In This Is Love (part 14)

Presumably, those that heard did more than hear, but also acted upon what it was that they heard, and one can imagine that Solomon was not shy about sharing the source of the wisdom that caused kings to come before him.  Not only does this fit snugly into the son of God tradition, as Israel’s king becomes a light to the nations through his impressive displays of wisdom and understanding, but it also shares a continuity with the New Testament’s most often referenced portion of Hebrew Scriptures, that being the second Psalm. 

There one hears the Psalmist speaking in regards to the son of God, giving direction in accordance with His role and saying “So now, you kings, do what is wise; you rulers of the earth, submit to correction” (2:10).  Is this not, in a sense, what was occurring at the proverbial feet of Solomon?  More to the point, is this not what is being communicated when the Apostle Paul reports the early church’s comprehension of Jesus and writes that “at the name of Jesus every knee will bow…”? (Philippians 2:10a) 

Yes, Solomon has great wisdom and great discernment and breadth of understanding (1 Kings 4:29), and certainly this can be said about Jesus as well, thereby linking the two in that manner.  Perhaps more importantly though, it is interesting to note what is said about the breadth of Solomon’s understanding, in that it “was as infinite as the sand on the seashore” (4:29b).  This, of course, is an overt reference to the Abrahamic covenant, and serves as an indicator of the need to see the Creator God fulfilling some measure of His promise to Abraham in Solomon, to whom the Creator refers as His son. 

Furthermore, Solomon’s sharing of this wisdom with the people of all nations would have made him an ideal exemplifier of divine blessing, thereby more solidly grounding him within the always important Abrahamic tradition.  The New Testament authors, to a man, see Jesus, together with His church, as the complete fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant, which once again forces an observer to reflect on such tremendous love. 

As can be seen, Jesus’ identification as the Son of God has to, of necessity, take place on multiple levels and in multiple contexts.  It cannot be understood apart from Israel’s history.  In fact, apart from Israel’s history, it withstands comprehension.  Indeed, this means that the whole of Christian teaching must be grounded within this same history in order for it to carry any meaning or comprehension whatsoever.  Divorcing the words and thoughts about Jesus from their historical context will inevitably lead to bad theology, Christology, soteriology, ecclesiology, eschatology, and more. 

Indeed, if one does not take the history and theology of Israel with all seriousness, then most words and thoughts and attempted deductions concerning Jesus will be little more than exercises in missing the point.  Though it is said that “no one ever spoke like this man,” had His teaching, along with the things said about Him by His disciples after His departure been incredibly unique, it could have gained momentary notoriety but eventually it is quite likely that most if not all of it would have been dismissed in much the same way the church would eventually dismiss the Gnostic texts that sprang up as exhibitions of that very type of historical disconnectedness that leads to bad theology (and so forth).  Unfortunately, much of what is said about Jesus, when it is not rooted in a sober treatment of the multiple points of His context, end up looking and sounding like little more than the obviously heretical Gnosticism that a church with a firm grasp of history and its deeply Jewish roots effectively and appropriately pushed to the side. 

Hated (part 5)

This study then returns to what Jesus said in the thirteenth chapter of Mark (and elsewhere): “You will be hated by everyone because of My name.  But the one who endures to the end will be saved” (13:13).  It is appropriate to key in on the second part of that statement, in which Jesus speaks of enduring to the end and being saved.  This use of “saved” links Jesus’ words to Israel’s Egyptian exodus, as again, “salvation” expressions, for Israel, speak of their God’s rescue from enemies or their deliverance from oppressors. 

Though it can be easily missed by the modern reader, such language would be easily picked up on by His hearers.  It would have been readily discerned by the majority of first century readers of the Gospels, as they would also have been steeped in Israel’s history.  When that is understood, and once one picks up on the exodus context for the hatred of which Jesus speaks, while at the same time discarding the idea that Jesus is talking about some ethereal, other-worldly notion of a paradise somewhere off in the sky to be enjoyed after death (a thoroughly un-Jewish notion) when He speaks of being saved, readers will find themselves better positioned to identify the reason for the hate. 

So why in the world is this connected to Israel’s exodus?  What is the reason that the Creator God gives for rescuing Israel (His covenant people through Abraham) from their Egyptian bondage?  Essentially, it is the same reason He gives for rescuing the church (His covenant people through Jesus) from their bondage?  The answer is to be found in Deuteronomy, where one finds Moses’ report that “It is not because you were more numerous than all the other peoples that the Lord favored and chose you---for in fact you were the least numerous of all peoples.  Rather it is because of His love for you and His faithfulness to the promises He solemnly vowed to your ancestors that the Lord brought you out with great power, redeeming you from the place of slavery” (7:7-8)  Just before this, Moses reminds Israel that they “are a people holy to the Lord” (7:6a), and says that “He has chosen you to be His people, prized above all others on the face of the earth” (7:6b). 

One of the Psalmists picks up on this, making it possible to catch yet another glimpse of that historical self-understanding out of and into which Jesus spoke, when the Psalmist writes (in reference to Israel in Egypt): “The Lord made His people very fruitful, and made them more numerous than their enemies.  He caused them to hate His people, and to mistreat His servants” (105:24-25).  This should provide pause to consider a question that is never asked, which is “what was Israel doing for Egypt when their God made them fruitful in that land?”  Were they being a blessing as Abraham had understood to have been?  What was it that caused Egypt to turn against Israel and to hate the covenant people of the Creator God?  Were they serving those people well by sharing their God’s blessings and revealing their God to them, or were they hoarding the blessing? 

That goes to the question of why the Abrahamic covenant existed.  Presumably, it existed so that Abraham could exemplify divine blessing (as indicated in Genesis), so that his God could be recognized and glorified as the Creator God of the cosmos.  This is the covenant under which Israel went into Egypt, and it is also the covenant that comes to be fulfilled by Jesus through His church, with the message of the Gospel (Jesus is Lord) as the mark of that covenant.  

Den Of Lions (part 16 of 16)

Why were both Daniel (figuratively) and Jesus (literally) resurrected from their respective (or intended) graves with no injury?  The answer that was given in Daniel’s case, as has already been seen, was “because he had trusted in his God” (6:23b).  This was true of Daniel, and it is equally true of Jesus.  At this point, Daniel could have easily retreated once again into the words of the Psalmist, saying “For He did not despise or detest the suffering of the oppressed; He did not ignore him; when he cried out to Him, He responded” (22:24).  This crying out would be based upon a hopeful trust in the delivering power of Israel’s faithful, covenant God.  Such words could certainly be found, reflecting that same trust, on the lips of a risen Jesus as well.  Trust was paramount.  

Now, the fact that Jesus’ ordeal of suffering is so closely linked to the story of Daniel’s ordeal of suffering, with both sharing the controlling, compelling narrative of the twenty-second Psalm, what now follows in Daniel’s story helps to shed a great deal of light on the response to the stories of Jesus’ Resurrection. 

If Jesus has successfully connected Himself to the story of Daniel, and it seems that He has, then this does not bode well for those who were directly responsible for His death.  For “The king,” who is positioned as the sovereign ruler desirous of appointing a “resurrected” Daniel to a place of rule over his entire kingdom (with all of the connections to the kingdom-related desires of the God of Israel and His messiah that are implied and which would have been well understood in Jesus’ day), “gave another order, and those men who had maliciously accused Daniel were brought and thrown into the lions’ den---they, their children, and their wives.  They did not even reach the bottom of the den before the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones” (6:24). 

