Εμμανουηλ: God with Us Matthew 1:18-25

“Oh, come, oh, come, Emmanuel, 

And ransom captive Israel, 

That mourns in lonely exile here 

Until the Son of God appear. 

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel 

Shall come to you, O Israel!”



With the dawning of Christmas Eve/Day there are few carols that ring more clearly the message of the season then this one. This popular carol is played in the local Wal-Mart, coffee shops, and sung in Churches all across the United States as little children “wait for Saint Nick” and as families come together, even though they may not always agree with each other. The music itself is dissonant and haunting with the eight stanza of the carol adding image after image of Biblical truth. Yet what is so important about Emmanuel? Who is Emmanuel and why is he coming? Why Israel and what is the exile? These questions are important, not just to the carol but to the New Testament passage where Emmanuel is found, Matthew 1:18-25. An examination of the Biblical text is in order.


Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

In the context of Matthew, the author is just now beginning the narrative. Matthew opens his Gospel with the royal genealogy, linking the Messiah back to the King David and the patriarch Abraham. Then with the repetition of 14 generations from Abraham to David, David to the Exile, then from the Exile to the Messiah, Matthew is rooting the Messiah in the story of Israel. This Messiah is functioning within the framework of Israel, this is Israel’s story. The Exile is the background to the preceding paragraph or we could say this is the historical framework that Matthew is writing about the Messiah coming.

Now Exile wasn’t a glorious thing by any stretch of the imagination. Israel found themselves in and out of Exile throughout their history. Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, and this list could go on. YHWH had allowed His chosen to become slaves. Israel chose to rebel and now they were suffering for it. Yet this time it wasn’t Babylonian Exile but Rome Captivity. This meant Caesar was Lord. He was god and savior. He brought in “peace and safety”. Thus Israel longed for YHWH to return and deliver them from their oppressors. Their hopes for a Messiah ran from the prophets, through the intertestamental period into the first century. They wanted to be delivered from oppression. N.T. Wright states: "Until the Gentiles are put in their place and Israel, and the Temple, fully restored, the exile is not really over, and the blessings promised by the prophets are still to take place".1

These things hadn’t yet taken place yet in the mind of the Jew. Yet keep in mind, it was because of their own sin that landed them into bondage in the first place. They were “slaves in the land” (Nehemiah 9:36-38). So Israel did what they could do. Religious leaders built fences up around the Torah. Another group wanted to revolt against the authorities. Others withdraw themselves from society. Each group looking for a way to cope with their present state.

But in the midst of this loss of hope, a young girl, probably not even out of her teen years, was found with Child. This young girl Mary, had been engaged to her husband Joseph, yet they had not consummated their marriage. As the text reads, they had not known each other! This pregnancy was unlike natural conception, you see this Child was conceived by the Holy Spirit. But Joseph was a little skittish about this giving the fact he didn’t know all the details. All he knew was that he hadn’t touched his wife! Legally an honorable man would divorce his wife who had committed adultery. Yet an angel of the Lord appeared and revealed the truth about his wife and this Child.


She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”


The angel’s announcement was profound!
Could this be?
Is He here?
End of Exile?


Yet Matthew just to clarify this proclamation sees Isaiah 7:14 as the background. “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel” (which means, God with us). Yet what does this mean? Given the Old Testament context, Isaiah says that Ahaz would receive a sign. Thus in verse 14 the sign is given. This is probably speaking about Isaiah’s son in chapter 8. Yet Matthew seems to see this passage as applying to the Child. That isn’t a far stretch for him given the angels revelation to Joseph.

1.) The virgin shall conceive and bear a son (she will bear a son)
2.) They shall call his name Emmanuel (you shall call his name Jesus)

Then Matthew interprets Emmanuel for his audience, which means God with us. But what was the final clause of the angels proclamation? Lo and behold it is “He will save his people from their sins”! In short Matthew sees this Child fit Isaiah and draws the conclusion that this Child is Emmanuel! Grant Osborne says that “Emmanuel isn’t the literal name of the Child but is metaphorically describing his messianic work...”2 namely God with us is salvation! Now, “God with us” as many have seen it could be a reference to the Childs divinity, His equality with God Himself. This is indeed true given the rest of the New Testament. But as M. J. Harris pointed out “In Jesus God is present to bring salvation to his people”3, thus this Emmanuel proclamation over this Child has another important implication; the dwelling presence of God, or to say the saving activity of God. No longer is the dwelling presence of God in the Temple but it is in this Child. God’s saving activity is taking place with this Child. God is magnifying Himself in and through the Child. Salvation has dawn upon Israel and thus the whole world. Salvation from their sin and from Exile is about to take place with the birth of the Child. This only happens because of this Emmanuel. This is the same conclusion that John draws in his prologue: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the Only Son from the Father full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).


“Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.
For behold, darkness shall cover the earth,
and thick darkness the peoples;
but the LORD will arise upon you,
and his glory will be seen upon you.
And nations shall come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your rising” - Isaiah 60:1-3


God with us is one of Matthew’s themes that he carries throughout his gospel. Listen to the final words of the Messiah: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Thus for Israel and the world the announcement of the present saving activity of God is indeed Good News. The saving activity of God or to say the Kingdom of God has come but not in the way Israel expected. Seyoon Kim mentions that:

Jesus’ redemptive work did not consist in altering the political, economic, and social structures of the day to bring Israel political freedom, economic prosperity, and social justice. It consisted rather in exorcism and healing, forgiveness of sins and restoration of sinners, and bringing relief for the poor through formation of a new commonwealth.4


Israel received salvation not by military power or radical revolutionary activity but simply by humility. The blessed Mary giving birth to the King of the World who walked in humility proclaiming the Kingdom. Thus the world can taste the saving power of Emmanuel. From beginning to end, God is with us. From the humble birth through his glorious reign to the consummation of His Kingdom, God is with us. Salvation has come and Exile is coming to an end!


In conclusion, Grant Osborne gives 4 stages that God’s presence is manifested:5
1.) God is present through his “Shekinah” in the pillar of fire and cloud also through the Temple in the Old Testament
2.) Through the Son as a walking “Most Holy Place”
3.) Through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit
4.) In the Final Consummation (Rev 21:3)



From Matthew the implication can be drawn: Salvation is already and not yet. All of history points to the event of the Messiah. Therefore the birth of the blessed Messiah into the world grants an opportunity for salvation to all who believe. The Kingdom of God has dawn to make all things right. A call to be the True Israel of God is announced, Jew and Gentile alike. Eternal Life is extended to the sheep who hear. The Holy Spirit has been deposited as a guarantee of the inheritance to a new world near. The Christmas season is a reminder that God’s activity has not stopped in the world. Yes it is a time to enjoy family, put lights on your house, and cut down a Christmas tree (which is something I’ve done this season actually and I enjoyed every minute of it). But most importantly Christmas is a call to all the world that God is the God of salvation. He has sent His Son into the world to bring His saving rule. The Kingdom of God is here but not yet fully consummated. Life, peace, hope, and joy has come. The God of Israel has acted and all the world has been given a call to turn and pledge their allegiance to the True Lord.


So to echo the words of the famous carol:

“Oh, come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Oh, bid our sad divisions cease,
And be yourself our King of Peace.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!”




Have a Blessed and Merry Christmas. From my Family to yours, may God bless you with his presence and the grace of His Son be given to you.

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore. - Isaiah 9:6-7

______________________________________________________

1.) N.T. Wright, The New Testament and the People of God (Minneapolis, Augsburg Fortress, 2004), pg 270

2.)Grant Osborne, Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: Matthew (Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 2010), pg 79

3.) Murray J. Harris, Jesus as God: The New Testament Use of Theos in Reference to Jesus (Grand Rapids, Baker, 1992), pg 258

4.)Seyoon Kim, Christ and Caesar: The Gospel and the Roman Empire in the Writings of Paul and Luke, pg. 147

5.) Grant Osborne, Exegetical Commentary of the New Testament: Matthew, pg 82

Unity, Humility, and the Lordship of Christ

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so 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. - Philippians 2:1-11





The Beautiful of Unity

The natural reaction for most Americans is to do anything that is not for unity. That could be because of the temptation to seek the bigger better things or the most money. The unity of the church is what makes up our identity. Our identity as a community under the Lordship of Christ is the maker of our faith that makes us different from other communities. Whether that community is for the promotion of nationalism, politics, religion, club, or what not. Those groups are under some kind of authority or rule. But the difference between the Kingdom community is that we claim that those things (nationalism, politics, clubs) take a far second place to the true Lord, Jesus Christ. Those other communities promote selfishness, greed, and pride. While the community of Christ function under the principle of humility. Since the Kingdom is a reality that can experienced in the present, we should be able to claim that you can experience the foretaste of the New Creation now. Therefore for if you want to know what Heaven is like, you can say come visit my church. If you want to experience the Kingdom, follow me. But can we really say that? Is that true for the American church? How about your own fellowship? The Kingdom is already here and the Kingdom has created the Church but do we work more for an organization or the Kingdom? Kingdom unity is the purpose. Not disunity. Not big buildings filled with people who are looking for their best life now, but a community of people looking for the Kingdom of God now and the Fathers will being done on earth. This unity is found by being of the same mind and same love. Walking by the Spirit and not by the flesh. This community is not about being selfish.





