Tim Chester's Blog, page 26

Here’s me speaking on international church life at the Pilgrims’ Friend Society annual conference.

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In a recent post I looked at the glory of Jesus revealed in Mark’s account of the transfiguration.

But there’s a surprise. Jesus is revealed in glory. And surely we expect the voice to say, ‘This is my Son, whom I love. Gaze upon him.’ After all, everything in the story so far has been about his appearance. The obvious invitation is to gaze upon him.

But in fact the voice from heaven says in verse 7, ‘This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him.’ Why? Why does God the Father choose this moment to tell us to listen to Jesus?

The answer is simple. It’s because the disciples have just refused to listen to Jesus. They’re rejected the words of Jesus. Look at 8:31-32: ‘[Jesus] then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.’

It’s not that they are rejecting the words of Jesus in general. It’s a very specific word: his declaration that he must die. Maybe you’re like the disciples. You love so much of what Jesus says. You find it so inspirational. But you just don’t get the cross.

But the cross is absolutely central to who Jesus is and what he has come to do. Jesus is the King who has come to die for his people.

Jesus doesn’t just say, ‘I will die.’ He says, ‘I must die.’ This is the plan. This is what he must do. This is what Jesus is determined to do. And this is what the Father is pleased to see him doing. The Father sees the determination of his Son to go to the cross and the Father says: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased … This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!’

‘This is my plan as well,’ says the Father. ‘This is our plan. Though it will cost me everything I love, though it will cost him everything he is, this is our plan. And it is pleasing to me. Because through the death of my Son, we will save a people.’ The One in whom the Father is well pleased is the One who offers himself to death.

Proclaiming the cross

Look at verse 9: ‘As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.’

You know how it is. You see something amazing and in your head you’re thinking, ‘I can’t wait to tell people about this.’ These days, of course, you don’t have to wait. You immediately update your Facebook status or post a picture on Twitter. I go through my day gathering up things to tell my wife when I get home.

So you can imagine Peter, James and John walking down the mountain. And they’re thinking, ‘I can’t wait to tell the others – they’re going to be so jealous.’ Then Jesus rains on their parade. He tells them not to tell anyone. Indeed, Jesus orders them not to tell anyone. And this is an order from the transfigured King.

Why? Because they haven’t yet grasped that he must die. All that’s in their head is glory, power, majesty. They’re just thinking about basking in this glory. Look at verse 5: ‘Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters – one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”’ Peter wants to stay with glory. He doesn’t want Jesus to go back down the mountain and rejoin the road to the cross.

But we cannot separate the resurrection and the cross. We cannot separate glory and suffering. To proclaim Jesus is to proclaim his cross.

This brings us to Easter Sunday. Look at Mark 16:5-6:

As [the women] entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. ‘Don’t be alarmed,’ he said. ‘You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.

Here is the ultimate declaration of the Father’s pleasure. God doesn’t just speak from heaven. God reaches down from heaven. And reaches into the grave and pulls Jesus back from death. God the Father raises Jesus from the dead. He vindicates his claims. He glorifies his Son.

But this it is not ‘just’ a resurrection. After all, we’ve already had a resurrection in Mark’s Gospel. In Mark 5 Jesus resurrects a girl from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus is more than repeat of that.

Look at verse 6: ‘You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen!’ Who has risen? The crucified One.

The One who died under judgment is now justified by God.
The One who died forsaken by God is now embraced by God.
The One who died in darkness now rises with the dawn bringing light to the world.

So it’s not just Jesus who is raised. It is the crucified One who is raised. It is the One who died bearing my sin and your sin. It is the One who died in my place and your place. And that means he rises bearing our justification. He rises for us to give us eternal life. His resurrection is the basis and promise of our resurrection – if we belong to him.

Here’s the point. We cannot separate the resurrection and the cross. We cannot separate power and sacrifice. We cannot separate justification and judgment. We cannot separate glory and suffering.

