So posted below is a complete and unedited message from me, circa December 2000. Enjoy

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“For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation”
(2 Corinthians 6:2)

Today is a special day. Why? Because today we have the opportunity to shape history.

You see, yesterday is gone. It has become history, and there is nothing more that we can do to it – we can only praise God for our successes and learn from our failures. And tomorrow is yet to come – there is nothing that you can to about tomorrow whilst today is still here – you can plan, you can scheme, but you don’t rightly know what is going to happen, so you cannot do anything with it.

Today is different! Today, in every situation, God is with you and you enjoy His unmerited favor. You can choose what is going to happen to you, and you can choose how to react to those things that come upon you. Today is also the day that God has ordained to deal with things in your life! Today, what things are in your life that you need to deal with? What are the things that God has been speaking to you about, that you need to change? Maybe there are things you need to stop doing – or maybe it is something God has called you to do.

You cannot guarantee what is going to happen tomorrow, but you can certainly make your choice today – whether you will trust God, believe Him, and do what God asks, or not. The choice is yours, and once today has gone, you can never make it again.

One of the seemingly key tenets of our society is the need for personal worth. We all want to feel valued. We all want to feel important. We all want to be an essential ‘gear in the machine’, without which, the whole thing will just come grinding to a halt. Some of us with lower expectations just hope that if we were to not be around, the machine runs so bad we are missed immediately.

I wonder if this is part of our society and upbringing, or has been part of mankind since the fall. No matter which, for almost everyone the desire to be important is strong.

And so, we look for ways to be important, even in the context of the church. We proclaim 1 Corinthians 12, that the church is a ‘body’ and everyone needs to function for it to work, enhancing our personal worth. We sing songs that proclaim that had we been the only person alive, Jesus would have died just for us. We exalt our own personal worth before others, and even before God – because that is what makes us feel great.

Be honest – who would you prefer to be around? Friends who constantly tell you how useless and replaceable you are, or those who compliment you and show how important you are to them?

Lets take a look then at the Parable Jesus told. There were two people.

One, a religious leader, who comes before God, knowing full well his perceived value, and willing to remind God of it. I did this. I do that. I don’t just tithe, I double tithe, even of the smallest things. Just a reminder God, I AM your servant, and I can prove it.

And then comes the tax collector. Not only a sinner, but one who has seemingly even betrayed his people, the Jews, by collecting taxes from them for their oppressors – Rome. In context, this is the guy who probably saw financial advantage in working with the conquerors, at the expense of his own people. It would be natural in any oppressed society to look down on such a person. And yet, he comes before God with full knowledge of who he is. Nothing. Worse than nothing, he is a sinner against God, and a sinner against his own people.

And yet what does Jesus say? In this mans honesty he is recognized before God and justified. Before God he is not important, he is not needed – and he knows it. And yet he comes anyway.

He comes before God because there is something else here as well we don’t want to miss. Before God, he is valued.

In the time just before Jesus, John was baptizing people. These people were coming to him, publicly confessing their sins, and being baptized. They all knew they were sinners, and took action when John preached repentance.

But there was also a second group – the religious leaders. John’s reaction to them is quite vitriolic – he is not impressed. All I can think is they weren’t coming to repent of their sins, but to ‘have a look’ and see what was happening. They didn’t think themselves sinners, in need of public repentance and baptism. They thought themselves righteous before God.

And did John have some words for them – there is more if you want to read the full context in your own Bible.

Matthew 3:4-8
Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

If they were truly repentant, humble before God, they would ‘bear fruit’ of that repentance. Their lives would be changed. They would be desiring mercy – not sacrifice. And they would have been looking forward to the Messiah, not getting annoyed an ‘upstart preacher’ was causing a stir and planning to have Him killed.

So examine yourself – what is your real attitude? Do you come before God, in full knowledge of how important you think you are, or in real knowledge of how sinful you really are? Don’t worry, we all do it. I know I have come before God in the past, very pleased with myself for some reason – be it something I have given to, worked for, or done. I have done God’s work, and now I want to sit back and reap ‘the rewards of the righteous’.

