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Part 2

An angel of the Lord descends and the earth trembles.

He rolls the stone away.

He sits on it.

He glows.

He looks upon the fallen guards.

The pierced Son of Man rises.

He walks.

He talks.

He teaches.

He eats.

“Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

They remember His words.

Fear fills them, but so does great joy.

They doubt and marvel.

He opens their eyes.

Some call Him “that deceiver.”

They remember His words.

They pay off the guards.

They deceive themselves.

They deceive scores more.

All authority in heaven and on earth is given to Him.

He commissions.

He returns to His Father and ours.

He enters His glory.

He guarantees our faith.

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Part I

Scourged and suffering limps the Son of Man.

Hunted like prey.

Betrayed with a kiss.

Agonizing in the night.

Deserted and alone.

He is as a worm, the stench of those He came to save.

Slandered with false accusations.

Mocked and abused.

Derided by passersby.

Despised.

Sealing his lips, He laid His life down.

Questioned like a criminal.

Chosen to die while Barabbas walked free.

Struck and beaten.

Bloodied with grief.

We raised him up, nailed to a pole.

He cried.

We laughed.

He prayed.

We beat our chests.

“Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”

He poured out his soul to death.

He makes intercession.

He bears our iniquities.

The iniquity of us all.

The Boomerang of Justice

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Have you ever been wronged?

A question like this opens a floodgate of memories and emotions for many of us. Scars ache as we unravel the mental note that lists our offenders. We see their faces, hear their names, and remember how they made us feel in those dark times. Sadness turns to anger. Anger to contempt.

We all share this experience. We have all been wronged, and usually, it’s not hard to recite those instances because of the deep wounds they leave behind.

But the wounds we sustain are often felt more than the wounds we inflict.

Everyone who has been wronged has also done wrong. This is common ground we aren’t as quick to discuss.

Most of us would feel a bit awkward if asked about a time we wronged someone. If we’re honest, we struggle with that notion. Many will remember somebody being hurt by something they did or said, but this recognition is handcuffed to a caveat or justification of why it was an overreaction. Perhaps we see the conceit in claiming perfect innocence, so we try and come up with something “respectable” to show that we are self-aware but far from the criminal on the news.

The fact that we are wrongdoers doesn’t invalidate or silence the call for justice for what we have suffered. The wrongs we have done do, however, issue their own cry for justice.

Thus, we are not simply plaintiffs in this life with a pile of cases against our offenders. We are also defendants for whom there is a line of people out the courthouse doors ready to make their case against us.

This realization ought to be a wake-up call. The retribution price we rightly desire from others is a boomerang that comes right back for us.

That’s not the worst of it, though. We know that there are right and wrong present in this world only because of the One who has given us a conscience to detect them. So, our crimes are not only against the created but much more so against their Creator.

It is here where the impossibly dense weight of the cost we each owe is felt. A sinner sinning against a sinner is one thing. But one sinning against the sinless creator God? Surely, there is no payment they can make to adequately level the scales of justice. What they need is atonement.

Atonement is a strong word. It washes away the cosmetic deceit from the hideous face of sin. Biblical atonement demands death. Only death and torment, of the physical body and the eternal soul, atone for something so opposed to God and His holiness as sin. These cover what true justice says is lacking when any crime against the Almighty and His creation is committed.

Atonement means somebody dies because of sin – but not the sinner. Justice will be served – but not by the guilty.

Leviticus 16 describes a process God put in place in ancient Israel to provide grace and justice simultaneously. As Aaron, the first priest, approached God in the Holy of Holies to make atonement each year, he deserved to die for his sin. The people whom he represented deserved to die for their sins. Yet, it was the blood of an unblemished bull that Aaron presented for himself and the blood of an unblemished goat that he presented for the people of Israel that satisfied God’s wrath.

In His grace, God instructed Aaron and all the other priests after him to sprinkle the blood of these spotless animals on what He called the mercy seat. But one priest was different. He needed no bull blood. He had no sin of his own to atone. It was His righteous blood that the bulls and goats pointed towards. They were merely a placeholder until He arrived.

Jesus, the great high priest, shed His spotless blood for the sins of the world. That includes both the wrongs done to you and the wrongs that you have done.

God presents Him to be received by faith, as a gift.

