A Word about the Son of Redemption

 Today I want to share a word about the Son of Redemption as I comment on Micah 5:1-9.

Today we will continue in a series that I am calling “An Old Testament Christmas.”  In this series we first looked at Psalm 2, and we saw that Jesus was the Son of Laughter. In Malachi 3, we also saw Jesus as the Son of Judgment, not only coming to execute God’s righteous wrath on human sin but also coming out of God’s love to refine us and make our offering suitable to God. Today, we will see Jesus as the Son of Redemption.

One of the most common tropes in literature is the redemption story arc, in which a character, typically initially villainous or morally ambiguous, undergoes a transformation and becomes a hero or better person through significant selfless acts or moral choices. A great example of this is Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. Another is the Grinch in How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The character of Buttercup in The Princess Bride is a third, and Coach Bill Yoast in Remember the Titans is a fourth.

The fact is, it is very difficult, even impossible, for an evil or callow person to change their ways. That’s why Jesus said it was easier for a camel to pass through an eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter heaven.  Jesus, however, is the Son of Redemption, and He specializes in redeeming impossible circumstances. Let’s read Micah 5:1-9.

Now, daughter who is under attack, you slash yourself in grief; a siege is set against us! They are striking the judge of Israel on the cheek with a rod. Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are small among the clans of Judah; One will come from you to be ruler over Israel for Me. His origin is from antiquity, from eternity.  Therefore, He will abandon them until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of His brothers will return to the people of Israel. He will stand and shepherd them in the strength of Yahweh, in the majestic name of Yahweh His God. They will live securely, for then His greatness will extend to the ends of the earth. He will be their peace. When Assyria invades our land, when it marches against our fortresses, we will raise against it seven shepherds, even eight leaders of men. They will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword, the land of Nimrod with a drawn blade.  So He will rescue us from Assyria when it invades our land, when it marches against our territory. Then the remnant of Jacob will be among many peoples like dew from the Lord, like showers on the grass, which do not wait for anyone or linger for mankind. Then the remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, among many peoples, like a lion among animals of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep, which tramples and tears as it passes through, and there is no one to rescue them. Your hand will be lifted up against your adversaries and all your enemies will be destroyed.

Redemption Prescribed:

Redemption stories begin with a character who is evil or morally ambiguous. In each of the movies I mentioned the character who was eventually redeemed fits that mold.

In terms of evil characters, Scrooge and the Grinch were plainly evil. Scrooge was what we would call a money grubber. He was greedy for material possessions, but he never learned to enjoy them. Too much was not enough for him. Of course, the Grinch had a very small heart, and he hated seeing anyone expressing joy.

In terms of morally ambiguous characters, Buttercup was a self-absorbed and self-important young woman. Coach Bill Yoast had been replaced by the character played by Denzel Washington, for whom he now worked. It would have been just fine with him had the Denzel character fallen flat on his face.

Here’s the issue we must understand. It doesn’t matter if you are wholly evil, or just a little evil. It doesn’t matter if you are a Hitler-like figure, or just a corrupt local politician. It doesn’t matter if you try to destroy a rival’s life or simply find delight when that one stumbles and falls. It doesn’t matter if you are a cold-blooded murderer, killing another’s body, or just a cold-hearted betrayer, killing another’s soul. All of these are sinful, and all of them show that we have fallen far short of God and His righteous perfection.

We are all familiar with the volume dial on a radio. An analogue dial can be adjusted infinitely, from a small whisper to an overwhelming din. Many people see their sin that same way. From this perspective, even if maximum volume is too much, there is a setting on the volume dial that is comfortable, not too soft, and not too loud, but just right! A little white lie here, or a little indiscretion there, doesn’t hurt anybody. It’s all good, right? Well, no. it isn’t.

In God’s sight, and in God’s economy, evil is a digital fact. Either you are evil, or you are not evil. No in-between state exists. And, if you are evil, you are banned from God’s sight and banned from His favor. Micah 5:3 is just one of many Bible verses that describe how hopeless we are in our natural, sinful state. God turns His back on those who refuse to repent of their sin.

When we are sick, and especially when we are sick to the point of death, we go to our medical doctors, and we hope and pray that they have a prescription for what ails us. Most of the time they do, but those medicines only work if we take them as prescribed. The answer for our spiritual sickness, which is, without a doubt a sickness unto death, is the prescription of redemption, which is applied to our lives for us. Unlike our drug prescriptions, God’s redemption prescription works every time when it is applied to our spiritual ills!

Redemption Predicted:

In our last time together, we saw that God gave us plenty of warning about the coming judgment. Angels, prophets, the world around us, the scribes of God’s Word, and even God Himself in person, all revealed to us the truth of judgment for sin in the face of God’s perfect righteousness. This is not the case in most redemption stories. 

Usually, a redemption story arc devotes much, if not most, of the plot to establishing how evil or how callow a character is. Their redemption is found over a long period of time, incrementally, again like the analogue volume dial of a radio, little by little. God’s plan for redemption was predicted from the very beginning of our need for redemption.

Genesis 3:14-15 says,

Then the Lord God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, you are cursed more than any livestock and more than any wild animal. You will move on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life. I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.

Most evangelical theologians point to this passage, in the earliest chapters of the first book of the Bible, as a prediction of what happened on Calvary. This, of course, was not the only prediction of the Son of Redemption. We see another prediction in our focal passage today, a very specific prediction that came true when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. 

