Winter 2002

Events since the publication of the Summer '01 edition, have seen a rise in the escalation of violence around the world together with a corresponding interest in Islam. How do we understand the tensions between Muslims and Jews, or between the former and the United States of America? For the most part, most North Americans have been oblivious to the realities of the international religious scene, understanding Christianity barely, the others not at all.

Do we know, for example, what factors distinguish Christianity from these other religions? What is it about the teachings of Jesus which make Christianity, exclusive? What makes certain evangelicals so exclusionary?

When one considers the response of Yeshua when confronted with the collapse of the Siloam Tower, one finds a stern reminder that a similar fate awaits all who do not change their ways. Not only does he refuse to call the victims "innocent", but their fate of destruction carries a more permanent message. The need for turning, for new beginning, for rebirth, confronts us all.

Finally, we have the Church's requirements before an eternal God as spelled out by the modern day prophet, A.W. Tozer. He serves us a humbling reminder of God's standards for these things.

Contents

• Exclusionary Faith
  
  
• The Kingdom of God
  
  
• Gospel Reflections
  
  
• Captain of my Soul
  
  
• Slow Poisoning
  
  
• How are we Doing
  
  
• For Whom the Bell Tolls
  
  
• Lease on Life
  
  
• Semantics
  
  
• Bits ‘n Bytes
  
  
• Publication
  
  

“The Bible tells of another world too fine for the instruments of scientific research to discover. By faith we engage that world and make it ours. It is accessible to us through the blood of the everlasting covenant.”

A.W.Tozer Of God and Men

At some point in this continuum of humanity, we all stand side by side. Inside each is the capacity for laugher, for joy, for friendship. Likewise, for sorrow, sadness, and for hatred. We live in this circumstance, together, and we eat and sleep and breathe. We all have a great deal in common, with one another -- we are all descended, as it were, from Adam.

Many, are quite content to stop right there. Why go into the things that divide us, by which we differ? Some regard the things which would distinguish us, as somehow evil. Some assume such are the causes of war, and conflict. Religion, in particular, argue some, is the root cause of such strife, arguing further that peace will not be possible until the cause is rooted out. This humanistic world view, glosses over a reality that stares us in the face -- in spite of our ideals of equality, equality eludes this present generation perhaps like never before. Religion, in its many forms, is in some ways more honest than the secularist, admitting to the fact that there exists some dimension of reality by which we are distinct from one another, and at times those distinctions are exclusionary.

Many recognize a higher power -- the non-religious atheist, on the other hand, does not. When the theist discusses good and right, it is relative to this higher power that such exist. Evil, cannot exist in the atheist’s world, because to admit to such, would be admitting a logical contradiction -- there can be no right or wrong in a long chain of random events, in mere chance atoms. Teleology explains design, cause and purpose. Right and wrong are teleological terms which would require a telos, in which the atheist does not believe. The theist is exclusionary by the very nature of what he believes.

Several of the world religions testify to the higher power. The definite article, divides from those for whom an indefinite would suffice. Muslims, Jews and Christians are monotheistic. Hindus and animists are polytheistic. In classical history, the Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Greeks and the Romans, were polytheistic societies. Some polytheists interpret the divine signatures in nature in such a way that everything is ‘god’, and thus become pantheistic. Pantheists by definition then, tolerate all ‘gods’ because all is ‘god’. Pantheists are substituting created world for the telos creator, something Christians, Muslims and Jews find offensive. These three are exclusionary, as they understand the telos to exist outside of time and space, which by definition is separate.

Temple worship in Judaism, always was the responsibility of the priests, never priestesses. The latter, however, were characteristic of the surrounding polytheists. The temple in Jerusalem might have been run by the husbands and fathers, but that is not to say all prophets were exclusively masculine. The written record includes prophetesses even extending into the Christian Era. The prophetess’ office was not one of military or civil authority, neither was it a formal religious duty. The monotheistic religions are basically patriarchal.

Jesus the Nazarene

Christians, Muslims and a minority of Jews, regard the historical Jesus, to be a prophet. Judaism finds itself divided on this matter. Christians, Messianic Jews, and Muslims are exclusionary with reference to their regard for Jesus.

Christians consider the execution of Jesus to be especially significant. On the other hand, Muslims have tended to reject the notion that a prophet sent by God, by Allah, would be subjected to such humiliation. Most Muslims consider it offensive when Christians speak of Jesus’ death and resurrection, though, nearly all Muslims accept his ascension.

Most Jews of his time, were looking for a political leader, rather than a spiritual one. Not only do the Jews acknowledge his death by crucifixion, but accuse the man’s friends of performing an impossible feat at his tomb. Most Jews would not accept the man’s ascension. What Christians believe about Jesus, distinguishes them from many Jews.

Among those who accept the account of Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension, are those who also recognize the fulfillment of many of the ancient Hebrew writings in these events. The sacrificial system as a part of the temple worship, was pointing to the fact that the good things that people did were inadequate in reconciling people to the higher power. The reality of evil in people’s lives resulted in estrangement. Such estrangement from the giver of life, results in death.

The Day of Atonement

The sacrificial system spoke of the fact that death could in fact be substitutionary. The high priest must perform his sacrifice prior to entering into the innermost court of the temple. The sacrifice was for the forgiveness of sin. It was performed annually on behalf of the people of Israel. If the practice was not observed prior to entering into the innermost court, the Most Holy Place, the priest would forfeit his own life as did Aaron’s sons.

