Bowing to Jesus

        We in North America don’t see much bowing. Maybe at the end of a play when the actors bow or curtsey to the audience. Maybe in snippets of documentaries of Japan as businessmen or politicians bow to each other.  Maybe some of us have been involved with worship that expects members to bow to an altar or a cross.

        In ancient times it was often a case of bow or die, as witness the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in Daniel 3:6. In fact, in Jeremiah 39:6, it was more like bow and die!

        Sometimes, bowing is only gesturing—it means very little. On the other hand, we want to look at a few people in the New Testament who bowed or kneeled to Jesus the Lord—with eternal repercussions.

        Some bowed in mockery—it seems that the soldiers really “did not know what they were doing.” [Mat 27:28] Some bowed because they couldn’t resist His inherent power—the demon-possessed man and the evil spirits themselves. [Lk.8:27; Mk.3:11] Many bowed for physical help—lepers, a sick woman, a man with a dying daughter, parents with demon-possessed children, even the sister of a dead man—and went away content.

        One young man came for spiritual advice but then couldn’t accept it and went away sad. Others were thrown to their knees by the glory and purity of the Saviour: Peter said, “Go away from me Lord; I am a sinful man!” Peter, James, and John fell facedown in terror at the voice from heaven, “This is my Son.” Paul fell to the ground on the Damascus road.  In fact, one day “every knee will bow.”

        But at last we come to examples of willing worship—we see the wise men at Bethlehem bowing to the Child and presenting their gifts; we see Stephen bowing before the Lord in heaven; and finally, we see John [Rev.19:4], with the angels, the living creatures, and the elders, falling down in worship, and crying, “Amen, Hallelujah!”                                                                    Ì 

Apologetics: The Logistics of the Exodus

        “Six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children.” [Exod.12:37]  Maybe two and a half million total. That’s a lot of people! We often picture them with their robes wrapped around them, possibly hitched up into their belts so they can walk unencumbered, as the great crowd streams off into the distance. What we usually forget is their food, their pots and pans, their bedrolls, their babies in arms, their sheep and cattle; their oxen; the jewellery, gold and silver, and clothing they asked for and got from their Egyptian neighbours [Exod.3:22]; the caskets and bones of Joseph and his brothers [Exod.13:19, Acts 7:16]; their tents; their shovels, ploughs, woodworking equipment, and other tools and weapons; not forgetting changes of clothing, possible litters for aged and handicapped members, possibly some wood for fuel; possibly pots or skins—even small tanks—of water, olive oil and wine; possibly donkeys, and even horses and camels laden down with these goods.

        This is more than individuals or even caravans could carry. It seems like carts and wagons are the only explanation. In Gen.46:5, Jacob and his family came by carts into Egypt. Joseph and his brothers took Jacob’s body back to Canaan with chariots and maybe with carts as well, and buried him “in the cave...which Abraham had bought” [Gen.50:7-14]. Later on, in the wilderness, some of the princes of Israel gave carts as their offerings to the tabernacle. [Num.7:3,6]  

        This is starting to sound like an Old West wagon train so I looked up some details. Between about 1843-1868 the total number of travellers by wagon trains to Oregon, California and Utah, was only about 400,000, and they pretty much had to carry all their food with them. As far as speed goes, covered wagons averaged only two miles per hour and about 10 miles per day. There is no reason to think the Israelites moved any faster.

        If carts were a large part of the procession—and it seems certain they were—this would greatly limit the routes they could have taken from Egypt to Canaan. Some  proposed routes through Sinai would be too steep or too rocky—or even too sandy. How do you get a wagon over a sand dune?

        It would be exciting for the crowds, and especially the children, as they left Pithom and Rameses [Exod.1:11], but it would be as bad as any Indian attack, when the Egyptian army pulled into view. In fact, deaths by “Indian attack” in the Old West numbered 3,000-4,500!

        This leaves us with no final conclusion about the exodus route, but we do hope it spurs some fresh thinking and helps us picture those momentous times. Ì

Book Review: Joseph Makes Me Think of Jesus

Joseph Makes Me Think of Jesus
MacDonald, William
GOSPEL FOLIO PRESS/ Grand Rapids 2000
Paperback
143 pp

             As I write this, the New Year has just begun, my yearly Bible reading has cycled again to Genesis, I’ve just read the story of Joseph, and, as the book title says, Joseph Makes Me Think of Jesus. The detail we have about him from 3800 years ago is incomparable with any other character of that era. We know a little about his childhood and family life, and we know the tragedy that took him to Egypt. In fact, the blurb on the cover claims more than one hundred details that we know well enough to compare with our Lord’s own life.

