Why Does God Allow Us To Fail?

Psalm 138                                    1 Peter 5:1-11                                 John 18:12-27

Why does God allow us to fail?

Thomas Cranmer has been called the most cautious, even indecisive of Reformers. His critics accuse him of years of hypocrisy during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Mary I, (not to forget the nine day reign of Lady Jane Grey) some claiming that he was opportunistic or driven by political survival rather than steadfast conviction. 

Historian Jasper Ridley, in his biography Thomas Cranmer,  emphasized Cranmer’s vacillation and tendency to conform to the monarch’s wishes, particularly under Henry VIII. Indeed, his total capitulation regarding his convictions concerning the Six Articles is particularly hard to understand. Ridley describes him as someone who frequently compromised his principles to maintain his position and influence. This interpretation views Cranmer as a cowardly figure, suggesting that he lacked the resolve shown by other reformers of his time, especially during moments when he recanted under pressure. 

Similarly, Diarmaid MacCulloch, in his comprehensive biography Thomas Cranmer: A Life,  explores Cranmer’s complicated character and acknowledges his moments of timidity, especially under Mary I when he recanted his Protestant beliefs before ultimately reaffirming them at and during his final trial and execution. However, MacCulloch’s analysis is more nuanced, examining the tensions Cranmer faced as a man of his time, caught between faith, political obligation, and survival. The criticisms generally stem from moments like Cranmer’s vacillation on key doctrinal matters or his failure to assert his beliefs against royal authority.

However, Thomas Cranmer must be understood against the background of his belief in the supremacy of the monarchy. Rightly or wrongly, Cranmer held a strong theological conviction in the divine authority of kings, which shaped his actions and decisions throughout his career. His commitment to royal supremacy was both religious and political, and it fundamentally guided his approach to reform and obedience within the Church of England. Cranmer believed that the king was divinely appointed to govern both the church and state, a belief reinforced by the political climate following Henry VIII’s break with Rome. 

This doctrine of royal supremacy placed the monarch as the highest earthly authority in religious matters, a principle Cranmer accepted even when it conflicted with his personal Reformed leanings. He saw obedience to the Crown as part of his duty as Archbishop of Canterbury, prioritizing unity under the monarch over theological consistency. But his submission reflected his deference to the monarch’s authority rather than a renunciation of his beliefs. He continued to hold Protestant convictions in private, even as he outwardly and publicly conformed to the Crown’s demands. In essence, Cranmer’s willingness to yield was rooted not in a lack of conviction but in his belief that preserving the monarchy’s authority was essential for the church’s stability. Thankfully, he realised and regretted his mistake as he publicly recanted his capitulations, renounced the doctrines held by the church of Bloody Queen Mary, and boldly reaffirmed his Reformed faith at his final trial and while burning at the stake. 

I realise that this is along introduction to this talk, but in the light of Cranmer’s failures, and Peter’s failure in our Gospel passage for today, I would like us to consider this question: Why does God allow his servants to fail? With all the pain and anguish that goes along with failure…why does he allow it? Has he not promised to place his Spirit within us and to cause us to walk in his statutes and to keep his commandments and to do them? (Ezekiel 36:27) Has he not repeatedly promised strength and boldness to his followers?

In our Gospel passage, we have been given front row seats to watch the failure of a man others would later call one of the Pillars of the Early Church. John’s record of Peter’s denials begin with our Lord’s willing surrender to his captors. If I am correct in assuming that the falling over backwards of the soldiers was a show of divine power, then I believe it is feasible that Jesus was once again providing his disciples with an acted parable in which he demonstrated that his arrest was completely voluntary. He could have appealed to his Father who would have immediately sent him more than twelve legions of angels. (Matthew 26:53) But without the arrest, the Scriptures would not be fulfilled, the cup given to Jesus would not have been drained, and his substitutionary death would not have happened. 

So, the lesson for the disciples and, indeed for us, is that even though God is all powerful to help us in times of distress, there are times when his aid is withheld or restrained to fulfil a higher purpose…a purpose, mark you, that may very well be hidden from us at the time. Sadly, it certainly seems obvious from their different reactions that the purpose of his arrest, trial, and execution was totally lost on the disciples. 

After the arrest, Jesus was first taken to a man by the name of Annas, one of the most influential and powerful Jewish leaders at the time. He had held the high priesthood from AD 6 to AD 15 when he was deposed by the Roman governor Valerius Gratus who wanted to control religious leadership in Judea to maintain stability. The Romans often replaced high priests to curb the concentration of power within any single person and to ensure loyalty among the Jewish elite. However, even after being deposed, Annas retained substantial influence over Jewish religious and political life, largely due to his role as the patriarch of a powerful family. Several of Annas’ relatives, including five of his sons and his son-in-law Caiaphas, later held the position of the high priesthood, indicating that the Romans may have viewed the family as a stabilizing force despite rotating individuals through the high priest role. 

Caiaphas, who served as High Priest from about AD 18 to AD 36, was married to Annas’ daughter. As Annas’ son-in-law, Caiaphas continued the family’s influence over Jewish religious matters, with Annas likely exerting significant control behind the scenes. Like many leaders up to the present day, Annas simply could not give up control. However, this arrangement served the Romans well because Caiaphas was seen as politically cooperative and adept at maintaining order, particularly during times of high tension, like the period of Jesus’ ministry and trial. Annas’ enduring influence, even without the official title, is evident from the account we have before us, which portray him as a key figure in the events leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus.

It is interesting that John reintroduced Caiaphas here as the member of the Sanhedrin who had advised his peers that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people, rather than have the whole nation perish. (John 11:50) This replication once again draws our attention to the fact that although things seemed to be going horribly wrong, God was still very much in control, fulfilling what he had promised previously in the Scriptures.

Now, the Mishnah (a redaction of the earlier Oral Law in writing, completed in around AD 200) tells us that trials in capital cases must be held during the day and concluded during the day. It also implies that courts should not convene on the eve of the Sabbath or a holy day because of the need for careful deliberation that might extend into the next day. It also outlines that a verdict of guilt in a capital case cannot be reached on the same day as the trial. If the court finds the defendant guilty, it must wait until the next day to issue the death penalty. This requirement allows time for reconsideration and emphasizes the value of caution in capital cases. Acquittals, however, were permitted on the same day. 

But not only did the Sanhedrin go against their own rules, they also knowingly brought in false witnesses, had Jesus beaten during the trial, and had him delivered to a pagan authority, claiming that they only had one king, namely Caesar. 

Interestingly, John interrupted his record of the trial of Jesus with two accounts of Peter’s actions. It is possible that he wanted to show that there were actually two contrasting trials taking place here. In one, Jesus’ main concern was not to preserve his life, but to give up his life as a sacrifice for us. But in the other, unlike Jesus, but like Thomas Cranmer, it seems Peter’s main concern was to preserve his life even if that meant retracting his promises and his convictions. 

However, as we read through Peter’s denials, we must see them in the light of Jesus’ predictions. In Luke’s account, Jesus said to the disciples collectively and then to Peter individually, (I will emphasize the plural and singular usages of the word ‘you’ as I quote): “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you (plural, i.e. all the disciples), that he might sift you (plural) like wheat, but I have prayed for you (singular, i.e. Peter) that your (singular) faith may not fail. And when you (singular) have turned again, strengthen your (singular) brothers.”

So, here I believe that we have at least two reasons why God allows us to fail.

The first reason God may allow us to experience failure is to deepen our empathy and equip us to help others who are struggling. When we face failure ourselves, we gain firsthand understanding of the frustration, disappointment, and growth that come with it. This experience builds compassion and humility, reminding us of our own limitations and the support we needed in those moments. With this awareness, we can approach others with kindness, patience, and practical guidance, offering them the same encouragement we once needed. In this way, Peter’s failures transformed him into a source of strength that enabled him to strengthen and support the other disciples…and, no doubt, to encourage everyone who reads his story.

But another reason is that Peter’s pride and his presumptuous personality stood in the way of God’s intentions for him. Filled with bravado, Peter paraded his pious resolve above that of his fellow disciples, even going so far as to argue with and correct Jesus. Countering Jesus’ prediction that all his followers would fall away the night he was betrayed, Peter proclaimed that even though they all fall away, he would not. (Mark 14:29) So, it seems Peter needed to fall face first in the mud of his own making and grovel in it for a while so that he might be transformed into a caring and understanding leader of other mud grovellers…that he might be more like the Good Shepherd who feeds his lambs gently. As such, Peter’s lesson is a lesson in humility. 

When we return to the trial, we are immediately confronted with yet another glaring contrast – this time between Jesus and his accusers. When Jesus spoke in his own defence, one of Annas’ officers hit him. Now, we must presume that Jesus was still bound as he was bound by the soldiers in verse 12 and again sent bound from Annas to Caiaphas in verse 24. In other Words, the officer hit a defenceless tied-up prisoner. So, it soon becomes obvious that it is the righteous being tried by the wicked. Whereas Jesus’s actions were all done lawfully, openly, and above board, his accusers endeavoured to do all things unlawfully, underhandedly, and secretly.

