Tag: Cross

The Satisfaction for Sin

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These are notes from my reading John R. W. Stott’s classic book, The Cross of Christ.

The way different theologians have developed the concept of satisfaction depends on their understanding of the obstacles to forgiveness which first need to be removed.

  1. What demands are made which stand in the way until they are satisfied?
  2. Who is making the demands?
  3. Is it the devil? Or is it the law, or God’s honor or justice or the moral order?

Stott argues that the primary obstacle is to be found in God himself. He must satisfy himself in the way of salvation he devises. He cannot save us by contradicting himself.

Satisfying the Devil: this teaching was widespread in the early church. It comes out of declaring the devil with power and the cross deprived him of it. Mankind had been in captivity not only to sin and guilt but to the devil. They thought of him as the lord of sin and death, he is the major tyrant from whom Jesus came to liberate us. Here are two mistakes:

  1. They credited the devil with more power than he has. They speak as if he had acquired certain rights over man which even God himself was under obligation to satisfy honorably.
  2. They thought of the cross as a divine transaction with the devil; it was the ransom-price demanded for the release of the captives, and paid to the devil in settlement of his rights.

The value in these theories is that they took seriously the reality, malevolence and power of the devil (the strong man fully armed). We must deny that the devil has rights over us which God is obligated to satisfy. Any notion of Christ’s death as a necessary transaction with the devil is ruled out.

Satisfying the Law: this theory assumes that mankind incurs the penalty of their law-breaking. They simply cannot be let off the hook. The law must be upheld and defended, and its just penalties paid. The law is therefore satisfied. An Old Testament example is when Darius sought to find a way to save Daniel. The law could not be tampered with. God longs to save us, but he cannot do so by violating his own law, which has just condemned us. He cannot just abolish the law he has established. The Bible says that every law-breaker is cursed and that Christ came to redeem us from the curse (Galatians 3:10, 13).

Satisfying God’s Honor and Glory: Anselm (the 11th century) declared the relationship between the incarnation and the atonement (in Cur Deus Homo?). He agreed that the devil needed to be overcome, but rejects the ransom theories on the grounds that God owed nothing to the devil but punishment.

Instead, man owed something to God, and that is the debt which needed to be repaid. Remember that believing God can forgive sin as we forgive others does not consider the seriousness of sin. So what can be done? If we are to be forgiven, we must repay what we owe. We are incapable of doing this for ourselves or others. There is no one who can make satisfaction for sin except God alone. It is essential that the God-Man make this satisfaction. He gave himself up, not as a debt he needed to pay, but freely for the honor of God.

God Satisfying Himself: these interpretations all represent God as subordinate to something outside and above himself which controls his actions, to which he is accountable, and from which he cannot free himself.

  1. The language of provocation: God is provoked by Israel’s idolatry to anger or jealousy or both. But God is never provoked without reason. It is evil alone that provokes him and God must behave like the holy God that he is. If evil did not provoke him to anger, he would forfeit our respect, for he would no longer be God.
  2. The language of burning: this depicts God as burning in his anger; kindling, quenching and consuming.
  3. The language of satisfaction itself: basically that God must act as himself; what is inside must come out.

God is provoked to jealous anger over his people by their sins. Once kindled, his anger burns and is not easily quenched. He unleashes it, pours it out and spends it.

The Holy Love of God: what does this have to do with the atonement? Just as God chooses to forgives sinners and reconcile them to himself, he must first be consistent with his character. How can God express his holiness without consuming us? How can he love us without condoning our sin? How can God satisfy his holy love? How can he save us and satisfy himself? In order to satisfy himself, he sacrificed or substituted himself for us (which is the next chapter).

The Problem of Forgiveness

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These are notes from my reading John R. W. Stott’s classic book, The Cross of Christ.