Yes, there are rewards. Yes, there is praise. Yes, there is value in doing the right thing before God. But never forget who you really are – a sinner who lives daily by the grace of God. Here on this earth for a time and a reason, and only right before God because of His grace and work on the cross.

Now I know many people use these verses in a negative sense – in other words, ‘get your life right, Jesus could be back any second!’. A message of impending judgement and a call to action – and they have a point. Jesus is coming back. That means there should be a response from us.

But, if you focus only on judgement, you miss the other side of the message, the message of hope. You miss the message of encouragement buried not very deep in these verses.

I don’t know about you, but for me any most people I know this world is not perfect. There are plenty of things we would like to see changed. There are plenty of things that frustrate us, make us angry, sad, or a whole range of possibly negative emotions. For many people, there is little or no hope left, because the world is a harsh place, full of sin and wrong.

But let me tell you, this is a message of hope. Jesus is coming back – and He is going to set everything right. There is a purpose for us all being here now – whether that is just one of waiting until the work is done, or learning, or growing, or using our skills and abilities to further His kingdom. But no matter why you are here – and no matter how good or bad your day is, Jesus is coming back and is going to set the world right.

2 Peter 3:1–4, 3:8–10 (NIV)

Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.

Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.  

Can you see it? There are lots of people living their lives now, as if there is nothing to look forward to. There are those that claim ‘life will go on forever’. There are those that live as if there are no consequences to how they live, but take advantage of any and everyone around them. But in the end, Jesus is coming back – and he will set everything right.

So have hope. Have faith in God, that He will do what He said. We don’t find this just once in the Bible – but many, many times. From the old testament, to Jesus own words, to letters from the apostles – Jesus is coming back. Don’t doubt it, don’t lose hope, but have faith – God will set the world right.

Being the shortest month of the year, the carnival may be a little shorter than normal! Apologies to any who feel missed out, and please comment any corrections at the bottom. Please note – whilst all of these articles are valuable, I don’t guarantee I fully agree with all of them, but found them useful in study and discussion… Anyhow, less preamble more content, here we go.

Old Testament

Claude Mariottini has a post (and scanned PDF) on The Geographical challenges of the Sinai. The photos certainly solidify his point about wilderness and reliance on God! Jacob Cerone looks at Hosea 1:9 as an example of where translation and interpretation go very closely hand in hand.

Jeff carter takes a (dangerous) look at interpretations of the Song of Songs - A challenging book to be sure. He also clears up some translation issues in Song of Solomon 7:2 - using a limerick to help with ‘unmentionable’ and embarrassing words. You have been warned. This was definitely one of those verses you giggled at while at youth camp.

James McGrath also takes an overview look at Exodus and Conquest, starting with the book of Exodus through to Joshua. It’s only 20 minutes, so very high level, but a great discussion starter. I took a quick listen, but will have to listen again myself as there is a lot of content there.

New Testament

Mark Goodacre discusses Myths of Mary and the Married Jesus. I listened to the audio and as usual, Mark was very persuasive in his views, and presented an excellent case for ‘Mary Confusion’ in our popular culture. Especially relevant around the use then of Biblical characters and scenes in other media… Speaking of which, The Bible – TV Series is coming out. No, this isn’t even out yet (so is a stretch to qualify), however considering the amount of scholars who are talking about it, provided input to it, etc, it will at the very least be a great discussion starter with many, and I have no doubt, start a flurry of blog posts arguing the theological underpinnings of many scenes… Keyboards loaded and ready for argument!

Larry Hurtado has an interesting post on why did the gospel of Mark survive. The premise is most of the content can be found in the other gospels – which are more frequently quoted in the texts we have, so why was it kept along with the other three? Craig Bennet as usual had some good posts, including this one on Luke 5:20-23.

Phil Long from Reading Acts had a lot of good content this month, but I found this particular article on Peter and Simon the tanner to be particularly good. Doug Chaplin also takes a quick run at 1 Corinthians and claims that Paul is not a Protestant. Craig Bennett decides to follow some rabbit trails around 2 Timothy 15-16 – Scripture is God Breathed. Dangerous ground indeed.