In fact, the Old Testament contains over three hundred prophecies about Jesus coming for the redemption of His people. Some of these prophecies are found in our Scriptures for today but there are many others:

• Genesis 3:15 – The “seed of the woman” crushing the serpent’s head.
• Isaiah 7:14 – Born of a virgin, called Immanuel.
• Micah 5:2 – Messiah born in Bethlehem.
• Zechariah 9:9 – Triumphal entry on a donkey.
• Psalm 22 – Pierced hands and feet, casting lots for garments.
• Isaiah 53 – The Suffering Servant, “pierced for our transgressions.”

Professor Peter Stoner of Westmont College had his math students calculate the odds of one person fulfilling the eight most well-known Messianic prophecies, and the result was 1 in 10 to the 17th power, which is 1 followed by 17 0’s. To help us understand this number, Stoner gave us an illustration:

• Imagine 10^17 silver dollars spread across the state of Texas. They would cover the entire state two feet deep.
• Mark one coin, mix the coins thoroughly, and ask a blindfolded person to pick one.
• The odds of picking the marked coin are the same as one person fulfilling those 8 prophecies.

And that was just eight prophecies, not three hundred!

Our God does not hide from us, and from the very beginning we see redemption predicted, from Gensis to the birth of God’s Son in Bethlehem to the Cross and to the Second Coming of the Son of Redemption.

Redemption Personified:

Most often in a redemption story arc, the positive changes that occur in the evil or callow protagonist are the result of an intervention by a person. In A Christmas Carol we see that part played by the ghosts of Christmas. The Grinch’s heart grew three times when he witnessed the true Christmas Spirit of the citizens of Whoville. Buttercup was rescued and was redeemed by Wesley, and the leadership skill of the Denzel Washington character had a positive impact on Coach Bill Yoast.

Note how none of those characters were changed by a self-help program or by self-reflection, or by any other circumstances of life. They were all changed, they were all transformed, they were all redeemed by their interaction with persons. This same thing is true for us when we confront our own need for redemption. 

Like all those characters I mentioned, we can’t do it alone. We need a redeemer. So, who might that redeemer be? 

Why, the Son of Redemption, of course!  Isaiah 7:13-14 says,  

Isaiah said, “Listen, house of David! Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men? Will you also try the patience of my God? Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel.

When our God looked down upon our lives, He saw our sin, and He saw our troubles. He also saw our inability to change for the better and He saw our inability to overcome our own limitations. He decided to act.

We have all heard the saying, “If you want a job done right, you have to do it yourself.” This is certainly true when it came to redeeming humanity from the mess we made of our lives. God Himself came to do the job rightly.

How do I know God came as the Son of Redemption? Isaiah just told us. The name Immanuel means, “God with us.” Our God comes to be with His people, and He always has done so.

• God was with Adam and Eve in the Garden.
• God was with the Children of Israel in the cloud of smoke and the pillar of fire.
• God was with Elijah in the still small voice, and He was also with Him on Mount Carmel.
• God was with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace.
• God was with Daniel in the Lion’s Den.
• God came to be with us and save us through the Son of Redemption
• God will be with us when He comes back for us on the Day of the Lord

We probably all know the song by Bonnie Tyler with the chorus that says, 

I need a hero

I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night

He's gotta be strong, and he's gotta be fast

And he's gotta be fresh from the fight

I need a hero (hero)

I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light

He's gotta be sure, and it's gotta be soon

And he's gotta be larger than life, larger than life

We all need a larger-than-life hero to save us, and that hero came in the form of the Son of Redemption!

Now, let’s remind ourselves of what happened with the Son of Redemption came to us. Micah 5:4-9 tells us, 

He will stand and shepherd them in the strength of Yahweh, in the majestic name of Yahweh His God. They will live securely, for then His greatness will extend to the ends of the earth. He will be their peace. When Assyria invades our land, when it marches against our fortresses, we will raise against it seven shepherds, even eight leaders of men. They will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword, the land of Nimrod with a drawn blade.  So He will rescue us from Assyria when it invades our land, when it marches against our territory. Then the remnant of Jacob will be among many peoples like dew from the Lord, like showers on the grass, which do not wait for anyone or linger for mankind. Then the remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, among many peoples, like a lion among animals of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep, which tramples and tears as it passes through, and there is no one to rescue them. Your hand will be lifted up against your adversaries and all your enemies will be destroyed.

Redemption Provided:

First, redemption is provided by the shepherd who was sent by God. There is only one Good Shepherd: Jesus, as John 10:7-18 tells us,

So Jesus said again, “I assure you: I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired man, since he is not the shepherd and doesn’t own the sheep, leaves them and runs away when he sees a wolf coming. The wolf then snatches and scatters them. This happens because he is a hired man and doesn’t care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know My own sheep, and they know Me, as the Father knows Me, and I know the Father. I lay down My life for the sheep. But I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will listen to My voice. Then there will be one flock, one shepherd. This is why the Father loves Me, because I am laying down My life so I may take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down on My own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from My Father.”

When we yield to the Good Shepherd and become a member of His flock many good blessings come our way. Our passage today reveals just a few of them to us.

First, the Good Shepherd stands up for us in the strength of Yahweh God. 