The fact that the ritual needed to be repeated annually, indicates that in itself, it too was inadequate in securing forgiveness. Rather, it pointed towards a substitutionary death which met certain criteria which were not present in the temple sacrifice on the Day of Atonement. And, the final qualification of the substitutionary death, could not have been met by the death of an animal, but by a man. Not any ordinary man, but one in whom the forces of evil did not rule. Christians recognize Jesus the Nazarene as being the flawless one, the one who is promised in the ancient Hebrew writings.

When Jesus was executed on the execution stake, referred to as the Roman cross, after he drew his last breath an amazing thing happened. In the temple there was a heavy curtain which separated the innermost, Most Holy Place, from the rest. The Most Holy Place was that part of the temple where only the high priest went, and then only on the Day of Atonement, and only after having received forgiveness by the substitutionary sacrifice. On the day that Jesus died, that thick, heavy curtain was mysteriously torn in two. The innermost sanctuary of God, was now readily viewable and approachable by the ordinary priests. The sacrificial system had pointed through the centuries to that ultimate human sacrifice, where the flawless one willingly becomes the payment for the sins of the people. Though, others may have been willing, no others before, nor since, have met the criteria of flawlessness that is laid out in the Hebrew texts.

Many may have attempted to tarnish the reputation of the man over the centuries, but have not succeeded. Jesus lays an exclusive, legitimate claim.

The temple was destroyed shortly after this ultimate sacrifice, and the associated sacrificial system has ceased for these twenty centuries. It simply is no longer needed, because the things towards which it pointed, are fulfilled. There will again be a time when the temple system is re-established, but it will have a different reason to exist at that time, if the writings are to be trusted.

The Passover

The requirement for perfection was taught in the exodus of the slaves from Egypt. This required the sacrifice of an animal on the night of the departure. The lamb was to be the best of the flock for each household. A male lamb, which was to be flawless, without defect, was required. The lamb was to be consumed by the household, and it was mandated that not a single bone be broken. As the symbol of compliance, the lamb’s blood was painted onto the door frame of the main entry door to the house. The story is well-known; the houses which were identified by the blood of the sacrificial lamb, did not suffer from the death that swept the nation that night. This historic incident is commonly referred to as the Passover.

Christians, when they regard the death of Jesus, observe that his last meal was around the time when Jews commemorated that exodus. The wine and the matzo are mentioned, but not the sacrificial lamb. The subsequent death of an innocent man between two hardened criminals must have been a curious sight. What is more, Jesus died within hours, whereas the process more typically took days. Approaching the end of the day, the Jews wanted to make sure that these convicts do not remain aloft to disgrace the city on the holy sabbath day, the Passover sabbath. So they persuaded the soldiers to hasten the onset of death, which they proceed to do by breaking the legs of the hardened criminals. The broken legs imply that the death of asphyxiation would be so much quicker. But, Jesus was already dead by then and so, no bones were broken.

The execution of the flawless one at the time of the sacrifice of the Passover lamb, together with the fact that his body was spared the ruthless breakage which characterized the other two, seems to be the ultimate coincidence. People who ponder these things conclude that the Passover sacrifice, like that of the high priest’s sin offering on the Day of Atonement, was simply foreshadowing that great payment for sin. The understanding that the Passover is fulfilled in Jesus, distinguishes Christians from most Jews.

The concept here is that all of humanity is guilty of behaviour that is contrary to teleological purposes that we are quite capable of understanding. So likewise, we must rightfully accept our consequences. When we substituted the lie for the truth, we likewise substituted death for life. However, the point of the Passover, the point of the sin offering, was to show us that the penalty of death could be paid in a substitutionary manner. Just like you redeem a coupon in the grocery store, the death of a righteous man becomes your ticket to life.

In the case of the exodus, not only did each household need to regard Moses’ instruction as trustworthy, but they needed to respond based on this trust. Moses didn’t seem to fully explain all that was going to happen, but because of what he had done previously, the people knew that they could rely on what was said -- these people acted in faith. Faith, to be clear, is understanding something to be true, not because of the overwhelming evidence, but rather, because available evidence when combined with the integrity of the origin, is deemed reliable. Faith in this sense, is certainly not blind, and certainly not foolish -- it is based on fact, on evidence, on truth and on integrity. Evangelical Christians, expect that people need to respond in faith to the knowledge and the instructions revealed by God. Just as faith excluded the people of Israel from that fateful death in Egypt, it excludes people today.

Even as the door frames of the slaves’ houses were stained with the lamb’s blood, indicating the faithfulness of the occupants, people need to identify themselves with those of faith. Whereas, some have replaced faith and faithfulness, with mystical qualities attributed to the symbols themselves, this can become a gray slide into polytheism. Evangelicals are distinct from Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodoxy, by their belief that there exist no substitutes for the faith of individuals, and in the understanding that each individual has the responsibility to act based on this faith.

The Messiah

The Messiah, the Christ, are words that originate in Hebrew and Greek. These words represent the title, not the last name, of the man Jesus. They are words that mean the anointed, or the chosen one of God. In some points in the Hebrew texts, the Messiah is referred to as God directly, or by ascribing attributes to him that are normally reserved for the higher power. The texts also hint at a virgin birth and at extraordinary abilities. In the historical accounts of Jesus, his mother became pregnant prior to her marriage. While some have interpreted this to mean that Mary was unfaithful, such a conclusion would be inconsistent with what the writers intended. The ancient Hebrew texts predict the singular event.

