Mountains and Righteousness

          The news of the plane accident in Kathmandu at the end of last month, an accident in which a number of British climbers on their way to the Himalayas died, brought sadness to the whole country.  Having recently enjoyed listening to John Rajiah tell of the work of Eternal Light Ministries in Nepal at the weekly church  fellowship meeting, it was sad to focus on that country in a different way.

          Every year thousands of climbers head for that part of the world, and even though it’s now sixty years since Hilary and Tensing scaled the world’s highest peak, it seems to have lost none of its pulling power.  Here in Wales we too have a fascination with our mountains, even though they are perhaps on a slightly smaller scale!  I remember hearing a lady speaking on Radio Wales once, not long after she had been forced to relocate to Norfolk.  What did she miss the most?  Well, I’m sure you can guess what her reply was.

          The mountains, according to the Bible, provide us with a great picture of spiritual truths.  Just a few Sunday evenings ago we were looking at Psalm 36, and we saw that there David, as he speaks to God, tells us;

“Your mercy O LORD, is in the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.  Your righteousness is like the great mountains.” (Psalm 36:5,6)

          Jerusalem, where David’s throne was, was surrounded by the mountains, and as he looked at them he was reminded of God’s righteousness.  Mountains are large, substantial and weighty, unchanging and impenetrable.  They are not things to be taken lightly or dismissed as being irrelevant.  Do that even if you are climbing Mount Snowdon, and you’d soon be in trouble.

          But many people treat God and His righteousness in exactly that casual manner.  They think that breaking God’s law is a matter of little importance.  Perhaps you are like that. Maybe you never think about the fact that God is righteous – always right in everything He says, thinks and does.  Maybe you put to the back of your mind the truth that if you are to stand before Him on the Day of Judgement you will need to be righteous too!

          The good news of the Bible is that God has done something to make that righteousness yours.  He has sent Jesus Christ – Jeremiah calls Him “the LORD our righteousness” ­– and promises that if we trust in this Saviour God’s righteousness becomes ours, indeed we become God’s righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21). So, when God looks at our lives, He doesn’t see the evil things we have done, but sees the perfections of the Lord Jesus.

          In one of the other psalms we read something else that follows, if we have trusted in Jesus Christ, and that too is related to the mountains;

“As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds His people from this time forth and even forever.” (Psalm 125:2)  How wonderful is that!

What a Summer!

What a summer it has been!  As I write this, the last few events of the Paralympic Games are taking place, and that, following the Olympics and the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, have made it a golden few months in all sorts of ways.  Suddenly being British seems to be popular again.  Even the sun is shining at the moment!

After weeks of watching the medals stack up at the Olympic Park, lots of people are wondering how they are going to get back to normal.  The politicians and sports officials who brought the Games to the country are hoping that they will have a long term effect which lasts well past this summer.  All along they have hoped that it will encourage us to be more athletic and to get involved in sport of some sort.  With obesity such a problem to the health of the nation, and the finances of the NHS, anything that encourages people to exercise more will be grasped at with both hands.  However young or old we are, regular exercise is important for a healthy body and mind.

 Over July and August we saw how the Apostle Paul drew on the athletics event of his day to illustrate truths about the Christian living.  We read about ‘running a race’ and ‘winning a crown’, and were reminded about how we need to dedicate ourselves to Christian living, with a single-mindedness like that which we have seen in the sporting heroes of this summer.  The Apostle also speaks about ‘exercise’ in one of his letters.  In 1 Timothy 4:7,8 we read this;

“ … exercise yourself toward godliness.  For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.”

 Physical exercise is good for us.  Even if we are old, and all we can manage is to walk around the living room once or twice a day, it gets the blood circulating and keeps the muscles active.  Younger people jog, swim, walk, cycle, lift weights and do all manner of other things in the hope that the day they ‘get old’ will be delayed as a result.  But the Bible reminds us that physical exercise only has limited benefit.  At best, it may only delay the day of our departure from this world, and it has no effect in eternity. 

Instead, Paul points to a more worthwhile type of exercise.  We should aim to be godly!  That, he confidently asserts, has benefits in this life and in the life to come.  We are created in God’s image and for fellowship with him.  That must mean that the more ‘godly’ we are the more we are reaching our human potential.  Godliness – being like God in our attitudes, actions, thoughts and deeds – is, of course, as alien to us as physical exercise to a ‘couch potato’, but without it we cannot enjoy God or true life.  And whereas the benefits of physical exercise stop at death, the godly man or woman has the promise of life eternal where God will be enjoyed forever. 