He offers not only a better way to live, or an example to follow. He offers Himself. And in Himself, everlasting life, the forgiveness of sins.

Your sin means you deserve death and hell. But Jesus, in His death and resurrection, delivers your atonement. Your living hope, the anchor for your soul.

Have you received Him?

Check out the texts below for more!

Leviticus 16

Hebrews 9:11-28

Romans 3

The Implications of Existence

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Inspired by Psalm 14, 139, and Romans 1

There’s a rhetorical question that upon rumination sparks peace, perspective, and wonder in my spirit.

“Did you choose to be born?”

The answer for everyone, of course, is a simple “no.” We cannot speak ourselves into existence. While we recognize that someone doesn’t choose the context to which they are born, we ought to take that logic one step further by acknowledging the obvious.

You didn’t ask to exist.

Let that sink in for a moment. It’s an incredibly simple thought with some ginormous implications. Why?

Because you do.

Questions should fill our minds. How? Why? Is there a reason? We spend so much energy trying to control lives that we never asked for in the first place. When is the last time you took a step back and contemplated the fact that you exist at all?

In his song What’s It All About, Andy Mineo candidly sings,

“What’s it all about, why are we here?
If there’s no reason why do I care?
A lot of people put they thoughts in my ear
But I gotta know for myself
So, yo, God are you really there?”

You don’t need a philosophy degree to ask these questions. You don’t even need a high school diploma. All you need is to exist.

So, what are the answers to those questions? What are those implications? Some say it depends on whom you ask. But if we didn’t even author our own lives, how canwe authoritatively answer such things for ourselves?

We better make sure we’re asking the right person for those answers and unless that person is responsible for your existence, why would you listen to them? What do they know?

I hope you’re thinking,

“Well, what do YOU know Brian?”

If not, then you aren’t hearing me. We need answers. Not from anyone, but from the one responsible for our existence.

Someone may respond by claiming nobody is responsible, but they exist due to random chance and scientific processes. While this claim has scientific problems on its own, is it not also an attempt to control the implications of existence?

By eliminating a creator from the equation and attributing their life to chance, one maintains that they are not responsible for their existence, but lays claim to personal autonomy as if they had been.

If an independent creator is responsible for your life, that means you are not the boss. There’s somebody higher than you. That which rules above you is not a voiceless, inanimate reality like chance. Rather, it is an all-powerful, sovereign maker who has answered the questions of your existence.

It shouldn’t be hard to envision how each path differs in practice. One who agrees with the former will subject themselves to an external authority only when it proves advantageous and will otherwise leave final decisions up to themselves. One who believes the latter knows they ought to submit to their creator as the ultimate authority, recognizing that they are not their own but belong to another. This is not to say that the creation is always in agreement with the creator. However, humbling oneself and surrendering the inner desire for control in reverent awe is necessary and resolves the dissonance.

The naturalistic western world scoffs at the “unscientific” notion of an intelligent designer. Is it not, however, the scientific method that requires a hypothesis to be tested? In the discussion of origins and existence, it seems that this step has been thrown out. Not only are we selectively skeptical, but hypotheses are crossed out before they even have a chance to be tested. My hypothesis is that the reason for this is not a lack of empirical reasoning, but a matter of the heart.

The idea of God disturbs many. Some believe he is a ruthless, unjust, cruel dictator who suppresses man from flourishing. Others think he is indifferent to the suffering of our world and that if he really was all-powerful, he would have stopped the many tragedies we see day in and day out.

When you open the Word of God, however, you see the opposite. You see the world’s problems come from man, not God. He is the only one with the solution, and that is through the bloodshed of His own Son. It is only through Jesus that you can come back to the one who made you, and only then will you begin to discover the true implications of your existence.

Don’t settle for my words. Go open a Bible and see for yourself. Hear the voice of the One who fashioned you in His image and paid the sin price to redeem you from your rebellion.  Come back to He who alone is qualified to answer the questions that leave you staring at the ceiling in the middle of the night.

I’m confident that when you meet Him, you’ll quickly see your limitations. In seeing those, you will begin to grow in gratitude that He is the one running things, not you. Finally, you will find yourself starting to become eager to obey as His instructions prove to be good and true as your best inclinations lead only to more questions and pain.

After all, we didn’t ask to exist. He spoke us into being.