Few of us will ever be like David, having to stand in the face of a literal giant, but all of us have giants in our lives that oppress us. Some of them come from within, issues like doubt and fear, or medical problems. Others come from our families, like relationship issues or a loved one’s own problems. Many of them come from outside our lives and families, like economic or legal issues, or from living in a culture hostile to our beliefs and our way of life based on those beliefs. We look around and cry “I need a hero,” but what we need is a shepherd who will stand up for us. We need the Good Shepherd.

Next, when we yield to the Good Shepherd and become a member of His flock, He brings us peace because He becomes our peace. 

Peace is not a state of mind, peace is a commitment to a person, the Good Shepherd. We will see more of that on Christmas Eve, but again, let me remind you about what Jesus had to say about peace. In John 14:27, He said to His disciples,

Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Your heart must not be troubled or fearful. 

Lastly, when we yield to the Good Shepherd and become a member of His flock, we enjoy an abundant life. This abundant life comes to us because of the peace provided to us by the power of the Good Shepherd.

As you may remember, my family served as missionaries in Africa, which is a place rich in natural resources and labor, but which has a sadly underdeveloped economy. The reason for this is that Africa is an unstable place, politically, militarily, and socially. Few corporations are willing to invest large amounts of money or effort there, because of that instability.

Spiritually, in our natural state, we are as unstable as the African economy. We need someone to come into our lives, stabilize us, and give us the chance to have an abundant life. The only One who can do that is the Good Shepherd, who is the Son of Redemption.

Conclusion:

We may not realize it, but the story of our lives is a redemption arc. The question is not whether we need to be redeemed, but to what or to whom we are looking for that redemption. 

The Old Testament tells us that the only one who can provide us redemption is the Son of Redemption, and the New Testament agrees. The question is do we?

Merry Christmas!

Dr. Otis Corbitt

A Word about the Son of Judgment

Today, as we continue in a series that I am calling “An Old Testament Christmas”  I want to share a word about the Son of Judgment from Malachi3:1-6.

The last time we were together, we looked at Psalm 2, and we saw that Jesus was the Son of Laughter. God laughed at the feeble rebellion of the nations of the world, and He sent His son not only to judge the sin of humanity, but also to redeem us, and to guide us into living righteous and abundant lives in a daily relationship with God. Today we will continue to unpack what the Bible tells us about Jesus as the Son of Judgment. 

No one looks forward to the moment of judgment, and so we often try to make light of it. For example:

• A mother told her son who was being naughty, “You’re in big trouble. Wait until your father comes home.” The son replied, “Good, then you’ll have someone else to yell at instead of me!”
• Why don’t lawyers have a fear Judgment Day? Because they’ve been practicing for it their whole lives.
• They said Judgment Day would be a final exam. I asked, “Is it open book?” The angel replied, “Only if your book is the right one.”
• Why was the math student sad during the exam? Because it had too many problems.

The fact is, God’s judgment is a fearsome thing, and it is nothing to look forward to. On the other hand, God is love. How does He balance those characteristics? Malachi 3:1-6 gives us insight to that this Christmas.

See, I am going to send my messenger, and he will clear the way before me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to his temple, the Messenger of the covenant you delight in—see, he is coming,” says the Lord of Armies. But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will be able to stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire and like launderer’s bleach.  He will be like a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. And the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will please the Lord as in days of old and years gone by. I will come to you in judgment, and I will be ready to witness against sorcerers and adulterers; against those who swear falsely; against those who oppress the hired worker, the widow, and the fatherless; and against those who deny justice to the resident alien. They do not fear me,” says the Lord of Armies. “Because I, the Lord, have not changed, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.”

Announcing Judgment:

Few people enjoy taking tests, but it helps if the tests are fair. No one wants to take a test when the answers to the questions were not covered in class. This does happen from time to time, however. In fact, this happened to my wife. Twice, in fact.

The first time was when a professor in her master’s program included questions on a test that came from the captions of photos and diagrams in the textbook. Yes, everyone was supposed to read the textbook, but her professor never pointed out the importance of those images to the class.  She did well on that test, but to her, taking questions from captions seemed unfair, and rightly so.

The second time this happened was when my wife was taking her comprehensive exam to graduate with her Educational Specialist (six-year) degree. The instructions she was given was to study all her notes and textbooks and then take the exam. Several questions on the exam had never been covered by any of her classes or professors, and she had no clue how to answer them. Again, she did pass her exam, but she was very frustrated about this as a professional educator. To her, that procedure was a glaring failure of educational theory from an institution which was supposed to be teaching her educational theory!

Our God is a just God, and He will never hold us responsible for something we have never heard about. In fact, God has sent us many messengers to tell us how to avoid judgment.

In the beginning, He walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day and taught them directly, face-to-face. He instructed them about the things that they could enjoy in the garden and the things which they must avoid. God taught them, perfectly, but they failed the test and faced judgment.

God also sent angels to teach people right from wrong and how to avoid judgment. In fact, the word “angel” means “messenger.” In the Bible, angels are always awesome figures, and they should be, because they are the ambassadors of God, revealing to people the message that God has for them. Some people, like Mary, the mother of Jesus, received the message of angels with humility and obedience. Some, like Jacob, were so arrogant that they wrestled with the messengers of God and resisted their word until the angels literally “put a hurting on them.”

God also revealed His Word to people. In our first message in this series I quoted my father, who had given me advice I had ignored, whereupon he said, “If you had done it like what I told you to, it would have worked!” He was also known to say, “If all else fails, read the instructions.” God gave us instructions about how to avoid judgment, but He would not read them for us! That was our responsibility!

