nature of Jesus Archives - Truth Is The Word

Jewels from John: Part 1

Leave a Comment / Blog, Home Bulletin, My Blog / Christopher Peppler

Most of my articles lean towards analysis rather than reflection, so I am starting a new series entitled ‘Jewels from John’. In each article, I will present insights and reflections on four different passages from the Gospel of John.

John 1:14 says “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” NIV

The Word, the mysterious and humanly incomprehensible second personage of the triune God became a man here on planet Earth. He spent thirty-three and a half years among us. He ‘tabernacled’ (dwelt) right in the middle of the known world, as the tent of Moses had been set up in the centre of the camp of Israel. Moses merely reflected the glory of God when he exited the Tent of Meeting (the Tabernacle), but Jesus constantly displayed this glory before all people who came into his presence. Those who encountered him probably did not see a shining radiance around him, but they knew that he was unlike any other they had ever met. “Who is this man?” they said, “For I sense the presence of Almighty God in and through who he is and what he says and does.” They couldn’t understand what exactly it was, and one of his disciples, trying to comprehend what he felt, asked him to “Show us the Father”, meaning God. The Lord’s answer was, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.”

When I consider this, I marvel that God, the creator of all that is, came to Earth to meet with us. In days gone by he had sent messengers on his behalf and had even made brief angel-like appearances. But in the year 3BC this Lord of All incarnated as a Jewish man. He didn’t temporarily use a human body, or possess the mind of a baby, he became fully human. As such, he could move among all types of people displaying the nature and character of the eternal God they had long heard of. And that nature was one of grace and truth. Not judgment and domination, but the purest love and the absolute truth.

Yet, this divine light of grace and truth was neither understood nor received by most people or even the people of God. I find it hard to understand this, yet today the same applies to the men and women of our time. It also applied to me because it took the first thirty years of my life to realise who the Jesus of my Sunday School years really was.

Here is the thing though; if we truly believe what the Apostle John writes about Jesus, then how can we relegate him to any other place than the centre of our lives? How is this possible?

John 1:16-17 reads “Indeed, every one of us has shared in his riches – there is a grace in our lives because of his grace. For while the Law was given by Moses, love and truth came through Jesus Christ.” J.B.Phillips

Whether we acknowledge it or not, every person born on Earth for the last two thousand years has benefited from Jesus Christ’s influence. His gracious words and deeds did not only affect his disciples or the people of his day. Indeed, individuals and civilisations over the ages have benefited from his influence. The laws of civilised society are rooted in the precepts and commands of the Law of Moses. However, these laws would be empty were it not for the copious grace that Jesus brought to them. Believers and unbelievers alike benefit from his grace and even the most cynical atheists grudgingly admit that Jesus was, and still is, the epitome of goodness and truth.

His influence goes even further. Jesus is the overflowing wellspring of grace, but he is also the source and interpreter of truth.

Pilate asked him “What is truth” and twenty-first thinkers of all persuasions still ask the same question. Jesus answered this question with “I tell you the truth” and said this not once, but seventy-eight times! If we want to know the truth then we need to recall what the Word of Truth said.

Jesus spoke truth directly into the issues of his time, but he also provided every generation with the principles and precepts by which we judge truth today.

He said, “when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come”. When speaking of the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit, Jesus said: “When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you”.

Of course, the Lord’s overflowing grace affects us in the ways I have mentioned, but it also determines everlasting life or death. Only in and through him can a human being continue to live on in a relationship with God after this earthly existence Without faith in Jesus, men and women simply continue to live in separation from the source of eternal life. Truly, from the fullness of his grace, we have all received one blessing after another.

It is no wonder that the Lord Jesus called himself the way, and the truth, and the life, for that is just what he is.

John 2:24 says “Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men.” NIV

The people that Jesus would not entrust himself to were not just the Pharisees, but the many who believed in him because they saw the miracles he performed. Many people profess belief because they have witnessed or experienced a significant spiritual event in his name. However, what demands my focus in this verse is that Jesus did not entrust himself to them. As a Jesus-follower we perhaps have the idea that we should be transparent to everyone and freely share our inner lives with all who profess to be Christian. It appears that this is not the example Jesus set.

