Why Jesus died

 

 Why did Jesus have to die the death of a criminal?  It's a question that Christians sometimes struggle with, as they ask themselves the question "Surely God could have made it possible for us to relate to him without putting Jesus through this dreadful agony?"     Indeed the evangelist Steve Chalke, in his 2004 book 'The lost message of Jesus'   referred to it as 'cosmic child abuse'.   It was a very loaded phrase and caused  huge controversy in evangelical Christian circles. 

 

Cosmic child abuse?

Referring to it as 'cosmic child abuse' puts the responsibility for the death of Jesus firmly in God's hands.   What a way for a father to treat his son!    Yet we must accept that Jesus was not put to death by God. He was executed by the Roman authority, specifically by a reluctant Pontius Pilate, under pressure from the Jewish religious leaders who wanted Jesus done away with. 

 

The death of Christ

This is a big subject, but I'd like to explore just one aspect of it here.

What was so dreadful about Jesus that the religious leaders of the day wanted to remove him?   Jesus was the perfect exemplar of integrity and honesty, and avoided entering into the politics of the day. (1)   There were plenty of people who wanted him to become a leader who would lead a rebellion against the Roman occupation of their land, but he chose not to do this. Jesus spoke of peace.  He healed the sick. He taught forgiveness. He spoke of giving water to the thirsty, visiting the lonely and imprisoned, clothing those who were too poverty-stricken even to afford clothes. He spoke of loving God and loving your neighbour. He also introduced the concept of God being our father: a concept with which Christians are very familiar with today, but which was new at the time. (2)

 

The threat to religion

Why were the Jewish leaders (who combined the roles of political and religious leaders) so determined to do away with Jesus?  What was so awful about his message and his increasing popularity?  The fact is that he aroused their fury by condemning the hypocrisy and falsity of so many of the leaders.  They paraded their religiosity by making a show of public praying and by insisting on observance of hundreds of rules whilst ignoring or even rejecting the needy and the oppressed.

 

They had turned religion into observance of rituals and laws whilst failing to live lives of love and care for others. Thus, whilst Jesus was promoting love for God and for one's fellow human beings, he was also attacking religion itself (!), or at any rate what religion had become, and the way in which it was being  misused by its leaders. And they hated him for it.

 

We see the same misuse of religion happening today.  All over the world Christians are having their homes and churches burnt by religious extremists -  sometimes Islamists, sometimes extreme Hindus, sometimes extreme Buddhists. In some countries, such as China, atheism is the culprit - the motivating force which clamps down on those who promote the values which Jesus taught.   All too often we hear of massacres of Christians by those who oppose everything they stand for.  In some countries Christians are arrested for the 'crimes' of owning a bible,  praying or simply meeting together. To be a Christian, to stand for and to put into practice the moral and social values which Jesus taught, is often going to get you into trouble. People hate these values. Increasingly, even in Britain, they hate the book which teaches these values, namely the Bible. To be a bible-believer and to set one's standards by the Bible, is to be a bigot in the eyes of many.  When the moral compass contained in the bible is removed, the absolute standards of right and wrong disappear. It is left to individuals to make up their minds how to behave and what standards to espouse. We are returning to a situation well described in the Bible when 'everyone did what was right in his own eyes' (3) - with disastrous results.

 

How God revealed himself to us.

We read in the Bible of how God enabled us to know what he is really like. He came to the earth he had created, to live among us, to experience first-hand what we experience as humans, and to live out and to teach those perfect values of love, forgiveness and practical help to the most needy in society.  And those qualities were so hated by the people in power that they had him executed!  It is a reminder to all who follow Jesus and his values that they too will often be hated and persecuted, for exactly the same reason. It hasn't yet got to this stage in Western democracies, but there is an increasing trend to de-platform Christian speakers and to threaten the jobs of those whose Christian viewpoint clashes with the latest woke viewpoint. In many parts of the world Christians are persecuted by arrest, injury, loss of property, denial of opportunity and sometimes by death.  But they can look to Jesus and see that the one whom they follow experienced exactly the same. He himself shared what they are undergoing and knows exactly what their suffering is like because he too underwent the same suffering.