Humility is the Means

Since the community works on the principle of humility we work of others. It isn't about our personal individual salvation whereas we go to heaven when we die. But about laying down our lives for others just as the King laid down His own life for the Church. Humility counts others more significant than yourself. You place others above your own personal wants, desires, and needs. The community meets the needs of others. This is where unity is truly realized. If humility isn't present than there would be no way or chance one could serve another. Because it would be about...you and your needs. See how selfish that is? Most say: I go to church so I can feel good about myself. Where I get fed. Church is the place where I experience God on a personal level. Me, myself, and I. Church is about me. What a selfish church! Church is a community that works for others. I go to church so that I can encourage others. Church promotes experiencing God as a family. Church functions for the joy of others whereas people minister one to another, pray for one another, and love one another. Humility brings about the destruction of pride. If I'm serving my brother I can not be thinking about myself. The Kingdom Church is about the killing of pride and the promotion of humility.




The Lordship of Christ

Jesus Christ is Lord and God has raised Him from the death. This was the first confession of the early church. The Lordship of Christ is the cry of the Kingdom Community. Nothing comes close to His Lordship! Yet here is where we find the truth about humility and unity. In the death of Him, humility is revealed. He didn't die for Himself but for others. Therefore God exalted Him to the place of Lord. Which is where we find unity. Under his rule and reign! He is King and nothing else! Submission to His Lordship with humility brings unity to the community. Christ is the head of the Church. Christ is the Lord of the world. Christ is the King of the universe. Therefore submit your allegiance. Repent of pride and selfishness and seek humility and unity. The Kingdom is here...live for it.




Walk by the Spirit, live in community, submit to the Lord, seek unity and humility.

Once Was a Slave but Now a Son: A Place at the Table

For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. - Romans 8:14-17


So I just finished watching the movie Prince of Persia with a dear friend of mine. I enjoyed it, not just the movie but the time with my friend. Our friendship goes back a ways and I really think this movie was a good one to go see together. And as we were watching there was a certain part that stood out that really caught my attention. Now I'm not a guy that watches a movie to try to find the "spiritual implications" in it but I feel that there was a series of lines that spoke directly to the heart of Christianity.

In this series of lines between Dastan and Tamina (the male and female lead) Tamina (female princess) was following Dastan (one of the male princes of Persia) in the desert. They were both fleeing the city that Tamina was a princess over due to an overthrow by the Persias. Dastan by this time has been framed for the murder of his father. But previously in the movie there is some background laid.

Dastan was an orphan. Living on the streets. No father, no mother. He fought for his food and to survive. Yet one day in the marketplace to king saw Dastan act an courage. So the king adopted Dastan into the royal family.

So back to the series of lines between Dastan and Tamina. She is speaking to Dastan and makes a remark (to paraphrase) "You been told that from birth" which was in reference to his right to royalty. He began to example that "He wasn't born into royalty, he was an orphan, but the king adopted him therefore he loved his father."

This may have been a simple pass of lines between two roles. But this spoke clearly. That is the Gospel

I was a rebel, an outlaw, a slave, an enemy against the king. I had no right whatsoever to royalty and have nothing to place before the king. But out of his love He adopted me into His royal family where I am an heir. I don't sit outside waiting for the scraps to be thrown out, I actually sit at His table and feast with Him. That is the Gospel of the Kingdom.

Sitting with my friend, knowing the stuff she has walked through and knowing the junk I've been through I felt content to know that we both lived in the Kingdom of the True King. We didn't live as slaves to sin in the Kingdom of Darkness. But we were adopted as a son and daughter into His family. Not by anything we did, but all because He chose us to be part of His family.

I read this today too

An Analogy of God saving a sinner:
"You are a floating corpse, face down, dead in the water, drowned in your trespasses and sins. Suddenly, someone yanks you out of the water, throws you down on the floor of the boat and gives you mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, breathing new life into you." - Trevin Wax, Holy Subversion

The New Age Has Dawned (Matthew)

The Narrative

For 400 years, give or take a few, Israel as a nation was still suffering the effects of exile. Although people had returned from Assyrian and Babylonian captivity they still lived as though they were strangers in a foreign land. YHWH hasn't spoken through a prophet, Caesar was ruling, religious leaders were greedy, and Israel as YHWH's covenant people were longing for His Kingdom to come. YHWH's Torah wasn't being kept, the Temple itself had become nothing more then a den for thieves, now what was Israel to do? Where were they to turn when 95-97% of them were poor and broken?

Then a voice crying out from the wilderness: The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand therefore repent!

This man, John the Baptist seemed to enact an Old Testament prophetic position. The call to his nation was repentance because God's rule was arriving in the present. God is about to act so don't find yourself as a bad tree with bad fruit because the One is coming and He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. John the Baptist, as he was baptizing in the Jordan where Joshua centuries before laid 12 stones as a reminder to the children of Israel that YHWH lead them out of captivity into the Promised Land, looked up and saw the One who had the sandals he wasn't worthy to carry.

Jesus saying "Let is be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." was baptized in the Jordan. Immediately the heavens tore open and the eschatological Spirit of God descended like dove and rested open Jesus. Then YHWH spoke, "This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased." This baptism and speaking was very important to this event. YHWH was appointing His Son to be the Chosen King by giving Him the Spirit and baptizing Him. The words of "beloved or chosen son" would have invoked the appointment of David as King and here is the Man who is now receiving this appointment Himself. Jesus is now in line of the Davidic reign not only by birth/right but by YHWH's divine choosing. Here is the One Israel has been waiting for; the Davidic Messiah who would establish YWYH's Kingdom and overthrow the pagan rulers.

Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand! The same message of the prophets, the message that Israel wanted to here, and the message that would shake the foundation of the world. Jesus went teaching and proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom. This long awaited expectation of YWYH's divine reign has irrupted in the midst of history. The New Age has broken through the Old Age and now is the day of salvation. The Age to Come has invaded the Present Evil Age and now your allegiance is no longer to the Old but the New.

So seeing the crowds, Jesus went up on the mountain, when He sat down His disciples came to him and taught them saying;

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.


The Gospel of the Kingdom and its ethics were being unpacked for His followers. In the midst of exile the one that follows the Messiah in this New Age will by blessed. The Kingdom of Heaven is theirs now. This is good news for those who have been looking forward to this day! Yet how can this be if Caesar is still presently ruling over Israel? This is the tension that the followers of the Messiah lived in; Their loyalty was to the Messiah's Kingdom and not to Caesar's. They were to live differently then others around them. Followers of the Messiah turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, and give to those who ask. They love them enemies and don't kill them like Caesar would have done. They give in order to be blessed by YWYH not so others will see them. They pray for YWYH's Kingdom to come and His will to be done. They seek His Kingdom in order that they might live. So they should ask, seek, and knock because the Father will give them what they need. This Kingdom is viewed as a narrow gate and a hard way. Those who walk this hard way will have good fruit and not bad. But beware because not everyone who call Him LORD will enter the Kingdom but only those to actively do YWYH's will. So once they hear the Messiah's words, they do them, their house in built upon the rock. If you they His word's and don't do them, they are a fool (Ps 14) and their house is built upon the sand. Therefore when judgment comes, they will fall.

This New Age that has broken in the midst of history caused an uproar in the religious establishment. The Messiah has come yet they don't recognize Him due to their blindness. It didn't look like the Kingdom they heard about from the rabbis. When will He go to Jerusalem and set up the Kingdom? Caesar is still reigning it looks like! Jesus said that He was the fulfillment of the Torah so follow Him. Don't live for greed and gain but live in humble submission to the Kingdom. Don't abide by the traditions of man but the commandments of the Messiah.