Why does our forgiveness depend upon the death of Christ? Why does God not just forgive us without the necessity of the cross? Why can’t God practice what he preaches and forgive without condition, as he instructs in Matthew 6:14-15, 18:21-22? If we believe that God can forgive us as we forgive others, we have not yet considered the seriousness of our sin. The obligation of the forgiven is to forgive. God need no forgiveness and we overlook the fact that we are not God. This attitude demonstrates our shallowness. Our sin is not a personal injury toward God, it is downright rebellion against him.

How does God express his holy love? How can he forgive sin without compromising his holiness? How can he judge sinners without frustrating his love? Stott focuses on four concepts:

The Gravity of Sin:

  1. Five Greek words for sin: hamartia (missing the target); adikia (unrighteousness or iniquity); poneria (evil of a vicious kind); paraptoma (trespass or transgression); anomia (lawlessness or disregard of a known law).
  2. The emphasis of Scripture is the godless self-centeredness of sin. We proclaim our independence and autonomy; taking a position reserved for God alone. Sin is defiance, arrogance and the desire to be equal with God.
  3. David’s confession, his sin was against God (Psalm 51:4). Sin cannot be dismissed a simply a cultural taboo or a social blunder. Sin has a willful and defiant or disloyal quality: someone is defiled or offended or hurt.

Human Moral Responsibility:
Is it fair to blame human beings for their misconduct? Are we responsible for our actions? Scapegoats include: genes, chemistry, inherited traits, parental failures, early childhood upbringing, educational or social environment.

Criminal law determines assumes that people have the power to choose whether or not to break the law and treats them accordingly. There is even a distinction between intentional and unintentional homicide (between murder and manslaughter – which is straight out of Mosaic law). Liability also may depend upon moral and mental factors: the intention of the mind and the will. Lack of consciousness and control will always need to be defined. Trying and convicting and sentencing in the courts is based on the assumption people are free to make choices, being free agents.

The Bible emphasizes original sin, as an inheritance, so we are tainted and twisted from the start (Mark 7:21-23, John 8:34). We are enslaved to the world (public fashion and opinion), the flesh (our fallen nature) and the devil (demonic forces). At the same time the Bible tells us that while our responsibility is diminished, it is not demolished. We are morally responsible. We are to choose between life and death, good and evil, between the living God and idols (Matthew 23:37). Yet no one may come unless the Father draws him (John 6:44, 5:40). If men do not come to Christ, is it because they cannot or they will not? This is the debate between divine sovereignty and human responsibility. Man does not sin out of weakness but he chooses to let himself go into weakness. There is always a spark of decision.

True and False Guilt: If humans have sinned, and they are responsible for their sins, that makes them guilty before God. There is a guilt that is deserved (John 3:19, men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil). This is a deliberate rejection of truth and goodness. False guilt looks at the cross and senses sorrow and guilt for Christ dying on the cross. We must understand that we did this, we are guilty. But it is false guilt to leave it there, and not talk about forgiveness of that sin. We must not look at the cross and only feel the shame for what we did to Christ, we must see the glory of what he did for us. Like the Prodigal Son, a guilty conscience is a great blessing, but only if it drives us to come home.

If there is false guilt (feeling bad for what we have not done), there is also false innocence (feeling good about the evil we have done). False contrition is unhealthy (ungrounded weeping over guilt) and so is false assurance (ungrounded rejoicing over forgiveness).

To say that someone is not responsible for their actions is to demean him as a human being. Eve blaming the snake, Nazis blaming they were only following orders.

Holiness and God’s Wrath: Our sins separate us from him, his face is hidden and he does not hear our prayers (Habakkuk 1:13, Isaiah 59:1-2). Moses hid his face. Isaiah had a sense of uncleanness. Job sat as a despised man. Ezekiel saw only a likeness of God’s glory. Peter recognized his sinfulness. John fell on his face as though he were a dead man. Closely related to God’s holiness is his wrath, which is the only reaction to evil.

The impersonal character of God’s wrath: this makes wrath not a divine attribute, but it is transformed into a process. Perhaps Paul’s adoption of impersonal wrath is not to affirm that God is not angry, but to emphasize that his anger is void of any personal malice. It is a fact, a process. Perhaps speaking to God’s anger is legitimate anthropomorphism.

