"House to House"

Active participation in the life of a local church meets any number of personal and corporate needs that cannot be met any other way. It all begins with a discernment process, asking God to clarify where our spiritual family is to be found, and then submit to the Lord as he “plants us,” puts our roots down, and connects our hearts to real brothers and sisters in a real time and place.

After that, a shared life begins. We are able to experience important spiritual and personal growth and development as we share our lives with our church family. We find out about the gifts God has given us and the various ways in which they can be used to glorify God. We discover opportunities to meet each other needs in personal and practical ways. We also present a powerful Kingdom witness to the world around us.

As “an Acts two church” we see that the real life of a local church “on the ground” is actually quite practical. Here’s how the book of Acts speaks about it: “They continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts” (2:46). The lifestyle of this first church involved spending a fair amount of time together in a variety of contexts, large and small. “Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah” (5:42). Once again we see the “day after day” life of the church described. “You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house” (20:20). Paul testified about his consistent “house to house” strategy.

In his letters the apostle Paul acknowledged the various ways in which local churches were meeting in smaller fellowship contexts. “Greet also the church that meets at their house” (Romans 16:5). Priscilla and Aquila carried on a “house to house ministry.” “Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets at their house” (1 Corinthians 16:19). “Give my greetings to the brothers and sisters at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house” (Colossians 4:15). The church at Laodicea had a similar ministry context. (Unfortunately, busybodies and trouble makers also had a house to house ministry, 1 Timothy 5:13; Titus 1:11).

The fact is this: the church is the church only as it gathers together. But the full-orbed life of the local church requires more than one gathering context. To experience the abundant life that is available in the context of a local church it is necessary to meet both in a larger, mass gathering, as well as in smaller communities. Each gathering context meets specific and unique needs that cannot be met in any other way. I like to think of this in terms of “Celebration” and “Cells.”

Celebration. In Acts 2 the church met “daily in the temple.” These larger gatherings met certain needs in the shared life of the community:

1.   Corporate Worship. We highly value times when all of us can combine our hearts and voices together to worship God, to give God thanks, to honor God as a congregation, to make it clear that the church is primarily about drawing attention to Jesus.

2.   Gospel Demonstration. The local church needs opportunities to represent and present the Gospel to the larger community. While this can be done in more intimate settings, the larger gathering of the church has a powerful Gospel potential.

3.   Pastoral Instruction. In order to grow and go in a healthy manner the whole church needs to be regularly instructed in the ways of the Lord. The gathering of the whole church affords an opportunity for pastoral leaders to instruct the members.

4.   Community Witness. When the world sees we are “one,” then the world will recognize that God is at work in the congregation and will glorify God.

Cells. In Acts 2 we also see the church breaking bread together in their homes. There were many opportunities for those who were “members of one another” to share life in more intimate ways. These smaller gatherings did not attempt to duplicate the larger gatherings or to meet the needs that were being fulfilled in the larger gatherings. Instead, the smaller groups met specific needs that could not be met in any other way.

1.   Fellowship. An authentic “shared life” cannot really be experienced in a mass gathering. It’s only in smaller, face-to-face settings that this kind of life can be experienced.

2.   Body Ministry. It is the relational connections between the members of the Body that provide the strength and life needed for health and growth (see Ephesians 4:16). Our lives need to connect in ways that will make a personal contribution to the well-being of each one.

3.   Pastoral Care. While pastoral instruction is best accomplished in larger settings, the hands-on shepherding needed in the congregation requires a smaller, relational context.

4.   Personal Witness. The quality of our relationships in smaller groups, when shared by “outsiders” and “newcomers,” is contagious. When people see how we love each other, they will become hungry and thirsty for what only Jesus can supply.

Our commitment to the local church, and our desire to receive the life found as a result of that commitment, includes regular gatherings and connections, in larger and smaller group contexts. May God give us grace to experience both this year. 

What Are We Missing?

We love the fact that God ordained for us to be born in America. Even though there are a variety of regional variations, we all identify with our American culture. And the #1 feature of American culture is “individualism.” Our focus tends to be on our individual rights and responsibilities. The great American is a “self-made man” who pulled himself up by his own boot-straps, needing nothing and no one. We sometimes refer to this as “autonomous individualism,” a belief that meaning is found primarily in the context of disconnected individuals. Personal fulfillment is the goal and any and all behaviors are OK (as long as they don’t “hurt” anyone else).

