 
Exploring the Nicene Creed

Copyright 2011 M.R. Hyde

Smashwords

Edition

Blog: http://thewordwwtw.blogspot.com/

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Portions of this book came from Who is Jesus ?A Devotional Journey through the Gospel of Matthew also by M.R. Hyde and available at e-book retailers.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. The "NIV" and "New International Version" trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica. Use of either trademark requires the permission of Biblica.

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Conclusion

Bibliography

About the Author

Chapter 1

What do you believe? What do you believe about yourself? What do you believe about chairs or buildings? What do you believe about God?

People gather often as the Church because they either know God a little bit, want to know him more, or wonder if there is a God. Perhaps it would be good to set about the task of understanding what we believe in gathering—what we really believe.

For centuries people of all different kinds of religions have tried to put what they believe into nutshells of all shapes and sizes. It's kind of what companies do, too. What is the latest McIntosh belief system? "Think Different." I have flown on Southwest Airlines frequently and they have a statement of belief about their frequent flyer program—"Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards: A Symbol of Freedom." Wow! Look at what I get for my airfare—freedom!

In our minds and human systems we are always trying to capture ideas and concepts and put them into reliable and transferrable short forms. Our Muslim friends have what is called "The Five Pillars of Islam." These are the basic guiding principles for every Muslim in the world. As humans we want to be able to tell others in a brief and excellent way exactly what we stand for, exactly what we believe about ourselves, our organization, or our lives. Often we call these statements manifestos, doctrines or creeds.

So, Christians, being really no different than any other persons in the world, seek for ways to explain their beliefs to others, and perhaps to themselves. If someone were to ask us what we believe we have perhaps two choices out of many. Read the entire Bible to them from Genesis to Revelation (which should be done anyway, but over a long period of time) or walk them through a much shorter version of the Gospel.

Creeds also serve another purpose. They give us a way to say out in full voice what we believe, to testify to the truth that is within us. To testify means to make a statement based on personal knowledge or belief. It means to bear witness. When confronted with an opposing force, there may be times that we will have to declare the truth of what we know. And greater still there is a spiritual truth found in Romans 10:8-13. Listen to how the Apostle Paul described what was necessary for every Christian. But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile--the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

It is when we say it with our mouths and mean it from our hearts that the transforming work of Christ continues. And when we match our mouth with our belief something wonderful happens—we will never be put to shame. What greater promise could you and I have than that God, through Jesus Christ, will deliver us from sin and shame?! So, I want to be able to say with my mouth and mean it from my heart that Jesus Christ is indeed my Lord!

There is a classic British story of the Winslow family that might help us flesh this out a bit. The story follows the lives of a banker and his family living in the turn-of-the-century London. The youngest boy, Freddy, is accused of forging a note and stealing money from another student. And on top of that Freddy is expelled from a prestigious school for the matter.

When Freddy's parents discover their young son standing out in the rain in the back yard afraid to come in, the journey of defending him begins. Freddy pleads his innocence to his family and they immediately believe him. Yet, the leadership of the school stands by their accusation.

Eventually the boy's older sister approaches a high profile, very influential lawyer, Sir Robert Morton, seeking his assistance in the case. The sister captures the curiosity of this incredibly busy and important man and he begins to hear the boy's case.

In a tense scene the scrutinizing lawyer hammers away at Freddy in front of his family, first accusing him then trying to trick him. The family becomes frustrated and befuddled because they wanted the lawyer to defend this child, but he only seemed to be attacking him. On the way out of his office, Sir Robert Morton quietly accepts the case, stating that he believes the boy because his story never changed.

The Winslow story escalates into a national spectacle as Sir Robert Morton brings it before the nation. It becomes a fight for justice for the young and innocent and a fight for truth. As the legal proceedings gather momentum, the family is forced to sell off everything dad by day for the debt owed to the legal system. Why did they do all this? They do this to prove that they believe their young son. They knew Freddy to be truthful and stood by him. Their lives, the way they sold everything to protect him, and Freddy's own unmovable story prove to be the strength of the family in the end. Sir Robert Morton punches hole after hole in the falsehoods written and told about Freddy.

Freddy's testimony was true. Nothing could move him from it because he knew it to be true. In the end the boy is released from the false accusation of guilt and the family expressed deep and abiding joy. Over and over in the story Freddy's testimony remains the same. Over and over the lawyer and the family remind the court and the public that to believe in the truth is more important than status, wealth and fame.

This story is the story of a type of creed. It is a simple, humanistic story, but one that helps us to describe the necessity of how we remember what we believe to be true.

One of the earliest Christian creeds was also known as a hymn of the church. It is found in Philippians 2:5-11and it puts the Gospel in a profound and compact form. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross. Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

That is one of the most beautiful and concise renditions of the Gospel. And yet, a couple of centuries later some folks felt like they needed to push it a little further. In the face of much heresy and opposition they gave a more detailed explanation of what we as Christians believe.

It was in the 4th century after Christ's return to heaven that more Christian creeds were beginning to be developed into writing. Various groups of people and councils of leaders gathered together trying to hammer out contemporary statements of belief and to defend against heresies. They found the need for these so that they could stand in times of pressure, much greater even than Freddy Winslow experienced in London many centuries later. Through much discussion and revision Christian creeds emerged powerful, effective and broadly accepted in the Christian world. The Nicene Creed, one of several dominant creeds, is the focus of this study.

The Nicene Creed

We believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end.

And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And we believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. And we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.

Amen.

I began by asking you what you believe. What do you believe about God? Do you believe he exists? Do you believe that he is here and available? We as Christians believe that he does exist and that he is available all the time. In any dark night of the soul or any moment of terror or any day of disaster, who do people call out for? They cry out to God. And do you know why? Because he is there. I think that most people know this in their hearts whether they ever say it with their mouths. I grieve for those who do not believe there is a God.

I know he is there because I find his presence in my life. This is my testimony. When I took the step of faith—a tiny, tiny step to say, "Yes, I believe," my life was transformed. I found release from horrible, death-bringing guilt. I found lightness of spirit, as if huge chunks of concrete had been lifted off of my back. I found peace that I had never known before. I found joy that I did not even know was possible. In faith I accepted the reality that God exists and he met me there. This is what I know to be true in my life.

If you don't know this today, please accept it by faith. There are wonders yet for you to discover about the One, true living God.

Now, do you believe that God is your Father and my Father, Father of all humanity? Do you believe that God is the Creator of the Universe and of all that we know exists?

When Jesus taught his disciples to pray he began by teaching them to address God as Father. This name of God is terribly important. God is our Father. There are some important things to acknowledge in respect to this name. 1) Not all of us had good fathering experiences. 2) Some of us have suffered greatly at the hands of our fathers and some have not had a father available. 3) Some of us have experienced excellent parenting. These things profoundly affect how we view God. Because we were born into community, our little hearts and heads looked first to our parents for provision and care. If we did not get that, or are not getting that kind of provision and care, it directly translates into how we view God.

For some of us the healing and restoration needed to rightly see God is imperative. This kind of healing is absolutely available through the power of God and the presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. It may take some time to let those old, corrupt images of an abusive father, a distant father, or an absent father to fade from your mind and memory. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to heal those wounds—if we let him. So let him.

In the meantime, hear the truth. God has revealed himself as Father. While he was on earth, Jesus affirmed this in how he talked about God and how he talked with God. In fact in Luke 11:11-13 Jesus taught the disciples this. Just after he instructed them in the way of prayer, he spoke to them about their understanding of earthly fathers. "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

When Jesus spoke of earthly fathers as evil, he was not describing all fathers as wicked or abusive. He was using the form of hyperbole to make a point. That point is that in the state of sin in which we are born and from which we can be and are being saved, our actions as caregivers fall far short of the care that God gives. If you are a good parent and you do what you can to make your children safe, provide for their needs in good ways, look out for their interests imagine how much more will God do for them and you?!

When God gives the Holy Spirit as a gift, he gives a Comforter, a Source of power and strength. How much greater a gift is that for your children than anything you could ever provide? And that is how God is Father.

There are so many other ways God is Father. Think with me how many times God has given you strength, friends, resources; how he had protected you from ultimate harm, rescued you from dangers you weren't even aware of. Friends, let me tell you something. Sin and Satan can harm our bodies, can tear apart our families, can destroy, kill and maim the body, but sin and Satan cannot separate us from the love of God our heavenly Father!

Despite all the bad things in life, we can have confidence that just as Jesus suffered and died, we can also find restoration and resurrection with him—all from the hand of God the Father. In 1 John 3:1-2 we read a wonderful passage. How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

I believe in God the Father, too, because I have found him to be so tender, patient and true with me. I love my earthly father. He is a great man. But he has failed me many times—as I have him as a daughter. But, I testify to you that I have never been failed by our Heavenly Father. He is so faithful, so true, so kind, so loving, so just, so merciful, so peace-loving and ever so patient with me. And I believe in him.

Now, we have to ask if you believe that God is Almighty, the Maker of Heaven and earth. Or are we just the result of chaos in space? Did we arrive via the long chain of events caused by who-knows-what and who-knows-where? Once again we are challenged to believe in our hearts and say with our mouths what we believe.

