Fire and Brimstone, with a Twist [part two] ...

You should have known better.  Are there any more condemning words than those?  And so much the worse when they are true.  Sometimes it is even our job to know better.  And when those words strike the deepest chord; is when we did know better, and made our choices in spite of knowing better.  Those kinds of decisions and actions, of doing something in spite of knowing better, reflect a hardness alive and well in our hearts. 

Behavior like this in a child seems more forgivable.  Perhaps a child with minimal personal experience chooses to do something they know they should not, for the personal experience of having done so.  As their parent, we hate this; not because it hurts us from the suffering of that action, but because it hurts us to see our children suffer from the hurt of that action.  It hurts a parent to see their child suffer.  When the child suffers from bad decisions, we still suffer.  When the child suffers from bad decisions, and they are fully equipped with the knowledge of what would happen, we still suffer.  Our love of our child, will always lead us to suffer when our child suffers.  What we as parents want, is for our child never to suffer.

And what happens when you get a bad egg?  No parent ever wants to admit, that their little Johnny has grown up to be a bad egg, even if Johnny has become a serial killer.  But it happens.  And perhaps worse than a serial killer, is a leader in the “right” church, teaching all the “right” things, to those who do not understand, but completely devoid of love.  At least a serial killer only murders the body.  But a religious leader has the potential to murder the soul, kill hope, and portray an image of God that resembles Satan instead. 

Who would want to serve a God that looks so much like Satan?  And who would want to serve a God, when all His servants are so mean, or so apathetic, or so hopeless?  And His servants, employed in His ministry, are the very ones who should know better.  But too many don’t.  And still our heavenly parent looks to redeem what causes Him so much grief, and destroys so many other of His children.  Our Heavenly Father looks to redeem bad eggs, even ones that should know better, even ones that continue to do so much harm, from the pulpit.

John the Baptist had a message for these religious leaders.  Keep in mind these leaders had the right Bible.  They were not Hindu’s or Buddhists, or pagans.  These were Jews, and considered the top leaders of their faith.  These were Jews who had access to scripture, and debated it for a living, and in all their spare time.  They were supposed to be upright.  They were supposed to know more about the Bible than any other living person on planet earth.  Nobody was supposed to know more than them.  Nobody.  These men could have been a shining example of what love for others looks like in the flesh.  But they were not.  They were serial killers of hope in the pulpit instead.  They were obsessed with offerings, tithe, and the financial wealth they would bring.  They were obsessed with “control” over the faith, over doctrines.  They were obsessed with keeping the church pure.  Sound familiar?

As we read the message of John the Baptist for the religious leadership back then, let us instead apply it to ourselves as we should know better as well.  Matthew continues his account of the fire and brimstone preaching of John in chapter three of his gospel picking up in verse 7 saying … “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”  Am I the snake John pleads with?  Do I slither between the pews, acting just interested enough in my neighbor to fool them into thinking I care for them, but maintaining my heart of stone within?  Is this the plight of my generation, and the one to come, and the one behind?  What wrath does John speak of? 

This was a message of shock and awe.  John was talking straight to people who demanded respect and he offered them none.  They were snakes to him.  They were snakes for what they did to the flock of God.  And then beyond the insult of calling them snakes, John throws the end of days in their face.  John brings up the judgment past, and the flames as destiny for them.  This was beyond unthinkable.  How could I be a snake when I only try to do good?  How many people rationalize their religion with just such a question?  They never seek perfection, believing it impossible.  They are right.  For perfection is only possible when Jesus does the work of transformation within us. 

But instead of seeking Jesus, we choose to continue to do the work of perfection upon ourselves, by ourselves.  We talk of partnerships with God, but this is deception.  It is only an excuse to do work ourselves, and then blame God because we cannot finish it.  We are snakes obsessed with control over our salvation.  We are snakes spreading a gospel of self-salvation to all who will listen, but this gospel leads only to flames of destiny.  We call the gospel of self, truth, when it is the farthest thing from it.  And in so doing we pave a highway to flames, instead of freedom.

Matthew continues in verse 8 saying … “Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:”  Time to let our deeds reflect our reality.  We are not to try to do good works.  We are to submit, be transformed, and develop a passion for others that cannot sit still.  A transformed heart loves others so much it cannot sit still, it must reach out in love to help them.  A transformed heart would never think to allow the words that proceed from the mouth to ever be interpreted as hateful, judgmental, or condemnatory.  Words that flow from a transformed heart are pure love, pure support, and ever point to Jesus as the only way to find salvation.  The fruits we are to bring are NOT our own.  They are fruits of the Spirit.  They are gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit to be employed in the tireless ministry of God.  These fruits show all who look that our heart is ever filled with repentance and love.  These fruits alone are worthy to bring.  Our fruits, our skills, our offerings are as the offering of Cain, based in self, and reflective of snake behavior.

Matthew continues the admonitions of John in verse 9 saying … “And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.”  John the Baptist at last removes the only surety Israelites had, he takes away the relevance of their ancestry.  The faith of Abraham belongs only to him.  It does not belong to those men who have no faith in God for their salvation some 2000 years later.  It is no different with us.  Our church fathers may have had great faith, and done great deeds in the eyes of the Lord.  But their faith belongs only to them, not to us, if our actions do not reflect the transformed heart that drives this kind of passion.  John the Baptist makes no excuses for them.  They will each face eternity for what they have done, for what they have believed.  Transformation is personal.  What my wife experiences is not my own.  What my mother believes is of no consequence to me.  My heart must be transformed by Jesus, or my heart remains in the provinces of snakes.