With such a fate in mind, there is little wonder that the chief priests and elders began telling the story that “His disciples came at night and stole His body” (Matthew 28:13b).  It is not difficult to understand why these same men would later order the disciples “not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus” (Acts 4:18b), and later reminded the disciples of this order, saying “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name” (5:28a).  The words that immediately follow the reminder of the order draw direct attention to the men that were cast into the lion’s den, as well as the shouts of the people upon Pilate’s washing of his hands, as they said, “Look, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood on us!” (5:28b) 

When one considers that the story of Daniel, for a number of reasons, was so incredibly important and significant to the Jews of the first century, and that Jesus had so well seized upon that fact (especially during the whole of His ordeal), it makes sense that those who stood to find themselves identified with Daniel’s accusers (and therefore identified with those thrown to the lions) so furious with and desirous of executing (Acts 5:33) those who said things like (noting the parallels with Daniel) “The God of our forefathers raised up Jesus, whom you seized and killed by hanging Him on a tree.  God exalted Him to His right hand as Leader and Savior” (5:30-31a).  Anyone who found him or herself in that position would be just as unwilling to allow this story to be told. 

Ultimately, as was said of Daniel’s God by Darius, as he is said to have echoed what was previously set forth by the Psalmist, would be said of Jesus and His God, by the church, with this communicated to what would eventually be all believers by the Apostle Paul.  Jesus experienced and overcame His own den of lions, and (noting the parallels with Daniel) “As a result God exalted Him and gave Him the Name that is above every name, so that at the Name of Jesus every knee will bow---in heaven and on earth and under the earth---and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).             

Den Of Lions (part 15 of 16)

Upon opening the lion’s den and expectantly calling out into the darkness, the very first words that Darius is said to have heard from Daniel were “O king, live forever!” (6:21b)  This was followed by Daniel’s report about the angel, the lion’s mouths, and a lack of harm to come to him.  To this Daniel added, by way of explanation, that he had not suffered the expected demise “because I was found to be innocent before him.  Nor have I done any harm to you, O king” (6:22b). 

With this, Daniel has confirmed the king’s Psalm-inspired inquiry, effectively answering the Psalmist’s pleading words in regards to the lions from the verse previously quoted, with more of the Psalmist’s words, which were “You have answered me” (22:21c).  As the Psalm continues to play out here in the Daniel story, when Daniel speaks to the king and says “live forever,” the Psalmist can almost be heard saying “Let those who seek His help praise the Lord!  May You live forever!” (22:26b).  When Daniel speaks of not having done any harm to the king, the Psalmist can be heard declaring: “You loyal followers of the Lord, praise Him!” (22:23a).        

Following Daniel’s Psalm-ic declaration, the king is obviously and demonstrably thrilled.  The author reports that “the king was delighted and gave an order to haul Daniel up from the den.  So Daniel was hauled up out of the den.  He had no injury of any kind, because he had trusted in his God” (6:23).  Here one remembers that one of the first similarities that could be observed between the stories of Daniel and Jesus was that Darius had intended to appoint Daniel over his entire kingdom.  This, of course, was also the Creator God’s intention for His messiah, who was to be appointed over the kingdom of heaven on earth. 

So Darius, in essence, gets to play multiple roles, which assists in explaining why it is that he does not disappear from the tale of Daniel’s suffering to vindication in the way that Pilate disappears from the story of Jesus’ suffering to vindication.  Because of the desire to bequeath dominion over a kingdom, Darius, in the context of the analogy and in the telling of Daniel’s being pulled from what was to be his tomb, is here positioned in the role that would be taken up by the Creator, covenant God of Israel in relation to His messiah. 

What is here said in the story of Daniel, not surprisingly, is also to be said of the story of Jesus.  Darius was delighted and he gave an order for Daniel to be hauled up out of the pit of death into which he had been sent.  This is what the God of Israel would also do for Jesus, who is said to be the Son in whom He delighted.  Not only did Darius give the order, but Darius also had the power to execute the order, thus Daniel was taken out of the den.  Naturally, the Creator of the cosmos had the power to pull Jesus up out of death and the grave as well, and so He was. 

It is written that Daniel had no injury of any kind, and this because the lions’ mouths had been closed.  Jesus, of course, had been subjected to a terrifyingly painful and shameful ordeal, in which He suffered torment and grave injuries that ultimately resulted in death.  However, when He came forth from the grave, apart from the marks of the nails in His hands and feet (preserved for some reason), it appeared as if He had been subject to no injuries.  Why was this?  Had the lion’s mouths been closed?  Well, if one was to think of His accusers and opponents as the lions, then they were most certainly not closed.  However, if one consider those men to have been little more than the physical manifestations and pawns of the lion of man’s ultimate enemy, that being death, then yes, the lion’s mouth had been closed. 

Den Of Lions (part 13)

Just as a stone had been placed and sealed over what was to be Daniel’s tomb, so too was a stone placed and sealed over the tomb of Jesus.  If Daniel had indeed spoken the twenty-second Psalm in the ears of all who were there to hear him, which is a reasonable proposition to believe, then Daniel spoke of something akin to a resurrection---and Daniel did is said to have indeed come out of that which had been intended to be his tomb, unscathed by the lions. 

Jesus’ reference to the same Psalm, coupled with His own talk of rising again, together with His references to Daniel and the “Son of Man” tradition that it contained, can be presumed to have caused a bit of worry.  The main difference, however, was that nobody was able to witness the events inside the lion’s den, whereas all and sundry were able to be witnesses of Jesus’ horrific death.  Therefore, in the minds of the bringers of death, the only way that Jesus could be said to have risen again was for His disciples to come and steal His body, and simply lie about why the body had gone missing and why the tomb was now empty.  This is what precipitated the sealing of the tomb.  In the case of Darius and Daniel and the sealing of that tomb, it was likely to have been sealed at the insistence of the nobles, so that Darius himself, since he had been quite desperate to spare Daniel, would not come and attempt to retrieve Daniel from the den.

Is there really a good reason to believe that Psalm 22 was spoken by Daniel?  The Gospels report that Jesus spoke the words of the Psalm, but could one presume that Daniel did the same?  Is there any evidence that such a thing took place?  To that end, it is to be noted that, following from his suffering and his vindication and his declaration of praises, the Psalmist goes on to say “Let all the people of the earth acknowledge the Lord and turn to Him!  Let all the nations worship You!  For the Lord is king and rules over the nations.  All of the thriving people of the earth will join the celebration and worship; all those who are descending into the grave will bow before Him, including those who cannot preserve their lives.  A whole generation will serve Him; they will tell the next generation about the sovereign Lord.  They will come and tell about His saving deeds; they will tell a future generation what He has accomplished” (22:27-31).  These words follow talk of help, deliverance, and rescue. 

Turning back to Daniel then, and skipping over the events that are reported (though there shall be a return to them), it is reported that “King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations, and language groups who were living in all the land: ‘Peace and prosperity!  I have issued an edict that throughout all the dominion of my kingdom people are to revere and fear the God of Daniel.  “For He is the living God; He endures forever.  His kingdom will not be destroyed; His authority is forever.  He rescues and delivers and performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth.  He has rescued Daniel from the power of lions!”’” (6:25-27)  Here, the words of the Psalmist and of Darius are astonishingly similar.           