As Christians the Bible is our guide to ultimate truth because we understand that it is God's revelation of himself to us. When we read the Bible we learn to believe what God says to us. And in this great text God also revealed himself as Make of heaven and earth. Look at Genesis 1:1-5. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning--the first day. And that was just the start!

Through the whole cycle of creation what you and I know as humanity, animal life, the seas and old terra firma, the sod and the sky were formed and perfectly fitted for our existence by one mighty—all mighty—God. In Genesis 1:31the text states it plainly: God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning--the sixth day.

Can I tell you one reason alone why I believe our mighty God made the heavens and the earth? I believe he made the heavens and the earth because I cannot imagine so much beauty coming out of nothing. I think it take more faith to believe that all of this wonder and majesty come out of nothing than it does to believe that it came from a good Creator who tells us he is our Father and the Most High God!

Look around you! Who but God could create individuals so unique? Not one person in this world is exactly the same. Not one. Nor is one flower ever the same. God delights in creating. One of my favorite quotes comes from G.K. Chesterton who put it this way. "It is possible that God says every morning, 'Do it again,' to the sun, and every morning, 'Do it again,' to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike, it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them."

Could it be that God the Father is the Creator of all things? Yes, it could be! And I believe it! I believe God made you and every person on purpose and out of love. I believe that he created this world and that he intends to make it new again. And I believe that if he is mighty enough to make it once, he is mighty enough to make it new again. He is the Almighty!

There is another story of a man under pressure, like Freddy Winslow, but far greater still. His name was Job and his story is in the Old Testament. Job was a righteous and holy man, kind to all, compassionate toward many. God permitted him to be tested by losing all of his children and livelihood. In Job 1:22 it says, "In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing." Even after he lost everything Job never once defied or denied God.

During all of his trials Job had some people called "friends" that gathered around him--Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar and Elihu. What friends they were! They sat next to him and wept with him after his losses and then proceeded to accuse him all kinds of things, trying to justify God's permission for him to suffer. They told him that he had not done enough for the poor. They told him that he had secret sin in his life. They told him that he had not sacrificed enough at the temple. They told him a thousand things that he had done wrong, trying to figure out how to fix their friend. But do you remember what 1:22 said? Job did not sin during all of this.

There does get to be a point where Job got exasperated. He wearied of his friends' arguments because they were weak and wrong. But his suffering caused him to question God. He did not question if God existed, because he believed that God exists. He did not question if God loved him, because he believed that God was his loving heavenly Father. But he did question why he did not hear directly from the Lord.

Then God finally answered Job. And do you know how he answers him? With questions. Job 38:1-7 Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said: "Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone-- while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?

That is just the beginning of the Lord God Almighty's reply to his weary and confused creation. To every one of God's questions through Chapter 42 there is but one reply. "It is you, O Lord God, my Father, Mighty One, Maker of heaven and earth who sees all things and knows all things and creates all things." Job bows before the One, true living God and says, "Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know." (42:3)

Job came to a deeper place of belief that day. And then he said with his mouth what his heart had already known—that there was a great and wonderful God to believe in.

I believe in God the Father Almighty because I have permitted him to question me as he did Job. I have no answers for his questions, except to believe in him—and then I find him near. I have found that he is there, he is real, he is the Maker of this world and my Salvation.

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Chapter 2

If someone were to ask you 'Who do you say that you are?" What kind of answer would you give? There are a large variety of answers that you could or might give. I suppose if I asked my parents that they would say, "She's our daughter." Or my sisters and brother might reply, "Well she's our sister." Or my friends might say, "She's our friend." Each of us have a kind of television screen in our heads, where we project images of what we want people to be or what we believe them to be. These images can be accurate or inaccurate, but always they are two dimensional. It is only when you and I are sitting in a room together that we perceive a more complete person—a three dimensional person. Then when we leave the room we carry with us a kind of cardboard cutout of what we believe about each other until we see each other again. Then the picture has to be redrawn, or the television has to be adjusted—because of our life experiences or things like aging.

Asking the question about being—who we are as a person—is a very interesting question. It brings up a huge canvas of color. Is she yellow, or orange or green or she is blue? I suppose about each one of us we could say any or all of the above.

Now when we come to the subject of Jesus Christ, knowing how to answer that question—the question of whom we say that he is—is very important. So, let's try to answer that question from a distinctly Christian point of view. It's the point of view handed down to us in the great Christian creed—The Apostle's Creed. Wherein it says, "I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; who was conceived of the Holy Spirit born of the Virgin Mary . . ." Now that sounds rather settled, doesn't it? It rolls nicely off the tongue. And, it is one essential doctrine of the Christian faith.

But what does it mean that Jesus Christ is the only Son of the living God, that he is our Lord, that the Holy Spirit was what caused him to be put into skin-form, that his mother had never been with a man prior to her pregnancy with him? These are large and overwhelming questions, unless you live by faith in this God-Man.

There were several people who knew Jesus first hand. And there were many others. There were all the first disciples—Matthew, Mark, John, Simon Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Thaddaeus, Bartholomew, another James and Judas. And there were many others who followed Him closely, Mary, Martha, Lazarus, another Mary, and a whole bunch more who hung on Jesus' every word—all of them were his disciples.

There was something about him, something different, something wonderful, something awe-inspiring that caused them to leave good jobs and old acquaintances. There was a quality about him that was different than any other man they had ever met. And that quality was his divinity—whether they realized it or not.

At first glance this Person Jesus doesn't seem to be much of a divine being because we find that he was born in a stable. In Luke Chapters 1 and 2 we read Luke's very articulate and detailed account of this humble "beginning." Or was it humble? How many other mothers were visited by an angel before they gave birth to a child?

Here's how it all started. Luke 1:26-37

In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored? The Lord is with you." Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, his kingdom will never end."

"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"

The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be bom will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God."

In this packed snapshot we see and hear some very common and very remarkable things. A young woman is going to marry someone. Then all of the sudden heaven breaks in and the angel tells her she is going to be pregnant by someone other than her husband! And then he says, "Don't be afraid." And then the angel launches into this holy, holy, holy stuff about how this baby will be the Son of the Most High God and he will rule forever. O.K. That's a whole lot of stuff. I'm a little over-analytical, so I'm not so sure I would have had the response that Mary had. I probably would say, "I need you to sit down and tell me more about exactly how is this going to happen again. What kind of timeline are we talking about? Could you flesh out the details for me?"

But Mary, being a young woman of great faith simply said, "Alright, I trust you and God." This is really the only way to get our minds and our hearts around the concept and reality of Jesus Christ. It takes a simple step of faith to say, "O.K. I trust that God is telling me the truth and I'm going to believe it." You see it is when our minds catch up with our hearts that our belief becomes real to us. This isn't because we just decided that Jesus Christ exists—because he exists whether we believe in him or not—but because the reality that Jesus is who he says he is confronts our version of reality. It messes us up.

It's like we were looking at a televised image of a person. That image is the only thing we knew about that person and then one day that person walks into the room. Suddenly things are a little weird and awkward. We can't decide if that person is really there or not. We see the person in 3D not just 2D anymore. And then we begin to discover more about that person. We just can't turn him on or off any longer. He's always there. I have to deal with him being in the room. I hear his voice at times I don't expect it. That's kind of what it was like when Jesus Christ entered the world.

For centuries Jewish people and Joseph and Mary had been waiting and longing for a Messiah. This person was going to be the great Redeemer of Israel. They had a two-dimensional image of this Redeemer—he was going to save them from the overbearing Roman government, he was going to ransom them from all of their oppressors. I'm sure they had images in their mind of a great and mighty warrior thundering into town with leagues of soldiers behind him. I'm sure that's the kind of image that the shepherds had in mind, especially after they had seen and heard a great choir of angels telling them that the Messiah had come.

Luke records their story in 2:8-15.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you, he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

God sure has a way of messing with our television screens. Here we expect a great, huge warrior and he hands us a squalling baby born to a virgin. And yet when we are confronted with the three-dimensional Jesus we find something that is transforming and wonderful.

I imagine the shepherds running all over town and finally ducking into a shed. They have to take a moment to adjust their eyes to the hazy, dark space. There in the midst of the hay lays a little baby. He is nothing remarkable at first glance. There are no cherubim flying around him. There is not great beam of light shining down from heaven or a fully orchestrated music playing in the background. There's just this little baby.

But their vision was adjusted and they saw a Messiah that looked a lot like them. The longer they looked at him the more complete their understanding became of who he was. In fact, they were so excited by the time their hearts adjusted to a three-dimensional Messiah, they could not retain their joy. In verses 15 and 20 of Luke 2 we read, When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child . . . and the Shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Now, doesn't this bother you just a bit? I mean, these dear shepherds must have been a bit loopy. How do you just look at a baby and know that he is different? They did it the same way that Mary did—they accepted it by faith. Their vision was adjusted by the reality of who Jesus is. This was far more than a religious idea they had encountered, they had been witness to the very reality of the only Son of God being born and living in their town!

