Tag Jesus

Jesus’ Work Has Just Begun

Todd R 1 Comment

The book of Acts, sometimes called the Acts of the Apostles, follows the four gospels in the New Testament and tells the story of the Christian church in its very early days.  Luke, who wrote one of the gospels to “Theophilus”[1], is also the author of Acts, which he begins like this:

“In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach.”

Note that word “began.”  Considering that the book of Luke ended with Jesus’ ascending into heaven[2], why does Luke write in Acts that Jesus “began to do and teach”?  Because what Jesus did before leaving earth was only the beginning.  Jesus’ activity in the gospels was only the start of His mission and story, and now He rules from the right hand of God the Father and continues to “do and teach” through His people by His Holy Spirit.  He will continue to do this for all eternity.

Therefore, Jesus is still personally active in the world.  Are you listening and learning through consistent prayer, Bible study and fellowship?  See what He will continue to “do and teach” through you and His church!

[1] Luke 1:3
[2] Luke 24:51

A Surprising Picture of Salvation

Todd R 2 Comments

Yesterday’s post discussed the healing of a leper by Jesus in Mark 1:40-42, which says: “And a leper came to [Jesus], imploring him, and kneeling said to him, ‘If you will, you can make me clean.’  Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, ‘I will; be clean.’  And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.”

However, the story continues in Mark 1:43-44 – “And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, and said to him, ‘See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them.’”

Jesus, while unconcerned that this leper was not following Levitical law to remain quarantined, He was concerned that he testify to the priests.  What might the priests learn from performing the cleansing rites for a recovered leper?  The procedure is detailed in Leviticus 14:1-20, which I’ve pulled from below:

“if the case of leprous disease is healed in the leprous person, the priest shall command them to take for him who is to be cleansed two live clean birds and cedarwood and scarlet yarn and hyssop.  And the priest shall command them to kill one of the birds in an earthenware vessel over fresh water.  He shall take the live bird with the cedarwood and the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, and dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water.  And he shall sprinkle it seven times on him who is to be cleansed of the leprous disease. Then he shall pronounce him clean and shall let the living bird go into the open field…on the eighth day he shall take two male lambs without blemish…And he shall kill the lamb…The priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering, and…put it on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. Then the priest shall take some of the log of oil and…shall put [it] on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot, on top of the blood of the guilt offering…Thus the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean.”

While this probably seems confusing, Warren Wiersbe says that “Leviticus 14 presents a beautiful picture in type of the work of redemption.”  How?

Photo by hiva sharifi on Unsplash

“The two birds represent two different aspects of our Lord’s ministry: His incarnation and death (the bird put into the jar and then killed), and His resurrection and ascension (the bird stained with the blood and then set free). The blood was applied to the man’s right ear (God’s Word), right thumb (God’s work), and right great toe (God’s walk). Then the oil was put on the blood, symbolizing the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit cannot come on human flesh until first the blood has been applied.”[1]

After Jesus was sacrificed on the cross, died, and then was raised from the dead, perhaps Leviticus 14 made more sense to the priests who cleansed the leper healed by Jesus.  Perhaps they saw a picture of their Savior.

[1] Wiersbe, Warren.  Be Diligent (Mark) (1987).  P. 28.

Compassion is More Than Skin Deep

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Many miraculous healings are highlighted in the four gospel records of Jesus’ ministry, and many point to a greater miracle: that God, in His mercy and compassion, heals us of the sin that divides us from Him and each other.  Today’s post will focus on a miracle recorded in Mark 1:40-42, where Jesus heals a leper:

“And a leper came to [Jesus], imploring him, and kneeling said to him, ‘If you will, you can make me clean.’  Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, ‘I will; be clean.’  And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.”

There is more to this story that Mark didn’t write.  What’s missing?  Jesus pointing out that this leper is breaking Old Testament law. 

In Leviticus 13:45-46, Moses wrote that: “The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’  He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp.”

Because the kind of leprosy referred to in Leviticus and Mark was highly contagious and possibly deadly, this weird ritual was required to prevent accidental transmission of disease, but this particular leper couldn’t stay away from Jesus, and because Jesus was surrounded by crowds, the leper was potentially putting others in danger.  Mark doesn’t write that Jesus was concerned about this.

But the leper wasn’t entirely at ease, doubting whether Jesus would condemn him as an outcast and lawbreaker, or heal him.  What he did not doubt was that Jesus was capable of healing him, as he said to Jesus: “If you will, you can make me clean.”  To this leper, it was a question of whether this religious leader would be willing to help him.  He probably spent a lot of time being told to go away because of his disease; to follow the Levitical law.  Perhaps even now, in modern times, some might be curious about God’s power, but see religious people as uncaring and unwilling to help someone who is so obviously diseased and sinful.  Perhaps they are uncaring because other people are so obviously diseased and sinful.