For all practical purposes, when Daniel was placed in the den of lions, death was his lot.  There was to be no escape.  In reality, there could be no escape.  His fate was to be the same as that of Jesus---and that fate was death.  Though Daniel did not succumb to the limits of mortality, as did Jesus, and though a hopefulness for deliverance was expressed by Darius, it is appropriate to suggest that Daniel, when sealed into the lion’s den, had been overtaken by death.  One can be assured that his opponents celebrated a great victory, confident that they had done away with one that had been oh so troubling to their plans for power and authority.  Certainly, Jesus’ opponents celebrated in a similar fashion and for similar reasons. 

Den Of Lions (part 12)

Now, returning to the issue of what it was that Darius said to Daniel, it is worth asking again why it was that Darius said what he said.  It would seem to make a great deal of sense that Daniel, who was being threatened with the lion’s den, would have quoted this Psalm to Darius, with Darius quite easily able to make the connection (based on a review of the Psalm to this point) between the words of the Psalm and what it was that he knew Daniel was going to be experiencing.  After the Psalmist speaks of his horrific plight, and his being set in the dust of death amidst lions and wild dogs, while indicating that death was inescapable (the Psalmist speaking of a state of exile, in strong Israelite tradition), there comes a change of tone. 

After the Psalmist considers himself dead, which is indicated by the fact that “They were dividing up my clothes among themselves; they are rolling dice for my garments” (22:18), as dead men need no clothes, he speaks of deliverance.  The Psalmist speaks and says “But you, O Lord, do not remain far away!  You are my source of strength!  Hurry and help me!  Deliver me from the sword!  Save my life…!  Rescue me…! (using Israel’s familiar exodus language)  You have answered me!” (22:19-21) 

It is in the wake of this that the Psalmist insists that he “will declare Your Name to my countrymen!  In the middle of the assembly I will praise You!” (22:22)  Could this be why Darius says to Daniel that “Your God whom you continually serve will rescue you,” as he was somehow and in some way expecting Daniel to be preserved?  If Daniel has cast himself in the role of the Psalmist that is now experiencing this misfortune, which would not be terribly difficult considering the nature of the ordeal (den of lions), then it is not a stretch in the least little bit to presume that Daniel made this Psalm known to Darius and to all who were responsible for this attempt on his life, as did Jesus.     

Not only could Daniel have spoken the words of the Psalm in the ears of Darius, but like Jesus, he could also have offered these words to the ears of all of his accusers as well.  Darius then, could have heard and responded to what could be believed to be Daniel’s strange choice of words, which spoke of help, deliverance, rescue, and answering that would enable him to declare the Name and praises of his God following the ordeal.  Naturally, the others could have responded to the words as well.  So upon Daniel’s having been thrown into the den of lions, and subsequent to the king’s reassuring words to him (spurred by Daniel’s faithful referencing to a song of His people), “a stone was brought and placed over the opening to the den.  The king sealed it with his signet ring and with those of his nobles so that nothing could be changed with regard to Daniel” (6:17).  This should quickly put one in mind of Matthew’s reports of what followed Jesus’ death (surrounded by “dogs” and “lions,” with His allusions to Psalm 22), after Joseph of Arimathea asked for the body of Jesus and placed it in his own tomb. 

Matthew reports that “The next day (which is after the day of preparation) the chief priests and the Pharisees assembled before Pilate and said, ‘Sir, we remember that while that deceiver was still alive He said, “After three days I will rise again.”  So give orders to secure the tomb until the third day.  Otherwise His disciples may come and steal His body and say to the people, “He has been raised from the dead,” and the last deception will be worse than the first.’  Pilate said to them, ‘Take a guard of soldiers.  Go and make it as secure as you can.’  So they went with the soldiers of the guard and made the tomb entrance secure by sealing the stone” (Matthew 27:62-66).  According to the Gospel records, Jesus had indeed spoken of rising again after three days.  Along with that, His recent reference to the twenty-second Psalm (while on the cross) in an atmosphere in which there was a great awareness of the book of Daniel, as well as a constant looking forward to a Davidic king not unlike the king that had been said to have spoken that great Psalm, would have induced this exchange between Pilate and those responsible for Jesus’ own journey into the metaphorical lion’s den that was crucifixion and death.   

Den Of Lions (part 11)

When all efforts at recourse had been attempted and spent, Darius was forced to relent.  “So the king gave the order, and Daniel was brought and thrown into a den of lions” (Daniel 6:16a).  Surely, this was going to be a horrible fate.  Though the Persians engaged in the practice of crucifixion, it was not of the type that was practiced by the Romans.  This manner of punishment could well be considered to be the crucifixion of the day.  It was certainly a dramatic method of shaming, as was crucifixion.   

Before being delivered over to what was understood to be his certain death, “The king consoled Daniel by saying, ‘Your God whom you continually serve will rescue you!’” (6:16b)  It is quite interesting that Darius, a Persian king, would say such a thing before throwing this Jewish prophet into a den of lions.  Why would he say this?  Was he familiar with the Psalms?  Had Daniel, before that point, made reference to the twenty-second Psalm?  If he had, and if this was part of the larger story of Daniel that was passed through the centuries and told even at Jesus’ day, then it makes for an even tighter analogy between Daniel and Jesus, as one considers the situation in which the one that is crying out to the Creator God finds himself. 

Naturally, when the Psalmist references “a roaring lion that rips its prey” (22:13a), pleads that his God will “Rescue me from the mouth of the lion” (22:21a), and speaks of “a gang of evil men” that “crowd around me,” and “like a lion they pin my hands and feet” (22:16b), the tighter connection goes beyond the simple reference to lions in this Psalm,  Though this is quite the shining example of a connection between the ordeals of Daniel and Jesus, that is not the limit of the link.  When Jesus cries out on the cross, “My God, my God, why have You abandoned Me?” (22:1a), He is not merely quoting a single verse, but rather, in the established rabbinic tradition, and in the tradition of the teachers of Israel, He is drawing attention and calling to mind an entire narrative.  Jesus, again in strong rabbinic tradition, together with the Gospel author, wants the entire Psalm, as well as any particular stories that are linked to that Psalm, told with reference to that Psalm and given context by that Psalm. 

The story of Daniel would be one of those stories that would likely have come to be inextricably linked with this Psalm.  So when the people, and especially the leaders of the people that bear the responsibility for His death, hear this cry from Jesus, they will recall the whole of the Psalm.  They will consider the Psalmist’s reference to lions, and the story of Daniel in the lion’s den (with Daniel so popular and well known in the day) will immediately come to mind.  Jesus would be here be linking His plight with that of Daniel, making His previous references to the seventh chapter of Daniel, and His reference to the Son of Man (and by extension the beast that is doing battle against the saints of the Most High, and the Ancient of Days, and the kingdom given to the Son of Man, and the four hundred ninety year period of Daniel’s prophecy) as He stood before the High Priest, even more telling. 

The words of this Psalm can easily be put into the mouths of both Daniel and Jesus.  Both groaned in prayer (22:1b), cried out to God (22:2a), relied upon the promises given to Israel and its ancestors, (22:4), trusted upon their God’s power to perform according to those promises (22:5), were insulted and despised by their adversaries (22:6), experienced taunting and mocking (22:7), given up to the salvation of their God as a test of His power and their truthfulness (22:8), hemmed in by the powerful (22:12), devoured with words (22:13a), set in the dust of death (22:15b), and experienced the gloating of their enemies (22:17b). 