At the same time, those who study American culture have concluded that our #1 complaint, the issue that haunts us most often, is “loneliness.” One source defined loneliness as “a social pain – a psychological mechanism meant to alert an individual of isolation and motivate him/her to seek social connections.” Think about it! Individualism and loneliness: Do you think there is a connection? What are we missing? Gilbert Belezikian has famously pointed out, “All people have a strong need to Know and be Known, Love and be Loved, Serve and be Served, and Celebrated for who they are regardless of age, race, sex or nationality.” What we are missing is real, meaningful relational connections. What we need is authentic community. We need each other!

We know we need connections. We complain about not being connected. Yet we don’t take the time to pursue those connections. We know the value of authentic community, but we seldom do the hard work needed to experience a meaningful level of community. I contend that every human being, because of the sin virus, is focused on themselves as an individual. Because we tend to see ourselves at the center of the universe, relationships in community are counterintuitive. We tend to connect with people to the extent that they meet our personal needs. We all bring our own issues, baggage and agendas into our relationships, and those issues tend to conflict with the issues of those we whom we share community. We can’t have lived very long and attempted very many relationships before being bumped and bruised by others and their needs. Eventually we may conclude that our needs aren’t being met, so we draw back and even draw out of a relationship. Maybe it’s better to just be alone. Or is it?

From God’s perspective, because “God is love,” and because God has created human beings primarily for relationship – with him, each other, and the rest of creation – being alone is the worst thing that could happen to us. You remember the creation story: “The Lord God said, It is not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). Moses was rebuked for his individualistic style of leadership: “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening? …The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone” (Exodus 18:14, 18). That’s why the Lord gave Moses a group of elders: “They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it alone” (Numbers 11:17).

The Teacher of Ecclesiastes reflected on an isolated individual. “There was a man all alone; he had neither son nor brother. There was no end to his toil, yet his eyes were not content with his wealth. ‘For whom am I toiling,’ he asked, ‘and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?’ This too is meaningless—a miserable business!” (4:8). His conclusion? A disconnected life is meaningless! The Teacher concluded with this famous poem:

“Two are better than one,
    because they have a good return for their labor:
If either of them falls down,
    one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
    and has no one to help them up.
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
    But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered,
    two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12).

One thing is sure: no relationship with any person will meet all your personal needs – only God can do that. In fact, if there is any hope of experiencing a healthy relationship and authentic community, your first relational connection must be with God. Then with God at the center, you will be free to love and serve those you are connected to, asking nothing in return. I love the promise penned by the Psalmist: “God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing” (Psalm 68:6). Because God has created us for community, it is his will that we be connected, to him and to others, and God provides us with opportunities to connect in “families,” including the local church. However, the Psalm goes on to say, “but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.” Some have given up hope that meaningful, relational connections are possible (because they are too painful). Others stubbornly guard their individual rights without consideration of others. They will find that loneliness is a “sun-scorched land,” a desert, a Death Valley. They will discover that what we are missing is authentic community. 

New Beginnings

Have you ever wished for the opportunity to start over, to begin again, to have a fresh start? “The Christmas Carol” is one of the most famous Christmas stories involving a Scrooge who has spent his entire adult life taking advantage of the poor, manipulating and controlling others, all in the name of his own selfish ambition, advancement, even self-preservation. We discover that his childhood was filled with neglect, lovelessness and heartache. As we all know, “hurt people hurt people.” But all Scrooge’s attempts to serve and protect himself resulted only in loneliness and despair. Finally, certain “ghosts” visit him on Christmas Eve and give him an opportunity to begin again, to make a difference with every one of his remaining days.