From Annas Jesus was sent to be tried by the Sanhedrin, which would include the man the Romans had installed as High Priest. The Sanhedrin was the supreme court of Israel, so it is unfortunate that they were assembled under false pretences. Remember, they had already declared Jesus their adversary and had already decided to kill him. The outcome of this kangaroo court had been determined long before that night. So, this trial was little more than a sham and a farce.

Which, of course, is no surprise here for John’s readers, but what does come as a surprise is that when we return to the scene in the courtyard, Peter is still there! Despite having been released by Jesus in the garden, in spite of having been warned that he would deny Jesus, in spite of having just done so, Peter still draws in closer to those who had been with the group who arrested Jesus…those who had been witnesses of his failed attempt to rescue Jesus. In his foolish dismissal of his first denial, Peter set himself up for the second and the third denials and ultimately the greatest failure of his life. 

By pridefully pushing beyond the boundaries set for him by Jesus, Peter left himself wide open for his final humiliation and total capitulation as, in fear for his life, he denied his deepest convictions and his dearest friend. Luke’s record of this event is probably one of the most poignant passages in all of world literature. As the rooster crowed, “the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, ‘Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times.’ And (Peter) went out and wept bitterly.”

But this event was one that no doubt contributed to making Peter the man he later became…one of the pillars of the Early Church.

Now, like Peter, Archbishop Cranmer failed. He denied his deepest convictions in an attempt to uphold his strange faith in the divine right of royalty and to save his own life. But to be fair, this was a terrifying time to be alive as many people all around were losing their heads and being burned at the stake. After a long imprisonment and many interrogations by Bloody Queen Mary’s churchmen, on the 21st of March 1556, Cranmer was brought out of prison to speak before a packed and excited crowd assembled in what is today the University Church of St Mary the Virgin at Oxford. But his speech did not follow the previously agreed text. Rather than denying the truth, he denied, and I quote, “all such bills and papers which I have written or signed with my hand since my degradation”.  All his recantations, in other words.

Despite the joyful as well as angry commotion in the church, Cranmer continued to shout above the din, refusing the Pope’s authority and rejecting the medieval doctrine of transubstantiation. At this point he was pulled from his platform and dragged through the streets of Oxford and taken to the place where Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley had been martyred only a few months earlier, on October 16, 1555. As the flames began to engulf him, Cranmer held his right hand directly in the flame, fulfilling his promise made in the church that the hand which had written contrary to his heart…the hand that had signed the many recantations…would be punished first. He only removed it once to wipe his face. 

Although Thomas Cranmer had denied his basic convictions before, he stood his ground when it mattered most and, as such, he stands as a martyr to the truth. He may have been a frail and feeble man, but he denied his denials as a witness to all.

Now, I must admit that it is men like Cranmer and Peter that encourage me most. I find great comfort in knowing that greater men than me have fallen face first in the muck and have yet been rescued and restored by the Lord to not only continue on the road of life, but to serve as examples to weak lambs like me. 

So, I believe that God allows us to fail to remind us that we are fallible and fallen human beings so that we might learn to humbly and dependently rely on his strength, not ours. He uses our failures as tools in the life-long process of sanctification and of conforming us to the image of his Son so that we might be more compassionate and considerate shepherds of his sheep. But God also uses our failures to encourage others who desperately need to know that face-first-in-the-dirt experiences are not uncommon…and that they are not alone in their humiliation and that the humiliation is the crucible in which they are being purified to shine more brightly the light of Jesus.

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2024

"Whom Do You Seek?"

Psalm 27:1-6                      Malachi 3:1-5               John 18:1-12

“Whom Do You Seek?”

I once heard a story about a young girl who was suffering from a rare and serious disease. Her only chance of recovery appeared to be a blood transfusion from her five-year old brother who had miraculously survived the same disease and had developed the antibodies she needed to combat the illness. 

The doctor explained the situation to her little brother and asked the boy if he would be willing to give his blood to his sister. He hesitated for only a moment before taking a deep breath and agreeing to the procedure. As they lay side by side, his blood flowing into her veins, the little boy smiled as he saw the colour return to his sister’s pale cheeks. His smile slowly faded as he turned to the doctor and asked in a trembling voice, “Will I start to die now?”

Apparently, he had misunderstood and had thought he had to give his sister all his blood…his life for hers. 

With Jesus there was no such misunderstanding. In verse 4 John clearly recorded that Jesus knew what was about to happen to him…he knew he was the one sacrifice that would cover the nakedness of the world…he was the lamb of God, who was sent into the world to die for the world and to take away the sins of the world. His life for ours.

Having prayed for his disciples and for all those who would believe in him because of their witness to him, he now turned his attention to the event for which he had come into the world. In John’s Gospel, the transition from preparation to implementation…from words to action…is quite abrupt. Unlike the other Gospels, there is no interlude…no agonized prayer in the Garden…we simply walk with the group from the Upper Room to a garden on the other side of the Kidron Valley and directly move on to the arrest. 

As such, we move suddenly from the sublime heights of Jesus’ prayerful revelation of God’s love to the abyss of betrayal, violence, desertion, denial, religious hypocrisy, political manoeuvring, brutality, and the grisly execution of an innocent man. But it is out of these dark depths that the unity prayed for in the previous chapter emerges. Without chapters 18-20, chapter 17 would forever remain an unrealistic and unfulfilled ideal.

In John’s record of the arrest of Jesus, we have an echo of another event in another garden where the clash between light and darkness also resulted in judgment, just in reverse order. In one, God judged Adam…in the other, the sons of Adam judged God…a judgement soon to be reversed yet again as Jesus took upon himself the judgement that is ours. In Genesis 3, God came looking for Adam, but Adam hid because he was afraid. Here, the sons of Adam come looking for the 2nd Adam, namely Jesus, God-incarnate, but instead of hiding he revealed himself causing them to retreat and fall over from fear. Any form of deceitful behaviour, whether it be disobedience or dishonesty or deviousness, always leads to a shame-filled fear.

Also, just like our progenitors, Judas was tempted to act against God…to betray his unique relationship with Jesus by taking that which seemed pleasing to the eye and desirable to the flesh. Jesus too was tempted to side-step God’s plan…to betray the Father’s trust, if you will…but unlike Judas and our progenitors, he did not succumb to the temptation. He triumphed over it through humble submission and obedience to the will and wisdom of the Father. 

And finally, like the two animals who had to die in Genesis to cover the nakedness of our forebears, so Jesus would die to cover ours. 

But, as we have come to expect from John, there are multiple layers to this tightly worded section. One of these layers appears to connect Jesus’ statement of self-identification (usually translated as “I am he”, but in Greek it is simply “I AM) with the divine name, “I AM” …the divine self-identification of God signifying his eternal, self-existent nature which he revealed to Moses in Exodus 3:14. 

Now, by using this divine name here (as he did at other times as recorded in the Gospel of John), Jesus implicitly claimed this divine identity, an identity that ought to evoke awe and reverence, but here it appeared to physically impact those present. Indeed, like in Psalm 27, the enemies of Jesus quite literally stumbled and fell at the mention of his name as they began to advance against him. 

It seems that it was only when Jesus allowed them to come and take him, that they could do so, but only on his terms. His willingness to be arrested was contingent upon the soldiers allowing his followers to go free. Now, you must remember, that all the followers of those claiming to be Messiahs in the past had been mercilessly slaughtered by the Romans together with their leader. So, Jesus allows his arrest to take place, but only on the condition that his followers are allowed to go free.

Now, interestingly, in 2 Chronicles 5:14, we are told that when the glory of the Lord came down on the Temple, “the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.” (ESV) Also, in Isaiah 6:1-5, Ezekiel 1:28, and Daniel 10:9, the three prophets were overcome when they experienced visions of God’s overwhelming glory, the latter two quite literally falling to the ground. All of these accounts illustrate human reaction to encountering the divine presence—a mixture of awe, reverence, and, as in the case of the priests, Ezekiel and Daniel, physical collapse. 

But, since John described Jesus in John 1:14 as the Word who became flesh so that he might “tabernacle” (usually translated as “dwell”) among us, we may also hear an echo of 1 Samuel 5:3-4 where the Philistine idol, Dagon, fell and broke before the Ark of the Covenant. This scene may parallel the soldiers’ reaction to Jesus, suggesting that just as Dagon could not stand before God’s presence, so too no human power can stand before Jesus, who embodies God’s presence in a similar yet greater manner than the Tabernacle or the Ark of the Covenant once did. 