Describing David, Seeing Jesus (part 3 of 3)

The Psalmist insists, however, that “a violent oppressor will not be able to humiliate him.”  It may have appeared that Jesus had been successfully oppressed and humiliated by death, but this was not the case.  There was a Resurrection.  Those that commented on it saw it as a vindication.  They saw it as a glorification.  They perceived it as an exaltation.  By His Resurrection, it came to be understood that Jesus was made to defeat death.  Now, with that defeat, the oppressor has become the oppressed, with Jesus having gained victory for Himself and for the kingdom of God that was now to extend itself forth upon the earth.  Jesus has been shown forth to the appointed Son-of-God-in-power by the Resurrection.  With this, He comes to be recognized as the unquestioned King and Lord of all. 

Though it will still be unfortunately at work in the world, because there is a hope for a general resurrection because of Jesus’ Resurrection, the once powerful oppressor that had ruled the thoughts and minds and emotions of mankind, has been stripped of its power and holds sway over the lives of the Creator God’s people no more.  Indeed, because of the Resurrection, the New Testament authors insist that the Holy Spirit, through the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus (He is Lord) that is and tells of the Creator God’s power and faithfulness, somehow gifts a faith that shows forth as a public and trusting allegiance to Jesus as Lord of all.  The attendant renewal and transformation of the mind, so that the place once occupied by death and all that death brings in its train, is now occupied by Jesus.  Accordingly, it is thoughts of Him and being in His service, along with a contemplation of the Creator God’s mission for the world, that now rules the thoughts, the minds, and the emotions of men and women that are now understood to stand free. 

With the Resurrection and the hope for resurrection that it sparks, together with no real fear of death as exhibited by countless willing martyrs down through the centuries, it can be said that death has lost its sting and the violent oppressor is de-toothed and de-clawed.  The enemy that sought to humiliate, is now itself humiliated, as the covenant God speaks through the Psalmist and says “I will crush his enemies before him; I will strike down those who hate him” (89:23). 

Though the Psalmist presents the reader with these words in association with David, the ultimate view that is provided, as the Psalms are viewed through the apex of the Scriptural narrative that is the Christ-event, is most definitely that of Jesus, as one is able to find a portion of the Gospel message when the Psalmist goes on to report the Creator God, following the defeat of this once vicious and all-conquering enemy, as saying “I will appoint him to be My firstborn son, the most exalted of the earth’s kings” (89:27).  Is Jesus not referred to as the King of kings?  In regards to the statement concerning the firstborn son (a royal title), of that son the covenant God of Israel says, “I will always extend My loyal love to him, and My covenant with him is secure” (89:28). 

Jesus is to be understood as the culmination of the covenant that began with Abraham, and the restoration of the covenant that God made with Adam.  In Him, that covenant remains secure, and all those that call Him Lord, and who order their lives according to that approbation, can stand secure in the knowledge of their redemption and the hope of their joining Him in the restored creation at the final consummation of the kingdom of God, in which the Creator God’s people are allowed to humbly participate in this day.  God’s promise, to “give him an eternal dynasty, and make his throne as enduring as the skies above” (89:29) was sealed by the Resurrection, and made manifest by His people, in believing union with Him as He works through them to be the people of His kingdom, so that the will of the Creator might be done on earth as it is in heaven.    

Describing David, Seeing Jesus (part 2 of 3)

How should one frame this issue of Jesus offering tribute to His enemy?  Jesus does not say “You take the bodies, I only want the souls.”  Jesus did not experience merely a spiritual, soul-ish Resurrection, nor will those that stand in the union of trusting allegiance to Him, calling Him Lord.  Jesus did not say to His enemy, “You take this world (the creation), we’re just going to heaven.”  No, with man’s fall came the fall of all of the covenant God’s good creation and the flood of death and corruption into the world.  The Creator God’s promise is to redeem all of His creation, defeating death in its entirety and ending corruption.  Indeed, the creation is described as groaning for this redemption to occur, as it was subjected to futility through no fault of its own, and hopes for a resurrection like that which will come upon the Creator God’s children (Romans 8:20-21). 

The Resurrection is taken to be the sign and the promise that the enemy exacts no tribute whatsoever from Jesus.  If there was to be no physical resurrection and no restoration of the creation---if believers are just waiting to be whisked away into heaven so that they can watch the world be destroyed---then they can know that a tribute (sign of subservience to His enemy) was exacted from Jesus, that death was not truly defeated, and that they have no true reason to hope in Him.       

As believers continue to see their King Jesus through the Psalmist’s description of the anointed, supported, and strengthened one referred to as “David, My Servant,” they read that “a violent oppressor will not be able to humiliate him” (89:22b).  Death, of course, is the greatest of all oppressors.  It is and has been the constant, stalking, baneful enemy of man from the time of the fall.  It has crowded in upon his thoughts, and in some way, covered the majority of his waking moments. 

For Jesus, as a man, death stood in the same role.  When the Gospels are read, the reader finds that death surrounded Jesus on a regular basis.  Not only did it surround Him because people were constantly coming to Him for healing from maladies that were often productive of death, and not only did He raise people from the dead, but quite often, the Gospel stories reveal that his own life was threatened, with reports of there being a relatively consistent existence of plans, from nearly the beginning of His ministry, to silence Him through assassination.  Sometimes, these plans were well thought out and deliberated, and sometimes, such as that which occurred in Nazareth, they seem to be a spur-of-the-moment thing. 

When death finally caught up with Him and had Jesus in its grasp, not only was it going to be an oppressor, but it was going to be a violent oppressor.  Jesus was going to experience the full weight of death’s might as He underwent the scourging and the cross, which represented the pinnacle of man’s corrupted creativity, as it was one of the most torturous and painful means of death ever devised. 

The cross, along with its attendant punishments, was designed to not only induce the utmost of painful deaths, but also to humiliate, and to demonstrate the shamed victim’s utter powerlessness against the nearly omnipotent power of Rome.  This is that which Jesus underwent.  To all appearances, it seemed that He was made to succumb to the same fate as all that had been sent down the path of the cross, sharing in its shame and its humiliation, violently oppressed by death at the hands of Rome. 

Joseph's Release (part 2 of 2)

How would this particular experience of Joseph apply to an attempt to better understand the message of Jesus?  While the believers posits that Jesus is presently ruling as Lord of all things within the kingdom of heaven that commenced with His Resurrection and began to make its presence felt on earth through those that believe in Him and follow the serving and suffering example of Jesus, one should consider what is billed as the great dissertation on the Resurrection, as presented in the fifteenth chapter of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, that Jesus “must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet” (15:25), and that “The last enemy to be defeated is death” (15:26). 

Quoting from the eighth chapter of the Psalms, Paul adds to that, writing “For He has put everything in subjection under His feet” (15:27a), while also going on to point out that “when it says ‘everything’ has been put in subjection, it is clear that this does not include the One (Father) Who put everything in subjection to Him (Son)” (15:27b).  Closely echoing the story of Joseph’s imprisonment, release, and exaltation to the place of second-in-command, one can go on to read here in the Corinthian letter that “when all things are subjected to Him, the Son Himself will be subjected to the One Who subjected everything to Him, so that God may be all in all” (15:28). 

Reflecting back to Joseph then, having been given his charge and management responsibility, the Psalmist reminds the covenant people that Pharaoh also gave Joseph “authority to imprison his officials and to teach his advisers” (Psalm 105:22).  So too Jesus, having been freed from an imprisoning tomb of death, and having had a kingdom delivered over to Him, was also given authority that would be connected with teaching.  With this, one looks to the Gospel of Matthew, and latching on to the greater narrative structure that is to be found there, hears Jesus---before His death and Resurrection, but just before it is posited that “From that time on Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things… and on the third day be raised” (16:21), and so connecting His authority with His death and Resurrection---speaking to His disciples and saying, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.  Whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven” (16:19). 