Finally, and most often, God sent prophets, the men and sometimes women, who were sent to us with God’s message. They told us what God had told them, and they warned us heed their instruction. The last of these was John the Baptist, who Malachi 3:1 refers to. 

John was the last prophet of the Old Covenant, and his job was to prepare the way for the Messiah to come. Isaiah 40:3-5 describes it this way,

A voice of one crying out: Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert. Every valley will be lifted up, and every mountain and hill will be leveled; the uneven ground will become smooth and the rough places, a plain. And the glory of the Lord will appear, and all humanity together will see it, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

God has given us the answers to the test! We just need to pay attention!

Executing Judgment:

For judgment to be executed, words and actions must match. One of my favorite sayings about this comes from Alcoholics Anonymous: “If what you say and what you do don’t match, then what you say is a lie and what you do is the truth.”

If accountability without warning is wrong, then warning without accountability is also wrong. In addition, it is also ineffective. A story from my son’s work in television news is a great example of that.

A television station he once worked for was notorious for asking its field staff to work overtime to report on breaking news events in the city the station covered. At the end of every financial year the station leadership would announce that their overtime pay was too expensive, and that in the new fiscal year, overtime would be greatly curtailed to the point that it would become non-existent. That pronouncement would usually last a week or two at the most, and then the overtime assignments would return, as it nothing had ever been said. What they said, was “No more overtime.” What they did was just the opposite!

God’s actions and His Word are totally congruent. He had made a covenant with His people, beginning with Abraham. God would bless His people, and they would become a blessing to the world by taking God’s message to all peoples. 

God’s people were happy to have His blessing, but they were shy about taking His Word to the world. Therefore, God sent His Son to uphold God’s covenant with His people. He not only came to judge us, but He also came to purify us.

Being purified or refined is an excruciating process. I remember as a child having a cut or scrape that my parents would treat with Metholiade or Mercurochrome or iodine. Those treatments stung worse than the original cut or abrasion, but none of them ever became infected, either. 

Another example of the truth that the things that are good for us can be painful on the front end was the first time I received an injection for pain in my back and hip. When my doctor hit the nerve with the needle, it was like riding the lightning! I squealed like a little girl, and I almost came off the table! Once the injection was complete, however, I was pleased with the results. Not so much during it, however! 

Jesus did come to correct us, but out of God’s love for us, not out of His wrath. Proverbs 3:11-12 says,

Do not despise the Lord’s instruction, my son, and do not loathe his discipline; for the Lord disciplines the one he loves, just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights.

Jesus came to make us like silver and gold. He also came to make us suitable to give offerings acceptable to God and pass God’s test of holiness!

Witnessing Judgment:

Have you ever heard the phrase, “If you see something, say something”? This was a phrase coined in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks to encourage people to report any potential acts of terrorism that they might see. Few people in the United States would ever be in a position to witness such an event, but if someone did, advance notice to the authorities could be vital in preventing a disaster.

A group of people much more likely to witness acts of violence is the humanitarian aid group, Doctors Without Borders. This is the group that sends medical personnel into war-torn areas of the world and into places where humanitarian disasters are happening. From the beginning, one of the major emphases of Doctors Without Borders has been to bear witness and to publicize what their personnel have seen as they responded to crises. This has led many governments around the world to condemn them as a political group; in some ways that is correct, and what they intend to be.

When our God looks down upon our lives, He sees them as they are. He does not avert His eyes from our sin, nor does He avert His eyes away from our troubles. Exodus 2:23-25 says,

After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned because of their difficult labor, they cried out, and their cry for help because of the difficult labor ascended to God. God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the Israelites, and God knew.

It is one thing to see and to know, but it is another thing altogether to be able to act, and then to take action. Our God doesn’t just see, but He also acts! Isaiah 59:1 and 17-20 says,

Indeed, the Lord’s arm is not too weak to save, and his ear is not too deaf to hear . . .  He put on righteousness as body armor, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and he wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak. So he will repay according to their deeds: fury to his enemies, retribution to his foes, and he will repay the coasts and islands. They will fear the name of the Lord in the westand his glory in the east; for he will come like a rushing stream driven by the wind of the Lord. The Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those in Jacob who turn from transgression.” This is the Lord’s declaration.

Jesus came to redeem us from our slavery to sin and from our oppression! God always passes the test when it comes to watching out over His people!

Enduring Judgment:

One issue people must deal with is that few things are actually guaranteed in our world. We are familiar with concepts like “a limited warranty” or “terms and conditions apply.” We often take those factors into consideration when we buy a product. For example, the length of a warranty may help us to decide to purchase a particular automobile. Sometimes, these deals are not as good as you might expect them to be.

Early in our marriage, we had the brakes replaced on our car by at a shop which presented itself as being part of a national auto repair chain. This chain was famous for providing a life-time warranty for parts and labor if anything went wrong with a car’s brakes. They even gave us a very impressive certificate to document this “life-time warranty for as long as you own your car” which I carefully stored away if needed in the future.

Later, after we moved to another state, we had problems with our brakes, and we took our car into local shop from that same nationwide chain. To our chagrin, we found that our warranty was not valid in that state. It seems that the franchisee in the previous state did not have an agreement with the franchisee in our current state, and our “nationwide life-time warranty for as long as you own your car” was worthless.

We have very few things we can rely upon in our world, and only one thing we can rely upon in this world and the next. That one is God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Holy and Unchangeable God of the Universe. Hebrews 13:5-8 tells us,

Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.  Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.