Metaphors to God’s separation from sin: height (high and lifted up); distance (we dare not approach too close – Moses, Isaiah, the Tabernacle, and Uzzah); light and fire (a consuming fire that we cannot approach); and the most dramatic is vomiting (idolatrous practices were abhorred, disgusting, loathed, and lukewarmness was to be spit out). The point is that God cannot be in the presence of sin. We must hate evil and be disgusted with it. We cannot walk the road of moral compromise. Sin does not often provoke our anger and we then we do not believe our sin will provoke God’s anger.

This is essential to understanding the cross: balanced understanding of the gravity of our sin and the majesty of God. Diminish either and we diminish the cross. Forgiveness for God is one of the most profound problems. God must not only respect us as responsible beings, but also must respect himself as the only holy God. Before a holy God can forgive us, there must be some kind of necessary satisfaction.

The Events of Passion Week

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These are notes from my reading John R. W. Stott’s classic book, The Cross of Christ.

So far, we have looked at some initial facts about the cross:

  1. It’s central importance (to Christ, the apostles and the universal church).
  2. Its deliberate character (the wickedness of man and the purposes of God).

An Initial Construction:

  1. Christ died for us: being necessary and voluntary, for our sake, not his own.
  2. Christ died for us that he might bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18): reconciliation, redemption, forgiveness, deliverance.
  3. Christ died for our sins: the death of Jesus and our sins are related to each other.
  4. Christ died our death: not only the consequences but the penalty of death. Since the wages of sin in death (Romans 3:23). The Bible views death not as a natural event but a penal event. Jesus came voluntarily to this world to go to the cross.

The last three scenes (the last 24 hours) of the Passion Week: Upper Room, Garden and Golgotha. When Jesus said, “It is finished,” he was not looking back at a mission he had completed, he was looking forward to a mission he was about to fulfill.

Last Supper and Upper Room:
There was no servant in attendance and the disciples were unwilling to humble themselves enough to undertake the menial task of washing feet. Jesus then has the Last Supper with the twelve. He was teaching a couple lessons:

  1. The centrality of his death: the bread and the cup represented his body and blood. It was by his death that he wished to be remembered.
  2. The purpose of his death: the cup referred not only to his blood but to a new covenant associated with his shed blood, securing our promised forgiveness.
  3. The need to appropriate his death personally: it was not enough for the bread to be broken and the cup to be poured out, but they had to eat and drink it. So, it was not enough for him to die, they had to appropriate (or take possession of) the benefits of his death personally.

Which sacrifice did Christ mean?

  1. The Mt. Sinai sacrifice at the Covenant Renewal of Exodus 24?
  2. The Passover in Exodus 12? According to the synoptic gospels, the Last Supper was celebrating the Passover meal which followed the Passover sacrifice.
  3. Jesus spoke of him being the sacrifice, the lamb being slain in the place of the person, blood was sprinkled on the door posts, and the sacrifice was eaten in a fellowship meal.

The Agony of the Garden of Gethsemane:
Prayer was for himself (that he would glorify the Father), then for them (kept in the truth, holiness, mission and unity), and also for subsequent generations to believe them and their message.

  1. Luke mentions a “baptism” to undergo and he felt stressed, even tormented (Matthew 26:36-46), Mark 14:32-42, Luke 22:39-64).
  2. John records that his heart was troubled, or even agitated, even though he does not mention the praying scene about the cup being removed (only the High Priestly prayer in John 17, then right into the betrayal and arrest). Why? Jesus knows the cup will not be taken from him.
  3. Jesus emerges with resolute confidence in the mission.
  4. The agony of the garden opens a window to the greater agony of the cross.

The Cry of Declaration on the Cross:
Isaiah 53:5-6 is the great passage on the suffering of Christ. Further passages on the sacrifice:

  1. The Lamb taking away the sin of the world (John 1:29).
  2. The Son came to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).
  3. The sacrifice to take away sins of many people (Hebrews 9:28).
  4. He bore our sins on the cross (1 Peter 2:24).
  5. He died once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18).
  6. God made him who knew no sin to become sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21).
  7. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13).