Jesus made an interesting statement about the authority of God’s Kingdom. “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:19). Citizens of the Kingdom of God are promised authority and given keys. Authority to do what with those keys? Authority to “bind” and “loose,” or literally, to close and open. The keys of the Kingdom are to be used to close some doors in order that other doors may be opened. Jesus promised to open doors for us. “For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:8). The apostles acknowledged their dependence on God’s Spirit to open doors for the Gospel. “On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles” (Acts 14:27). “The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message” (Acts 16:14). Paul understood that he was able to travel to a certain place only if God opened the door for him. “I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you” (Romans 1:10). “I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me” (2 Corinthians 2:12). God opened (and opens) doors in response to prayer. “And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message” (Colossians 4:3). In fact, in the Revelation given to John, Jesus revealed himself as the one “who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open” (Revelation 3:7).

However, in order for us to go through the door into our future, other doors from the past need to be closed. Sometimes we must experience significant “closure” from the past before we have real freedom to move into the future. The key Bible word is “repent.” To “repent” is simply to turn or to return to God. It involves shifting the posture of our hearts back to God’s heart and presence, coming under God’s authority in our lives. But “repent” also refers to other things we are “turning” from. We are always “turning,” either from God to other things or from other things to God. Our backs are facing some things are our faces are turned toward others. We cannot face both God and other gods. We cannot serve two masters.

Sometimes we try to turn to God without turning from those other things that distract us from God. When we do, we find our returning, our repenting, to be superficial and temporary. Such turning is really only a religious expression with no real depth or meaning. The prophet Jeremiah was particularly clear at this point: “They have turned their backs to me and not their faces; yet when they are in trouble, they say, Come and save us!” (Jeremiah 2:27). True repentance requires a returning from the heart, from the will, not just the mind and the emotions. “Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and reform your actions” (Jeremiah 35:15). “They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart” (Jeremiah 24:7).

What if old Scrooge had gotten up on Christmas morning and said, “I’m going to change. I’m going to distribute some Christmas presents this morning, eat dinner with my nephew, and tomorrow morning return to my counting house and catch up on my foreclosures”? What if he had tried to open a new door without closing the old one? How deep and long-lasting would his change have really been? On the other hand, what if on that Christmas morning Scrooge had said, “I would love to start over again, but most of my life is behind me. What’s the use? Although I see the error of my ways it’s too late to really do anything about it,” and gone his way unchanged? Would we consider that response a tragic ending? Yet how many of us despair of beginning again, of finding a new way, the way God of God for our lives?

The Good News is this: If we will turn to God with all our hearts, God promises to restore lost years. “Now, therefore,” says the Lord,
Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness (Joel 2:12-13), “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten” (Joel 2:25). In fact, Joel went on to prophesy, “And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days” (Joel 2:28-29). New beginnings marked by a new fullness of God’s Spirit.

As we come to the end of this year we have the door into a new year in front of us, with new opportunities and new beginnings. God promises a year of freshness in his presence, of healing and restoration. May God give us the grace to close the 2012 doors that need to be closed so new Kingdom doors can open before us. “Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in” (Psalm 24:7). 

The Real Gift

I love Christmas movies! Especially the ones that feature bright decorations, lots of snow, and of course, Santa Claus. However, I must admit that there is one that bothers me a lot. There is a particular scene in the 1985 blockbuster, “One Magic Christmas,” where a Dad, down on his luck, shows up at a gas station to try to sell his old car, or even his camp stove, anything, in order to get some money so he can buy Christmas presents for his son. After being unsuccessful and seeing his son’s despondency, the dad decides to rob the local bank to get the funds needed and ends up killing a key character in the process. Of course, after Ginny (who was woefully lacking in Christmas spirit) has a supernatural conversion experience, time is turned back so she can give the poor man the money needed to buy gifts for his son and, as a result, not rob the bank and kill Ginny’s husband. As I watch this I inevitably say, “Wait a minute. Isn’t the original problem the fact that this poor man and his son place such a high value on Christmas gifts that he is willing to rob and kill to get it?” I mean, come on! What’s wrong with this picture?

This month we’ve been reexamining the meaning of Christmas – of the “Advent”/Coming of the Christ – and that meaning does not include giving nice presents to every boy and girl in the world, no matter what the cost to the family budget. Christmas does, in fact, involve the giving of gifts, and in particular, one gift. You and I are recipients of this, the “real gift.”