So the Tension

In the midst of exile and Caesar present reign how was one to live with their allegiance to the True King? Easy...follow the True King. Don't follow the system of Caesar and the form of "life" the Roman system lived on. Repent of your allegiance from one king to Another. This long awaited message of the Kingdom rubbed many in Israel the wrong way. It wasn't what they expected. Messiah was a humble servant who ate and drank with sinners. His followers weren't the brightest in Israel. Also His content message in the later part of His career was "taking up your cross". To enter into the Kingdom in the mind of Jesus meant that one must die. He must lose is life to find it. Your allegiance isn't to yourself, Caesar, or the greedy religious establishment, it is to the True King. Therefore...die. Simple...right? No not that simple. As the disciples, we get the message wrong too. Jesus gives us the radical call to die to ourselves but we rebuke Him. He shows us the way of the Kingdom but we'd rather follow our own way. But as the True King, He is always good to His followers. He allows repentance. The tension is between this world and His world. This Kingdom and His Kingdom. The Old Age and New Age. The question is where is your allegiance? Will you be anger at the Messiah because He ruins your theological strongholds? Will you get upset because He calls you to serve and not be served? Will you follow this present system of things or actually die in order that you might live?

Kingdom Living and the Radical Call

From debates that stem from the Kingdom of God, Calvinism, eschatological, narrative flow, and interpretive options my life has been wrapped up in "Christianized" type lingo for a while now. Although it is not totally bad to be consumed in "Christianized" things, I feel sometimes when I read the New Testament that I'm missing something. I have to admit, I am a recovering sinner and don't claim to have all the answers but I do notice a clear call in the New Testament to living radically different from the status quo. For the disciples the call was to take up their cross and preach the kingdom of God. For Paul it was to be crucified daily and not walk by the flesh. For John it was not to give allegiance to the beast but to be a faithful martyr.

I want to live a life that reflects Kingdom characteristics in a world that does not. I think this is the problem that the New Testament church faced too. Since the Kingdom has been inaugurated in the present therefore I must be able to live according to the radical call it preaches; That God reigns! What does Kingdom living look like? What does it mean to live a nonconformist lifestyle when the given norm tells you that something else is presently reigning? I believe this is the basic question that underlines the simple narrative throughout the Bible.

Who is King and who should I pledge my allegiance to?

In the coming weeks I'll try to explore that question by walking through the New Testament little by little. It may take some time but in the end I hope it will be a blessing to you.

Celebrating the Resurrection: The Purpose of Easter

"We could cope—the world could cope—with a Jesus who ultimately remains a wonderful idea inside his disciples' minds and hearts. The world cannot cope with a Jesus who comes out of the tomb, who inaugurates God's new creation right in the middle of the old one." – N.T. Wright

The world has a hard time with the fact that the man Jesus Christ rose again from the dead. They can’t believe that He isn’t in the grave. They ask; “Where are his bones? Are they in the tomb? Where is the tomb?” So it seems that this aspect of the Christian faith causes problems for the skeptics, boggles the minds of the scientist, and is the area that the atheist attempts to attack. Yet the belief of the resurrection of Jesus is the cornerstone that provides the foundation for our faith and practice. If Jesus Christ was not raised from the dead, there is no Christianity. Again there is no reason to believe in Jesus if He was not resurrected from the dead. So it is, that the confession “Jesus Christ…died on the cross for the sins of the world, was raised bodily and exalted to God's right hand...” is the reason why we celebrate Easter. 2000 years ago Jesus Christ was put to death on a cross. Yet three days later, God raised Him from the dead. In the event of the resurrection, Jesus Christ started the New Creation. No longer will death have dominion over creation because it was defeated. In fact death is the greatest enemy of the world but the event of the resurrection, Jesus Christ changed the entire sum of creation. “Jesus’ return from the grave is the dawn of the new day: God’s people and all creation will share in his resurrection life.” Easter is the celebration of the resurrection, the celebration of the New Creation, the celebration of the defeat of death. I’ll provide you with 8 New Testament passages that speak about the resurrection that have impacted my walk with Christ. They are all found within different context and applied differently but you’ll see the emphasis of the New Testament authors: the resurrection of the Son of God, the Messiah; Jesus.


1.) Luke 24: Interacting with the Resurrected Jesus
On the road to Emmaus, the two disciples walked with their heads held low. They placed their faith in the man who called himself the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. They had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. But of course that didn’t happen, because Jesus of Nazareth died at the hands of the Romans. Yet they were met by a man on the road who asked them why they looked so depressed. They explained the story of the man and how he died. But to their surprise the one who met them was the One who died. Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead and to prove that He was resurrected had a meal with them. He revealed Himself to them in the most intimate way. He interacted with those two disciples and restored their hope and expectations.



2.) Acts 2:22-36: Preaching of the Resurrected Jesus
Peter after being filled with the Holy Spirit stood up in the midst of Jerusalem and began to preach the first evangelistic sermon in church history. With the radical statements about the Spirit of God being poured out in the last days and the death of Jesus by the hands of lawless men under the sovereignty of God, Peter began to speak about the resurrected Jesus. He made the point that this Jesus God raised up from the dead, and they were all witnesses to the event. With the preaching of the resurrected and exalted Christ, 3000 men were baptized.

3.) Romans 6:5-11: Application of the Resurrected Jesus
Paul, in his argument about sin and grace makes the point that in the midst of sin the grace of God abounds all the more. But before his hearers can go out and sin habitually he quickly gives a series of questions: “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? No way!! How can we who died to sin live in it? Do you not know that those who were baptized into Jesus were baptized into His death?” Paul then makes the statement that we are united into His death and also in His resurrection. Therefore baptism is the act in which the death and resurrection of Jesus is applied to a believer as a metaphor. Paul concludes that “We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over Him.”

4.) 1 Corinthians 15:12-28: Defending the Resurrected Jesus
In his defense of the resurrection of Jesus, Paul as he does so often starts his argument with a question. “If Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?” If Christ isn’t raised then the preaching of Paul is in vain. Also if Christ isn’t raised, we are dead in our sins. If that is so, then Christians should be the most pitied in the world! But Christ was raised as the first fruit of all those who have died. The promise is to believers who have died. They will be raised from the dead and death will be defeated. The last enemy will be destroyed!

5.) Ephesians 1:15-23: The Dominion of the Resurrected Jesus
For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. (No need to explain)


6.) Philippians 3:1-11: Being Conformed into the Resurrected Jesus
In the context of looking back on his life, Paul shows the difference between religion and following Jesus. It isn’t by the law that makes one right before God but through Jesus. You can’t work your way to God it is only through Jesus Christ. Paul says that everything he gained in his life should be considered “rubbish” (garbage, trash, dung, manure, etc). Paul concludes that his righteousness comes from God that depends on faith. But he continues by adding what that faith looks like. It consist of knowing Him, the power of His resurrection, and sharing in His sufferings becoming like Him in his death. He wanted this all because he wanted to attain to the resurrection. Paul’s desire is to be conformed into the life of Christ, by His death and resurrection.

7.) 1 Peter 1:3-5: Hope of the Resurrected Jesus
Peter gives his greeting to the elect exiles of the dispersion by giving one of the most encouraging openings in all of the New Testament. God has given them mercy because He saved them. Their hope in their salvation is rooted in the resurrection of Jesus. This hope consist of an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading which is kept in heaven. This salvation is guarded by God but will be revealed in the last time. God will show His power by raising men and women from the dead giving them full salvation in the end.

8.) Revelation 21: The Newness that will come because of the Resurrected Jesus
Then I saw, as John said “a new heaven and new earth”. This renewed/restored creation and people will the Bride of the Lamb. The New Creation is the final home for all who follower the Resurrected Jesus. God said that “I am making all things new.” This means a new people, new place, new way, and complete New Creation. No more pain, tears, mourning, death. This is the marriage of heaven and earth. As God created the heavens and the earth in Genesis, so will God create a new heaven and new earth. They will come together in the end. Everything will be made right. The full redemptive plan of God will be consummated and everything will be new, good, right, and holy. This all happens because of the work of the Lamb, who was slain and resurrected.

These 8 passages are not an exhaustive list of resurrection passages. They are simply some passages that have impacted my walk with Jesus. I pray that as the Easter season comes around in the next few weeks we will keep our eyes upon the resurrected Christ and celebrate Him together as a body of followers.