Sayings from the Cross: My God, My God. Why have you forsaken me?

  1. Some suggest a cry of anger, unbelief or despair, only imagining he was forsaken: Seems this explanation make Jesus guilty of unbelief, or accusing him of being a failure.
  2. Others suggest a cry of loneliness: this assumes the feeling of loneliness rather than being alone, like the dark night of the soul.
  3. Perhaps a cry of victory: Psalm 22 turns toward a victory and triumph, so why quote the beginning of the Psalm when he referred to the end?
  4. The reality cry of dereliction: while he was forsaken of men, he was not alone, the Father is with me (John 16:32).
  5. John Calvin said, “if Christ has died only a bodily death, it would have been ineffectual… Unless his soul shared in the punishment, he would have been the redeemer of bodies alone.”
  6. Where is the Trinity in the midst of this declaration?

Conclusion: the cross enforces three truths.

  1. Our sin must be extremely horrible: we cannot face the cross with integrity and not feel ashamed of ourselves.
  2. God’s love must be wonderful beyond comprehension: why not let us reap what we have sown?
  3. Christ’s salvation must be a free gift: he purchased our salvation at the high price of his blood.

Why Did Jesus Die?

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These are notes from my reading John R. W. Stott’s classic book, The Cross of Christ.

Jesus was killed, he did not just die. He challenged the authority of Caesar, and the status quo of the religious leaders. He was a revolutionary thinker and preacher. He was a blasphemer. He was an activist. He was perceived as a threat to law and order.

The evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) make it clear that Jesus was innocent of any charges. His execution was a gross miscarriage of justice.

The Roman Soldiers: they were most immediately responsible. It was their job, and they were good at it. While we have a good understanding of what happened, it is interesting that we do not learn of it from the gospels. None of them describe the crucifixion itself. We get that information from other contemporary documents.

  1. Humiliated, and stripped naked.
  2. Laid on the back.
  3. Hands nailed or roped.
  4. The cross was hoisted and dropped into the stand.
  5. There was a foot peg or rudimentary seat.

The writers tell us:

  1. He carried his own cross.
  2. Simon was drafted to carry it Golgotha.
  3. Offered wine mixed with myrrh.
  4. The soldiers mocked him.
  5. The purple robe.
  6. The crown of thorns.
  7. The scepter and reed.
  8. The blindfold.
  9. Slapping, spitting and mocking him.
  10. They simply tell us that they crucified him (Matthew 27:32-35, Mark 15:21-25, Luke 23:26-33, John 19:17-18). They make no reference to the hammering, nails, pain or even blood (well, except in the garden praying, and only in Luke).

Pilate: he was more culpable for the event, he was the Roman procurator who order the crucifixion (John 19:16-18). He was even singled out in the Apostle’s Creed (crucified under Pontius Pilate).
The writers emphasize two points:

  1. Pilate was convinced of Jesus’ innocence.
    1. As the Sanhedrin bring him on Friday morning.
    2. After he was examined by Herod.
    3. Why crucify him, what has he done? There is no ground for death.
  2. Pilate wanted to avoid sentencing Jesus.
    1. Herod’s jurisdiction: since he was a Galilean.
    2. Pilate tried half-measures: punish him and release him.
    3. Tried to do the right thing: the Passover amnesty with Barabbas.
    4. He protested his innocence: washed his hands of the situation.

It is easy to condemn Pilate for his actions and overlook our equally devious behavior. We seek to avoid the pain of total commitment to Christ.

  1. We want to leave the decision to someone else.
  2. Or opt out for half-hearted compromise.
  3. Or honor Jesus for the wrong reasons.
  4. Or make a public affirmation of him yet deny him in our hearts.

Pilate surrendered to their will (Luke 23:23-25), their shouts, their demand, their will. He wanted to release Jesus but gave in to the crowd (Mark 15:15).