What we believe as Christians is that there is only one Jesus Christ. There is only one Son of God. There are no others equal to or greater than him. He is not an evolved being who finally made it up the steps of heaven—like we might believe to be someday if we are good enough. He does not have heavenly brothers and sisters like the gods of Greek and Roman mythology. There is only one of him.

Colossians 1:15-20 states: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

The writer to the Colossians knew in his heart, by faith, that Jesus Christ was the One who elected to come visit us in a body like ours and fully reflects the person of God at the same time. When Jesus Christ came and moved in next door to us, we could see how it was possible to live in fullness. We could see that God knew what we were going through, and beyond that that there was an answer to all of our war, and trouble, persecution and heartache.

There were two other people who had to answer the question of who Jesus is. Their names were Peter and Martha. Both of these people had been good friends and disciples of Jesus Christ for a couple of years before they started to get a real handle on who he was. They had seen him heal the sick and lame, feed the hungry and cast out demons. But there was something critical that each one of them had to do. They had to believe—not in his miracles, or his goodness, or even his friendship with them—they had to believe in him—that he was the only Son of the Living God. And out of that would come wellsprings of life—real life!

Martha's scene is cloaked in sadness. Her brother Lazarus had died and died young. Martha had been hoping that Jesus would come before Lazarus died, because she knew that he could heal him. She knew it because she had seen it happen to others. But, now, Lazarus lay dead in the tomb. All hope seemed to be lost.

Jesus arrived on the scene. Even Martha's television had to be turned off after all the time she had spent with him. In the midst of her grief, Jesus was looking for something. He was looking for her faith—and he found it.

In John 11:21-27 there is riveting scene between this Jewish woman and her friend. Let's look at verses 21-24.

"Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."

Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."

Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."

Martha knew a lot about God and hope and resurrection of the last day. She knew her religion. What she did not know yet was her Lord. In verses 25-27 we see her looking the only Son of the living God in the eye, and suddenly the television goes off and she realizes who she is talking with.

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

"Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."

"I believe," Martha said. I believe. There, once again, a fallen human being was in the presence of the Most High God and finally caught on. She spoke the words her heart had known for a long time. Jesus Christ—the one she had called friend and Rabbi—was now her Lord and God full of three dimensional resurrection life. Just a few moments later Martha's Lord raised her brother from the dead.

Let's jump in on Peter and see how this happened for him. In Matthew 16:13-17 we can look in on a very profound scene. Jesus asked the critical question and here is how Peter responded.

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"

They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"

Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.

For almost three years Peter and been walking by his side. Up to this point Jesus had not tested Peter to see what he believed. People were saying all kinds of things about Jesus—some were saying he was an ancient prophet returned from the dead. There certainly wasn't someone greater than those fellows around those days! It's like in another 200 years someone saying that a young preacher named Billy Graham come back to preach to us. That's what was being said about Jesus.

But Jesus knew that the disciples' heads had to catch up with their hearts. That television had to be switched off so that they could see the real, live 3D version. Suddenly, Peter said the words he was probably only beginning to understand. He said the words of faith that opened his heart up to the whole truth. By faith he said, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Do you remember the first time you said that in faith? I do. I remember it like it was yesterday. One tiny step of faith—putting that faith into spoken words and my heart was torn open like an empty, dry, drum waiting to be filled. Then somehow the love of God poured into my soul and I found what I had been looking for—someone I could really believe in. Not myself, not another person fallen and sinful like me, but the Son of the Living God—Jesus Christ!

I can't explain it logically because it's faith. I choose to believe that what God tells me is true and then the Truth himself visits me. Ah, this is the faith my friends. I believe in Jesus.

Hebrews 1:3 says, "The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word ..." I can never be God, but I can know God. I can never climb up some ladder of perfection and obtain godhood, but I can bow at his feet and be lifted up into his arms of grace and mercy. I can never accomplish so much that others might call me a god, but I can do all things through Christ who gives me his strength.

That great statement of faith—we believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary—can become a reality for us by faith.

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Chapter 3

Suffering and sorrow do funny things to us. They leave us feeling restless. They cause us to reach out to others for support and comfort. They shut out our desires for food and sleep. They sap our energy and narrow our focus. All in all, these two things —suffering and sorrow-overwhelm us. I'm finding this true as I absorb the sights and sounds of war.

We endure much suffering from life and death. In life there are great sorrows. We experience suffering from our own sins—there are always consequences to going against the life-giving ways of God.

Then there is the suffering of sins done against us. I'm thinking of the stories from Nazi concentration camps. The riveting story of Corrie Ten Boom who was imprisoned along with her other families members is a story that moves us in the deepest part of our souls. Corrie watched as her sister died in that concentration camp. Her sister, dedicated to Jesus Christ, urged her on her deathbed to forgive their captors and to keep her eyes on Jesus. Years later after Corrie's release she met one of the guards from that concentration camp, and the love of Jesus Christ poured out through her and she was able to forgive as her precious sister had urged her to do.

Finally, there is the suffering that comes from living in a fallen world — disease can ravage our bodies, terrorism and war come upon us when we have no control of the matter, we become weak through hunger and aging, our hearts break because people abandon and disappoint us. So much suffering in this life!

Death is the most sorrowful of human events. Whether we see images of executed soldiers or the remains of people slaughtered with biochemical weapons, or whether we watch a friend or loved one die, it signifies the reality that we have very little control in our world. Watching someone die slowly from illness or observing someone condemned to death is one of the most difficult and heart-wrenching events of life. Never is the earth so thick as when it lies between us and loved ones.

Does God care that we suffer? Or is he just a great autonomous being who enjoys looking on as we writhe in anguish down here on this speck of dust?

When our great statement of faith declares that Jesus Christ suffered under Pontius Pilate, it declares that God does know that we suffer and that his suffering was grounded in our history—connected with us through a specific leader in our timeline. It also declares that God intentionally entered into our world to deliver us from evil and give us a future and a hope.

How then does Jesus know about our suffering?

In Isaiah 53:3-7 we find one of the often repeated prophesies about the Messiah as the Man of Sorrows, familiar with suffering. It is a passage full of injustice and grief. It tells us what to expect as the Messiah, Jesus Christ, took his place for our sins.

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

If you read carefully through the Gospel accounts of Jesus' life—Matthew,

Mark, Luke and John—you find a description of a path of suffering. We read how the only Son of the living God encountered enormous and real temptations brought to him by the devil while he fasted in the desert for forty days. We can read how he overcame those temptations by using Scriptures. We can read how Jesus' own family and hometown rejected his miracles. We can read how many of the ruling religious leaders increasingly became alarmed at his popularity and truthfulness, and ultimately plotted to kill him. We can see how one of his own disciples, Judas, accepted a relatively small amount of money in order to betray him. The weight of his journey of suffering became much heavier the closer he came to accomplishing his objective—the salvation of our souls.

Matthew helped us to experience it along with him, as he remembered this. Read Matthew 26:36-46.

Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me."

Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."

Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter. "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."

He went away a second time and prayed, "My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done."

When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.

Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us go! Here comes my betrayer!"

We look on as Jesus suffers terribly. Jesus, knowing what he must do, wrestles with the reality of the coming sacrifice. Whether you believe it or not, it is true that he—being God and Man—took the sins of the whole world upon himself. This was no small sacrifice. None of us would or could do that. He is the only One who could and did.

But before that, he wrestled with the process that was necessary. Just as someone dying of cancer has to deal with the end of life on earth, Jesus realized the tragedy that lay before him. Let's not make Jesus less than he is—fully human, fully God—he really saw this for what it was. How many times have you cried and prayed to the point of literally bleeding out your sorrow? Just as a dying person calls out to those who are precious to them, wanting them to be near their side, Jesus urged the disciples to stand with him in his grief.

Oh, how I wish this passage was not in the Bible! The awareness of the gravity of sin increases as we read these words. I wonder what it must have been like for Matthew as he wrote it. Did he weep again? Did he have to wipe the tears off of his page as he wrote? Did that regret of being very human and weak, not able to stay awake while his Savior and friend prayed, tear at his heart again?

This is a true story, my friends. It is not some myth in a book. Jesus approached death, begged to be released from it, and resolved to go through with the will of the Father... for our sakes. His suffering was far greater than anything we could ever know. His cup was deeper and darker than any other held by any human being.

Oh, how glad I am to have this passage in the Bible! The awareness of Christ's complete submission to the will of the Father is astounding. He is the supreme and perfect example set before us. He was fully divine and fully human. Let's not put him three feet off of the ground. His suffering was real. This was the greatest psychological and spiritual pain anyone would ever experience. And he did it all alone while the disciples slept.

Three times he came to them, seeking support and comfort. Three times he found them sleeping. He knew that they were weak and tired, and he also knew that the greatest points in the testing of their faith were just hours away. He urged them to pray so that they would not succumb to temptation. And yet their eyes grew heavier and heavier and his sorrow grew deeper and deeper. Truly he was a Man of Sorrows and well, far too well, acquainted with grief.

Jesus showed us how to deal with sorrow and face death. Did you miss his final action in this passage? In verse 46 Jesus says with strength and courage, pouring down from the Father, "Rise, let us go! Here comes my betrayer!"

Something happens to us when we take our grief to the Father. It is transformed into strength and courage. Even when we can smell death on our doorstep, we can rise to the challenge.