“But the good news is this: death has been defeated; our conqueror has been conquered. In the face of the power of the kingdom of God in Christ, death was helpless. It could not hold him, death has been defeated; life and immortality have been brought to life.” – George Eldon Ladd

Top 5 Books of 2009

Now these books aren’t necessarily published in 2009 but they are books that have challenged and encouraged me.

The Gospel of the Kingdom by George Eldon Ladd... See More
Aside from Scripture, this book has been the one that has shaped my outlook on the Jesus, Bible, and life. I would share this book with every Believer I come in contact with. The Kingdom of God is a central theme that runs throughout all Scripture yet it is just simply overlooked in most of Christianity today. A somewhat difficult read but amazing overall content!

Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright
For the Christian, what does it mean to have hope? Is it a final resting place called heaven or the resurrection from the dead? N.T. Wright explains and argues that the resurrection is the hope and the driving mission of the church. Great and easy read. Excellent writer!

Drama of Scripture by Craig G. Bartholomew and Michael W. Goheen
Another easy read that every Believer needs to pick up. This book explains different themes found in Scripture; From Genesis to Revelation. Themes such as creation and new creation; covenant and kingdom; the story of Israel are explained in the book. Again easy read and all around good book.

Christ and Caesar by Seyoon Kim
Christ and Caesar is very theological book dealing with different interpretations in the camp of the “political interpreters”. Was Paul and Luke’s intent solely anti Rome? Kim deals with these issues with respect and finds that Rome wasn’t the problem. It is a cosmic battle between the Davidic Messiah and Satan. Though Paul and Luke drew on political themes with their language, there is a bigger issue that Jesus was facing. Good book for those dealing with political interpretations.

Mere Discipleship by Lee Camp
This book actually brought about me reading Christ and Caesar. Although I don’t agree with everything that Camp says, I was deeply challenged by this book. It made me question the role of Christians in politics, Christians and war, and America as a Christian nation. Again though I don’t agree with all his arguments I have come away with a radical desire to follow Christ without any hindrance. Good book if you can make it through. If I taught a discipleship class, this book would be a required text but handled with care!

Merry Christmas: The Birth of the King

Merry Christmas: The Birth of the King
Luke 2:1-20

With all the lights, presents, smell of cookies, and the taste of hot chocolate we are reminded that the holiday season is drawing closer. As the Eve is on its way and the ringing of Salvation Army bells ring don’t forget the famous story of Luke chapter 2. I remember sitting around the Christmas tree reading the story and all I could think about is the “Christmas Eve present” that usually involved a new pair of PJ’s and a little toy. But now growing more mature (God saving me) in my years, I see Luke chapter 2 in a new light. Thinking about the text from a historical level and its implications, Luke appears to be a historian, theologian, and is somewhat of a politician. After reading this short paper I hope that you won’t look at Luke chapter 2 the same way again.

Being birthed within a certain culture tends to have an effect on how someone is raised and viewed. So you cannot deny the history and context into which someone is born; Jesus Himself is no different. The gospel writer Luke, a good historian as most commentators have viewed him, provides his readers in the birth narrative of Jesus Christ in chapter 2. Coming off the heels of chapter 1 where Mary (a poor young woman) is told she is about to give birth to Jesus who is the Anointed One or Messiah. Through this Son, He would fulfill all Israel’s hopes of restoration from exile. Yet it is interesting how Luke sets the context to this birth.
Seyoon Kim describes Jesus in Luke’s birth narrative as “…born as the messianic Son of David and Son of God for Israel’s liberation, in fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel, Luke then narrates the event of Jesus’ birth, highlighting it against the oppressive backdrop of Caesar Augustus’s imperial reign (Luke 2:1-20).” Therefore with this backdrop Luke writes “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered” (Luke 2:1). The history and context of this chapter has the background of a “registration” or “census” that was decreed by Caesar, the Emperor of the Roman Empire. Joel Green states that “The registration of “all the world” asserts Augustus’s sovereignty over all the world.” This sheds light upon the control and power of Caesar in the 1st century. Caesar was in change over the whole Roman Empire and Luke uses words to convey that message. “All the world” is of course an exaggerated statement to show power and every single person in the Roman Empire was to do what Caesar commanded. Within this context, a declared registration by a pagan king was an oppressive gesture to a 1st century Jew in Palestine. The registration was an attempt to tax and force the people into submission to the Roman government. Nevertheless it reminds the readers of the eerie words of Nehemiah:

We are slaves this day; in the land that you gave to our fathers to enjoy its fruit and its good gifts, behold, we are slaves. And its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins. They rule over our bodies and over our livestock as they please, and we are in great distress (Nehemiah 9:36-37).

Israel was still in exile. Even though a remnant came back to the land, they still lived under foreign power. Exile didn’t stop when the remnant came back, it continued. So this sets the stage for the long awaited Messiah to redeem them from her enemies. Luke draws upon the exile theme by using Caesar as the oppressor and enemy. In summary, Israel was oppressed by Rome and Luke opens up his birth narrative with the introduction of Caesars oppression.

“Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child” (Luke 2:4-5). The oppression of Caesar causes Joseph and his wife to go to Bethlehem. Luke uses more Old Testament language by naming Bethlehem the “city of David”. With an Old Testament background, the name David and Bethlehem conveys several ideas.

1) The idea of king and covenant (2 Samuel 7).
2) David himself hails from Bethlehem (1 Samuel 16).
3) Micah’s prophecy (Micah 5:2).

These three just scratch the surface but nevertheless a picture is being painted within the narrative involving a soon to be king. This can be concluded by the immediate context and of course from chapter 1. Luke is building upon each narrative to bring about a climax when the king is finally born. Luke mentions a deeply theological image in the name of David, who was king. He uses Caesar, who is the present king and now Mary gives birth to the one who would be king (Luke 2:6-7). And this is the climax! The birth of the child, the One we’ve waited for! Here He is, the One to redeem Israel from exile.

Oh, come, oh, come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!

Yet, this baby is born in an inn, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid in a manger. This king was born in an animal stable, wrapped in scratchy clothes, and laid in a food trough? A little bit surprising for a coming king. Caesar would have never been born that way! This would have been unheard of within the Roman context. Thomas Yoder Neufeld in his book Recovering Jesus speaks to the irony in Luke’s narrative, “…for the first-century readers the contrast would have been nothing short of shocking. Israel’s king, born in a stable? Watch out, Caesar, your challenger has been born to an insignificant woman in an out-of-the-way village in a stable! How absurd!” Yet Luke keeps alluding that this king was going to be different. He is unlike any king Israel or for that matter, any other nation has seen before.

In the context, Luke pulls away from the birth of the child and focuses his attention on a certain group of people, “Shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock” (Luke 2:8-14). An angel appears with a message of hope and restoration, “And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11). This message was not delivered to the most prominent in the culture. It wasn’t Caesar, the Pharisees, or the Priest. But simple shepherds, the lowest of the low in the culture. This message of a king was unlike a Caesar message. Luke, a word-smith nonetheless uses words that were applied to Caesar. Richard Horsley quoted in his book Jesus and Empire a Roman announcement:

[Caesar] who was being sent to us and our descendants as Savior, has put an end to war and has set all things in order; and [whereas] having becoming [god] manifest, Caesar has fulfilled all hopes of earlier times…the birthday of the God [Augustus] has been for the whole world the beginning of good news concerning him [therefore let a new era beginning from his birth).

The angel said that this message was good news that this child was a Savior, Christ the Lord. This has a rich theological context whereas Luke is pulling from an Isaiaic Messiah (Isaiah 40:9, 42:1-9, 43). But Luke has in the immediate context used a parallel between Caesar and the child to provide his readers with hope. The good news or gospel is different between these two individuals. Both proclaimed good news to all people, yet one came by force (Pax Romana) the other by humility. Both were called savior and lord, but only One was the true Savior and Lord. Only One could promise salvation and hope. No longer did Israel have to wait for her redemption from her captives because this child would be her Messiah. “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is end…” (Isaiah 40:1-2) This passage has come alive in the birth of this child whereby the angels sing “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased” (Luke 2:14). The title Christ or Messiah is drawn from a Davidic kingship concept and thus Messiah would come from David and be like David. Needless to say this child fits this description. Therefore from the language in Luke’s birth narrative, the painting is that of a king who was born in lowly regard and whose message is for no one better than a shepherd, contrasted with Caesar who has the power to oppress “all the world” and whose message is constituted by force.

In conclusion, Luke draws upon the Old Testament for his theology. He uses history to tell the story of the Messiah being born to fulfill God’s mission and he uses common language applied to Caesar to convey a very political message. Not of overthrow and rebellion, but of the true Lord, Savior, and King. A King of peace and humility for all the world.

