In the very first chapter of the book of Mark, Jesus commands incredulity, respect, and wonder.

John the Baptist had predicted to great crowds that one greater than he was coming, one who would not just baptize with water like he did, but with the Holy Spirit (vs8).   Even so, most people must have been awestruck when Jesus shows up and is baptized with water by John, the heavens open, the Holy Spirit descends, and the Father proclaims, “You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased” (vs 10-11).

Jesus teaches in the Capernaum synagogue; the people were astonished because he taught as one with authority.  He was proclaiming the truth, not just interpreting the scriptures (vs 22).

He cast out demons; the people were amazed at this new teaching.  His fame spread throughout the region (vs27-29).

The whole city gathered at his door; he healed the sick and demon-possessed.  Not only did the people recognize a miracle worker in their presence, but the demons knew who he was – the Holy One of God (vs 24, 34).

And he declared his mission clearly.  He proclaimed the gospel of God, saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel”  (vs 15).  And he did not stay long in any one place, saying, “let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.”   The miracles were to get people’s attention; Jesus’ mission was to preach the good news – the kingdom of God had arrived and the scriptures were being fulfilled in this Holy One of God.

The historian Josephus recounts events of Babylon, Persia, and Israel that occurred several hundred years before Christ.  In his book, Antiquities of the Jews – Book XI, Chapter 1, we find:

“In the first year of the reign of Cyrus which was the seventieth from the day that our people were removed out of their own land into Babylon, God commiserated the captivity and calamity of these poor people,, according as he had foretold to them by Jeremiah the prophet, before the destruction of the city, that after they had served Nebuchadnezzar and his posterity, and after they had undergone that servitude seventy years, he would restore them again to the land of their fathers, and they should build their temple, and enjoy their ancient prosperity.  And these things God did afford them; for he stirred up the mind of Cyrus, and made him write this throughout all Asia: ‘Thus saith Cyrus the king:  Since God Almighty hath appointed me to the king of the habitable earth, I believe that he is that God which the nation of the Israelites worship ; for indeed he foretold my name by the prophets, and that I should build him a house at Jerusalem, in the country of Judea.’

This was known to Cyrus by his reading the book which Isaiah left behind him of his prophecies; for this prophet said that God had spoken thus to him in a secret vision: ‘My will is, that Cyrus, whom I have appointed to be king of many and great nations, send back my people to their own land, and build my temple.’  This was foretold by Isaiah one hundred and forty years before the temple was demolished. Accordingly, when Cyrus read this, and admired the Divine power, an earnest desire and ambition seized upon him to fulfill what was so written; so he called for the most eminent Jews that were in Babylon, and said to them, that he gave them leave to go back to their own country and to rebuild the city Jerusalem, and the temple of God, for that he would be their assistant, and that he would write to  the rulers and governors that were in the neighborhood of the country of Judea, that they should contribute to them gold and silver for the building of the temple, and besides that, beasts for the sacrifices.”

The Bible passages that describe these events include Isaiah 45, 2 Chronicles 36, Jeremiah 25 and Ezra 1.

The miracles of God are many. Isaiah prophesied both the destruction of Jerusalem and the rise of Cyrus the king.  Jeremiah prophesied a seventy year detainment in Babylon. And Cyrus was seized with an earnest desire and ambition to fulfill what was so written!

The book of Isaiah powerfully contrasts the Judgment Day state of the peoples of the nations (Chapter 34) and God’s people (Chapter 35).  These same images for the nations are echoed in Ezekiel 35, Jeremiah 49, Revelation 6, and in Jesus’ words in Matthew 24.29 and 51.  The visions for the people of God are also revealed in Isaiah 55, Revelation 7 and 21, and echoed in Jesus’ answer to John the Baptist’s disciples in Matthew 11.2-5.

Gloom and Doom should be the title of Chapter 34. Those outside of God’s family will see streams turned to pitch, soil into sulfur, and land becoming a burning pitch (v9). Verse 10 describes the inferno of hell: “Night and day it shall not be quenched; its smoke will go up forever.” The people will smell the stench of corpses (v3) and the land will drink its fill of blood (v7) on that great day of slaughter (v2).  Even worse, “He will stretch the line of confusion over it, and the plumb line of emptiness” (v11) – their minds will be muddled and their emotions devoted to despair.

Chapter 35 should be called Ransomed and Redeemed. The people of God will watch the desert bloom (v1), will know waters breaking forth in the wilderness (v6), and will “see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God” (v2).  Marvelous miracles will occur – “the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy” (vs5-6).  And “they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (vs10).

It will be very good to be on God’s side on that day.

There is such a praise-filled set of verses at the end of Romans 11.  Verse 33 – “Oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” – is an echo of Psalm 139.6.  Then portions of Isaiah 40 and Job 35 and 41 are quoted:

                “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?

                Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”

And the last verse is an often-used doxology: “For from him and through him and to him are all things.  To him be glory forever. Amen.”

Why this outpouring of acclaim right here?  Paul, the apostle to the gentiles, has been discussing a difficult matter – the ultimate destination of Jews who do not believe in Jesus.   In all his missionary stops he used the rejection of Jesus by the Jews as an appropriate transition point for concentrating his efforts on the Gentiles (see Acts 17.3). He uses the Jewish rejection as a warning to the Gentiles in verse 20: “so do not become proud, but fear.”

Paul sees the benefits to the Gentiles BECAUSE the Jews were unseeing and unhearing. But he loves his Jewish brothers and hopes the best for them.  He is not sure of their fate, calling it a mystery in verse 28.  But he IS sure of the goodness of his God, who is full of mercy and grace.  He ends a hard teaching with glorious wonder at the greatness of the Creator, providing encouragement to trust and obey, even if all is not understood.