You’ve not understood Christianity until you’ve understood the cross. So if you haven’t got your head around the significance of the cross then I urge you to find out. Ask people, read the Bible, pray until you get it. It may be that when you understand it, you don’t like and walk away from Christianity. But don’t reject Jesus until you’ve really understand what he’s about – and that means understanding the cross.

So the command from heaven is this: Listen to him. Listen to his word about the cross. See Jesus not just as the King who rules the world and not just as the God who lights up heaven. See him, too, as the Son who dies in love.

Ultimately, what takes our breath away is not just the dazzle of the transfiguration or the resurrection. What takes our breath away is the love of the cross.

The world is full of ascension language. Things can be ‘on the up’, but they can also take a ‘downward turn’. We want to ‘rise’ in our career. We want to ‘rise above’ our problems. We love stories of successful people because we want to emulate the ‘heights’ to which they have ‘risen’. The appeal of TV programmes like X-Factor is the opportunity for ordinary people to be ‘lifted’ out of obscurity and ‘rise above’ the crowd. The Cinderella story is deeply embedded in our culture. We all want to ‘ascend’. Monarchs ‘ascend’ to the throne. Indeed their thrones are normally on a dais so they sit ‘above’ the rest of us.

But what is most glorious about the glory of Jesus is that he lays his glory ‘down’. His ultimate glory is seen in his shame. His power is seen in weakness. His wisdom in folly.

The Apostle John, one of the men who witnessed the transfiguration, often speaks of Jesus being ‘lifted up’ (John 3:14; 8:28; 12:32, 34). Jesus said: ‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ And then John adds: ‘He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.’ (John 12:32-33)

At the climax of his life, Jesus is lifted up – like a king. But he is lifted up on a cross. His throne is the cross and his dais is the hill of Calvary. And to the watching world it is a dark moment of shame and humiliation. But this is his glory. It is the glory of love.

In the vision of heaven in the book of Revelation we have another transfiguration-like appearance. Christ appears with hair as white as snow, eyes like blazing fire, feet like glowing bronze, a voice like the sound of many waters and a face ‘like the sun shining in all its brilliance’ (Revelation 1:14-16). And that, you might think, is why the choirs of heaven worship him. But this is what they sing: ‘You are worthy … because you were slain and with your blood you purchased [people] for God.’ (Revelation 5:9)

When I join the heavenly choir what is it that will make me want to sing? Will it be when I see his hair like snow? Or his eyes blazing with fire? Or his feet glowing like burning bronze? Of his voice like the sounds of rushing waters? Or his face shining like the sun in all its brilliance. No. It will be when I see the wounds in his hands and feet and side – the wounds which are there for me.

The splendour of Christ’s power makes us go, Wow! Or maybe it frightens us. Verse 6 says it frightened Peter 6. But it is the depth of his love that captures our hearts. Of course the two go together. It is when we see the Glorious One choose shame, the Mighty One choose weakness, the Author of Life choose death – that is when we see the magnificence of his love. And it is magnificent. What is glorious about the glory of Jesus is that he lays his glory down.

And Jesus did this for you. He did this to save you: to cover your sins, to bear your pain, to take your judgment. He laid aside his glory to lift you up to glory – to lift you up from the pit of shame and seat you with him in glory.

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Here are some words from John Owen:

Make up your mind that to behold the glory of God by beholding the glory of Christ is the greatest privilege which is given to believers in this life. This is the dawning of heaven. It is the first taste of that heavenly glory which God has prepared for us … A constant view of the glory of Christ will revive our souls and cause our spiritual lives to flourish and thrive … This is what transforms us daily into the likeness of Christ. So let us live in constant contemplation of the glory of Christ, and power will then flow from him to us, healing all our [failings], renewing a right spirit in us and enabling us to abound in all the duties that God requires of us … On Christ’s glory I would fix all my thoughts and desires, and the more I see of the glory of Christ, the more the painted beauties of this world will wither in my eyes and I will be more and more crucified to this world. (John Owen, The Glory of Christ, abridged by R. J. K. Law from Meditations and Discourses on the Glory of Christ, Works Vol. 1, Banner of Truth, 1994, 21-23, 167, 7.)