 

New life.

If that were the end of the story there would seem to be little point in being a Christian. But of course it isn't the end.  When Jesus rose from the dead he proved that evil  cannot defeat the power of God.  This great event, the resurrection of Jesus, also reminds us that this life is only a forerunner of a future life.  The Bible is full of assurance that the future life will be one where evil has no place.

God’s dwelling-place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.  “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death” or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ (4)

 

(1) Matthew 22^15-22

(2) Some Christians find it difficult to relate to God as 'father' - usually because their own experience of their earthly father has been a bad one.  This misses the point though. A good father loves and cherishes his child, and gives him good gifts; and Jesus wanted us to see God in this light. See Luke 11¹¹

(3) Judges 21²⁵

(4) Revelation 21^1-6

God and the pandemic

 

God and the Pandemic.  

Tom Wright (formerly Bishop of Durham) has written an excellent book which I thoroughly recommend.  These notes are a short summary of the book, with a few of my own thoughts included. 

 

Supporting 'the family'

In ancient times when a disaster happened, people assumed that the gods were angry and needed to be appeased.  They usually tried to placate the gods by sacrifice - in some pagan religions they would even sacrifice their own children.  Any support they gave to one another would be most likely within their own extended family.  But there was no concept of supporting the community at large.

 

One of the  great steps forward brought about by Christianity was that believers in Jesus tried to follow his teaching by supporting one another as a Christian family in hard times.  Thus the concept of 'family responsibility' was extended from blood relations to the Christian community at large.  Jesus reached out to help people, even before they became believers.  There is no recorded instance, for example of Jesus turning away someone who sought healing. When he fed the 5000, no-one was excluded from the meal.   So Christians followed this example too, feeding the hungry, giving a drink to the thirsty, clothes to the needy, visiting the lonely and the imprisoned.   They did this, and still do so, following Galatians 6.10:  So then, while we have opportunity, let us be working good to everyone, but especially to the family-members of the faith.    Our heritage from this today includes hospitals and schools, as well as numerous Christian charities supporting the poor and needy, and those afflicted by disasters, irrespective of whether the needy are themselves Christian, though the first responsibility of a Christian is to fellow-believers.

 

In the current pandemic, sorrow is arising from the whole world like a pall of smoke and we hardly dare ask the question 'Why'?   Actually the best answer has been not to the question 'Why?' but to the question 'What can we do?' When the government asked for people to help the NHS as volunteers, half a million people signed up almost at once. They were doing what Christians have done over the centuries in times of disaster. Christians copy Jesus in supporting the poor the needy and the sick. In  Britain and other countries with Christian roots people have followed these inherited principles, though many nowadays have dropped the religious bit. No matter; the response has been heartwarming. 

 

Inappropriate Christian responses.

Some Christians have jumped to the conclusion that the pandemic is a sign of the end times. Others have thought that it is a wonderful opportunity to get people to think about heaven. And yet others think that God has brought disaster upon us in order to get us to repent of our evil ways. This follows the simplistic idea that good things happen to us when we're good, and bad things happen as a punishment when we're bad! Life, however, is not as simple as that.

 

A look at the Old Testament

if we look at the Old Testament we might get the impression from the Babylonian exile that the people of Israel were being punished for their evil ways. And indeed they were. But this was due to a specific covenant relationship between God and Israel. The nation had disobeyed God. They had been warned and had ignored the warnings. Exile was the outcome. There are plenty of other examples in the Old Testament of bad behaviour resulting in a bad outcome and good behaviour being rewarded by a good outcome.