The Buds of Spring

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Inspiration from Psalm 22, 46, 104 & 139

The buds of spring unravel,

color fills the forest.

Deep in the heart of man, a song breaks out,

rivaled by creation itself.

Like a fox trotting to his den,

the weary soul solaces in the warmth of its maker.

His vibrant works are clearly seen,

the fragrance of them bring delight.

“May they persist without end!”

The King is lifted high,

His name is praised.

All creation joins in harmonious agreement,

“Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon His name.”

Shadows then creep across the valley,

the leaves start to shake.

The birds grow silent.

The trees moan and groan.

Ripples fill the stream as the sky grumbles.

Confusion screams out from the hills,

Fear laughs from behind the rocks.

Hearts look around and tremble,

the ground beneath them shifts.

Loud claps echo off the landscape,

the downcast one falls to his knees.

“Be not far from me,”

quivers the troubled man.

“Trouble is near and there is none to help.”

Anxiety’s whispers ride the wind.

Deception reaches out his brittle hand.

“Your Lord has left you; can’t you see?

Come save yourself and follow me.”

The stream’s flow spills over the banks,

agony saturates the sufferer.

His mind considers the glories of before,

the radiance of the sun and joy of the Lord.

He grieves his dreadful state

as Fear’s cackles grow louder

and Temptation rises from the mud.

“Have mercy Father,

make it stop; let it pass.

But though the earth gives way

and the mountains crumble,

Fear’s laughter will fall on deaf ears,

Confusion will run out of breath,

Anxiety will blow away,

Deception will crumble,

and Temptation will return to his pit.

You, however, will stay standing

with me in your arms.

My refuge, my rock,

I call upon your name.”

Lightning flashes.

The forest shines.

Through the stormy mist, vividness catches his eye.

The buds of spring dance,

bouncing with the punch of each droplet.

Warmth fills his shivering body,

joy floods his soggy soul.

“Oh, give thanks to the LORD; call upon His name!

For even darkness is as light to you.

Your works are wonderful,

you have again opened my eyes.”

Tears replace the rain rolling down his face.

Recollection of His Savior’s words bring gleeful silence

as the clouds begin to break overhead.

Hope in his Savior’s cross lifts him to his feet

as the waters begin to recede.

The sight of His Savior’s blossoms get him walking

as the mist lifts.

Light shines through the canopy,

growth explodes before him.

He praises the Lord for the squall,

he celebrates the sorrow.

If not for the rains, he would be incomplete,

his love for the Lord less than what it ought to be.

Now he sees more clearly

His Father’s works of beauty

The pedals of summer,

the buds of spring.

“Jesus Loves Me”

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The following is a brief devotional inspired by Luke 22:39-44, when Jesus agonizes in prayer prior to being crucified.

Has the phrase “Jesus loves you” ever sounded cheap to you? In the daily grind of our lives, the problems and grief we experience tempt us to harden ourselves to this crown jewel of truth. We struggle to embrace this statement with our hearts because of the brokenness in and around us.

The enemy sees the downtrodden soul and whispers lies to it.

“If God really loved you, you wouldn’t be going through this.”

“It’s time you start looking out for yourself, this following Christ thing isn’t working.”

“This is hopeless and is only going to get worse.”

Yet, we are shown that it is through His own agony that Jesus’ love for sinners is most clearly seen.

Agony. The God Man was so troubled that He was in agōnia – a form of suffering so great that His capillary blood vessels burst and blood dropped from his skin to the earth. The suffering servant cried out to the Father as He anticipated the wrath He was about to endure.

“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.”

This “cup,” the cup often spoken of by the Old Testament prophets, was filled with the full force of God’s hatred and judgement of sin. The sins of the world, as John would later write.

In this request, we are shown the magnitude of our sin and the even greater substance of Christ’s infinite love for sinners. As the “Good Shepherd,” Jesus willingly lays down His life for the sheep by submitting Himself to the will of God the Father, finishing the work He was sent to do. We are told that it’s by the fact of Christ’s death on the cross for us that we know God loves us.

Has anyone suffered for you like Jesus? Has anyone triumphed for you like Jesus? Consider the Messiah’s wounds when your heart is tempted to harden and you’ll come away counting your own ways of defining love as the cheap thing.

In Christ Jesus

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Where are you?