As we continue to read through the Gospels we rapidly approach the end of Jesus' life on this earth. Praise be to God, it is not the end of his life on the whole—for he is the living Savior today!

There were still some very difficult things that Jesus went through in order to pay fully for our redemption. We will be reading in Matthew 27:11-26. Let's take this a little bit at a time. Just before this scene Jesus had been led away from an illegal nighttime trial before a Jewish council. They condemned him to death. But they were not permitted to have him executed under Roman law. Only a Roman leader could condemn someone to death. So, they proceeded to force the government's hand in the matter.

Matthew quickly takes us from the Jewish world into the Roman world and we watch as Jesus is put before the only power that can have him executed. Pontius Pilate was appointed a governor of the region of Judea in AD 26. The New Bible Dictionary describes Pilate as having "full control in the province, being in charge of the army of occupation—some 5,000-6,000 men . . . [he] had full powers of life and death, and could reverse capital sentences passed by [the Jewish high council] the Sanhedrin ... He also appointed high priests and controlled the Temple and its funds."

An ancient historian named Josephus described Pilate's agenda as one that antagonize[d] the Jews by setting up Roman standards [images] all around the region. His undoing was the slaughter of a large group of Samaritans, including the execution of many of their leaders. (New Bible Dictionary) It is clear from history that Pontius Pilate was cruel and wicked. The amount of suffering he caused was great—not to mention the scene we find in Matthew 27:11-26 where Jesus is led before this cruel Roman leader.

The Jewish leaders wait as the interrogation proceeds. Let's read verses 11-12.

Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"

"Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied.

When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate asked him, "Don't you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?" But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge —to the great amazement of the governor.

In this scene, Jesus admits to being King of the Jews. This charge carries with it a two-fold threat: 1) if he is King, he is obviously out for Pilate's position and even greater ones, and 2) if he is King of the Jews then he may be acting as a revolutionary leader threatening the Jewish authorities. Pilate seems puzzled by Jesus' unflinching and silent commitment to his position, even in the face of multiple accusations.

In an alarming turn, as Pilate seeks a way out for Jesus, the crowd cries out for the release of a convicted criminal over an innocent man. This particular criminal is one who might present a very real threat to their own families and homes if released again! Matthew continues to relate the scene in frightening detail in verses 15-18. Now it was the governor's custom at the Feast to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas. So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, "Which one do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?" For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him.

Matthew documents his understanding of Pilate's position in that last verse. In a moment of hindsight, it is clear to him that Pilate saw right through the crowd's motivations.

In this stunning scene of incredible injustice there comes a possible moment of reprieve. A new person enters the scene, Pilate's wife. It was common in many Mediterranean cultures of that day that dreams would be considered signs or omens. Pilate's wife believed that she had received one of these and in an uncharacteristic moment for a wife, not to speak of the wife of a Roman official who is holding a trial, she interrupted.

While Pilate was sitting on the judge's seat, his wife sent him this message: "Don't have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him." This must have been an interesting moment. As Jesus stood silently before his mass accusers and the one person who could decide if he should live or die, a voice from the side appeals for his innocence.

It did not take long for the tide to turn back, though. For just like a hungry lobbyist in the heat of a legislative battle, the chief priests and elders present at this trial, work the crowd, stirring up the passions of the moment, capitalizing on the rush of adrenaline and emotion. Read verses 20-22.

"But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask forBarabbas and to have Jesus executed.

"Which of the two do you want me to release to you?" asked the governor. "Barabbas," they answered.

"What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?" Pilate asked.

They all answered, "Crucify him!"

Crucifixion is the most horrible of deaths. It is reserved for the most horrible of criminals. A person is stripped naked and nailed to a cross as a public spectacle. It is a gruesome death where the condemned have large spikes driven through their hands and feet and into wooden beams and then they are placed upright. The person is expected to push up with their feet nailed to the cross, hoping to allow room for the lungs to expand just enough to get the much-needed oxygen for life. The crucified person rarely died from the spilling of their blood, rather from suffocation, as their weakened legs could no longer lift up their chests to give their lungs room to expand. This was a most hideous death. Pilate knew what they were asking for. Did they?

We continue to read in verses 23-26.

"Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!"

When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. "I am innocent of this man's blood," he said. "It is your responsibility!"

All the people answered, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!"

Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified."

Pilate's vain attempt to release himself from this judgment was demonstrated in an unusual way. He washed his hands. And as he washed his hands the crowd, now filled with lust for death, seemed to symbolically reach out their hands to catch the blood of Jesus Christ. They took the responsibility for his death. Not only that, but they accepted the responsibility on behalf of their children! Ah, rage and hate are something we transfer to our children. And what a horrible legacy it is.

Pilate must have found some relief in this, and gladly gave him over to the end of the matter. And in a tiny measure of compassion, Pilate asked for Jesus to be flogged. Flogging, a cruel torture, was whipping the naked back of a person with cords with bone or metal on the ends. In this, the Romans sought to weaken the condemned, leading to a quicker death on the cross.

Wasn't that enough? It surely must have been, but in places of torture and death, cruelty rules. In the last scene of this passage we watch as the soldiers continue the mockery and torture.

Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

Through all the torture and suffering, much more than you and I will ever encounter, Jesus gave himself for our sakes. There he was, the great God-Man, humbling himself before religious leaders, Roman rulers and violent soldiers. He did not have to do this, for he is God. But he did do it so that the whole world could be saved.

God does know that we suffer and that we needed, desperately needed, Someone to give meaning and hope beyond our suffering. Jesus Christ intentionally entered into our world to deliver us from evil and give us a future and a hope. His suffering led beyond the cross to the wonder and glory of the resurrection. He is the Suffering Christ who saves us today!

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Chapter 4

I remember one of the first times that I became acquainted with death. I was helping my brother make a little tiny casket out of matchbox. His chameleon had died. We couldn't have been more than four and six years old. He was so sad that his little lizard had died that we felt it would not only be right but necessary to give it a proper funeral and burial.

So, we set about lining a matchbox with some material. My brother tenderly laid the deceased lizard inside and then slipped the cover over the box. He had already prepared a small gravesite in the back of the church. We walked somberly to the gravesite and my brother put the matchbox into the ground and covered it with dirt. I think he said something, but I can't remember exactly what he said. I just remember feeling very sad and knew that this was the right thing to do. That lizard had life and then it died.

There is this thing called mortality that reminds us that we have just a short time here on this earth. Flowers have their life span. Animals have their life span. And people have their life spans. What is that old axiom? "There is nothing certain in this life except for death and taxes."

As we study the Nicene Creed we find that once again we are faced with having to deal with mortality—the end of life. In this great statement of faith we come across the phrase indicating that Jesus "was crucified, dead and buried." Our Lord had mortality; he had an end to life as we know it.

There is something that needs to be said from the outset today: "Jesus was dead," not "Jesus is dead." There is an extremely significant difference between those two phrases. For those of us who have lived in a Christian tradition, it is difficult to think of Jesus actually being dead. We live with the sensed and confirmed reality that he is indeed living today.

Here are two very critical elements of faith that any Christian receives: 1) Jesus did indeed die and 2) Jesus did indeed come back to life—death and resurrection. These are two of the essential doctrines of the Christian faith.

As Christians we may have occasional doubts about this. But if our overall trust is placed in the relationship with the living God, then our doubts can give way to faith over and over again. It is a divine mystery that we can come to know this. And it is the free gift of grace that we can receive it.

Outside of the Easter season Christians may rarely dwell on the fact that Jesus died. But the reality is there—His body was lifeless and lay cold in a grave for three days—just as he said it would happen. For three days Jesus was not present at meals with the disciples. The followers of Christ had no access to him for healing and teaching. They could not hear his laughter or his words of instruction. He was dead.

As we walk through the Gospels—four accounts of Jesus' life on earth—we understand that Jesus is the Authority. He is the authority over culture, winds, seas, lifestyles and all. He has authority to take up his life and lay down his life. We can come to understand that he was crucified, dead and buried. In that act it is as if he lost his authority!

Crucifixion seems to be the very opposite of authority, doesn't it? Isn't that why the Romans employed it? How much more humiliating can it be than to be stripped naked, nailed to a cross, hanging in the hot sun and the cold night for any and all passersby to leer and taunt.

There is a profound and striking truth in what Jesus Christ did. When Jesus Christ was crucified, dead and buried he atoned for our sins. Atonement is a theological word for what Christ did and why he did it. Atonement means paying the price for something or someone. But this word bears far more weight than just the handing over some money to pay a debt. It means that something or someone takes your place. It means that someone says, "Here, you step aside, I'll take your punishment for you."

In the Old Testament we read that God created a symbolic practice of atonement for ancient Israel. This ritual was practiced for centuries. God commanded that throughout the year a person would bring an animal of sacrifice to the temple. The animal had to be the most perfect animal one could find. No one could ever offer an animal that had any blemish or defects. At the temple the person would lay their hands on the sacrifice thereby symbolically transferring their sins onto the animal. The animal was then sacrificed before the Lord as an offering to atone for the sins of the person. This symbolic action was how the Israelites knew that they were made right before God. They had to do this continually. Year after year they had to return to the temple to make a sacrifice. Year after year they had to pick the best of their flocks. Year after year they had to remember how great was the burden of their sins.