John concludes his warning in even starker language in verse 10 saying … “And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.”  Our ancestry is terminated.  From this day forth, each man will face his fate, based on the submission to Jesus Christ he has pursued.  John was preaching of the nearness of God in human form.  John was saying it is here, it is now.  Now is the time to abandon trust in self, trust in self-made interpretations of the law, and instead seek the author of the law.  Every prophecy ever given could be rightly interpreted by the God who was walking the streets of Nazareth and the roads of Galilee.  No more need for majority opinion, each leader could seek the author Himself.  What remains in the province of snakes after this opportunity was destined for the flames that will someday purge the earth of all evil.

John then shifts the focus even more squarely upon Jesus as the only way to avoid this fate as Matthew continues in verse 11 saying … “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:”  Here is where the twist re-emerges even for bad eggs, even for vipers, even for me.  The offer of baptism unto repentance is freely offered to ALL of these same men.  Notice, John never once calls out any of them for the specific sins he knows they are guilty of.  Notice, that John only continued to offer repentance, and to starkly make them aware that even as religious leaders, they need it too.  Perhaps their need is greater than all.  And now he offers a promise, and a prophecy.  John foretells of the baptism of the Holy Spirit by fire to all who believe.  John is offering this promise and this prophecy to these very men.  These vipers could become baptized by the same Holy Spirit that would baptize the other followers and disciples of Christ. 

Think of this offer for a minute.  Not only is God interested in the redemption of these men, He is willing to restore them to what proper leadership means in the New church, in the New faith.  If anyone was less deserving it is these very men, yet it is to these men who God appeals to.  To receive this offer, one must only embrace humility and submit before Jesus who is right around the corner.  Think of the freedom of that embrace.  All your questions answered.  All your words motivated by the Holy Spirit from that day forward. 

A new gospel.  A new method of preaching and teaching by testimony, instead of by intellectual awareness.  They are each and all offered a personal experience with God on earth.  This is not fire and brimstone, this is heaven reaching out to each of them.  This is not the punishment that vipers deserve, it is the honor of becoming a participant in the ministry to redeem others.  This is not a message of fire and brimstone based on fear to motivate, only shock and awe to awaken how desperate the need is.  And it is ONLY this way of frank speech within the leadership of the church.  As it is in ours, never intended for the common sinner.

John then describes Jesus as more than God in human form, but God in eternal form as Matthew continues in verse 12 saying … “Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”  The God of eternal judgment is also the God of eternal redemption.  To refuse to allow our salvation from Jesus, is to embrace self to try to find the same result.  But self can only fail at salvation.  Only Jesus can succeed at that work, at the work of perfecting us from us, saving us from us. 

Should we refuse to trust Him, refuse to accept His gift of salvation to us, we are destined to become the chaff of eternal history.  The mercy of God to extend time to try to save every last soul that can be saved is not infinite.  Time will one day reach its end, and the days of sin have been numbered.  The method of escape is so easy, and so clear.  It should be best understood by those in ministry.  Yet John shows us, that those in ministry often have the greatest need.  Learning to be devoid of self, to forego trusting in self to save, is sometimes hardest for those involved in religious things.

John the Baptist has said harsh things.  He has preached fire and brimstone, but only to the leadership of the church to wake them up to their great need.  But his twist has ever been the hope of Jesus Christ.  Even to those bad eggs who should have known better, and most deserve condemnation, John has offered none.  Instead he offers continued opportunity to be baptized not only to repentance, but with fire by the Holy Spirit in days to come.  That is quite a twist, and it is one we should all seek.  And then, if only to add heaven’s stamp of approval on the ministry of John, Jesus would enter the scene …

 

Fire and Brimstone, with a Twist [part one] ...

Perception is tough in the eyes of the blind.  How do you know where you are, or what you need if your eyesight is impaired?  But to complicate it, what if you only choose to be blind, simply choose not to see.  Look at it another way.  How do you get help? - You ask for it.  But when you are certain you need no help, you are nearly certain not to ask.  And the perception of someone else, that you are in desperate need of help, is meaningless unless you share that same perception, recognize your need, and ask for the help that will resolve the matter.  This is the splinter that resides in the eyes of the sinner; that they have forgotten their need, or choose not to see it.  And this is the tree-trunk that resides in the eyes of the modern Christian; that they believe it is their job to convict of sin, when only the Holy Spirit can do that.  So how do we save both the sinner, and the modern Christian, who refuse to see their need?  Short answer is; we don’t, but Jesus does.

Perhaps one of the most famous “fire and brimstone” preachers in scripture was John the Baptist (at least if you only read Matthew’s account).  John preached “repentance”.  But is repentance condemnatory, or redemptive?  John calls sinners to repentance; he does not burst into their lives, pointing out their sins, and reminding them of how wrong each sin is from heaven’s accounting point of view.  Actually, he makes no accusation at all about “which” sin any of his listeners might be committing.  Instead John focuses only on the “need” to repent.  “Which” sins we have committed, the ones we know we should not have done, is a silent matter between us and God.  It is the Holy Spirit that calls those desires, actions and motives to mind.  It is the Holy Spirit who would see us freed from our bondage to them, not continually enslaved to them.  But there goes that funny thing of perception once again.

The Holy Spirit sees the sin in us for what it truly is; an addiction to self-love we are powerless to break.  Even if our hands can be held in check, our hearts cannot.  We still want to sin.  And very often we do what we want.  When we see we are unable to fix the cycle of sin, when we recognize our need, then FINALLY Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit is able to free us from those desires, motives and actions that otherwise enslave us.  But the perception of sin as enslaving is one the divine understands.  The human perception of sin is often not the same.  We see sin as some sort of fun-house, we don’t want to lose.  We see the lack of sin as boredom squared.  A life without any disobedience is the life of some goody-two-shoes we would simply not want.  So we cling to our sins, figuring we can always give them up in our future.  But that future never arrives.  Even though we do not seem to evolve, our sin does.  Sin does change over time in that it gets worse.  We hurt others more, we hurt ourselves more, and we hurt God more (because He loves us and hates seeing us do this to ourselves).

