Couldn't Help Noticing

You will not taste death

“But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:27) What does this verse mean, coming as it does almost immediately after Peter confesses that Jesus is “The Christ of God” (v. 20)? The verse is difficult because the immediate context gives no clue about what “the kingdom of God” refers to exactly. There is a crisis—we know that much—because the words let us know that this thing that has been expected for centuries is now about to happen—even within the lifetime of the hearers. But what does it mean to “see the kingdom of God”?

As we read further, we find that the very next thing that happens is the transfiguration, which serves as a divine confirmation on Peter's confession in 9:20 (“[you are the] Christ of God”). Then there is the humbling incident of the demon that the disciples, for all the privilege of their position as followers of this Christ, have been unable to dislodge. Both these incidents are, I would say, linked to Christ's confession and the challenge that Jesus has laid down to forsake all to follow him.

Then in Luke 9:51, “[Jesus] set his face to go to Jerusalem”. This is a major statement by Luke, and its importance is reinforced just a couple of verses later by repetition (v. 53: “[T]he people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem ”). In fact, this statement governs the next 10 chapters or so because, from now on, Jesus is indeed heading towards Jerusalem where he will meet his death.

He will die, yes, but all the others who heard Jesus saying “[T]here are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God” will still be alive (with the possible exception of Judas. See Matt 27:5-8 and also Acts 1:18—neither of which tell you when he died). So the first possibility for the timing of the coming of the kingdom is Jesus' death in Jerusalem.

This would also explain the urgency of the mission of the disciples then recorded in Luke 10:1-24. Although, now that I think of it, when the disciples return from this mission, perhaps the kingdom has already come. Note Luke 10:18: “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven“, which is followed up almost immediately by Jesus saying, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” (Luke 10:23-24)

Anyway, maybe this question of timing is like watching a car accident unfold. When is the accident happening? When the car hurtles through the red light at 80 km/hr? When the other car fails to notice the first car? When the first car, realizing what has happened, begins to swerve and brake? At the point of collision? Or when both cars have come to a screaming standstill? You could argue that all these events are part of the one accident. In a similar way, you could argue that the miracles and teaching of the Christ—the transfiguration; the mission of the 72; the trip to Jerusalem; the rejection by the elders, chief priests and scribes; the killing of Jesus, and his resurrection on the third day—all these are part of the single coming of the kingdom of God. It has come, and now we, the messengers of God, are preaching it to the nations.

Another verse I don’t like

Here's another Bible verse or five that I don't like:

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:23-27)

It is obvious to me that whoever said this needed to get some sound marketing advice about how to effectively grow a religion. And possibly find a good backing band.

Saving the world

The Sydney Morning Herald is promoting one of its many secular religions:

On a bonny spring day, three generations of Sydneysiders numbering in their thousands marched to express their concerns about global warming.

Among them was six-year-old Thomas Dimech, who announced their collective aim: “I want to save the planet,” he said. (Source; text archive)

The eco-movement is full of the language of salvation and redemption, and not without reason. That's what is on offer, if you and I work hard enough to reduce, reuse and recycle. It's a problem that's much easier to deal with than the problem of sin in the human heart, and it doesn't require much in the way of repentance. It's idealism, censoriousness, moralism and a larger-than life cause all rolled into one.

A genuinely Christian response to this religion won't mean either blanket acceptance or blanket rejection of the morality it preaches. But we have some work ahead of us to uncover the toxic ideas that are feeding into it. Save the world? Not by this method!

Tim Challies makes some related observations here in a piece entitled ‘Environmentalism—A New Religion’.

Noticed in America #2

America was also striking for the way the Christians are fighting so many of the same battles as we are in Australia, yet with some contextual differences. The big issues are those that the New Testament leads us to expect will be the issues for churches everywhere in the last days—striving to stay true to the biblical gospel, and striving to continue in faithful, prayerful gospel ministry in the face of so many distractions, attacks and alternatives.

The particular form of these distractions and alternatives vary in nature and scale from place to place. We know, for example, about biblically vacuous, feel-good prosperity teaching in Australia, but the scale and reach of this teaching in the US is mind-boggling. In the week that I arrived, Joel Osteen's new book Become a Better You was released in the US, with the largest hardback first print run in the history of American publishing: three million copies. It was in the front window of all the (secular) bookstores.