We are the spiritual relatives of the Israelites. God has adopted us into his great family and into his great kingdom. Therefore we live under the same law that was given to Moses and the Israelites. Why then do we not continue to give animal sacrifices?

There is but one answer to this question. The reason that you and I do not have to offer animal sacrifices is that Jesus Christ gave himself as the final sacrifice for the sins of the world. God looked at Jesus Christ and saw that there was One pure and holy enough to stand in your place and mine to give sacrifice once and for all. He was the last sacrifice. And he would be enough to atone for all generations of humanity. He would stand in our place to give us a way to find release from the guilt and burden of sin. He would gently push us aside and say, "No, I'll do this for you. You don't have to go to the cross."

You see our sins are so great that being saved from them requires much. You and I can never do enough to atone for our own sins. We, like the ancient Israelites would have to go back and back and back to make ourselves right before God. But, maybe God grew tired of the temple sacrifice system, or maybe he just loves us so much that he wanted to give us a quicker and more certain way to know that our sins had been taken care of, had been atoned for, had been covered.

Jesus Christ is the God-Man who has come to save us, to stand in our place and take the punishment that we deserve. He is the One who has come to save us from sin and Satan's evil schemes. The horrible burden of guilt that each one of us bears can be lifted by the astonishing atonement of Jesus Christ.

Here is the story of Jesus and his atoning sacrifice for our sakes as recorded by Matthew.

Matthew 27:27-51

Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. They came to a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!" In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. "He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! He's the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, 'I am the Son of God.'" In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"—which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

When some of those standing there heard this, they said, "He's calling Elijah."

Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to save him."

And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people. When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son of God!"

There have been many streams of thought throughout the centuries that deny the humanity of Jesus. It seems too difficult for some to believe that Jesus Christ, being God, could or would actually die. But this is the divine mystery revealed as truth to all those who would believe.

Jesus was not just a great teacher, whose resurrection was a hoax. And Jesus was not just God who faked his death. Jesus Christ, the Messiah of the world, died.

Now, this is not to say that God died. God was not absent from the universe for three days. No, rather His presence in the human form of Jesus Christ in this world was dead. This is a matter of faith. I believe it and it has saved me. You can believe it, too.

So, understanding this by faith, let's return to the latter portion of our selected text. Matthew walks us through, with stark detail, the reality of Jesus being dead on those three days.

We will begin reading in Matthew 27:57-61.

As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.

Joseph, from Arimathea a town not more than twenty miles from Jerusalem, must have been a man of some significant influence. He was certainly a man of great courage. Not only did he use his influence and wealth to bury the body of Jesus—he appealed directly to Pilate in order to do this. Matthew makes it very clear that this Joseph had become a disciple of Jesus.

And this Joseph rose to the occasion to use his position and wealth to honor The Dead. This was incredibly significant. For criminals a traditional burial was not usually allowed, unless someone specifically appealed on their behalf. Joseph was a man of great courage and love to do what he did for our Lord. He took the greatest care in giving him a fine and newly cut tomb, wrapping him in clean linen. What tenderness and compassion Joseph had on the memory of Jesus. What a loving disciple he had become. Who knows what he thought and how he wept as the body of his Lord and Savior was laid to rest in his tomb? And when the great stone was rolled over the dark cavern, we can only imagine what his great heart must have felt. His teacher, rabbi, friend and Savior was dead!

Apparently the other disciples were not nearby. They perhaps feared for their own lives. Remember the disciples fleeing the arrest scene and Peter's denial of Christ? It seems that it was Joseph and the women who had followed Jesus who were willing to stay near him. This is not so difficult to understand as women were often the people who prepared the bodies for burial and mourned outside the tombs.

Matthew continues the account in this manner in verses 62-64.

The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. "Sir," they said, "we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise again.' So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first."

You would think that a wrongful trial and crucifixion were enough, wouldn't you? But, no, the religious leaders still felt threatened by the reputation of Jesus—even after he was dead! They returned to Pilate, who had washed his hands of this death, and made a far different appeal than Joseph of Arimathea!

They appealed to Pilate's fear of insurrection again! "Oh no, dear Pilate sir," they might have said, "It is still possible for your rule to be tarnished by a rebel uprising. You had better make sure that no more lies can be perpetuated!" They went to so far as to call Jesus Christ "the deceiver"! Cloaked in deception themselves, blinded by fear and hatred, they called for an even greater measure of assurance that he was not who he said he was—especially in the minds of the followers of Jesus.

We read the next two verses 65-66.

Take a guard," Pilate answered. "Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how." So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

As much as the leaders wanted to drown out the truth of Jesus Christ, they really rather served to prove even more who he was. He was the God-Man who chose to die, chose to lay dead and cold in a grave, he chose to allow his followers to grieve over him for a season, a very short season.

Friends, Jesus died for all of us. He died to make atonement, to pay for your sins and mine. This was not a fraudulent hoax. Jesus was dead. It took that kind of loving, self-releasing action to make a way for us out of sin. Benedict Viviano penned it best this way: "The complete atonement by Jesus Christ's death is life giving." Praise God!

Many of us have felt or even today feel that the great guilt and burdens we bear have no way to be released from us. We feel, or have felt, that we just have to live under this dark cloud. Well, we have an answer for that burden. It is the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

You need him, and whether you admit it today or ten years from now, it is the truth. You need him desperately to save you from yourself, from sin, from Satan. And you desperately need him to save you to himself and to the hope and joy of living with him for eternity.

Receiving this truth is a step of faith. I want you to take it, if you have not yet done so. I want you to know the reality of being set free from your sins. I want you to understand that no one could have done a more loving thing for you than what Jesus did. No one.

If you have never invited Jesus to forgive you of your sins, will you do it right now? Pray with me the simple prayer of salvation:

Dear Jesus, I understand and see today that I am in desperate need of you. I realize that I cannot save myself and I ask you to forgive my sins and wash me clean. Jesus, I do now receive you as my Savior. I turn now from my sinful ways toward you. Receive me as your precious child. Thank you for answering my prayer this day. I dedicate myself to you and your ways. Amen

If you have prayed this prayer for the first time I welcome you into the wonderful Family of God! You need to know now that your sins have been atoned for by the great sacrifice of Jesus Christ!

It takes one moment of faith to have a transformed life—to believe in the One who came to be crucified, dead and buried for you. One decision to pick up that mustard seed sized faith—to believe in Jesus Christ who has now given you hope. Sure, you may have some doubts sometime in the future. But once that tiny bit of faith is watered by God's grace, it will grow into a mighty tree of hope and joy and peace.

Jesus was crucified, dead and buried for you and for me. He was the Dead and now he is the Living!

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Chapter 5

Parades are wonderful things. I remember as a little girl living in a small Western town called Lander, Wyoming. Annually we had what was called the Sagebrush Parade. The only requirement for every float entry was that sagebrush had to be present somewhere on the float.

Kids could be part of the parade, too. We were invited to ride our bikes in the parade. But, thankfully, we didn't have to have a piece of sagebrush strapped to our bikes. So most of the kids would get our bikes, put crepe paper streamers on the handlebars, pin cards to the wheels so that they made noise as the spokes turned, and then we would ride through the main street of town as if we were the main event! It was kind of fun.

Then, of course there is the grandest parade of all, The Rose Parade. I lived in Pasadena, California for several years and I could walk to the world famous Rose Parade. There is nothing quite like that! Those exquisite floats so thoroughly covered with flowers and plants of all kinds are a wonder to behold. Especially after living in Wyoming and watching that same parade on a little black and white television!

In almost every parade there is a marshal—someone who is honored because of their contribution or influence in the community. At many parades the marshal is given a symbolic "key to the city" as a demonstration of the community's honor for their marshal. I remember many parade marshals all decked out in their best clothes, people cheering as they were chauffeured in a beautiful car. All of these things make a parade.

In the Christian calendar we celebrate the memory of another great parade. When Jesus was living here on earth, he went to Jerusalem during this time of the year for a very special annual feast and remembrance. In the Jewish religious life they celebrated and remembered God's work in their history through a whole series of feasts. These were not unlike our celebrations and remembrances such as Christmas and Easter. Some of the Jewish holy days you might recognize—Rosh Hashanah—New Year's, Yom Kippur—the Day of Atonement, Hanukkah—the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem, and Passover—the celebration of freedom from slavery and remembering the exodus from Egypt.

In the time of Jesus' walk on earth, the focal point of each one of these feasts was Jerusalem which is the holy city of the Jews. Because it was considered a holy city everyone who could would try to get to Jerusalem to celebrate the feasts. The city was home to some 25,000 people usually, but during the feast days it could swell to 200,000 or more.

This means that every hotel was filled, every place to camp was populated with tents and bedrolls, every restaurant had at least an hour's wait, and every extra bed in a home was given to traveling relatives. People would flood into the city, eager and excited to celebrate. There was a general air of excitement all about the city.