On one occasion he told us not to cast our pearls to pigs and warned what would happen if we did. This would apply to what we know, who we are, how we think, our state of mind, and so on. Our inner life is precious and not to be shared lightly or indiscriminately. When we ‘wear our heart on our sleeve’ we often pay the price of rejection, disrespect, or breach of confidence. However, sharing our inner life with someone is a step into a deep and lasting friendship. Jesus did not entrust himself to many, yet he shared in a deeply heartfelt way with his three closest disciples, Peter, James and John. Just so with us.

**John 3:27 notes that “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven.” NIV**

This was John the Baptist’s response to the complaint that Jesus was also baptising people (although it was his disciples doing this). Perhaps John was saying that a messenger of God can only function in what he has been appointed to. This is why the NLT translates this verse as ‘God in heaven appoints each person’s work’. However, I believe that there is a more general principle here.

In every aspect of our lives, we can only receive what God either indirectly allows or directly gives. It is tempting to attribute the good things in our lives to luck or hard work, and bad things to someone else’s fault. However, James made it clear when he wrote: ‘Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above.’

So, I have developed a reflex of responding to good things with a spoken “Thank you Lord”. I don’t thank God for bad things, but I try to realise that they facilitate learning, maturity, and spiritual growth. I believe that life does not end in the grave, and that the primary purpose in life is to know Jesus, become like him, and to help others do likewise. Therefore anything that serves this purpose is ultimately good for me. Easy to accept intellectually but not as easy to live through, I know. This is why I ‘try to realise’ the value of troublesome things when they manifest in my life.

Be blessed dear readers.

Jewels from John: Part 1 Read More »

God Is Good All The Time

5 Comments / Blog, Home Bulletin, My Blog / Christopher Peppler

God is good

The leader of the church service intones, “God is good, all the time”, and the congregation responds with, “all the time, God is good”. This may be a stylised church thing, but it is also a profound statement of truth. The older I get, the more I come to understand that this axiom lies at the foundation of so many theological and life-related issues.

There are two parts to the statement:

God is good: This is the fundamental moral and ethical foundation of human life. God is good, he is not bad. God is love, he is not hate. God is truth, he is not lie. Of course, we will need to define what we mean by ‘good’ and we will need to establish a standard against which we can determine goodness.
All the time: God is not good just some of the time, but all of the time. He is not both good and bad, successively or simultaneously. God is absolutely and always good.

Right at the outset, let me give a few examples of what this means and the effect it has on our beliefs and lives:

If God is consistently and absolutely good, then he cannot, in any sense, be bad.
If something truly bad happens to us then we cannot and must not attribute it to God. “God knows best – His ways are higher than ours” is no real comfort at all to the man or woman whose daughter has recently been raped and then butchered. It besmirches God and leaves the parent hopeless and doubly distraught.
If God cold-bloodedly killed Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11) for lying about how they spent their own money, then why should we expect his goodness to be manifest in our lives? It would be no better than living in fear of the wrath of God or not believing at all.
If God is not good all the time, then why should WE strive or even expect to be? The old false narrative that God’s standards are different to our standards is just an unethical double standard.
If God has predetermined who will be saved and who consigned to Hell then how can we equally believe the biblical statement that he wants all to be saved? Either this makes God out to be a disingenuous fraud, or it makes the bible unreliable.

There are many more examples I could set down, but these will do for now. So, now let’s examine the two parts of the axiom I started with and then move on to how we should establish the truth that God is good, all the time.

God is Good

If I were not a bible-honouring Christian then I guess I would have to argue from philosophy, sociology, or reasoning. If you would like to explore the intellectual idea of Godless ethics then HERE is a good place to start. However, I am a bible-honouring follower of the Lord Jesus and so I will instead argue from scripture.

Many Old Testament texts affirm that God is good, but consider Psalm 34:8: ‘Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.’ The word ‘Lord’ in the Hebrew text is of course ‘Yahweh’, the customary name of the creator God of Israel.

As with the Old Testament, there are many references to the goodness of God in the New Testament. Again, I want to focus on just one. 1 John 1:5 ‘This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all’ It is quite legitimate, therefore, to say ‘God is good, and in him is no badness at all’. God is absolutely, completely ‘light’, and ‘good’ and there is nothing in him that is ‘dark’ and ‘bad’.

All the Time

Not only is God good, but he is consistently and continuously good. Not just sometimes good and sometimes bad and not both good and bad, but always good.