The Kingdom of God and Culture

This is a paper I began to write last year. I plan to add to it in the coming months. Copy and paste!

http://rapidshare.com/files/277468119/KingdomofGod.pdf

A Little Different Look....

As you may notice, I have changed a little bit. One change is the title.

From The Best of All Is...

to

On Earth as it is in Heaven


The change comes from a desire the Lord has given me to get back to the foundation of the teachings of Jesus. Which is The Kingdom of God and the call for Christians to pledge their allegiance to it. The posts will change from discussions, topics, teachings, sermons, etc. The intent of the blog is to serve as a teaching avenue to grow the faith of Believers.

My prayer is that Christ is glorified and that His Kingdom will come.

The Apostle Paul and C.S Lewis on the Moral Law

“It is after you have realized that there is a real Moral Law, and a Power behind the law, and that you have broken that law and put yourself wrong with that Power – it is after all this, and not a moment sooner, that Christianity begins to talk.”(pg 311) In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis unfolds the topic of the divine Moral Law and the Power behind it. It is not until humans realize their rebellion and sinfulness that they can truly look unto Christ as Lord and Savior. But do all men see the Moral Law as a means of grace, or do they see it as a standard no one can attain? Thus, this is the problem: is God just using the Moral Law to harm us, or using it to show us something about Him?

First, the Apostle Paul penned a statement in his epistle to the Roman church. Found within the letter is a declaration that will be the basis of all Paul’s reasoning for the conviction of sin in the letter. Paul writes: “What then shall we say? That the Law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the Law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.”(Romans 7:7) Coming from statements in regard to “dying to the Law”, Paul lets his readers know that the Law is an instrument for revealing sin in one’s self. This is only possible by God, who is within Himself morally perfect, setting up the Moral Law. Once humans stand and look into the mirror of the Moral Law they can see their rebellion. “It tells you to do the straight thing and it does not seem to care how painful, or dangerous, or difficult it is to do.”(pg 310) This provokes a question: is the Law good? Better yet, is God good?

Next, the examination of God is a must in order to understand the Law. “If God is like the Moral Law, then He is not soft. It is no use, at this stage, saying that what you mean by a “good” God is a God who can forgive” (pg 310) God is behind the power of the Law that bears upon the world. Every man, woman, and child knows the difference between right and wrong. All mankind has a sense of morality but as a result of sin, does not follow it. Therefore God, being in a perfect moral state, provides the Moral Law as a means of grace to sinners. He does this ultimately to show Himself to be holy, righteous, and then being able to save sinners from their sins. As an answer to the question posed, God is without a doubt good by writing the Law on all the hearts of mankind. As Paul said in Romans 2:15-16 “They show that the work of the Law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bear witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.” He does this not to harm, but to reveal Himself to humans by setting up a means of goodness.

Lastly, to carry on the last thought, if God sets up the Law, knowing that men cannot keep it, God must provide some way a sense of forgiveness. It is within God Himself who could provide that forgiveness from the rebellion of the Law. He does this by allowing Jesus Christ to fill that gap of mankind’s imperfectness. We could never keep the Law and be perfect. Romans says “None are righteous, no not one.” We all have had other gods before Him. We have all lied and stolen, therefore as a result deserve to die. “For the wages of sin is death” Paul says. But Jesus Christ acts as the agent who delivers us from the curse of sin. “Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in a new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the letter.” We could never be perfect by the Law, but through Christ, we have died and live through Him. He fulfills the Law when we could not.

In conclusion, the Moral Law acts as a means of grace from God. Thus showing sinners their sin, and allowing them to respond to Jesus Christ by submitting themselves to His lordship and free gift of salvation. If it were not for the Moral Law, we would never have a standard of goodness and would not care for goodness either. But God, in order to show His goodness, acts in humanity but sending His Son to fulfill the Law and by giving humans the great gift of all: freedom from sin and eternal life.

Free Will - A Slave by Spurgeon

A Sermon
(No. 52)
Delivered on Sabbath Morning, December 2, 1855, by the
REV. C. H. Spurgeon
At New Park Street Chapel, Southwark.





"And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life."—John 5:40.

This is one of the great guns of the Arminians, mounted upon the top of their walls, and often discharged with terrible noise against the poor Christians called Calvinists. I intend to spike the gun this morning, or, rather, to turn it on the enemy, for it was never theirs; it was never cast at their foundry at all, but was intended to teach the very opposite doctrine to that which they assert. Usually, when the text is taken, the divisions are: First, that man has a will. Secondly, that he is entirely free. Thirdly, that men must make themselves willing to come to Christ, otherwise they will not be saved. Now, we shall have no such divisions; but we will endeavour to take a more calm look at the text; and not, because there happen to be the words "will," or "will not" in it, run away with the conclusion that it teaches the doctrine of free-will. It has already been proved beyond all controversy that free-will is nonsense. Freedom cannot belong to will any more than ponderability can belong to electricity. They are altogether different things. Free agency we may believe in, but free-will is simply ridiculous. The will is well known by all to be directed by the understanding, to be moved by motives, to be guided by other parts of the soul, and to be a secondary thing. Philosophy and religion both discard at once the very thought of free-will; and I will go as far as Martin Luther, in that strong assertion of his, where he says, "If any man doth ascribe aught of salvation, even the very least, to the free-will of man, he knoweth nothing of grace, and he hath not learnt Jesus Christ aright." It may seem a harsh sentiment; but he who in his soul believes that man does of his own free-will turn to God, cannot have been taught of God, for that is one of the first principles taught us when God begins with us, that we have neither will nor power, but that he gives both; that he is "Alpha and Omega" in the salvation of men.
Our four points, this morning, shall be: First—that every man is dead, because it says: "Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." Secondly—that there is life in Jesus Christ: "Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." Thirdly—that there is life in Christ Jesus for every one that comes for it: "Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life;" implying that all who go will have life. And fourthly—the gist of the text lies here, that no man by nature ever will come to Christ, for the text says, "Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." So far from asserting that men of their own wills ever do such a thing, it boldly and flatly denies it, and says, "Ye WILL NOT come to me, that ye might have life." Why, beloved, I am almost ready to exclaim, Have all free-willers no knowledge that they dare to run in the teeth of inspiration? Have all those that deny the doctrine of grace no sense? Have they so departed from God that they wrest this to prove free-will; whereas the text says, "Ye WILL NOT come to me that ye might have life."