This was the environment that Jesus went into as he approached Jerusalem on this particular week of the Passover celebration. In addition to this Jesus' own reputation preceded him. For three years he had been traveling around this entire area healing the sick, freeing people from demons and filling people's hearts with love and forgiveness. He had many, many disciples. There were thousands of people who had heard him preach and had been moved and changed by his teaching. When he walked toward a town the word would go out that he was coming and people would run out to meet him. He was by all accounts a very popular figure to most of the people in the region.

In Jerusalem that day were many people who had had direct contact with Jesus. And when they saw him coming they could not restrain their joy!

Matthew remembers the story this way. Let's look at Matthew 21:1-11.

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away."

This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet, [in Zechariah 9:9] "Say to the Daughter of Zion, 'See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.'"

The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest!"

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, Who is this?"

The crowds answered, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee."

Do you know what "Hosanna" means?! It means "Save us!" There were all these people thrilled that Jesus had come to Jerusalem. They were ready to give him the key to the great city of Jerusalem. He was their grand marshal, and this was his parade! Their hearts responded to what some of them thought he might be—the Messiah, the One who was coming to save them from the oppression of the Roman government, from the tyranny of deep taxation, from their children being pressed into service, from the threat of imprisonment. Hosanna! Save us!

Jesus entered Jerusalem for the last time and the people clamored to his side. Chanting and singing. Here was the One who they believed was their deliverer. He would free them from disease, and demons. And they expected him to deliver them from political oppression. They expected him to bring in the troops, pull out the heavy artillery and burst through the doors of those prisons to set them all free! They danced beside him and covered the ground with their clothing. They rejoiced in what they knew about him—that he had already given them much deliverance and hope. Now, yes now, he was going to take back their city and their country from the oppressive Roman government and they would be free! "Hosanna! Save us!" they cried.

And so he did. But, not in the way they expected. Why would Jesus leave this jubilant scene and willingly suffer crucifixion? Why would he not remain in the center of the celebration and revel in the adulation he was receiving? Why did he not ask His Father in heaven to command legions of angels to accompany him in this parade to victory?

Jesus came into Jerusalem riding on the back of a small donkey. He did not come in a fighter jet. He did not come astride a tank. He did not come with full military columns behind him. No, he came with two hands and two feet and a heart full of love and compassion. He knew what would give absolute freedom and deliverance. He knew how great our enemy was and what it would take to give us true freedom and absolute deliverance.

As Christians we believe that Jesus Christ, the only Son of the living God, came for a very specific purpose, with a very specific method for completing that purpose. We believe that he came to suffer and die for every person in the world. We believe that he laid down his pure and holy life, taking on every one of our sins so that we could be saved. His death atoned for and paid for our sins. We should have paid for it, but he did it for us!

When we speak the words of the Nicene Creed we acknowledge that we have an enemy who likes to deal in death. Satan delights in torturing us and leading us into temptation. In James 1:14-15 we see the process that happens when we fall into sin. What is the result of sin?

. . . but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

Satan has a palace called Death whose walls are made of guilt, despair, and selfishness. There are many rooms in this palace. Satan has held the keys to these rooms. Some of these rooms are filled with bitterness and rage. Some of these rooms are filled with addictions. Some of these rooms are filled with disease. Some of these rooms are filled with abandonment and disappointment. Some of these rooms are filled with hatred, destruction and chaos. Some of the rooms are filled with violence and abuse. Everyone all over the world is far too familiar with one or more of these rooms. And there was a time that we all felt that there was no way out. In fact, some of you today may feel that there is no way out. Satan's palace sits in the land of death and hell and it is walled in by a strong gate called Hatred. And each one of us would be destined for that place if it were not for Jesus Christ.

We believe that hell exists. Throughout the Bible the reality of hell is ever before us. In the Old Testament it is referred to as Sheol and Gehenna. It is a pictured as a gaping, craving monster, a hollow dark place, the deep of the sea and the place of the dead. It is clear in the Old Testament that Hell is the place of death, which is the result of sin. In the New Testament Hades, the Greek term for Hell, is the underworld, the place of torture and eternal death. The reality of Hell should give us pause, should cause us to consider our selfish and sinful ways, for there is but one result for the unrepentant heart—eternal suffering.

We believe that Jesus' work for our salvation did not end at the cross. It went far deeper than that. It went into the very pit of hell. We believe that Jesus himself descended into hell to confront the powers of darkness and death. He had to go all the way down, lower than anyone else could ever go.

He went one on one with the prince darkness in his own country. He knew there were strong gates to Hell and he walked right up to them. He looked Satan right in the eye thrust out his nailed pierced hands and demanded that the keys to death and Hell be surrendered!

Through his own suffering, painful and real, he spoke his eternally good Word into that dark place and Satan could do nothing but hand over the keys to death and hell to the One who had the authority, the love, the power and the strength to do it.

Satan thought he had it made. He thought he had his kingdom so sewn up that no one could ever break down his gates or doors. But the great deceiver was himself deceived. He thought he had won when the Son of the living God gave up his spirit on that cross. But then there was Jesus standing at his gate. I imagine that the light and the glory of God so filled Hell that Satan and his demons trembled with pure terror. There was no way out, no way around this mighty God who had willingly given himself for the world!

We believe that Jesus took the keys, split open the gates of hell and unlocked every hateful room in that palace. Every door could be opened! Every room could be cleared! Every tormented person could be released! All because of what Jesus Christ did for us!

The Apostle Paul made sure that New Testament Christians knew about this as well. He quoted two Old Testament passages and then declared the wonderful truth. In 1 Corinthians 15:55-57 he writes:

"Death has been swallowed up in victory."

"Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

And then the Grand Marshal of the heaven gladly rose again on the third day after this great work was done. And then wasn't there a parade?! A magnificent heavenly parade. The angels were crying out and singing, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord, God Almighty, who was, and is and is to come." (Revelation 4:8)

The elderly Apostle John was given a glimpse of this reality. He wrote it down for us, as God revealed it to him. As John was caught up in a heavenly vision about the future reality, when Jesus Christ returns to earth again to establish his new world order, he caught a glimpse of the truth. And this is what he wrote.

Revelation 1:12-18

I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone "like a son of man," dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

Because of what Jesus Christ has done for us, going to Hell itself to gather the keys, we can say today with the New Testament writer in Romans 8:35: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?... For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

If you don't know this today, if you have never believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, you can know the reality that death is not your ultimate end. Jesus Christ can be your Savior, Redeemer and Friend. He is alive today, waiting for you to come to him.

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Chapter 6

There's a famous secular song that starts out like this "What goes up must come down ..." There is this law of gravity that God created that seems to pull everything down, down, down to old terra firma. If you throw an apple in the air, where does it land? Not on a cloud, but in your hand. If a basketball player throws a basketball across the court, where does (or should) it end up? Going down through the basket.

What goes up must come down. It's how you and I walk around. Gravity keeps us connected to the earth. Gravity is what makes water run certain directions. It's what keeps our hair on our head, well most of us. It's what causes our arms to fall to our sides. It's just a natural law.

Here is a theological law put in simple words, "What was up, comes down and must go up and then come down again." Interesting, isn't it? When we look at the Nicene Creed we find our next belief statement says that we believe that Jesus "ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead." Do you see it? Jesus was up, then he came down, then he went up again and will come down again. That's a lot of traveling! And traveling with a purpose.

As Christians we believe that Christ's work was not yet completely done when he rose again. There was more to be done, much more. And this required him to return to the place from which he came.

Listen to what Jesus said to his disciples one day before the crucifixion in John 14:1-3

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me, In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you, I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

Isn't that a wonderful thing to hear? These are such comforting words to me. These comforting words of hope and future come out of a very troubling time in the life of Jesus Christ. He was sitting at the Last Supper with his disciples. It was the last time that he would eat with them before he died and rose again. There were many times prior to this, too, that Jesus gave the disciples words of comfort about a future with him—many times.

His words in John 14:3 stand out again. I will go, so that I can come and bring you to be with me. That law of crazy theological gravity kept popping up. And go he did!

We find the account of his going in the book of Acts. This book has been called The Acts of the Apostles and it is sometimes considered the Acts of the first organized Christian church. Acts is a continuation of the book of Luke. It was written by a man named Luke. Luke, it is commonly believed, was a Gentile believer whose vocation was a doctor.

Several months or years after the resurrection of Jesus Christ Luke sat down to write his account to a friend Theophilus, giving his account of what happened when and after Jesus ascended into heaven.

Let's read some of what our brother Luke began to wrote.

Acts 1:1-11. In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."

So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"

He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority, But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."

What comes down must go up again, and then come down again is a theologically correct statement.

God created us and loves us from heaven. "Heaven" in one of those remarkable words that is both illusive and concrete. We as Christians believe in both a heaven and hell—heaven generally being considered up, and hell generally considered being down. We believe that after we die we will be given an eternal life in either heaven or hell depending on where we stand in relation to God.

The word "heaven" is in the Bible over 400 times. As often as it is mentioned it is still beyond description. Many writers over the years have attempted to theologize, describe, project and wonder at what heaven is like. But just as we wrestle with it, we need to understand that it is beyond description. The book of Revelation teaches that the throne of God is in heaven. And indeed that is where God sits. It may not be a tangible, touchable place for us right now, but heaven is the residence of God.