 

Prophecy and symbolism abound in the Bible.  The gospels point back to the Old Testament as prophecy many times – virgin birth, coming from Nazareth, riding a young donkey, by his stripes we are healed, and many more.    

There is at least one instance of numerical symbolism that Jesus employs – the seventy-two (or seventy – ancient manuscripts vary) disciples he sends out two by two in Luke 10.  These men are sent out into every town and place where he himself was about to go, as an advance advertisement that Jesus and the kingdom are coming.

This sending out was a precursor to the Great Commission – believers are called to be witnesses for the Lord, making disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28.19).  And we know all nations will be reached because the saints are singing praise to Jesus in Revelation 5 – “you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.”

The number seventy (or seventy-two) is appropriate  because back in Genesis 10 there is an impressive list of seventy men’s names you don’t hear much anymore – the only ones I recognize are Shem, who was one of the Three Stooges, and Nimrod (Mighty Hunter), which some school in the Upper Peninsula has for a mascot. These are the generations of the sons of Noah, those born to them after the flood.

Genesis 10.32 says, “From these, the nations spread abroad on the earth”. So the nations were formed long ago, and early in Jesus’ ministry he lets people know he came to reach every nation by sending out just the right number of heralds.

Most people who know the story of Jonah remember that he was swallowed by the whale and after three days the whale hurled Jonah out upon the dry land (Jonah 2.10).  Jonah went on his way, and his warning (and probably his fish-guts appearance) caused the Ninevehites to believe and repent.

But even before God sent the Big Fish, there was a lot of hurling, believing, and fearing going on. Jonah’s disobedience starts the process in Jonah Chapter 1 as he boards a ship headed away from Nineveh, God’s commanded destination. 

• The LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea and the ship threatened to break up (vs 1.4)
• The sailors hurled the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship  (vs 1.5)
• And, against their initial reactions, the sailors eventually hurled Jonah into the sea (vs 1.15).

Jonah had testified to the mariners that he was a Hebrew who feared the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.  “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.”

The sailors tried as hard as they could to row back to dry land but had to give up.  Once they tossed Jonah over the side, the “sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows.”

This God of the Hebrews clearly had power over the sea and the wind and was not to be trifled with. As the sailors had said to Jonah, “What is this that you have done!” by fleeing such a mighty God.  They did not want to risk angering the LORD themselves, so appeasement seemed like a good stategy.

Just as God inspired fear and awe through his miracles in the Bible, so is He still doing. 

The following originally appeared in The Chariot 2, no. 1.1, under the title “An Answered Prayer from Stalin’s Times” by Andrea Wolfe.  It was included as part of Philip Ryken’s Pastoral Exposition “The Pattern of Sound Words,” in Entrusted With the Gospel, edited by D. A. Carson and published by Crossway.

 Many stories can be told about the freedom of God’s Word to do its work.  Here is just one, from Stavropol, Russia, where in the 1930s Joseph Stalin ordered every Bible in the city to be confiscated.  After the fall of communism, the agency CoMission sent a team to Stavropol.  When they were having difficulty getting enough Bibles shipped from Moscow, one of the locals mention the warehouse outside of town where he had heard that Bibles were stored since the days of Stalin.  So the team borrowed a truck, recruited a couple of workers, and went to unload the Bibles.

One of the men they hired was hostile to the Christian faith, a college skeptic who was there only for the money.  After working for a little while, the man slipped off by himself.  When the found him later, sitting in a corner, he was weeping over a copy of the Scriptures.  The skeptic had picked up a Bible, and when he opened it he saw that is was signed by his own grandmother, who had long prayed for his salvation!  God’s Word cannot be bound; it always does it work in the world, even in the hearts and minds of people who think they do not even want to believe it.

The following is the November 28, 2013 entry on my desk tear-off sports calendar.  This event occurred on 11/28/1942:

Ranked number one, Boston College’s football team suffers a humiliating 55-12 defeat at the hands of archrival Holy cross before a packed house of 41,000 at Fenway Park.  The 43-point margin is still the largest ever suffered by a team ranked first in the AP poll, but is saves the lives of many of the players.

The Boston College team cancels it victory party reservations at the Cocoanut Grove night club following the defeat.  Many fans who attend the game head to the club anyway.  That night 492 people die when the Cocoanut Grove catches fire.

Psalm 130.3-4 has an interesting twist on Fear of the LORD:

“If you, O LORD, should mark inequities, O LORD, who could stand?

But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.”

Lots of time the fear of the LORD follows a punishment like Ananias and Sapphira (Acts  5.1-11) or a “melting away” victory like Jericho (Joshua 2.8-9).  But fear over forgiveness?  How do those two concepts fit together?  Here are two reasons to support an awe-filled wonder and trustful terror when considering the One True God of the universe.

First, no other god or religion even offers forgiveness.  Others are all about “doing your best” and “working harder” or “accepting yourself as you are”.  But Jesus’ recurring admonition to “Repent and Believe” can be made because there is indeed forgiveness for those who recognize their sinful nature and come to Him with a contrite heart.  Such a God can be worshiped and served in loving reverence.

Second, and more in line with the Ananias story, is that a God with the power to forgive also has the power to NOT forgive.   Like Jesus says in Luke 12.5: “But I warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell.  Yes, I tell you , fear him!”

Run toward the savior and accept his redemptive offer.  Fear for those whose hard hearts make them avoid and neglect forgiveness.