Let me encourage you to think in these terms. As you read your Bible, as your pray, throughout the day, think in terms of seeing the glory of Christ. To look upon the glory of Christ is to see ‘the dawning of heaven.’ We get a ‘first taste of … heavenly glory.’

So what do we see when we look at Jesus? Consider the story of the transfiguration in Mark 9.

The glory of the King who rules the world (9:1)

Verse 2 begins ‘after six days’. Mark isn’t normally interested in exactly when things happen. But here he’s very specific. So it begs the question: Six days after what?

The answer is verse 1: Jesus ‘said to them, “I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power.”’

Is Jesus talking about his resurrection when he rises from the dead in power?
Is he talking about his ascension when he ascends to receive all power and authority from God – something to which he alludes during his trial (14:62)?
Is he talking about the day of Pentecost when he pours of the Spirit in power on his people so they can call on the nations to submit to his power and authority?

I think the answer is all of these and more. The resurrection, the ascension, Pentecost together are the coming of the kingdom of God in power. And all this is anticipated and prefigured in this moment on the mountain. This transfiguration of Jesus is a sign of what’s coming – a sign of his true and ultimate identity.

Jesus is the King who rules the world. In Jesus the kingdom of God has come in power. He is the one ‘who … was declared with power to be the Son of God, by his resurrection’ (Romans 1:4). Jesus is the King who has ascended to his throne. Jesus is the King who sends us in power to proclaim his power and authority to the world.

So in Jesus we see the glory of the King who rules the world.

The glory of the God who lights up heaven (9:2-3)

Look at 9:2-3: ‘After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.’

Jesus is ‘transfigured’. We don’t really know what that means other than what Mark describes: ‘His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.’ If this was a washing powder advert, we would be shown ordinary washing powder and then new, improved washing powder which is visibly brighter. But when we looked at Jesus we would have to turn away because his clothes are ‘dazzling’ – like looking into the sun.

What do we see when we look at Jesus? The world looks at Jesus and sees a man. Just a man. A man whose life ended on a cross – in apparent failure. Indeed he didn’t just die. He was executed. He died as a criminal. He died in shame.

But in the transfiguration we see his true character and his true nature. And he radiates with light. Throughout the Old Testament that is how God is described. The Psalmist says: God ‘wraps himself in light as with a garment.’ (Psalm 104:2) It’s as if the glory of God shines through the human form of Jesus.

Paul says: ‘in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.’ (Colossians 2:9) It is as if the splendour of God has been squeezed into a human body. Imagine trying to pack all your possessions into a suitcase, squashing it, pushing, it, sitting on it, trying to cram it in. That is what God did at the incarnation. He took the fulness of the Deity and squeezed into bodily form.

But now in this moment on this mountain the glory of his divine nature is poking out, blazing out. It happens again on Easter Sunday when he bursts from the tomb – true God, true man, full of glory, full of life.

The voice from heaven declares: ‘This is my Son, whom I love.’ Jesus is the Son of God, loved by God. He is the radiant, majestic, dazzling Lord of glory. He is the God who lights up heaven with his presence.

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Reading: John 1:43-51

Here is another extracts from The Glory of the Story , my father’s devotional introduction to biblical theology in the form of 366 daily readings which show how the Old Testament story is fulfilled in Christ. The Glory of the Story is available as a Kindle book for $2.99 from amazon.com and £1.99 from amazon.co.uk. I’m posting extracts from the chaper on the story of Jacob, usually on the first Monday of the month.

The proud builders of Babel planned a tower that reaches to the heavens (Gen. 11:4); the same wording used to describe the stairway of Jacob’s dream (Gen. 28:12). Of course they couldn’t bridge the gap, and God came in judgement upon them. Now we have God’s answer to Babel. Heaven comes to earth. God comes in mercy to needy Jacob and promises, ‘I will never leave you.’ It is a promise repeated to the whole community called Jacob in the desperate place of exile (Is. 43:1-2). At a personal level, the deepest yearnings for God’s presence are kept alive in, for example, Psalms 23 and 121. Let us now press the FF button.