The coming of Jesus, His sinless life, His atoning death, His victorious resurrection, and His triumphant return for us on the Day of the Lord clearly demonstrate that God passes the test of time and that we can trust Him with our past, our present, and our future!

Conclusion:

The Day of the Lord will come and none of us will be able to stand in our own right and on our own works on that day. As Malachi 3:2 asks, 

“But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will be able to stand when he appears?”

Malachi answered that for us, but we can also see that answer expressed this way in Isaiah 4:28-31,

Do you not know? Have you not heard? Yahweh is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth. He never grows faint or weary; there is no limit to His understanding. He gives strength to the weary and strengthens the powerless. Youths may faint and grow weary, and young men stumble and fall, but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint.

The Day of the Lord will be a horrible day for many, but not for those in Christ! Praise His name for that!

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt

A Word about the Son of Laughter

 Today I want to share a word about the Son of Laughter as I comment on the 2nd Psalm.

This will launch us into a new series that I am calling “An Old Testament Christmas.”  You might be familiar with the phrase, “An Old-Fashioned Christmas,” but that is not this. So why an Old Testament Christmas?

Because we have the entire canon of the Bible, we forget that the Bible that Jesus and the early church had was the Old Testament. Jesus, his disciples, and the early church pastors knew that the Old Testament was perfectly sufficient to demonstrate that Jesus was the Uniquely Begotten Son of God, and our Messiah, who came to take away the sins of the world.

In fact, the founding of the early church did not require a written New Testament at all. Peter’s sermon on Pentecost was the first recorded Christian sermon, and in it, he quoted from Joel and Psalms. If basing his sermon about Christ on Old Testament references was good enough for Peter, then it is certainly good enough for us!

It was only later, when the eyewitnesses to Jesus began to die, that the Holy Spirit prompted Matthew, Mark, and Luke to pen their Gospels. John’s Gospel was one of the last New Testament books written, near the end of the First Century and about sixty years after the events of the first Easter. It is very helpful to us that we have the New Testament, but the Old Testament certainly tells us about the coming of Christ.

So, as we journey back in time, before the first Christmas, we begin our Old Testament Christmas at Psalm 2, where we will see the Christ Child as the Son of Laughter. 

You will remember another time in the Old Testament when a parent laughed about the birth of a child.  In Sarah’s old age, some visitors from Heaven came to greet her with the news that she would have a son, and when she heard them, she laughed. We don’t know why she laughed, but when she was confronted about this by the visitors, she denied it. Certainly, she had been hoping for a child and giving birth for her would have been a joyous event. In any case, she did conceive and gave birth to a son, Isaac, which translated means, laughter.

When discussing the ministry of His Son in Psalm 2, God also laughed, but for a different reason. Let’s look at Psalm 2, beginning with verses 1-3.

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers conspire together against the Lord and his Anointed One: “Let’s tear off their chains and throw their ropes off of us.”

The Rebellion of Nations:

One of the lasting effects of the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden is a human tendency towards arrogance. The poem “Invictus” by William Henley is a good example of our arrogance:

Out of the night that covers me, black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be for my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance my head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.

Of course, we also know how Frank Sinatra sang the song, “My Way.” The final verse declares,

For what is a man, what has he got? If not himself, then he has naught

To say the things he truly feels and not the words of one who kneels

The record shows I took the blows and did it my way!

Yes, it was my way

I can see two dimensions to this arrogance. The first is the ignorance of arrogance. We just don’t know what we don’t know, but that doesn’t stop us from coming up with our own ideas, like how the mongoose became known as one of the most invasive species on earth.

The mongoose was imported into Hawaii in the late 1800s by sugar plantation owners hoping it would control rats eating their sugarcane. In India, the mongoose is a fearsome killer of snakes, but no snakes exist in Hawaii. So, the planters thought that the mongoose would turn to killing the rats. This seems a logical plan on its face, but they didn’t know what they didn’t know. Unfortunately, because rats are nocturnal and mongooses are active during the day, the plan failed—and instead the mongoose devastated native Hawaiian wildlife.

The mongoose story is a classic cautionary tale of unintended consequences. What began as a quick fix for agriculture became a long-term ecological disaster. It underscores the danger of believing you know more than you actually do.

The other dimension of our arrogance is our opposition to God. It is one thing to stand alone in the world and declare your independence from other people. It is entirely a different thing to stand alone, or in company with other people to declare your independence from God Almighty. And yet, this is exactly what the Psalmist says that the nations of the world do.

Isaiah 17:12-14 puts it this way:

Ah! The roar of many peoples— they roar like the roaring of the seas. The raging of the nations— they rage like the rumble of rushing water. The nations rage like the rumble of a huge torrent. He rebukes them, and they flee far away, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills and like tumbleweeds before a gale. In the evening—sudden terror! Before morning—it is gone! This is the fate of those who plunder us and the lot of those who ravage us.

In the spirit of the poem by William Henley and the song by Frank Sinatra, the nations of the world stand and shake their fist in the face of God. They plot and they scheme against God, against God’s people, and against each other. They declare their independence, proclaiming, “We are going to do it our way.”  This is how Psalm 83:1-2 describes their attitude:

See how your enemies make an uproar; those who hate you have acted arrogantly. They devise clever schemes against your people; they conspire against your treasured ones.