 

Nevertheless the Old Testament operates at two different levels. Many of the Psalms include cries of distress by decent people who wonder why bad things are happening to them. Moreover the book of Job - perhaps one of the most ancient parts of the Old Testament - is a story describing bad things happening to a good man. His friends come to entirely the wrong conclusion by believing that his ill-fortune is a result of bad behaviour or sin. The story has a happy ending, but is only partially resolved. What is absolutely clear though is that Job's sufferings are brought upon him by a dark power which has nothing to do with his sinfulness. We do not understand that dark power whom we call Satan. We are at liberty to cry out  in distress if we too suffer for no apparent reason - as did the psalmists many times, and as did Jesus himself as he approached his crucifixion.   But the story of Job tells us clearly that the power of evil was only allowed to go as far as God permitted - and God had his reasons for this which may often be beyond our understanding.

 

Jesus and the gospels

The arrival of Jesus on the scene was a turning point in history. Now everything was going to be different. The Kingdom of heaven was at hand. in some ways Jesus was like the Old Testament prophets: warning people that unless they changed their ways and repented disaster would come, as indeed it did when the Romans devastated Jerusalem 40 years later. 

 

But in another way Jesus was not like the Old Testament prophets. When asked for a sign, he usually refused to give one on demand. The only sign he would give them was the prophetic sign of Jonah. Jonah disappeared into the belly of the whale and then came out alive three days later and Jesus said that was the sign that would tell his generation what was going on. (It's recounted in Matthew 12.40.   The sign of course would be subsequently when he died and returned to life on the third day.)

 

In the Old Testament, signs were usually negative ones such as the great plagues in Egypt. By contrast the signs that Jesus gave were positive: water into wine, healings, food for the hungry, sight for the blind, life from the dead.  

 

One thing which Jesus was very clear about was that if a person suffered it was not necessary to assume that it was a punishment for sin. In John chapter 9 he was asked about a man who was born blind. 'Teacher, whose sin was it that caused this man to be born blind? Did he sin or did his parents?'   'He didn't sin', replied Jesus,  'nor did his parents.  It happened so that God's works could be seen in him.'   So Jesus was not looking back to why it happened but forward to what God was going to do about it. That meant that Jesus himself was going to do something, which indeed he did by healing the blind man.

 

Us. What are we going to do?

Some Christians may think of the current pandemic as a sign from God. But we don't actually need signs of this sort from God. The ultimate sign was Jesus himself, his death and his Resurrection. Jesus gave us what we now know as the Lord's Prayer. In it he tells us to pray 'thy kingdom come'. He also tells us to pray 'forgive us our sins'.   This is all we need. We need to be Jesus centred, and consider in the light of our faith in Jesus Christ what we are going to do about the situation in which we find ourselves in this pandemic. We can and should pray for forgiveness from our sins. We can and should pray for God's Kingdom to come. Actually, God's Kingdom has already been inaugurated by Jesus. But the power of evil has not yet been destroyed and we should seek to let God's power work through us as we fight against the enemy.

 

If God is almighty, why doesn't he intervene and stop the pandemic?

God is sovereign. but if we believe this we have to try and understand what it means. If God is sovereign why doesn't he stop the pandemic? Why doesn't he abolish suffering? The story of Jesus and Lazarus is very instructive here. The sisters of Lazarus blamed Jesus, saying 'If you had been here Lazarus would not have died.' Jesus himself wept genuine tears at the tomb of Lazarus, weeping because he knew of the real suffering that had occurred as a result of Lazarus' death. Yet out of and after the suffering came new life. Jesus himself suffered on the cross. And sometimes we too will be expected to endure suffering before we reach the promised land. (I'm reminded of Churchill's speech In  June 1940 when he said 'The Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilisation. …The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be freed and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands'.)      Whilst the power of evil still exists there will be suffering and we shall be expected to share in this. In Romans 5,  Paul suggests that we should rejoice in suffering. What he means by this is that we should rejoice that our suffering is not pointless. God will use our suffering to the good purpose of developing our endurance and our character.

 

Early believers and their response to disaster.