The trick for saving sinners then, is to simply expose them to the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit takes over from there.  But here is where performing this work gets tricky.  Most modern Christians believe it is their job to preach the word; defining those terms as condemning and judging others who are clearly sinners for the sins they commit.  We believe our job is to enlighten these ignorant sinners about the sins they commit, as if they could not see them themselves.  We believe that only through our careful enlightenment and public exposure of their sins, will the sinner ever desire to leave those sins behind (I would guess through embarrassment of public ridicule as this plan has not been well thought out).  While we ourselves still cling to the pet-sins in our own lives, we are quick to condemn the same ones in the lives of others.  Our entire “gospel” then becomes pointing out sins in others.  No love.  No redemption.  No method of actually getting rid of those sins, but then, how could we offer something we have never experienced.  So when you boil it down; we offer, no hope.  At least, no hope for living differently in this world.  We bundle up forgiveness and sell the prospects of life in the next world.  In this one, only condemnation for the crap in your life.

So to save our modern Christian, we need to recognize our need of an entirely different gospel.  The new gospel does not depend on you or me.  The new gospel depends only on Jesus.  If work needs to get done, then Jesus must do it.  In us, for us, in spite of us.  We keep pointing at Jesus, and Jesus takes over from there.  Jesus deals with the sins, the desires to sin, and sometimes our continued failures in sin.  The best way to point to Jesus is to love, not to focus on sin.  Loving someone gives them a reason to change, not a reason to rebel.  Loving someone in spite of what they do, gives them an example of forgiveness, not an ethereal explanation of it.  But loving like this is hard.  Well at least, it is hard with an unchanged heart.  Time to go to Jesus again.  Time to seek an entirely different heart and subsequently different perspective.  Fear just does not do the job.  But love does.  So let’s examine the ministry of John the Baptist (from the perspective of Matthew) and see what kind of twist he puts in the reputation he carries for one of the loudest and most famous hellfire and brimstone preachers.

Matthew begins his account in chapter three of his gospel picking up in verse 1 saying … “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, [verse 2] And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  Matthew has skipped forward through the youthful years of Jesus and is now right at the public start of His ministry.  John the Baptist is actually the cousin of Jesus and just coincidentally follows the customs of the Nazarene’s with his own hair.  John is what we would call an ultra-conservative in appearance and manner.  Thus far, a perfect candidate for hellfire and brimstone preaching.  But the twist is in his message.  It is a simple one.  John calls for repentance.  John also offers a reason why repentance is so important at this time in earth’s history; because the kingdom of God is at hand.  God is about to be with us.  God will be in human form, and in point of fact, he has already been with us for nearly 30 years with only minimal notice.  So why is the message of John different?  Because John is declaring that God will be revealed to all of us very shortly.  Proximity with God.  The ability to see God, talk to God, and have the eyes of God look right through you.

Now imagine you are a typical Israelite in these days.  Chances are you are too poor to have the luxury of time to commit a wide variety of sins.  But poverty is no protection against the sins you are certain to have committed in spite of it.  You go to Temple.  You make sacrifice.  But you have never thought that God might be within talking distance.  You have never thought of having God be close enough to see you with human eyes, but divine insight.  If you are to greet God in person, you want to be ready to do it.  You want to be clean inside.  You want to be dipped into the waters, have your carnal nature symbolically die, and be resurrected a new creation.  A new creation unto your God, who has been so long desired.  None of this message has anything to do with toppling the Roman empire.  None of this message has anything to do with condemnation of you for what you do.  Instead it is an opportunity to make ready inside yourself for God.  It is open to everyone.  It is constant.  John is always preaching about it.  And when you are close, you feel the Holy Spirit convict your heart, and you long to make ready and be clean.

The message of repentance is not about judgment, it is about proximity with God on earth.  The message of repentance is not about punishment it is about reconciliation.  Your average sinner gets this.  Your average sinner has been exposed to the Holy Spirit through the ministry of John, without condemnation or judgment or public humiliation.  Matthew continues in verse 3 saying … “For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”  Again Matthew ties together the Old Testament with the New in the life of Jesus Christ.  Isaiah foretold of the power of this message (referencing his book in chapter 40 and verse 3).  This proclamation would therefore be blessed by the Holy Spirit as the time for it was at hand.  Malachi (referencing chapter 4 and verse 5) would also foretell of it in the sending of Elijah before the end of time.  Jesus would later call reference to Malachi, in explaining the importance of the ministry of John, and how John’s ministry fulfills those words.

Matthew then goes on to describe John more fully and the results of his ministry among sinners picking up in verse 4 saying … “And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. [verse 5] Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, [verse 6] And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.”  John wore simple homemade clothing from things he could put together.  John ate bugs (large ugly ones) and likely dipped them in honey to enhance the taste.  His diet was desert fair, food his God would provide to him.  Matthew describes these things not as the reason people came to see him.  But to insure his readers understand John was not wearing priestly clothing of fine raiment, and eating a priestly diet of sacrificial meats and vegetables a priest could afford.  John was dirt poor.  His clothing and his food were poorer than those who came to see him.  Even beggars did better financially than John.  But John was taken care of by God.  While John did not have much, he had what he needed from his God.

Then there was the results of the ministry of John.  Word of mouth, spread quickly about John.  Not because he was some nut in the desert near the river preaching nutball theories.  But John’s ministry held spiritual blessing, and the Holy Spirit was present to all who would come to hear.  John was not preaching to make income, or himself famous.  John was preaching for his listeners, with the ecstatic news that God would soon be among them.  His words were loud and clear, and pierced right to the heart of those who came to hear.  When they went home at night, they told everyone they knew about what had happened to them.  They had been baptized in the river Jordan without a second thought.  In spite of how embarrassing it might have been they publicly declared and confessed their sins during the baptism because they were so moved by the Holy Spirit.  They came to John burdened, they left unburdened and made free by the power of the Holy Spirit.  This message was not to be missed.