So how does God respond? Let’s read verses 4-6:

The one enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord ridicules them. Then he speaks to them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath: “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.”

The Response of God:

How did God respond? He laughed!

Not only did God laugh, He also ridiculed the feeble efforts of people to stand up and to resist His power.

In the last days of World War II in Europe, the Allied armies were driving deeper and deeper into Germany. Because their armies were collapsing and unable to resist the advance of the Allies, Nazi mayors, in an effort to slow their progress, would require their citizens to gather everything they could find to build barricades across the roads leading into their towns. These barricades consisted of piles of furniture, barrels, wagons, and other common household items. The towns people might work all day to create these barricades, which became known as “Thirty-one Minute Roadblocks.” They were called this because when an Allied column of troops came up to them, they would laugh at them for a half-an-hour, and then it would take them about a minute to knock the barrier down!

The scheming of the nations was just as futile in the face of the Almighty God of the Universe. Jeremiah 49:19 says,

“Look, it will be like a lion coming from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered grazing land. I will chase Edom away from her land in a flash. I will appoint whoever is chosen for her. For who is like me? Who will issue me a summons? Who is the shepherd who can stand against me?”

In fact, God did not even have to act to spark fear in the hearts of the kings. All He had to do was to speak, and they would turn to Jello. This reminds me of what Rahab the Harlot told the two spies about the people of Jericho:

[She] said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and everyone who lives in the land is panicking because of you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings you completely destroyed across the Jordan. When we heard this, we lost heart, and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below.

Words have so much more power than we know. We speak, and we can crush someone’s hopes and dreams. We speak, and we can break someone’s heart. We speak, and we can inspire someone to achieve great things, or we speak, and we can inspire someone to commit acts of terrorism. If our words have this much power, the power inherent in God’s Word is beyond our human comprehension.

As powerful as His Word is, God also acted, however. Not only did He show His power by what He said, He doubled down on His wrath and anger by installing His Son as King on His holy mountain.

When the Romans conquered the Jews and put an end to the Maccabean Revolt, they built the Fortress of Antonia on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Not only was it a symbol of the Roman victory, but it also let the Romans surveil the Temple and keep tabs on what was going on there. Militarily, this was not just a flex, but it was also a wise precaution.

What the Romans did was wise, but God had this idea first. From eternity, God had planned to send His Son to be the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords, and so we can take two lessons from this:

First, any good thing we can do, God can do it better, and He did it first. 

Second, we need to pay attention to the lessons that God teaches us and apply them to our lives. He does know what He is doing! We can see His plan in verses 7-9:

I will declare the Lord’s decree. He said to me, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance and the ends of the earth your possession. You will break them with an iron scepter; you will shatter them like pottery.”

The Rule of the Son:

It was a common plan during the age of kings for a ruler to send his son to be king over a portion of his empire. The same would be true for landowners whose property was dispersed over long distances. In fact, Jesus told a parable about this very thing in Matthew 21:33-46.

Listen to another parable: There was a landowner, who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower. He leased it to tenant farmers and went away. When the time came to harvest fruit, he sent his servants to the farmers to collect his fruit. The farmers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Again, he sent other servants, more than the first group, and they did the same to them. Finally, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. “But when the tenant farmers saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?” “He will completely destroy those terrible men,” they told him, “and lease his vineyard to other farmers who will give him his fruit at the harvest.”

Jesus taught this parable to describe how He would become the sacrifice for all the sin of humanity. On the other hand, the disciples were correct about the response of the landowner. Both of these facts were revealed to David when he wrote the 2nd Psalm. God also revealed the truth about the reign of His Son to Samuel. 2 Samuel 2:10 says, 

Those who oppose the LORD will be shattered; he will thunder in the heavens against them. The LORD will judge the ends of the earth. He will give power to his king; he will lift up the horn of his anointed.

The Book of the Revelation is a harrowing account of the judgment of the King of Kings on those who oppose Him and His rule. Anyone who reads Revelation with any understanding at all would not wish that their worst enemy should experience the kinds of wrath that will be poured out upon the wicked, who, by the way, is anyone not saved by the Son. This brings us to the next vital fact: the Son not only judges, but he makes a way to escape the judgment! 2 Samuel 22:51 tells us.

He is a tower of salvation for his king; he shows loyalty to his anointed, to David and his descendants forever.

No son wants to inherit a burned-over battlefield! Jesus does not want to destroy His inheritance, but He wants to save it from its own destructive tendencies! One way for that to happen is found in verses 10-12:

So now, kings, be wise; receive instruction, you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with reverential awe and rejoice with trembling. Pay homage to the Son or he will be angry and you will perish in your rebellion, for his anger may ignite at any moment. All who take refuge in him are happy.

The Reverence of the Nations:

An old saying is that a “word to the wise is sufficient.” Sadly, we are not always wise.

I remember a time when I was working on a project around our house and I asked my father for advice. He gave me a long and detailed set of instructions about how to complete the task, which I considered with some skepticism. “Surely,” I thought, “this job can’t be that complicated.” I went my own way, leaving out some steps, and modifying others. Well, in short, it didn’t work. When I told my dad what I had (and had not) done, and how it turned out he said, “If you had done it like what I told you, it would have worked.” And he was right! 