Now, these Old Testament parallels may highlight the fact that Jesus’ declaration of “I AM” in verse 6 was not just a reply to their answer to his question, “Whom do you seek?”, but rather a powerful assertion of His divine identity…an assertion possibly meant to encourage his disciples. But as the soldiers’ reaction—falling back in awe or fear—mirrors the reactions of those who encountered God directly in the Old Testament Scriptures, as well as the toppling of the idol Dagon, Jesus’ assertion and their reaction underscores his authority and links him to the God of Israel, who revealed Himself as “I AM” thereby commanding reverence from all creation. In other words, even as he stood, seemingly defenceless before his armed enemies, Jesus, as God incarnate, was in complete control.

However, Jesus’ declaration and the possible parallels with Old Testament events, appear to have been lost on the disciples. To be fair, we must remember that, after a heavy delicious roasted lamb dinner and a few cups of wine, they were more than likely very sleepy. Plus, it was probably somewhere between midnight and 3 AM when this arrest took place. 

Also, unlike Jesus who was awake and who appeared to be prepared for this turn of events, they were rudely roused from their slumber by the noise of the approaching armed soldiers. Nevertheless, Peter’s rash and reckless response to the arrest, Jesus’ reaction to that response in the form of a rebuke and an explanation of what was really happening here, as well as the healing of the wounded Malchus, all served to expose the chasm that often separates limited human comprehension from the infinitely wise and omniscient divine will. 

But before we judge Peter too harshly here, perhaps we need to ask ourselves how many times we haven’t displayed a kneejerk reaction to negative events instead of displaying a calm assurance that God is in sovereign control of all things? How many “ears” haven’t we “cut off” in our self-righteous response to other’s whom Jesus seeks to heal? How many times have we not shied away from the purifying experience of drinking the cup the Father gives to us? We blunder and bluster through life thinking that we are right in wielding our proverbial swords, when it would be better for us to rather humbly allow our Lord to reveal to us his divine perspective.

In this sense, Jesus’ question, “Whom do you seek?”, addresses us all. When it comes to our views about God humans tend to swing between two extremes. Either we believe in a God who is totally flexible or in a God who is totally rigid…a God who flips and flops whichever way we wish or a graceless God who is without compassion or mercy. 

But Scripture reveals to us a God who humbles himself and takes on human form so that he might shed his blood for us…he was willing and determined to drink the cup given to him by the Father…he was willing and determined to give his life for ours.

So, we need to ask ourselves the question. When the Lord whom we seek suddenly steps forward and reveals himself to us in all his glory, will we be able to endure his coming…will we be able to stand before him? Or will we too need to feel his refiner’s fire so that we might be purified like gold and silver?

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2024

Definite Distinction

Ezekiel 36:20-23                          2 Corinthians 6:14-18                             John 17:20-26

Definite Distinction

I recently watched a BBC series called “The Inside Man”. The main story is about an English Vicar who was arrested on a charge of kidnapping, aggravated assault, as well as attempted murder. Now, of course, the story did not begin there…rather, it began with the vicar foolishly, yet ‘innocently’, agreeing to temporarily hide a computer memory stick belonging to a vulnerable yet perverted young man he had been counselling, because the said young man was terrified of his mother discovering the pornography stored on the device. 

Things began to spiral out of control when the vicar’s son accidently found the device lying in a drawer together with his father’s keys, and innocently gave it to his math tutor to use for the tutorial. When she opened the device, both father and son witnessed the horrified expression on her face. Now, at this point, only the math tutor knew that the device contained child pornography which is a criminal offence. Still not knowing what was actually on the device, the son attempted to protect his father by saying the device was his while the father attempted to protect his son by first claiming that it was his, but then that it had been given to him by a counselee whose name he was not at liberty to divulge. 

Of course, the math tutor still believed that the device belonged to the son and made it clear that she was going to the police. One thing led to another, and the vicar ended up imprisoning her in the basement of the vicarage. When the troubled young man, the original owner of the device, committed suicide, all hopes of proving his son innocent vanished and so the vicar, together with his wife, plotted to asphyxiate the math tutor. 

When he was finally caught and prevented from killing the tutor, he justified his actions by stating: “Don’t you dare judge me. I have acted out of love. I have acted out of duty. I have done my best, and nothing, none of this – none of it is my fault.”

Yes, this is a fictional story, but it does demonstrate how even the best intentions, in this case the protecting of family members, can spiral out of control once morally dubious lines are crossed and the consequent wrong actions reinforced with twisted logic. The character of the vicar exemplifies how far people might go to uphold their decisions once made even when the consequences compromise their own ethical standards.

Such decisions can have disastrous results. For example, when well-intentioned people in the Church try to navigate difficult moral territory, actions meant to protect or include could unintentionally lead to consequences that challenge foundational beliefs and create irreparable division. This shift, while sometimes motivated by compassion and a debateable idea of unconditional love, at some point always spirals out of control alienating and villainising those committed to upholding biblical standards. 

But, I think, the saddest part of it all is when those who have abandoned the Church’s biblically defined moral compass justify their actions by claiming to hold the higher moral ground because they, they claim, are acting out of love and out of duty. This warped sense of reasoning, caused by an abandonment of Scripture as the standard for faith and practice in the Church, ultimately obscures the glory the world is meant to see in us…and then, instead of revealing a holy and a righteous Father, we present the world with a god fashioned in our own image thus blaspheming his name before unbelievers.

The Church described by Jesus in his prayer is one that is based on the unity of the Father and the Son. As we have seen before, this unity is defined by the obedience of the Son to the Father, as well as the character of the Father as revealed to us in and through his Word, a Word that is meant to sanctify us so that we might be like the one in whom we are united. The Church can only be one inasmuch as we abide in the holy and righteous God revealed in Scripture, because it is only this God who has sent his Son to make a way for us back into his presence. Anything else is counterfeit and therefore false and eternally impotent. Ethnic or cultural or societal or relational agreement cannot unify us in a faith founded on truth as revealed to us in the person and practice of the God of Scripture.  

Jesus’ prayer for unity is not vague or ill-defined. It is very specific. When he prayed for the unity of those who would believe in the message preached by the disciples, he had already clearly described the character of the messengers as well as the content of their message. “Sanctify them” he prayed in verse 17, “in the truth; your Word is truth.” The disciples were united in the holy and righteous God revealed in his Word by the Son who was sent to reveal him to them. 

If we remove any one of these elements, we obliterate and obscure the message we have for the world. We may be ever so sincere in our motive, but if we change the Word of God for whatever reason, we set off a chain of events that will eventually lead people away from belief in the one, true God. Instead, we will present to the world a version of a god who is both in the world and of the world, and once we have reached this point, we effectually cease to be united in the God described here by Jesus.

The whole point of what Jesus prayed here is that although the Church is in the world, it is not of it because it is united to the one not known by the world. We are meant to be different from the world because we have been taken out of the world. Trying to be more acceptable to the world by being more like the world is the exact opposite of what is revealed here. Such an action denies the very essence of what the Church is meant to be. 

Declaring ‘right’ what the Scriptures declare ‘wrong’, makes a mockery of the life and death of Jesus. The “sentness” of Jesus reminds us that he is the lamb of God who came into the world to take away the sins of the world. The glorious truth revealed by Jesus to his disciples is intrinsic to our being united as one community in him and because this community is founded on God’s holiness and righteousness we can have no partnership with what the Bible calls sinfulness. Light cannot be in fellowship with darkness and consequently, a believer can have nothing in common with an unbeliever. (2 Corinthians 6:14-16)

As our unity is a gift we receive from God because he has given us to Jesus, it is something we have rather than something we create. But the purpose of this unity is so that through us the world may believe in a closely and carefully defined holy and righteous Father…a Father who expressed his love for the world by sending his Son into the world to deal with that which ultimately separates the world from him…namely sin. And so, any attempt to make sin normal or tolerable is to render this prayer absurd. 

The ultimate desire of Jesus as expressed in this prayer is that the disciples and those who believe in him through their message live in his glorious presence for eternity. But God is completely holy…he is entirely set apart from all of creation…he alone is completely righteous and just…and he knows that the sinful cannot live in his presence, so he made a way for us to be sanctified through his Son. But that means we cannot redefine the love of God to accommodate and assimilate that for which Jesus died. 

In this passage, Jesus prayed for all believers, past, present, and future, expressing His desire for unity among His followers – a unity modelled on the perfect and harmonious communion between himself and the Father. This prayer for unity is both spiritual and relational, as Jesus asked that believers be one as he and his Father are one. As such, he emphasized a unity founded on love and truth…a unity that would reflect God’s character and consequently, a unity that would make his love visible to the world, praying that we would be united with him and with one another so that the world might believe the truth as revealed in Scripture.