We can look at the New Testament story to see how early believers responded to disaster. For example when Agabus in Antioch predicted a worldwide famine, people did not try to interpret whether it was a sign from God. Nor did they play the blame game, questioning whether anyone was at fault, or whether the famine was a punishment for the sins of any group of people. No. Their response was to consider what they could do about it and whom they could help. They were fulfilling a principle which was beginning to restore God's Kingdom to the way it was meant to be. God always wanted to work in his world through loyal human beings. This is part of the point of being made 'in God's image'. 

 

In the Lord's Prayer we pray 'thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.' And here already in the early church we see that Kingdom being launched. The way it is happening is by God working through people of this sort. And these people are being energized by the Holy Spirit. 

 

The call to repent is of course a big theme in the New Testament. But it is not linked to warning signs such as plagues, famines, or earthquakes. It is linked solely to the Lord Jesus Christ, his death and Resurrection. This is what Paul carefully taught for example when he was summoned to the Areopagus High Court in Athens. From the time of Jesus onwards we see Jesus's followers telling people about God's kingdom and summoning them to repent not because of any subsequent events such as famines or plagues but because of Jesus himself. The message was, and is, that Jesus came and died for our sins, and then conquered death. This is the only sign we shall get. We should respond by repenting of our sins, giving our lives to Him and becoming active soldiers in his kingdom.  When we pray 'Thy kingdom come, thy will be done' we should remember that the Kingdom of heaven is already here and we can be part of it.  There is more to happen yet: the power of evil is yet to be finally crushed, but God calls us to share with Him in fighting against this evil.

 

But why doesn't God intervene and do something?

During this pandemic there are many people who are asking why doesn't God do something about it if he is in control? 

Now let's ask several questions. 

·       Why did Jesus weep at the tomb of Lazarus?

·       Why, when we don't know how to pray as we ought, does the Holy Spirit plead on our behalf with groanings too deep for words? (Romans 8 27) 

·       Why did the king of the Jews hang suffering on a cross?

·       Why did God himself the controller of the universe come in the person of Jesus and show that leadership involves being a slave being prepared to wash one another's feet? 

·       And when Peter said to Jesus 'You shall never wash my feet' why did Jesus answer 'If I do not wash you have no part in me?' (John 13:8)

 

There is something about God being in control that we need to learn to grasp. And it's to do with suffering and groaning. It's also to do with true leadership involving servanthood. When there is suffering, God suffers with us. We see it most clearly in the suffering of Jesus on the cross. But until the power of evil is fully defeated the whole of creation will continue to suffer. …...

(Nb my blog entry of May 24th 2020 is on the subject of 'Is God in control?'

 

 

Groaning X 3. 

 Romans 8:22 ESV — For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

 

With creation in an agony of travail during this pandemic we have no great pronouncement to make about what it all means. Creation is groaning and so are we. And we are we are reminded in this Bible passage that God himself is groaning. One Day all this evil will be swept away, but for the time being God is with us in our grief. Our role is to pray maybe with wordless prayer and to stand alongside all who suffer. 

 

It's easy for Christians to misunderstand the meaning of Romans 8 28. 

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

A a popular interpretation is that in effect we can sit back and wait for things to come out well because God is going to work all things for our good. This is rather a stoical way of thinking. 'What will be will be, and it will all turn out alright in the end.'

 

But Tom Wright in his book about the pandemic goes into great detail to show that this is not what the phrase really means. A much better meaning is that God himself cooperates for good with those who love God. It reinforces this idea that we are called to hard work and suffering knowing that God is at work in us. We are called to be part of God's saving purpose for his suffering world. Paul is not proposing a Christian version of stoicism. He is offering a Jesus-shaped picture of a suffering redeeming providence in which God's people are themselves not simply spectators, not simply beneficiaries, but active participants. 

 

Note that there is one area where God is not fully in control.  This is because he has delegated a great deal of control to human beings. When they mess up, as is often the case, he grieves. When Jesus looked at the wickedness of Jerusalem he wept. It is the price that God paid for making man in his own image. 

 

Where do we go from here?

