year. The first or breva crop develops in the spring on last year’s shoot growth. In contrast, the main fig crop develops on the current year’s shoot growth and ripens in the late summer or fall. The main crop is generally superior in both quantity and quality to the breva crop.”      

     So, these few paragraphs are no “apology” for what the Bible reports; they are an attempt at a reasonable, logical explanation of some of the details.                       Ì 

The Beauty of the Lord

    For a few years now, I’ve been watching for any article that might be titled “The Beauty of Christ.” I’ve even asked several people to write such an article but they’ve always declined. It’s thus become a bit of a quest for me—a ‘holy grail’—can such a thing really exist? Can anything physical ever convey even a tiny fraction of the spiritual reality?

     So I’ve gone on, hoping but not finding. Then I read a chapter of The Mind of the Maker, by Dorothy L. Sayers. She pointed out how ordinary people, who talk in ordinary sentences, and write ordinary prose, may not have the spiritual gift to show these high truths—and it is a spiritual gift. She believes that what I’m looking for can only come from specially gifted artists—poets, painters, musicians, and sculptors. And she may be right. I’m not good with the latter three types of artists, but poets I think I know.

     What might I learn of the beauty of Christ from poetry? Confining myself to the Believers Hymn Book, here is the true beauty of the Saviour, perceived by dozens of gifted writers:

Behold Him there, the once slain Lamb!

    My perfect, spotless Righteousness.
The great, unchangeable I AM,
    The King of glory and of grace!       #15

And more visions of Christ:—

Behold! Behold, the Lamb of God

    On the Cross!...
Behold His arms extended wide,
    On the Cross!                                      #30

Great are the offices He bears

    And bright His character appears
Exalted on the throne.                          #40

Crowned with thorns upon the tree,

    Silent in Thine agony…                    #42

I may sing with Christ beside me,

    Though a thousand ills betide me.
Safely He hath sworn to guide me,
    Peace, peace, is mine!                      #57

Love esteems it heaven to abide

    At His side.                                       #94

I’ve found a Friend; O such a Friend!

    He loved me ere I knew Him;
He drew me with the cords of love
    And thus He bound me to Him.    #103

     With only a quarter of the book examined, suddenly I’ve found a boundless supply of metaphors, similes and just plain true, poetic statements. Jesus really is worth knowing better! Ì