And so, dearest beloved brethren, as we come to partake of the bread and the wine in Holy Communion, let us remember that this meal is a sacrament that both signifies and actualizes the unity Jesus prayed for. In this holy meal, we are drawn into everything the life and death of Jesus signifies, because it represents our intimate connection to God the Father through the substitutionary death of Jesus and, in him, to one another. 

But it also provides us with a vivid picture of what the oneness Jesus desired looks like. The sharing in the Cup of Jesus defines us as a cleansed covenant community that is distinct and detached from the world and all that the world represents. And in uniting us with every other true participant as members of the one Body of Jesus on earth, it makes us witnesses of his holiness and his righteousness.

To deny this distinction is to deny the world of a witness and to deny the world of a witness is to render the Church irrelevant, inconsequential, and apostate.

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2024

In the World, For the World

Isaiah 57:15                  Hebrews 9:11-12 and 10:19-23                      John 17:11-19

In the World, For the World

As we’ve already seen in the opening lines of our Lord’s prayer in John 17, his initial; thoughts were primarily focussed on the status of those whom the father had given to him. But, as he continued to pray, his emphasis began to shift from the disciples as recipients of God’s gracious act of salvation to their task in the world out of which which they had been taken. Although they, like us, were not of the world, they were to remain in the world to be witnesses to the world. 

But for the disciples, it must have seemed as if there was one glaring problem with this arrangement. Jesus had just told them that he was about to leave them. Their reaction and their questions indicate that this imminent departure was one of the top thoughts on their minds. Initially they had just followed him, listening to him and watching him…but then he began to engage them in his teaching and his work…then he sent them out two by two on their own…but he had always been there. Now his prayer echoed his startling revelation: “I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you.”

Perhaps then, his words in the second half of verse 11 were meant to calm their fears. “Holy Father, keep in your name those whom you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.” Now, the term, ‘holy Father” is used only here in the whole of the New Testament. It is an interesting combination of words as “holy” indicates an otherness, a separateness, a transcendence…whereas “father” conjures up an image of connection and relational immanence. However, the grouping of these words is quite fitting as this section of the prayer concludes with a plea for sanctification…the divine act of making us children holy as he, our Father, is holy.

The request of our Lord for the disciples to be “kept” in the name of the holy Father highlights this act of sanctification. In the Ancient Near East, as still in many places today, a name often reveals an aspect of the bearer’s character. In this case, it is the holiness of the Father in particular. It is in this name…in this character trait of being holy…that the disciples will be kept and therefore enabled to, not only persist in the truth as revealed to them by Jesus, but also enabled to apply that truth to their own characters and thus be changed and conformed to the image of the Son (Romans 8:29).

And, according to Jesus, it is in this name…it is in this definite divine character trait of holiness that we find our unity. “Holy Father, keep in your name those whom you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.” The Trinity is, of course, our supreme example of unity…of oneness…of singularity of thought and purpose…but our oneness centres not around our collective selves, but rather our oneness is a direct result of our being united and kept in one name…the very particular name of the holy Father. 

Although there are many different and varied expressions of our faith, the fact remains that those who abide in the name of the holy Father are one. All those who are distinct from the world through their being united to this one distinctive God…all who follow him and demonstrate that following through obedience to his Word…they are one as they are all united in who he is. The unity of the Church is in essence a unity of spiritual character…a unity that reflects the one in whom we are united. As such, our Lord’s request was not for an organic unity even though a lack of such unity does tend to bear a negative witness to the world.

Now it is possible that the term “Holy Father” may have been used by Jesus to also invoke the idea of our entry into the holy of holies. As the book of Hebrews tells us, Jesus not only opened the way into the innermost sanctuary, but because of his entry those who are sanctified by him may also enter the very holy presence of God. Just like the High priest was sanctified before being allowed to enter the holy of holies, so too those given to Jesus by the Father are secured for eternal redemption by the blood of Jesus and are therefore able to draw near with full assurance of faith. 

In other words, we are not simply one because we claim that unity in Jesus. No, we are one because of our relocation…because of our new position…we are no longer outside, but rather we are inside the Holy of Holies because Jesus has opened the way and taken us in with him.  As Paul tells us in Ephesians, because God raised Jesus from the dead, so we too have been raised in him from the dead and we are seated together with him in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:4-6). There is no longer a dividing wall between us and our Holy Father because we have been sanctified by Jesus and brought in with him. 

We are one because we are united in the name of the holy Father and because we are united in his name, we bear the likeness of our holy Father. And because we are sanctified by the truth our unity is founded upon the truth revealed to us in the Scriptures. And we abide in Jesus because we have been given to him by the holy Father and kept by him in his name. You see, our unity is very specific. 

Interestingly, Jesus’ statement that he had guarded or protected them is set in the context of tragic loss and of tragic betrayal by a friend. As such this very short declaration presents us with a startling contrast. Unlike those who were kept in the name of the Holy Father, Judas’ action exposed him as one who had for a time appeared to be united with the others, but at this crucial point in time, his rejection of the truth ultimately proved that he was not in the Father at all. He was the son of perdition.  Judas thus serves as an image of those who do not keep the word…his deed reveals a shocking alternative to trust and love. If those who are in the Holy Father are there because of their being sanctified by the Word of truth, then those who are not in the Holy Father are not there because they are not sanctified by the Word of truth. By rejecting the truth of the Word, a very specific Word in this case, they have sealed their eternal fate. 

However, Jesus said that Judas’ action fulfilled Scripture. This is most probably a reference to Psalm 41:9: “Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.” But…and this is important…the prediction of his betrayal does not make God the author of the action of betrayal. Although nothing happens save that which is ordained by God, wicked people do wicked things because they are wicked, not because their deeds have been preordained.

The only reason believers in Jesus refrain from and are repulsed by their own sin, is because although they are in the world, they are no longer of it. Verses 13-16 focus primarily on the disciple’s lives after the ascension…after Jesus had returned to reign at the right hand of God the Father. 

The first thing Jesus asked for in verse 13 is that “they may have (his) joy fulfilled in themselves”. In John’s Gospel, the joy of Jesus is very much the mark of the true believer. His joy is not a joy found in external things – if it was those in the comedy industry would possess it in abundance. But comedians are often the saddest people of all. No, rather the joy of Jesus is found in the revelation and acceptance of the truth. 

Unlike the joy offered by the world, it is not a manufactured humour that needs to be excelled to elicit a constant upbeat response. No, our Lord’s joy comes from knowing that although the world and the evil one may hate us, we are kept safely in a place out of which nothing in all creation can remove us. 

As hymn writer, Maltbie D. Babcock wrote:

“This is my Father's world: O let me ne'er forget

That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet.

This is my Father's world: Why should my heart be sad?

The Lord is King: let the heavens ring! God reigns; let earth be glad!”

You see, the joy of Jesus is a joy founded on the unchanging nature of our almighty Father whose will cannot be thwarted by anything or anyone.

Of course, you must know that the moment the Word of Jesus touches your innermost being and you respond positively to it, you are declaring yourself at odds with the world. Our embracing the truth of Scripture indicates that we are no longer “of the world”. As sheep purchased by the Good Shepherd, we are led out of one sheepfold into another.

But as Jesus prayed here, we are not to be removed from the world because we have a very important task to complete.  As he taught in the Sermon on the Mount, we are to be both salt – a common ancient Near Eastern image of judgement (Judges 9:45) – and light – the image of blessing and of revelation. So, instead of removal or “rapture” from the world – something some dear fellow believers hope will happen soon – Jesus prayed for our protection from the world and from the one behind the hatred of the world, the evil one himself, because we are to remain in the world as witnesses to him! 

You see, God does not promise his children a life free from hardship, anxiety, opposition, or labour. He rather provides us with a joy that helps us to withstand these challenges. True, we may face danger, suffering, and persecution, but God’s grace keeps us from being overcome by evil. 

Modern Christianity seems to have forgotten that we are to remain in this world for a reason. The Father did not give up on his creation…Jesus did not give up on his disciples…the Holy Spirit certainly does not give up on us…so why is it so easy for us to give up on those who do not yet know Jesus? Because we are not of the world does not give us license to ask, contrary to our Lord’s prayer here, to be removed from the world. Neither does this provide us with an excuse to withdraw from the world…rather we are to be in the world to engage the world. 

Although our Lord was not of the world, he came into the world to save the world. To the hard-hearted, he was a constant irritant and a reminder of their falseness, their hypocrisy, and their ultimate destination. But to those who had ears to hear, he was a demonstration of God’s amazing and unconditional love for his creatures.

However, with his departure from the world, the Church as his body on earth has been given the same role as he had been given when he came to the world. As Jesus was sent into the world, so he now sends his followers into the world. For this reason, he asked for us to be sanctified in the truth. The word “sanctify” was usually used in the Old Testament to indicate a special dedication of a person or an object to God for special service. A sanctified person or object would then be declared holy …set apart by God for God. The various rituals surrounding the process and pronouncement of sanctification would attempt to show in temporal terms an eternal reality based upon a divine decree. 