Jesus revealed the Father as a Giver. The heart of God is governed by generosity. Even the most generous person gives superficially and with some level of self-centered motivation when compared to God. When teaching about the generosity of God Jesus stated, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him” (Matthew 7:11). God knows how to give “good gifts,” gifts that will have the best benefits for the ones receiving his gifts. It’s interesting how the Gospel of Luke records this saying of Jesus: “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him” (Luke 11:13). Ultimately, the very best gift God can give anyone is the gift of the inner presence and working of God’s Spirit. That was probably what Jesus was referring to when he told the woman at the well, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14). While everyone occasionally thirsts for water, all people have a deep, fundamental thirst for the living water only God can give, for the deep, inner moving of the Spirit of the Living God. While we may have a certain temporary item in mind to give (or receive) as a gift this Christmas, God alone can give us what we really need.

Christmas clearly reveals God’s real gift: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). GOD GAVE HIS SON!! What else is there? What else could we ever really need or want? During his life and ministry Jesus was very aware that he was God’s gift to humanity. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Jesus came to give his life, to pay the price needed to restore humankind back to the Father. One time Jesus was teaching the crowd about himself, showing that he was God’s Living Bread sent to satisfy the deepest needs of the human heart. Jesus told them, “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you” (John 6:27). Every gift but one is temporary, and will eventually wear out and “spoil.” Only the gift of eternal life given by God when he gave his Son will endure. Nothing else can really satisfy for very long. “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (John 6:32-33).

I love what Jesus told the Samaritan woman: “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water” (John 4:10). Do we really understand the gift God has given us? Are we asking for, are we receiving that gift? Do we really know that there is only one source of living water?

And are we offering that gift to others this Christmas? No matter what has happened in our lives this year we are truly blessed. God has given us his Son. God has given us eternal life. Jesus is with us. God’s Spirit is in us. God has provided us with living water. Now, “Freely you have received; freely give” (Matthew 10:8). May we rejoice in the real gift this Christmas, and may we freely offer it to those who are in need. Nothing else will satisfy. 

A Life Poured Out

When you consider the statement, “God is love,” what do you think it means? Verses like 1 John 4:16 don’t just say that “God is loving,” they define God as “love.” The problem for us is our misuse and often cheapening of this powerful word. When I say, “I love popcorn,” I’m not saying very much (except that I rarely turn down an opportunity to enjoy that particular snack). When God tells us he loves us, God means something profoundly important. For God to define himself as “love,” when God says that the essence of his life and character is summarized as “love,” it lifts our understanding up to a whole new level.

First of all, let’s take time to reflect on biblical definitions of God’s love. Jesus commanded his apprentices to “love your enemies” (Matthew 5:44). Human love is usually a response to someone else’s loving, encouraging, giving. To love an enemy who is only working to harm you is divine. God set the standard when he demonstrated his love for us “while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8). Even when it comes to our neighbors Jesus instructed us to love them “as yourself” (Matthew 22:39), to put others alongside of our self rather than seeing everyone with our self at the center. “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves” (Romans 12:10). The “Law of Love” teaches us that, if God’s love is ruling in our hearts and lives, we would never do anything that might injure the faith of a brother or sister. “If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died” (Romans 14:15). Even when we know we are “right,” when we have more knowledge about some area of truth, we can never forget that “knowledge puffs up while love builds up” (1 Corinthians 8:1). Paul went so far as to say that in the end only three qualities will abide, and that “the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). Christ-followers must “do everything in love” (1 Corinthians 16:14), for, “the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Galatians 5:6).

When celebrating the Passover meal with his disciples Jesus began by washing their feet. Before telling them he was about to give his life, Jesus gave them this command: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35). Loving one another was not, in fact, a new command; loving one another “as I have loved you” was new. Jesus was not just asking for a high degree of normal, human love, he was looking for a divine quality of love, a self-giving, self-sacrificing kind of love. In fact, Jesus went on to say, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). God’s love is a life poured out. God’s love can also be seen in a “perfect unity.” “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:22-23). When God’s love is ruling, human hearts and minds are united together around God’s throne, without division and diversion.