Here is the essence of God: he is the One not created. We as his creatures may never fully comprehend what it means to be uncreated. But God is the eternally existent head of the universe.

At first glance the God who lives in a place we cannot describe or identify may seem illusive, cold and distant. But we have a knowable and known God—the one, true God and Father of all, Creator of the heaven and the earth, Creator of you and me.

We also know God in three persons—God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. This is the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. God, in his infinite mercy, looked upon his finite creatures and knew that we would have a hard time comprehending him and believing in him. So, he revealed himself to us in three different aspects.

Let's pick up that apple that gravity pulled down for us as an illustration. An apple is a whole piece of fruit. Yet as a whole piece of fruit it has three very distinct parts—the peel, the meat and the core. All three of these elements are what make an apple. So, in God we see three different elements—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We do not see three different gods, but we see three parts of the One true living God. In this small way, I believe, God helps us to understand him more.

Perhaps one more illustration will help us to understand the doctrine of the Trinity. A woman can be simultaneously a wife, a mother and an employee. Being a wife does not make her less than a mother. Being a mother does not make her less than a wife. And being an employee does not make her less of a mother or wife. She is one whole person, fulfilling three roles in life. So also God fulfills many roles while being one God.

In John's Gospel he recounted what Jesus said about the Holy Spirit as the third part of the Trinity and his own position in the Trinity. This is the same Holy Spirit that was given at Pentecost (see Acts 2) and abides with us and guides us today.

John 14:15-21

If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.

If we return to John 14 and look at verses 4-11, we can see how the first disciples wrestled with this, as we do today, and how Jesus answered them. Jesus said,

You know the way to the place where I am going."

Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."

Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."

Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father? Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves."

This can be as troubling to our logic as it was to the disciples. And that trouble should remind us that being a Christian is being clothed in faith. When the Bible and our creed speak of Jesus sitting at the right hand of God, this neither negates his role as God nor causes him to be under God. He is God revealing himself in a particular role. Jesus described himself in this way so that we could get a handle on it, while affirming that God the Father and God the Son are One in the same person.

So, believing in faith that what God says is true, we take a look at what it means to be on the right hand of God. The great creed of the church states that Jesus now sits at the right hand of God the Father. Once again, we are given an image that permits us to explore God in all of his aspects. "Sitting at the right hand of God" was a phrase in the Bible that evoked a strong image for its early readers. "A fully armed warrior would hold his weapon in his right hand and his shield in his left. The person to the right of the king would have the privilege of defending him. For a king to put someone there would be an affirmation of trust and therefore honor." (IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament)

The writer to the Hebrews put this in a splendid way when he wrote in Hebrews10:12-14. But when this priest [Jesus Christ] had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

We need to understand something very important here. There is no place higher than heaven and there is no one greater than God. Sitting on his throne, there is no creature in heaven or earth greater than Him! All too often we have made the image of Jesus mushy and soft. He indeed is kind and merciful, and he is just and righteous. He bears the armor of light and truth which no one can penetrate. He judges rightly from a heart that is pure and holy. Make no mistake, an enemy of the One cloaked in righteousness does not stand a chance unless covered by the blood of Jesus Christ! The life of a footstool awaits those who continually rebel and defy him in his glory.

In Hebrews 13:8 we read that, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." This means the Jesus Christ will always be kind and merciful and he will always be just and righteous. If you are an enemy of God in heaven when he comes again you will have eternity to remember his wrath. If you have been saved by his blood and his resurrection when he comes again you will have an eternity to enjoy his wonderful light. What comes down, must go up, to come down again.

I grew up in the Rocky Mountains of the United States. The Rockies are a great and beautiful range of mountains that run for many miles down the Western portion of the North American continent. There are particular places in the mountains where you can go and follow streams. The unusual thing about these places is that depending on where you stand the water will flow down to the East or down to the West. The mountain range by its height and length causes the mighty waters of the earth to run in two directions. These are places of division. Just as the mountain peaks form a place of division for the waters, Jesus forms a place of division between the good and the evil, the saints and the sinners, the humble and the rebellious.

Here is a truth we must all come to terms with, Jesus Christ as the Messiah born in a Jewish home, raised as a man, living a sinless life, gave himself up for all of humanity in the form of a sacrifice. This sacrifice, willingly given, put a bridge over a great chasm of sin that we would not be able to cross by ourselves. It's because of Jesus Christ's outstretched arms, spilled blood and powerful resurrection that we are able to receive God's forgiveness, grace and mercy every day. He sits now on the right hand of God the Father ready to forgive and ready to judge.

There is a final reality we have already touched on. That reality is that Jesus Christ promised to return to earth someday to establish a new heaven and a new earth. When he comes again he himself will be the Great Divide. The waters of redeemed people and the waters of sinful people will either go to his right or his left.

Just before Jesus Christ entered into his time of arrest, trial, crucifixion and resurrection, he told one more parable. This is a rather disturbing story—especially for those of us you don't care for such clear dividing lines. Many of us don't like to be told that things are black or white. But the reality stands clear in Christ Jesus who is the King of the Universe and Final Judge. Let's read that story that Jesus told and found in Matthew 25:31-46.

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

"The King will reply, I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

"He will reply, I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

The law of theological gravity is quite severe. The dividing line is pretty sharp. And how is that line determined? Let's go back through this story and see the criterion by which Jesus Christ will determine how to divide the sheep from the goats.

In verse 34 we find that those judged as righteous have 1) received the blessing of the Father and 2) in verse 35 they did gracious and just acts of care for others. These two elements are the great balance of a life dedicated to God.

The consequences of the parable that Jesus told in Matthew 25 are clearly linked to Jesus' teaching that the love and blessing of God are a result of how we treat our neighbors. Be careful not to get that turned around, though! We don't truly love our neighbors until we first love God. Our good works, by themselves are nothing—as good as they seem to be—if we continue to live in rebellion to God. The parable that Jesus told that day is very clear. We must have both elements, the blessing of God and the goods works towards others, in order to pass on the right side of Jesus Christ.

There is only one alternative to the right side, and that is the left side. We can't make it any more complicated. There are two choices. You are either for or against God and your neighbor. And the consequences are equally as clear. These consequences will be most clear on the day that you and I stand before the Resurrected Judge, when we will finally submit to the theological laws of God's judgment, and when we see him seated on the throne with his armor gleaming brilliantly.

One final image comes to us of our ascended Lord and judge. When God gave a revelation of the last days to his beloved disciple John, this is what he saw.

Revelation 20:11

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it, Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Today, if you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, have no fear. He has been watching from above. He wrote your name in the Book of Life with his own blood. When that Day of Judgment comes it will be a humbling and glorious day when finally we will be released from all trouble. We will live with him in those rooms that he has prepared. We will move in next door to God and live by his wonderful light.

But my friends, if you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, or if you have turned away from him, I ask you to reconsider what you believe about him, and accept him today as your Savior and judge.

We believe in Jesus Christ and that he ascended into heaven and that he now sits on the right hand of God the Father, soon to come again to judge the living and the dead.

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Chapter 7

We need to celebrate parents, good or bad, because it is through them that God has given us life. Each one of us has been sustained by parents, either for the nine months of pregnancy or the whole of our childhood. And for this we must be grateful.

In the great plan of God, parents were designed to bear and help raise children together. When God created Adam and Eve it was to be for each other and for him. In Genesis 1:26-28 God set the course for man and woman together and it included those wonderful little bundles of fruit called children!

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them, God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it."

You see God had in mind that humanity would walk and talk with him. He could discuss matters of the garden with Adam and Eve, he could tenderly hold their children—His children, too—and bless them again and again. He looked lovingly on this creation and was delighted that men and women could find one another, that men and women could become fathers and mothers, that children could find shelter and nurture from their parents. It was a beautiful picture of the community that was himself—The Trinity in reflection—ever connected, ever loving, ever faithful. God intended for us to live in harmony and unity as families.

And then you know what happened, don't you? That old sin thing came in a messed it all up. Ever since Eve and Adam ate that apple, ever since Cain let murder into his heart and his brother was forever lost to his parents, family it has been, frankly, a mess!

A word entered our vocabulary several years back—that word is "dysfunctional." We have been labeling this or that family dysfunctional ever since. "I came from a dysfunctional family," someone might say. And this indeed may be the truth for them. But I've got to say that it is the truth for all of us! We try to get pictures of normal in front of us. We try to set standards of behavior and relationship that seem right. But I've got to say I really don't see any "normal" or "functional" families.

Some of us have had overall good families. But don't tell me you don't have someone in that family system who is just a little bit frustrating or unusual. And you'd better be careful about whose name is running across your mind, because I'll just guess your name is running across a family member's mind, too! We're all not quite what we could be ... yet!

There's got to be something that binds a family together rightly and keeps it family! A family system that keeps secrets of abuse or terror has a strange and awful bond that really doesn't equal family. A family system that fosters combat and destruction will soon come to its own end. These kinds of family situations are the kind we run from, the kind from which we cringe.