James 1:16-17 reads: ‘Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows’. The picture here is a sundial where the shadow moves over the dial as the hours progress. God is not like that. To use the same word picture, God is like the sun at noon where there is no movement of a shadow on the sundial. He is unchanging in his bright goodness.

So then, God is good, and only good, all the time. Yet I have often read or heard that we need to hold the goodness of God and his ‘dark side’ in dynamic tension, accepting that he is both light and dark, good and bad. He loves all people because he created them in his image to be his eternal children, but he feels free to abuse and obliterate them if he deems that this is ‘necessary’. I have very little tolerance for this line of thought. It is schizophrenic and falls foul of Isaiah’s admonition: ‘Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter’ (Isaiah 5:20).

So, now one more important issue needs addressing, ‘What is our standard for what is good?’

The Standard

How do we know good from bad and truth from error? God is good, but what does that mean in terms of our standards?

The first step towards answering these questions is to dispel some wrong thinking. The most common excuse for what we understand as instances of God’s ‘misbehaviour’ is that because he knows all things and can see the outcome of all eventualities he does some things that appear bad to us but that are necessary to achieve a good result. Just think for a moment what that says about God. Is he so limited that he cannot choose options that avoid doing anything ‘bad’? Is he selectively loving and merciful? When we try to account for the things in scripture that God seems to do or instruct that we see as bad, then we compromise God’s own stated values and besmirch his character. In addition, it opens the door to us adopting the means justifies the end thinking – I can do anything I need to do to attain what I believe is a ‘good’ result. This ‘the end justifies the means’ pollutes modern society, families, churches, and personal life and is prevalent in governments, businesses, and even Christian institutions.

An alternative to this wrong thinking is to slip into another form of wrong thinking – to accept that God has double standards. What is good for him is not necessarily good for us. God expects us to live to standards that he does not evidence. There is just so much that is wrong about this line of thought, so best I just say that God does not have double standards, he is absolutely good in all his ways.

So, how then do we determine good from bad? The obvious answer to a Christian is, “well the scriptures of course”. Sure, but that supposes that we are all able to understand the bible correctly, whatever ‘correctly’ actually means. No, the answer must be that our means of determining good from bad is the Lord Jesus Christ as revealed in and through the scriptures. If Jesus is truly God incarnate, then what he said, did, and revealed of the nature and character of the Godhead must be true. I have made the case for this idea many times and you can find an instance of this HERE.

Conclusion

If you find yourself blaming your god for bad things, or accommodating his apparent ‘dark side’, then PLEASE examine your thinking. How can you have a loving relationship with a god who is fickle, disingenuous, or just plain bad? You cannot! If your god might have chosen you or a loved one for eternal damnation, no matter what they do or are, then what kind of a god is that? If your god applies double standards or expects you to disengage your critical faculties then what does it say about his morality and ethics? I have used ‘god’ with a small ‘g’ in this paragraph because the deity we are envisioning here is not God Almighty. He is not the God embodied in Jesus of Nazareth.

God is good and there is no badness in him. God is light and there is no darkness in him. Anything that contradicts this key maxim is a reflection of wrong thinking and incorrect biblical interpretation.

Please do not dismiss what I have written here as either simply interesting or perhaps irrelevant. The nature and character of God is something that affects all doctrine and human life. Rather than moving on to the next thought presented to you, stop and critically evaluate what I have set out before you. Look into the scriptures and question, pray, and seek answers.

This is a vitally important subject, so please comment freely in the section at the foot of this article and I will interact with you as best I can.

God Is Good All The Time Read More »

Forgive – But How?

4 Comments / Blog, Home Bulletin, My Blog / Christopher Peppler

Few Jesus-followers would dispute the fact that we need to forgive those who offend or wrong us. However, just how and when to do this can be very problematic.

I am writing this article, not just as a pastoral teaching, but as a means of working through a practical issue that has affected me and many others. Unforgiveness destroys relationships and can cause mental and even physical health problems in the offended party, so it is something we cannot ignore or postpone for too long.

Jesus’ Teaching

The Lord Jesus taught that we should forgive. He included it in the prayer format that he gave his disciples (Matthew 6:12-15) and ended with, “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” This sentiment is repeated in Mark 11:26 and Luke 6:37.

