No surprises here

I came across this lovely introduction to classical music and I thought I should share it with you. It’s Symphony Number 94 by Franz Joseph Haydn.

Video of Haydn’s Surprise Symphony

Do you like surprises?

Most of us don’t like surprises, I suspect.

One thing that surprises me, though, is how ignorant most people are about Jesus. People generally come up with ideas about Jesus that are so mixed up, so distorted and so far from the truth.

The thing is, that under the circumstances there is no excuse for such ignorance. 

We know that the very creation makes plain God’s invisible qualities; his eternal power and divine nature.  It has been doing so clearly throughout all time.

For so many people even that is not enough and they turn from worshipping the creator to worshipping and serving the creation. Our responsibility is to respect the creation and do our best to care for it but we worship and serve the God who created it. 

It’s not as if Jesus and all he did is or even was is a hidden secret. In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways,

The news is out there and it has been for many generations. For example there were these ancestors and prophets … 

He spoke to Moses by a burning bush and on a mountain top. He spoke to Elijah by a still, small voice. He spoke to Hosea by his family crisis. He spoke to Amos by a basket of fruit. He spoke through Micah and other prophets so they could expect the coming of the Messiah.

Very easily I found over 50 examples in the Old Testament where God told people to expect the coming of Jesus.

Even in Genesis 3 is the prediction of the coming of a saviour who would crush the head of the serpent, satan.

Isaiah was told to expect Immanuel, God with us, to be born of a virgin. He went on to predict in amazing detail the sacrifice of the coming Messiah

Micah passed on the news that the Messiah, the Christ, would be born in Bethlehem.

Then there is a multitude references in the Psalms with so many with the details of Jesus. Have a look at Psalm 22, for example.

It was all laid out and to be expected yet when the Messiah arrived they did not understand or accept him.  They missed their chance to follow and serve him and killed him instead. 

How could they be so blind when it was all predicted in the clearest of terms?  Easy. They could do it the same way people today are blind to Jesus.

So In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.

You know the Christmas story. By the power of God’s Holy Spirit the Virgin Mary became pregnant with God’s only begotten son. The baby she gave birth to was the one extraordinary person who was in fact God in human form. He was called Immanuel which tells you who he is: God with us.

The laws God had given through Moses had become overlaid and overloaded with interpretations and distortions and excuses for the failure of people to keep them. No surprise there; standard human behaviour even to today. It seems obvious to me that humans have only got better at coming up with interpretations, distortions and excuses for not doing what God wants.

God had spoken through those prophets and pointed out to us that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

In his lifetime Jesus lived and taught just what God wanted.  It was natural for him to do so. He did exactly what his father told him to do and to say. Whereas Adam, Eve and everyone else since has failed to live truly Godly lives Jesus was the only perfect, sinless man who ever lived.

Jesus did what his father wanted him to do and fulfilled his whole purpose in being born.

He was crucified. 

There had been many generations of animals being slaughtered, sacrifices made by faithful Jewish people who had come to acknowledge their sins and seek to atone for them by shedding the blood of animals and sacrificing produce. It was what they were asked to do, of course. It was the best they could do.

But they had to do this over and over again because such sacrifices of other animals  was not enough. The animals hadn’t sinned; the people had!

In any case there was never an animal which was truly spotless, perfect in every way.

Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.(Hebrews 10:11)

Do you remember when Abraham went with his son Isaac to make a sacrifice to God? Isaac himself carried the wood for the fire on which to burn the sacrifice then lay down on the stone altar they had built ready for his father to slaughter him as the sacrifice. 

Abraham was ready to do this. Abraham  had faith that God would raise Isaac back to life and this faith was credited to him as righteousness (Hebrews 11:19).

Before he plunged in the knife God told Abram to stop and, instead, to sacrifice an animal caught in a thicket nearby.  God himself provided the sacrifice that was needed.

This whole event should have been enough to tell us what God’s solution to our sin is.

In these last days God himself provided the spotless, sinless sacrifice in the form of his only son.

On seeing Jesus, John the Baptist declared, Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:19)

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. (1 Peter 2:24)

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth”. (Acts 8:32 quoting Isaiah 53:7-8)

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that whoever believes in him will have eternal life. (John 3:16)

This wonderful news has such consequences for us right now in this life in addition to consequences into eternity.

Simply put; you were not good enough for God. To be on good terms with God you must be perfect.

Before you became a believer you did not know God and certainly did not know the risen Jesus. You were an enemy of God. So far as you were concerned, God was dead.  At the same time, as far as God was concerned, you  were dead. 

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life (Romans 5:10)

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:4-6)

When you put it all together like that you can see why it’s called the gospel - the good news. It really makes you loved, forgiven, freed, belonging. Of course you are thankful and full of praise for what God has done.

You can see why it’s said, In these last days God has spoken to us by his son.

The message, the news and the consequences are so clear.  But when you know so many people are missing out on the salvation Jesus offers because they have not heard about it, or have refused to listen to it. God has spoken and it’s more than being rude to ignore God when he speaks. It’s yet another sin to confess and repent of.

You can see how gracious God has been to us in providing the lamb to be sacrificed for our sins, in sending his son to die for us, to save us.

However, he not only died but by the power of God’s Holy Spirit he was raised back to life, never to die again.

So look what Jesus is doing now!

in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. (Hebrews 1:2-4)

Jesus, God’s only begotten son, is now the inheritor of his father, the creator God.  He owns the universe. He owns this country, this town. He is the King, the Lord, the one in charge of me, the one in charge of you.

And why shouldn’t he? After all, he made it.  

For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:16-17)

The universe wouldn’t keep going if Jesus stopped holding things together. He is the one who is sustaining all things by his powerful word, by his authority and power.

So many people don’t know that remarkable fact. 

And we should all face another reality.

Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. (Hebrews 9:27-28)

Death is an inevitability for us unless, of course Jesus came back before we die. That, too, is an inevitability but he will come with a different purpose and agenda. At that time every knee will bow before him and acknowledge him as Lord as we face our judgement before him.  

Those of us who know his salvation now know that this is nothing to fear but rather to anticipate with confidence. At that time it will be seen that he has born our sin so that we too are counted as righteous and our eternal salvation will be proclaimed.

Jesus is the way God made himself known plainly. Jesus is God in human form. Jesus is the creator of the universe. It was made by him, for him. He is its Lord. He is God.

If you want to know what God is like then get to know Jesus. Jesus is exactly  like God, the exact representation of God. He radiates God’s own glory.

When Jesus was crucified he looked such a failure but his last words before he died were, it is finished. He had done what he came for. He was a complete success.

This was emphasised when he rose from the dead, making a mockery of those who conspired to kill him. By killing him they did exactly what God had wanted them to do.

By his death he provided purification for sins. By his death he made the way for us to come to him, come to the father cleansed, purified of our sins. Jesus was the winner and as a result so are we!

He rose victorious! Then he ascended to the heaven he came from and where he took his place at the right hand of the Majesty, God the father, in heaven from where he rules.

And this, too, offers us yet other blessings.  We are invited to come to Jesus in prayer and with confidence, even boldness, knowing that Jesus speaks to God on our behalf from his position of absolute influence and power. And we also know that our place in heaven is guaranteed by Jesus himself.

Jesus is the most superior one there is.  That’s the way God wants him.

Whatever superiority Angels have, Jesus is more superior still, which makes him the one to whom we go with thanks, praise and worship.