I have been reading an inspiring book aimed at helping Sunday School teachers plug the good news of Jesus Christ into every class and Bible Study they lead.  These paragraphs are from Chapter 5 of Show Them Jesus, by Jack Klumpenhower:

 

                The Bible is one epic story about God saving his people.  We can’t rightly understand any part of it unless we understand that context.  This epic story centers on the person and work of Jesus.  If we cut individual stories off from the Bible’s central story arc about Jesus, we miss the main thing the Bible wants to say – and fashion Bible stories that aren’t biblical.

                The Bible is the word of God because it’s about the WOrd, Jesus.  We’re sons of God because we’re in the Son, also Jesus.  We must never bypass Jesus when applying the Bible to our lives.  To do so fits neither the Bible nor us.

                When Jesus explained to this disciples how all the Bible is about him, he said, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (Luke 24:46-47).  Not only is the whole Bible about Jesus, but Jesus says it’s more specifically all about the good news – his death and resurrection, and repentance and forgiveness of sin.  All Bible paths lead there.

Why has the cross become the central symbol of Christianity rather than something more pleasant like a baby in a manger or more hopeful like an empty tomb?  It’s probably more than the fact that a cross looks good on a necklace.

The main reason is that the cross was the location of the key event in history – the saving, redeeming, substitutionary death of Jesus.  This point in time is the peak of a holy, just, and loving God’s redemption plan revealed over centuries in the Old Testament and more fully in the New Testament – through promises and covenants with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, and the prophets.  Jesus himself pronounced his work “finished” as he died.  

The cross was part of the fulfillment of the law that Jesus promised – even though he was innocent, he was hung on a tree, punished as one who is cursed. It was our curse that punished him, and all who believe in Him receive his righteousness.

The manger or the shepherds hearing the angel choir are wonderful symbols of the announcement of Messiah’s arrival.  The empty tomb symbolizes the magnificent resurrection of Jesus from the dead, which was God’s proof that He would do what was promised at the cross – conquer sin and death.  But the cross is the main point. 

And the fact that the cross endures as the central symbol provides some proof that the early church got it right and Christians in all generations since have been faithful to repeat what the eyewitnesses declared.

Jerusalem and Judah were captured by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in 605 BC.  The Prophets, most notably Jeremiah and Ezekiel, made it clear the reason for the debacle was the idolatry and disobedience of the leaders and the people.  But, as God promises, He works all things together for good for his people (Romans 8.28).  In particular, Daniel made it to Babylon.

Just like God used persecution of the early Christian church to send witnesses to Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth, so He used the exile to place Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah in the King’s court (the last three are better known as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego).  God equipped them to show the king’s steward the benefits of a healthy diet in Chapter 1, interpret dreams in Chapters 2 and 4, stand up to the king’s unrighteous demand in Chapter 3, read the handwriting on the wall in Chapter 5, and withstand ravenous lions in Chapter 6.

The kings of Babylon, the Medes, and the Persians needed to know about the One True God of the universe, and the four friends made it clear.  Nebuchadnezzar said “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries” (Daniel 2.47); “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants” (3.29); and “I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever” (4.34).

Belshazzar, the last king of Babylon, saw the writing on the wall (literally) but the message was too late to help him.  Darius the Mede called Daniel the “servant of the living God” and made a decree that “in all my royal dominion people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, enduring forever; his kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion shall be to the end.  He delivers and rescues; he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, he who has saved Daniel from the power of the lions.”

Thus the most powerful men on the earth knew about the most powerful God in the universe, and they proclaimed his name widely!  And, the kings of Orien Tar (for a long time I thought those three guys worked with a specific brand of road sealant) quite likely had knowledge of the Old Testament prophecies because Daniel had brought them to Babylon.

We know from 2 Timothy 2.2 that Paul urged Timothy to entrust what he had heard to faithful men who will be able to teach others – the four generations (Paul, Timothy, faithful men, others) model of passing on the gospel of Jesus Christ.  This has worked pretty well for two thousand years.

