Living Hope
Easter has come and gone with a little less fanfare than usual. Even though there was a lot less happening, the significance of "Resurrection Sunday" was just as relevant and robust as it ever was. This column is a little late, but the message of the Resurrection gives hope no matter when it is addressed. I would like to share with you some of the thoughts from the verse in I Peter 1:3 that I used in this year's Resurrection message. It reads, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again. A living hope through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."
It all starts with God the Father, and it is because of His love that He brought it all to pass. He is the initiator and is to be recognized as so. He is the planner, the author, the one who brought it all to completion. He is the one who should be blessed from the very depths of our hearts. Let's break it down into several components that we see in this verse that will help us to understand better and give God His praise. Number one, the event of the Resurrection happened because of God’s great mercy. Mercy is not giving us what we deserve, which, according to Romans 6:23, is death, or eternal separation from God. In a real system of justice, everyone who commits a crime would suffer a just consequence. God is just entirely in every aspect. He knows everything, all the facts that relate to any offense. Mercy doesn't just pass over the offense. It provides a way for justice to be satisfied without the just punishment falling on you. God was able to do that by delivering someone to satisfy a judgment for you, His Son, Jesus Christ. That is the greatness of His mercy, giving the punishment to His own Son. The moment you confess your sin to God and believe that Jesus died in your place for that sin, God's great mercy is realized in your life.
The verse goes on to say, number two, that when you do that, He causes you to be born again. The classic passage that deals with this subject is found in John 3. A man by the name of Nicodemus comes to Jesus to talk with Him. Jesus, knowing his heart, got right to the core of the matter and said to him, "You must be born again." Confusion follows as Nicodemus tries to understand what that means. The bottom line is that physical birth is a natural process that brings us into this world. Still, it also takes a spiritual birth if we are to relate appropriately and have an eternal relationship with God. It happens as you believe, and God acts to give you a new life in Jesus Christ through His great mercy.
The third component is a living hope. That translates into the concept of "eternal life with God." I define this kind of faith as the future life we have depended on the promises of God. In John 14, Jesus says that He is going to prepare a place for us that where He is there, we may also be. He says that if He goes, He will come again to take us to be with Him for eternity. That is the kind of hope that we have based on the promises of God.
Fourth, it is based on the finished work of Jesus Christ. Although the work of atonement (Jesus was dying for our sin) was finished on the cross. Even as Jesus said, "it is finished," the completed work of salvation needed the Resurrection. It provided power over death and the new life that we have in Jesus. If you are a believer, rejoice in the power of the Resurrection. And the new life that goes through all eternity. If you are not, please consider Jesus Christ. If you need help, please contact me at [email protected] to set up a time to talk.
Pastor Lynn Rettig
Musselshell Community Bible Church
THE WORD OF GOD
Do you really believe that that old, dusty, unread book on your coffee table, bedside table, closet shelf, bookcase is REALLY the very Word of God? If you belive in God, and the news broadcast last night said that most people in America do not believe in God since the Corona virus, then the Bible is, was, has been, always will be the very Word of God – and you need to get it down from wherever you have it hidden away and READ it! Don’t just read the cover, open it and read the inside. Don’t read what humans say about it, read it! And if you have asked Jesus into your life, the Holy Spirit will help you understand it.
Before I went to seminary, my pastor told me “if you are really a Christian, you will read one book on religion each month”. Well, being a type A, overachiever, I read many Christian books after that. Mostly written by ‘people’, human beings, but also the Bible every day. The Bible was written by God’s Holy Spirit, using people to be His stenographers so He could leave us a handbook on how to live in this world. Every word is true and has significance, and the entire Bible is God’s written picture of His Son, Jesus. Why have some people chosen to create their own image of God’s word and not let God do it?
While I was studying for a PhD in Hebrew Scriptures at a seminary, I took a class in Third Isaiah. What? Isn’t there only ONE Isaiah in the Bible? Yes, but ‘scholars’ have decided that the same person could not have written that one book. Well, common sense would tell you that Isaiah was written between 742 and 701 BCE (before Christian Era) and that is 40 years. Do you write the same now as you did 40 years ago? I sure don’t. My relationship with Jesus is deeper, my trust in God is more stable, my thoughts, feelings have changed in 40 years. So, as I sat in the class with about a dozen other students, we listened to the ‘scholar’s’ points of view, read the commentary book and many of us were total unbelievers in what we were being taught. So, one day we asked the professor (who believed the scholar) why couldn’t this book have been written by one person? He got a very sheepish look on his face, reddened a bit, then said,” To tell the truth, some people ran the book through some sort of computer (ah, modern technology!) and discovered that one person COULD have composed Isaiah.” AHA. We knew it all the time! And if anyone wants to read the book by the famed scholar, I have it. I don’t want it, just ask me for it. Isaiah 40-66 – Third Isaiah. Not true from the first writing of the book in the 700’s BCE. And still isn’t true. Just ONE Isaiah, written by God, to us.
One of the reasons I went to seminary was to learn Hebrew and Greek so I could read the Word of God in God’s original writing of it. What an eye opener. Almost every time I read it, I find mistranslations in the English versions: ie: human beings called ‘man’, heart called ‘mind’, actions toned down to make them more palatable to the reader, children (a neuter, generic noun) called ‘sons’. Just some examples. Believe God, not humans! God’s Word is true. Human’s word is ‘iffy’ at best.
The children of Israel were in bondage for their unbelief. Isaiah wrote about a Persian (modern day Iran) leader name Cyrus who would set them free. Now, Cyrus did not rule until 559 BCE, 200 years after Isaiah wrote. How could Isaiah possible know his NAME? The scholar who wrote the book even changed the date of the writing to 559 BCE to make it more probable that someone later than the original Isaiah had written the book. But God had given Isaiah Cyrus’s name and the reason Cyrus released the captives was because he read his own name in the Holy Scroll of Isaiah! Written, not at the same time he lived, but 200 years earlier.
Isaiah 48:3 “I have declared from the beginning the former things (which happened in times past to Israel); they went forth from My mouth and I made them known: then suddenly I did them and they came to pass, says the Lord” verse 5: Therefore I have declared things to come to you from of old: I announced them to you so that you could not say, My idol has done them, my money has gotten me this, my education has done it for me, I have a job that really pays well v.6 you have heard these things foretold, now you will see this fulfillment: and will you not bear witness to it?
Suddenly God will bring to pass ALL His prophesies in His Word. Do you know them? Are you aware? Have you read them for yourself? Don’t believe ALL you hear from PEOPLE. Only God knows the end from the beginning. Put your trust in Him and Him alone, in the name of Jesus, God in the flesh.
Rev. Joyce Kaplan, M.Div, retired United Church of Christ pastor.
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