Clearly, Matthew has the authority of the Christ (anointed one/Messiah/King of Israel) in mind as a key component of His presentation of Jesus, and this is made quite poignant in Matthew’s record of Jesus’ farewell address to His disciples.  In it, Jesus makes an allusion to the seventh chapter of Daniel, with its kingdom and authority for the Son of Man, and says “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me” (28:18b).  Together with the quote from the sixteenth chapter, this dovetails quite nicely with the authority that was said to have been delivered to Joseph.  Building on this, Jesus Himself would seem to be extending and solidifying the connection between Himself and Joseph, saying “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (28:19-20a).   

Joseph's Release (part 1 of 2)

The shackles hurt his feet; his neck was placed in an iron collar, until the time of his prediction came true.  The Lord’s word proved him right. – Psalm 105:18-19  (NET)

Oftentimes, it is a relatively simple matter to find Jesus and the Gospel being spoken of in a proleptic manner in the Hebrew Scriptures  On numerous occasions, when the aforementioned Scriptures are viewed through the lends of the cross and the Christ-event, it is not at all difficult to find Jesus especially reflected in the purported accounts of the life of Joseph.  Here in the one hundred fifth Psalm, the link between Joseph and Jesus, and with it the presentation of Jesus and the message of the Gospel (Jesus is the crucified and resurrected Lord of all), seems to be one of the most explicit and direct that one will ever be able to find. 

In verses eighteen and nineteen, as the Psalmist recounts a portion of the tale of Joseph in Egypt, the reader is reminded that Joseph’s feet were in shackles, while his neck was in an iron collar.  This situation existed until he was vindicated by a prediction that he is reported to have made.  One would be hard pressed to find an analogy closer to that which would eventually be experienced by Jesus.  With these verses then, the reader is reminded of Jesus’ death, along with His being placed in a tomb, as death and the grave symbolically (and somewhat literally) take the place of the shackles and iron collar. 

As was said to have been the experience of Joseph, Jesus too was imprisoned.  This prison was a tomb.  How long did His imprisonment last?  Naturally, it is well understood that the duration of His imprisonment was three days.  On a deeper level however, one could insist that the imprisonment continued until the time of Jesus’ hopeful predictions about His Resurrection came true.  With that Resurrection, like Joseph (who experienced a veritable resurrection), He was vindicated.  To borrow the language of the Psalmist, He was proved right. 

In the verses that follow, the Psalmist provides an analysis of this release from prison.  For Joseph, it is said that “The king authorized his release” (105:20a).  Pharaoh released Joseph from his imprisonment, and the believers knows that this release by the king to be true of Jesus as well.  The Creator God---the sovereign ruler of the universe---released Jesus from the shackles of death.  Indeed, in the very first public proclamation of Jesus’ Resurrection, as recorded in the second chapter of Acts, Peter speaks about death and says that “it was not possible for Him to be held in its power” (2:24b). 

Of Joseph it is said that “the ruler of nations set him free” (105:20b).  With His being freed from death, it is more than appropriate to speak of Jesus with such words, while also finding that it is said of Joseph that Pharaoh “put him in charge of his palace, and made him manager of all his property” (105:21).  In fact, if one was to turn to the original story of Joseph, there it would be found that Joseph was made second in command over the empire of Egypt.  Only Pharaoh was greater than Joseph. 

What Would God Have Me Do? (part 1 of 3)

God stands in the assembly of El; in the midst of the gods He renders judgment. – Psalms 82:1  (NET)

What is it that God would have me to do?  It is one of the most important questions that a believer can ask of himself.  So often, individuals speak of putting things in God’s hands, searching out the will of God for their lives, attempting to live within God’s plan for their lives, trusting in Divine providence, and so on.  Each person that considers himself or herself a member of the Creator God’s covenant family, through belief in Jesus as Lord, must wrestle with such things.  Too often, the response is to make a determination about things that they are going to do, or things that they are going to avoid, so that they can feel comfortable, in an inducement towards behaving in a certain way, that generally has far more to do with the perception of those around them than with an honest reflection on their God’s true plans and purposes and intentions for His redeemed people.

This Psalm presents some significant answers for the questions and concerns by which so many are dogged in their attempts to live a “Christian life.”  The Psalmist begins by writing that “God stands in the assembly of God.”  Here, “El” is the high god of the Canaanites.  Effectively, the Psalmist presents Israel’s God as supreme to all other supposed deities, and speaks of His power to enter into the assembly of the gods of other nations and render judgment.  So not only is this applicable to the Canaanites that surround Israel, but it can be applied to any and all nations that look to an assembly of gods, whether Egypt, Greece, Persia, or Rome. 

The Psalmist insists that Israel’s God is supreme, so whether He is rendering judgment on the gods of the Canaanites, or on those who look to their gods in order to justify their actions, judgment is justly rendered.  Of course, because there are actually no other true gods on which to pronounce judgment, and no other true gods which Israel’s Creator God can approach in order to prove His superiority, it can be known that the Creator God is speaking directly to the people who have created their gods in their own images (as opposed to the God that created man in/as His image). 

Therefore, here, when Israel’s God speaks, though He is said to be in the assembly of “El,” it can be confidently asserted that He is speaking to the men behind the idols and false gods.  The Creator God pronounces His judgment on all that men wrongly worship, whatever that may be.  Not only is He then speaking to the people that looked to these gods, but without a doubt, Israel’s God is pointedly speaking to His people as well. 

With these things said, it is then possible to return to the issue with which this study began, so as to determine what it is that the Creator God would have his covenant people do.  In answering that question, the covenant God starts with a question, presented in a negative manner.  He speaks and says, “How long will you make unjust legal decisions and show favoritism to the wicked?” (82:2)  Here, because the question is posed as to why favoritism is shown to the wicked, and because what is wicked can only be understood in juxtaposition to that which is not wicked, it can be asserted that the Creator God is speaking to the people to whom He has provided a revelation of Himself.  

Psalm Of The King (part 4 of 5)

Additionally, one can rest fairly assured that part of Jesus’ prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane, before He was made to embark upon the ordeal of the cross, was that His life be sustained; and that when He went down into death, taking the Creator God’s cursing and going into exile on behalf of all God’s people (because He is demonstrated to have understood Himself to be Israel’s Messiah, with all of the implications of unending rule and kingship associated with that position), that He be granted the redemption of physical resurrection to new life---the deliverance from exile---that was the great hope and expectation of Israel.  In union with Him, that same hope that animated much of Israel belongs to all believers as well.  

Moving on to the fifth verse of this Psalm, Jesus and others would find “Your deliverance brings him great honor” (21:5a).  Similar to the way in which “blessings” would have carried a specific connotation for the Psalmist, for Jesus, and for the people of Israel, the use of “deliverance” would have a deliberate reference attached to it as well.  “Deliverance,” when used by the people of Israel (and most likely the Psalmist as well), pointed to exodus---to redemption.  Again, these words are not to approached apart from their own terms, and they are certainly not to be informed by twenty-first century mindsets.  The modern observer must take the contextual approach that goes beyond the use of language, making every attempt to understand the terminology in its historical, philosophical, theological, political, cultural and social setting as well, with no disconnect between any of those things. 