Oh, OK, so I just need to pray, “Lord, I forgive so-and-so for this-and-that” and everything will be fine? No, that won’t do because Matthew 18 records a story Jesus told to illustrate the concept of forgiveness, which he concluded with: “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.” (18:35). The key phrase here is ‘from your heart’, and that is where the rubber hits the road (or as we say in South Africa ‘the tackie hits the tar’). It is easy to forgive in the mind, but the ‘heart’? … not so much.

There is no doubt that Jesus instructs us to forgive in a real and heartfelt way.

The Problem

The problem is not in knowing that we need to forgive, but in knowing how and when to do this. Matthew 18:15-19 sets out the Lord’s instructions regarding sin that affect the church community or its Christian reputation. It starts with ‘If your brother sins against you…’, but the better translations all add the footnote that the words ‘against you’ are omitted from some manuscripts. This omission makes more sense of the passage because the process that Jesus sets out lands up under the purview of the local church and has a form of ex-communication as the ultimate negative outcome. It does not make a lot of sense to omit the words ‘against you’ if the ‘sin’ in question is a purely interpersonal matter. So, this passage does not give us much help when it comes to personal offence and forgiveness.

Another problematic aspect is when the persons who have ‘sinned’ against you might not be aware of the hurt they have caused.

Jesus’ instruction on this is in Luke 17:3, “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him“. So, if you have reason to think that the offender does not realise that they have offended you, then bring it to their attention and perhaps they will ask for forgiveness. However, I have found from painful personal experiences that it is often very hard to accept that the person in question could be unaware of the impact of his/her words. It is seems so obvious to you that anybody could be unaware of the damage done to your self-worth or sense of identity. This then raises another obstacle to approaching the offender … rejection and counterattack from them. Sometimes you even have the evidence of experiences to lead you to conclude that your challenge, no matter how gently made, will be aggressively rejected. Of course, the only way to find out is to approach the person anyway … and this risks further pain and humiliation.

Of course, if you are the offender, and know it, then the Lord’s clear instruction is that you immediately go and ask for forgiveness: “if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First, go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:23-24).

So, you see, forgiveness is not always as simple as it may seem.

A Solution to the Problem

Full forgiveness in any relational sense is impossible to grant if the one causing the offence does not ask for it. However, Mark records something Jesus said that is helpful here. He said: ”When you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in Heaven may forgive you your sins.” (Mark 11:35) It is hard to imagine, in this example that the man was supposed to stop praying, dash off to find the person he held a grudge against, forgive him although he may not have asked for forgiveness, and then resume praying. A more likely explanation is that Jesus requires an offended person to adopt an attitude of heart that is willing to forgive if so asked. In other words, prayerfully commit to forgiving if asked to do so.

This conforms to the pattern we have in God’s attitude towards us; we ask him to forgive us and he does so because his heart is disposed towards this. ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness’ (1 John 1:9). Luke 17:4 confirms this approach: “Even if he wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, forgive him.” NLT

Kevin Carson, department chair of biblical counselling at the Baptist Bible College and Theological Seminary in Springfield, Missouri, writes:

The process is a little more complex though. Although we try forgiving in our hearts before God, often the subconscious mind interferes with the integrity of this ‘attitudinal forgiveness’. We catch ourselves in moments of reflection remembering the pain and we even create an imaginary dialogue where we tell the offenders just how we feel and how they have wronged us. Sometimes, this can only be resolved when transactional forgiveness has taken place. Until then all we can do is pray for God to bless (not correct) them and, continue to restate our willingness to forgive whenever these thoughts intrude, and ensure that we are sufficiently in contact and available to receive a request for forgiveness if and when the person is convicted of the need to do so .

There are some obvious exceptions to this principle of ‘transactional forgiveness’. For instance, the person may be dead or otherwise uncontactable, or mentally unable to process and respond. In these cases, ‘attitudinal forgiveness’ must simply have to suffice and the Holy Spirit will over time deal with any residual negative emotions.

Another aspect I have not dealt with is the idea of ‘self forgiveness’ epitomised by the phrase “I just can’t forgive myself for….”. As I see it, the simple truth is that we cannot forgive ourselves for anything, but we can confess and ask forgiveness for everything. The biblical assurance is clear that, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9) To continue to live in a state of self-condemnation is surely an affront to God and a lack of faith is the scriptures?