        Bill MacDonald has basically made a chart comparing the life of Joseph with the life of Jesus, then converted it to prose. His work is gently and simply done—it’s just as unsophisticated as the title itself.
        The book is divided into an Introduction and fourteen chapters, covering Joseph’s life and some retrospections from the Psalms, Acts and Hebrews.
        Some of the parallels MacDonald points out are: Joseph was a shepherd, Jesus is the Good Shepherd (p.10); Joseph was highly exalted as also Christ has been (p.38); Joseph was numbered with the transgressors, one was saved, one was executed ((p.44); Joseph said to the butler, “Remember me”, referring especially to bread and wine (p.46); Joseph was the only way of salvation from the famine (p.71); Joseph asked his brothers to tell of all his glory (p.88).
        In the closing scenes of the story, MacDonald shows how Joseph forgave his brothers and had no thought of vengeance for their treatment of him (p.109-111). Joseph promised his brothers that he would care for them—we also have One who saves, keeps and satisfies and who will never leave or forsake us (p.112).
        Chapter 13 is a list of 36 lessons learned from Joseph’s life. We already know the lessons, and even if they sound like platitudes, they are still true: “Bad things happen to good people”; “The way of the transgressor is hard”; “Be sure your sin will find you out”; “We reap what we sow.” But, “if our lives were all sunshine, they would be a desert.”
        MacDonald’s finish is good: “We will see Joseph again. When the trumpet sounds and we are taken to our Promised Land, he will be there.”
        William MacDonald was born in Leominster, MA, in 1917. The family left for Stornoway, Scotland in 1922 but later returned to Massachusetts. After studying at Harvard Business School, he worked briefly as an investment analyst, then served four years in the US Navy. After the war he entered the Lord’s service full time, with terms at Emmaus Bible School and many years at the Discipleship Intern Training Program in San Leandro, CA, then another decade in Bible teaching and writing. He passed away on December 25, 2007.
        MacDonald never married and for the last thirty-four years of his life he maintained only a small one-bedroom apartment next to a fire hall. I’m a new-comer to MacDonald’s writings, but when he lists seven principles of Christian living in another book, True Discipleship, I gladly admit that he is a prime example of the first two: (1) A supreme love for Jesus Christ and (2) A denial of self.
        Finally, a word about the cover:  It’s more than just a pretty picture— J.B.Nicholson, Jr., has ingeniously captured the essence of the book—an empty cistern, a pyramid in Egypt, then Calvary and an empty tomb.

 Reviewed by Glenn Wilson Ì

“One of the greatest willing, knowledgeable acts of worship in all the gospels!”

Mary took a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.    

 John 12 3.  Compare Mat.26 and Mark 14.

        Mary is the woman who sat at Jesus’ feet. We wonder what she learned there but these passages seem to give us hints. She was a moderately wealthy woman but she learned that bearing any shame was worth it for Jesus—she came bare-headed to worship him in what might well have been a supper of all men. She learned that no sacrifice was too much for him—she gave up a perfume-treasure worth a year’s wages, and faced Judas’ rebuke. She learned that Jesus was going to die and be buried—and to do her part, she anointed his body with her perfume (she wouldn’t get near his body at his death). Finally, she had seen with her own eyes that he could raise the dead—with that kind of power, she knew that he could raise himself, too!

        All-in-all, a level of understanding, trust, and obedience that far surpassed any of the disciples. Even looking back from the present day, in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit, and committed to Christ, would we dare as much?   Ì

Hymn of the Month: In the Beauty of Holiness

         The writer of this month’s song is Robin Mark, a native of Belfast, Northern Ireland, where he lives with his wife Jacqueline and children, Catherine, David, and James. From Mark’s website, relative to Days of Elijah,  comes the following: “Although raised a Methodist, I attended a lot of Brethren or Gospel Hall meetings as a small boy and somehow the theology of Old Testament stories being, either as themselves or by their actions, ‘types’ or ‘examples’ of Christ and the Church got stuck in my head.”

        He occasionally leads musical worship at his home church, Christian Fellowship Church (CFC) Strandtown; he is a partner in an acoustics company, F.R.Mark and Associates; and he has lectured in acoustics at Belfast’s Queen’s University. His biggest commitment seems to be his international ministry in song, including his recent tour of Canada, a virtually sold-out performance in the Grand Opera House in Belfast on February 16, 2013, and a U.S. tour coming up later in 2013.

        He is well known for such songs as Days of Elijah, All for Jesus, Revival, How Great Are You Lord and many others. He has published 13 albums, with sales of over two million worldwide. My personal favourite album is Revival in Belfast (1999), but the following song comes from Come Heal This Land (2001). The latter album “was recorded live at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh, Northern Ireland, said to be the site of St. Patrick's mission in the fifth century.” Listen to the song and you can’t help wanting to join Mark in bringing “all that we possess to lay at Your feet.”

In the beauty of holiness
We see You Son of righteousness
So we bring all that we possess
To lay at Your feet.
In the place where Your glory shines
Jesus lover of all mankind
You have drawn us
With love sublime
To make us complete.

So I pause at Your gates once more
As my heart and my spirit soar
And I wish I could love You more
My God and my King.

Is there tribute that I could bring
Was there ever a song to sing
That could ever express, my King
The work that You've done.
Could I ever conceive of this
All the depths and the heights
And breadth of the riches
I now possess because of Your love.

So I pause at Your gates once more
As my heart and my spirit soar
And I wish I could love You more
My God and my King.

 Words and music by Robin Mark

                                                           Ì