1. The story fast-forwarded to Jesus (43-50)

Jesus is calling his disciples. Seeing Nathaniel he says, ‘Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit.’ (47 ESV) In the light of what follows this is an obvious contrast with deceitful Jacob, the first Israelite. Jesus’ miraculous knowledge of Nathaniel evokes the confession, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.’ (49) Jesus assures Nathaniel there is a much stronger basis for faith soon to be disclosed (50).

2. The story finally-fulfilled through Jesus (51)

What Jacob’s dream symbolizes is being re-enacted before their eyes (‘you’ in verse 51 is plural). God is tearing heaven open again and coming to earth – in the baptism of Jesus (heaven … torn open – Mark 1:10); in the signs and sayings of Jesus; in his death, resurrection and exaltation to heaven.

Jesus, as the Word-of-God-become-flesh, now tabernacles on earth (John 1:14). He is the new intersection point between heaven and earth. He is Immanuel, God with us (Matt 1:23). He is the new Bethel, meaning house of God; the place where we can meet God and hear his word. As the LORD said to Jacob, ‘I will never leave you’, so the Lord Jesus tells his disciples: ‘I will be with you always, to the very end of the age.’ (Matt. 28:20)

His presence is now a reality for every Christian through the ministry of the Holy Spirit (John 14: 16-18; Rom. 8:9-10; Eph. 3:16-17). Each new day a Christian can say, ‘the LORD is in this place … this is the gate of heaven!’ (Gen. 28:16-17)

Closing thought

Seek to live each part of today aware of the presence of Jesus and the nearness of heaven (cf. Heb. 12:22).

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I can’t understand people who choose to sit at the back of church meetings. I understand parents with small children who want the option of taking them out or whisking them off to the toilet. But everyone else?

Some people, perhaps, think they are less exposed to the preacher’s gaze. As a preacher I can tell that’s false. You see over the people at the front. It’s the people at the back who you notice.

It’s also more comfortable at the front. You get more leg room and more oxygen.

But here are some better reasons to sit at the front.

You’re a recipient

When you sit towards the back the majority of the congregation are facing away from you. All you see is the back of their heads. When you sit at the front they are facing towards you. When they sing, they sing in your direction. Half the songs we sing are directed towards God. But the other half are directed to one another. We extol God’s glory and grace to one another and exhort one another to worship the triune God. I need that exhortation. And when I sit at the front I get from both two barrels, as it were. There is a wall of noise coming my way which is stirring my affections. If you sit at the back you have all the effort and none of the benefits.

Indeed one of the things I like to do from time to time is to stop singing and listen as if the song is begin sung just for me (which it is only without the ‘just’). It can be a very powerful moment. All the truth of the song is directed with all the power of the music to my heart. Wham! Of course, we can’t all do it at the same time otherwise no-one would be left singing. But give it a go from time to time.

You’re a participant

Whenever I find myself at the back of church meeting I feel like I’m hedging my bets. I kind of involved, but I’m also detached. I don’t know what comes first for most people – the half-hearted participation or the sitting at the back. But I notice that it’s the people at the back who are more likely to be looking at their phones during the meeting. Certainly for me sitting at the back makes me feel detached. I feel like an observer.

And why would you want that? Speaking for myself, I need to the public preaching of God’s word, corporate acts of confession, affection-stirring singing. I can’t afford to be peripheral to these moments because that makes them peripheral to my life.

Of course we can’t all sit at the front. But there should be a scramble for the front in our churches.

Leave space for visitors

There’s a final missional reason for sitting at the front. Unbelievers often do want to be observers of our meetings. They feel uncomfortable participating. Partly that’s for some practical reasons. They may not know the songs. They may worry about standing or sitting at the wrong moment so they want to follow everyone else. Partly it’s for spiritual reasons. The sentiments we express are alien to them. But we can and should encourage them to observe the Christian community (as Paul anticipates in 1 Corinthians 14). And one of the ways we can do that is by leaving space for them to sit at the back (as well as families with small children).