But despite the Fall and sin and the fact that life is hard and my personality is dramatically different than my brothers' and sisters', there is something that can keep us truly and graciously family.

As families we have to make a deep and lasting commitment to communication, forgiveness and love. If you don't have that kind of stuff in a family great destruction occurs. Family members become archenemies and the very people you learn to despise the most. But family members who know of love, or learn or relearn love find incredible fellowship.

We have come to the place in the Nicene Creed where we say, "I believe in the catholic (i.e. universal, world-wide) church and the community of believers." We need to learn from Scripture what the Church is in its true form.

Always at the core of our understanding and beliefs lay the divine revelation of God to us about himself and who we are in respect to him. God has revealed himself to us as our Father and we are his children—that makes family. This family spans the globe. It reaches into the deepest and darkest of places and runs across every known horizon. This is the church—the Family of God! The Church's prevailing influence and reason for existence is the presence of God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son and the blessed Holy Spirit. One God. One Church. It is he who calls all people to himself. And people answer.

The Church of Jesus Christ is made up of the widest range of people you could possibly imagine. People from all nations of the world, people who have come out of the drug culture, people who have never touched drugs or alcohol, people who smoke and people who don't smoke, people who can only give a penny, or a chicken and people who give millions, people who are Democrat, Republican, Independent and from the Green Party, people who hate ice cream, and people who love ice cream, people who can barely read and people who have written books. You name them, the Church of Jesus Christ has them!

The Church is a family surrounded by grace, mercy love and forgiveness—not because it is run by a bunch of people called laymen or clergy, nor because it promises perfect human relationships. It is full of grace and mercy because of God. This is a loving God who wishes to let you know that even though pain occurs, peace and hope can be found; that even though you will meet disappointment, he is the source of joy. He is the One who redeems and restores. He is the bond that draws us and keeps us together.

In Jeremiah 31:33-34 we read these wonderful words. "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts, I will be their God, and they will be my people." When he spoke to his children, the nation of Israel, those many years ago, he was seeking to restore his perfect image of family with them. It's as if these words were his very arms of love reaching out and gathering them to him. "I will be for you and you will be for me!" What greater words could a parent speak over his children?

God speaks these words over all of us, drawing us into fellowship, not because we look alike, not because we sound alike, not because we have the same blood lines, but only because he loves us with an everlasting love and grace that reaches way beyond our sins!

It is into this world-wide Church that believers are baptized. Baptism, the ritual of emersion, sprinkling or having water poured over us, is the symbol by which we affirm that we have been brought in to the Family of God. Jesus was sinless and did not need to be saved, but he demonstrated this wonderful ritual of baptism by submitting himself to it so that we would follow as our part in being brought into his Church. Read about this marvelous encounter in the Gospel accounts: Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-22 and John 1:29-34. This is the one baptism we celebrate together over generations and geography.

God is so committed to this re-gathering that it was part of the preaching of Jesus Christ—and a bold preaching it was. In Matthew 16:18 Jesus declares, "I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." Nothing that Satan does or any efforts of evil or wicked people can destroy God's church—nothing. It may appear that the division and the lies and the deceit have won. But the enemies of God have something coming—it will survive!

That survival is based in the reality that it is not you or me who make this family work. By no means! If it were only left up to you and me, the church would lie in ruins. This family of God works because Jesus Christ is the head of the house and he has decided to serve up great heaping portions of grace and forgiveness upon us poor, hungry sinners! He has decided to take a bride who is really unfit to wed and make her into something she never thought possible!

The Apostle Paul was trying to help the church in Ephesus understand who they were in Christ. So he drew a picture right out of the life of a husband and wife, the core of the family, trying to get them to understand the relationship of Christ to the church and how we should respond to Him. We read in Ephesians 5:21 -32

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church —for we are members of his body. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." This is a profound mystery —but I am talking about Christ and the church.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you and I do not first submit to Jesus Christ as Lord all hell breaks loose in the Church. Paul was teaching that acknowledging Jesus as the Head of the church keeps us form division in the community of God. We just don't walk away because we are bored or no longer care for these people. We don't cross our arms and demand our own way all the time. This is his church, not ours. He knows what is best for us and the direct instruction we get from him is that we are to submit to him first and foremost.

What happens to a family where one member feels that they are more important than all the other members? Chaos rules. The damage inflicted by one selfish person is astronomical in a family. So, also in the Church of Jesus Christ. If one person or one group feels that their needs are to be served first and foremost where does that leave the rest of us? We might as well be dogs under the table.

But, my brothers and sisters, Jesus Christ has raised every one believe from the place of dogs under foot to full children of God! Each believer has a very special place. Every voice can be heard, every need expressed, every desire and sorrow shared!

In another letter from Paul to the church in Rome he penned these profound words.

Romans 12:1-21

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God —this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will. For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. if it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Now that's a picture of family! No one walks away. Everyone sticks it out, works it out and prays it through. That's the Church of Jesus Christ—a bunch of crazy saved sinners learning how to be loving family members together!

Richard Foster wrote about this in his book The Celebration of Discipline.

. . . for us we all too often view the believing community as a fellowship of saints before we see it as a fellowship of sinners. We feel that everyone else has advanced so far into holiness that we are isolated and alone in our sin. We cannot bear to reveal our failures and shortcomings to others. We imagine that we are the only ones who have not stepped onto the high road to heaven. Therefore, we hide ourselves from one another and live in veiled lies and hypocrisy.

But if we know that the people of God are first a fellowship of sinners, we are freed to hear the unconditional call of God's love and to confess our needs openly before our brothers and sisters. We know we are not alone in our sin. The fear and pride that cling to us like barnacles cling to others also. We are sinners together. (Pages 145-146)

When the writers of our great creed said that we believe in the communion of saints they surely must have been thinking that saints are sinners covered in the blood of the Lamb. And when we are washed in the precious blood, when we are cleansed and made whole, when we are baptized into resurrection life, we are family like no other family on the earth!

When we gather as the Church it is because we believe that God makes us family! And whether you go to a local church believing that or not, that is why people around the world gather in large and small ways. We want to be near God, to hear his kind and strong voice, to sense his compassion and mercy and to know his affirmation as his children—as family!

Jesus said in Matthew 18:20, "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." When we gather in his great Name, when we look into each other's eyes we know that we are brothers and sisters, born of the sacrifice and love of the One, true living God.

And the family constantly grows! His great sacrifice compels us to move outside of our own needs to try to meet the needs of others. It is in service to God's church and his world that we crazy, saved sinners can make a difference. We are never to be a family unto ourselves. We are to reach out and embrace those who need and seek a true family experience.

God's purposes for true family were extended when Jesus Christ came to earth to live, die and rise again. Just before he returned to heaven Jesus Christ gave a great command to make disciples of all nations. A scraggly little band of people who had followed him around for nearly three years were suddenly given the marvelous gift of the Holy Spirit, who enabled them to become the New Testament Church family. And into that family continues to come people from every nation and tribe. God leads us into new ways of relating, new ways of crossing over racial and ethnic lines, new ways of perceiving the value and strengths of each other.

Read Acts 2:42-47 to see how this Church of Jesus Christ demonstrated the excellent nature of the family of God.

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer, Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, raising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Now that's the fellowship of believers! It is indeed a conglomerate of a family held together by the God of love and grace. I believe in the holy Church universal and the fellowship of saints. We are family under God and only by his grace and love!

Conclusion

We have taken a brief exploration of the Nicene Creed. Some of these matters are settled in your heart and mind. Others may not be. If you are Christian—one dedicated to following the teachings of Jesus Christ and knowing God through the Holy Spirit—this then can be your creed. On the points at which you still may wrestle I encourage you to search the Scriptures, seek out solid, godly counsel from trusted Christian leaders and pray that the Holy Spirit enlighten your heart. As we journey through this earthly life may we keep a creed such as this as our compass until we meet in Heaven.

The Nicene Creed

We believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end.

And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And we believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. And we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.

Amen.

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Bibliography

Brown, Raymond E., Fitzmyer, Joseph A. and Murphy, Roland E. The New Jerome's Biblical Commentary, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1968, (Benedict Viviano – Matthew Commentary).

Chesterton, C.K., Orthodoxy, Image Books, 1959.

Douglas, J.D. ed., The New Bible Dictionary, ed. Douglas, J.D. et al, Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1962.

Foster, Richard J., The Celebration of Discipline, Harper San Francisco, 1988.

Keener, Craig, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, Inter Varsity Press, Downer's Grove, Illinois, 1993.

Kent, Homer A., Wycliffe Bible Commentary, eds. Everett Harrison and Charles F. Pfeiffer, Moody Press, Chicago, Illinois, 1990.

Walton, John H., Matthews, Victor H. and Chavalas, Mark W. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, Inter Varsity Press, Downer's Grove, Illinois, 2000.

About the Author

M. R. Hyde was awarded a Master of Arts in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary in 1997 and was ordained in the Church of the Nazarene in 1999. M.R. Hyde has digitally published both non-fiction inspirational books and fiction including Who is Jesus? A Devotional Journey through the Gospel of Matthew, SHE: Stories of a Woman and Mercy and Truth, all available at Smashwords.com and other e-book retailers.

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