In Leviticus chapter 13 there are also rules about how to identify a leper, and it’s usually when the symptoms are “deeper than the skin.” (See Leviticus 13:3, 20, 25, and 30). From this phrase, Warren Wiersbe notes in his commentary on Mark chapter 1 how leprosy is an apt metaphor for sin: “Like sin, leprosy is deeper than the skin (Lev. 13:3); it spreads (Lev. 13:5–8); it defiles and isolates (Lev. 13:44–46) …Anyone who has never trusted the Savior is spiritually in worse shape than this man was physically.”[1]

Not only can diseases be more than skin deep, but inner sin can be more dangerous and contagious.  As Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount, murder is an outward manifestation of inner anger[2], and adultery is an outward manifestation of inner lust[3].  Sins “deeper than the skin” may be the most important sins because they are the root of the visible external sins.

Photo by Marco Bianchetti on Unsplash

Fortunately, like inner sin and like leprosy, God’s compassion is also more than skin deep.  In Mark 1:41, the phrase “moved with pity” is a translation of a Greek word that suggests not just a passing feeling or sentiment, but something you literally feel in your guts.  The Greek word appears only 12 times in the New Testament, and always referring to Jesus or God the Father.  You might say that Jesus’ compassion for the leper was so powerful that He felt the leper’s pain in his own gut and was compelled to help him.

Unconcerned about whether His actions would condone the leper’s disregard for the law, the compassion of Jesus compelled Him to heal not just the leper’s bodily disease but also his spiritual disease of sin.  As written in Luke 15:10 – “Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Jesus had His priorities right.

May we be likewise “moved with pity” for the sick and lost!

[1] Wiersbe, Warren.  Be Diligent (Mark) (1987).  P. 28.
[2] Matthew 5:21-22
[3] Matthew 5:27-30

Christianity is Not in Decline. Ever.

Todd R 1 Comment
The tomb is still empty!

Too much of what we hear and read in this world is filled with phrases like “post-Christian world,” or “Christianity’s decline.”  Or we could read that we’re “living in the ruins of Christendom.”  However, because Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen,” our hope is not based on any ruin or decline we see in the communities and world around us.  While other things may end up in ruins or in decline, Christianity does not.  It was not in decline on Good Friday when Jesus died on the cross and it is not in decline now.

The best of the kingdom of God is always in the future, never in the past.  His kingdom is advancing daily.

Today, many will hear the good news of the kingdom of Jesus, and some may hear and be saved!  Also today, none will be snatched out of His hand! (See John 10:28)

God Breaks Out of All Boxes

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Written around 600 B.C., the Old Testament book of Habakkuk outlines a conversation between the prophet Habakkuk and God, in the few years prior to Judah’s exile in Babylon.  The book begins with Habakkuk’s complaint that evil was running rampant in Judah.  Habakkuk cries out to God about the prevalence of “violence” and “iniquity.”  He cries out about how people are ignoring God’s law, yet nothing is being done about it.  There was no justice.[1]  He’s tired of seeing nothing but evil in the world every day and is frustrated that God doesn’t seem to be doing anything about it.

Then comes Habakkuk 1:5, which to me is one of the most shocking verses in the Bible:

“Look among the nations, and see;
            wonder and be astounded.

For I am doing a work in your days
            that you would not believe if told.”

Why is this verse shocking?  Because next, God tells Habakkuk that He has arranged for Babylon, a “dreaded and fearsome”[2] nation that does not respect God and that lives by the creed that might makes right, to conquer Judah.  Basically, Habakkuk asks God why He was allowing evil to prosper in Judah, and God answers that He will allow an even more evil nation to prosper and conquer Judah.  Habakkuk must have been perplexed, and God knew it.  He knew Habakkuk would “wonder and be astounded” and we probably feel that way sometimes too.

Habakkuk had expectations about what God could and couldn’t do, but here God says He can, and will, do things that shock us.  Things that we cannot understand, but things that will teach us to trust instead of understand.  Sometimes God doesn’t behave in line with our theological doctrine, but He always does so for a reason.

Another example of shock at God’s out-of-the-box behavior comes from John 13, one of my favorite New Testament stories.  Mere days before going to the cross, “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.”[3]

Photo by Photoholgic on Unsplash

Peter was shocked.  This was not what he expected from the Messiah, the incarnate Son of God.  So, when we get to verse 8, we read: “Peter said to [Jesus], “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.””

Peter was reluctant to accept a God that would serve him by washing his feet, but what Jesus was trying to tell the disciples was that if they wanted to follow Him as their master, they would have to serve as He served, even if it wasn’t what they expected from God.  They needed to be washed, and then to wash others.

Peter was learning that if Jesus is doing something, don’t question it!  His actions are right by the mere fact that He is doing it, whatever our reason or expectations tell us.  In the Old Testament, God decided to send His people to a Promised Land, then to cause a heathen nation to kick them out of the Promised Land.  In the New Testament, He showed us that His Messiah would be a suffering servant, to teach us to be suffering servants.

God will never do anything that contradicts His character as revealed in the Bible, but the Bible also says, “Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD, or what man shows him his counsel?” in Isaiah 40:13.  God does not fit within our boxes, our expectations and rules.  We don’t fully understand Him.  Therefore, pay close attention to Jesus the Master, and be ready to follow where He goes, even though it might be shocking!

“Look among the nations, and see;
            wonder and be astounded.

For I am doing a work in your days
            that you would not believe if told.”

[1] Habakkuk 1:2-4
[2] Habakkuk 1:7
[3] John 13:3-5