We must learn that it is right to lament. We are told to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. The world is weeping and we should weep with them, as Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus. God is not sending further signs.Jesus himself was and is the sign that we all need, and if God sent further signs it would imply that the sign of Jesus was inadequate.. 

 

As we lament we must learn to accept that we do not understand the pandemic and may never understand it. As TS Eliot said "in order to arrive at what you do not know you must go by a way which is the way of ignorance." Suffice it to say that all such evils originate with the enemy the devil whose final defeat has not yet happened. Our role is to fight with Jesus against the enemy by both prayer and action where possible. God is ultimately in charge and even though evil stalks the land we can see from the book of Job that Satan, the author of evil, is limited  by God in what he is allowed to do. 

 

Something which should concern us as church members. 

The Christian community has in the past always been at the forefront of social action to benefit the needy. They have established schools and hospitals. More recently they have been at the forefront of hospice care. However, as the years have gone by, the state has taken over many of these functions; but it would be wrong for Christians to stand back and think that the only role remaining to them today is to teach people how to get to heaven! There is always plenty that we can do to supplement the work of the state authorities and to step in where the state isn't doing too well

There is a way of thinking which suggests that religion should be a private matter for the individual and should have no place in public Life. So worship becomes invisible. There is a danger that in these days of Zoom meetings this problem will be aggravated. So we should be praying for the day when our churches can function as they used to do. 

The battle of the false gods - and what we should be hoping and praying for.

Tom Wright imagines a battle going on between false gods.

Asclepius the god of healing

Mammon the money god. 

Mars the god of war

And Aphrodite the goddess of erotic love is never far away. 

Even now there is a tussle between those who support a total lockdown and those who want to get commerce back on its feet again. It's a battle between Asclepius and Mammon. And in the background the superpowers are still building up their armaments and threatening one another. Meanwhile the poor and the weak will go to the wall again. They always do. It's a time of lament but it should also be a time of prayer and hope. What we hope for includes the desire for wise human leadership and initiative which will, like that of Joseph in Egypt, bring about fresh and healing policies and actions across God's wide and wounded world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remember the Sabbath Day

Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy.

Which day?
Let's sort out first which day of the week is the sabbath day.  In Judaism, the sabbath is Saturday - which starts on Friday evening at 6pm and continues for 24 hours. Christians have transferred the idea of the sabbath to Sunday, the first day of the week, because Jesus set this in motion.  This was the day on which He rose from the dead (John 20:1-18). All eight post-resurrection appearances took place on the first day, either His day of resurrection or the following Sunday. The seventh day is a reminder of God’s work in creation: the first day is a weekly reminder of God’s work in redemption. Every Sunday is an Easter for the Christian.  The early church recognised this change and kept the first day of the week as a distinct and different day (Acts 20:7, 1 Cor 16:2)

Still relevant?

Is the fourth commandment relevant to us today, and if so, how should we treat it?

God gave this law to the Hebrews as they wandered through the desert during their 40-year journey from Egypt to the Promised Land of Canaan. (Exodus 20)

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work,  but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.  For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. 

Seven is a number which denotes perfection and completeness, and is used in the Bible many times with this underlying meaning.  God used the backdrop of his creation of the world in 6 days, and resting on the seventh, to tell his people to do the same - to have one day of rest in seven.  It's interesting that after the French Revolution an attempt was made to metricate the calendar and have a ten-day week.  The experiment failed and was eventually abandoned in favour of returning to a seven-day week. 

The commandment about the sabbath is more detailed than all the others, covering four verses in Exodus 20, and is the only one which begins with the word 'remember'.   All too easily we forget things which should be important, and one of the things which has tended to wither in recent years, even among Christians, is meaningful observance of this commandment.