For Israel, “deliverance” was deliverance from exile, and along with the memory of the Babylonian and Assyrian experiences, as highlighted in the historical narrative of Israel and in the prophets, the Deuteronomic description of exile would have loomed large in the popular imagination.  In the area of deliverance, Israel’s story includes the story of their covenant God delivering His chosen people from Egypt.  Their God is then reported to have delivered His people from a variety of oppressors through the time of the Judges. 

Enhancing the understanding of exile and deliverance (or exodus), the record of Judges demonstrates that exile entailed much more than simply Israel being away from its land.  The idea of exile included the Creator God’s people not ruling themselves in their own land.  Because of that, this concept can be carried forward into His own day, as Jesus would have done, building on Ezra and Nehemiah’s declarations that the exile was continuing even though the Creator God’s people had returned to their land, and it can be verified that the people of Israel (by and large) still saw themselves as a people in exile.  This ongoing conception of exile from God’s blessings, among other things, was a major impetus behind the attempts at revolution in the centuries leading up to, and the century following Jesus’ life, death, and Resurrection. 

Part of the anticipation for their messiah, which was connected with the vision of Daniel and the four hundred ninety years attached to that vision that would culminate with the coming of the messiah (regardless of when Daniel was composed), was that the messiah, their king (Son of God, Son of Man, Son of David---all kingly terms that would eventually be vested with divine significance because of the post-Resurrection realization, by His disciples, that Jesus had been the physical embodiment of God in His saving action on behalf of His chosen people) would bring Israel’s long exile to an end once and for all.  

Psalm Of The King (part 2)

It came to be understood that, in the Resurrection, the Creator God’s kingdom on earth was inaugurated.  Accordingly, as Jesus is said to have prayed, His will would begin to be done on earth as it is in heaven, specifically by and through those who would be equipped by their God for service to His glory.  Though all those so equipped would continue to meet with the corruption that comes with living in this world that still awaits the return of the Christ and the final consummation of the kingdom of heaven, and though they would still go to their deaths, they would be able to live that life while gripping on to the implied promise that just as Jesus was raised up from the grave with a new body and a new life here in the midst of the covenant God’s creation, having been raised with Resurrection power that serves to push back the forces of evil here in this world, so too would they, one day, be raised up from the grave, with a new body and a new life, here in the God of Israel’s fully restored and renewed creation.   

Jesus, above all things, is presented as one who sought to do the will of the Father as He understood it.  He sought to be the One through Whom the Creator God would fulfill the covenant with Abraham, and in so doing bless the world.  He is presented as one who sought to be the second Adam---to be the first truly human being, and therefore rightly bearing the image of His Creator---that would set all things right, regaining the dominion over the created order that had been given to Adam.  This would include reversing the curse, through His own faithfulness together with the faithfulness of the covenant God, that had been brought into creation by what was understood to be Adam’s faithlessness. 

He is presented as the who sought to be the light for the world that had been His God’s intention for His chosen people Israel, of which He was, of course, a part.  With such intentions, according to the way that He is said to have presented Himself to the world and the way that He is presented in the stories about Him, Jesus could certainly have been emboldened by the Psalmist’s declaration in regards to Israel’s king that “You grant him his heart’s desire; You do not refuse his request” (21:2).   

Continuing through these verses of the twenty-first Psalm, one finds the third verse saying: “For You bring him rich blessings; You place a golden crown on his head” (Psalm 21:3).  Whenever this mention of “blessings” is found, it is imperative to keep the word in a context that would have been comprehensible and applicable to those that would have been reading these writings, namely Israel in general and members of the covenant people more specifically.  Rather than just thinking of “blessings” in vague generalities of the Creator God’s goodness and generosity towards His people, one is obliged to more appropriately think of blessings in terms of the Abrahamic covenant, in which the covenant God promised to cause Abraham to exemplify divine blessing, to bless those who blessed Abraham, and to bless all the peoples of the world through Abraham and his descendants (Genesis 12:2-3). 

Now, because the use of “blessings” in the Abrahamic covenant could be considered to be vague, to find a more specific statement of the “blessings” of the Hebrew/Jewish mindset of the author of the Psalm, one would need to take into consideration the potential blessings of their God that are directed to Israel in the first fourteen verses of the twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy (this passage expounds on what is found in Leviticus 26).  The blessings include Israel’s elevation above all the nations of the earth (28:1), their blessings in the city and the field (28:3), blessings for children (28:4), blessings on the produce of the soil, livestock, herds, and flocks (28:4), blessings on basket and mixing bowl (28:5), the blessing of enemies being struck down (28:7), blessings of the respect of the people of the earth (28:10), blessings of rain (28:12), and blessings of being able to lend to all while being free from debt (28:12). 

This consideration demands to be made, and readers must connect the use of “blessings” in the Psalms with the specific ideas that were held concerning the Creator God’s blessings, with this owing to what needs to be understood and always recognized as the continuous, narrative structure of the Scriptures.  Failing to do so reduces the ability to understand the message of what is taken to be God’s Word and the role of Jesus.  

My Enemies (part 6 of 6)

As a reward for their belief in Jesus as the Son of God and the world’s true King, Master, Savior, Leader, Ruler and more (as opposed to the Caesar, who was then afforded and honored with those titles by those that worshiped him), large numbers of people, because they were claiming allegiance to that different and greater king than Caesar, were put to death.  In spite of that, people continued to believe. 

Though such a situation is bewildering to contemplate, one should not find this to be all that surprising.  The Psalmist speaks to this, having already written, “When they hear of My exploits, they submit to Me.  Foreigners are powerless before Me; foreigners lose their courage; they shake with fear as they leave their strongholds” (18:44-45).  The world’s powers did not know what to do with the message of Jesus.  They dealt with the challenge in the only way they knew how, which was to meet it with the cowardice and ultimate powerlessness of the sword.  As Paul would write in Colossians, though they could certainly wield the sword, the power of their ancient stronghold had been shaken.  Those powers had been disarmed (2:15), and they had no true and lasting power against those who believed in this Man Who had been resurrected, or in the message of His name.

Looking to the Psalms for strength and guidance, and considering the mortal enemies against whom He was going to do battle, and trusting that His God was going to be completely faithful to see Him through, Jesus could take up the Psalmist’s words of praise, saying, “The Lord is alive!  My Protector is praiseworthy!” (18:46a)  Knowing that He would, even indeed He was correct in His estimations and successful in His mission, eventually hand all rule and all authority on earth back over to the Father, Jesus could say, “The God Who delivers Me is exalted as King!” (18:46b) 

Facing the knowledge of His eventual demise at the hands of Israel’s oppressors, but also the hopes of His subsequent and expected Resurrection (according to then-current Jewish expectation) Jesus would faithfully proclaim, “The one true God completely vindicates Me; He makes nations submit to Me” (18:47).  “Yes,” says Jesus, to the God of Israel, in regards to death at the hands of Rome and of mankind’s curse that began with Adam, “He delivers Me from My enemies; You snatch Me away from those who attack Me; You rescue Me from violent men” (18:48). 

Because of these things---because of the Gospel’s proclamation that Jesus is indeed King over all nations, because many have been and are made to believe this by the power of the Holy Spirit, and because the Creator God works through those that have cast their allegiance with Jesus as His instruments to establish His good in this world as they await the return of our Lord and the final consummation of that glorious kingdom of which they are a part at this very moment, that group of covenant loyalists join with Jesus and declare, “So I will give You thanks before the nations, O Lord!  I will sing praises to You!  He gives His chosen King magnificent victories; He is faithful to His chosen ruler, to David and His descendants forever” (18:49-50). 