Jesus was a remarkable man. Just follow his discourses and you will be hard pressed to find another who was able to answer with such clarity and purpose. People walked away from him, having arrived on stretchers. Many extraordinary things were attributed to him, yet he promoted himself neither as a healer, nor a doctor. When challenged to grandstand any ability that he was rumoured to possess, he usually refused. Is it difficult to believe that he brought back to life those who had died?

Jesus claimed many things about himself that were difficult to accept. He claimed special association with his Father. But, he made it clear that it wasn’t Mary’s husband that he was referring to, but rather the higher power. He doesn’t just refer to the higher power in neuter terminology, but uses the male parent when discussing Him. He also spoke to this higher power in the Lord’s Prayer using the word Father when addressing Him.

Some have attempted to use feminine language to describe the higher power. This, in contrast to the word of Jesus and in spite of what is commonly known of Hebrew culture and religion. It remains, that the patriarchal nature of these people was never criticized in prophecy. The prophets condemned on the other hand, the offering of blemished sacrifices. They condemned falsehoods of various types, including falsely attributing characteristics to God which He, Himself, did not reveal to the people. Reducing the value of revelation, to the level of imagination was routinely chastised. If we permit fantasy to interpret revelation, how do Christian claims to truth fare? These distinctive claims are based on revelation.

The subsequent prophetic texts refer to the collection of believers as the bride of Christ -- the crowning glory of Christ’s ministry. In the case of bride and bridegroom, gender distinctives do certainly seem purposeful. In spite of the beauty of these distinctives, there will be some who will misconstrue the exclusive patriarchal nature of monotheism.

The inspiration of these ancient Hebrew writings is proclaimed by the Messiah Himself. He states that not the smallest letter nor the least stroke of a pen will disappear until all is fulfilled. This endorsement confers upon these writings the very authority of God, confirming that these words are no less than His revelation to us.

In the First Person

The final thing that should be noted here, is that point which we started out with. We are all descended from the man of disobedience. Adam acted against what he knew and understood to be consistent with the will of God. In the Genesis account, it is indicated that Eve was deceived, desiring equality with God, and her husband Adam followed her in disobedience to God. To this day each of us begins with the understanding of what is good, but the tendency to carry out that which is not. The human family tree descends from Adam.

On the other hand, spiritually, we may be born into the family of Jesus, the man of obedience. The Holy Spirit enables this process for those who accept it by faith. This Spirit enables those of faith to know this higher power on a first person basis -- it becomes inadequate, even inappropriate to call our Father, something other than He is. The Creator who brought and brings the universe into existence, becomes Daddy, Papa, to those who have received His light and life. Have we even understood the Holy Spirit well enough, so as to not resist His nudgings? Can we say that we are separated, “set apart for the gospel of God”?

E.J.R.

“The Church has surrendered her once lofty concept of God and has substituted for it one so low, so ignoble, as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshiping men.”

A.W.Tozer The Knowledge of the Holy

“One cause of our moral weakness today is an inadequate Christology. We think of Christ as God but fail to conceive of Him as a man glorified. To recapture the power of the early Church we must believe what they believed. And they believed they had a God-approved man representing them in heaven.”

A.W.Tozer Man: The Dwelling Place of God

“[T]he cross of popular evangelicalism is not the cross of the New Testament. It is, rather, a new bright ornament upon the bosom of a self-assured and carnal Christianity. The old cross slew men; the new cross entertains them. The old cross condemned; the new cross amuses. The old cross destroyed confidence in the flesh; the new cross encourages it.”

A.W.Tozer The Divine Conquest

“Our Lord died an apparent failure, discredited by the leaders of established religion, rejected by society and forsaken by his friends. It took the resurrection to demonstrate how gloriously Christ had triumphed.”

“Yet today the professed church seems to have learned nothing. How much eager-beaver religious work is done out of a carnal desire to make good.”

A.W.Tozer Born After Midnight

O world invisible, we view thee,
O world intangible, we touch thee,
O world unknowable, we know thee,
Inapprehensible, we clutch thee!

Does the fish soar to find the ocean,
The eagle plunge to find the air--
That we ask of the stars in motion
If they have rumor of thee there?

Not where the wheeling systems darken,
And our benumbed conceiving soars!--
The drift of pinions, would we hearken,
Beats at our own clay-shuttered doors.

The angels keep their ancient places--
Turn but a stone and start a wing!
'Tis ye, 'tis your estrangéd faces,
That miss the many-splendored thing.

But (when so sad thou canst not sadder)
Cry--and upon thy so sore loss
Shall shine the traffic of Jacob's ladder
Pitched betwixt Heaven and Charing Cross.

Yea, in the night, my Soul, my daughter,
Cry--clinging to Heaven by the hems;
And lo, Christ walking on the water,
Not of Genesareth, but Thames!

Francis Thompson

The Beginning

Beginnings are times of energy and emotion, of great anticipation and promise, as we await the unfolding of the newness surrounding us. The beginning in Mark is the beginning of anticipation surrounding the re-creation of creation. The whole of creation had been groaning for revitalization; it had experienced the joy of birth, but sin had entered into the cosmos, and the natural order of harmony and tranquility had been violated. Yet in the old creation there were still signs of newness. The variety of animal and plant life, and the goodness and inherent beauty of the creation were there in abundance. All of these continued to point to the One who had set them in motion.