Joshua Smith questions whether we are using numismatics (study of currency) enough in our look at the ancient world. Paul Himes takes a look at what he calls ‘The Hardest verse in the NT’ - yes, that is a tough one, but one of at least the best presented arguments for interpretation I have seen.

Archaeology and Old Stuff

Deane Galbraith takes a look at (another) inscription, this time from Gath which looks like it just might have the name Goliath on it. Just throwing this out there, the media is not here for our benefit – keep that in mind when ‘reading’ any sensationalist claims! And one more from Deane, Ham for Hanukah (just click it for the picture). OK  the article really is about discussions which try and create geographic boundaries for the nation of Israel based on the amount of pig bones found in an area.

James Tabor has a plug to the latest Biblical Archaeology Review, with an article on the historicity of Sodom and Gomorrah. It must just be one of those things we love – when people digging holes in the ground find old stuff – and connect it to things we know from the Bible.

Theology and Stuff (and Popes)

To start on a serious note, Abram at Words on the Word took on the meaty task of reviewing Zondervan’s ‘theologian trading cards’. Geeky, yet cool.

James Tabor looks at the prophecies of St Malachy - or at least the ‘so called’ prophecies. Conspiracy theorists unite, this stuff is gold for all of them. And to finish the Papal theme quickly, Andrew reminisces on if he was pope. Ben Witherington has some suggestions for the new Pope, and Scott Mcknight summarizes - basically, don’t pick a Catholic. I am thinking we are not being helpful here…

James McGrath (among others) takes a look at Logos from an iPad perspective. I moved to Logos 5 about 3 months ago – it is so large I am sometimes struggling to come to grips with the sheer volume of content, but at the same time have found it a very valuable tool – both on the PC and the iPad. As the world moves more and more to the digital age, this is where we are going – whether we like it or not I say. (caveat, computers and technical things are also my day job, so my perspective may be skewed!). James also looks at (and gets a little excited, proving his scholarly credentials) the book Greek Apocryphal Gospels, Fragments, and Agrapha by Rick Brannan.

Hard Hitter warning – Jeff (the scripture zealot) takes a long hard look at suffering, Job, and ‘happy Christians’ who through ignorance seem to think that all suffering is from personal sin, and if that person would just ‘give it all to God’ they would be better (rather than maybe just showing a little compassion)… Carl Trueman also asks is there Any Place for the God of Job? - Some great quotes in there, as well as what I would call good theology. This is well worth your time to read. Lastly Peter Enns calls out what he believes is the most sobering verse in the Bible

Mark Stevens interviews Jack Levinson on his book ‘Fresh Air’ . I have since purchased the book (see, great marketing!), but haven’t got far enough to provide a solid review. Mark however is convinced. And to top it off, he summarizes Barthian theology for us in a helpful and thorough post. This is the kind of summary I like to see – detailed and yet concise.

And that is it for this month’s Carnival! Normal service will be resumed on this blog tomorrow. Hopefully everyone finds something interesting to read!

Next month’s Carnival is hosted by Phil at Reading Acts.  If you have any post suggestions, please send them through to Phil at plong at gmail dot com.

Also, if you want to host a carnival on your blog, there are still slots free this year… Contact Phil before they are all taken!

We are not talking about people who have no idea about life either! These are the leaders of the nation. Powerful people. Educated people. Talented people, even. People who know who to talk to and what to do. Leaders.

And despite being leaders of ‘God’s chosen people’, they continually failed to rely on God.  Despite even being reminded by the prophets in their midst to rely on God, they failed to rely on Him, but instead made alliances with people around them. These would not have just been ‘friendly handshakes’ either – but costly alliances. If Israel was truly the weaker party, then they would have had to pay for protection in some way.