Process and Assumptions

Let me share with you two insights that I recently acquired.

The first is that forgiveness is a process. The sort of events or incidents that create serious mental anguish cause relationship failure. If we lose relationships that we have cherished then we mourn in some way. Mourning is a process that has no fixed expiry date. Often the process involves stages of denial, anger, depression, and finally acceptance. So, although we, and others, know that we need to confront the problem and approach the offender, it takes time to do. Our hearts need to be prepared, as does the heart of the offender. If we are open to the possibility of reconciliation then the Holy Spirit will work in all the lives concerned until the time comes when things can be positively resolved.

The second insight is that we often make assumptions about the state of the other person, which turn out to be untrue or one-sided. For instance, he/she may view the break in the relationship as our fault: we walked away, we didn’t care enough to try, and so on. This coupled with a lack of awareness of the damage they have done to you can result in them taking offence and feeling that you need to ask their forgiveness.

Summary

Forgiveness is required of us by God. It starts with an attitude of preparedness and commitment to forgive the person who has caused the offence.

However, it can only be effective in its fullness when forgiveness is sought and granted. When we release the offenders and give up the right to exact a penalty, then our conscience is clear before God and our relationship with him unsullied. When forgiveness is asked for and granted, the heart is then healed and a way open to restore the relationship.

Unforgiveness is a serious threat to our mental and spiritual health and negatively affects our relationship with Jesus and his people. Unforgiveness is a double-whammy problem because it impoverishes both the offended and the offender in some way irrespective of the merits of the case. Sometimes it even affects family and friends who grieve or take offence on behalf of one party or both. It is something we just cannot ignore.

‘Our Father in heaven:

May your holy name be honoured;

may your Kingdom come;

may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today the food we need.

Forgive us the wrongs we have done,

as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us.

Do not bring us to hard testing,

but keep us safe from the Evil One.’

TEV

Forgive – But How? Read More »

The Glory in The Lord’s Prayer Doxology

Leave a Comment / Blog, Home Bulletin, My Blog / Christopher Peppler

Most Christians are familiar with the Lord’s Prayer because most traditional churches routinely include it in their Sunday services. While I was a local church pastor, I dropped it from our order of service simply because it had become a litany spoken or sung with very little thought to what it meant.

I have written about The Lord’s Prayer before, but in this article, I want to focus on the last phrase, the doxology (a liturgical formula of praise to God), of Matthew 6:13: “Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” In particular, I want to zoom in on the word ‘glory’ because I believe that we need to grasp the fuller meaning of this divine attribute.

The Missing Doxology

Of the various modern translations of the bible, only the New King James and the Holman’s Christian Standard Bible show the doxology in the main body of the text. The others relegate it to a footnote with the comment that only some early manuscripts include these words. The line taken by most commentators is that the ‘best’ Greek manuscripts do not include the doxology. However, the Codex Washingtonianus, and the Textus Receptus (The Received Text), derived from it, included the doxology. John Chrysostom, a late 3^rd century father of the church expanded on the doxology in his writings. Even before that, the Didache (The Teaching of the Twelve) of the late 1^st century included a slightly truncated form of the doxology. On these grounds alone, I would certainly include the doxology in the main body of the biblical text, and 1 Chronicles 29:11 adds weight to this: “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty.”

Things that Dull the Light of Glory

The Westminster Shorter Catechism was written in 1646/1647 by a synod of English and Scottish theologians and laymen intending to bring the Church of England into greater conformity with the Church of Scotland. This catechism still represents the heart of Reformed Theology, and by this, I mean the Calvinism of the last 75 or so years.

Question number One of this catechism is phrased as: ‘What is the chief end of man?’ The answer is then given as, ‘Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever’. A more modern way of phrasing this as a statement would be ‘The purpose of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever’.

For me, this begs the question, “How do we glorify God?” Is it through praising and worshipping him? Obeying him? Testifying to others how glorious God is? It is surely all these things… but it is more. My understanding of God’s purpose for all people is ‘to come to know Jesus; to become like him in this lifetime; and to help others to do likewise’ and I will explain later how I connect this to ‘glorifying God’. This is how we glorify God.