So many modern preachers believe it is their duty, their responsibility, to reach the hearts of their listeners.  But it is not.  They offer only words.  It is the Holy Spirit that turns those simple words in the ears of the listener into life altering musings from the very throne of God Himself.  Empowered by the Holy Spirit, the listener is willing to give up his sins, begin his life over, and lay everything at the altar of our God.  They come burdened but leave free.  They come burdened but leave with a sense of hope.  No modern preacher accomplishes this feat, but the Holy Spirit cannot be denied in doing it. 

The difference between the results from one sermon to another is not the skill of the preacher, but the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to the listeners.  The preacher already knows the truth.  The listeners are revealed the Truth in a deeper way ONLY by the Holy Spirit, or not at all.  The preacher’s blessing is to offer the testimony of what Jesus has done for him.  The preacher is honored to participate.  But it is the Holy Spirit who drives ALL the results, not just some of them.  How often has the Holy Spirit been stifled, because the minister believes he can do it himself, with his great oratory skills, with his great PowerPoint overheads, and because he has achieved a level of fame in himself.  It is our taking the credit the stifles the flow of He who alone can accomplish what our feeble attempts never will.

Matthew has concluded his recollections of John’s ministry for the common sinners among us.  He has recited a brilliant ministry with stunning national results in changing the life of the common believer.  Israel had not seen this kind of ministry since the age of the prophets, and even they were not often focused on the common man.  This was unprecedented.  This could serve well the effort of a modern ministry or Christian as an example of public outreach.  John was steeped in humility.  John shunned all wealth, he took no offerings to support his ministry.  John was homeless.  John lived off the land and the mercy of God.  John’s ministry was blessed by the Holy Spirit.  John offered a way to become clean again.  John never called out any particular sinner’s sin, or publicly humiliated anyone.  John offered a way to be free, and many took him up on it.  John had twisted the rules of a fire and brimstone preacher quite a bit.  But this was for the common man, the common sinner, the common believer.

The message of John for the leadership of the church was something else entirely …

 

Hell Hath No Fury ...

There is an expression we sometimes use, most often associated with a woman rejected, or deceived.  But while we may like to convey the idea that the anger of a woman is no small thing, I believe the real fury the kingdom of Satan prefers is the mass casualties of war.  When Satan is able to convince us we need to kill each other (for whatever reason), he wins.  It does not matter which human side of the war wins, the idea that both sides participate, is a victory for Satan.  Murder has the same effect, but its victims are too limited for the kingdom of Satan.  Mass casualties works better for him.  And if, in those mass casualties you can end the lives of children, you have hit the satanic jackpot.  Ending the lives of the most innocent, the lives of those who had the most life left, is the best fury hell has to offer.

Every time hell gets to show us a glimpse of this fury, they rejoice, while we suffer and die.  When Jesus came to our world, it is only logical that He will be at His weakest as a baby.  If hell was going to make an attempt on His life, better sooner than later.  Herod had already determined to kill Him.  So there was already a human patsy to take the fall, and very willing to participate.  Herod was a jealous king; infantile, deranged, obsessed, and very unpredictable.  Herod was not much different than any jealous spouse has ever been, but regarding his kingdom and power, not the love of another person.  But what was to transpire was not just a random series of events.  It was foretold.  It was a look into the heart of evil, a look at the fury of hell, a revelation of how far Satan will go in his quest to kill the source of all love.

Normal people have rules.  Normal people, even ones who have committed murder, do not usually focus on babies as their preferred targets.  Babies hardly understand what is going on.  Only the parents are left with the pain of loss that cannot be comforted in this world.  But Satan has no human version of normality.  His kingdom has no limits defined by our sense of right and wrong.  Nothing is too far.  Nothing is ever wrong.  Killing babies for sport is just another entertainment venue in the kingdom hell would rule.  And Herod was about to distinctively prove this point, not just for us.  Not just to fulfill prophecy, but that the universe of witnesses could see this was no bluff, this was no test, this was and this is, who Satan is.  And if left to our embrace of sin, this is who we would become.

Matthew begins by setting the stage for the anger of Herod as his plans to kill Jesus will not be so easy to accomplish.  In chapter two of his Gospel beginning in verse 12 saying … “And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.”  The Magi or kings and nobles of the East, were warned of God to return home a different way, never to return to Herod’s courts again.  Imagine the context.  They have followed a miraculous star here for hundreds or thousands of miles.  They arrive to see Jesus.  And immediately God appears to them in a dream, protecting the life of His baby Son.  Surely this is the long waited for Messiah.  But the warnings did not end here.

Matthew continues in verse 13 saying … “And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”  The Magi leave first.  There will be no accidental witnesses to where Joseph will take his family.  Then the angel comes again to Joseph (I wonder if Joseph knew his name by now).  The angel warns them to flee into Egypt until he rescinds this warning.  Herod is bent on killing Jesus.  If Herod can find Jesus, Jesus is dead.  It will take divine protection to keep Jesus from suffering this fate whether as a baby or even as a small boy.  But what was happening was not a series of random incidents.  Even the evil of Herod was foretold, both the cause, and the effects.

Matthew continues in verse 14 saying … “When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: [verse 15] And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.”  Some timelines put this sojourn to Egypt lasting about seven years.  Over this time other siblings would be born.  Even though Joseph was a carpenter by trade, the gifts of the Magi would have gone a long way towards sustaining this young family in Egypt.  They could have secured the purchase of a home (or rental of).  They could have secured food, tools, and supplies; particularly considering the young family had little to bring with them.  But Matthew again reminds his audience that the Messiah would be called out of Egypt, as Jesus was, by the prophets ages ago.