In his prayer, Jesus appears to indicate that sanctification is a product of an alignment with truth…but a very specific truth…truth as it is revealed by God in his Word. This idea is as basic to godliness as error and deception are basic to wickedness. According to Ephesians 5:26, it is the Word that constantly washes us and cleanses us from innate impurity. 

The error in believing in a God that is dynamic…in other words, a God who, contrary to the teaching of Scripture and the faith held by the historic Church, is changeable, malleable, adaptable, or even pliable…is that if God alters or adjusts to suit the fluctuating deviations of the world, then the counter cultural message of every book of the Bible becomes baseless, meaningless, pointless, and irrelevant.

God uses His Word, not human ideas or opinions, to set us apart from the world for his special purpose. If we were like the world, we would not reflect the otherness of God or the holiness of God…and for this reason, our values, goals and actions ought to be different from the world.

But the main reason for this plea for sanctification is because the followers of Jesus are not only to be like their Lord, but they are also called to do the work of their Lord. In verse 18, Jesus said that as the Father had sent him into the world, so he, in turn, sends his followers into the world. As such, Jesus is the supreme example and pattern of what the Church should be. Every true follower of Jesus ought to be like him in his “sentness”. Not sharing the truth of the Word with the world means not being like Jesus. 

Now, of course, part of being sent into the world like Jesus is learning to pray like he did. Prayer is central to what it means to belong to God while living in the world.

But my point is that we have been chosen out of the world for the world for a reason and a purpose. We have been left in this world for the world for a reason and a purpose. We have been sanctified by the Word for the world for a reason and a purpose. As Jesus was sent to the world, so we are sent to the world. We are salt, we are light, we are witnesses, we are ambassadors of truth. 

For this to become a possibility, Jesus had to first sanctify himself so that he might sanctify others. Now, obviously, Jesus didn’t need any moral or spiritual improvement, but he was set apart by God for God. The imagery of the High Priest entering the Holy of Holies with the blood of the sacrifice to make atonement for the people is once again helpful here. As our great High Priest, Jesus was at once both the sacrifice as well as the one sacrificing…as we have seen before he had authority to give his life…no one took it from him…and he had authority to take up his life again. So, he is both sacrifice as well as the one sacrificing. He was sanctified or consecrated or set apart to complete this task of atonement.

But, unlike the High Priest, Jesus entered in with his own pure, undefiled, unblemished blood thereby establishing an eternal, once for all, atonement and reconciliation between God and humanity. One Lord…one sacrifice…one atonement…one way…one truth…one life.

In the world, but not of the world because we are in the world, for the world. The prayer of our Lord Jesus shows that we are indeed a special people…a chosen people, a holy people, a set apart people, a sent people. Yes, we are called out of the world to live in the presence of the Holy Father…but even so, simultaneously, we are to remain in the world so that the world may have a perpetual witness to what life was meant to be like…what life might indeed be like in the light of God’s merciful and loving character. 

So, I echo the words of our Lord as I pray for us. May the Holy Father keep us in his name. May he sanctify us in his truth. May he sanctify us by his Word. And as he sent Jesus into the world, so may we be sent into the world. In the world, not of the world, but for the world. 

Amen.

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2024

Given to Give

Ezekiel 18:21-24                         1 Timothy 2:1-6                        John 17:6-10

Given to Give

As we saw last week, this final prayer of our Lord’s incarnate life centred around the one aspect uppermost in his mind, namely a reconciled relationship between the one true God and humanity. In the first five verses Jesus’ focus was mainly on himself as the one through whom eternal life would be made possible, but in verses 6-10, his prayer centred primarily on his disciples and their relationship to God the Father through him. 

These next five verses are basically the introduction to an intercessory prayer in which Jesus presented to the Father those whom the Father had originally given to him. I think here he was more than likely referring specifically to the twelve and perhaps to the small group of women that were part of their company. If you recall, Jesus was very specific in his choice of disciples. Before he chose the twelve, he spent all night in prayer, and perhaps he was now alluding to the divine guidance behind that choice. They did not choose him, but rather he had chosen them. 

Nevertheless, in these verses, the words of our Lord were so carefully and precisely chosen that they may present us with a picture of what would become the New Covenant People of God. By using the words of his prayer here, we could divide the characteristics of any Christian community into three basic points.

Firstly, we are a community given to Jesus. Secondly, we are a community given to know Jesus. And thirdly, we are a community given to glorify Jesus.

In verse 6 Jesus prayed, “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world.” This is the first characteristic of all true Christian communities. We have been taken out of the world and we have been given to Jesus by the Father. Although Jesus’ earthly ministry was as public as ours should be, it was only those to whom it had been given who understood and responded positively to his words. For example, in Matthew 13:11 Jesus said the following to his disciples: “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.”

But this does not mean that the salvation of some and the damnation of the rest are preordained conclusions. As we saw with both our Old Testament and New Testament readings, it is the will of God that none are damned…that all come to a saving knowledge of Him. There are many other places in Scripture that express the same sentiment, none quite so poignant as God’s statement to the reluctant missionary Jonah: “You pity the plant, for which you did not labour, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” You see, in Jonah’s mind, only Israel was predestined to be the people of God. Gentiles were predestined for destruction. But here God revealed to him the divine heart for the lost.

Now, as I was thinking about what Jesus said here and how I could best explain his meaning, I thought of a film I saw about the British stockbroker Nicholas (or Nicky) Winton. In a race against time, before the Nazi occupation closed the borders, Nicky struggled for nine months to rescue 669 predominantly Jewish children from Czechoslovakia, bringing them to the UK and placing them in foster homes. He tirelessly fought to get visas for them, campaigned to raise the necessary funds, and begged families to take them in. 

However, the train carrying the last group of children, scheduled to leave Prague on the 1st of September 1939, was unable to depart. With Hitler's invasion of Poland on the same day, the Second Great War had begun and of the 250 children due to leave on that train, only two survived the war. The film showed a distraught Nicky waiting in vain on the platform of the station for those he was not able to save, and for years their fate haunted him.

Now, of course, we can hardly compare the awful fate of these children to that of unrepentant sinners, but I do think we can catch a glimpse of the agony of our God when that one train doesn’t arrive. 

We know that there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:7), but I think it safe to say that the reverse is just as true. Jesus wept over unrepentant Jerusalem (Luke 19:41). God said that he finds no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 33:11). He wants everyone to be saved and to fully understand the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). 

Just like in this story about Nicky Winton, God has done everything possible to save us from the world…in one sense, Jesus is our visa to freedom, a visa paid for with his own blood, and we have been taken out of a perilous situation and adopted into the family of God. But we must board that train…eleven of the chosen disciples did while one clearly did not as we will see when we get to verse 12 of this chapter.

But for us who do board that train, our eternal salvation is secure. As Jesus said in John 6:37, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” And in John 10:28-29, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.”

And so, the first mark of any Christian community is that we are a people taken out of the world by the Father and given to Jesus. 

The second mark is that we are a community that knows Jesus. In verses 7-8 Jesus said, “Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.” Many people saw Jesus. Many people heard Jesus teach. Many people experienced his healing touch. Yet they did not know him. When he did not do what they wanted him to do, they abandoned him. 

Today, many know about Jesus. They know him as an historic person. They might even know something he taught or something he did. They might acknowledge him as a great teacher or a good man. But the kind of knowing Jesus was speaking about here was very specific. It is a knowledge based on receiving and accepting the words of Jesus as the truth. 

But it is more than simply knowing the Scriptures. It is also believing that Jesus came from the Father. To the unbelieving Jews, Jesus said in John 5:39-40, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.” And in John 8:19, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” Knowing what they thought about an all too human Messiah was not enough.  If I may once again reference the tragic story of Nicky Winton, knowing that there was a visa and that there was enough money and that there was a family waiting for you was not enough…you had to board the train and leave. 

Truly knowing the biblical Jesus means knowing that he came from the Father – that he is divine. In order for the substitutionary sacrifice to be efficacious, Jesus had to be divine. Only someone who was both fully God and fully Man could mediate between God and humanity (1 Timothy 2:5). The sacrifice of a sinless life was necessary for atonement for human sins and so, because all humans have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, a perfect person…one born in the form of humanity, yet without sin…was required to pay the penalty for sin. 

Only God can reveal God…and as Jesus came to reveal God’s character and nature to humanity, he had to be divine or else he would have failed to embody the fulness of God and he would not have been able to demonstrate the essence of God. Only God can forgive sins, and Jesus came so that sinners might be forgiven. Only God could conquer death and the devil because the presence of sin would nullify any substitution. 

To know Jesus only as a man is to miss all that he came to do…it is to miss the free gift of salvation from God, through God, to humanity. So, the second mark of a Christian Community is that we know the biblical Jesus.