Jewish observance

Sabbath observance for orthodox Jews is legalistic and restrictive: one of their websites includes the following information :

Climbing a tree is forbidden, because it may lead to breaking twigs or tearing leaves, which could be construed as “reaping” (i.e., separating part of a growing plant from its source). Other activities that by extension are prohibited on the Sabbath include the following:

• Adding fresh water to a vase of cut flowers (sowing — any activity that causes or furthers plant growth).
• Making a bouquet of flowers (making a sheaf).
• Separating good fruit from spoiled fruit (winnowing, selecting, sifting).).
• Cutting hair or nails (shearing sheep-removing outer covering of a human or animal).
• Applying makeup (dyeing).
• Drawing blood for a blood test (slaughtering).
• Rubbing soap to make lather, applying face cream, polishing shoes, using scouring powder for utensils or other surfaces (scraping-smoothing the surface of any material by grinding, rubbing, or polishing).
• Sharpening a pencil (cutting to shape-altering the size or shape of an item to make it better for human use).
• Painting, drawing, typing (writing, making durable marks on a durable material).
• Tearing through lettering on a package (erasing).
• Opening an umbrella or unfolding a screen (building).
• Smoking a cigarette, using the telephone (kindling a fire).
• Switching off an electric light (extinguishing a fire).
• Setting or winding a clock or watch (finishing off).

Jesus's clarification.

Jesus took a very different view:      One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain.  The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”  He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?  In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”  (Mark 2.23)

Jesus's teaching is clear: sabbath observance is meant to be a gift to us, not a restriction upon us.  Resting one day a week is a privilege to be encouraged, not a nuisance designed to enslave us.

The Lord's Day Observance Society  (now named 'One Day Ministries') campaigned for many years to protect shop employees from being obliged to work in supermarkets  on a Sunday, and this turned into the 'Keep Sunday Special' campaign.  It became heated and politically controversial, with strong arguments being put forward on both sides. It finally resulted in supermarkets being allowed to open on Sundays but with restricted hours of opening. 

One Day Ministries has an informative web-page on the fourth commandment: 
 https://www.dayone.org.uk/home/what-s-wrong-with-britain/fourth-commandment/

My personal application

Keeping the sabbath involves both rest and dedication to God.  'Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy.'  My mid-teens were academically pressurized - I went to a public day-school which included Saturday morning school, followed by three hours of weekend homework. 

A fellow pupil somewhat older than myself said in our Bible Class (Crusaders) that he had decided never to do schoolwork on a Sunday, as he wanted to have a day of rest which included coming to Crusaders and/or church .  I was impressed and decided to follow his example. I have continued to do so for the past 60+  years.  As a schoolteacher I would not mark books or prepare lessons on a Sunday.   When I came to live in Neston I acquired a fairly big vegetable garden and attempted to keep it well-cultivated.  But it was heavy-going and to me it was rather a chore, so I decided against gardening on Sundays.  Others, who love gardening as a relaxation from their daily grind at the office might see this in exactly the opposite way. If gardening is a relaxation, then it can count as rest.

Poulsom's farm.

The field opposite our house used to be farmed by Christopher Poulsom. Chris had excellent relationships with other local farmers, and also with his employees. The neighbouring farmers would always help one another at haymaking time, but Christopher, because of his Christian priorities would not do farmwork on Sundays if it could wait until Monday, and would not demand work from his employees on Sunday either if it could be avoided. Chris once told me of a Sunday when many other farmers were haymaking as they expected a rainstorm on the Monday. Christopher went to chapel on the Sunday, leaving half the field harvested and half still undone. In due course the rain came down in torrents, soaking the part of the field which had been harvested, but leaving the other part of the field completely untouched. It was a great example of God honouring those who honour him. 

Chris teaching my first wife Lindsay how to drive the tractor

A picnic during harvesting

Is God in control?

In my blog entry dated 3^rd May 2020 I said "It's not so clear to us yet why we are suffering a worldwide pandemic today, but it is awe-inspiring to consider that God knows, and is ultimately in control."  This was written in the context of the ten plagues in Egypt which preceded the Exodus, and which were clearly foreknown by, and controlled by God for a specific purpose.  I'd like to pursue and clarify my comment by emphasizing the word "ultimately" in the statement.  Throughout history there has been a war going on between good and evil, and ultimately God will have the victory. This might be a better way of putting things than saying God is in control, because it is quite clear that God has ceded some of his control to us.   We are not puppets or androids, wired up to live our lives on a pre-programmed course. Nor are we accidental products of a materialistic universe which has no creator and in which our random acts are ultimately meaningless. 