The story of Herod and aftermath continues in verse 16 saying … “Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.”  Herod did to the people of Israel what Pharaoh had done so long ago.  Herod orders the death of all children (presumably male, but Matthew fails to make this distinction), two years and under.  In addition, this scripture expands the reach of Herod beyond Bethlehem to “all the coasts thereof”.  Herod was not going to make any mistakes of omission.   If Jesus was nearby He would be killed.  But even this evil was foreseen.

Matthew continues in verse 17 saying … “Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, [verse 18] In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.”  Matthew adds the voice of the prophet Jeremiah to the growing list of Old Testament prophecies that are fulfilled in the life of Jesus Christ.  It would appear one cannot go more than 5 or 6 verses in Matthew’s Gospel without finding a reference to prophecies of the past fulfilled in the life of Jesus Christ.  Yet even the epitaph of Herod finds prophecy to fulfill.

Matthew continues in verse 19 saying … “But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, [verse 20] Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child's life.”  The Angel of the Lord, as promised, rescinds his warning of those who sought the life of young Jesus.  I should imagine there was no parade of those paying respects at the funeral of Herod.  He had killed their children.  He was probably the most hated man in all of Israel.  That comes when you kill kids.  But even in this infamy there is no place of honor for Herod in the kingdom of Satan.  Satan does not grant honor, only apathy.  Satan has no heroes, only those he would kill again and again.  Such is the fury of hell.

Matthew continues in verse 21 saying … “And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. [verse 22] But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee: [verse 23] And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.”  Even the unplanned responses are chronicled in prophecy.  Joseph was to return to Bethlehem, but fear kept him from doing so.  Joseph who had so often heard the voice of the Angel of the Lord, as they return, loses trust in that voice and turns aside to Galilee, to Nazareth to be precise.

This was not God’s intended plan, but it is what Joseph did.  What might have been different for Jesus if He had returned to Bethlehem.  Would His acceptance by the leaders of the religion been better if Jesus had been closer, and a full-time resident of the City of David?  The Angel did not instruct Joseph to do as he did, fear caused that action.  It was unplanned, even from the perspective of Joseph.  But it was still prophesied about and cited by Matthew.  Fleeing to Egypt was a result of the fury of hell.  Returning and winding up in Nazareth was a response of fear.  How often do we respond in fear, no matter the assurances of our God?  How often do those responses wind up making our lives worse, instead of better?

This was to end the Gospel of the Hebrews regarding the topic of early years of Jesus.  As Matthew would continue writing, he would jump ahead to the ministry of John the Baptist.  Much is lost to us of these formative years.  We assume Jesus kept His hair in the style of the Nazarene’s.  We assume He was taken to Passover every year.  We know about His encounter with the Temple Priests when He was twelve years old.  But Matthew covers none of this.  Perhaps because these events were not as prominent in prior prophecies.  Perhaps Matthew was more interested in tying the Old with the New, and stories of the childhood of Jesus would not facilitate that goal as well.  In any case the Gospel of the Hebrews was nowhere near an end …

 

Third-Party Verification ...

We use E-Verify to help others be certain we are who we say we are; and we are eligible to work in our United States.  We have documentation like our driver’s licenses, our birth certificates, our social security cards to provide further evidence.  Our systems are built to trust paperwork.  Our systems nearly always require the word of a witness to that same paperwork.  But just the “word” of someone else, is rarely enough.  Even when that person claims to be our best friend, having known us our entire life.  A parent’s “word” is also rarely effective.  Mom and Dad can rarely help establish who we are, and our right to work in this country must require something beyond the words of those who know us.  Our identities hinge on documents like passports and birth certificates to make us solid.  In a digital age this trend will only continue.  The “person” of who we are gives way to the digital footprint of who we are.  And while the means have changed, this method was no less effective in the days of Jesus.

Matthew is determined to illuminate the Old through the life of the New in Jesus Christ.  From His ancestry to His birth Matthew begins to tie the prophetic of the Old, with the reality of the New.  Matthew does not just do this through a first-person account of what he himself has witnessed and been told; but he does this through a careful comparison of scripture and its fulfillment in Jesus.  The documentation trail is set in motion.  The audience Matthew is determined to witness to through his Gospel, will be quick to argue with only the words or opinions of Matthew.  But that same audience will be slow to discount the prophecies of Isaiah, or of David.  When the prophets of Old, the prophets of ancient days begin to speak: the penitent become reverent and listening becomes an art.  The documentation of scripture begins to validate the circumstances of the life of Jesus Christ.

But the gospel of Old is not constricted to the land of Judea and the city of Jerusalem.  As much as a proud Jewish nation might have wished it to be so; the disobedience of the past planted seeds of a Messiah in lands of captivity.  Yet before the Babylonian captivity would spread the gospel of a Messiah to every nation in the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar; King David would pray for his son Solomon, and without realizing it, would prophecy of the coming Messiah.  The reference can be found in the book of Psalms in chapter 72.  David begins by asking for blessings, and then transitions into what the coming of Messiah will be like.  Verse 4 speaks of the salvation of the “needy” and of breaking in pieces the oppressor (arguably Satan, not Rome as the Jews would misinterpret).  Verse 10 however is what Matthew is intent upon focusing on now.  Verse 10 speaks of the … “the kings of Tarshish, and of the isles, shall bring Him presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.”  It follows in verse 11 … “Yea, all kings shall fall down before Him”. 

So, years after David sleeps with his fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, captivity does what an informed people would not; it spreads the gospel.  Nebuchadnezzar and Darius both make proclamations that the God of Daniel shall be worshipped throughout the land.  The scriptures would be copied in pristine form and sent to the far corners of the earth.  Every nation would be exposed to the Jewish faith.  Every nation would hear the prophecies of the coming Messiah.  And some of them, would be led by the Holy Spirit to know the truth of the mission of the coming King; a mission of redemption from our slavery to sin.  There would be converts in the East who were not looking for a solution to the Roman problem.  Those converts only awaited the longed-for hope of the ages, the promise handed down since Adam and Eve, soon to arrive in the land promised to those who first sought our God. 