It is also amazing how God set things up so that the right message would be shared at the beginning, especially since it took the original twelve Disciples awhile to figure out who Jesus was (Luke 9.20).

Jesus Taught.  He was a model for the early disciples for three years, teaching with parables, prayer, reprimands, and actions.  After the resurrection, on the road to Emmaus while talking to two disciples, “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24.27). Shortly afterward, while with the whole group, “He opened their minds to understand the Scripture, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.  You are witnesses of these things’” (vs 45-48).

The Holy Spirit Worked. Christ made a promise that the Holy Spirit fulfilled – words would be given to the disciples when needed.  Flames and tongues were signs of the Spirit’s deep work at Pentecost (Acts 2).  Paul and John were given special revelations (2 Corinthians 12.1-10, Revelation 1.1-3) to enhance their understanding. The New Testament authors were guided in their writings just like the Old Testament authors had been (2 Timothy 3.16). 

The Church Followed. God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) has guided his elect through councils, theologians, and most importantly, the sacred scriptures, to show the need to rely on Him for combatting heresies and staying with the gospel truth.  People are natural sinners, so it is no surprise that divisions and splits occur.  But God is jealous for His church, so it is also no surprise that there has been a well-defined message handed down over centuries, and God keeps His people on track.

One secondary piece of evidence for the validity of the Christian faith is the massive social shift that 10,000 people went through within the first five weeks of the death of Jesus.  These people were all Jews who had been taught “religiously” for centuries that they needed to keep their distinctives; they needed to set themselves apart from the nations around them because their God demanded it (Leviticus 20.26). Some of the changes within the Christian culture:

-The Sabbath was changed from the seventh day of the week (Saturday) to Sunday.

-The righteous would be identified by faith rather than obeying the law.

-The sacrificial “system” in place for centuries was abandoned because of the perfect offering of the wholly holy Jesus for all people at all times.

-Jesus the man was acknowledged to be God.

-The Messiah was identified as one who suffered and died rather than as a military conqueror.

As Lee Strobel says in The Case For Christ, the best explanation for this huge shift was that these people had seen Jesus risen from the dead. And these changes were not all.  Over the next few months, the strict dietary laws were removed.  This was to symbolically make the case that the good news is for all nations – the gentiles are welcome in the kingdom of God (Acts 11.1-18).

This Jesus continues to make changes in lives all around the world as his people are called from darkness into light (Ephesians 5).

Abram has a valid question at the beginning of Genesis 15.  God had made these seven promises to him in Genesis 12: I will make of you a great nation; I will bless you; I will make your name great; you will be a blessing to others; I will bless those who bless you; Him who dishonors you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.  The blessings and curses had already started – Abram was rich and he had rescued his nephew Lot from the marauding kings who captured his family.  Abram’s question was about the first promise – how will there be a great nation if I don’t even have a son yet?

God restates the promise – “Your very own son shall be your heir. Look toward heaven and number the stars, if you are able to number them.  So shall your offspring be.” Abram’s foundational response is to believe what God was telling him, and God “counted it to him as righteousness.” It was not Abram’s actions, but his faith that was counted righteous.

God expands the nature of the promise in verses 13-16, outlining that Abram’s offspring would be servants and afflicted in a foreign land for four hundred years but would come out with great possessions and would return to Canaan afterward.  This is, of course, a description of the time Abraham’s people, the Israelites, spent in Egypt and the Exodus God arranged from there.

In verses 8-11 and 17-21, a covenant-making ceremony is conducted where animals are split in two and halves placed on each side of a walkway.  The covenant makers walking through the carcasses symbolized their pledge “may it be unto me like these animals – split apart – if I violate this covenant.” In this case, God is the only one going through the ‘valley of death’ – the smoking pot and flaming torch in verse 17 are similar to the cloud of smoke and pillar of fire that accompanied Israel through the wilderness.  He was showing how serious He was about keeping the promises He made to Abram.

The last promise –that all families (nations) of the earth would be blessed – has been fulfilled in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The famous verses of John 3.16 and 18 are partly exhilarating and very sobering:  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life… but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”  Please repent and believe, knowing that The LORD of the universe will keep ALL his promises.