God’s love is so powerful nothing will ever be able to separate us from God’s love. “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

This divine quality of love is the ultimate mark of a Christians. The same love Jesus demonstrated in his life and death is now to be demonstrated in our lives. “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters” (1 John 3:16). And this love is actually very practical. “If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?” (1 John 3:17).

Frankly, this kind of love is not humanly possible. But with God, all things are possible. In fact, Paul taught that when God sent his Holy Spirit to abide in our human hearts, with the Spirit God sent his love as well. “God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5). Our challenge is to allow God’s love to rule in our hearts more and more.

God’s love is infinite, voluntary, and unconditional. God’s love is expressed as a continuous, sacrificial self-giving. While we can try to define the nature and quality of God’s love, it’s best to contemplate pictures of divine love. Put simply, the love of God is best seen in Jesus – in every aspect of the life and ministry of Jesus – from the cradle to the cross. When we celebrate the birth of Christ on Christmas day we see God’s love being shouted from the hills surrounding Bethlehem. At the same time, we remember that Jesus came to die for all humankind. Jesus was God’s life poured out, the final word about God and God’s love for humanity. This is what we are celebrating and proclaiming. “God so loved the world that he gave!”

Incarnation Nation

Have you noticed how Christian theologians love big words? Justification. Redemption. Sanctification. Propitiation (my personal favorite). And a special one for Calvinists (who are the intellectuals of Protestantism), Supralapsarianism. And of course our Christmas term, Incarnation. So what is “incarnation”? Is it a certain type of flower? A certain kind of soup (con carne)? The word literally means “enfleshed,” and refers to something or someone taking on human flesh. “Incarnation” refers to God coming into history as a human being – one of the great mysteries of the Christian faith – the mystery we celebrate at Christmas.

I find it interesting that the prominent philosophies taught in the first century tended to believe that anything physical – flesh and blood – was inherently inferior (if not evil). The very thought of God taking on human flesh was unacceptable. And yet, that is the story of Christmas. The apostle John famously wrote, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). The Eternal Word (Logos) of God, the Word that was with God in the beginning and was God, became flesh. I love how the Message paraphrases this verse: “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.”

One of the earliest hymns of the church was composed by the apostle Paul to celebrate the incarnation:

“Who, being in very nature God,
     did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own             advantage;
    rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:6-8).

Jesus did not need to strive for divinity (unlike our original parents in the Garden) because he was God. Beyond that, Jesus did not seek to hang on to his divine rights, power and authority. Instead, “he made himself nothing,” literally, “he emptied himself.” As God, Jesus considered himself to be nothing, he poured himself out, pouring himself into humanity, God becoming “enfleshed.” In doing so, Jesus could have come into the world as a king or a famous philosopher. Instead, he “took the form of a servant.” Jesus came into the world to serve the Father, but also to serve humanity. Jesus came as a Servant-King, intentionally choosing a humble birth and a humble lifestyle. In the end, Jesus went even further, humbling himself by dying in the place of us all.

The mystery of the incarnation communicates several very important ideas:

1.     It tells us something about God. When we think of the fact that “God is love,” we see God taking extreme measures to have a free, love relationship with his creatures. God took the initiative to restore humanity back into a full relationship with him. Nothing is more important to our Father than our freely-chosen, freely-expressed love relationship with him.

2.     It tells us something about humanity. When God initiated salvation, God did so by entering into human history, becoming a human being. God’s “Plan A” involves an intimate partnership with humans, the pinnacle of God’s creation. Not only did God not give up on us, God became one of us in order to draw us back to himself. In fact, Jesus came as a perfect, sinless human being, and in doing so, not only perfectly represents God, Jesus perfectly represents human beings as God originally designed them (us) to be. Jesus came to restore our relationship with God; Jesus also came to restore our full, human potential.

3.     It tells us something about the way God works. I suppose God could have waved a magic wand over creation and “fixed it.” It might have been easier for God to wipe out humanity and start over. Instead, God entered into human chaos pain and brought life out of death. All God’s goals are relational and all God’s methods are relational.