The final mark of a true Christian community is that it brings glory to Jesus. Verse 9 and 10 are very particular. Jesus said, “I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.” As our mediator, Jesus intercedes for those who are his (1 John 2:1). In fact, he is seated at the right hand of the Father interceding for us right now (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25). 

He already warned his disciples that in the world those who follow him will experience tribulation, but this is more than overcoming the world. Jesus intercedes for us because of our own sin, because of Satan's accusations, and because we need his help to carry out our kingdom purpose. Because of his intercession, when we sin, we may receive forgiveness if we confess our sins (1 John 1:9). Because of his intercession, Satan’s accusations cannot condemn us (Romans 8:34). Because of his intercession, we are empowered to make disciples of the nations (Matthew 28:18-20). In other words, because of his intercession, we can faithfully endure to the end. Because of his intercession, nothing will ever be able to snatch us from his hands. We are his…period.

And because we are his…because we belong to him…because we no longer belong to the world, Jesus is glorified in us. Our salvation speaks of his greatness. When non-believers look at us, they see a community of people who exist because of God’s loving kindness…we exist because of his grace, his mercy, his compassion, his goodness, his faithfulness. Those of the world may boast of their achievements, but we boast only of his achievement, acknowledging and confessing that we are nothing without him. We have nothing to boast of except the cross of Jesus (Galatians 6:14). 

Our very existence as a community of the forgiven, gives all glory, praise and honour to God because of who he is for what he has done. Our existence exclaims the very opposite of a self-seeking or self-gratifying lifestyle. Our existence is centred around the Lord God whose love for us is exhibited in that while we still sinners, Jesus gave his life for ours. Everything we are and everything we will ever become is because he has given it to us. If that doesn’t deserve all our glory and praise, I don’t know what does. 

The film about Nicky Winton comes to a climax when the children he had saved in 1939 meet him for the first time as adults in 1988…50 years later. A BBC talk show host managed to track some of them down and during a live broadcast, those who owed their lives to a man they had not known face to face before were able to express their gratitude for his selfless deeds.

And so, as we participate in the meal that brings to remembrance the one who was sent by the Father to save us out from the world through his selfless sacrifice, let us reflect on the kind of people we ought to be because of him. It doesn’t matter if we are rich or poor, many or few…what matters is that, in our gratitude and humility, we give ourselves as Jesus gave himself so that others may be given the knowledge of the greatest gift of all time. 

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2024

The Heart of our Faith

Proverbs 19:21                                 Acts 4:27-28                                  John 17:1-5

The Heart of our Faith

The passage we will be examining today is possibly one of the most significant of all the prayers of Jesus because it gives us an in-depth view of what our Saviour regarded as central to the Gospel. It comes at the end of the farewell discourse in which Jesus endeavoured to prepare his followers for what lay in store for them. As such it is a prayer of consecration, both for himself and the work which he, as God incarnate, was about to complete, as well as a prayer for the disciples and the Church which would come into being through their message and ministry of reconciliation that he would continue to do in and through them as the exalted King of the universe. 

This first introductory section, verses one through five, seems to have been written in a chiastic form in which the first verse and the last verse correspond like in a mirror image, the second and the fourth do the same, pointing to the central verse as the main focus. A chiasmus was a literary device which was meant to convey to the reader what the author thought was most important. So, we will first examine the verses as they parallel each other and then we will examine that which is the kernel or central part of these five verses.

When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, 

A. “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 

B. 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 

C. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 

B. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 

A. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

Both verses 1 and 5 address the glory of Jesus. The first glory has reference to the cross and the resurrection and the last glory points towards the ascension and enthronement of Jesus at the right hand of the Father. Now, there are a few things I’d like to point out in these verses.

But before we do, I’d like you to notice that Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven. Why would that be important? Well, because posture is important. Too many folks have discarded all forms of biblical symbolism and embraced other non-biblical forms…such as the well-known evangelical prayer slouch (or the hair washing position). You know, we hear the words, “let us pray” and everyone assumes the slouch position. But Jesus looks up, raising his eyes toward heaven…not because God is up there as opposed to down here, but because his posture speaks of God’s majesty and his exalted status as well as the open nature of the relationship between them.

Of course, there are times when our eyes ought to be downcast and not lifted up. Common practice indicates that looking down when addressing another signifies shame and guilt, so this is the appropriate posture for us when we are convicted of our own sinfulness and depravity. But that is not the case here when Jesus addresses his Father. All I’m trying to say is that different postures mean different things…an open adoration of God’s majesty or a humble confession of our brokenness. 

Now, let’s look at the parallels: the first thing I would like you to notice is the word “hour”. Jesus said, “Father, the hour has come…” Note that he is in the hour, so this time refers to something current and anticipatory, emphasising God’s perfect timing and his perfect will. The date and time of the crucifixion was not random. Besides the fact that it was part of God’s eternal decree and purpose, it was also accomplished at a time when the event would mirror both Creation as well as the Exodus, with Jesus dying as the spotless Lamb during the Passover Festival – which is a well-known image – but Jesus also “rested” on the seventh Day or the Sabbath Day in the tomb once his re-creation work was finished and he rose from the dead on the Festival of First fruits, a biblical festival celebrating the first harvest of crops. Had Passover been on any other day of the week, this would not have been the case.

The Scriptures repeatedly show that the events of life, whether mundane or profound, are not determined by the will of man, but are rather appointed by a loving yet sovereign and almighty God. For instance, in Acts 4:27-28 we read: “…for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.” It seems the early followers of Jesus had no problem connecting their current events, good or bad, with the gracious will of God.

 Scripture presents God as the one upholding all things by the word of his power. Unfortunately, the modern Church tends to be more deistic then theistic, as if God has abdicated his role as universal ruler or absented himself from his creation. As if God is somehow removed or distant or worse, indifferent. But Scripture teaches us that as nature obeys his commands and that as demons are subject to him, both heaven and earth are his jurisdiction and therefore under his control.

In this verse, Jesus indicated that the most challenging hour of his incarnate life was an event both decreed and agreed on long before it took place. This “hour” that had come had been predetermined by the Triune God…both its onset as well as its outcome, yet by freely entering into that hour, Jesus confirmed his willingness to be the instrument through whom God’s love for the world would be demonstrated. (Romans 5:8) He was neither forced nor coerced…he gave his life of his own free will, having both the authority to give it as well as the authority to take it back again. (John 10:18) 

Then the final thing I would like you to notice in verses 1 and 5 is the word “glory”. As I mentioned earlier, in verse 1 the word refers to his death and resurrection. The cross was the ultimate demonstration of God’s loving character and, as such, it was a revelation of God’s glory in terms of his redeeming love and power. It was how the sovereign goal to restore the broken fellowship between God and humanity would be achieved. By taking our sins upon his own sinless self, Jesus as the spotless sacrificial lamb, became the doorway into the sheepfold…the entrance back into Paradise…the way into eternal life…our re-entry into his glorious presence.

But the glory of the Son does not end there. In verse 5 Jesus used the same word, but this time he was referring to his ascension and enthronement. He said, “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” At the incarnation, Jesus took upon himself the form of a man without discarding the divine. (Philippians 2:6-7) In other words, while Jesus never ceased to be God, in his incarnation, he actively chose never to live as more than a man. As such his glory was veiled while in the flesh and only those to whom it was given could truly say that they had beheld his glory…the glory as of the only begotten son of God. (John 1:14) 

However, the fullness of the glory that he had with God before the world existed was restored at his resurrection, ascension, and enthronement. So, in these two verses we see that the glory of Jesus relates to both his humiliation as well as his exaltation. 

Now, let’s look at verse 2 and 4. The atoning work of Jesus ties in neatly with the theme of restoration, but it is explained in terms of what has been given by God the Father to God the Son. Note how many times the word “give” is used in verses 2 and 4. (2) “…since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.” (4) “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.” So, let’s look at what is given to Jesus and what is given by Jesus.

The first “give” has to do with authority…an authority given to Jesus by the Father so that he might give that which the Father wanted to give to those whom the Father gave to Jesus. Or stated otherwise, as Jesus has been given all authority in both heaven and earth (Matthew 28:18), he is able to give the gift of eternal life to those whom God has given to him. In like manner, Jesus gives the Church the authority to bring that gift to the nations so that we, in turn, may give what he has given to us to those whom God has given to Jesus. (See John 20:21)

Now, we can get a bit lost with who is giving what to whom, but the important thing to note here is the interconnectedness in the relationship of the Father and the Son as well as the interconnectedness in our relationship with God through Jesus. In everything he did in his incarnated state, Jesus remained committed to doing and asking for only that which God had given or had promised to give. As an aside, this is the key to effective prayer…ask for nothing more than what God has clearly promised in his Word.  