The people of the east were not distracted by the religious power brokers in Jerusalem.  They did not need to submit to a central religious authority.  Their wisdom was given of the Holy Spirit, and their own interpretation of scripture and of the prophecies was correct.  In addition, they were given a sign in the heavens to reward their faith.  This symbol would lead them to the baby they had so long waited for, and so long hoped for.  It was a sign that they would follow, coming out of all the major lands of the East, where the hope of the Messiah had not been given over to misinterpretation.  Each night the star would lead them West.  As they traveled their company grew.  More and more of the wisest men would join, bringing gifts fit for the Giver of all Things.  This story was a reality of the New that was foretold by David in the Old, and Matthew was determined to share it.  Only Matthew would ever reveal these facts.

In chapter two of the Gospel of the Hebrews, Matthew writes beginning in verse 1 saying … “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, [verse 2] Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.”  Imagine the disconnect.  The company of kings from the east, the wise and noble men who had journeyed so far, have finally arrived at the city of Jerusalem.  They expected to find it a-buzz with excitement and delight as the time of the Savior’s birth had arrived.  The star in the heavens had led them here, after hundreds, and perhaps even thousands of miles, they were here at the center of it all.  They had arrived at the city center of where the worship of the Messiah was to take place.  And the only ones excited about it, were them.  Everyone else was completely unaware.  Everyone else was oblivious.  Even the priests were dead to the idea.  This day was like every other for the people of the Messiah.  No one knew, no one seemed to care.

How could this be possible?  How could people not born to this, actually care about it more than people who were raised with it from birth?  Perhaps the better question is, are we repeating the very same behavior today?  People raised in an Advent movement, a movement spanning many protestant churches and generations; that the time of His second returning was near at hand, have grown tired and asleep at the wheel.  New converts seem more excited about this than we do.  New converts seem to experience Jesus in a way us long-timers seem to have never experienced.  And we, like our Jewish forefathers, who claim to worship in the right churches, doing it the right way, have lost all passion for the soon coming of His return.  We have collectively decided that “soon” is a relative term, and frankly does not elicit much response in us.  Just like the deadbeats the Magi found in Jerusalem; people who have a real relationship with Jesus find in us.  The same responses, the same apathy.  This day is just like the last one, just like the next one.

The effects of a centrally controlled religion seem to have chilled the passion for God, then and now.  It takes an uproar to finally elicit a response.  Matthew continues in verse 3 saying … “When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. [verse 4] And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.”  The Magi were determined, excited, and not going home, or giving up.  They made such a commotion.  They awoke an apathetic people from their malaise.  Even the King heard about this, and demanded to know an answer.  Ironically, he demanded to know something, from the source who should have known it, should have cared about it, but were keeping largely silent.  No one can imagine why, at least the group of nobles from the East could not imagine.

Matthew continues in verse 5 saying … “And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, [verse 6] And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.”  Think of the context of this for a minute.  The same star that guides the kings of the east to Jesus is visible to anyone else who looks up at night.  The star had to be low enough to earth to provide guidance, and bright enough from earth to outshine other objects.  It moved slow enough and settled where it needed to.  Jews could have seen this.  Jews might have been just a bit curious.  But even in the face of an astronomical miracle, the leadership of the church seems totally unconcerned.

Then think about the context of preparation.  The Magi have traveled great distances in time to witness a miraculous birth.  They have prepared extensively.  They were not planning on just picking up some trinket at the last minute at the airport and giving that to Jesus.  They brought great wealth a great distance, guarding it, hiding it, and carrying it with them.  They were prepared as they could be.  The priests, who knew this answer, and could see this star, made ZERO preparations.  No one was looking for Jesus.  Literally NO ONE, except a group of kings from the east, representing nearly every nation outside of Israel touched by the message of the Messiah.  No preparation at all by those who claim His name.  The people of Jerusalem were actually “troubled” by what these kings were saying.  Imagine the new guys were aggravating the old guys with their incessant excitement and anticipation.  And it is not as if anyone started preparations late, still nothing got done.

But Herod had his own ideas on this topic.  Matthew continues in verse 7 saying … “Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. [verse 8] And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.”  Here is where the crafty old king gets lazy.  Instead of sending his own guy with this delegation to report back, Herod decides to trust these kings will report back as ordered.  And in fairness, they would have done just that without the interference of God to redirect them to another path home.  Herod, it would appear though, is the only one making preparations.  He is preparing to kill the competition for his own throne.  It does not matter that a child born then would take long enough to grow up that Herod was not really threatened at all.  Despite the star, despite the kings from the east, despite scripture and prophecy; Herod is intent on killing Jesus at the get go.

Matthew continues in verse 9 saying … “When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. [verse 10] When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.”  Witness the disconnect once again.  The kings continue to follow the star, which incidentally goes to Bethlehem as predicted in scripture.  The kings of the east are again elated at these events.  The star moving forward again coming to rest over the new baby and His mother; are earth shattering events of joy for this delegation from the nations of the East.  And yet Matthew records not a single Jew joining the delegation, or sharing in the great joy of the arrival of the Messiah.  The eastern kings entered Jerusalem, stirred up quite the commotion with their questions and their implications and news, and yet once they leave, all the deadbeats go right back to their lives without the slightest change.  Are we any different?