So when you see a picture of the Holy Family with shepherds and wise men gathered in a barn, you aren’t just seeing a sentimental symbol of Christmas. You are seeing one of the greatest miracles, and one of the greatest mysteries, in all of human history. Indeed, you are seeing the pinnacle of human history. Everything changed from that moment on, and you and I are invited to enter into the miracle and renew our commitment to God’s plan for our lives. Look how he loves us!

What Are the Odds?

I used to teach a freshman class at Portland Bible College called “Basic Doctrine.” While preparing to teach I came across an amazing statistic: The Old Testament contains 330 specific prophecies pertaining to the coming of the Messiah, all of them specifically fulfilled. What are the odds that any of them would actually be fulfilled? Well, the probability that any 8 of the 330 being fulfilled is 1 in 10¹⁷. This is equivalent to covering the state of Texas two feet deep in silver dollars, randomly placing a special mark on one of the silver dollars, then picking it out the very first time. The probability of all 330 prophecies being specifically fulfilled is 1 in 10¹⁴⁷. Imagine randomly marking one of the electrons in the universe then picking that electron the very first time and you can see that it’s really impossible for all of these prophecies to be fulfilled. And yet they were. How do you account for that? It seem probable that God had something to do with it.

It is an ancient Christian tradition to prepare our hearts for the Christmas celebration with a four-week “Advent” commemoration. “Advent” simply means “coming,” so the purpose of Advent is to prayerfully reflect on Scripture in order to prepare our hearts to fully receive Christ at his coming on Christmas morning. During the first week of Advent it is customary to reflect on the Old Testament prophecies that accurately predict the coming of the Christ child.

When the prophet Isaiah announced to King Ahaz that God was going to deliver Judah from its enemies, the King was skeptical. So Isaiah said, “Ask the Lord God for a sign” (Isaiah 7:11). When Ahaz refused the prophet answered, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14; see also Matthew 1:23). The sign of God’s supernatural deliverance was the gift of a son, and not just any kind of son. This child would come into the world as a result of a young maid, a virgin, conceiving and giving birth. How is that even possible? This must be a supernatural child. And not just supernatural – he will be “Immanuel,” meaning “God with us.” How can a human child be God with us? It’s seemed unlikely that such an amazing prophecy could ever be fulfilled – until that first Christmas morning.

During that same time period Isaiah began to announce Good News to “the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali” (Isaiah 9:1; see also Matthew 4:15). The prophet declared that God was going to cause a special light to dawn on the people, resulting in joy and rejoicing. What was going to be so special about that light? “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders” (Isaiah 9:6). Once again, a special child, a son, would be provided by God to bring a new governance to the land. But this would not just be a normal, human ruler. “And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” This amazing son would be known as the Wonderful Counselor, the one bringing a full understanding of the wisdom of God. This child-ruler would be the Prince of Peace, bringing true harmony and wholeness to all who submitted to his rule. But not only that, he would also be the “Mighty God” and the “Everlasting Father.” It’s one thing to prophesy a new King provided by God, but to claim that this human child/king would also be God?! Isaiah then sang of the everlasting rule of this God-King. “Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever” (Isaiah 9:7). The coming child would be the rightful King of Israel, ruling on David’s throne, but his rule would be an eternal reign of peace and justice. How is such a thing possible? Isn’t it only “pie-in-the-sky”? Maybe – until that first Christmas morning explained everything.

During this same period in Israel’s history the prophet Micah began his ministry. One day, while speaking of the enemies of Israel laying a siege against the land, the prophet made a very strange statement: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times” (Micah 5:2; see also Matthew 2:6). The tiny village of Bethlehem was essentially a suburb of the might city of Jerusalem. With the city and the nation occupied by a foreign power, how could Bethlehem factor into God’s deliverance? How likely is it that a powerful ruler, a ruler who would bring ultimate deliverance to the people, one spoken of from ancient times, could be born in Bethlehem? It seemed highly improbably – until that first Christmas morning.

These are only three of the many Old Testament prophecies about the coming into the world of God’s Son, a child who would bring salvation to all mankind. As we enter into this Advent Season, may our hearts to open wide to his coming and ruling in our lives.

(I want to once again give full credit to my friend Ken Malmin, Dean of Portland Bible College and author of the "Basic Doctrine" curriculum.)