What sort of exercise have you done today?  Physically and spiritually? 

Life's Two Certainties

“In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”  So said Benjamin Franklin over two hundred years ago, and his famous saying still holds true today.  Though preachers speak very often about the first of 'life’s two certainties', it is good to remind ourselves that the Bible has something to say about the other too.

          Taxes have been in the news rather a lot this month.  Quite a storm broke when it was revealed that some of the entertainers who had performed in the Jubilee concert outside Buckingham Palace, men who were already fabulously wealthy, were using a scheme which enabled them to pay just 1% income tax.  Although the scheme was perfectly legal, it did nothing to improve these stars’ popularity.  One of the jokes that went around was that the OBE that was recently awarded to one of the organizers of that concert stood for ‘Offshore Banking Expert!’

          The Prime Minister even weighed into the debate, talking about the questionable morality of what was happening.  Though it might be asked whether he was in a position to throw stones, leading a party financed largely by people who avoid tax in the same way, and leading a government that is set on further undermining Biblical moral standards, especially those relating to marriage, is of course another matter.

          What does the Bible say?  As we saw in our recent studies on Abraham, the Bible always calls upon Christians to be the best of citizens, and as far as it is possible before God to obey the laws of the land.  The Lord Jesus told his hearers to “Render to Caesar (the earthly authority of His day) the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's.” (Matthew 22:21).  The Apostle Paul repeated that in Romans that command in Romans 13, reminding us that the earthly authorities are God's ministers.  That is particularly striking when we remember the way that the government of Paul's day mistreated the Christian church.  We should pay our taxes whatever we think of the way they are used.

          But though you may pay your taxes honestly and on time, indeed though you may be the best citizen of an earthly kingdom in every way, there is something more that is required to be a citizen of God's Kingdom.  That is the eternal Kingdom that entered this world with the first coming of Christ and will come in power at His second coming.  We need to be rendering to God what is His due.  That is a life of worship and thanksgiving.  It is the awareness of His holiness and of our sinfulness. It is a continual cry of repentance and faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, whom He sent into the world as an answer to our selfishness and pride, and who has died to give us eternal life if we come to Him.  All the tax-paying morality in the world cannot save us.  Only He can!

The Year of Jubilee

The year of Jubilee is a God given time to reflect upon the blessings of the past. To bring our thanks to God for His providence in a Queen who has enabled us to enjoy relative peace, social stability and freedom of worship. It is truly a time of celebration and we have much to celebrate. Around us in the world, we see many nations being torn apart by wars and religious hatred. Although, in this country we have seen the rise of secularism and a decline in religion, religion still remains a source of influence in many areas of our lives. God willing we may yet see a revival of godly living and practice, with celebrations of thankfulness to God for His continuing mercies, as happened in Israel of old when she returned from her period of captivity in Babylon. 

The institution of the sabbatical year, and the year of Jubilee was important in the life of God’s ancient people Israel as scripture records.  The sabbatical year was celebrated every seventh year by allowing the land to rest (EX 23:10; LEV 25:1-7). It would be a constant reminder of creation when God rested from His work on the seventh day, so the land would be rested in the seventh year. It was to remind Israel that God was Lord over all things, especially in the land of Canaan, the land He had given them. In the seventh year the fruit of the fields and vineyards were for the poor and needy to glean. 

In celebration of the event a great gathering of the people, all Israel, was held during the Feast of Tabernacles. There the Law of God was read publicly in order to promote the fear of the Lord among the people (DEUT 31:9-13). Sadly this great event, the sabbatical year and its celebration, became neglected prior to the captivity, just as Moses had predicted it would, even in their own land (LEV 26:34-35), despite the specific command to keep My Sabbaths found in (LEV 26:2). However it seems it was restored to some extent in Nehemiah’s day (NEH 9:13-18) after the captivity.