Freewill

We are taught from the very beginning of the Bible  that human beings have been given free will by our creator.  (for my comments on the value of the Bible,see my blog entry of December 10^th 2019)  We can choose our course of action. This is what is meant when we are told that mankind was made in the image of God (1).  God has graciously shared his freedom to make choices and enabled us to do so as well. In order for this freedom to have meaning, there has to be the availability of a choice between right and wrong actions.  Way back in pre-history the power of evil was ceded to Satan , though not permanently. For good reason, Satan is described by Jesus as The prince of this world,(2)  because of the (temporary) power he has been permitted to retain over world events and occurrences.

The first humans
The very first humans  were given freedom of choice. Whether the story of Adam and Eve is literally or allegorically true, the message is the same: They were able to obey or disobey God, and they chose to disobey.  They pursued the same popular but regrettable choice as Frank Sinatra  - "I did it my way" !

Job

The book of Job is the story of a wealthy and honourable man who lived in ancient times, very probably before 1000 BC.  It's a story of personal disaster on a huge scale, though it has a happy ending.  In chapter 1 we are told that God deliberately allowed Satan to have a measure of control over Job's life - indeed to do Job great harm - in order that Satan might see that Job would remain faithful to God throughout his ordeals. This would prove that Satan ( a mere fallen angel who in no way has the same power as God) does not have the power to break Job's spirit.  I believe we see Job's commitment reflected over and over again in modern times when Christian believers keep faithful to their Lord despite wicked and unjust treatment at the hands of extremist groups and of anti-Christian governments.

Jesus

The ultimate example of this battle between good and evil is of course the story of Jesus, who did no wrong yet was put to death by execution at the hands of wicked men.  Foul wickedness was perpetrated, yet what follows it is the story of Easter: surely the supreme evidence that God is ultimately in control.

The challenge to you and me is this: God has ceded the power of choice to us. Which choice shall we make?  Christian believers are instructed to put on armour, because we too are part of the war against evil.  This evil might be man-made (think World War 2, or man's continuing destruction of the environment) or it might be natural (a pandemic, earthquake or tsunami). Whatever the evil, we are given the choice of whether to support evil, resist evil and work to mitigate its effects, or lazily do nothing.  St Paul challenges us: 

Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (3)   

It's a battle described in Bunyan's famous allegory Pilgrim's Progress. (For more on this see my blog entry dated January 6^th 2020) .  The choice is ours: we have control of what we shall do with our own lives, but God assures us that the victory will one day be his.  The many acts of goodness and sometimes of heroism which we have seen during these weeks of pandemic are evidence that many have been making good choices.

A favourite hymn of yesteryear contains this same bible-based theme of  the warfare in which we are engaged.  It was written by Frances Ridley Havergal and was inspired by Moses' challenge in Exodus 32.26 :

Who is on the Lord’s side? Who will serve the King?
Who will be His helpers, other lives to bring?
Who will leave the world’s side? Who will face the foe?
Who is on the Lord’s side? Who for Him will go?
By Thy call of mercy, by Thy grace divine,
We are on the Lord’s side—Saviour, we are Thine!

Not for weight of glory, nor for crown and palm,
Enter we the army, raise the warrior psalm;
But for love that claimeth lives for whom He died:
He whom Jesus saveth marches on His side.
By Thy love constraining, by Thy grace divine,
We are on the Lord’s side—Saviour, we are Thine!

Jesus, Thou hast bought us, not with gold or gem,
But with Thine own lifeblood, for Thy diadem;
With Thy blessing filling each who comes to Thee,
Thou hast made us willing, Thou hast made us free.
By Thy grand redemption, by Thy grace divine,
 

We are on the Lord’s side—Saviour, we are Thine!