Proverbs 1:20-33 says,

Wisdom calls out in the street; she makes her voice heard in the public squares. She cries out above the commotion; she speaks at the entrance of the city gates: “How long, inexperienced ones, will you love ignorance? How long will you mockers enjoy mocking and you fools hate knowledge? If you respond to my warning, then I will pour out my spirit on you and teach you my words. Since I called out and you refused, extended my hand and no one paid attention, since you neglected all my counsel and did not accept my correction, I, in turn, will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when terror strikes you, when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when trouble and stress overcome you. Then they will call me, but I won’t answer; they will search for me, but won’t find me. Because they hated knowledge, didn’t choose to fear the Lord, were not interested in my counsel, and rejected all my correction, they will eat the fruit of their way and be glutted with their own schemes. For the apostasy of the inexperienced will kill them and the complacency of fools will destroy them. But whoever listens to me will live securely and be undisturbed by the dread of danger.”

We often pray to receive God’s guidance, but what we need to recognize is that He is eager to give it to us, and that He already has. Paul asserted in Romans 1 that the natural world reflects God to us and reveals His will to us. Sadly, we found ways to ignore the truth that we continue to see all around us today. God could have washed His hands of us then and there, but, in His grace He did not give up on us, however.

Psalm 2, Proverbs 1, 2 Timothy 3:16, and other passages also show us that God went the extra mile to give us His own words to guide us. What we need to do is pray for the willingness to obey the guidance He has already given to us. Like my father told me years ago, “If you had done it like what I told you, it would have worked.”  God would tell us the same thing!

A childhood friend described his relationship to God this way, “I have to pray that God will give me the desire, to desire to know Him more first, before I can pray to desire Him more.” Let’s pray to God to give us the wisdom to embrace His wisdom in our lives!

Conclusion:

Psalm 2 clearly shows us that the birth of the Son of Laughter is an extension of the eternal plan of God. Jeremiah 31:31-34 says,

"Look, the days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt—my covenant that they broke even though I am their master”—the Lord’s declaration. “Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days”—the Lord’s declaration. “I will put my teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “For I will forgive their iniquity and never again remember their sin.

Christmas is a key part of God’s plan, and we can see that clearly as we celebrate an Old Testament Christmas!

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt

A Word about the Church as a Giving Creation

Today I want to share a word about the church as a giving creation and I comment on 1 Corinthinans 16:1-4.

We are coming to the end of a series about “Kingdom Qualities for God’s Church.” We have seen many qualities of the church that God has instilled in us, and that we must continue to reinforce.  

First, we saw that the church was a creation of God, and that our highest purpose is to worship Him in spirit and in truth, and that we relate to Him on an ongoing basis through prayer. 

We saw that the church is an innately missionary creation, which witnesses for God through our words and deeds. We also minister to the needs of others, both human and spiritual, and we know that the greatest need of all is salvation through Jesus.

We have seen that the church is supposed to mature, to grow-up in Christ, and that as we do, our fellowship grows closer with each other and with God as we are filled with the Spirit, and as He produces His fruit in us.

Most recently we remembered that because of God’s intervention on our behalf that we can be optimistic about our future, and that we should be truly grateful to God for transforming our lives.

Today, as we conclude this series, I want to share a word about the church as a giving creation. Money is a subject full of trouble. It is a major cause of trouble in marriages, in businesses and in churches. Paul's instructions about a missions offering in 1 Corinthians 16:1-4 gives us a lesson on how to think about this potentially troublesome subject:

Now about the collection for the saints: Do the same as I instructed the Galatian churches. On the first day of the week, each of you is to set something aside and save in keeping with how he is prospering, so that no collections will need to be made when I come. When I arrive, I will send with letters those you recommend to carry your gift to Jerusalem. If it is suitable for me to go as well, they will travel with me.

Paul had called upon the churches on the mission field to give sacrificially to support and bless the church in Jerusalem, which was undergoing severe persecution at this time. These instructions were given so that the church at Corinth would know how to collect this offering “decently and in order.”

Our Giving Is Done to Obey God:

First, I think it is instructive that Paul used a term translated as “directed” in this passage. While this may mean he is directing the process by which the offering is to be collected, and he certainly was, we also need to remember the source of all that we have and ever will have on this earth. In Psalm 50:10-11, God reminds us that:

. . . For every animal of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird of the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine.

God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, the hills, the gold under the hills, and the oil under the gold under the hills. Everything we will ever have comes from Him!

God owns everything, but He has given people stewardship over His creation from the very beginning of time. In Genesis 1:28, God made humans the stewards over the world:

God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.”

As the stewards of God’s world, we are to be fruitful and return to Him a profit, just as Jesus taught in the Parable of the Talents. 

To begin understanding healthy giving, we need to know that God simply expects us to give. It is understood that as the owner of everything He expects and deserves our offerings to Him. The main offering that He wants is our hearts, and when He has our hearts, all the other issues of life will follow, including money.

Our Giving is Done to Bless Others:

Next, it is important to note that our giving is done to bless others.

As we just saw, when we give, we bless God, and honor Him, but we also bless other people as well. This particular offering was designed to go to Jerusalem to help the saints there. The believers were under severe persecution and those who could help were asked to do so. This kind of offering goes to people who are already saved, or to people who simply have unmet human needs.

Other offerings, such as offerings for missions in the modern world, go to help the lost come to know the Lord. These offerings are used to send missionaries, or to do evangelistic outreach from local churches. People are blessed through these offerings because they come to know the Lord as their Savior, and they receive the blessing of being in His flock and eventually in His presence in heaven.