I. First, then, our text implies THAT MEN BY NATURE ARE DEAD.
No being needs to go after life if he has life in himself. The text speaks very strongly when it says, "Ye will not come unto me, that ye might have life." Though it saith it not in words, yet it doth in effect affirm that men need a life more than they have themselves. My hearers, we are all dead unless we have been begotten unto a lively hope. First, we are all of us, by nature, legally dead—"In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death," said God to Adam; and though Adam did not die in that moment naturally, he died legally; that is to say death was recorded against him. As soon as, at the Old Bailey, the judge puts on the black cap and pronounces the sentence, the man is reckoned to be dead at law. Though perhaps a month may intervene before he is brought on the scaffold to endure the sentence of the law, yet the law looks upon him as a dead man. It is impossible for him to transact anything. He cannot inherit, he cannot bequeath; he is nothing—he is a dead man. The country considers him not as being alive in it at all. There is an election—he is not asked for his vote because he is considered as dead. He is shut up in his condemned cell, and he is dead. Ah! and ye ungodly sinners who have never had life in Christ, ye are alive this morning, by reprieve, but do ye know that ye are legally dead; that God considers you as such, that in the day when your father Adam touched the fruit, and when you yourselves did sin, God, the Eternal Judge, put on the black cap and condemned you? You talk mightily of your own standing, and goodness, and morality—where is it? Scripture saith, ye are "condemned already." Ye are not to wait to be condemned at the judgment-day—that will be the execution of the sentence—ye are "condemned already." In the moment ye sinned; your names were all written in the black book of justice; every one was then sentenced by God to death, unless he found a substitute, in the person of Christ, for his sins. What would you think if you were to go into the Old Bailey, and see the condemned culprit sitting in his cell, laughing and merry? You would say, "The man is a fool, for he is condemned, and is to be executed; yet how merry he is." Ah! and how foolish is the worldly man, who, while sentence is recorded against him, lives in merriment and mirth! Do you think the sentence of God is of no effect? Thinkest thou that thy sin which is written with an iron pen on the rocks for ever hath no horrors in it? God hath said thou art condemned already. If thou wouldst but feel this, it would mingle bitters in thy sweet cups of joy; thy dances would be stopped, thy laughter quenched in sighing, if thou wouldst recollect that thou art condemned already. We ought all to weep, if we lay this to our souls: that by nature we have no life in God's sight; we are actually, positively condemned; death is recorded against us, and we are considered in ourselves now, in God's sight, as much dead as if we were actually cast into hell; we are condemned here by sin, we do not yet suffer the penalty of it, but it is written against us, and we are legally dead, nor can we find life unless we find legal life in the person of Christ, of which more by-and-by.
But, besides being legally dead, we are also spiritually dead. For not only did the sentence pass in the book, but it passed in the heart; it entered the conscience; it operated on the soul, on the judgment, on the imagination, and on everything. "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die," was not only fulfilled by the sentence recorded, but by something which took place in Adam. Just as, in a certain moment, when this body shall die, the blood stops, the pulse ceases, the breath no longer comes from the lungs, so in the day that Adam did eat that fruit his soul died; his imagination lost its mighty power to climb into celestial things and see heaven, his will lost its power always to choose that which is good, his judgment lost all ability to judge between right and wrong decidedly and infallibly, though something was retained in conscience; his memory became tainted, liable to hold evil things, and let righteous things glide away; every power of him ceased as to its moral vitality. Goodness was the vitality of his powers—that departed. Virtue, holiness, integrity, these were the life of man; but when these departed man became dead. And now, every man, so far as spiritual things are concerned, is "dead in trespasses and sins" spiritually. Nor is the soul less dead in a carnal man, than the body is when committed to the grave; it is actually and positively dead—not by a metaphor, for Paul speaketh not in metaphor, when he affirms, "You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins." But my hearers, again, I would I could preach to your hearts concerning this subject. It was bad enough when I described death as having been recorded; but now I speak of it as having actually taken place in your hearts. Ye are not what ye once were; ye are not what ye were in Adam, not what ye were created. Man was made pure and holy. Ye are not the perfect creatures of which some boast; ye are altogether fallen, ye have gone out of the way, ye have become corrupt and filthy. Oh! listen not to the siren song of those who tell you of your moral dignity, and your mighty elevation in matters of salvation. Ye are not perfect; that great word, "ruin," is written on your heart; and death is stamped upon your spirit. Do not conceive, O moral man, that thou wilt be able to stand before God in thy morality, for thou art nothing but a carcass embalmed in legality, a corpse arrayed in some fine robes, but still corrupt in God's sight. And think not, O thou possessor of natural religion! that thou mayest by thine own might and power make thyself acceptable to God. Why, man! thou art dead! and thou mayest array the dead as gloriously as thou pleasest, but still it would be a solemn mockery. There lieth queen Cleopatra—put the crown upon her head, deck her in royal robes, let her sit in state; but what a cold chill runs through you when you pass by her. She is fair now, even in her death—but how horrible it is to stand by the side even of a dead queen, celebrated for her majestic beauty! So you may be glorious in your beauty, fair, and amiable, and lovely; you put the crown of honesty upon your head, and wear about you all the garments of uprightness, but unless God has quickened thee, O man! unless the Spirit has had dealings with thy soul, thou art in God's sight as obnoxious as the chilly corpse is to thyself. Thou wouldst not choose to live with a corpse sitting at thy table; nor doth God love that thou shouldst be in his sight. He is angry with thee every day, for thou art in sin—thou art in death. Oh! believe this; take it to thy soul; appropriate it, for it is most true that thou art dead, spiritually as well as legally.
The third kind of death is the consummation of the other two. It is eternal death. It is the execution of the legal sentence; it is the consummation of the spiritual death. Eternal death is the death of the soul; it takes place after the body has been laid in the grave, after the soul has departed from it. If legal death be terrible, it is because of its consequences; and if spiritual death be dreadful, it is because of that which shall succeed it. The two deaths of which we have spoken are the roots, and that death which is to come is the flower thereof. Oh! had I words that I might this morning attempt to depict to you what eternal death is. The soul has come before its Maker; the book has been opened; the sentence has been uttered; "Depart ye cursed" has shaken the universe, and made the very spheres dim with the frown of the Creator; the soul has departed to the depths where it is to dwell with others in eternal death. Oh! how horrible is its position now. Its bed is a bed of flame; the sights it sees are murdering ones that affright its spirit;. the sounds it hears are shrieks, and wails, and moans, and groans; all that its body knows is the infliction of miserable pain! It has the possession of unutterable woe, of unmitigated misery. The soul looks up. Hope is extinct—it is gone. It looks downward in dread and fear; remorse hath possessed its soul. It looks on the right hand—and the adamantine walls of fate keep it within its limits of torture. It looks on the left—and there the rampart of blazing fire forbids the scaling ladder of e'en a dreamy speculation of escape. It looks within and seeks for consolation there, but a gnawing worm hath entered into the soul. It looks about it—it has no friends to aid, no comforters, but tormentors in abundance. It knoweth nought of hope of deliverance; it hath heard the everlasting key of destiny turning in its awful wards, and it hath seen God take that key and hurl it down into the depth of eternity never to be found again. It hopeth not; it knoweth no escape; it guesseth not of deliverance; it pants for death, but death is too much its foe to be there; it longs that non-existence would swallow it up, but this eternal death is worse than annihilation. It pants for extermination as the laborer for his Sabbath; it longs that it might be swallowed up in nothingness just as would the galley slave long for freedom, but it cometh not—it is eternally dead. When eternity shall have rolled round multitudes of its everlasting cycles it shall still be dead. Forever knoweth no end; eternity cannot be spelled except in eternity. Still the soul seeth written o'er its head, "Thou art damned forever." It heareth howlings that are to be perpetual; it seeth flames which are unquenchable; it knoweth pains that are unmitigated; it hears a sentence that rolls not like the thunder of earth which soon is hushed—but onward, onward, onward, shaking the echoes of eternity—making thousands of years shake again with the horrid thunder of its dreadful sound—"Depart! depart! depart! ye cursed!" This is the eternal death.

II. Secondly, IN CHRIST JESUS THERE IS LIFE,
for he says: "Ye will not come to me that ye might have life." There is no life in God the Father for a sinner; there is no life in God the Spirit for a sinner apart from Jesus. The life of a sinner is in Christ. If you take the Father apart from the Son, though he loves his elect, and decrees that they shall live, yet life is only in his Son. If you take God the Spirit apart from Jesus Christ, though it is the Spirit that gives us spiritual life, yet it is life in Christ, life in the Son. We dare not, and cannot apply in the first place, either to God the Father, or to God the Holy Ghost for spiritual life. The first thing we are led to do when God brings us out of Egypt is to eat the Passover—the very first thing. The first means whereby we get life is by feeding upon the flesh and blood of the Son of God; living in him, trusting on him, believing in his grace and power. Our second thought was—there is life in Christ. We will show you there are three kinds of life in Christ, as there are three kinds of death.
First there is legal life in Christ. Just as every man by nature considered in Adam had a sentence of condemnation passed on him in the moment of Adam's sin, and more especially in the moment of his own first transgression, so I, if I be a believer, and you, if you trust in Christ, have had a legal sentence of acquittal passed on us through what Jesus Christ has done. O condemned sinner! Thou mayest be sitting this morning condemned like the prisoner in Newgate; but ere this day has passed away thou mayest be as clear from guilt as the angels above. There is such a thing as legal life in Christ, and, blessed be God! some of us enjoy it. We know our sins are pardoned because Christ suffered punishment for them; we know that we never can be punished ourselves, for Christ suffered in our stead. The Passover is slain for us; the lintel and door-post have been sprinkled, and the destroying angel can never touch us. For us there is no hell, although it blaze with terrible flame. Let Tophet be prepared of old, let its pile be wood and much smoke, we never can come there—Christ died for us, in our stead. What if there be racks of horrid torture? What if there be a sentence producing most horrible reverberations of thundering sounds? Yet neither rack, nor dungeon, nor thunder, are for us! In Christ Jesus we are now delivered. "There is therefore NOW no condemnation unto us who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
Sinner! Art thou legally condemned this morning? Dost thou feel that? Then, let me tell thee that faith in Christ will give thee a knowledge of thy legal acquittal. Beloved, it is no fancy that we are condemned for our sins, it is a reality. So, it is no fancy we are acquitted, it is a reality. A man about to be hanged, if he received a full pardon would feel it a great reality. He would say, "I have a full pardon; I cannot be touched now." That is just how I feel.