Imagine the late-coming unbeliever who is forced to sit near the front. It’s may they feel so uncomfortable that they don’t return. Is that what you want? Of course not. So sit near the front.

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In a recent post we saw how the writer of Kings gives us reasons to hope when the future looks bleak for God’s people – as it did for his readers and as it does in Europe today. The first reason is that God’s word certain. But there is a second reason: God’s word brings life Not only does God rules through his word. His word brings life from death.

In 1 Kings 17 we’re first introduced to one of the great figures of the Bible story, the Prophet Elijah. In chapter 17 he arrives, tells King Ahab there’s going to be no rain, and then promptly disappears (17:1).

We discover he’s gone to Zarephath which is a wacky move because that’s in Sidon. Israel is in trouble because Jezebel has arrived from Sidon. And now here is God’s prophet finding refuge with a widow in Sidon! It’s a sign that God’s rules not just in Israel, but among Israel’s enemies.

Elijah meets a widow who thinks she is about to die: ‘I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it – and die.’ (17:12) But out of this death God provides for Elijah and the widow in Sidon through a jar of flour and a jug of oil that never run out.

Then the widow’s son dies. So Elijah places the boy on his bed and stretches himself out on top of the boy three times. He cries out to God and the boy comes back to life.

Look at how the story concludes in 17:24: ‘Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is the truth.”’ She links this resurrection to God’s word. The resurrection of her son is a sign that God’s word is true and powerful and life-giving.

Her complaint to Elijah in 17:18 is significant: ‘Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?’ Remember the nation of Israel is described as God’s firstborn son. In 18:17 Ahab calls Elijah ‘you troubler of Israel’. Has Elijah has come to remind God’s people of their sin and predict their death?

The answer is Yes. God’s word of judgment is certain. God’s people will die for their sin.

But God’s word also brings life from death.

To the readers of the book of Kings it seemed as if the nation had died and all all hope was gone. But Elijah had stretched himself out three times over a dead boy and he lived again.

To the disciples on the road to Emmaus it seemed Jesus was dead and all hope was gone. But Jesus had risen and was walking alongside them. Hope was reborn.

To any on-looker Tim Chester was dead in his sins. But Jesus has stretched himself out on the cross. For three days he was dead. But now he has risen and I have risen with him.

God’s word brings life because the word is Jesus and Jesus has risen.

The people of God die with Jesus. When Jesus breathes his last there is no-one left, no people of God. But on the third day he rose again. And we rise with him.

That is what is enacted in baptism. When you put your faith in Christ you’re united to him. So you’ve died with Christ. He’s taken the penalty of death you deserve. And you’ve risen with Christ to new life, eternal life. What happened at Zarephath when Elijah raised the widow’s son, what happened in a Jerusalem tomb when God raised Jesus, is re-enacted in baptism. God brings life from death through Jesus

And Jesus sets the pattern for his church. Time and again throughout her history the church has appeared to die only to be reborn with new life and energy. The historian David Edwards writes:

Unexpected events and movements occur in the history of Christians. The strength of Anglo-Saxon Christianity could not be predicted when Roman Britain was invaded by pagans [and it seemed Christianity would disappear]. The almost total success of the medieval Church could not be predicted when the Anglo-Saxons were conquered by the Normans. The Protestant transformation of England could not be predicted at the beginning of the sixteenth century, nor the vigour of the Victorian Churches during most of the eighteenth. It is therefore possible that, in the future, groups or individuals from whom no great things were expected in the twentieth century will be honoured as the heralds of a renewal and revival [of Christianity in Britain]. (David L. Edwards, A Concise History of English Christianity, Fount, 1998, 165.)

What do we do in the meantime? We proclaim God’s word and we don’t give up hope.
What do we do when people refuse to listen? We proclaim God’s word and we don’t give up hope.
What do we do on when progress in your ministry is slow? We proclaim God’s word and we don’t give up hope.
What do we do when friends give up their faith? We proclaim God’s word and we don’t give up hope.

Just as in the time of Elijah, Christ now rules through his word.

And, just as in the time of Elijah, Christ brings life to the dead.

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