It was interesting, too, to observe the different struggles that evangelicals are having among themselves in different places. One of our conference themes was ‘the church’, and it was fascinating to observe how a fairly standard ‘Sydney’ biblical theology of church was heard and received. In our context, the Knox-Robinson view of ‘church’ is set against an over-reaching denominationalism and is seen as being very congregational—too congregational for some. In fact, the Knox-Robinson view has been criticized in the past (wrongly in my view) as being more Baptist than Anglican.

However, in the largely Baptist context of our American conference, the background issues were quite different. They continue to be plagued by a high degree of residual nominalism—of people being on official church membership rolls for years with full voting rights, yet without ever attending or showing any vital evidence of conversion. There is also an increasing move among younger American evangelicals to disparage the local church, and to ‘float free’, meeting ad hoc with other Christians as opportunity presents itself, but not belonging to a conventional ‘church’. In the face of these pressures, they were concerned that the ‘Sydney’ view of church wasn't congregational enough—that it didn't draw a tight enough circle around which particular local group of people properly constituted ‘the church’.

Talking these things over with our American brothers over coffee was very fruitful—especially for coming to understand why, for many Reformed-evangelical churches in America (particularly Baptist ones), issues of church membership and polity are such hot topics.

The Jesus Storybook Bible

After my previous post, in which I suggested that most children's Bibles don't give you the big Bible picture, I was really happy to pick up another children's Bible that proved me wrong: The Jesus Storybook Bible. I haven't been this excited about a book in ages, and I wasn't expecting to be either, given my random flips through children's Bibles over the years.

I'm going to go on about this for a bit, so if you don't like reading long blog entries in multiple parts, then stop now and just get yourself in to Moore Books in King St Newtown having first phoned ahead to make sure that they still have this one in stock. Or jump onto the net and order more than one. Order more so that you will have them in time for Christmas to give to your own children and the children of your friends. Since it only came out this year, it is unlikely that they will have their own. But don't worry; if they do, there will be plenty of grateful parents you can give this away to.

Let's start at the beginning—which is the cover. It's a small hardback—nearly square—and it looks like a better quality children's storybook. The artwork by Jago is quite lovely, and is like the simple artwork that is used in some of my favourite recent fairy story books and, perhaps, the work of Pauline Baynes. (If you have the opportunity, check out her work on Tolkien's Farmer Giles of Ham.) The illustration for Goliath in the David story is a hoot. The waves in the storm before Jesus speaks words of calm are shaped like the stylized waves depicted in traditional Oriental art. The Pharisees and Sadducees (boo and hiss!) look like they stepped out of the Spanish inquisition, with their Pythonesque blood-red robes and hoods. Fire, water, sky, stars and the green, green grass are textured, and the colours are suitably primary where they need to be.

But all this would be worth nothing if the words themselves weren't equally accomplished. Sally Lloyd-Jones is a natural storyteller, and, as well as carrying you along, these stories are funny, friendly, sad, scary, joyful and playful. This from the crossing of the Red Sea:

What were God's people going to do? In front of them was a big sea. It was so big there was no way around it. But there was no way through it—it was too deep. They didn't have any boats so they couldn't sail across. And they couldn't swim across because it was too far and they would drown. And they couldn't turn back because Pharaoh was chasing them. They could see the flashing swords now, glinting in the baking sun, and the dust clouds, and chariot after scary chariot surging towards them. So they did the only thing there was left to do—PANIC!

This is better than the kids' Bibles I remember from when I was little.

After writing my post about The Jesus Storybook Bible on my personal blog, I received a very nice message from Jago, the illustrator. His personal blog says of him,

Jago is an internationally published, award-winning, extremely modest, illustrator of the finest children's picture books. He lives in a wetsuit in Cornwall with his lovely wife Alex and beautiful daughter, Lily Peach.

That must be some wetsuit!

I hope you click through on the link to his blog, because it will give you a lovely sense of how well he uses colour and emotion in his paintings and drawings. That's good, because the cover of The Jesus Storybook Bible doesn't give you the best idea as it feels a little bit cluttered. But when you open up and read, the charm of the pictures becomes fully apparent.

Jago also provides a number of useful links on his website to other reviews of The Jesus Storybook Bible. It is already a bestseller—and quite deservedly too. I believe that, as well as being good for Christian parents to use with their children, it is the sort of book you will be able to give away to non-Christian parents. Unless they have taken a strong ideological mindset against Christianity, they will be genuinely happy to have it to read to their kids.