Isaiah 31:1–3 (ESV)

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help 
and rely on horses,
who trust in chariots because they are many
and in horsemen because they are very strong,
but do not look to the Holy One of Israel
or consult the LORD!
And yet he is wise and brings disaster;
he does not call back his words,
but will arise against the house of the evildoers
and against the helpers of those who work iniquity.
The Egyptians are man, and not God,
and their horses are flesh, and not spirit.
When the LORD stretches out his hand,
the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall,
and they will all perish together.

So in summary. Instead of relying on God, who chose them as a nation, as a people; who brought them into the promised land through many miracles, and who time and time again protected them and saved them from the people around and their own mistakes – they chose to rely instead on Egypt, the nation that in the past had been their slave masters, in what was most likely a costly relationship.

Sure, you say. We can judge now in hindsight! But what if you were there? What if you were living in Jerusalem at that time under the threat of being invaded, slaughtered or captured?

That is where the leaders failed. They looked and saw the physical reality of life, and decided to rely on a physical solution – rather than a supernatural one. It is an easy decision to make, and from the outside sometimes, even the most rational one.

But it isn’t the most rational decision!

Lets take an extra step back. We can pay hard earned money to get dubious protection from a group of people who were in the past quite happy to subdue us as slaves, or rely on the creator of the universe who specifically said He would protect us.

Given that perspective, I know what I would choose! And that is the perspective we need to have today. As we go about our lives now, what do we rely on? Our bank accounts? Our jobs? Our boss? Our friends? Our government? Do we live in the physical and deny the spiritual?

I know it is easier to see the physical – to feel the physical, and so to live only in the physical. But that is not the end of it. We have a God who has called us to Himself, who has done the work that we can be right with Him and part of His family – we need to put our trust and faith in that God to deliver us, and to guide us, and know then that whatever happens – good or bad, that God will use it for His good and purpose, and we will be rewarded for our faith and trust.

Sounds simple, but I know it will take a lifetime to get right!

I have collected already some good content – but there is always room for more… If you have a blog post from February, from an academic standpoint  you would like submitted (though you don’t need to be a professional scholar) - contact me soon (piston9 at gmail.com) and I will look at adding it to the carnival!

Otherwise, I will see you all again in two days with all of the fun, fair, frivolity, fairy floss and games of the February 2013 Biblical studies carnival…

I was reading through Exodus this morning when the passage of the burning bush calling to Moses really stuck out to me. Whilst most of us won’t experience a ‘burning bush’ moment where God will physically call to us in a miraculous fashion, there is definitely something we can all take away from this little piece of Moses’ experience.

God said – I am sending you.

Moses said – but who am I?

What was the answer? Not who he is, not how he was prepared, not anything about Moses at all. The answer was ‘But I will be with you‘.

We can look back on the bits we know of Moses life and say he was uniquely prepared for this role – no doubt. But this wasn’t what was pointed out when the call came. The simple answer was ‘But I will be with you‘.

How does this apply to you today?

When God calls, He will be with you. When God calls, you have already been prepared to the point that you need to be.

That doesn’t mean we should avoid study, or preparation! What it means is that there will be times in your life, where like Moses, you will be walking along, minding your own business, and God will call. It may be a small call ‘go and speak to this person’. It may be a little bigger ‘it’s time for you to step up in your service’. It may be a massive call ‘sell everything you own and go to China as a missionary.’

Just remember – the call will come. And when it does, God has already prepared you to go, and provided you with the most important thing that you could need.

“But I will be with you”

For those that are interested in ‘Biblical Studies’ – in other words, scholarly study into the Bible and related matters, the January 2013 Biblical Studies Carnival is up at Zwinglius Redivivus. This usually isn’t your everyday blog stuff, but (generally) very deep and interesting articles from the world of Biblical studies. A word of warning – I (and you) may not agree with everything on this page, but there are still some good reads there. These carnivals happen every month, and are hosted on a different blog each month.

The Feb 2013 carnival will be held…. Here! So I am extra busy collating articles posted this month to collate at the end of the month! Hopefully there will be some great content posted by others this month so it is a worthwhile read.