Then must come the fulfillment of the documentation, the witness to it, the third-party verification of the authenticity of who Jesus is.  Matthew concludes this section in verse 11 saying … “And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.”  David said the kings of the East would fall before Him, and bring Him presents.  And the fulfillment of scripture is retold by Matthew in his Gospel.  Years before the captivity, the servant of God prays for his son, and prophecies of events that would take years further to come to pass.  Babylonian and Persian edicts, copies of scriptures, the leading of the Holy Spirit, a journey of great distances following a star of miracles, and a virgin who has recently given birth to the Messiah.  The culmination of these things provide a testimony, a verification of who Jesus is.

E-Verify is not this accurate.  No documentation we have in place today can coordinate itself over centuries, generations, and thousands of miles on foot and camelback, with timing accurate to a week.  As far as third party verification systems go, this one was in a category of its own.  In modern Christianity, we assume it was only three wise men, because there were only three gifts cataloged by Matthew.  But earlier studies suggest it may have been as many as 12 representatives from just as many countries who made up the final delegation who sought to witness the birth of the Messiah.  But these men we call Magi returned to their native homelands and their faith did not die on this journey.  It was affirmed.  The good news of the gospel was spread far and wide in the East long before disciples could carry it there.  It has been suggested that even as far as the Mongol empire where Genghis and Kublai Khan would emerge that Christianity held roots with no benefit of missionaries beyond the descendants of the Magi who sought the baby Jesus so long ago. 

Uncorrupted from a set of religious leaders who sought only control, the Magi would return home spreading only the good news that the Messiah had come.  God was with man.  The salvation of our souls, of the “needy” as David had identified was upon us.  The Magi had the benefit of the prophecy of David, combined with the witness of their own eyes.  Their passion could not be squelched.  Ask yourself, are you the passionate convert troubling the hearts of the established believers; or are you troubled by the questions you hear today by those who seem to seek only the love of Jesus …

 

Conditions of Birth ...

There is no greater joy in the mob, than to condemn sin in others, particularly a public sin.  The mob is not interested in redemption; nor is it interested in forgiveness.  The mob claims interest only in justice.  But more often, the mob is only really interested in vengeance and humiliation.  If this were an old west movie, and the town’s people were chasing some criminal, it might be more tolerable.  But when the mob is a religious one, the first goal is to make everyone aware of the sin of its target.  The second goal is to see that the sinner is punished appropriately for what they have done.  The mob holds itself guiltless no matter the truth.  The mob holds itself as arbiter of the will of God.  The mob believes its actions are only just and deserved, and perhaps it even has a point.  But this is not the story of our God, or the story of His plan, for His plan redeems that which does not deserve redemption.  Our God forgives that which should not be forgiven.  Our God transforms the life of the guilty sinner into one of passionate love for others that makes obedience not only possible, but the lowest rung upon which to measure success.

Our modern Christians too often equate with the mob.  Our American idealism understands frontier justice, even if we personally do not participate in it.  We look on public sinners like Anthony Weiner and decide that his repeated behaviors are proof that he is not really sorry, and will do it again, the minute he has a chance.  Getting caught appears to be the only thing he is sorry for, as many a sinner will be in “the day of punishment at the end of all things”.  If mob justice were to arise, even our modern Christian churches would somehow sympathize.  We do not appreciate those with sexual sins.  We appreciate even less the ones who get caught and parade their weaknesses in public.  And when the sinner impacts the life of a child, our tolerance completely vanishes, and only our sense of justice emerges.  And so even where there is no pitchforks and lanterns on the streets, there is still an equal sentiment in the hearts of those watching the news in their living rooms, who call themselves followers of Jesus.

So what is the just punishment for sexting with anyone, let alone a minor, from a religious perspective?  The quick answer is a pending trip to the fires of hell, but that seems rather far off, and not immediate enough to satiate the crowd here.  In Biblical times there was no concept of sexting.  Photography itself would take many centuries to appear.  And electronic transmission of images in an instant across thousands of miles was just conceptually unheard of in the days of Jesus.  But exposing oneself to others in person was something they have had since before the flood.  And women who did not turn away from such exposure but rather turned towards it with thoughts of their own, is also something that has existed since before the flood.  So while the methods may differ, the sexual sins are based largely on the same inner thoughts and outer actions. 

For a member of the right religion (the Jewish faith) to find herself pregnant prior to marriage was a pretty terrific and dangerous sin for her.  Since the Jewish faith was very much a male dominated society, the penalties for the men seemed to have largely dissipated, but the penalities for the women in such conditions were as sharp as they ever were.  The woman would be stoned.  Now for your average woman who was not officially known as a prostitute, options were limited.  A fiancée such as Mary was, engaged to a good man like Joseph, had few if any.  From the mob’s point of view, if Mary was caught cheating on Joseph, stoning would be in her future.  If however, Mary and Joseph just jumped the gun a little on the wedding date, and got pregnant a bit earlier than was planned, this could be forgiven as long as neither party was cheating in any of this.

But Matthew had a problem.  Matthew was writing his gospel from a very traditional Hebrew perspective.  His audience would care very much about the conditions of the birth of Jesus.  They may have accepted His ancestry as being from the lineage of David and Abraham.  But there were a lot of questions swirling around the birth of Jesus Himself.  Was Mary a slut or not?  Joseph was obviously a good devout man, but the Pharisees made a ton of innuendo about Mary being a full-on-slut, caught with her pants down so to speak, and Jesus being born a bastard at best.  How could a bastard ever be the Messiah?  The penalties were clear, and the mob was ready to pounce.  This was the mindset of the audience that Matthew was determined to share the Gospel with.  Matthew must unite Old and New Testaments.  If He could not, the one or the other was a lie.  Could God lie?

