An Invitation

Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel." (Mark 1:14,15)

Only Jesus can fulfill these words because He Himself is the Kingdom of God. He doesn't just bring the Kingdom or just announce the Kingdom; He is the Kingdom as well as the King. And He invites John the Baptist to join Him in His Kingdom work, and is inviting us today to join Him as well. That sounds very nice and very Christian, very sentimental, but let us not gloss over the strangeness and absurdity of this, that this must be part of our lives, to be a part of the work that only Jesus can do. If only He can do it, how can we do it also?

In the parallel account in Matthew, we see this scandalous partnership spelled out, when Jesus takes up John's message word for word when He hears that John is in prison. We read in 3:1,2 and 4:12,17:

"Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'"

"Now when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee; ... From that time Jesus began to preach and say, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'"

In what form is "the time fulfilled and the Kingdom at hand" for John? He is in prison and he is becoming less, decreasing so that Jesus can increase. Even now he has unbelief; he will soon send a message to Jesus asking, "Are you the One?"

There are many ways of being in prison. We are inclined to think of God's blessing, God's time fulfilled, in terms of material welfare, inner peace, safety, unshakable faith, ministry success, etc. In other words, just like the disciples, we think in terms of victory. Winning. Getting rid of the Romans. Victory over sins in our life. And our way of thinking about the arrival of the Kingdom of God is really largely about, on the one hand, using God for character improvement and the elimination of bad habits to make us more worthy objects of our own worship and the worship of others; and on the other hand, about protection from suffering.

Before the Communists put some believing friends here in prison (in the 1950's), people warned them, "Be attentive, the suffering is coming in your lives." But they were given grace to say, "No, is coming the Lord." And when they got to prison the first person they met was Jesus, and they realized that He is the first prisoner there. That He was there before they got there, and brought them there to meet Him.

This is the meaning of the prison, of the suffering. Jesus is in love with us and longs for us to be near Him, so He brings us to the prison to meet Him, because that is where He is. That is why He brings us into awkward work situations, difficult marriages, to where the poor live or to the impoverished mission field. Into all the situations of our lives that we would naturally avoid. It is like Jesus is smitten with us and courting us and asking us out on a date. It was the same with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The fourth man in the fiery furnace was lonely for them. And his presence transformed the devastating heat of the furnace so that they were not harmed. This was the difference between the Golden Statue they were commanded to worship and the Fourth Man: the Golden Statue would have saved them from suffering in exchange for their worship. The Fourth Man saves them in their suffering and suffers with them and invites them to suffer with Him.

[GEN, (c)2008]

Fear God and Love the World

"And all the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance. Then they said to Moses, 'Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, lest we die.' And Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin." So the people stood at a distance, while Moses approached the thick cloud where God was." Exodus 20:18-21

As the people draw back from God, Moses goes forward. We need in our community, people who will not become discouraged when they see others retreating from God, but who, in response to the withdrawal of the others, will push further toward God. I need, in my life, someone or ones who will go to God on my behalf when they see me falling back. Perhaps we do not even know who this person is who intercedes for our sake.

It is a very dangerous thing to approach God in "the thick darkness" for who can see His face and live? But Moses loves the people more than his own life. I, too, need to be going forth on behalf of the others in my community, my church, my small group. And when I do this, I become closer to God myself, even though that was maybe not my main intent.

Moses says to the people in verse 20, "Do not be afraid," but then goes on to say that "the fear of God" will be with them, an at-first-glance contradiction. It is as though for Moses, the fear of God and the love of God are the same thing, so "Do not be afraid". An old teacher/master here said, "Don't love God and hate the world; rather fear God and love the world." ...we should not replace our fear of other things with our own courage, but with the fear of God; and we should not replace love of the world with hatred of the world, but with love of God.

[AV, (c)2003]

Only Weakness

"And He withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and began to pray, saying, 'Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.' Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him. And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground." (Luke 22:41-44)

In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed and cried out in his agony. Drops of blood fell to the ground from his forehead, according to Luke the doctor.

"Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him." What? A creature comes to strengthen the Creator? How could He stoop so low?

But this is the highest point of strength, that He who has all the power over heaven and earth, needs the help of a creature in his agony. What strength! For He gave up His strength, He left everything for us and did not keep anything for himself. Only weakness.

So let us not keep anything for ourselves, only weakness, only the broken heart.

[FV, (c)2003, 2006]

His Strong Hand

I rose at dawn to read the Lord's Word, and I was directed to read in Isaiah chapter 8. "Behold the Lord bringeth upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the King of Assyria and all of his glory ... and he shall pass through Judah. Take counsel together, but it shall come to nothing, for the Lord spoke this to me with a strong hand."

I felt like I had been hit over the head with a sledge hammer! Should I prepare myself for battle? Or for a catastrophe! Wasn't my husband's sentence a catastrophe enough? [Her husband, a pastor, had just been sentenced by the Romanian communist authorities to 22 years in prison.] As I pondered all of this, it suddenly dawned on me. The Lord was about to teach me, and he was going to do it with a strong hand.

I quickly asked the Lord to be taught without His strong hand. Although I know deep down that the Prophet had heard God's Word through His strong hand on him. No prophet had an easy life, not Isaiah or Jeremiah. That is why the Lord was guiding me through a hard way.

I knew that I needed to learn, but how can one learn without discipline and severity? A pupil who is not treated severely, does not take his studies seriously. I asked myself, what kind of a student am I? The lesson I was learning now was verses 11-14 of Isaiah 8. I was not to follow in the ways of these people and He should be my sanctuary, my Holy Place. The Lord did not want me to carry all of my burdens and problems with me in my heart. I was to leave them outside of the Holy Place He was to be for me.

A holy place remains holy from the inside, and all of the impurity remains outside. It is warmth, love and security that are found in this Holy Place. The Holy Place protects me from all impurity and plots of the enemy. It is only in Him, Christ Jesus the Rock, our Holy Place, that we find our protection. There is none in ourselves, and we of ourselves will stumble and fall.

I had learned this lesson through much pain and difficulty. I had felt so humiliated at what had happened to our family [her husband's imprisonment]. It seemed as though everywhere we went, people talked to us of what had happened. Some with compassion, and some with accusations.

I took this all on myself for quite some time. Finally I realized that the blows were not intended for me, but were to hit the Rock, and no matter how many or how hard the blows are, it would never leave its place of being our strength and protection. The Cross is everlasting, unlike everything else which can be destroyed so easily. An old song came to my mind, "The victory took place, and still is today, I shall wait for Him and put my trust in Him. His coming is as sure as the coming of the morning, and those who wait for Him shall not be ashamed, and their faces shall be lightened".

[JF (c)1989]