You see, it had been prophesied that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem. But there was a little problem – Joseph and Mary lived in Nazareth.

Not good – this one would need to be fixed.

God could have sent an angel to tell them to get up and go to Bethlehem. He could have told them to move in a dream. He could have chosen ten thousand other ways to have them go to where Jesus was to be born, without using people.

Instead, God chose to use someone. The greatest ruler of the time, the leader of the Roman world, Caesar.

Luke 2:1–6 (ESV)

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.

I’m sure at the time Caesar thought it was a great idea of his to decree that a census should be taken. A king needs to know how many soldiers he can use and how many people he can tax doesn’t he? Almost any king likes the thought of more tax… But it doesn’t matter what Caesar thought, it was God who was directing the scene – so that Mary and Joseph would be in Bethlehem at just the right time.

Amazing.

God can choose to use leaders, He can choose to use beggars. I am sure that Caesar had no idea he was God’s chosen vessel at that time!

And just like that, God can also use us. Not only because He can, but because He chooses to! All throughout the Bible you see things happen where God chooses to use someone to accomplish a task, when it would have been much easier to just do it Himself, or send an angel, or tell by a dream, or anything else. And you don’t need to be a king or earthly ruler. God will use anyone who submits to His will (a study for another time), but He can also use anyone at all – whether they want to be used or not.

Simply Amazing.

Jesus is walking to Ceasarea Philippi with His disciples. If the narrative from the previous scene follows immediately, they are in the process of walking the 25 Miles from where Jesus healed the blind man (Bethsaida), to the towns around Ceasarea Philippi. On a related topic, they are walking to a town that is essentially dedicated to the chief human leader of their time - Caesar. That alone makes an interesting parallel to the question posed!

Walking 25 miles. Tired possibly, though less so than us as they were used to walking more than we are! Footsore a little. Emotionally maybe they are still processing the healing of the blind man – that was a pretty serious miracle! They had just witnessed something completely out of this world, unheard of. Someone who was blind, being able to see. They could even see the process as first the healing wasn’t complete – then after a second touch the blind man was healed.

One quick thing to remember – we have heard the Gospel. We have heard about Jesus, we know about His death and resurrection. We may know many of the recorded acts of Jesus, and even some more in depth things from the later letters in the Bible. We may even have faith in Jesus! The disciples knew none of this – they were living right in this passage, right in this time, and anything after was still unknown and in the future.

Let’s take a quick look at the passage in question.

Mark 8:27–30 (ESV)

And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.  

So they are walking along, possibly a little tired, certainly in their minds trying to work through what just happened with the blind man and who Jesus was – and Jesus decides to throw them a few questions.

“Who do people say that I am?”.

Good question really. This isn’t a personal question (don’t worry, its coming). Simply a question about ‘everyone’, a question about what ‘the world’ thinks. Who do people say that I am? What do people say about me? And the answer is varies, but can be summarized – no one is sure – but they do not yet think He is the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of the World.

But then Jesus goes all personal on them. Forget generalities, forget personal space. Here goes.

“But who do YOU say that I am?”. 

Uncomfortable. The question is put out there to the disciples, who remember, are still living in this passage – they know nothing yet of the future. But they have seen some amazing things. There is no room for escape, only space for an honest answer. Peter, obviously a leader, speaks up “You are the Christ”. There it is – out in the open. Jesus isn’t just some prophet, just a ‘good guy’ – but the prophesied savior.

Jesus didn’t ask for opinions about what others thought. Jesus didn’t ask what the latest scholarly opinion of him was. Just simply, who do you say I am?

And so Jesus asks today. The world still doesn’t know what it thinks of Jesus. Some think he is a prophet (Muslims for example). Some think he was a ‘good man who died for loving people’ (I’ve heard that one a lot). Some think he was ‘just this guy’ who lived an exemplary life, showing love to all around him, but was nothing more. Others think Jesus is a fraud.

But even today, there is no room for others opinions – Jesus is still asking each one of us , personally, “Who do you say that I am?“. What will you answer?