This American folk hymn echoes the words of 1 John 3.1: “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.”

 

What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul, what wondrous love is this, O my soul!  What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss to bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul, to bear the dreadful curse for my soul!

To God and to the Lamb, I will sing, I will sing, to God and to the Lamb, I will sing; to God and to the Lamb, who is the great I AM, while millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing, while millions join the theme, I will sing!

And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on, and when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on; and when from death I’m free, I’ll sing and joyful be, and through eternity I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on, and through eternity I’ll sing on!

 

The words capture key points of the gospel message of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.  Sin causes a DREADFUL curse on my soul – not just a slight wrongdoing but a death-producing, mindset changing, soul blackening profanity.  Only God could remove the curse, which He did through the sacrifice of His Son, as explained in Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 5-19.  It is only through the Father’s WONDROUS love that the curse is atoned for and we can be set free from death. 

The proper response to such a magnificent, awesome gift is to praise God and the Lamb with all my brothers and sisters, for all time.  I’ll sing on!

Luke 13.1-9 provides several messages about our pressing need to hear Jesus’ call.

Some people asked about the Galileans who had been tortured by Herod.  This was evidently a recent news item, and there seemed to be an underlying question about whether it was their own fault.  Jesus made it clear that it was not that they were worse sinners than others, and he used it as a call for the people with him right then to repent. 

He reminded them of the eighteen who were crushed when a tower fell over in Siloam.  “Do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem?  No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

The parable that follows continues the theme.  A man’s fig tree had produced no fruit after being in his vineyard for three years.  It was just using up the ground; he wanted to cut it down.  But the gardener suggested some work he could do to restore it, so the owner agreed to a one-year extension.  The application for those listening to Jesus was that they had had an adequate amount of time to respond to Him.  The one year signifies that their grace period would be extended, but the extension was limited. 

In psalm 67.1-3 it is clear that the psalmist knew the special place of Israel as a light and messenger to the nations.  “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, that your way  may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.  Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!”

Two of the promises to Abraham in Genesis 12 were that he would become a great nation, and all the “families” of the earth would be blessed through him. The Israelites knew they were the fulfillment of the first promise, and they expected that God’s face shining on them would be one means of making the second part so – others would see God’s saving power and desire Him.

But it was easy for some to rely on heritage rather than faith. It was easy to shift from thankfulness to complacency; some expected that God would always bless them just because of their ancestor. They needed to remember the reason Abraham was blessed was because of his trust in the One True God of the universe.  His true descendants are not based on progeny but on belief.

So it must have been a surprise when Babylon attacked, razed the city and took the survivors away as captives.  They did not remember that God keeps ALL his promises, including the basic message of Deuteronomy 28:  Obey and be blessed; disobey and be cursed.  The prophets warned of their disobedience; they did not have the faith to believe them or God.

John 3:18 re-emphasizes this point.  After the gloriously familiar “For God so loved the world” of verse 16, the next verses note that the saving criterion is belief in Jesus Christ. “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

The pattern is clear.  Abraham believed and was blessed.  Many Israelites did not believe the warnings of scripture and were punished.  Jesus offers a choice:  Believe and have eternal life OR don’t believe and miss out!

Galatians 3.6-9 connects Abraham, faith, and the good news of Jesus Christ across several centuries.  Recall that Abram (former name of Abraham) was given seven promises in Genesis 12.  God have him just the one command – to go to Canaan.  So Abram went.  He obeyed.  He believed God’s promises enough to follow where He led, even though Sarai was barren and the land of Canaan was already full of foreigners.

God is the active force in all the seven promises. Abram will be blessed so that he can be a blessing to others, and all the families of the earth shall be blessed. The main thing that Abram contributes is belief, which was “counted to him as righteousness.” Galatians goes on to testify: “it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.  And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed.’ So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.”

The good news of salvation was announced dimly to Abraham, but then much more clearly by Jesus: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3.16).”  Abram believed enough to follow God.  The promise to him was the messianic blessing to all who now believe in Jesus enough to follow Him.  Like Abraham, our main contribution is to believe.