Tag: Christmas

Divine abasement!

Here’s another carol that catches in verse the amazing abasement that it was for the Son of God to enter our human situation. “Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour, all for love’s sake, becamest poor”. We cannot imagine the wealth of glory that the Son of God left when he entered our world. The Bible puts it this way: “Though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped [or held on to at all costs], but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant… Being found in human form, he humbled himself…” (Philippians 2.6-8). 

The God who calls us to humble ourselves in penitence before him, is a humble God! He did not disdain to fulfil his mission in becoming “nothing” – of no reputation in this world. He who was in the form of God took on “human form” to dwell among us. And “taking the form of a servant” means that he, the Almighty Creator, came to do us good – to serve us! Jesus himself said later that he had “come not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10.45). Jesus’ service for us was to give his life as a sacrifice that alone could atone for our sins, so that we might be forgiven! What an amazing kind of God this is! 

Another old carol expresses the profound descent of the Son of God into our world: “Hark, hark! The wise eternal Word like a weak infant cries; / In form of servant is the Lord, and God in cradle lies” (T Pestel). God in a cradle! Sharing our humanity from beginning to end! 

If the beginning of his earthly life is characterised by humility, his enduring the agony of death was the final act of service that he came to render. He “gave his life” to ransom us, who were captive as it were to evil powers; he came, the powerful Saviour, in humble love to redeem us by the payment of his own blood, given up in sacrifice on the cross. Such was his mission, and he fulfilled it to the end.

Another carol expresses the wonder of the Christ-child: “Thou didst leave Thy throne and Thy heavenly crown when Thou camest to earth for me / But in Bethlehem’s home there was found no room for Thy holy nativity.”  The Gospel of Luke tells us that when Mary was about to give birth in Bethlehem, “there was no room” available for them, so the humble incarnation took place in a stable, and the baby was laid in a manger. From the heights of glory to a cowshed! 

The same carol goes on to express that which alone could be our worthy response: “O come to my heart, Lord Jesus / There is room in my heart for Thee”. This enlightened poetry gives us all a challenge: what place have we given to the incarnate Son of God, the unique Saviour of humankind?

It is an astonishing thought that our heart can become the home of the Saviour. In a verse of the New Testament we see Jesus standing as it were at the door of our hearts: “Behold,” he says, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him.” This is a word that we can put to the test. As he came to dwell physically on earth, so he can come and dwell spiritually in your heart if you invite him in.

Clive Every-Clayton

0

Born to save us from death

Once again the poets find words to express both the wonder and the depth of meaning of the incarnation of the Son of God: “Mild, he lays his glory by / Born that man no more may die”. Strange concept here! Born so that man may not die? What does this mean?

It’s a reference to something Jesus said when he was just about to raise a dead man named Lazarus back to life. “Whoever lives and believes in me shall never die” he said. He was obviously – as so often – using metaphorical or symbolic language, because he had just said, “he who believes in me will live, even though he dies” (John 11.25-26).

Jesus is referring to two kinds of death: physical death is one thing, but beyond that there is eternal death, “the wages of sin” (Romans 6.23). He says that those who believe in him may well die – as we all do – physically, but they will never die eternally but will have eternal life. This is a glorious promise Jesus made to those who come to trust in him: and the offer is still valid!

So the hymn writer, Charles Wesley, means that Jesus was born, and came into the world so that people, believing in him, may “no more” die. Then in the same carol, Wesley adds something else: “born to raise the sons of earth / born to give them second birth”. This also need unpacking! Though Jesus did teach that he, the Son of God, would bring about the resurrection of the dead at the last day, when he returns in glory (see John 5.26-29), here Wesley is alluding to another deep teaching of Jesus. 

A Jewish leader called Nicodemus came to Jesus to check him out, and Jesus spoke to him about this “second birth”. “Unless a person is born again,” he said, “he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3.3). He went on to insist, “You must be born again” (John 3.7). A person’s physical life begins when they are born; but they receive spiritual, eternal life when they are “born again”. The object of Jesus coming into the world was to make it possible for those of us who were under the threat of eternal death to obtain eternal life by being “born again”. So Wesley was quite right: Jesus was born to be the Saviour of the world so that those who trust in him might have this “second birth” into God’s kingdom.