The Jewish People: Jesus said the one who handed him over is guilty of a greater sin (John 19:11). The apostles repeatedly preach about how evil men handed him over (Acts 3:12-15)

  1. Jesus was irregular: he had no pedigree.
  2. Jesus taught heretical doctrine.

The hostility of the priest was primarily envy, they were losing the crowds. There was an authority struggle (Mark 11:28).

Judas Iscariot: who betrayed him (1 Corinthians 11:23). He is always at the bottom of the apostolic lists. Why blame Judas, was he just a tool of providence? He just fulfilled Scripture. But he is held accountable for what he did. He plotted for some time previously (Psalm 41:9). Woe to the betrayer (Mark 14:21).

  1. A Jewish zealot? Political liberation to force Jesus’ hand? Sikarios men (assassin).
  2. A greedy man? Was that his motivation? The perfume, what a waste (Matthew 26:6-16).

All of us have also sunk low to perhaps betray country, and others. Everyone has his price. Let’s not make excuses. We would likely be no different had we lived in the first century. We still do it (Hebrew 6:6). We were not just spectators, but participants; plotting, scheming, bargaining, handing him over to be crucified.

The cross was not just done FOR us, but BY us. Who delivered Jesus to be crucified? Not money, Pilate, soldiers, fear, envy, Judas, but the Father out of love. The cross is both due to the wickedness of men, but also due to the plan of God.

The Centrality of the Cross

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These are notes from my reading John R. W. Stott’s classic book, The Cross of Christ.

I shared the description of the painting by Holman Hunt, called “The Shadow of Death.” P. 17

Imagine a stranger to Christianity visiting a local church meeting: (London Cathedral)

  1. Shape of the building
  2. A cross dominates the ceiling dome
  3. Huge golden cross on the table in front
  4. The crypts of famous men below have the symbol
  5. A man beside the guest is wearing a cross of gold
  6. Stained glass windows
  7. The processional
  8. The hymns – when I survey the wondrous cross, lyrics… Is language exaggerated?
  9. Prayer and the sign of the cross

Symbols of Faith, Theology or Philosophy:

  1. Lotus flower
  2. Star of David – hexagram formed by combining equilateral triangles
  3. Crescent moon
  4. Hammer and sickle

Other Christian Symbols that Did Not Catch on:

  1. Peacock – symbol of immortality
  2. Dove Descending
  3. Athlete’s victory wreath
  4. Fish – Ixthus – “Jesus Christ God Son Savior”
  5. The manger
  6. Carpenter’s tool or bench
  7. Xi-Rho
  8. The rolled away stone, an empty tomb
  9. A throne

Tertullian in his The Apostolic Tradition (around AD 215) claims to record only the forms and models of rites already traditional and customs already established.

Cyprian, the Bishop of Carthage, quote on p. 22.

Constantine, and the symbol – p. 23, with the Battle of Milvian Bridge, saw a sign in the sky and heard the words, in hoc signo vinces (with this sign conquer).

The Horror of the Cross:

  1. How crucifixion was regarded in the ancient world – p. 23. (1 Corinthians 1:18, 23)
  2. Invented by the barbarians at the edge of the known world.
    1. Regarding Romans: to bind was a crime, to flog was an abomination, to kill was murder, to crucify was… they did not have a word to describe such a horrible deed.
    2. Regarding Jews: it was a curse (Deuteronomy 21:23)
  3. The first surviving picture of the crucifixion is a caricature, a crude drawing of a man stretched out on the cross, with the head of a donkey. To the left is another man with arms raised in worship, and written under it, “Alexamenos cebete Theon” (Alexander worships God). It is in the Kircherian Museum in Rome.