The year of Jubilee, the year after seven Sabbatic years, the fiftieth year was the year of Jubilee (LEV 25:8-55). The year of Jubilee was cause for even greater celebration, as debts were remitted, houses and lands that had been mortgaged were returned to the sellers, inheritances restored to their rightful owners, and slaves set free (LEV 25:39-46). Providing in type a glorious picture of the gospel age to come, prophesied by Isaiah (ISA 61:1), and inaugurated by Jesus (LUKE 4:18), gloriously foreshadowing that day when the final trumpet blast will herald His coming again (MATT 24:31) ushering in His eternal kingdom. It will, like the year of Jubilee, be a time when wrongs are righted, when redeemed man will be restored to the full image of His maker, and enters into his eternal inheritance in Christ Jesus.

Jubilee was celebrated in the seventh month, all Israel were called to a holy convocation by the blowing of trumpets on the first day of the month (NUM 29:1; LEV 23:27). The tenth day of the month was the day of atonement, a very important day for Israel nationally, when the sins of the past year were atoned for. The Feast of Tabernacles was kept from the 15th to the 21st of the month. 

These festivals had both a moral and spiritual purpose for Israel, in that they served to unite all Israel under God marking them as His special people thus separating them from the heathen nations around them. They reminded the people of the holiness of their God, for only the High Priest could enter the holiest place, and then only with the blood of the sin offering.

Releasing of debts helped relieve poverty in the land among widows and orphans for whom God had special concern (DEUT 10:18). Jubilee provided a check against covetousness and oppression, as restoring lands and houses ensured no inheritance was lost to a particular family as allocated to their ancestors. Thus none would become rich at the expense of the poor.

What do these festivals have to say to us today? Well first we can say that all the truths they teach are fully realised in Jesus Christ. On the question of atonement, when Jesus died upon the cross, He became the final and only sacrifice for sin (HEB 7:27). In Christ all are equal, rich and poor, bondservants and freemen (GAL 3:28), all are heirs and joint heirs with Christ. In Christ we gain more than Adam lost when he succumbed to sin in the garden of Eden. Whilst in one sense the Gospel age has brought a spiritual Jubilee, we look forward to that greater Jubilee yet to come. That is the age when all tears will be wiped away as the former things pass away, when sin will be no more, where justice and equity reign and we shall be forever with the Lord.    

Life's Olympics

What a memorable afternoon it was in the centre of Pontypool last month!  Thousands celebrated the visit of the Olympic torch in the warm sunshine!  Quite a few church members were there, and though I didn’t see it, I’m reliably informed that one of our very senior members was seen hanging on to a gate to get a better view!  No names, but you know who you are!

It was a ‘once in a lifetime’ event, not just for those of us who packed the pavements.  It was especially so for those who had the honour of taking part in the relay.  Male and female, young and old, famous and ‘ordinary’, they had been chosen to play a part in this great procession that leads ultimately to the Olympic Stadium in London next month.  300 meters or so had been allotted to each of them, and it was their job, as thousands looked on, to get the torch to the next runner.  I saw some of them interviewed on the television, and they spoke about the advice they had been given by family and friends, most of which it seems had revolved around not falling over and keeping looking forward.

There is, of course, a sense in which we, as Christians, are part of a great relay race.  As the old hymn reminds us;

          “We bear the torch that flaming, fell from the hands of those,
           Who gave their lives proclaiming that Jesus died and rose”

And it was a similar thought that came to mind the following Sunday, as we were reminded at the Communion table of those words of the Apostle;

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)

The Apostle Paul, who was familiar with Greek athletic competitions like the ancient Olympics, often used the picture of a race to remind us of our Christian lives.  Just as the runners in the torch relay, and in the Games themselves next month, wear nothing that holds them back, so you and I need to be ruthless with the sin that traps us and drags us down.  Just as each torchbearer had an allotted section that was their responsibility to run, so God has given each of us a time and a place where we must serve Him with endurance.  Just as each of them had to look for the next person, the one who would take the flame from them, so we, as God’s chosen ones, have to keep our eye on a Person, the greatest person – the Lord Jesus Christ!
What was the reward for each of those participants we saw running in the Eastern Valley sunshine that day?  The fame, the glory, and the chance to buy for £200 or so the torch that they had carried.  Those who run in the Games themselves will get a medal – at least if they finish in the first three, that is!  For those of us who run this race with perseverance, there is “laid up for me, the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge will give me on that day” (2 Timothy 4:8).  What a reward!  So keep running!