Fierce may be the conflict, strong may be the foe,
But the King’s own army none can overthrow;
’Round His standard ranging, vict’ry is secure,
For His truth unchanging makes the triumph sure.
Joyfully enlisting, by Thy grace divine,
 

We are on the Lord’s side—Saviour, we are Thine!

Chosen to be soldiers, in an alien land,
Chosen, called, and faithful, for our Captain’s band;
In the service royal, let us not grow cold,
Let us be right loyal, noble, true and bold.
Master, wilt Thou keep us, by Thy grace divine,
Always on the Lord’s side—Saviour, always Thine!

(1) Genesis 1.27

(2) John 12.31 and 16.11

(3) Ephesians 6.10

The Throne

Here are two of the things I have done recently during the covid19 lockdown.

• With Wendy I have watched the film 'Exodus, Gods and Kings'
• I've also been reading, along with our church's virtual housegroup, the Book of Revelation, and have reached chapter 4.

Exodus, Gods and Kings is a stunning film in terms of CGI effects, and brings ancient Egypt dramatically alive. 

(However, I wouldn't commend it for accuracy: it deviates several times quite unnecessarily from the story as told in the Bible. 
I would like to have said to the producer "If it isn't broken, don't mend it!"  The original story is quite compelling enough without any need to make changes to it).

The challenge which Moses made to Pharaoh - the leader of the greatest nation on earth at the time, was quite extraordinary and bold.  "Let my people go."  Release all the Hebrew slaves and allow them to leave Egypt.   As we know, Pharaoh refused, and ten great plagues came upon Egypt.   At this time of the covid19 pandemic, it is helpful to be reminded that plagues are absolutely and totally under the control of God. With hindsight we can see clearly why God sent the plagues on Egypt, and how carefully orchestrated they were.   It all happened for a reason. It's not so clear to us yet why we are suffering a worldwide pandemic today, but it is awe-inspiring to consider that God knows, and is ultimately in control.  It's at such a time as this that turning to God, which Pharaoh did not do, would be such a good idea.   

 In the film, Pharaoh in his frustration shouts out "I am God".  Doubtless he thought he was, in the way that so many absolute rulers down through the ages have done.

When I was reading Revelation ch 4, I came upon this verse:

There before me was a throne in heaven, with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. 

The context makes it clear that this was the throne of God himself. Pharaoh's throne in ancient Egypt must have been the most magnificent throne in the world at the time, occupied by an autocratic ruler.  But the throne in heaven was, and is, occupied by one who draws our attention to the rainbow encircling it. Why?   This description is in the last book of the Bible.  In the first book of the Bible, Genesis, we can find the answer. It wasn't a plague or pandemic that came - but something equally appalling: a worldwide flood.The description of the reason for the flood and its onset are described in chapter six.  The sad fact was that only Noah and his family were at one with God: everyone else had turned away from God and were doing their own thing.   After the flood was over,

God said to Noah and his sons, "I now establish my covenant with you and your descendants and with every living creature…  Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood. Never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth. I have set my rainbow in the clouds and it will be a sign of the covenant between me and you and all life on earth. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds I will see it and remember this covenant.  (Genesis 9)

The rainbow encircling the throne is a sign and reminder that the almighty creator of the world, (who can do whatever he wishes with his creation), limits himself by his own promise that he will never again destroy the world by a flood. It's a covenant of love and grace, in startling contrast to the attitude of Pharaoh, whose only wishes were to retain his slaves, his wealth and his prestige. 

A final thought: there is a big contrast between the Flood and the current pandemic: the flood killed everyone who had rebelled against their creator, and a new beginning was made, based on one loyal family.  Today's pandemic is nowhere near  killing everybody, and already we see the first signs of  new beginnings as the common danger brings out the best in so many people.  

PS   There is a good article in 'Christian Today' about turning to God in a time of crisis, at  
https://www.christiantoday.com/article/the-antidote-for-despair/134788.htm