The beginning of the story of the gospel in Mark is the beginning of the story of hope of salvation for a fallen creation. The gospel is the good news of transformation from a stained and soiled state to a state of salvation and holiness, where God can once again enter into relation with the creation and walk in the coolness of its beauty. But even though all of creation pointed to Him, the image of God had forgotten what it meant to be in fellowship with God. And so the Word came to teach us about the Creator.

This is the beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the author of the first creation story, and now the author of the good story of the creation’s restoration. Who else but the Creator could breathe newness back into that which was tarnished? Who else but the Creator could realize and respond to the yearning for rebirth? Who else but the Creator loved the creation enough to pay the price required for its re-creation? Yet His was the life of the servant, the ordinary man. Not the expected mighty warrior and prince to regain the kingdom through might and strength, but the Servant who enters the gates of Jerusalem riding on a donkey in order to teach us about life in abundance, that is, the holy life of servants.

The gospel of Mark is the story of Jesus Christ drawing us into His story. It is a story about turning -- Jesus turning us away from our self-centredness and focusing our eyes on God. It is the story of Jesus turning our bodies, souls and spirits “inside-out” and giving us re-creation, hope, and life.

The Creator

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1). Mark’s good news account begins by recounting the fact that God is the sovereign creator, and the world was made by Him. Mark lets the sound of that truth fill our ears anew (1:1). God is also sovereign over the history of man, and so the Law and the prophets testify to the fact of God’s instrument of creation, the Lord Jesus Christ. To further establish this fact, Mark gives us the account of Jesus’ baptism. Baptism is the sign of death and dying, for creation had died upon the entry of sin into the world. Baptism is also the symbol of life and resurrection, for Christ now came to provide re-creation for the creation ”... and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters” (Gen. 1:2c). God is again coupled with the water (1:9) upon Jesus’ reentry into the story of history. Lifted out of the pages of time, history will never again be the same. And God’s voice is heard: the Father speaks the cosmos into being and it is good (Gen. 1:31); the Father sends His Son to earth and is well pleased in Him (1:11).

Mark demonstrates the sovereignty and recreative ministry of Jesus predominantly through the miracles He performed. Very early in the story Mark demonstrates that Jesus came with authority to drive away evil (1:25) and to heal all who had various diseases (1:34). But physical wholeness is not of primary importance here, and this is the context of all the miracles He performed. Wholeness physically is symbolic of the wholeness of eternal soul and spirit through a living relationship with the Creator -- also given by Jesus.

We are to “Be clean!” once again, which is the true healing that needs to take place. Jesus clears our stain - he gives us physical wholeness, but more importantly, He frees the soul from guilt and grants forgiveness for the spirit. And once forgiven, we are free to move out to be the people God always intended us to be, in relationship with Him through His Spirit.

To try to emphasize this recreative ministry, Jesus spoke directly to the spirit when he said to the paralytic: “Son, your sins are forgiven” (2:5). Jesus gives us the ability to get up and walk in body (2:9) for the purpose of allowing us to follow Him completely. But we need to follow God as complete persons, and so, the demoniac is healed of the spirit that had caused him to be out of his mind (5:15), and the little girl is raised back to life (5:42). These two latter miracles point to the true significance of complete re-creation, not a mere physical re-creation, but a re-creation of the whole being -- most importantly eternal soul and spirit. Without the eternal spirit and soul, the body is dead to God, as the first Adam died and was separated from God, i.e. from life itself.

Interestingly, only twice do we taste of death in the story. The first time is in the story of the fig tree that withers after having been cursed for not bearing fruit (11:14,21). Every hair on our heads is numbered, and if God didn’t care for any one of them, they’d be cursed, and they would wither and die. So it is with those who do not respond to God. They are fruitless; they shrivel up and die -- they are not re-created. The second taste of death is that of the Lord (15:33-37). But this death is a necessary passage into the beginning of the bigger and better story. Physical death is not the end of the story but a gateway to the life to be lived in the spirit. Physical death is symbolic of the death we must die to our self-centredness and sensuality, so that we can attain the life that is beyond the physical. Physical life is a shadow of the fullness of life that awaits us beyond the grave.

How do we respond? The Pharisees could not even see the physical signs before them (8:11), nor the truth in them (3:5-6), and so they rejected Him. How much more were they blinded to the truth behind the physical -- the wholeness that Christ brought to the soul and spirit. The only prerequisite required of us is to demonstrate our God-given faith by reaching out and grasping hold of His garment (5:28). We stand back in awe and wonder and marvel at the great gift of life and creation. We are a people of thanks, not only for the newness that Christ brought, but also for the newness He brings to us each and every day. For the world is re-created every day through Him. Through Jesus, degenerate mankind is awakened from his sensuality and self-centredness and pointed to the life beyond the physical. We need to die to ourselves, just as Christ died for us, in order to go beyond ourselves to the completeness we are called to. Dying to ourselves is not the end of the story, just as Jesus’ death was not the end. For those in Christ, there is resurrection waiting (16:6).

The Saviour

The first words of Jesus which Mark records in his gospel is the call back to God. “The time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news.” (1:15). We are to forsake our old ways and follow Him (1:17). In parallel to being re-created through the ministry of the Son, the Word calls us back to the Father through repentance and faith (1:15) in the One whom the Father sent. Jesus’ primary ministry is to get the eternal soul, i.e. the mind, the emotions and the will, and the eternal spirit back in touch with God through the spoken Word. And so He came to teach and preach (1:38), and ultimately to die and rise again. Throughout his ministry, Jesus always attempts to draw us into His story, the story of drawing all men to Himself, by forcing us to make a response to God. By His teaching of God’s ways (1:21) and by releasing captives and granting wholeness (1:23), we are being asked to make our own personal judgment of who He is.