Jesus is Lord because the Creator God is faithful.  Because Jesus is Lord, death has no power.  Because He rose, all of those that rise up with Him in order to bow down in humble service to the world, stand in defiance of death and dismiss the fear it brings, for it is a conquered enemy and a defeated foe. 

My Enemies (part 3)

In Jesus’ day, the Roman cross was the symbol of Rome’s power of death over the lives of its subjects.  It was an instrument of terror and domination.  Because Israel was still in subjection to a foreign power, they still correctly considered and understood themselves to be in exile and under their God’s cursing.  Thus, the cross, and it’s use against members of the Jewish populace, was an incredibly stark reminder of the curse of covenant failure. 

In the twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy, for violations of His covenant with them, the Creator God promised to His people to “raise up a distant nation against you, one from the other side of the earth as the eagle flies” (28:49a).  Now, numerous nations had carried the eagle as a symbol, and the eagle was also the symbol of Rome’s Senate, its people, and of imperial Rome.  It is said that approximately twenty years prior to Jesus’ birth, King Herod the Great placed an eagle, in deference to Rome, over an entrance to the Temple.  For multiplied reasons, not the least of which was the fact that it reminded the people of Rome’s domination (and therefore their God’s cursing) as well as passages such as that of Deuteronomy above, this mightily offended large numbers of the people of Israel. 

So through an understanding of the power of Rome and the cursing that was part of Israel’s narrative that was symbolized by the cross, along with the eagle in conjunction with Rome’s military might, as well as the Psalmist’s insistence in regards to rescue from a hostile army, one can make a realistic analysis and re-construction of Jesus’ mindset as He considered His role in regards to the establishment of the kingdom of heaven, on behalf of His people and the world. 

While Jesus did not rise up to conquer Rome (as many in His day expected of Israel’s messiah), by being raised up from the dead after having been put to death on the Roman cross, He was rescued from that which represented the oppressive subjection of the world’s power, which was the cross.  Not only that, it must also be said that Jesus went directly into that which His own people saw as a representation of being accursed by God, which was being hung on a tree (a cross), that He traversed death in the grave, and that he came out the other side, completely vindicated by the covenant God’s power and faithfulness.

With that vindicating Resurrection from the grave clearly in mind, the Apostle Paul, also operating under the influence of messianic ideas and the inspiration of the Psalms and the prophets according to the historical narrative of the covenant people, writes that Jesus “was appointed Son-of-God-in-power according to the Holy Spirit” (Romans 1:4a).  This title, of course, was one held by the Caesar.  Paul indicates that this man, Jesus, that had been subject to a violent and gruesome form of death in which the world’s power clearly overcame Him in a way that was visible to all people, contrary to any reasonable or rational way of thinking, had come out the other side of death and was now in the position of true power. 

His Resurrection from the form of death that represented the power of death over life, showed the world that it was Jesus, and not the Caesar, that now had the power of life over death.  This point is even more significant when one remembers that it is made in a letter to the believers that lived under the nose of the one looked to as the son-of-god-in-power.  Among a number of other things, this improbably Resurrection vindicated His claims as Israel’s Messiah.  It is with this in mind that Paul now insists that all that was said to be true of that messiah throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, must now be said to be true of Jesus. 

My Enemies (part 2)

The Apostle Paul would latch on to this theme of kneeling, echoed elsewhere in the Hebrew Scriptures, and include in his letter to the believers in Philippi “that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow---in heaven and on earth and under the earth” (2:10).  Not only could Jesus come to believe that, if He was correct in His assessment of the messianic vocation, His enemy would kneel and bow before Him, but Jesus could also look to this Psalm and go to the cross with the confident declaration that “You make My enemies retreat” (18:40a).  With the power of the faithful, covenant-making-and-keeping God at His back, Jesus could make the assertion that “I destroy those who hate Me” (18:40b).  Surely, the powers of death and destruction could be understood to hate the bringers of life, renewal, restoration, and re-creation. 

His enemies would not go down without a battle, nor without an assertion of their rights.  In fact, those enemies would cry out.  The Psalmist would write, “they cry out, but there is no one to help them” (18:41a).  More than that, His enemies, death and the grave, would even “cry out to the Lord, but He does not answer them” (18:41b).  Wait a minute.  How could death cry out to the Lord?  Why would death cry out to the sovereign Lord of the cosmos? 

In crying out to the Lord, if in its own death throes as the power of resurrection life was about to be unleashed into the world, death would be doing nothing more than asserting its rightful claim against all of mankind.  According to the narrative by which Jesus would have ordered and defined His own life, and by which His thinking would be shaped, that rightful claim began with Adam.  More specifically, death would be asserting its rightful claim against Israel (of which Jesus was part), which had been in constant violation of their God’s commandments to them, as evidenced by their ongoing experience of His promised curses and their continual state of exile, being oppressed and subjugated while in their own land 

Among a number of reasons, it was this failure of Israel that would make it necessary, because the covenant God is faithful to His promises, for their King to undergo that which was seen as the greatest curse, the cross, going there as the representative of His people, to undergo the curses of suffering and death.  Though death was certainly a usurper and an interloper in the God of Israel’s good creation, it was not an unlawful usurpation, as death had only entered because of mankind’s failure, and remained through the divine image-bearer’s (whether Adam or Israel) relinquishing of his God-given dominion over all things.  Though death and its associates cry out, the Creator God’s answer would come through His anointed King’s power to “grind them as fine windblown dust” (18:42a), and His strength to “beat them underfoot like clay in the streets” (18:42b).  This would be accomplished by a Resurrection, as God would brook no bargains with death in the process of setting His world to rights (and right standing with Him) through His Christ.  

As one ponders what has been accomplished by the death and Resurrection of Jesus, and as one continues to imagine the strength and confidence for His mission that Jesus would have gained through His study and exploration of the Scriptures, one is able to go on to read “You rescue Me from a hostile army” (Psalm 18:43a).  For Jesus, this involves a two-fold application.  Though in the natural He was not rescued from a hostile army---that being the Roman army---by being raised up from His grave (which actually does indicate something of a rescue from Rome’s military might), He was rescued from death and its vengeful hordes.  By going into the curse of death on a cross as the singular representative of His people Israel, it can be seen that Jesus took yet another aspect of the Deuteronomic curse upon Himself. 

In My Distress (part 2 of 2)

The Psalmist continues, writing “For I have lived temporarily in Meshech; I have resided among the tents of Kedar” (120:5b).  Not that we mix the Gospel stories and interpret one according to another (though John’s Gospel almost certainly comes well after Matthew’s Jesus narrative has been established and relatively fixed, and could thus be influenced by its telling), but recognizing that all of the Gospels would almost certainly have drawn from and been shaped by the traditions of the Psalms, in John’s Gospel it is written that “the Word became flesh and took up residence among us” (1:14a).  A literal translation could read that the Word, that being Jesus for the Johannine community of believers, “tabernacled among us.”  Thus, “temporarily” and “tents” takes on added significance.

The tabernacle, of course, was the temporary tent in which the God of Israel took up His residence among His people.  When that God took up temporary though necessary residence in a tent of flesh, “by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature” (Philippians 2:7b – a pre-Gospel composition understanding of who Jesus was, that would have undoubtedly shaped the way that the Gospels would have been composed, preserved, and transmitted), He would become that which He had created in His own image.  So it became understood, quite early, that the God of Israel, the Creator God of the whole of the cosmos, temporarily took upon Himself the form of that which was precious in His sight.  This is reflected in the use of the Hebrew word “Meshech,” which has the meaning of “precious.”  He also took flesh upon Himself and “resided among the tents of Kedar.”  “Kedar” means “dark” or “darkness.” 