So, we learn here that the work of Jesus was to glorify the Father by revealing and demonstrating his loving character, which includes everything from the moment of his incarnation through to the moment of his exaltation. But here in these verses, Jesus made a clear distinction between the work done before his ascension and the work done after his enthronement. In verse 4 he said that he finished (or accomplished or completed) the work the Father had given him to do, clearly anticipating the cry from the cross, “it is finished”. 

As such the work of Jesus in terms of redemption and reconciliation is both final and complete. There can be no more sacrifice or offering for sin. And yet the result of this finished work continues in time through the medium of the Church. Those whom we disciple come into the kingdom by virtue of what was secured for them on the cross. They believe because they were given to Jesus by the Father. Their names were indelibly engraved in the palms of Jesus’ hand with the very nails which pinned him to the tree. And so, the finished work of Jesus is continually applied throughout the ages by the Church.

Which leads us to the central and focal point of this chiastic structure in verse 3. “And this is eternal life,” Jesus said, “that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” As we have already seen, both the glory and the work of Jesus had a common goal…the gift of eternal life. But what is important to note here is our Lord’s definition of this life. Eternal life is defined as knowing the only true God and knowing Jesus as the one ‘sent’ by him. Of course, this is not a mere intellectual acknowledgement of his existence…that kind of general knowledge of a god is shared by everyone according to Paul in Romans 1. 

No, this kind of knowledge is specific. It is knowing the only true God as well as the one who was sent by that one true God to redeem sinners. This kind of knowledge can only be attained through special revelation given to us in the Scriptures and in Jesus. It is a knowledge based on a relationship with God founded upon the reality of his Person…a knowledge closely defined by the use of the words “only” and “true”. 

According to Augustine, God created us for himself, so that our heart is restless unless (or until) it finds its rest in him (Confessions, 1.1), which tells us two things: Human beings are created with an innate longing for God and consequently true peace and fulfilment can only be found in a relationship with him. However, it also tells us that this relationship, if it is to be the source of eternal life, must be very specific. It must be a relationship with the one true God through the one sent by him, namely, Jesus.

The knowledge Jesus alludes to in this verse is the kind of knowledge that differentiates between the biblical God and the gods of human invention. It is a knowledge that is only satisfied with him as he has revealed himself. Those who seek the divine outside that specific realm of God’s special self-revelation will endlessly grope and search for things that can never satisfy. Although they may appear to be content for a time, and may even say they are fulfilled, the emptiness will return time and time again if the God-shaped vacuum is repeatedly filled with what is temporary and false. 

So, by using the chiastic literary structure, Jesus revealed that which is the heart of Christianity. Eternal life based on a biblically informed relationship with the one and only true God…a life only made possible by believing in the one who was sent to purchase it with his own blood. The final prayer of Jesus’ incarnate life centred on this one single reality even as he faced the hour of his most intense suffering…a suffering that would give eternal life to those given to him by the Father. 

But, as we will discover later when we expound the rest of this passage, Jesus was not just praying for his final work of atonement…he was also praying for those through whom he would continue to apply that which he had achieved on the cross. His principal point throughout this prayer was to make eternal life available, and for this reason, the principle point of his Church ought to be the same. We, dearest beloved breathren, exist to be the bearers of the greatest gift of all time…the gift of eternal life.

Which begs the question: if one was to examine the behaviour of the modern Church, would one be led to believe that this is the principle point of our existence? In his book, Eternity in their Hearts, veteran missionary and well-known author Don Richardson wrote: “Significant numbers of non-Christians have proved themselves ten times more willing to receive the Gospel than Christians have been to share it.” 

What is the focus of your life as a follower of Jesus? Does it mirror the focus of Jesus’ life? Everything we do in life has eternal consequences. But how much of what we do daily is of any positive eternal value? If we were to stand before our God, whose character is demonstrated chiefly through the one event that revealed most clearly that his main priority was to make a life-giving relationship with him possible…if we were to stand before his God, would we be able to say that our main priority is the same as his? 

If the very heart of our faith is that we might know and make known the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent, do we even have a pulse?

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2024

Peace in Him

Isaiah 20:3-4                       Psalm 22:1-2; 23-24; 27-31                        John 16:25-33

Peace in Him

One of the problems with the speed of technical advance in our modern era is that old proverbial statements become obsolete. One such statement is that someone who keeps repeating themselves sounds like a "stuck record" (which, for the uninitiated, refers to a vinyl record needle stuck in one groove, causing the same sound to repeat endlessly). In digital terms, I believe a similar idea would be "glitching" or "looping", terms that capture the idea of something stuck in a repetitive, unintended loop—just as a stuck record once did, but now in the context of digital media like video games, software, or streaming.

Now, the phrase “you sound like a stuck record” or “you are like a stuck record” was often used for those who appear to be stuck on one train of thought without the ability to move on. Some folks will continue to be stuck in or to hold to a position even when proved wrong, just because that was what they were taught or that was the way it had always been done before.  

For instance, how many folks still believe that if you go outside with wet hair, you will catch a cold? I was always told that shaving makes your hair grow back thicker. Fat lot of good that did me. Or how about the belief that cracking your knuckles will cause arthritis? Or that you should starve a fever and feed a cold? Or that eating carrots will improve your eyesight? Or you’ll get warts from touching a toad? Or here’s one for you mum’s present: Sugar makes kids hyperactive. Multiple studies have shown that sugar does not cause hyperactivity in children, but we still believe that don’t we? 

But why do we hold on to our outdated ideas when we are presented either with truth or more evidence or a more viable explanation? Well, there are several psychological and emotional reasons: One is what we call cognitive dissonance: When new information conflicts with our existing beliefs, it creates discomfort. To resolve this, we often reject or rationalize the new information rather than adjusting our beliefs. Holding on to familiar ideas helps avoid the mental tension caused by conflicting viewpoints. 

Another reason is confirmation bias: We tend to seek out and favour information that confirms what we already believe, while disregarding evidence that contradicts it. This bias makes it easier to maintain outdated ideas, even in the face of more accurate explanations. 

Then of course there is our own identity and ego: Our beliefs are often tied to our identity, culture, or community. Letting go of them can feel like a personal loss or a threat to our sense of self. We may resist new ideas because accepting them might challenge our core identity or make us feel inadequate for having believed otherwise. 

Another more common reason is fear of change: Change can be unsettling. Old ideas provide comfort and familiarity, while new ideas can seem risky or uncertain. People might resist the truth because it requires them to step into the unknown or change their behaviours. 

Another common one is social or peer pressure: We are influenced by the beliefs and norms of the groups we belong to. Changing or adapting our views could result in social rejection or tension, especially if those around us continue to hold on to concepts or ideas we no longer hold to be true or self-evident. 

And then finally, for some it may be a question of emotional attachment: Some ideas carry deep emotional significance. Certain religious, political, or cultural beliefs may be tied to personal experiences, making it harder to let go of them, even when presented with contradictory evidence. 

Now, in the case of the disciples, it may be a combination of any number of these reasons. From the age of three when they first started to attend Hebrew school, they were taught certain things about what to expect regarding the coming Messiah. In the synagogue and at home they were more than likely told by local and itinerant Rabbis as well as their parents that the Messiah would be a conquering political King like David who would defeat their oppressors and restore the kingdom to Israel. 

While it is important to note that these expectations were not by any means uniform because different Jewish sects had varying opinions, I do think it safe to say that all the first century beliefs regarding the Messiah reveal a radically different view from who Jesus was and what he came to do. That is why many in the crowds…even people that at one point wanted to crown him king…that is why they turned away. He just did not fit the mould they had cast for their messiah. 

So, one can appreciate why the disciples had such a hard time understanding his idiomatic comments about “leaving” and them not “seeing” him…and then his “returning” and them “seeing” him once more. They had been told the Messiah would remain forever (John 12:34), so what was this about him going somewhere? For this reason, Jesus’ statement in verse 25 must have come as a relief. Here he basically told them that a time would come when his present obscure symbolic and metaphoric speech would become more straightforward. 

Now to be fair, unlike the crowds, there were several things the disciples did understand. There is a difference between struggling to understand on the one hand and not understanding at all on the other. For example, the disciples had grasped the truth concerning the person of Jesus. When others walked away because they failed to understand, the disciples stayed despite their struggle to understand because they had come to know that he had the words of eternal life…that he was the Holy One of God (John 6:68). But they still struggled to understand because Jesus’ present perplexing predictions did not match their previously pre-packaged presuppositions. This is why Jesus said here: I know you are struggling to understand now, but you will get it in the future. So, hang in there.

The second thing to note is that we are finite and limited and therefore some things about God and his ways will remain in the realm of mystery. However, this does not mean we must roll over and play dead. God has graciously granted us inquisitive and inquiring intellects and so we ought to continue to dig deeper in God’s Word using all the tools available to us. Recent discoveries and advances in cultural anthropological studies, philology, archaeology, papyrology, and epigraphy open the ancient world to us in ways formerly not possible. Many previously perplexing passages become clearer when we understand the meaning of words and practices specific to that particular era or area. 