Interestingly, Mark only records one series of teachings by Jesus that were not a response to a situation or question posed to Him. This occurs in chapter four. The parable of the Sower is the story of new spiritual birth the response to the Word planted within us -- and this Word must impact our lives on the spiritual level. There are those, like the seed that strikes the path and bounces away (4:15), who do not let the Word enter their lives at all, that is, they receive the Word on a physical level, like the seed falling on the rocky places (4:16). But the worries of the physical life consume them and they are fruitless. Still there are others who hear the call of the Word impact their soul, but like the seed that falls among the thorns (4:18), the attitudes, motives and desires of their hearts do not allow the Word to flourish and it is choked out and shriveled up. And then there is the seed that is sown in the good soil (4:20) -- the soil of our innermost being, the spirit of man. It is only here, on a spiritual level, that the truth of the good news and the true reality of our lives can be received and perceived. The Word is spiritual, and we must be spiritually minded to understand its full meaning. But once we do accept it, through the new birth from the Holy Spirit the Word is nurtured and the harvest in our lives is made plentiful.

This concept is repeated in the parable that follows. It is only once the truth has penetrated the innermost being that the light there may be brought to the open (4:21). One man sows, another waters, but God causes the increase (1 Cor. 3:7). So too, when God’s truths are planted, not on the surface, but deep within our souls and spirits, they can become nurtured only through the working of the Spirit. God’s Word brings forth growth and holy living in us as we participate in that which He has prepared for us -- we cannot do it by ourselves. We need the ministry of the Saviour who knows our inner being, demonstrated in the authority of the creation (4:35), to make us re-created spiritual beings.

Our response to this should be a deep-hearted conviction that we too must turn and follow Him. And like the unclean leper who no longer needed to be an outcast from society (1:41) we too can be made clean by responding in faith to the message we have heard -- we no longer need to be outcasts from God. We have been called to newness of life and to relationship with God. We have been called to be everything God has created us to be. Our response is one of praise and thanksgiving for the spiritual rebirth that Christ brings to us. As the death of Jesus paid the price to bring creation out of slavery and death, so too, the resurrection of Jesus symbolizes our new spiritual birth. This is the believer’s reality, and requisite to the real task at hand.

The Servant

The introductory chapter in Mark explains the threefold ministry of Christ: His calling people back to God through teaching (1:15); His re-creation of the fallen world through His ministry of healing (1:25); and thirdly, His ministry of showing us how to live the holy life (1:35). This latter ministry becomes the predominant theme throughout Mark’s gospel. “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed” (1:35). Jesus demonstrates throughout His ministry the authority of the Father over Him, as well as His complete dependence upon the Father. Jesus demonstrates the life of the Servant, and it is through demonstration that His words make the greatest impact. We are called to enter into Jesus’ story -- the story of the Servant -- that is a life of prayer by which we can rediscover who we are in God. It is also through a life of suffering that we are molded into the Servant’s image.

Holy living starts when we offer the first fruits of all aspects of our lives. We deny ourselves and take up our cross. We rely upon our Creator for the strength to be faithful to our calling. The only way to start is through prayer. Jesus did this often -- either by Himself or with a few close friends -- putting aside the routines of the day and going away to a quiet place to get rest and refreshment from God (6:31).

The greatest lesson we must realize in order to live the holy life is the fact that holy living is living that can be done only in the spirit. The holy life is the spiritual life, for the flesh cannot govern the holy life. Spiritual life and “worldly” life are always “at war” with each other. And this war is seen at the pivotal point in Mark’s gospel, when Peter pronounces that Jesus is the Christ (8:27) -- surely a spiritual revelation -- and shortly afterwards is denounced by Jesus as Satan (8:33) when the worldly, fleshly nature comes to the forefront. Peter’s declaration of Jesus’ deity is the central truth that we have to come to grips with in our spirits -- it is truth that can only be known and understood by the spirit. Spiritual living is life’s goal, and Peter, like all of us, had a long way to go before living the holy life as his Lord desired him to do. We have to learn, as Peter did, that the life of the spirit is one of denying ourselves, taking up our cross and following the Lord (8:34). Through this, we gain everlasting life (8:36).

The Servant goes to Jerusalem where He suffers and dies at the hand of the ungodly. If the Master did, should we not also expect to face trials, tribulations, suffering and even death? We too are called to forsake our worldly wealth and possessions (10:29), and to take up the cross. The life of the cross is inherently a life with suffering, even as the Lord was despised and rejected (6:1). But that is not to hinder us, for we are called to stand true to that which we are called. We are also called to spread the good news (6:7) so that God’s power will be manifested in us (6:11) and that glory be brought to Him. How far does this commitment go? As with John (6:14ff), we are to deny ourselves completely and offer ourselves to Him even to death. While most are not called to give of ourselves to death, we are called to give completely -- to die to ourselves -- through a life dedicated to the service of God -- the holy life. We are reminded that this can be an even greater challenge. We are reminded that only God can cause the increase in our lives, as seen in the feeding of the 5000 (6:30ff). Instead of counting on ourselves to live the holy life, we count on Him to give us what we need, on his nurturing.