How does this second birth come about? you may ask. Elsewhere the Bible teaches us how. We are born again “through the Word of Gd” (1 Peter 1.23). In other words, we have to hear God’s word, or read it in the Bible, listening for its application to one’s personal life, responding to its call to repent and believe in Jesus. This involves a personal commitment. 

But another verse at the beginning of John’s Gospel (1.11-13), speaks of the need of receiving Christ personally as Lord and Saviour: “He [Jesus] came to his own people but his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God who were born… of God”. When we receive Christ by faith, we receive new life in him; we become children of God; we are “born again”. This is just another way of speaking of the deep reason for Christ’s coming, as was said at his birth: “You shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1.21).

Clive Every-Clayton

0

Jesus, the Word of God

Another profound revelation given in the first chapter of John’s Gospel that is often read at Christmas time is the use of the expression, “Word” to signify the Lord Jesus Christ. This is clear in John 1.14: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us”. 

The Gospel opens with the words “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”. This is a phrase both dense and difficult to fathom – but it deals with both the nature of God and the incarnation, both of which are supernatural themes not easy to access. Let’s examine it more closely.

“In the beginning was…” – this both evokes the first verse of the Bible, “In the beginning God created…”; and yet the verb “was” depicts not an action but a presence. “In the beginning” brings us back to the very dawn of creation – or even to the deep mystery before creation took place. The “Word” was already there!

“The Word was with God”. Here the “Word” appears separate from God, but closely connected with him. “He was in the beginning with God” (verse 2). But who ever could have been there with the Creator at the beginning of creation? The Word was in eternity at God’s side; could he be God’s equal?

“The Word was God”. Now we are really confused: the Son, Jesus (the Word made flesh, v14) was not only with God. He was God! Later in the chapter John recounts the testimony of John the Baptist at the start of Jesus’ public ministry: “I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God” (v34). The beginning of this Gospel therefore introduces us to the Son of God who was with God the Father at the eternal moment prior to creation. Christian theologians, reflecting on this and other passages of the New Testament where mention is made of “the Spirit of God”, concluded that in the one divine true God there is a tri-unity of Father, Son, and Spirit. This has always seemed out of reach of our human understanding, but that is the whole point: a god you can fully comprehend does not deserve the title of God. The Almighty Creator must always exceed our human grasp. “My thoughts are higher than your thoughts”, he says in Isaiah 55.8-9.

Next, John reveals that the Word was none other than the Creator: “All things were made by him, and without him nothing was made that was made” (verse 3). The Word, the eternal Son of God, was uncreated; indeed, he was the Creator of “all things”! So in Jesus’ birth, we see the Creator visiting his creation – even entering his own creation like the “undercover Boss”!

All this is true of that tiny babe in Bethlehem! “God contracted to a span, incomprehensibly made man”. Or as John puts it, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only-begotten Son of the Father, full of grace and truth” (verse 14). Well may the angels of heaven burst out to worship at the sight of the one who had forever dwelt in the heights of heavenly glory taking on the nature of humanity! 

John evokes however the greatest of tragedies: “He [the Word] was in the world, and the world was made by him, yet the world did not know him” (verse 10). Some, however, did come to know him, and to receive him and love him. Are you one of them?

Why not take time to read and meditate on those first 18 verses of John’s Gospel?

Clive Every-Clayton

0

God became visible

One of the problems for faith is that God is not something or someone that you can see: he is Spirit, which means he is invisible. How can you prove the existence of someone who is invisible?

In the first 18 verses of the Gospel of John chapter 1, a biblical passage that is often read at Christmas time, an answer is given to this issue. Later in the Gospel (chapter 4.24) Jesus himself teaches that “God is spirit”, so Christianity does not try to hide the fact that God cannot be physically seen.
Indeed, John 1 verse 18 acknowledges that “No one has ever seen God”, but the apostle goes on to bring a clarification that is absolutely mind-boggling: “the only-begotten God, [i.e. Jesus] who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known”. The more modern New Living Translation renders this as: “the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us”. Let’s unpack that profound sentence.