"Now freed from sin I walk at large,
The Saviour's blood's my full discharge,
At his dear feet content I lay,
A sinner saved, and homage pay."

Brethren, we have gained legal life in Christ, and such legal life that we cannot lose it. The sentence has gone against us once—now it has gone out for us. It is written, "THERE IS NOW NO CONDEMNATION," and that now will do as well for me in fifty years as it does now. Whatever time we live it will still be written, "There is therefore, now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus."
Then, secondly, there is spiritual life in Christ Jesus. As the man is spiritually dead, God has spiritual life for him, for there is not a need which is not supplied by Jesus, there is not an emptiness in the heart which Christ cannot fill; there is not a desolation which he cannot people, there is not a desert which he cannot make to blossom as the rose. O ye dead sinners! spiritually dead, there is life in Christ Jesus, for we have seen—yes! these eyes have seen—the dead live again; we have known the man whose soul was utterly corrupt, by the power of God seek after righteousness; we have known the man whose views were carnal, whose lusts were mighty, whose passions were strong, suddenly, by irresistible might from heaven, consecrate himself to Christ, and become a child of Jesus. We know that there is life in Christ Jesus, of a spiritual order; yea, more, we ourselves, in our own persons, have felt that there is spiritual life. Well can we remember when we sat in the house of prayer, as dead as the very seat on which we sat. We had listened for a long, long while to the sound of the gospel, but no effect followed, when suddenly, as if our ears had been opened by the fingers of some mighty angel, a sound entered into our heart. We thought we heard Jesus saying, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." An irresistible hand put itself on our heart and crushed a prayer out of it. We never had a prayer before like that. We cried, "O God! have mercy upon me a sinner." Some of us for months felt a hand pressing us as if we had been grasped in a vice, and our souls bled drops of anguish. That misery was a sign of coming life. Persons when they are being drowned do not feel the pain so much as while they are being restored. Oh! we recollect those pains, those groans, that living strife that our soul had when it came to Christ. Ah! we can recollect the giving of our spiritual life as easily as could a man his restoration from the grave. We can suppose Lazarus to have remembered his resurrection, though not all the circumstances of it. So we, although we have forgotten a great deal, do recollect our giving ourselves to Christ. We can say to every sinner, however dead, there is life in Christ Jesus, though you may be rotten and corrupt in your grave. He who hath raised Lazarus hath raised us; and he can say, even to you, "Lazarus! come forth."
In the third place, there is eternal life in Christ Jesus. And, oh! if eternal death be terrible, eternal life is blessed; for he has said, "Where I am there shall my people be." "Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given unto me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory." "I give unto my sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish." Now, any Arminian that would preach from that text must buy a pair of India rubber lips, for I am sure he would need to stretch his mouth amazingly; he would never be able to speak the whole truth without winding about in a most mysterious manner. Eternal life—not a life which they are to lose, but eternal life. If I lost life in Adam I gained it in Christ; if I lost myself for ever I find myself for ever in Jesus Christ. Eternal life! Oh blessed thought! Our eyes will sparkle with joy and our souls bum with ecstasy in the thought that we have eternal life. Be quenched ye stars! let God put his finger on you—but my soul will live in bliss and joy. Put out thine eye O sun!—but mine eye shall "see the king in his beauty" when thine eye shall no more make the green earth laugh. And moon, be thou turned into blood!—but my blood shall ne'er be turned to nothingness; this spirit shall exist when thou hast ceased to be. And thou great world! thou mayest all subside, just as a moment's foam subsides upon the wave that bears it—but I have eternal life. O time! thou mayest see giant mountains dead and hidden in their graves; thou mayest see the stars like figs too ripe, falling from the tree, but thou shalt never, never see my spirit dead.

III. This brings us to the third point: that ETERNAL LIFE IS GIVEN TO ALL WHO COME FOR IT.
There never was a man who came to Christ for eternal life, for legal life, for spiritual life, who had not already received it, in some sense, and it was manifested to him that he had received it soon after he came. Let us take one or two texts—"He is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto him." Every man who comes to Christ will find that Christ is able to save him—not able to save him a little, to deliver him from a little sin, to keep him from a little trial, to carry him a little way and then drop him—but able to save him to the uttermost extent of his sin, unto the uttermost length of his trials, the uttermost depths of his sorrows, unto the uttermost duration of his existence. Christ says to every one who comes to him, "Come, poor sinner, thou needst not ask whether I have power to save. I will not ask thee how far thou hast gone into sin; I am able to save thee to the uttermost." And there is no one on earth can go beyond God's "uttermost."
Now another text: "Him that cometh to me, [mark the promises are nearly always to the coming ones] I will in no wise cast out." Every man that comes shall find the door of Christ's house opened—and the door of his heart too. Every man that comes—I say it in the broadest sense—shall find that Christ has mercy for him. The greatest absurdity in the world is to want to have a wider gospel than that recorded in Scripture. I preach that every man who believes shall be saved—that every man who comes shall find mercy. People ask me, "But suppose a man should come who was not chosen, would he be saved?" You go and suppose nonsense and I am not going to give you an answer. If a man is not chosen he will never come. When he does come it is a sure proof that he was chosen. Says one, "Suppose any one should go to Christ who had not been called of the Spirit." Stop, my brother, that is a supposition thou hast no right to make, for such a thing cannot happen; you only say it to entangle me, and you will not do that just yet. I say every man who comes to Christ shall be saved. I can say that as a Calvinist, or as a hyper-Calvinist, as plainly as you can say it. I have no narrower gospel than you have; only my gospel is on a solid foundation, whereas yours is built upon nothing but sand and rottenness. "Every man that cometh shall be saved, for no man cometh to me except the Father draw him." "But," says one, "suppose all the world should come, would Christ receive them?" Certainly, if all came; but then they won't come. I tell you all that come—aye, if they were as bad as devils, Christ would receive them; if they had all sin and filthiness running into their hearts as into a common sewer for the whole world, Christ would receive them. Another says, "I want to know about the rest of the people. May I go out and tell them—Jesus Christ died for every one of you? May I say—there is righteousness for everyone of you, there is life for every one of you?" No; you may not. You may say—there is life for every man that comes. But if you say there is life for one of those that do not believe, you utter a dangerous lie. If you tell them Jesus Christ was punished for their sins, and yet they will be lost, you tell a wilful falsehood. To think that God could punish Christ and then punish them—I wonder at your daring to have the impudence to say so! A good man was once preaching that there were harps and crowns in heaven for all his congregation; and then he wound up in a most solemn manner: "My dear friends, there are many for whom these things are prepared who will not get there." In fact, he made such a pitiful tale, as indeed he might do; but I tell you who he ought to have wept for—he ought to have wept for the angels of heaven and all the saints, because that would spoil heaven thoroughly. You know when you meet at Christmas, if you have lost your brother David and his seat is empty, you say: "Well, we always enjoyed Christmas, but there is a drawback to it now—poor David is dead and buried!" Think of the angels saying: "Ah! this is a beautiful heaven, but we don't like to see all those crowns up there with cobwebs on; we cannot endure that uninhabited street: we cannot behold yon empty thrones." And then, poor souls, they might begin talking to one another, and say, "we are none of us safe here for the promise was—"I give unto my sheep eternal life," and there is a lot of them in hell that God gave eternal life to; there is a number that Christ shed his blood for burning in the pit, and if they may be sent there, so may we. If we cannot trust one promise we cannot another." So heaven would lose its foundation, and fall. Away with your nonsensical gospel! God gives us a safe and solid one, built on covenant doings and covenant relationship, on eternal purposes and sure fulfillments.