Christ is therefore both the Author and Exemplar of the whole life. Jesus provides us the supreme example of pure and blameless holy living. This is a life of obedience to the Father. Through our complete reliance upon God, we are transformed from the mortal into the immortal, and this process of sanctification leads us through our spirit back to the Father. For it is only in God that we can have the complete and full life, and this only through the everyday trials and situations that work within us to purify our being. Our response is truly one of Yirath Yahweh -- “for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Phil 2:13). This response is one of thankfulness and praise -- for “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44a). We are restored to the fullness of life through Him. We are given the possibility of living beyond the potential of the world, living the holy life, the spiritual life, through the ministry of His Spirit. We are restored to Him who first created us. It is the only way that the story of the beginning can be completed.

Our Transfiguration

Mark’s gospel is the good news of beginnings; the beginnings of Jesus Christ as Creator, Saviour, and Servant. It is only through this combined ministry that we can reach purity in physical body, in mind, and in spirit. Mark emphasizes that which is the most important; all of the signs and wonders recorded in his account speak of eternal truths -- of the creation being turned inside out and pointed back to God -- from the physical to the soul, from the soul to the spirit, and from the spirit to God.

In the garden, in the beginning, there was fellowship with God. But the image fell at the test and there followed separation and death. The Servant is led to the test, and three times withstands the temptations of the evil one. We too are now called to withstand the test through a life of obedience to God. The spiritual life, the completeness of our beings in the fullness of life, is a life of obedience to the God. The Servant makes it possible to follow the call by allowing us to rediscover through the power of prayer and obedience, who it is we really are.

Mark shows us the threefold ministry of Christ: of re-creating and making mankind whole - in body, soul and spirit -- but always with the predominance of soul and spirit; of salvation in which we are given hope as we see the soul turned toward the spirit, which is through the work of the Word upon our hearts and minds -- a turning away from ourselves to the eternal; and the gift of the holy, or spiritual life in which our spirits are united to the Spirit of God. The end of our story, of which only a brief glimpse is given at the centre of Mark’s gospel in the transfiguration of Christ (9:2ff), is the transfiguration of our lives into that spiritual life which God intends us to have.

S.B.

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager anticipation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

We know that the whole of creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

Romans 8:18-27

This past summer saw closure to one chapter of terror in the United States, just weeks prior to the high-flying drama of September. Even as Timothy McVeigh was heading for his execution chambers his last words were read. They were based on a poem by William Ernest Henley, Invictus:

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.

The statement draws to mind a simple illustration that was used by an evangelism team in London. On the story board was a heart. Inside the heart was a fanciful stick chair. On the chair was either one of two people. In the one case, there was King Jesus; in the other case, there was I. In the case of the Apostle Paul, King Jesus was on the throne. In Henley’s poem, he himself was on the throne.

The interesting thing about the throne, is that there is room enough for one. Though many try to share the space, it cannot be done. Either He is there, or something else is. You cannot serve two captains. Who is your lord and master?

When we ourselves are in charge, then we do as we think best. The Bible on the other hand, teaches that we cannot possibly know what is best from our vantage point, and that we therefore need to rely on God. If we don’t rely on God at every turn, we are going to lose our way. Most of the people who are their own captain will not be as dramatic as McVeigh, yet, their eternal fate is common to all. The execution of McVeigh is documented here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas/newsid_1383000/1383193.stm

Anthrax works through a bacterium. Bacillus Anthracis, once it has had a chance to replicate within the body, produces poisons with which the body cannot cope. If the bacterium is not checked at the early stages of infection, the resultant buildup of toxins in the body become difficult to neutralize, often causing death.

Even before the elevated attention to anthrax in the wake of the September 11 event, in the Summer 2001 edition of RZIM’s newsletter, Stuart McAllister makes the following observation:

"...evangelicals have been good at understanding 'bad ideas' and dangerous philosophies, and very poor at understanding or grasping the impact of everyday processes and interactions that subtly but surely transform us. Let me illustrate with the terrible tragedy in the Ukraine, when the nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl plant caught fire. Millions went about their everyday business as usual, cooking, working, and going to school, unaware and uninformed that an unseen but deadly element was unleashed all around them. Something was happening that was changing the atmosphere and the essential conditions for life. Thousands were affected, and many died, all the while unaware of the slow poisoning from concealed deadly forces."

What everyday processes and interactions are steadily transforming us?

The devil is a better theologian than any of us and is a devil still.

A.W.Tozer Man: The Dwelling Place of God

God’s expectation is that we remain in a state of readiness at all times -- “always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence“ (1Pet 3:15). Also, to "be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction" (2 Tim 4:2). With this in mind see if you are able to answer the following:

1. Have you in the past month discussed the basis for your faith with someone who has never responded to the truth of the good news of Jesus?
   
2. Are you ready to address the objections of an atheistic evolutionist?
   
3. How effectively did you address that representative from the Watchtower Society when they last appeared at your door?
   
4. How effective was your address to the Mormon?
   
5. Do you know what is important when discussing your faith with a Jew?
   
6. Do you know what is important when discussing your faith with a Muslim?
   
7. Do you know what is important when discussing your faith with a Buddhist?
   
8. Do you know what is important when discussing your faith with a Hindu?
   
9. Were you effective when you shared your faith with that telemarketer?
   

In order to answer any of these questions in the affirmative, one needs to not only be familiar with the beliefs of the audience, but must understand well what and why we believe what we do. Can we be ready for the most common objections posed by each of these belief systems? Can we be ready with the ways Christ addresses questions which remain unaddressed by the others? If so, answer yes. For those that have been in the faith for more than a few years a perfect score is expected. How do you fare?