The verb “beget” signifies the fathering of a child. The mother “gives birth”, and the father begets. The biblical expression “only-begotten” implies the unique communicating of divine life from the Father to the Son, Jesus. So Jesus teaches in John 5.26, “As the Father has life in himself” [i.e. divine life], “so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself”. This is unique to Jesus – the “only-begotten Son”. He uses this word himself in John 3.16: “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life”. 

So the “only-begotten God” is Jesus: he has made God the Father known. This is a major truth. The vital fact here stated is that: “Jesus has revealed God to us”. The word “revealed” brings us to a completely different level of reflexion on this difficult search for God. We have our ideas, (both small and confused and often far from correct) about God. But if God reveals himself – if the invisible becomes visible – we can have meaningful access to truth about him. This is indispensable if we are ever to know God. And this was one of Jesus’ essential roles in coming into the world.

Though we cannot see God in this life, he has shown himself in Jesus. That’s why Jesus could say, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14.9). In his sinless life of love, holiness, and compassion, Jesus showed forth the very nature of God. He lived among people who could realise that he was indeed “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1.15).

As we study the life of Jesus in the Gospels, we see God in human form. Or as Charles Wesley put it poetically: “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see / Hail the incarnate Deity / Pleased as man with man to dwell / Jesus our Emmanuel”. The biblical word Emmanuel means “God with us” (Matthew 1.23). That is who Jesus was – a totally unique incarnation of God. That’s why Christmas resonates with amazement and worship. For the only time in History, God entered the world as a small baby boy who grew up to live a sinless life, to teach about God as his Father, to do miraculous deeds, and when rejected and crucified, he rose triumphant from the dead and was seen and heard for forty days by hundreds of people before returning to heaven.

Nothing like that has ever happened elsewhere. God has revealed himself through Jesus. We do well to pay attention to his revelation.

Clive Every-Clayton

0

The wonder of Christmas

Tis soon “the season to merry” – so the song goes, as Christmas approaches. But Christmas, let us not forget, is the Christians’ fête; it is the celebration of a miraculous event that sparked off the Christian faith. So behind all the buying and giving of presents, the big family meal, and all the musical songs that surround this fête, let us spend a few minutes in this blog post and in ones to come, looking into some of the profound expressions that properly honour this unique historic event. 

Here’s one from the pen of the apostle Paul, one-time persecutor of Christians, in one of the earliest New Testament writings:

“When the fulness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman” (Galatians 4.4).

This simple statement is rich in theological truth! It says essentially three things:

1.      God did something at the right time in history

2.      He sent his Son into the world

3.      His Son was born of a human woman

Christians believe in a God who is active; he is no mere philosophical ideal, a postulate put forward to start some kind of Christian reasoning. Not only does God act in history, but he acts at the right time. He had prophesied the coming of his Son, the Messiah, in the Old Testament, as some future blog posts will show. But here and now, writes Paul, this event that had been predicted by the prophets of old had recently come to pass.  

And what did God do? He sent his Son into the world. Think about that. God must be a Father if he has a Son. Here is an allusion to what Christians have discerned from the acts of God according to the Bible – that God is a mysterious divine Tri-unity. There is only one God: on that the Bible is clear. Yet in that one God there is the Father and there is the Son. They are distinct from each other (the Father sends the Son) yet they are united in the same divine nature. That’s why Jesus could say, “I and the Father are one” (John 10.30), and “I have come down from heaven… to do… the will of him who sent me” (John 6.38). He also said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14.9).

Jesus is also called, “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1.15). He came into the world in human form, and by the holy life he lived, he showed forth the holiness and the love of God his Father. We can know God’s character by considering the life of his Son, Jesus.