With all of this said, one can now look to this particular Psalm armed with an overt understanding that Jesus’ mindset, as a member of Israel, would have been at least partially shaped by the Psalm-ic tradition, and hear the Lord Jesus speaking directly as it is read, “For too long I have had to reside with those who hate peace” (120:6).  In considering this hatred of peace, one must contemplate the recent history of Israel in the time of Jesus.  That history, leading up to, during, and following the time of the presence of the Christ was littered with those that attempted to accomplish God’s will through force of arms.  A large part of that history shows that Israel did not want to love their enemies, pray for those who persecuted them, or go the second mile when the Roman soldier legally requisitioned them to carry his pack for one mile.  Peace, as Jesus saw it and pronounced it, would have been anathema to many that would hear His message and observe His acts.   

For too many of the people, Jesus represented little more than another chance at revolution and overthrow.  He was indeed that chance, but not in the way that so many of His fellow citizens desired.  He was there to overthrow death and to deliver God’s people from the exile of failing to bear Him image and to be lights for His glory, through the ushering in of the kingdom of heaven on earth.  The way that He intended to bring this about, which encompassed an act of self-sacrifice, was truly revolutionary. 

One can only imagine how many times the people, having heard the words and experienced the miracles of Jesus, attempted to make Him king by force.  To that, those that are committed to hearing and living the words of Jesus, can regretfully hear Him join with the Psalmist and say, with great frustration and wrenching of heart, “I am committed to peace, but when I speak, they want to make war” (120:7).     

In My Distress (part 1 of 2)

In my distress, I cried out to the Lord and He answered me. – Psalm 120:1  (NET)

Because those that believe in Jesus properly read and interpret the message of Scripture through the lens of the Christ-event, in this Psalm, it is possible to see and hear Jesus.  The Psalm begins plaintively.  As these words are read in the searching light of the life of the one that is called both Lord and Savior, He can be heard saying, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you!  How often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would have none of it!  Look, your house is left to you desolate!” (Matthew 23:37-38)  Surely, these words that are presented as part of Matthew’s Gospel, and as part of his particular presentation of the Christ, can be heard as something of a cry of distress on the part of Jesus.

The Psalmist writes, “I said, ‘O Lord, rescue me from those who lie with their lips and those who deceive with their tongue’.” (120:2)  With that heard, a turning again to the Matthew will allow for Jesus to be heard saying “Hypocrites!  Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said, ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me, and they worship Me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men’.” (Matthew 15:7-9) With these words, not only is Jesus calling the prophecy of Isaiah to mind (not simply quoting Scripture to make a point), but it is quite possible that He is also, like Isaiah, drawing from the tradition of the Psalms as well.  

Looking a bit forward again to the twenty-third chapter of Matthew, Jesus can be heard repeatedly pronouncing “Woe to…experts in the law and you Pharisees,” doing so before reaching the words of that chapter that are quoted above (in the first paragraph).  Having uttered these cries of “woe” throughout chapter twenty-three of Matthew, the twenty-fourth chapter begins with Jesus’ declaration in regards to the Temple, that “not one stone will be left on another.  All will be torn down!” (24:2b).  With that, one could revert back to the Psalm, where the question is posed, in regards to those who lie and deceive, as to “How will He severely punish you, you deceptive talker?” (120:3) 

The answer given is “Here’s how!  With the sharp arrows of warriors, with arrowheads forged over the hot coals” (120:4).  The experts in the law and the Pharisees (really the Temple authorities when the sweep of Matthew’s presentation is taken into account)---the blind guides that continued to lead the people of Jerusalem and all of Israel astray as they ultimately stood against Jesus---would most certainly come to experience the arrows and the arrowheads of Rome’s re-subjugation of their land during the revolt of 66-70 A.D.  In that time, Jesus’ words of “All will be torn down” were certainly brought to pass.  As Jesus looked forward to these things (foreseeing the inevitable result of the path that Israel continued to travel), the Psalmist’s simple declaration of “How miserable I am” (120:5) can certainly ring true.  Matthew presents Jesus as one who mourned over Jerusalem, and as one who wept for His people.  He wanted His people to understand His message and the privileges of their covenant, but they did not.

Let Nature Sing! (part 2 of 2)

Believers eagerly await their adoption and redemption, when they will also finally be declared to be the sons of God (a name with a long history---Adam,  Israel, Jesus---which speaks a great deal as to the ideal that stands behind this usage), with this declaration becoming final when the believer fully experiences the power for resurrection that raised up Christ from the dead and gave Him a new, glorified body.  This is the ultimate hope of those that confess Jesus as Lord. 

When will this take place?  It will take place when the one called Lord, Jesus the Christ, the crucified and resurrected Messiah of Israel and Lord of the world (this is the essence of the Gospel message), finally consummates His kingdom and its attendant renewal of the Creator God’s once good creation.  This kingdom and renewal was inaugurated and set in motion when Jesus stepped forth from out of the grave.  This kingdom and this renewal will take place when the words of the Psalmist are taken up throughout the world, and it is truly and finally said among all nations, “The Lord reigns!  The world is established, it cannot be moved.  He judges the nations fairly” (Psalm 96:10). 

It is with this declared that the sky is encouraged to rejoice, that the earth is instructed to be happy, and the sea and everything in it are commanded to shout.  When this time of renewed creation takes hold, under the eternal Lordship of the Creator God and His Christ, which will be plain for all to see as every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord, that all who long for that day will say along with the Psalmist, “Let the fields and everything in them celebrate” (96:12a).  Again, why will they celebrate?  They will celebrate because they will have been freed from their subjection, their thorns, and their thistles. 

Those that participate in the kingdom of the Creator God come to earth (which is happening whenever and wherever people speak and live as if Jesus is already Lord, and will happen in consummation on some great day) will say, “let the trees of the forest shout with joy before the Lord, for He comes!” (96:12b-13a)  Why does He come?  Not only does He come to finally bring in what is expected to be the glorious freedom of those that have come to be called His children, but “He comes to judge the earth!” (96:13b).  That said, it must be said that, according to the expectation of the Psalmist and covenant people of the Creator God (Israel), the Lord’s act of judging is not merely a casting down in condemnation, for their Lord also judges with liberation! 

The Lord judged Israel and delivered them from the bondage of Egypt.  The Lord sent forth His judges in Israel to deliver them from their bondage.  The Lord poured out the judgment of His wrath upon Jesus as He hung on the cross (Jesus representing Israel and so taking its curses upon Himself so as to fulfill Israel’s purpose and so usher in the new age), so as to deliver the whole of the world from the inescapable bondage of death.  Yes, when the Lord judges the earth, it is the final consummation of the judgment against death that was delivered through the crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus.  In that judgment, His children and His creation will be finally liberated from their long, dark night. 

Along with Paul, the Psalmist saw this clearly, as he would go on to write, “Let the sea and everything in it shout, along with the world and those who live in it!  Let the rivers clap their hands!  Let the mountains sing in unison before the Lord!  For He comes to judge the earth!” (98:7-9a)  If one has eyes to see, and are willing to put aside notions of the destruction of the earth in some type of cosmic conflagration, the message of God’s restoration and renewal of creation, because of His judgment, is written large upon the pages of His Word.