“The task of the church is twofold; to spread Christianity throughout the world and to make sure that the Christianity she spreads is the pure New Testament kind. Christianity will always reproduce itself after its kind. A worldly minded, unspiritual church is sure to bring forth on other shores a Christianity much like her own. Not the naked Word only but the character of the witness determines the quality of the convert.”

“The popular notion that the first obligation of the church is to spread the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth is false. Her first obligation is to be spiritually worthy to spread it. Our Lord said "Go ye," but He also said "Tarry ye," and the tarrying had to come before the going. Had the disciples gone forth as missionaries before the day of Pentecost it would have been an overwhelming spiritual disaster, for they could have done no more than make converts after their own likeness.”

“To spread an effete, degenerate brand of Christianity to pagan lands is not to fulfill the commandment of Christ or discharge our obligation to the heathen. Increased number of demi-Christians is not enough.”

A.W.Tozer Of God and Men

Who casts not up his eye to the sun when it rises? but who takes off his eye from a comet when that breaks out? Who bends not his ear to any bell which upon any occasion rings? but who can remove it from that bell which is passing a piece of himself out of this world? No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. Neither can we call this a begging of misery, or a borrowing of misery, as though we were not miserable enough of ourselves, but must fetch in more from the next house, in taking upon us the misery of our neighbours. Truly it were an excusable covetousness if we did, for affliction is a treasure, and scarce any man hath enough of it. No man hath affliction enough that is not matured and ripened by it, and made fit for God by that affliction. If a man carry treasure in bullion, or in a wedge of gold, and have none coined into current money, his treasure will not defray him as he travels. Tribulation is treasure in the nature of it, but it is not current money in the use of it, except we get nearer and nearer our home, heaven, by it. Another man may be sick too, and sick to death, and this affliction may lie in his bowels, as gold in a mine, and be of no use to him; but this bell, that tells me of his affliction, digs out and applies that gold to me: if by this consideration of another's danger I take mine own into contemplation, and so secure myself, by making my recourse to my God, who is our only security.

John Donne 

http://www.emule.com/poetry/?page=poem&poem=2947

It was a fine winter morning, though I could not get past my own drabness. The sun was shining outside, but inside I had no sap. What I was struggling with, I do not know -- perhaps influenza. I dreaded the thought of going to work -- no energy. One only feels a little hen-pecked when directed to stay home on days like today.

It's never happened before that I passed out, but I did, at five AM. Getting up from the loo, not making it back into bed. Black, everything around me was black; the blue china bowl was black. The sounds of the many fans keeping the electronics in check, faded as I sank into the couch and life itself became vague. It didn't last long, precisely how long, no one knows -- as fast as it had come, it had left. I got up and crawled into bed, heart pounding in my ears.

A second day at home. Tomorrow I go to the doctor, I concede -- only if things are not improving by then. It was a moot concession, of course I would not admit to feeling ill the next morning. Influenza knocks you out for a couple days, pop a few aspirin and away you go. I will be at work tomorrow just to prove my point, if naught else. But in spite of my bravest face, she was not fooled.

She phones me at work, and wants me to check myself in at the hospital. Dreading this. She's getting all emotional. Fine, I'll go see the doctor -- just don't ask me to waste my day in the ER. Last time we took the kids there, we were kept waiting for three hours. I have stuff to do. I just lost two days. I can't afford another day. Tinny sounding thoughts falling flat with repetition.

As I walked by my boss' office on the way to my appointment -- he wished me luck. Imagine, I come down with a bug and I need to wished 'luck'. The doctor took one look at me and sent me next door to the hospital. Conspiracy theories raced through hazy thoughts, as I resigned myself to the fact that Friday January 18th was toast. Sitting in the ER from morning into the afternoon -- it was nearly five o'clock before someone with MD behind his name came to have a peek at me. I'm laying on this stretcher in solitary confinement. They poked me with a poker that would make your eyes bug out, and drew out it seems a dozen vials of the vital stuff, then disappeared again for hours. Then I heard the doctor’s voice drop, "how low?" He then headed in my direction. Then there was that sinking realization that I wasn't going to get out of there any time soon.

I don't know what you heard, but I was diagnosed with a “severe GI bleed”. By that time they had assessed that I had already lost two-thirds of my blood -- hemoglobin was sitting at 61 grams per litre. I suppose, that’s a condition that gives me more in common with dead people than those that are alive. With that comes the lucky-to-be-alive routine from seemingly endless streams of healthcare practitioners.

Actually, I do not take unnecessary risks healthwise, even if a little gun-shy when it comes to hospitals. On the other hand, I take each day as God gives and I am quite aware the day will dawn when this body will see corruption.

The doctor's standard remedy for this sort of situation is to infuse blood. With such, prognosis would have been in the order of a month to recovery. Without such, they were saying that it would be a minimum of three to six months, possibly longer. They also brought to my attention that with so much blood gone, the risk of organ shutdown, stroke and heart attack were very real.

On the flip side of the equation, in spite of improvements to screening the blood supply, there remains an unacceptably high probability of contracting one of several Hepatitis strains and HIV. The blood services folks do not permit directed blood donation, except in rare circumstances -- circumstances that didn't apply to my case.