The Perspective of Jesus:

  1. At the age of 12, being about my Father’s business (Luke 2:41-50). He knew his mission.
  2. Mark indicates Jesus taught clearly
    1. The Messianic secret (Mark 8:29-30)
    2. Then he spoke plainly about this (Mark 8:31-32) Openly, plainly, there was no secret.
  3. Mark indicates they did not understand and were afraid to ask (Mark 9:31), even filled with grief (Mark 9:30-32, Matthew 17:22-23)
  4. Luke adds that everything was written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled (Luke 18:31-34)
    1. Son of Man – two Old Testament Messianic figures: Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 and the reigning Son of Man in Daniel 7.
    2. The imperative, must be fulfilled, Scripture is infallible (will come to pass)
  5. Other references to his death prediction: Mark 9:9-13, 10:35-45; and six more during his final week
    1. After centuries of national rejection of God’s message there will be judgment
    2. On Tuesday he would be handed over
    3. The perfume in Bethany
    4. The upper room affirmation this is all in the Scripture to be fulfilled
    5. Communion as symbols of his death
    6. In the Garden, affirming the Scripture will be fulfilled
  6. How did Jesus know he would die?
    1. Hostility of the Jewish leaders
      1. Jewish and Herodian plot (Mark 3:6)
      2. Exposition of Isaiah 61 (Luke 4:16-30)
    2. Fulfillment of Scripture (Mark 14:21, Luke 24:25-27, 44-47)
      1. The falling away – Zechariah 13:7, Matthew 26:31, Mark 14:27
      2. Then the seven words from the cross (Psalm 22:1, 69:21, 31:5,
      3. The clearest forecast of his sufferings (Isaiah 53)

The Isaiah 53 Emphasis:

  1. Paul, Peter, Matthew, Luke and John quote 8 of the chapter’s 12 verses.
  2. We learn the vocation of the Messiah, that he must suffer, be rejected and die.
  3. While he must die, he was not a helpless victim, he embraced his purpose.
  4. His teaching, example, works, compassion, power, were never central to his mission, p. 32.

The Death of Christ was Attributed to Human Wickedness but also to Divine Purpose:

  1. According to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)
  2. Instead of hushing the shameful event, they deliberately drew people’s attention to it. It was the curse which he was bearing for us (Galatians 3:13, 1 Peter 2:24).
  3. Their message was “You killed him, God raised him, we are witnesses (Acts 2:23-24, 3:15, 4:10, 5:30, 10:39-40, 13:28-30)
  4. They defined Christianity as the message of the cross (1 Corinthians 1:18-25, 11:26, Romans 6:3)
  5. Sacrifice and atonement (Romans 3:21-25) justified and reconciled through his death (Romans 5:9-10)

Other Books of the Bible:

  1. John’s emphasis was on the incarnation, to combat a growing heresy.
  2. Hebrews sees Jesus as the great high priest, emphasizing the sacrificial ministry of Jesus.
  3. The Revelation sees Jesus as the Lamb, a title used 28 times.

Observations:

  1. Where faith sees glory in the cross, unbelief see disgrace.
  2. Wisdom verses wisdom.
  3. Islam and the cross:
    1. Inappropriate for God’s prophet to suffer such disgrace, the Koran needs no sin-bearing Savior.
    2. It declares five times that no soul can bear another’s burden.
    3. After denying the need for the cross, it goes on to deny the fact of the cross.
      1. They did not kill him or crucify him, but they thought he did, reference on p. 41.
      2. God cast a spell on the enemies and they did not see it was Judas or Simon of Cyrene on the cross, substituted at the last moment.
  4. Hindus accept his historicity but reject the saving significance of the cross.
  5. Friedrich Nietzche, died in 1900, saw the cross as weakness, influenced by Darwin’s survival of the fittest.
  6. Justin Martyr wrote that wherever he looked, he saw the cross: ships sailing at sea, a plow and yoke, tools that resemble the shape, a spade and its handle…

The Significance of Bethlehem

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We all know that Bethlehem is the birthplace of Jesus, but what is the bigger significance of this little town? It is a city in the hill country of Judah that was originally called Ephrath (Genesis 35:16, 19; 48:7; Ruth 4:11), but was also called Bethlehem Ephratah (Micah 5:2), Bethlehem-Judah (1 Samuel 17:12), and “the city of David” (Luke 2:4).