Matthew lays out the conditions of birth picking up in chapter one and verse 18 saying … “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.”  Matthew dives right in from his audience’s perspective, the problem was clear.  Mary was engaged to Joseph.  But before the two of them could come together as husband and wife (in effect before Joseph “knew” Mary in ancient terms).  Mary was found to be with child of the Holy Ghost.  Mary was pregnant.  Mary was showing.  It’s not like Mary could go around her home town advertising that the Holy Spirit had come to her explaining all this in advance.  Who would believe her?  Who would believe any girl who claimed to not only have heard the voice of the Holy Spirit, but was getting pregnant from the Holy Spirit?  That was crazy town talk.  So she kept silent.  The gospel was shared with Mary, but fear kept it locked up inside, until the evidence of the gospel could not be overlooked.

Matthew continues in verse 19 saying … “Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.”  The problem continues.  While Mary knew the gospel of the Messiah was now developing in her womb, not even her fiancée knew it.  Joseph could see the evidence of pregnancy.  Joseph could see the evidence of her unfaithfulness.  Mary must have cheated on him as that was the only way this condition could have emerged.  Some men would have led the mob with pitchforks and stones.  Some men would have slinked away and let the mob do its own justice unable to watch the outcome.  But Joseph was of a mind to forgive Mary, preserve her life, but put her away, and never trust her again.  Joseph would preserve the life of mother and child that was not his, but the life he had planned was over.  This was to be private pain for Joseph, private distrust, private betrayal.  He must take responsibility for this sin he did not commit with the outside mob, but the life that was destroyed on the inside was his.

Matthew continues in verse 20 stating … “But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.”  The Gospel was now declared by an Angel of God in a dream to Joseph.  There was no arguing.  There was no doubts.  Mary had not deceived or betrayed him, Mary was faithful to Joseph.  This baby was conceived by the Holy Spirit.  But wait a minute.  If no man was the father, that left only one choice for who was the father.  It had to be the Father God.  If the Father God was the father, then this son would be a Son of His.  Joseph would be raising God as his own son.  The life Joseph had thought to preserve was now the only life that could preserve his own.  The forgiveness Joseph was of a mind to grant Mary and her baby, could only be granted by the baby to Joseph.  The responsibility was enormous.  He was not equipped to raise God.  What do you even call God?

Matthew continues in verse 21 saying … “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.”  There it is.  There is the Gospel in a single sentence.  Call Him Jesus.  The Mission of this Messiah, of the only and true Messiah, will not be the ascendency of His own power.  It will not be a mission of condemnation for those who are plainly guilty.  Instead, this Jesus, will save His people from their sins.  It remains so today.  We are not called only to forgiveness.  We are not called only to grace.  We are called to be transformed by a love that creates passion in us for others and none for ourselves.  We are called to be saved from our sins, freed from them, freed from our slavery to them.  We are not saved from the devil.  We are saved from ourselves.  We are saved from the creatures we have become.  Salvation is salvation from us.  This is the mission of the Messiah, of our Messiah, and of theirs.  There is no mob in this message.  There is no justice in it, only mercy, for mercy has outdone justice due to love.  And none are immune from it.  Even those caught in repeated sin, horrific sin, public sin.  All can be saved from who they are.  All they need is Jesus.

These were the conditions of birth.  This is how Jesus came to be.  These are the facts of it.  But how does this tie back to what was foretold?  Matthew continues in verse 22 saying … “Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, [verse 23] Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”  These are not just the words of Matthew spoken after they have occurred.  The God of our scriptures was the same God from before the arrival of Jesus.  Matthew quotes the very prophet Isaiah to his audience.  Isaiah was given the foresight to prophecy these words centuries before they would be fulfilled.  But they were fulfilled in Jesus.  This Gospel of the Hebrews will be a series of prophecies of Old fulfilled in the New, fulfilled in embodiment of Jesus Christ.

The audience of Matthew might be willing to argue with Matthew.  They may not like his words, or his former profession.  But Isaiah was revered.  Isaiah was sacrosanct.  No one dare argue with Isaiah, and Isaiah said it would occur just like it has occurred.  The Pharisees were wrong.  The leaders of the right religion were wrong.  Isaiah had said it, and it occurred.  Mary was not a slut, she was honored and her virginity intact at conception.  God is with us.  God, the very God of the entire Old Testament was with us.  Here with us.  How could it get any better than this?  And the religious leaders of the right religion pissed it away.  They did not only squander the opportunity.  They attempted and succeeded (for a moment) at cutting it short by killing the very author of their own religion.  This is what control does to a Jesus who asks us to abandon it to Himself.

But this condition was not just to be documented for conception, Isaiah words were to last for the entire pregnancy and carry even more weight.  Matthew continues in verse 24 saying … “Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: [verse 25] And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.”  Joseph did as the Angel instructed.  He not only forgave Mary who needed no forgiveness, he embraced her as his wife as a full partner in the life he had envisioned.  But he also preserved her virginity until AFTER the birth of Jesus.  Only then did He come to “know” Mary as her husband.  Mary was not a slut.  Nor was she some sort of aberrant depiction of the goddess Diana, or some moon goddess, or some picture of perpetual virginity.  She was his wife.  After a virgin birth, she was his partner, and the object of his sexual expression.  And they had other children who were siblings of Jesus.  They were a family.  A human family tasked with raising God among them.

There would be no mob mentality to deal with “sins” that were not even sins.  The judgment of humanity is not judgment at all, it is only condemnation of what they cannot understand.  The sins we commit are never right, or excused; only forgiven.  Our chains to them, our desires to do them, are what Jesus came to save us from.  The entire Gospel summed up in one sentence.  He came to “save” His people from their sins.  Not to excuse them in perpetuity.  He came to change the lives of those who are in bondage to sins.  He came to make us different.  He came to remove from us the things that must be removed if perfection is ever to be our result.  Obedience is not a precondition of our salvation.  Obedience is a evidentiary result of our salvation.  It cannot occur until transformation of who we are occurs.  This is what Jesus came to do.  No mobs need ever form.  Redemption and reclamation is His only goal.

Matthew had made his first foray into tying the Old with the New.  But this was far from finished …