Either way, offerings bless God's people: those who are already saved and who are in the church, as well as those who will be saved and brought into the church. The money given to churches goes to touch lives! 

When we give to God’s church it blesses Him and it blesses His people!

Our Giving is Done at Church:

One thing Paul leaves no doubt about is how the giving should be done. Each week everyone should set aside an offering and it should be given regularly at church. And, again, this offering should be based on how God blessed each individual person.

The Bible clearly teaches that the church is the center of religious giving. Malachi 3:10 instructs, “Bring you all the tithes into the storehouse,” and Jesus Himself paid the temple tax by way of a miracle. In Acts we see believers selling their property and bringing the proceeds to the apostles for use in the ministry of the church.

Besides being the Biblical pattern, this practice has much to commend itself to us as well in practical terms also. The burden is shared amongst everyone, and there is good accountability for what is given. This is a better opportunity for good stewardship than giving to other organizations.

One might assert that in the 1st Century there were no other options for giving except through the church. Charities and nondenominational, independent ministries did not exist then. This may be true, but with the Roman roads and the Roman postal system, if someone wanted to send money to the Jerusalem church it certainly was possible. Paul however insisted that giving be done through the local church. By this he has set the Biblical example for us today as well.

A popular quotation about giving is, “Do your giving while you're living so you're knowing where it's going.”  When we do our giving at church it's easy for us to know where it is going and what God is doing with it!

Our Giving is Done by Everyone:

Next, it is important to note that Paul is very specific that everyone in the church was expected to participate in this offering. Like Jesus referring to the Widow’s Mite, it did not matter if one was rich, or poor, or in between, but everyone was expected to participate.

Paul clearly recognized the differences in financial circumstances among people. Few people in our churches are rich, but most have more than they need. Paul wanted people to give as God had prospered them, not as they thought God prospered them. Likewise, they should not give as others thought that God had prospered them. They should simply give as God has given to them.

In truth, people in the United States are blessed! Even our poorest people would be well off in some countries around the world. Few people are so destitute that they can give nothing to the ministry of the Gospel.

Sadly, it is a commonly held belief that 20% of the people in the church do 80% of the ministry. Likewise, it is also commonly believed that 20% of the people give 80% of the offerings. Frankly, both of these figures are in opposition to the concept of Biblical stewardship. We need to offer our lives as well as our money to the service of the Lord.

Everyone needs to support the Gospel ministry, in word and deed, and in serving and giving!

Our Giving is Done Wisely:

Finally, the idea that we should give our offerings through the local church is a good segue to the next principle we need to discuss, and that is our giving needs to be done wisely. As we deal with money, we need to heed Christ’s advice; we should “be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.” God has given us the ability to think, and we should use it, especially in the area of stewardship and accountability. 

There is no question that money should be handled carefully. I remember being told a story of a church which was located across the street from the city firehouse.  On quiet Sunday mornings, the firefighters made a habit of sitting out front of the firehouse. Every Sunday an unaccompanied man would walk out of the front door of the church with the offering plates and carry them around to the church office where they would be counted later. As soon as he exited the church, he would reach into the offering plate and take several bills and put them in his pocket on the way to the church office. This was done in full view of the firefighters, and it went on for years. Needless to say, none of the firefighters ever became members of that church.

Money must be handled wisely to protect those who gave it, to protect those who handle it, and to protect those who would be blessed by it. Notice that a delegation was going to be sent from the mission field to Jerusalem with the offering. Even in the church, or maybe especially in the church, checks and balances must be in place for the protection of all.

How a church handles money will greatly affect its reputation and its ability to bless others.

Our Giving is a Testimony:

One aspect of being involved in ministry for more than three decades is that I have many memories. Some are pleasant, others are unpleasant, and others are just . . . well, let’s say that they are unique. In that regard I remember the time I was given a gift of a dozen pairs of white athletic socks.

I had travelled to a small town to advise a church about how to expand and improve their buildings to support their church’s ministry. It was quite a long drive to get to this town, but our meeting went well, and I felt like the church’s leadership was well on its way to making some good decisions for the future. As I was about to take my leave, one of the lay leaders of the church asked me to walk with him out to the parking lot. 

When we arrived at his car, he reached inside and pulled out a plastic bag which he then thrust into my hands. “We know you had a long drive up here,” he said. “Here’s something to show our appreciation.” In that bag were the aforementioned white athletic socks.

The missing element to this story was that the town in question was known for being the location of one of the largest, and last, garment factories in our state, which, as a matter of fact, produced socks. Socks were, therefore, a common and imminently practical, gift to visitors.

Beaming with pride, my host said, “I hope you enjoy these!” And I did. Those socks were an unusual gift, but I used them for many months. I was glad to have them, and I was glad to allow my host to enjoy the blessing of generosity.

Paul also knew the blessing of giving to others. In fact, generosity was important enough to him that he included it in his final words to the elders of the church at Ephesus before being taken to Rome for his audience with Caesar. Such an event is likely to focus one’s thoughts, so the fact that Paul reminded them of the teaching of Jesus about generosity is instructive. 

It is a well-known fact that Jesus spent more time talking about money than He did just about any other topic of daily life. He knew that if you want to know what an organization or a person cares about, all you have to do is see where they spend their money. 

Our giving must be healthy if we are to have a healthy church. In 1 Corinthians 16, Paul has given us a good lesson about healthy giving. We should heed him, and we should follow his instructions in our churchmanship today!

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt