The First Noel

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  --Isaiah 9:6-7

There are quite a few analogies regarding the difference between knowledge and wisdom.  The most over-used one is this: knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.  Here are some others.  Intelligence is knowing that an alligator has 80 teeth; wisdom is knowing not to confirm that with a live specimen.  Intelligence is knowing your wife is wrong; wisdom is deciding not to argue with her.  Knowledge is knowing that nowhere in the Bible does it say that angels can sing; wisdom is not bringing up this argument during the Christmas season.

Anyone who has heard Handel's Messiah (especially the Hallelujah Chorus) leaves with visions of angelic choirs singing to the unsuspecting shepherds on the hillside near Bethlehem.  "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to men." (Luke 2:14).  Indeed, it may be considered pedantic to point out that these words were spoken by the angels, not sung,  because the last word in Luke 2:13 is "saying", not "singing."  And while the Bible does not specifically say that angels don't or can't sing, none of the scriptural texts related to angelic communication have any mention of song when the angels spoke them.  

Many of the words recorded in Scripture that were uttered by angels are beautiful enough, or hold enough significance to humans, that some humans have put them to melody.  This is never more evident than in this, the Christmas season.

While it may warm our hearts to think of a choir of angels singing over the Christ-child, it probably never happened.  There is evidence, however, that God Himself sings.  Zephaniah 3:17 says, "The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing."

In Chad Bird's book of devotions Unveiling Mercy, he writes this entry for December 25:

One of the most unforgettable scenes in C.S. Lewis's The Magician's Nephew is when Aslan begins to sing Narnia into existence.  This resonates so deeply because, at one time or another, we've all been touched by the creative power of music.  Nothing seeps into our souls like song.  It moves, inspires, uplifts, stirs something ancient within us.  God may not have sung the words of Genesis 1, but He certainly fashioned within the heart of humanity deep recesses that can only be reached by music and singing.  So when Zephaniah says that the Lord our God, our Savior, will exult over us with rinnah,with "loud singing," with "cries of jubilation," it is hard to imagine a clearer picture of His passionate and creative love.  He has "taken away the judgments against" us (v. 15), rejoiced over us with gladness, quieted us by His love, and sung songs that re-create us anew.

As Mary held her newborn son who was her Savior, as she hummed softly so as not to wake him, I can imagine God singing these words over them: "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone." (Isaiah 9:2).  Or maybe He sang these words: "May his name endure forever, his fame continue as long as the sun! May people be blessed in him, all nations call him blessed!" (Psalm 72:17).

It says in Isaiah 62:5, "as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you."  Many times in the New Testament Jesus is referred to as the Bridegroom, and the Church is referred to as the bride.  In Matthew 9:15 Jesus was referring to Himself when He said, "The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast."  Revelation 19:7 says, "Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready."  So the day will come when Jesus sings over us, His bride, His Church.  On the day of His birth, however, God sang over Him.  Not angels, not even just Mary, but God Himself.

Noel is a French word meaning "a Christmas carol".  According to the song, the first Noel (or Christmas carol) "the angels did say unto certain poor shepherds in fields where they lay."  In this sense, a Christmas carol can either be spoken or sung.  The first song celebrating the birth of Christ, the first Noel, was recited by a chorus of angels whose purpose was to glorify God and announce, "Born is the King of Israel."

Star of Bethlehem

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwell in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.  --Isaiah 9:2

 No Christmas tree is fully decorated until the star is carefully placed on the top-most point.  It is a tradition in many homes for the youngest person in the family to place the star on top of the tree, usually held up by the strong arms of the father so that she can reach it.  It is worthwhile to use this as a teaching moment, because the star is symbolic in a lot of ways, and its placement is steeped in tradition.

Most of us can recite the story by heart of how the wise men from the east were guided by a bright star until they found the Christ child.  This is more than just a sample of divine GPS.  The meaning goes much deeper.  As the Psalmist says, "Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."

You will recall that by the time Joseph and Mary were betrothed, there had been no direct word from God for some 400 years.  This period of spiritual darkness, which many call the "inter-testamental period," was ended with the sighting of an unusual celestial body.  This bright heavenly body, a source of light, was observed by people far away from Israel.  These Gentiles must have heard of Israel's God, must have read some sacred text brought to them by the diaspora, for when they reached Jerusalem, they knew enough to ask, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star when it rose [in the East] and have come to worship Him." (Matthew 2:2).

This is not the first time that people outside of the Jewish faith had given testimony to the truth.  In Numbers 24, we see that the enemies of Israel hired a seer, a prophet named Balaam, to bring down curses upon the Jewish armies.  You may recall the story of Balaam's donkey, who saw the angel hidden from the eyes of Balaam, and spoke.   When Balaam's eyes were opened, God gave him words of blessing to speak over Israel, not cursing.  One of those words of blessing is found in Numbers 24:17 where it says, "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth."

Balaam foresaw the Son of God manifesting as a star some 1400 years before Jesus was born.   The star was seen by the Magi more than 900 miles away.  But the Jews were still in the dark. Isaiah 60:1-3 says, "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will rise up on you, and his glory will be seen upon you.  And the nations shall come to your light, and Kings to the brightness of your rising."

Centuries before modern navigational systems, sailors would set out for distant lands with only the stars as their guide.  Their movements on the oceans did not stop when the sun went down.  They did not weigh anchor and wait for the dawn.  In the same way, people during the inter-testamental period did not lose hope.  They were still going about their daily lives, even in a period of spiritual darkness.  They relied on the ancient texts, the light that they were given.  2 Peter 1:19 says, "And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts."

We know that Jesus is that morning star.  Revelation 22:16 says, "I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches.  I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star."  2 Corinthians 4:6  says, "For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."  This is the meaning of the star of Bethlehem, the star that we commemorate in our Christmas tree decorations.  

Next time you lift your child up to place the star on the top of your tree, remind her of it's significance.  If your tree is already trimmed, it may be worth straightening just to teach this lesson again.

There will be blood

 

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means God with us.  --Matthew 1: 22, 23

 I was not raised on a farm.  My parents both spent more time on a farm as they were growing up than I ever did.  I have been to a rodeo a few times.  I remember touring the barns in the stockyard, and my Dad warning me to watch where I stepped.  He didn't want me to have to clean the cow manure off my sneakers.  I also remember moving into a new house with my parents.  It was in a more rural area than some of the suburbs we had lived in before, and across the road was a dairy.  When the wind was just right, the smell was awful.

In our modern world, if we need milk or cream or cheese, we merely go to our local supermarket in the dairy aisle.  We do not give much thought to the dairy that the milk products all come from.  We do not think about the cows, or the people who milk them, so that we can pour some 2% over our breakfast cereal, or some half-and-half in our morning coffee.  Sure, we all have that part of our education where we once learned where milk comes from, but we don't talk about it.  We focus on the end product rather than the somewhat smelly process.

We do that when we think about Jesus, as well.  We don't read the gospel account of His life and think, "I wonder how often Jesus bathed, or what He did to control body odor?"  We don't watch the most recent episode of The Chosen and stop to consider where and how Jesus and the disciples went to the bathroom.  We follow the Christmas narrative, and it's almost like Jesus magically appeared in Mary's arms when she laid Him in a manger.

I think it is important for us to stop and think about these things once in awhile.  We know that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  We gloss over those words and forget that He was one of us.  He spent nine months in utero.  We read in Luke 2:6, "And it came to pass, while they were there, the days were fulfilled that she should be delivered."  We don't stop to think that her water broke, the labor pains were intense, and her firstborn Son had to be cleaned before "she wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn."  Yes, there was no room in the inn, and that's why He was laid in a manger, but before that, before He was wrapped in swaddling cloths, He was naked, covered in water and blood.  Was this a foreshadowing of the way He was to die, hanging naked on a cross, covered in blood?  When the soldier thrust a spear into His side and found water and blood separately coming from the wound, did His mother see it and recall His birth?

Too often we forget what it means to say, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us."  We know that God is spiritual in nature, but that Jesus "emptied Himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men" (Philippians 2:7).  The One who made us in His image allowed Himself to put on mortal flesh.  "And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:8).  We are glad that He did, for without this sacrifice we would all be lost.  I don't think we fully realize what a sacrifice it was for Him to put on flesh and blood in the first place.

Leviticus 17:11 says, "For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life."  In context, God was telling His people about animal sacrifices.  He gave particular instructions on the handling of the blood of the sacrifice: they were not to drink it, as did their pagan neighbors.  The blood was not to be poured out in sacrifice to false gods.  "Rather," says Chad Bird in his book Your God is Too Glorious, "blood was God's sole property to be used by His people only in ways He Himself had ordained."

Notice four truths in verse 11: (1) Life was not some invisible force but a tangible element: "The life of the flesh is in the blood."  (2) This liquid life was God's gift: "I have given it to you."  (3) He located this life at a specific place: "on the altar."  And (4) He gave it for a specific reason: "to make atonement for your souls."  All of this is God' gift.  He give the life, He gives the altar, He gives the atonement.  Sinners don't slice open their own veins to pay for their wrongdoing.  Self-atonement is as impossible as self-birth or self-resurrection.  A substitute must pay the price.  The blood of another must be shed.  And when it touches God's altar, the sacrificial blood cover's God's people as a free gift to them.  --Chad Bird Your God is Too Glorious 162

This is what we see at Christmas.  "The Lord's ultimate stamp of approval on creation [is] His own corporality in Bethlehem.  The Creator become creature.  Is it such a great leap from God dwelling in the holy of holies to the God tabernacling in Mary's womb?  From a tented Emmanuel to an embodied Emmanuel?  The whole Old Testament prepares us for the Word becoming flesh." (Bird, 163)

Because the Son of God irrevocably united Himself not just with His creation but with our very bodies, His acquaintance with our sufferings is not merely academic.  He doesn't know our pains like one knows a chemistry formula.  He knows what it's like to be one of us like Adam knew his wife.  Intimately.  Experientially.  As one flesh.  Knowing that encompasses the brain, the skin, the bowels, and the heart.  God knows what it means to be loved and hated.  Caressed and slapped.  To fear for your life, be rejected by your family, mocked and laughed at.  He is able to sympathize with our weaknesses because His muscles have been sore, His heart broken, His skin sweating blood (Heb. 4:15).  He understands temptations because the devil's siren songs have reached His ears.  --Bird, 164

The Bible doesn't shy away from human emotions or even human bodily functions.  In 1 Samuel 20, Saul was yelling at his son Jonathan, angry with him that he had befriended David.  In verse 30 he called Jonathan a "son of a whore." (The Living Bible uses the more modern phrase "S.O.B.")  Six times in the Old Testament (1 Samuel 25:22; 25:34; 1 Kings 14:10; 16:11; 21:21; 2 Kings 9:8) men swore to annihilate their enemies using the colloquial phrase, "[I will kill] all who pee against the wall." (The King James version uses the literal translation "pisseth against the wall." Later, more modern version dial back the rhetoric, not wanting to offend, saying "every man among you."  The Hebrew text, however, actually uses the term for urination.)

We prefer to sanitize the scriptures, especially in public reading behind a pulpit, so as not to offend.  We must not forget that the Bible addresses the whole person.  We can't gloss over the blood and water involved in the birth process and focus on a creche void of humanity.  God came down.  The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  When we understand this, we can better realize the true sacrifice that God provided for us.  A spirit cannot shed blood, but blood was necessary to cover sin.  

When He addressed the woman at the well, Jesus said, "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."  Unlike Pilate, who would later ask, "What is truth?", the woman said she was looking forward to the Messiah, who will "tell us all things."  Jesus was being esoteric when speaking of truth, but the woman at the well got it; she understood.  That's when Jesus revealed Himself to her, say, "I who speak to you am He."  Jesus bridged the gap between the spiritual and the physical, because He came as a flesh and blood man.  Someone who speaks our language, but more than that knows what it is like to be us because He became one of us.  He bled like us.  He would bleed for us.  Let's not jump to the end without appreciating the smelly process, that began in a stable filled with manure.

Be Prepared: Jehovah Is A Gracious Giver

Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name.  --Isaiah 49:1

And now the LORD says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him;
and that Israel might be gathered to him—
for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD,
and my God has become my strength—  Isaiah 49:5

For the first time in my adult life, all of the Christmas gifts I intend to give to my family and loved ones have been purchased, wrapped, and set under the tree by the first week in December.  I'll confess that usually I am a procrastinator, one of those last-minute shoppers desperately trying to find just the right gift up until Christmas Eve.  Oh, sure, there will be last minute additions, and impulse buys to fill the stockings between now and Christmas Day.  But I am confident that if Christmas were tomorrow, I would be prepared.

As your preparations for a Christmas celebration come into focus, I want to call your attention to the first Christmas season.  In the fullness of time God sent His Son, but in the weeks and months leading up to it, He was at work in the lives of one particular extended family.  In Luke's account we are introduced first to Zechariah the priest, who was married to Elizabeth, who was a cousin to Mary, who was the mother of Jesus.

In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.  And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.  But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.  --Luke 1:5-7

A comparison can be made with Abraham in the Old Testament, who was married to Sarah.  They were also well advanced in years, but God had set them apart for a special gift.  Abraham, of course, was born before the Aaronic priesthood had been established, but he worshiped the one true God, and followed Him in righteous living.  By faith he heeded God's call and followed Him.

So, too, did Zechariah, whose name means "remembered of Jehovah."  And like Abraham, Zechariah was met with a messenger from God who promised a son in his old age.

[Now while he was serving as priest...] there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.  And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him.  But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.  And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord."  --Luke 1:8, 11-15a

 The name John means "Jehovah is a gracious giver."  God had listened to the heart of this priest and his wife, who undoubtedly had prayed many years for a child.  I wonder, though, if the prayers for a child had been uttered with less frequency as the couple aged, or if they continued to pray for a child at all?  They may have been content in their situation, occasionally feeling nostalgic for what might have been, but grateful to God for what He had chosen to give them, as well as what He had chosen to withhold until now.

Let us remember that God works in His own time, and that it is never too late for a miracle.  We must stay faithful, remembering that He is and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).  We must keep the faith, as did Zechariah and Elizabeth.  The gift that was promised was not only for them, but for the entire nation of Israel.  Indeed, it was a gift to us all.

He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.  And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.  --Luke 1:15b-17

I want to point out a couple of things here.  First, the birth of John had been prophesied many years before.  Malachi 3:1 says, “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts."  John was that messenger.  He would prepare the way of the Lord, "making straight in the desert a highway for our God" (Isaiah 40:3).  Malachi 4:6 says, "And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”

God has a purpose for our life, as well.  We may not have had our purpose laid out by prophets of old, but God does want us to be available for His use.  He has gifted us for His own purpose.  Paul said in Romans 12:6-8, "Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching;the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness."

The second thing I want to point out from this passage is that just as God knew John before he was born, He also knew us by name.  You and I were foreknown by Him, and were called according to His purpose.  Jeremiah 1:5 says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”  Galatians 1:15 says, "But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace."

We are not accidents of biology.  We are not insignificant.  Out of 8 billion people on a small planet in an isolated solar system among millions of galaxies, God knows your name.  He knows your purpose.  He knows your desires.  Once we realize this, then we are obligated to bend our will to His, and to be used for His glory.  We can prepare ourselves for His service by being faithful.

The third thing I want to emphasize is that, like John, we must learn to say, "He must increase; I must decrease" (John 3:30).  Even though John was older, he was not more important than Jesus.  Even though John's ministry began first, his was not the final word.  Throughout Scripture God has shown that the first is not always the most in God's hierarchy.  Abraham's firstborn was Ishmael, but Isaac was the child of promise.  Esau was born first, but Jacob was the father of the Jewish nation.  Aaron was older, but Moses was the mouthpiece of God.  Saul was the first king of Israel, but David was a man after God's own heart.

Our purpose is not tied to our place in the pecking order.  Our birthright is not better than those who came before, or those who come after.  Our job is to be faithful to the One who calls us, to use our gifts for Him as best we can.

For those who follow the liturgical calendar, the first Sunday of Advent is the day of Hope; the second, the day of Preparation.  My prayer for you all during this Christmas season is not that you will prepare for giving unnecessary gifts, or that you would feast on a festive meal.  I pray that you will allow God to prepare you for His purpose, and that in His time He will use you for His glory.

The God of Unmet Expectations

 

May all your expectations be frustrated, may all your plans be thwarted, may all your desires be withered into nothingness, that you may experience the powerlessness and poverty of a child, and sing and dance in the love of God who is Father, Son, and Spirit.  --Larry Hein

 I started my car this morning, on my way to get a haircut.  The radio was set to a local Christian music station.  Nowadays they are playing all Christmas all the time.  I don't mind it much--it gets old on longer trips, but I can always change the station.

The first song I heard as I put the car in gear was a version of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.  Not one of my favorite seasonal songs, but one I sing along with mindlessly, knowing all the words by heart.  The second line reminded me of a verse of Scripture.  "Let nothing you dismay," led me to think of Philippians 4:6.  "Do not be anxious for anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."

Maybe, I thought, this old 16th century English carol might have some relevant message for me now in the 21st century U.S. of A.  It reminded me of a book I am reading.  It is called Your God is Too Glorious, written by one of my favorite authors, Chad Bird.  The sub-title is "Finding God in the Most Unexpected Places."  The whole point of this book is that often our religion is too pristine, too sanitized.  If our expectation is that we meet God behind beautiful stained-glass windows, wearing our very best clothes, all scrubbed and smiling, then we may be amazed to find Him in our day-to-day dealings with the world.  We may be more amazed still to find Him at our lowest, when we are smelly and dirty, and our faces are not masked behind smiles but rather scrunched in pain and agony, when we see the world through tear-stained eyes.  

"As a feed trough was not a worthy crib for the Christ," Chad Bird writes, "as prostitutes and tax collectors were not His worthy dinner guests, and as a bloody cross was not a worthy throne, so the ways and means of God's priests in this world are shrouded by that which seems beneath such a grand deity."  While we rightly see Jesus as the Son of God, there is, on the human side of His ancestry, a whole list of sinners.  From patriarchs to prostitutes, from mighty men to murderers, we see God's hand directing each generation toward the promise of salvation.

So I did a little research.  God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen is one of the oldest songs we still sing, dating back to the 1500s and before.  It was written as a reaction to (and maybe a rebellion from) 15th century church music, which was typically dark, somber, and in Latin.  Since the lay-persons (not clergy) could not change the way that they worshiped in church, they started writing and singing songs in a more contemporary style.  The clergy and the Church did not intend for their parishioners to go rogue like this, but it happened.

The song itself has gone through several revisions over the years.  One of the earliest printings of the song was in 1775--before that it was handed down from one person to another, from generation to generation, and it probably had several revisions along the way.  Nevertheless, one of the earliest known versions of the song looks like this:

1. God rest you, merry gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay,
Remember Christ our Saviour
Was born on Christmas-day
To save poor souls from Satan’s power,
Which long time had gone astray.
And it is tidings of comfort and joy.

2. From God that is our Father
The blessed angels came
Unto some certain shepherds,
With tidings of the same;
That he was born in Bethlehem
The Son of God by name.
And it is tidings of comfort and joy.

3. Now when they came to Bethlehem,
Where our sweet Saviour lay,
They found him in a manger
Where oxen feed on hay.
The blessed Virgin kneeling down
Unto the Lord did pray.
And it is tidings of comfort and joy.

4. With sudden joy and gladness,
The shepherds were beguil’d,
To see the Babe of Israel
Before his mother mild.
O then with joy and cheerfulness
Rejoice each mother’s child.
And it is tidings of comfort and joy.

5. Now to the Lord sing praises,
All you within this place
Like we true loving brethren,
Each other to embrace,
For the merry time of Christmas
Is coming on a-pace.
And it is tidings of comfort and joy.

Typical of 17th-century language, “rest” in this usage means “to keep or continue” while “merry” means “great, mighty, or strong”. So a modernized translation of the first line could read: “God keep you strong, gentlemen”. This fits with the rest of the verse – a hopeful cry to stay strong because Jesus Christ has saved mankind.  Looking further into the text, the shepherds did not expect to see angels that day.  We, too, should be shocked and amazed that the Son of God, King of Kings whom angels proclaim, would be sleeping in a feed trough.

Less than a century later, the song had gone through some major revisions.  The original authors likely did not expect the song to take on extra verses and even include some extra-biblical language that makes little sense.  Nevertheless, here is what the printed version looked like in 1833.

1. God rest you merry, gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
For Jesus Christ, our Saviour
Was born upon this day,
To save us all from Satan’s power
When we were gone astray. 

O tidings of comfort and joy, For Jesus Christ, our Saviour was born on Christmas day.

2. In Bethlehem, in Jewry (Judea)
This blessed babe was born
And laid within a manger
Upon this blessed morn
The which his mother Mary
Nothing did take in scorn.

O tidings of comfort and joy, For Jesus Christ, our Saviour was born on Christmas day.

3. From God our Heavenly Father
A blessed Angel came,
And unto certain Shepherds
Brought tidings of the same,
How that in Bethlehem was born
The Son of God by name.

O tidings of comfort and joy, For Jesus Christ, our Saviour was born on Christmas day.

4. Fear not, then said the Angel,

Let nothing you affright,
This day is born a Saviour
Of virtue, power and might;
So frequently to vanquish all
The friends of Satan quite.

O tidings of comfort and joy, For Jesus Christ, our Saviour was born on Christmas day.

5. The Shepherds at those tidings

Rejoiced much in mind,
And left their flocks a feeding
In tempest, storm and wind,
And went to Bethlehem straightway,
This blessed babe to find.

O tidings of comfort and joy, For Jesus Christ, our Saviour was born on Christmas day.

6. But when to Bethlehem they came,

Whereas this infant lay,
They found him in a manger,
Where oxen feed on hay,
His mother Mary kneeling
Unto the Lord did pray.

O tidings of comfort and joy, For Jesus Christ, our Saviour was born on Christmas day.

7. Now to the Lord sing praises,
All you within this place,
And with true love and brotherhood
Each other now embrace;
This holy tide of Christmas
All other doth deface (outshine).

O tidings of comfort and joy, For Jesus Christ, our Saviour was born on Christmas day.

 Obviously some poetic license was taken between the 1775 version and the 1833 lyrics.  The colloquial use of "Jewry" to mean Judea, the place where Jews lived, is not something we would say today. It does, however, bring to mind the prophecy of Micah 5:2 which was quoted in Matthew 2:6, "And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel."  Verse 3 says that Mary "did not take scorn" for having a child out of wedlock, but we know that is not likely.  We could also take issue with verse 5, where the song goes in a really weird direction: yes, the shepherds did leave their flocks unattended, but the peril was more likely robbers or predatory animals than tornado-like weather.

There was also another verse added in some versions of the song.

8.God bless the ruler of this house, and send him long to reign,
And many a merry Christmas may live to see again;
Among your friends and kindred that live both far and near-

That God send you a happy new year, happy new year,
And God send you a happy new year.

Not only does this verse depart from the Scriptural narrative weaving throughout the rest of the song, but it references the New Year rather than Christmas.  It also references some class-envy, as is described here:

This stanza is usually omitted from hymnals, as it speaks more to a domestic Christmas celebration in the dwelling of the Lord of the Manor. The New Oxford Book of Carols (1992) describes this version of the carol as a “luck-visit song” or a song sung by carolers when visiting a house (Watson, Canterbury, n.p.). Though most of the remaining stanzas present a straight-forward telling of the Christmas narrative (Luke 2:8-16), the “merry gentlemen” in stanza 1 combined with this traditional last stanza call into question its inclusion in many hymnals. Indeed, hymnologist Ray Glover, commenting on its appearance in the Episcopal Hymnals 1940 and 1982, noted: “This is one of the most popular English traditional carols that entered the musical repertoire of the Episcopal Church . . .. It has had, however, a mixed acceptance by hymnal editors of other denominations” (Glover, 1994, p. 105).  --C. Michael Hawn (Southern Methodist University).

 The version we sing today has undergone still more changes in text.  In addition, we have not even touched on the varied tunes to which these lyrics were sung over the decades.  The point is this: just as God can use an old English carol, even after it goes through some weird and (some might say) heretical revisions, He can also take our circumstances, including our dark past, and use us for His glory.  God can use us, despite a questionable heritage, or a sinful past.  He can meet us where we are, whether that is in a beautiful cathedral or a filthy barnyard.  As Chad Bird said, "While the world anticipates God to locate himself in power, wealth, or anything dubbed glorious and attractive in their eyes, he is ensconced in the exact opposite."

Let the caroling begin!

Christ our High Priest

 

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.  Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.  --Hebrews 4:14-16

With the holidays rapidly approaching, it won't be long until we are inundated with Christmas music, media, and movies.  One of the movies I hope to avoid again this year is the adaptation of the Dr. Seuss book, The Grinch.  The protagonist is a monster, with a heart "two sizes too small."  We eventually see the redemption of this foul fellow, but not before he is described in song.

You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch
You really are a heel,
You're as cuddly as a cactus,
You're as charming as an eel, Mr. Grinch.

You're a bad banana with a greasy black peel!

You're a monster, Mr. Grinch,
Your heart's an empty hole,
Your brain is full of spiders
You have garlic in your soul, Mr. Grinch.

I wouldn't touch you with a thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole!

The song goes on interminably, but I want to point out the first few lines.  "You really are a heel."  This verbal slight has fallen out of use recently, but back in the day being described as a "heel" meant that you treat others badly.  A "heel" is an inconsiderate or untrustworthy person.  We've all known our share of "heels", those really contemptible people.  If we're being honest, we have all been that person at some point in our lives.

This is the kind of people that Jesus came to save.  It is the kind of people whom we are called to minister to.  We share Jesus with contemptible people because that's who we live among.  Just like Jesus did.  I want us to look at Psalm 41 with the idea of Jesus ministering to contemptible people as a great high priest.

Blessed is the one who considers the poor.  In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him; the Lord protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land; you do not give him up to the will of his enemies.  The Lord sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health.  As for me, I said, "O Lord, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you."  My enemies say of me in malice, "When will he die, and his name perish?"  And when one comes to see me, he utters empty words, while his heart gathers iniquity; when he goes out, he tells it abroad.  All who hate me whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me.  They say, "A deadly thing is poured out on him; he will not rise again from where he lies."  Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.  But you, O Lord, be gracious to me, and raise me up, that I may repay them.  By this I know that you delight in me; my enemy will not shout in triumph over me.  But you have upheld me because of my integrity, and set me in your presence forever.  Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting!  Amen and amen.

 It doesn't take much to see Jesus in this Psalm.  The Sermon On The Mount starts with Jesus saying, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they shall see God."  Indeed, when Jesus went public with his earthly ministry, "He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor'." (Luke 4:17-18).  So Jesus can be called "blessed" because He was the One who considered the poor.  

Looking further, we see that the Lord protected Him and kept Him alive.  After hearing Jesus profess to be the Chosen One, religious leaders cried foul.  "When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath.  And they rose up and drove Him out of the town and brought Him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff.  But passing through their midst, He went away."  (Luke 4:28-30).  Even so, the Scribes and Pharisees looked for ways to shut Him up, to trap Him in His words, fulfilling verses 7 and 8 of Psalm 41: "All who hate me whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me.  They say, 'A deadly thing is poured out on him; he will not rise again from where he lies'."

Finally, we see the culmination of fulfillment in verse 9.  "Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me."  Doesn't this describe Judas exactly?  Which is why Jesus said in John 13:18, "I am not speaking to all of you; I know whom I have chosen.  But the Scripture will be fulfilled, 'He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me'."

The phrase "close friend" is literally "man of my shalom"--that is, a person with whom I was at peace.  This "friend," however, turned for.  When woodenly translated, the Hebrew for "lifted up his heel" is "made great with his heel."  Whatever that idiom precisely describes--scholars are uncertain--it is certainly not good.  The "heel" is frequently associated with "deceit" or "cheating," as in the story of the "Heel Man" himself, Jacob (Gen. 25:26; 27:36; cf Jer. 9:4).  And we cannot forget that already in Genesis 3:15, the heel is associated with the serpentine venom of the evil one.  --Chad Bird The Christ Key, page 170.

Perhaps the American idiom "he's such a heel" has biblical roots.  Yet we remember the very first Old Testament prophecy about Jesus when God spoke to the serpent, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." (Genesis 3:15).  In fulfillment of this, Romans 16:20 says, "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.  The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you."  Hebrews 2:14 says, "Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil."  Revelation 20:1-3,10 says, "Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain.  And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended.  After that he must be released for a little while....And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever."

But what of the high priestly role of Jesus, and how does it relate to Psalm 41:4?  "As for me, I said, 'O Lord, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you'."  Surely this verse does not refer to Jesus, the one who "was tempted as we are, yet without sin," does it?  You'd be surprised.

In the Old Testament a system of animal sacrifices was established.  A lamb without blemish was offered to be killed in lieu of the offerer.  In essence, the lamb took on the sin of the human with the result that the sinful human was made clean or forgiven.

This is the only way to make sense of  John the Baptist's words, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world" (John 1:29).  John's listeners would have understood this because they were accustomed to thinking of sacrificial lambs "taking away" sins in some way.  In Psalm 41, and in other Psalms like it (e.g., Psalm 38), the Messiah is speaking as one who is free of blemish, without sin, yet also as the sacrificial victim who will take upon himself the sin of the world.  "He had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth," Isaiah says, yet he was "like a lamb that is led to the slaughter," for "he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed" (Isa. 53:9, 7, 5).  In short, what happened at Israel's altar teaches us how to pray Israel's Psalms.  --Chad Bird The Christ Key, page 171.

But wait, there's more!

When the office of the high priest was implemented and described in Exodus 28, the vestments included two onyx stones that each bore the names of six of the tribes of Israel.  That's how the high priest bore "their names before the Lord on his two shoulders for remembrance" (Exodus 28:12).  Also, on the breastpiece were four rows of precious stones, three stones per row.  These stones represented the twelve tribes (see Exodus 28:21) when Aaron, the first high priest, made a sacrifice for the people.

All Israel melted into Aaron when he stood before God.  This one man was the nation.  He was a sinner himself, to be sure, but because he was also the singular symbol of the nation before God, he also bore the sins of the nation before the Lord, even sins that he himself had not personally committed.  We see this ritual enacted on the Day of Atonement, when the high priest was to lay his hands on the head of the goat and to "confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins" (Lev. 16:21).  The priest confessed not only his own sins but the sins of others, "all the iniquities of the people of Israel."  When Christ came as our great and final high priest, he too was the nation.  Indeed, he was all humanity reduced to one man.  Though he had no sins of his own to confess, he confessed all the iniquities, all the transgressions, all the sins of every individual, everywhere, for all time, on the great and climactic Day of Atonement known as Good Friday.  What he does in the Psalms, when he prays, "I have sinned against you" (41:4), is pray as our high priest.  --Bird, page 172

2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."  Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes:

However, the question could arise as to how one is to think about the fact that Christ also prays these Psalms with us.  How can the sinless one ask for forgiveness?  In no way other than he can, as the sinless one, bear the sins of the world and be made sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21).  Not for the sake of his sins, but for the sake of our sins, which he has taken upon himself and for which he suffers, does Jesus pray for the forgiveness of sins.  He positions himself entirely for us.  He wants to be a man before God as we are.  So he prays also the most human of all prayers with us and thereby demonstrates precisely that he is the true Son of God.  --Bonhoeffer, Psalms, page 51.

Thus we are redeemed.  We cannot claim that we are anything other than vile, contemptible, inconsiderate, untrustworthy sinners separated from a holy God; yet by the sacrificial and high priestly prayer of Christ Jesus, we are cleansed and forgiven.  And by the grace of God, we can then go and minister to all the other heels in this world. 

The Sounds of Silence

 

You have caused my companions to shun me; you have made me a horror to them.  --Psalm 88:8

My wife works with a woman who is very bitter toward God.  To be fair, this poor lady has dealt with more than her share of tragedy.  I believe she lost a set of twins at birth.  She had another son, but he was killed at age 21, just as he was getting started with his life and career.  She is divorced, abandoned by her husband because of her overwhelming grief.  My wife has tried to share the love of Jesus with her, but it is hard for her to hear.  She feels that God, whoever He is, has abandoned her.

Unfortunately, due to HR policies that prohibit talking about religion or other sensitive topics at work, my wife is not able to explain to this lady that God hears her cries.  He knows her loss.  He, too, lost a Son.  That Son died an agonizing death.  You think God's heart was not broken?  Yet is was through the death and resurrection of God's Son that we have hope of one day seeing our loved ones again, after their passing.  God's Son was raised after 3 days.  This lady's son will also be resurrected from the dead, either to life everlasting if his faith was in Jesus, or in eternal judgment.

Many of us may often feel abandoned or betrayed.  David wrote of those feelings in depth in Psalm 38.

O Lord, rebuke me not in Your anger, nor discipline me in Your wrath!  For Your arrows have sunk into me, and Your hand has come down on me.  There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin.  For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.  My wounds stink and fester because of my foolishness, I am utterly bowed down and prostrate; all the day I go about mourning.  For my sides are filled with burning, and there is no soundness in my flesh.  I am feeble and crushed; I groan because of the tumult of my heart.  O Lord, all my longing is before You; my sighing is not hidden from You.  My heart throbs; my strength fails me, and the light of my eyes--it has also gone from me.  My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague, and my nearest kin stand far off.  Those who seek my life lay their snares; those who seek my hurt speak of ruin and meditate treachery all day long.  But I am like a deaf man; I do not hear, like a mute man who does not open his mouth.  I have become like a man who does not hear, and in whose mouth are no rebukes.  But for You, O Lord, do I wait; it is You, O Lord my God, who will answer.  For I said, "Only let them not rejoice over me, who boast against me when my foot slips!"  For I am ready to fall, and my pain is ever before me.  I confess my iniquity; I am sorry for my sin.  But my foes are vigorous, they are mighty, and many are those who hate me wrongfully.  Those who render me evil for good accuse me because I follow after good.  Do not forsake me, O Lord!  O my God, be not far from me!  Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation.

Psalm 38, along with Psalm 88 that kind of mirrors it in many ways, encapsulate the human condition.  We may be limited physically (38:3), or feel overwhelmed, like we are in over our heads (verse 4).  We may carry a burden around with us all the time, and feel like we are always on the verge of tears (verse 6).  We may feel like the whole world is against us (verse 11), or that those in power are setting a trap for us (verse 12).  We may want to defend ourselves, but our words are powerless or fall on deaf ears (verses 13 and 14).  We may feel outnumbered and outgunned (verse 19) when all we are every trying to do is just do the right thing (verse 20).

Who among us has not felt like this at one time or another.  Chad Bird, in The Christ Key, writes:

I first ventured into the bleak and midnight landscape of Psalm 88 when I was in the throes of a spiritual depression, when I thought that the Lord had truly forsaken me.  The petitions of this psalm  drip tears and bleed pain.  Ponder these words: "My life draws near to Sheol....I am ... like the slain that lie in the grave.... You have put me in the depths of the pit.... You have caused my companions to shun me.... O Lord, why do you cast my soul away?... I suffer your terrors...  Your wrath has swept over me....My companions have become darkness" (vv. 3, 5, 6, 8, 14-17, 18).  When I stumbled into Psalm 88, I knew I had found the thesaurus of a cruciform life.  Here were words that could only arise from a ravaged soul, one with whom I felt a kinship.

Again, the psalmist has captured the human condition in these verses.  But I want us to re-read these Psalms with Jesus in mind.  We are, after all, in the middle of a series of essays about seeing Jesus in the Old Testament, particularly in the Psalms.  And we are reminded as well that "we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin." 

Psalm 38:11 says, "My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague, and my nearest kin stand far off."  Similarly, Psalm 88:18 says, "You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness."  We see this very thing in the various accounts of His crucifixion.  While He was being publicly executed for sins He had not committed, his friends stood afar off.  Matthew 27:55 says, "There were also many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him."  We also see this in Mark 15:40, "There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome"; and again in Luke 23:49, "And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things."

I cannot look at the last part of Psalm 88:18 without thinking of Paul Simon's hit song, which begins "Hello darkness my old friend."  The song continues with this verse:  

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
No one dared
Disturb the sound of silence.

Jesus, suspended between heaven and earth, with His friends afar off and His Father turning a blind eye, saw the multitude wagging their heads and mocking Him.  "If You are the Christ, save Yourself!"  They shouted.  It must have seemed that silence was His only friend at that moment in time.  As He hung in agony, He must have longed for death, for release from the pain and shame.  Yet He knew this was their plan all along.

Psalm 38:12 says, "Those who seek my life lay their snares; those who seek my hurt speak of ruin and meditate treachery all day long."  In Matthew 22:15 we see, "Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words."  Mark 12:13 says "And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to trap him in his talk";  and in Luke 20:20, "So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor."

Again, the words of Paul Simon:

"Fools" said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence.

Psalm 38:13 says, "But I am like a deaf man; I do not hear, like a mute man who does not open his mouth."  We see in Isaiah 53:7, "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep before it shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth."  Jesus fulfilled these verses in His trial before the chief priest. Matthew 26:63 says, "But Jesus remained silent.  And the high priest said to him, 'I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God'."  The same thing is found in Mark 14:61, "But he remained silent and made no answer.  Again the high priest asked him, 'Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed'?"  Jesus also restrained Himself when he stood before the Roman proconsul Pilate.  John 19:9 says, "He [Pilate] entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, 'Where are you from?' But Jesus gave him no answer."  1 Peter 2:23 says, "When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly."

Psalm 38:20 says, "Those who render me evil for good accuse me because I follow after good."  We can all relate to this, as we all have good intentions (well, most of the time anyway).  3 John 11 says, "Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good.  Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God."

We cry out with David, who wrote in Psalm 38:21, "Do not forsake me, O Lord!  O my God, be not far from me!"  Yet we see in Matthew 27:45 and again in Mark 15:34, "And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, 'Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani'?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

Whenever we feel god-forsaken, we can look to Christ Jesus, who took on human flesh and walked among us.  Whenever our minds are centered on Him, we know that we are not truly forsaken by God, because Jesus was forsaken for us.  He took our sins upon Himself and became the perfect sacrifice for us, so that we can call God our Father.  "But for You, O Lord, do I wait," says Psalm 38:15.  "It is You, O Lord my God, who will answer."

Majesty

 

The amount of time we spend with Jesus--meditating on His Word and His majesty, seeking His face--establishes our fruitfulness in the kingdom.  --Charles Stanley

A pastor and his wife went camping in the mountains.  In the middle of the night the woman whispers, "Honey, are you awake?"  The young man says, "Yes. I am just lying here staring at the stars, feeling the cool breeze, and enjoying the mountain air."  His wife asks, "What do you think it all means?"  The young pastor says, "I can't help but think of the words of Psalm 8: 'When I look at Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and stars, which You have set in place, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?' What doe is mean to you?"  His wife replies, "I think it means somebody stole our tent."

We are in a series of studies surround Jesus in the Old Testament, particularly in the Psalms.  Today we will look at Psalm 8 specifically.

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your Name in all the earth!  You have set Your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babies and infants, You have established strength because of Your foes, to still an enemy and the avenger.  When I look at Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and stars, which You have set in place, what is man that your are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?  Yet You have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.  You have given him dominion over the works of Your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes a long the paths of the seas.  O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your Name in all the earth!

 One of the most beautiful, and succinct, poems in all of Scripture.  Yet in these 9 verses there lies a great deal of theology.  Let's begin to unpack it here.  

C.S. Lewis wrote, "In its literal sense this short, exquisite lyric is simplicity itself--an expression of wonder at man and man's place in Nature (there is a chorus in Sophocles not unlike it) and therefore at God who appointed it.  God is wonderful both as champion or 'judge' and as Creator.  When one looks up at the sky, and all the stars which are His work, it seems strange that He should be concerned at all with such things a man.  Yet in fact, he has, down here on earth, given us extra-ordinary honour--made us Lord's of all the other creatures." (C.S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms, pg 155.)

Genesis 1:28 says "And God blessed them.  And God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth'."  The psalmist David refers back to creation with wonder and awe.  Why in the world would God place all living things in subjection to man?  It may be because we were made in His image; it may also be due to to the fact that we are called by His name.  We will speak more on this later.

After the Fall, this was not so evident.  When man lost fellowship with God, the balance of nature was upended.  "The Christian writer observes that, in the actual state of the universe, this [nature's subjection to man] is not strictly true.  Man is often killed, and still more often defeated, by beasts, poisonous vegetables, weather, earthquakes, etc." (Lewis, pgs 155-156).  God Himself has had to intervene directly to protect mankind from exposure to the elements (see Genesis 3:21, the first sacrifice: "And the Lord God made for Adam and his wife garments of skins and clothed them.")  He also had to intervene personally to cover our sins.

We look a bit deeper into the Psalm, and we see it is not only talking about Adam (and Adam's seed--us), but it speaks directly about Jesus.  What evidence is there to support this interpretation?  We need only to look at Hebrews 2:6-9.

It has been testified somewhere, "What is man, that You are mindful of him, or the Son of Man, that You care for Him?  You made Him for a little while lower than the angels; You have crowned Him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under His feet."  Now in putting everything in subjection to Him, He left nothing outside of His control.  At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to Him.  But we see Him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.

 The writer of Hebrews takes this account of creation and gives it a deeper meaning.  Quoting from Psalm 8 directly, he draws a straight line to Christ Jesus.  "In Psalm 8:5, the phrase 'a little lower,' m'at in Hebrew, can also be translated temporarily as 'a little while.'  This is significant.  It means that the 'little while' of Psalm 8 refers to the earthly life of Jesus, his sufferings and death.  After this 'little while', He was 'crowned with glory and honor,' befitting a King." (Chad Bird, The Christ Key pg 167.

There is another reference to Psalm 8 in the New Testament.  1 Corinthians 15:20-28 makes the case for Christ in the Psalm as well.

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.  For as by a man came death, by a Man has come also the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.  But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at His coming those who belong to Christ.  Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.  For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.  The last enemy to be destroyed is death.  For "God has put all things in subjection under His feet."  But when it says, "all things are put in subjection," it is p lain that He is excepted who put all things in subjection under Him.  When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to Him who put all things in subjection under Him, that God may be all in all.

If nature has the upper hand, defeating man during his lifetime and resulting in man's death, then it is God who has put all things in subjection under the feet of Jesus, who is the second Adam.   Since Jesus defeated death in His resurrection, and God has put all things in subjection under His feet, then we can only look to Jesus as our hope of glory (see Colossians 1:27).

Let's look at one more New Testament reference to Psalm 8, from the words of Jesus Himself.  Matthew 21:15-16 says, "But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple, 'Hosanna to the Son of David!', they were indignant, and they said to Him, 'Do you hear what these are saying?'  And Jesus said to them, 'Yes; have you never read, 'Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies You have prepared praise'?"  Jesus quoted Psalm 8:2 back to them, saying this was a fulfillment of prophetic Scripture that children should praise Him.  How it must have burned their hearts when the chief priests and scribes recalled the second part of Psalm 8:2 ("You have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.")

Not only did Jesus use this verse as a fulfillment of prophecy, but he burned the chief priests and scribes, equating them as enemies of God and associates of Satan, the avenger.  Not only did David prophesy that "out of the mouths of babes" should come praise, but that the more they opposed Jesus the stronger He would get.

Finally, let's look at the first and last verses in Psalm 8.  "O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your Name."  When we look at the various ways the Son of God appeared to people in the Old Testament, "He also appears as the Son of man, Glory, Power, and Name.  The last one, the 'name of God,' in some OT passages, is distinguished from the Lord Himself.  God's Name dwells with Israel (Deut. 12:11).  His Name is in the temple (1 Kings 8:16).  'Our help is in the Name of the Lord,' the psalmist says (Ps. 124:8).  John is reflecting this OT understanding of the name = the person in his Gospel.  After Jesus says that the 'hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified (John 12:23, my italics), he prays, 'Father, glorify Your Name" (12:28, my italics).  See the parallel? The 'Son of Man' is the 'Name' of God.  Based on this, when Psalm 8 says that the Name of God is majestic, the poet may be suggesting this: 'O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is that One who is Your Name in all the earth!'" (Bird, pg 165).

Philippians 2:10 says, "that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth."  His Majesty, indeed!

To Fulfill the Scriptures

 

After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), "I thirst."  A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.  --John 19:28-29

 Last week we looked at Psalm 22 and how, not only did Jesus quote directly from that passage on the cross, but He fulfilled the prophecies contained within the psalm.  Today I want to expand on that idea a bit, also starting from the cross.  In John's gospel we see another of what has been called the Seven Last Words of Christ.

The quote from Jesus is short.  He simply said, "I thirst".  It made sense.  He was dying, dehydrated and losing fluids.  On a physical level, he wanted water.  Oh, but John, the "disciple whom Jesus loved", saw something significant beyond the mere physical.  He knew that Psalm 69:21 said, "They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink."  

Slipped into this song written by King David a millennium before was this prophecy that John wanted the followers of Jesus to notice.  In this same song David wrote in verse 9, "For zeal for Your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me."  John had already cited this Psalm when Jesus drove the merchants out of the Temple (see John 2:17).  Here, though, John wanted to show yet another prophecy that the Master fulfilled.  The religious leaders of the day had rebuked Jesus, and held Him in reproach.  John wanted his readers to know that the Pharisees not only disrespected Jesus, but also His Father who had sent Him.  David wrote in Psalm 69:19 and 20, "You know my reproach, and my shame and my dishonor; my foes are all known to You.  Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair.  I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none."  Did John intend to point us to this Psalm so that we could apply this passage to Jesus as well?  I think so.

Let's look at one more of the final words that Jesus spoke from the cross.  Luke 23:46 says, "Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, 'Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit.'  And having said this He breathed His last."  This is a quote from Psalm 31.  Verse 5 says, "Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God."  Just before Jesus breathed His last breath, He spoke this prayer to God His Father.  It was a dying declaration of the fulfillment of His mission.  Jesus' death would become the ultimate sacrifice for all mankind.  When David spoke these words, he expressed ultimate trust in God, because he knew that God would provide a means of redemption for him, and that God was faithful.  I think Jesus knew this as well--God is faithful, and that He would provide a way to redeem us from our sins.  

Paul spoke of this divine plan of redemption in Ephesians 1:7-10.  "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth."  We therefore ask with David in Psalm 2:1, "Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?"  Why, when God has very clearly set forth this plan of redemption through the blood of His Son, Jesus--why do people "kick against the pricks?" (see Acts 26:14).

It is because they do not see that Jesus was the Anointed One that David wrote about in Psalm 2:2.  According to Chad Bird in his book The Christ Key:

The NT quotes, alludes to, or adopts the language of Psalm 2 about 17 times.  Most notably, the early Church quotes Psalm 2 after Peter and John were arrested for preaching Jesus and the resurrection (Acts 4:25-26).  These early Christians confessed that the Father "through the mouth of our father David...said [the words of Psalm 2] by the Holy Spirit" (Acts 4:25).  David the poet was the mouthpiece of the Spirit.  Their interpretation takes the form of this prayer: "For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, a long with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your plan had predestined to take place" (Acts 4:27-28).  The Lord's Messiah of Psalm 2:2 is "your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed" (Acts 4:27).  The nations, peoples, kings and rulers of Psalm 2:1-2 who "rage...plot...set themselves...[and] take counsel together" are interpreted as "Herod and Pontius Pilate, a long with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel" (Acts 4:27).  In short, the Christians read this Psalm as a Spirit-inspired, poetic prophecy of specific events that happened during the Passion of Jesus.  

God has given us the good news of the Gospel, which is that Jesus was sent by God to live a perfect life and to die an agonizing death, taking on the sin of the world as the ultimate sacrifice; and that three days later He would rise again to new life, as will we who belong to Him by faith.  It is by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone that this is accomplished.  Those who reject this message do so at their own peril, as they will die in their sins apart from the saving knowledge of Jesus.

If you read the Scriptures you will hear the very words of God Himself.  Do not stop up your ears and scream against those who speak the truth of God's mercy, as the Jews did who stoned Stephen (Acts 7:57).  If the world does decide to shoot the messenger, we can say with Stephen (who quoted the words of Christ on the cross), "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." (Acts 7:59). 

Christ is the Key

 

Then He said to them, "These are my words that I have spoken to you while I was still with you, that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled."  --Luke 24:44

When I was in Seminary I was offered a course called, I think, "Christ in the Old Testament."  I did not take it, not because I was not interested in the subject, but because it was not a requirement for my degree in Religious Education.  I was not in the Masters of Divinity track, and I certainly did not have the impetus or the intellect to advance to the PhD level. 

However, I have always wondered what the resurrected Jesus spoke of with the two fellows who were on their way to Emmaus.  This pair of disciples were on their way from Jerusalem to their home seven miles east.  When Jesus caught up with them, they were discussing the fact that Jesus, the rabbi who spoke as a prophet (who might have been the one to redeem Israel), was sold out by the priests and condemned to death.  Not only that, they had heard that some women had gone to the tomb, only to find it empty.  These women told stories of being met by angels, who told them that Jesus was alive.

When Jesus spoke, He opened up the books of Moses and the Prophets, explaining how all Scripture pointed to Himself.  I had always wondered what specific Scriptures Jesus quoted to them.  As we know, the New Testament had not been written yet, so the only Scriptures they had were the books in the Old Testament.  I was reminded of this area of study recently when I started reading a book by Chad Bird called The Christ Key.  I highly recommend it, and a lot of this study (and hopefully the blog posts in the near future) will rely heavily on Mr. Bird in their content.

As it happens, I have been doing a study of the book of Psalms, so I thought what better way to transition into a study of biblical Christology than to start in this same Old Testament book.  I also thought that I would start with the low hanging fruit. That is why I will start my study with Psalm 22.   With the exception of the passage from Isaiah 53 that was quoted by the angels announcing the Nativity, no other Old Testament passage so directly lines up with the New Testament narrative.

Mark 15:34 says, "And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?"  The Jewish men standing there at the crucifixion would have recognized the quote directly from Psalm 22.  Let's read a portion of it now.

My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?  Why are You so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?  O my God, I cry by day, but You do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.  --Psalm 22:1-2

When David wrote these words, he was confessing his own separation from God.  This separation was caused by sin.  We know David was not a perfect man.  Not only was he separated from God by space and time, but also due to his own sinful nature.

Why, then, would Jesus allude to this agonizing cry of David?  Because "For our sake He (God) made Him (Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him (Jesus) we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21).  This, friends, is the Gospel.  That Jesus took upon Himself our sin on the cross so that we could clothe ourselves in His righteousness before God.  He became the sacrifice for us, so that at the time of Judgment God would see His holiness rather than our vile sinfulness.

Let's read more of the Psalm together:

All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; "He trusts in the Lord; let Him deliver him; let Him deliver him, for he delights in Him!"  --Psalm 22:7-8

David often found himself in bad situations.  In these times of distress and trouble, his faith did not waver, even when others would mock him and make faces at him for his faith.  Their words of mockery went something like, "Only God can save him now."  Truer words were never spoken, even if their meaning was unclear to them.  God would deliver David, sometimes in ways that were unexpected--even miraculous.

When Jesus was crucified, it was a public spectacle.  Matthew 27:39-40 says, "And those who passed by derided Him, wagging their heads and saying, "You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself." Later in verse 43, they said, "He trusts in God; let God deliver Him now, if He desires Him."  Almost word for word what was written in Psalm 22.

Let's dig a bit deeper in our text:

I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.  --Psalm 22:14-15

David's heart-wrenching words describe an emotional turmoil.  Perhaps from fear of his enemies, he felt like he was poured out, like he was out of whack.  He may not have been eating well, or maybe he was fasting, as he describes loss of strength and dehydration.  His enemies, or maybe even his "friends" (the ones who mocked him) had left him for dead.

Crucifixion was not a known form of execution in David's day, but it was torturous.  Hanging suspended by nails in His hands, Jesus would have suffered physical symptoms like bones being disjointed--His shoulders, elbows, and wrists dislocating from His body weight; the feet and ankles out of whack because of the single spike holding his feet to the cross.  In John 19:28 we read, "After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), 'I thirst'."  Jesus was obviously dehydrated and needed water, but John saw that as a fulfillment of Old Testament Scripture, where David said, "my tongue sticks to my mouth."  Also, John 19:34 says, "One of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water."  Jesus was officially pronounced dead when his body fluids had visibly separate like that.  With David He could say, "I am poured out like water."

We can read one more prophetic verse from Psalm 22:

They have pierced my hands and feet....They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.  --Psalm 22:16b, 18

 David was a warrior king. It is not unreasonable that he may have received some minor wounds to his extremities, cuts and scrapes if not actual puncture wounds.  We can't be sure.  What we can be sure of is the practice in warfare than when a soldier comes upon a casualty, even an enemy casualty, he will salvage anything he can from the body--ammunition, firearms, armor, etc.  David would imagine that if he, the king, were a casualty, the men who came upon his corpse would see more value in their plunder, and they might gamble to see who would keep it.

As we have mentioned before, crucifixion was not something David would have been familiar with, but this method of execution was explicitly described here: "They have pierced my hands and feet."  Matthew 27:35 says, "And when they crucified Him, they divided His garments among them by casting lots."  I'll be they thought the tunic of this Rabbi would be worth a lot, more than that of the other common criminals crucified with Him that day.  Again we see this specific Scripture fulfilled.

I want to close by quoting from Chad Bird, on how the Scripture is layered, beginning with the Torah, through the Prophets, and even into the "writings", which include the Psalms, all of which laid the foundation for the New Testament and the good news.

Finally, we hear from the lips of Jesus Himself, on the day of His resurrection, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled" (Luke 24:44). Notice how He explicitly includes the Psalms here.  In saying this, Jesus "opened their minds to understand the Scriptures." (24:45).  This Greek verb for "opened," dianoigo, was used by the Emmaus disciples when they described how Jesus "opened to [them] the Scriptures" (24:32).  "Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets," He showed them that everything concerned Himself (24:27).  Luke will also use dianoigo to describe how, in Thessalonica, Paul "reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining [dianoigo] and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead" (Acts 17:2-3).  The Scriptures, including the Psalms, are opened to us by the Christ Key.  He alone unlocks the Old Testament and invites us in.  And He alone opens our minds to understand and believe in Him.  --Chad Bird, The Christ Key pg 162.

It is my desire to continue a study of the book of Psalms in this format, showing explicitly how Jesus was front and center on the minds of the authors and the readers in the early Church.  It is my sincere hope that this study will increase your faith and open up your heart and mind to know Him more, for His glory. 

The Lord is my Banner

There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare.  --Sun Tzu

In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.  --Sun Tzu

Have you ever played "capture the flag"?  It is an outdoor game in which two or more teams divide up the play area, using clearly defined boundaries between each team's zone.  Each team hides their flag or banner. The goal is to find the other team's flag and bring it back to your own territory.  The game is more complicated the more teams there are, because the strategy mimics that of a general fighting a war on multiple fronts.

Twentieth century American writer David Eddings said, "Only an idiot tries to fight a war on two fronts, and only a madman tries to fight one on three."  As soon as you shore up your defense on the west, you will most assuredly face an attack from the east.  If you plan a huge offensive to the north, you leave your southern border exposed to the enemy.

This may be what David was thinking when he wrote Psalm 60.  David, as you know, was a warrior king.  This is why God did not allow him to construct the Temple (1 Chronicles 22:6-10).  He frequently had to defend Israel's borders from enemies such as Philistia, Edom, and Moab.  The preamble to Psalm 60 references a time "when he strove with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, and when Joab on his return struck down twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt."

We read of these battles in 2 Samuel.  The first is described in chapter 8, verses 3-8.  David was battling to restore his power at the river Euphrates.  He went up against an army of chariots and defeated them.  He hamstrung the horses, saving only enough for 100 chariots that he kept for himself.  The rest of the chariots were destroyed.  Suddenly, the Syrians of Damascus (north of Israel) came to help David's enemies.  David had to fight against the Syrian allies, but he defeated them as well.  He set up garrisons in Damascus and made the Syrians pay tribute to him.  The Bible says, "And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went."

The next battle is described in chapter 8, verses 13 and 14.  "And David made a name for himself when he returned from striking down 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt.  Then he put garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became David's servants.  And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went."  If you know a bit about the geography of the region, you will realize that the Valley of Salt is to the south, near the Dead Sea.  Basically, while David was battling in the north, he received intelligence of an uprising in the south, and had to march his troops all the way to the Dead Sea to defeat his enemies there.

The first battle is described more fully in 2 Samuel 10:6-19.  David was winning the war against the Ammonites, who then hired the Syrian army to come help them fight off David's advances.  David sent Joab, his second in command, to meet the Syrian army.  Outflanked, "Joab saw that the battle was set against him both in front and in the rear" (verse 9), so he divided his army in two.  And he said, "If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you shall help me, but if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will come and help you." (verse 11).  Joab's men were able to exhibit such a show of force that the Syrians fled.  When the Ammonites saw that the Syrian mercenaries had retreated, they also fled.

Even though "the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went," there were times when the king and his general found themselves in uncertain situations.  When David and his foot-soldiers were met with an army of chariots, the odds were against them.  Likewise when Joab was outflanked, with the Ammonites on one side and the Syrians on the other, he knew he was not in an advantageous position.

Maybe this is why Psalm 60 starts with a cry for help.

A cry for Mercy

O God, You have rejected us, broken our defenses; You have been angry; Oh, restore us.  You have made the land to quake; You have torn it open; repair its breaches, for it totters.  You have made Your people see hard things; You have given us wine to drink that has made us stagger.  You have set up a banner for those who fear You, that they may flee to it from the bow.  That Your beloved ones may be delivered, give salvation by Your right hand and answer us!  (Psalm 60:1-5)

Anyone who has been in the heat of battle knows how chaotic it can be.  In order to survive, you must adapt.  To overcome, you must be brave.  I can't imagine how much bravery it would take if it looked like God has forsaken you.  The enemy soldiers marching in lock-step, such that the earth shakes with every advancing step they take.  You survey the battlefield and see the landscape littered with barriers and craters.  You turn your head and see more weapons arrayed against you; everywhere you look there is danger.  Your head swims; you get so dizzy you think you are drunk; you are so off-balance that with every step you stumble.

Quickly, you turn to look for your banner, your battle-flag.  This gives you courage, because you know that as long as your banner flies, you are not defeated.  David looks for the Banner of the Lord, Jehovah-Nissi.  He knows that if God is for him, there is none that can defeat him.

A Command from God

God has spoken in His holiness: "With exultation I will divide up Shechem and portion out the Vale of Succoth.  Gilead is Mine; Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim is My helmet; Judah is My scepter.  Moab is my washbasin; upon Edom I cast my shoe; over Philistia I shout in triumph."  (Psalm 60:6-8)

God reminds David that the battle is His.  You find yourself divided, fighting on two fronts?  God says he will divide the enemy for you, and set up boundaries in the land.  What will He use to accomplish this?  Israel itself.  Gilead is a region of Israel; elsewhere in scripture God promised to heal the people there (see Jeremiah 8:22).  Ephraim and Manasseh are tribes of Israel, descended from the sons of Joseph.  You remember the trials that Joseph went through before he was elevated to second in command in Egypt.  Things looked bleak for Joseph, but God did amazing things for him that he could only dream of.  Ephesians 3:20 says, "Our God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think."

What does He think of Israel's enemies?  Not much.  He washes His feet with Moab.  He throws His shoe on Edom.  He shouts in triumph over Philistia.  God is gently reminding them, "Hey, I've got this."  If God has placed their enemies under His feet, then the banner they should be looking for is not their battle flag; it is the banner of God that will guide them.

 A Call from Humility

Who will bring me to the fortified city?  Who will lead me to Edom?  Have you not rejected us, O God?  You do not go forth, O God, with our armies.  Oh, grant us help against the foe, for vain is the salvation of man!  With God we shall do valiantly; it is He who will tread down our foes.  (Psalm 60: 9-12)

David admits that from where he stands, things still look pretty bleak.  Through the eyes of man, it looks like God has abandoned them.  He admits that in their own strength, the battle would surely be lost.  However, because God has spoken, they will fight.  Because God has promised, they will prevail.  Because God leads them, He will strike down their enemies.

Perhaps David remembered that God brought His people out of the land of Egypt and commanded them to cross the Red Sea on dry ground.  Exodus 14:13-14 says, "And Moses said to the people, 'Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will work for you today.  For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.  The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent'."  The story in Exodus goes on to say that God told Moses to stop whining and to tell the people to go forward.  Their situation looked bleaker than the battlefield before David--they had an army behind them and a sea in front of them.  God told them to have faith, and move forward; He also said He would fight their battles.  Some translations say, "The Lord Himself will fight for you; you need only to be still."

How many times do our situations look bleak, so bleak we think we will certainly need to surrender.  When we are in a no-win situation, we must have faith.  God will fight for us.  Whether you are a seasoned soldier, or a rag-tag refugee facing a seemingly insurmountable sea of trouble, we must remember that the battle is the Lord's.