Behind the Reformed statement of the purpose of humanity is, I suspect, an implied contention that we glorify God most by submitting joyfully to his meticulous control of our lives. Of course, this would only be sincere if we believed this core Calvinist doctrine – I don’t. I hold that we glorify God most by knowing him in and through the Lord Jesus Christ and by testifying, through words and lifestyles, to what we have come to know of his glorious nature. God’s glory has more to do with his nature than the manifestation of his presence.

On the Pentecostal/Charismatic end of the spectrum, teachers commonly understand the glory of God as his awesomeness or even as the radiance that issues from him. Yes, God is awe-inspiring and radiant, yet I doubt that this describes the essence of his glorious nature and being.

God’s Glory is Best Displayed in His Goodness

A key scripture that sheds light upon God’s glory is Exodus 33:12-23 which reads:

Moses said to the LORD, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favour with me.’ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favour with you. Remember that this nation is your people.” The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” And the LORD said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.” Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory”. And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” Then the LORD said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.” NIV

This account is very well-known and mainly self-explanatory. However, here are two things to think on:

God’s response to Moses’ request to “show me your glory” was that he would cause all his goodness to pass by. The two words he then used to amplify this were ‘mercy’ and ‘compassion’. Therefore, a central idea here is that God displays his glory to humans through his goodness, mercy, and compassion.
Human beings cannot fully experience the manifestation of God himself in the physical realm. His appearance is described as ‘the sun shining in all its brilliance’ (Revelation 1:16) and we all know that we cannot look into the physical sun without blinding ourselves. So, in the Exodus account, God spared Moses this sort of damaging experience by covering him up until only the after-glow of his presence was visible. In the heavenly realm, we will be able to meet with God face to face, but we cannot do this in the present physical life: “…you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

Jesus, the Manifestation of the Glory of God

In this world, we cannot behold God’s glorious presence yet we can ‘see’ him indirectly in his goodness, mercy, and compassion.

However, this has never been enough for material-obsessed humanity, so God incarnated on Earth as Jesus of Nazareth who said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9)

I have written and spoken on the nature of Jesus so many times, but just in case someone is reading my work for the first time, then just consider the following:

He is the image of the invisible God… for God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him. (Colossians 1:16-19)
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form (Colossians 2:9)
In the past, God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being. (Hebrews 1:1-3)

So, if we want to know what the glory of God is like we need only look to the life, ministry, and teachings of Jesus. There we find wisdom, grace, mercy, kindness, compassion, forgiveness, and any other noble quality we may think of. Divine glory in bodily form!

Human Purpose Revisited

Going back to the Westminster Shorter Catechism’s statement that: ‘Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever’, a bigger and more glorious picture now emerges. To ‘glorify God’ is to contemplate and testify to Jesus’s nature and character. It is also to live out these qualities in our world because our testimony to his glory must surely transcend just words and emotions. To ‘enjoy him forever’ is to enter into a living and eternal relationship with him in this life and the next. From glory to glory!

This is why my theological focus centres on Jesus and why I have promoted Christocentricity and a Jesus-centeredness for over four decades. It is so easy to get lost in an intellectual appreciation for God and a mind-centred witness to our world. It is just as easy to get lost in the emotional and sensory wonder of the manifestation of God’s glory in our world. But, if we look to Jesus then everything falls into place.

“Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!

Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:7-18)

The Glory in The Lord’s Prayer Doxology Read More »

Glimmers from Hebrews

1 Comment / Blog, Home Bulletin, My Blog / Christopher Peppler

Top Image

‘Glimmers from Hebrews’ may be a strange-sounding title for an article, but it is appropriate to how I am thinking about this fascinating book. In its first paragraph, the author writes that

‘The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being…”

‘Radiance’ is a translation of a word in the scriptures that occurs only here in the bible, and means something like ‘off-flash’, a beam of bright light emanating from a radiant light. Hebrews is an off-flash from the radiant light of the New Testament, and within its thirteen chapters, it contains many little rays of light

I am starting a weekly online bible study, mainly for my faithful Truth is The Word readers, but also for other interested people everywhere, which will be on this very book. So, this article might serve to help folks decide whether a study of Hebrews is for them at this time. In any event, I hope the article will encourage you to read this unique book. Actually, Hebrews is not a booklet or letter as much as it is a sermon, carefully crafted to bring doctrinal truth, practical application, and most of all, a glorious revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here are five glimmers from Hebrews.