  1. It is first noticed in Scripture as the place where Jacob’s wife, Rachel, died and was buried “along the way,” directly to the north of the city (Genesis 35:19, 48:7).
  2. Bethlehem appears in Judges 17:7-13 as the home of the Levite who became priest to Micah.
  3. The valley to the east was the scene of the story of Ruth (Ruth 1:1-2, 19, 22; 2:4; 4:11).
  4. Bethlehem was the birthplace of David and where he was anointed as king by Samuel (1 Samuel 16:4-13); and it was from the well of Bethlehem that three of David’s heroes brought water for him at the risk of their lives when he was in the cave of Adullam (2 Samuel 23:13-17).
  5. But it was distinguished above every other city as the birthplace of the God promised Messiah (Matthew 2:6; compare this to Micah 5:2).

It is the relationship of Bethlehem to Christ that has insured its place in Christian history. Micah 5:2 was understood to indicate that the Messiah, like David, would be born in Bethlehem not Jerusalem. Matthew 2:1-12, Luke 2:4-20, and John 7:42 all report that Jesus was born in that humble village. Flash forward three centuries, during the reign of the first Christian emperor of the Roman Empire, Constantine, the Church of the Nativity was constructed (about AD 326). It was destroyed during the Samaritan revolt (around AD 529) and rebuilt by Justinian I (527-565). That ancient structure forms the basic unit that is still in use today although many modifications have occurred, especially during the Middle Ages. According to Christian legend during the Persian Conquest, AD 614, the church was preserved when the invaders saw the three Magi in a mosaic of the birth of Jesus and recognized their clothing as Persian.

After all this history, what do I see about Bethlehem that can bless your spirit this week?

1. Jacob’s beautiful wife, Rachel, died and was buried near there, and when Herod was tricked by the Magi, his rage brought the deaths of all male children age two and younger. He was paranoid that another king had been born and was eliminating the competition. Matthew 2:18 reveals the prophecy of Rachel weeping for her children (Jeremiah 31:15) and “she refused to be comforted because they were no more.” As we think about Bethlehem being a place of birth (David and Jesus) we cannot help but remember that death permeated the city. The prophet Jeremiah depicts the wailing of the Israelites during the time of the exile, (Jeremiah 31:15) and since Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience, they would see the parallel between that calamity and this new atrocity of Herod; both being part of the same larger picture.

2. We know that Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem, and He escaped death by his family fleeing to Egypt (Matthew 2:14-15). But we know that eventually He would be put to death. We often focus on the baby in the manger and fail to properly recognize the significance of his death on the cross. Jesus died so that we might have life (John 10:10). The Bible records the revelation of God to mankind so that we may know that we have everlasting life (1 John 5:13), and this life is in Jesus alone (1 John 5:11-12). My point is this; the manger must lead to the cross. The boards that held the infant Jesus in safety must become the beams to which our Lord and Master was nailed. We would have no salvation if it were not for the cross.

3. The Philistine had taken over Bethlehem (2 Samuel 23:14), and three mighty men of David risked their lives to cross over into enemy territory to retrieve a cup of water for their king. David was actually reminiscing of his childhood well more than giving an order to fetch him water (2 Samuel 23:15), but the men so loved David that they were willing to die in order to fulfill the king’s desire (2 Samuel 23:16). But notice that David would not drink it. He actually “poured it out to the Lord” and then tells them why (2 Samuel 23:17). I see here a selfless sacrifice, men taking the initiative to please their king. What is it that you can do to please God, for no other reason than you love Christ? As the water was poured out to the Lord, will we pour ourselves out to Him each and every day? Jesus gives to us living water (John 4:10) and those who believe in or have faith in Christ, living water will burst forth from our inner most being (John 7:38). We live in the camp of the enemy (Satan is the god of this world) but the living water Jesus offers is still as sweet and refreshing as always.

Live for Him because He died for you. We should not just be willing to die for Christ; we should be willing to live for Him. Have a blessed Christmas, and don’t forget to keep the Son in your eyes.