True, God’s Word is and always will be our only true guiding light, but a lack of historical contextualisation – where content and context and culture are engaged together in an attempt to fully comprehend the meaning and application of the text – a lack of historical contextualisation can lead us to embrace practices that were either culturally and historically specific or it can lead us to enforce practices that are actually contrary to the original intention. Jesus’ teaching was often an attempt to dismantle entrenched misunderstandings. Remember the sermon on the Mount? You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour (biblical) and hate your enemy (not biblical and yet taught by the Rabbis)’. But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” Down through the centuries, people have used the Bible to justify their bad behaviour…just think about the theological justification for apartheid. So, we need to humbly seek to understand and humbly seek to change should we ourselves be weighed in the balance of truth and be found wanting.

But this should not discourage us. Delving deeper into God’s Word may be challenging not to mention time consuming – always remember that real Bible Study is far more than simply pulling a single text out of a Precious Promises box – but the digging and discovering is so rewarding! There are so many reputable resources available to us in print and on the internet…of course there are many not so reputable resources too, so the rule of thumb should always be to use Scripture as the criterion and the standard. But my point is, we ought to be excited by the hope of gaining a fuller understanding of Scripture through comprehensive study of all helpful material! 

And never forget the presence of the Holy Spirit – the one who inspired what was written in the first place. As you study the Scriptures in the light of all the information available to us today, allow him to do what he does best…to lead you in truth, always keeping in mind that he will never contradict what has already been revealed as he does not speak on his own authority. 

From the promise of fuller understanding, Jesus moved on in verse 26-27 to tell them about a new freedom and effectiveness in prayer resulting from a new relationship between God and humanity. Jesus’ “leaving” and “returning” would bring about a freedom of access to the real Holy of Holies – the very throne room of God himself. Because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross, those who are in him may now approach the throne of grace with boldness and confidence because Jesus has opened the way by removing the wall of separation that was once between us. Therefore, we can approach the Father directly in the Name of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit, both of whom constantly intercede for us.

Prayer is a great privilege too often misunderstood in the Church. According to our Lord, prayer is the language of love. We can pray to the Father because he loves us…a love that is chiefly demonstrated in that while we still sinners, Jesus died for us. “Greater love has no one than this,” Jesus said, “that someone lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) Prayer is an interaction made possible by God’s deliberate initiative to be reconciled with his estranged creation. And so, prayer ought never to be used as some magical method of manipulation. As a language based on God’s kind of love, we ought always to pray for him to do what he wills as his will is always expressed in terms of the love he has for the world. 

Through Jesus’ substitutionary death on the cross, we are restored in our position before God as well as in our understanding of things spiritual because the death and resurrection of Jesus restores us to our original, pre-Fall dominion status. God created humans to exercise delegated authority over God’s earth. As Jesus is both God and Man – two natures united into the one Person of the incarnate Son, never to be divided – and as his resurrection was a bodily resurrection and his ascension was a bodily ascension, he reigns at the right hand of God the Father as the Man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5). Jesus is the sinless second Adam, enthroned in paradise just as the pre-Fall Adam had been enthroned in the Garden of Eden. 

Therefore, through Jesus the Church exercises the dominion once given to the first humans. As Jesus is the new representative of the renewed humankind, all authority in both heaven and earth has been given to him, so all those who are under his headship have the royal right to bring the nations into subjection to their rightful King. As such, believers are his co-regents over a world that will, someday by the grace of God, be filled with the knowledge of the Lord’s glory, just as the waters cover the sea (Habakkuk 2:14).

At this point, the disciples had an “aha!” moment. They seemed to have recognised that Jesus was divine – that he had come from the Father because, ultimately, he and the Father are one. This much they seemed to have grasped and so they enthusiastically assumed that the time Jesus was speaking about in the beginning of his statement had already come. “Now we can see,” they said. It seems that they thought they had made some progress and so they gleefully agree that Jesus’ statements were no longer completely unfathomable. 

However, Jesus was quick to point out that even though they thought they had understood everything, they would nonetheless still be thrown into turmoil and confusion in the very near future when the unthinkable happened. In a sense they were deceived into thinking that they were wiser than they were.

So, Jesus reminded them that in their human fallibility they should not endeavour to attempt to understand what was beyond them. As I said before, there are certain things about God and his ways that will remain unknowable. And that’s fine because these inexplicable and incomprehensible things remind us of our total dependence on God. Our faith in his greatness and goodness ought to triumph over our discombobulations. Here Jesus told his disciples that although they thought they had it all figured out, the cross would prove to be too much for them and they would desert, disown, and ditch him completely. 

But what Jesus said next has caused many a scholar to spill copious amounts of precious ink. “You,” he said, indicating the disciples, “will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.” Liberal scholars triumphantly point out that Jesus was obviously mistaken at this point regarding his faith in the Father’s permanent presence with him despite the desertion of all others because, on the cross, he clearly believed that God had, in fact, forsaken him. Jesus believed that the Father would never abandon him – and yet, apparently, on the cross he found out that he was mistaken – his trust was betrayed when he most needed his Father’s presence.

Now, it is here that I believe cultural studies help us unravel this apparent contradiction. Quoting the first line or a portion of Scripture was a typical training technique in which the Rabbi would expect his disciples to recall the teaching of the whole passage.

For this reason, several New Testament scholars now believe that Jesus' cry from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46), references the first verse of Psalm 22 as a way of pointing his disciples to the larger context of the Psalm, which ultimately corrects the initial feeling of desertion. In fact, the Psalmist himself indicated that his perception of abandonment was not accurate as in verse 24 he wrote, “For he (God) has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.”

In other words, Jesus' use of the Psalm was a teaching moment for those present. As the master teacher that he was, Jesus was drawing attention to the Psalm's real message. Despite its dismal opening line, Psalm 22 actually affirms God's presence and deliverance even in the midst of suffering. In other words, Jesus' citation of Psalm 22:1 was for the benefit of those witnessing his crucifixion who, without a doubt, were thinking that God had abandoned them, encouraging them to recall the message of the whole Psalm and to reflect on its full meaning. 

In fact, I believe that everything Jesus said from the cross was didactic…everything he said was instructive, all the way through to his final statement “It is finished” that echoed the word used in the Greek translation of Genesis 2:2. Using the exact same word, “tetelestai”, Jesus linked the completion of God's creation of the world with the completion of his work that ushers in the new creation. He then rested in the tomb on the seventh or the Sabbath Day and rose triumphant on the first day. 

Do you see how knowing the cultural habits and the typical training technique used by Rabbis at the time, helps us to counter the assumption of liberal scholars regarding this particular verse? Jesus was not mistaken. His Father did not forsake him, nor did he forsake his disciples even though they must have thought that was the case, nor did he nor will he forsake you.

Now, in verse 33, Jesus revealed his real intention behind this discussion with his disciples. He had told them these things so that in him they might have peace. Many distresses and troubles lay ahead hidden from the present view. So, Jesus told them what was about to happen so that when the storm hit, they might be able to weather it by holding on to his promise that it would only be a little while before they would see him again. Yes, it would feel as if God himself had deserted them, but if they recalled and reflected on these words, they would be encouraged to anticipate a victorious outcome. 

Jesus did not hide the fact that while we are in this world, we will struggle. But the world will never be able to overcome us because he has overcome it. That is why we can be at peace “in him”. It is like being in the eye of a hurricane. As long as we remain in that eye, we will not be swept away by the chaos in this fallen broken world. Even when we feel totally overwhelmed by trials and troubles, we can be at peace if our minds are fixed on the one who ensured by his substitutionary sacrifice that every promise of God toward us are yes and amen. (See Isaiah 26:3-4; 2 Corinthians 1:20)

In closing, allow me to tell you what I am told is a true story about a British missionary named Eric Barker. Eric served in Portugal during the Second Great War. As the war intensified, it became too dangerous for his family to remain with him in Europe. Therefore, he made the difficult decision to send his wife and their eight children (along with his sister and her three children) back to England for safety. 

According to the story, Eric Barker was preaching on the Sunday after the ship had sailed. During the service he told the congregation that he had just received word that all his family had arrived safely home. He then proceeded with the service as usual. Only later did the meaning of his words become known to the congregation. He had received a telegram informing him that the ship had been torpedoed by a submarine, and all of the passengers had perished at sea. And yet, Eric was at peace, even amidst profound personal loss, because he knew that he and his family were in Jesus. 

Life can hurl every conceivable trial against us…it can howl and batter us until we feel we can take it no longer…until we may even be tempted to think that God has abandoned us or that he is ruthlessly punishing us. 

But what Jesus wanted his disciples to know then and what he wants you to know today is simply this. In Him you will always have peace. 

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2024