Glimmer Number One

The first three verses contain a description of Jesus equalled only by Paul’s description in Colossians 1:15, 19, 2:3, 9: ‘He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation in order that we may know the mystery of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.’ Now, following on from this revelation come the words from the author of Hebrews:

In the past, God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven’.

Glimmer Number Two

Everyone knows that angels play a role in the biblical revelation of God’s plans and purposes. Some people write them off as euphemisms, like regarding the angels of the seven churches of Revelation as either human messengers or church leaders. However, Jesus spoke of them as sentient spiritual beings who were very real to him. The Gospels contain over fifty references to angels, the book of Acts has 25 references, and Revelation nearly 80. In total, the word angel or angels occurs 186 times in the New Testament. We know that angels worship and serve God, but only Hebrews discloses their prime function on Earth:

‘Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation (Hebrews 1:14)

Glimmer Number Three

Theologians debate whether Christians can lose their salvation and anxious mothers agonise over whether their backsliding children could ever return to the faith. Only in Hebrews can we find clear answers to these questions. Hebrews contains five solemn warnings against ignoring God’s Word, disbelieving in Jesus, falling away, renouncing salvation, and refusing God. So, if you want a little peek into what apostasy looks like then just read Hebrews 6:45 and 10:26-31. However, don’t stop there because, in addition to five warnings, Hebrews has five exhortations… it is not all doom and gloom.

Glimmer Number Four

The three great principles of responsible biblical interpretation are Context, Christocentricity, and exhaustive reference. Hebrews is a concise case study in all three. The whole ‘sermon’ is Jesus-centred and its dominant theme is the superiority of Jesus, or in more colloquial terms, ‘Jesus is just the best!’. The first audience for Hebrews was a group of Jews who had become followers of Jesus but who were considering returning to Judaism. Without this context, it is very difficult to understand parts of the sermon. For instance, what is Hebrews 6:1-3 all about and what is its relevance to us today? The exhaustive reference principle is about reading any particular passage in the light of the greater biblical revelation, and the author of Hebrews constantly connects his readers to Old Testament texts.

Glimmer Number Five

The Old Testament contains many symbols and types, and Hebrews picks up on several of them. Here you will find references to the enigmatic Melchizedek as well as a description of the Old Testament Tabernacle/Temple that is subtly different to the Old Testament description. I am not going to spill the beans here, but it is something I definitely will include in the bible study. For the time being, read Hebrews 9:1-6 and compare it to Exodus 30:1-11. Spot what item of furniture has been moved and think on why this should be.

Conclusion

Hebrews is in two parts with the practical section starting at chapter 10 verse 19. From there on until the end it is all about such things as

Drawing near to God in faith
Holding fast in hope
Encouraging one another in love.

Therefore, Hebrews is not just a fascinating doctrinal discourse, but also a source of practical direction and encouragement, and something everyone needs to read and study. So why not get started with at least reading it … right now.

The online bible study will start on the 15th February 2022 and I will send out the link to you on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and WhatsApp to take you to the study on YouTube. Thereafter I’ll be sending reminders every week. I look forward to going on this journey with you!

Glimmers from Hebrews Read More »

nature of Jesus

Jewels from John: Part 1

John 1:14 says “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” NIV

John 1:16-17 reads “Indeed, every one of us has shared in his riches – there is a grace in our lives because of his grace. For while the Law was given by Moses, love and truth came through Jesus Christ.” J.B.Phillips

John 2:24 says “Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men.” NIV

**John 3:27 notes that “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven.” NIV**

God Is Good All The Time

There are two parts to the statement:

Right at the outset, let me give a few examples of what this means and the effect it has on our beliefs and lives:

God is Good

All the Time

The Standard

Conclusion

Forgive – But How?

Jesus’ Teaching

The Problem

A Solution to the Problem

Process and Assumptions

Summary

The Glory in The Lord’s Prayer Doxology

The Missing Doxology

Things that Dull the Light of Glory

God’s Glory is Best Displayed in His Goodness

Jesus, the Manifestation of the Glory of God

Human Purpose Revisited

Glimmers from Hebrews

Glimmer Number One

Glimmer Number Two

Glimmer Number Three

Glimmer Number Four

Glimmer Number Five

Conclusion

QUICK PAGE LINKS

FOLLOW ME ON

About Me