So, here was I, faced on one hand with prospects of a lengthy recovery, possible death in the near term. On the other hand, shorter term recovery, possible death by HIV in the longer term. What would you have done?

Daniel, is what we are studying Wednesday nights. In the first chapter, the man and his friends disregard the best advice of the king, and refuse to ruin their good conscience before the Almighty. To some, this might seem an unimportant detail of dietary matters, but to them it was faithfulness to the revealed requirements of Jahweh.

Some thoughts went through my mind. First and foremost, if God's clock for me was up, I was ready to go. On the other hand, I didn't have the sense that this was necessarily the case, but when you stare death into the face, I admit, it looks pretty black. So, my prayer was, if He was willing, that my preference was to be around for the kids as they grow up. They needed someone to guide them in their walk with the Lord.

For certain, I was not willing to risk discrediting His name -- I was not going to live disgracefully, neither die this way in return for a quick fix in this life. When one dies of HIV there are always the lingering questions. God asks us to be beyond reproach, in as much as we are able. I needed to trust God on this, and that was the point of His exercise for me. Nothing to do with religion, but everything to do with my faith. I chose not to opt in to the repeated offers to infuse blood. Even this, in the face of considerable pressure to compromise. It pleases God when His children trust Him. It is difficult to explain how I came to know this, if you have not been there yourself. I was released from the hospital on January 23rd.

On February 22 I went to the lab to get my blood tested. Tuesday following, the call came from the doctor's office for me to come in that very same day. Now, my doctor never calls unless it is something serious -- I admit, I was preparing myself for the worst. I knew I needed to accept whatever the consequences for my decision were. God wants obedience, not presumption.

When I met with the doctor that day, I realized that something about his demeanor was different -- the combination of incredulity, even humour, dispelled any concern I might have had. He had the lab report in front of him -- my blood hemoglobin now stood at 136 grams per litre, quite normal in fact. So, in the course of less than five weeks, the recovery that had been prognosticated at a half year, took place.

Now, I will allow you to draw your own conclusions about this progression of events. But, do consider the facts. I recently downloaded some nutritional software which uses the USDA database. This confirmed to me my own, nearly total, lack of insight into dietary matters. Not only my own, but those around me who were proffering advice. My nutritional intake was not miserable, but was insufficient in explaining the recovery.

Some have asked, though knowing nothing about homeopathy myself, offers little room for its practice.

I was also on ferrous sulphate supplements. However, the gastronomic stress that these generated, I admit, they were not taken with the prescribed rigour. Precisely at the prescribed levels, it was to have taken three to six months.

I am left with the thought that God works according to His own plan, and according to His own purposes. In spite of our best wisdom, we cannot succeed. What he wants from us is to recognize our own dependence on Him, and the inadequacy of our own thinking and doing. He desires that we recognize His attributes correctly, and in doing so we realize that His perspective is so vastly superior to our own. We now celebrate, because God answered prayer, but moreso, because He permitted us to pray in a way that was consistent with His will.

E.J.R.

Teleology Te`le*ol"o*gy, n. Gr. ?, teleos, the end or issue + -logy: cf. F. t'el'eologie.

The doctrine of the final causes of things; specif. (Biol.), the doctrine of design, which assumes that the phenomena of organic life, particularly those of evolution, are explicable only by purposive causes, and that they in no way admit of a mechanical explanation or one based entirely on biological science; the doctrine of adaptation to purpose.

Matzo n : eaten at Passover syn: matzoh, matzah, unleavened bread

Effete Ef*fete", a. L. effetus that has brought forth, exhausted; ex + fetus

that has brought forth. See Fetus. No longer capable of producing young, as an animal, or fruit, as the earth; hence, worn out with age; exhausted of energy; incapable of efficient action; no longer productive; barren; sterile.

Hemoglobin Hem"o*glo"bin, n. Hemo- + globe. (Physiol.)

The normal coloring matter of the red blood corpuscles of vertebrate animals. It is composed of hematin and globulin, and is also called haematoglobulin. In arterial blood, it is always combined with oxygen, and is then called oxyhemoglobin. It crystallizes under different forms from different animals, and when crystallized, is called haematocrystallin. See Blood crystal, under Blood.

Source: GNOME MIT Dictionary

“Have you noticed how much praying for revival has been going on of late -- and how little revival has resulted? I believe our problem is that we have been trying to substitute praying for obeying, and it simply will not work. To pray for revival while ignoring or actually flouting the plain precept laid down in the scriptures is to waste a lot of words and get nothing for our trouble. Prayer will become effective when we stop using it as a substitute for obedience.”

A.W.Tozer Of God and Men

News and information bulletin board: http://genema.org/xtos

Installing Apple’s new OS X: http://genema.org/osx.html

Computer virus links: http://genema.org/msft.html

Ravi Zacharias International Ministries: http://rzim.org

Tozer Devotional link courtesy of Grant Gordon, who comments that “he was considered a prophet to the North American church”: http://devotions.cmalliance.org/tozer/today.asp?ID=1059

Etchings of Grace is published twice annually, winter and summer, in Kitchener, Ontario Canada. Circulation ca. 200. Etchings is simultaneously published in softcopy on genema.org.

The purpose for which Etchings exists is so that we might "proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ" (Colossians 1:28). We are the runes of His grace etched on human tablets. All articles and materials published by this publication are copyright by Etchings of Grace, unless otherwise noted.

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