The third thing is that the Son of God, Jesus, was “born of a woman”. This does not mean that there was any sexual activity that brought about the incarnation of Christ. But it does mean that Jesus was brought into the world as a baby, formed by a miracle of God’s Holy Spirit in the womb of a virgin, Mary. Mary herself was neither divine nor should be honoured as having contributed to the incarnation of God’s Son. She agreed to God’s angelic messenger who announced to her that she would have this unique role. The fact that this text of Paul is the only allusion to Mary in all the didactic writings of the apostles in the New Testament should prevent us from glorifying Mary. She called herself the humble servant of the Lord. She was a godly woman and she brought up Jesus and other children after him.

So Jesus was truly divine – the Son of God, who became incarnate; and he was truly human, born the natural way, yet as an act of God surpassing anything else in time and history.

Clive Every-Clayton

0

There is no other

The uniqueness of the Christmas event is well worth pondering. Has there ever been a serious claim that the one and only Creator God entered into human history and came to dwell among us? Such is the very essence of the Christian religion. 

Since the historic existence of Jesus of Nazareth cannot seriously be contested, the question of his full identity constitutes one of the most important that anyone can consider. Indeed, the whole search for authentic answers turns on this, for if it can be established that Jesus was, as he affirmed, the unique divine Son of God the Father, then we have in his words a revelation of divine truth about many vital areas of our human condition.

In previous blogs I have quoted many of Jesus’ sayings that express his teaching about his coming into the world from “the Father” to tell us truth that his Father had sent him to tell us. Jesus insists that he is speaking the truth, and the absolute truth of his words is a solid foundation for our faith.

As you read the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life, you get the impression of reading of a real historic character – unique, certainly – even considerably different from normal humans, yet authentic, real, believable. The simplicity and yet the depth of his teaching make us wonder, as did his first hearers, “Where did this man get this wisdom?” (Matthew 13.54). The record of his amazing miracles corresponds perfectly with what only a divine Son of God could do. The disciples saw how his life fulfilled several predictions made about the Messiah in the Jewish Bible, and these can still be checked out today. His moral teaching, such as he gave in the Sermon on the Mount, has never been surpassed in twenty centuries, and millions of believers throughout the world can testify that following his guidance had led them to a life not only of purity but of profound well-being.

Indeed the most compelling proof of Jesus’ divine identity comes when a man or a woman in the grip of evil passions, realising the need of deliverance from their inner demons, cries out in desperate agony to the Lord Jesus to save them and experiences the radical transformation he operates in their own personal experience. Not everyone feels deeply their need of forgiveness and moral transformation; not many think of turning over a new leaf; not many realise that a miracle of redemption is possible through faith in Jesus Christ. But there are those who do feel their guilt before a holy and righteous God, who understand the seriousness of their position before the divine Judge of all the earth, and who, hearing that Jesus is a Saviour who receives sinners and frees them from their guilt and sin, cry out in earnest prayer, “Lord Jesus, save me”. Such converts can testify to their experience of the reality of the risen Saviour who came down to earth to set people free from their bondage to sin. 

The Bible’s teaching is clear: “There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2.5-6). “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4.12). “No one comes to the Father except through me”, said Jesus (John 14.6). 

The Bible’s promise stands valid for all: “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved” (Romans 10.13). 

Clive Every-Clayton

0

Jesus’ comments on Christmas

Jesus didn’t actually refer to his birthday, but he did make several comments on why he was born. Let’s look at them.

“For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world – to bear witness to the truth” (John 18.37). Here was a man who knew his purpose in life! And he knew “the truth”. This statement of Jesus is as vital as it is radical. Don’t we need to know the truth? Isn’t God the only One who knows the truth and the true answers to our existential questions? Jesus was born into the world to make that truth accessible. 

“I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness” (John 12.46). Jesus sees the world of human being enshrouded in the darkness of sin and ignorance, needing light from beyond this world – divine light. He also said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (John 8.12). I wonder if you are “walking in darkness”; here is hope for you.

“I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me” (John 6.38). Jesus saw his primary aim in life was to obey His Father’s will and fulfil the plan for which he was sent. He lived and died in complete accord with the will of God his Father: “I seek not my own will, but the will of him who sent me” (John 5.30).