IV. This brings us to the fourth point, THAT BY NATURE NO MAN WILL COME TO CHRIST,
for the text says, "Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." I assert on Scripture authority from my text, that ye will not come unto Christ, that ye might have life. I tell you, I might preach to you for ever, I might borrow the eloquence of Demosthenes or of Cicero, but ye will not come unto Christ. I might beg of you on my knees, with tears in my eyes, and show you the horrors of hell and the joys of heaven, the sufficiency of Christ, and your own lost condition, but you would none of you come unto Christ of yourselves unless the Spirit that rested on Christ should draw you. It is true of all men in their natural condition that they will not come unto Christ. But, methinks I hear another of these babblers asking a question: "But could they not come if they liked?" My friend, I will reply to thee another time. That is not the question this morning. I am talking about whether they will, not whether they can. You will notice whenever you talk about free-will, the poor Arminian, in two seconds begins to talk about power, and he mixes up two subjects that should be kept apart. We will not take two subjects at once; we decline fighting two at the same time, if you please. Another day we will preach from this text—"No man can come except the Father draw him." But it is only the will we are talking of now; and it is certain that men will not come unto Christ, that they might have life. We might prove this from many texts of Scripture, but we will take one parable. You remember the parable where a certain king had a feast for his son, and bade a great number to come; the oxen and fatlings were killed, and he sent his messengers bidding many to the supper. Did they go to the feast? Ah, no; but they all, with one accord, began to make excuse. One said he had married a wife, and therefore he could not come, whereas he might have brought her with him. Another had bought a yoke of oxen, and went to prove them; but the feast was in the night-time, and he could not prove his oxen in the dark. Another had bought a piece of land, and wanted to see it; but I should not think he went to see it with a lantern. So they all made excuses and would not come. Well the king was determined to have the feast; so he said, "Go out into the highways and hedges, and" invite them—stop! not invite—"compel them to come in;" for even the ragged fellows in the hedges would never have come unless they were compelled. Take another parable:—A certain man had a vineyard; at the appointed season he sent one of his servants for his rent. What did they do to him? They beat that servant. He sent another; and they stoned him. He sent another and they killed him. And, at last, he said, "I will send them my son, they will reverence him." But what did they do? They said, "This is the heir, let us kill him, and cast him out of the vineyard." So they did. It is the same with all men by nature. The Son of God came, yet men rejected him. "Ye will not come to me that ye might have life." It would take too much time to mention any more Scripture proofs. We will, however, refer to the great doctrine of the fall. Any one who believes that man's will is entirely free, and that he can be saved by it, does not believe the fall. As I sometimes tell you, few preachers of religion do believe thoroughly the doctrine of the fall, or else they think that when Adam fell down he broke his little finger, and did not break his neck and ruin his race. Why, beloved, the fall broke man up entirely. It did not leave one power unimpaired; they were all shattered, and debased, and tarnished; like some mighty temple, the pillars might be there, the shaft, and the column, and the pilaster might be there; but they were all broken, though some of them retain their form and position. The conscience of man sometimes retains much of its tenderness—still it has fallen. The will, too, is not exempt. What though it is "the Lord Mayor of Mansoul," as Bunyan calls it?—the Lord Mayor goes wrong. The Lord Will-be-will was continually doing wrong. Your fallen nature was put out of order; your will, amongst other things, has clean gone astray from God. But I tell you what will be the best proof of that; it is the great fact that you never did meet a Christian in your life who ever said he came to Christ without Christ coming to him. You have heard a great many Arminian sermons, I dare say; but you never heard an Arminian prayer—for the saints in prayer appear as one in word, and deed and mind. An Arminian on his knees would pray desperately like a Calvinist. He cannot pray about free-will: there is no room for it. Fancy him praying, "Lord, I thank thee I am not like those poor presumptuous Calvinists. Lord, I was born with a glorious free-will; I was born with power by which I can turn to thee of myself; I have improved my grace. If everybody had done the same with their grace that I have, they might all have been saved. Lord, I know thou dost not make us willing if we are not willing ourselves. Thou givest grace to everybody; some do not improve it, but I do. There are many that will go to hell as much bought with the blood of Christ as I was; they had as much of the Holy Ghost given to them; they had as good a chance, and were as much blessed as I am. It was not thy grace that made us to differ; I know it did a great deal, still I turned the point; I made use of what was given me, and others did not—that is the difference between me and them." That is a prayer for the devil, for nobody else would offer such a prayer as that. Ah! when they are preaching and talking very slowly, there may be wrong doctrine; but when they come to pray, the true thing slips out; they cannot help it. If a man talks very slowly, he may speak in a fine manner; but when he comes to talk fast, the old brogue of his country, where he was born, slips out. I ask you again, did you ever meet a Christian man who said, "I came to Christ without the power of the Spirit?" If you ever did meet such a man, you need have no hesitation in saying, "My dear sir, I quite believe it—and I believe you went away again without the power of the Spirit, and that you know nothing about the matter, and are in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity." Do I hear one Christian man saying, "I sought Jesus before he sought me; I went to the Spirit, and the Spirit did not come to me"? No, beloved; we are obliged, each one of us, to put our hands to our hearts and say—

"Grace taught my soul to pray,
And made my eyes to o'erflow;
'Twas grace that kept me to this day,
And will not let me go."

Is there one here—a solitary one—man or woman, young or old, who can say, "I sought God before he sought me?" No; even you who are a little Arminian, will sing—

"O yes! I do love Jesus—
Because he first loved me."

Then, one more question. Do we not find, even after we have come to Christ, our soul is not free, but is kept by Christ? Do we not find times, even now, when to will is not present with us? There is a law in our members, warring against the law of our minds. Now, if those who are spiritually alive feel that their will is contrary to God, what shall we say of the man who is "dead in trespasses and sins"? It would be a marvelous absurdity to put the two on a level; and it would be still more absurd to put the dead before the living. No; the text is true, experience has branded it into our hearts. "Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life."
Now, we must tell you the reasons why men will not come unto Christ. The first is, because no man by nature thinks he wants Christ. By nature man conceives that he does not need Christ; he thinks that he has a robe of righteousness of his own, that he is well-dressed, that he is not naked, that he needs not Christ's blood to wash him, that he is not black or crimson, and needs no grace to purify him. No man knows his need until God shows it to him; and until the Holy Spirit reveals the necessity of pardon, no man will seek pardon. I may preach Christ for ever, but unless you feel you want Christ you will never come to him. A doctor may have a good shop, but nobody will buy his medicines until he feels he wants them.
The next reason is, because men do not like Christ's way of saving them. One says, "I do not like it because he makes me holy; I cannot drink or swear if he saved me." Another says, "It requires me to be so precise and puritanical, and I like a little more license." Another does not like it because it is so humbling; he does not like it because the "gate of heaven" is not quite high enough for his head, and he does not like stooping. That is the chief reason ye will not come to Christ, because ye cannot get to him with your heads straight up in the air; for Christ makes you stoop when you come. Another does not like it to be grace from first to last. "Oh!" he says, "If I might have a little honor." But when he hears it is all Christ or no Christ, a whole Christ or no Christ, he says, "I shall not come," and turns on his heel and goes away. Ah! proud sinners, ye will not come unto Christ. Ah! ignorant sinners, ye will not come unto Christ, because ye know nothing of him. And that is the third reason.
Men do not know his worth, for if they did they would come unto him. Why did not sailors go to America before Columbus went? Because they did not believe there was an America. Columbus had faith, therefore he went. He who hath faith in Christ goes to him. But you don't know Jesus; many of you never saw his beauteous face; you never saw how applicable his blood is to a sinner, how great is his atonement; and how all-sufficient are his merits. Therefore, "ye will not come to him."
And oh! my hearers, my last thought is a solemn one. I have preached that ye will not come. But some will say, "it is their sin that they do not come." IT IS SO. You will not come, but then your will is a sinful will. Some think that we "sew pillows to all armholes" when we preach this doctrine, but we don't. We do not set this down as being part of man's original nature, but as belonging to his fallen nature. It is sin that has brought you into this condition that you will not come. If you had not fallen, you would come to Christ the moment he was preached to you; but you do not come because of your sinfulness and crime. People excuse themselves because they have bad hearts. That is the most flimsy excuse in the world. Do not robbery and thieving come from a bad heart? Suppose a thief should say to a judge, "I could not help it, I had a bad heart." What would the judge say? "You rascal! why, if your heart is bad, I'll make the sentence heavier, for you are a villain indeed. Your excuse is nothing." The Almighty shall "laugh at them, and shall have them in derision." We do not preach this doctrine to excuse you, but to humble you. The possession of a bad nature is my fault as well as my terrible calamity. It is a sin that will always be charged on men; when they will not come unto Christ it is sin that keeps them away. He who does not preach that, I fear is not faithful to God and his conscience. Go home, then, with this thought; "I am by nature so perverse that I will not come unto Christ, and that wicked perversity of my nature is my sin. I deserve to be sent to hell for it." And if the thought does not humble you, the Spirit using it, no other can. This morning I have not preached human nature up, but I have preached it down. God humble us all. Amen.




As a young Bible student, I'm bombarded with books, authors, preachers, and sermons. Even though with all these elements pressing down upon me, I find reading the old preachers to be the most helpful, encouraging, and challenging. I read this sermon the other night and thought I would share it.