He said he “came to seek and save the lost” (Luke 19.10). The New Testament explains: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1.15). Jesus taught that we are lost when we are far from God, indifferent to his love, living in disobedience to his will, and careless of loving and pleasing him. Multitudes living like that are lost, they have no idea where they are going, but they are on their way to a lost eternity. Jesus came to seek such people, and to save them both from a life of sin and from an eternity in hell. 

He explained how he would do this, when he said he had come “not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10.45). It’s as if lost sinners are held captive to evil habits and evil powers, subject to righteous judgment. A ransom price would “redeem” or deliver them; that price was Jesus’ own death. Sinless himself, he chose to bear our penalty on the cross, dying to redeem us. Such is his compassion for us in our bondage and our lost state.

 “I have come in my Father’s name” he declared, often alluding to “the Father who sent me” (John 5.43, 36, 37). He so represents God his Father that he says, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me” (John 12.44-45). 

Jesus sums up the ultimate aim of his coming: “I came that they might have life and have it abundantly” (John 10.10). His coming was in order to give abundant life (“eternal life” – true human fulfilment) to people who trust in him. God loved us so much “that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3.16)

That’s why Jesus came at that first Christmas. We all need him.

Clive Every-Clayton

0

Christmas – why all the fuss?

As Christmas approaches it seems that multitudes are on a spending spree: presents, Christmas trees, food and wine, cakes and puddings, turkeys and trimmings… So many people seem to be looking forward to a great family get-together and such joyous festivities should certainly not be disparaged. However, Christmas is not “all about” these things. Christmas certainly has its reasons for festive celebration but we need to remember exactly what Christmas really is “all about”.

While many Xmas cards wish us “Happy Holidays”, they seem to totally overlook the real meaning of Christmas. What is Christmas all about? It is the enthusiastic and wondering commemoration of the greatest event that has ever taken place since the original “Big Bang”! For that little baby boy, wrapped in cloths and laid in a manger, was none other than a totally unique incarnation of the one and only Creator God. The infinite Deity was clothed with human flesh, lying there helpless, totally dependent on his mother’s care. What wondrous lowliness in the majestic Lord of all!

This baby was Jesus: at Christmas we celebrate the beginning of the life-history of the greatest human being who ever lived – the one whose coming made a more beneficial impact on the history of the world than any number of other people.

This baby was conceived by a miracle: a work of God accomplished his unique conception without the sexual union of two parents. The young mother-to-be, Mary, received the divine message that she would become pregnant with a son who “will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High”; he would “reign on the throne of his ancestor David”, as a king “whose kingdom shall have no end”. On hearing that announcement Mary was baffled and astonished, asking: “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1.31-35)

The answer given to her by the heavenly messenger foretold the miraculous intervention of God’s Holy Spirit so that “the child that will be born will be called holy – the Son of God”.

In other words, here, on this unique occasion, the Son of God who was with the Father in eternity, was now clothed with human flesh, a historic human being, subject to the limitations of time and space. He was to grow up in the home of Joseph and Mary until the day when he was to be revealed to Israel and to begin his public ministry of teaching and working miracles, curing the sick and even raising the dead on three occasions. 

Joseph, who was pledged to be married to Mary, also received a divine communication: “the Lord appeared to him in a dream” saying that this unique baby conceived in her is “from the Holy Spirit… You shall call his name Jesus” he was told, “for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1.20-21).

This is what we celebrate. The world needed a Saviour and, very humbly, in the town of Bethlehem, about 2,028 years ago, the Saviour of the World was born.

Many great Christmas carols celebrate the big event: “He came down to earth from heaven, who is God and Lord of all”; yet “how silently, how silently the wondrous gift was given!” “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see: hail the incarnate deity! Pleased as man with man to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel” – which means, “God with us”. God came into the world, demonstrating that he exists! He came to save us from our sins.

That is what Christmas is all about.

Clive Every-Clayton

0

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