One may read this and answer simply with their current location. Others may embrace a different approach to the question, searching themselves to identify “where” they are mentally or emotionally.

Depending on the context of the conversation, the question can be answered adequately by either of these options above. But I believe a greater and more accurate way to answer the question exists.

It is deeper than your mailing address or what you find upon introspection. It can encapsulate those things, but those things in and of themselves can’t fully answer what I mean when I ask,

“Where are you?”

Have you ever been somewhere, but not been there? All of us have days at work or school where we show up, but we’re simply a warm body in a seat. Our hearts and minds are elsewhere.  The opposite of this is “being present.” That requires us to fully engage wherever we may find ourselves. We aren’t distracted by our phones or things going on outside of the moment.

This sentiment implies that there is more to us than just our bodies or minds. It is with this understanding that the “where” question can be answered fully.

The Apostle Paul wrote a letter to the church in Corinth saying that he no longer looked to the things that are seen when considering his life that outwardly was ”wasting away”. Discussing his afflictions, he observed that the things that are seen were transient and unreliable to determine his “where.” He asserted that the better and more accurate way to see oneself was by the unseen, eternal realities.

Paul put this into practice when he answered our question,

“In Christ Jesus.”

If you open up a Bible to the New Testament, or second half of the whole book, you’ll find this phrase peppered throughout. Paul uses this phrase or others that convey the same idea over 160 times. It’s used in a variety of contexts, but the thread running through each is what – or who – the preposition points towards.

Being “in Christ Jesus” is a position that cannot be marked with GPS coordinates. It isn’t often something that is immediately visible to the physical eye, though I am convinced that over time, it becomes clear.

This position, though veiled for a time from our mortal eyes, does in fact define everyone. There are ultimately two places you can find yourself.

In Christ, or not in Christ.

Metaphors only can get us so far in illustrating the supernatural, but this sort of union with God’s Son is likened to a limb being attached to a body, or a branch attached to a tree. Cut your hand off, it decays. Cut a branch off a tree, and it will wither to dust in the course of time. Similarly, there is no spiritual life outside of Christ. Only death and destruction.

So, what’s all this religious jargon mean? How does someone get to be “in Christ Jesus?” And what is “spiritual life?”

John the disciple is credited with writing the gospel of John, the last of four corroborative accounts of Jesus’ life. Near the end of his account, John writes what seems like a modern-day thesis statement:

“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.” – John 20:30-31

He makes his intentions in writing clear. He wants people to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. He doesn’t write so people only know his name or become better people through listening to teachings in the account. He is after far greater things. He published this account that belief in Jesus would bring people to life.

How can write to people who are alive about having life?

Paul builds on this as he writes to the Colossian church when it seems they were tempted to forget who – or where – they were.

“Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” – Colossians 3:2-4

Once again, life, as Paul describes it, is the byproduct of being “in Christ” which John established is actuated by faith. Faith, put another way, is agreeing with Jesus in such a way that you then begin to follow Him with obedience. The life Paul talks about can only be traced back to Jesus, who is in and of Himself, the life of those who believe Him.

Just like it’s possible to be somewhere but not be there, it is possible to be alive without ever really living. We find ourselves in this situation by nature, born physically but dead to the one who gives life. This death came through our first ancestor’s sin, or rebellion against God, and it’s in this sinful condition that everyone irrespective of nation, gender, or political persuasion finds themselves.

Time and time again however, God’s word shows us the route to life. Jesus himself said as much when correcting the religious leaders of His day:

“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 have life.” John 5:39

He follows that up later with this word to the disciples before He was crucified:

“…I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

In the work of Christ, culminating with His death on the cross and subsequent resurrection from the dead, our belief has a home. We, through the reception of this gift of Jesus, move from death to life as the cost of our sin is paid in full. Once dead in our sin, we become dead to sin. Our whereabouts no longer can adequately be described by mere physical observations. We are now in Christ Jesus.

 Maybe the question makes you squirm because, truthfully, you have no idea where you are or where you are going! I would encourage you that you aren’t the only one and I am convinced that to have no idea where you really are is the first step to finding yourself “hidden with Christ in God.” And from one wanderer to another – there is no greater place to be.

In Christ Jesus is redemption, eternal life, freedom from the law of sin and death, the immeasurable love of God, family closer than blood, purpose, grace, hope, and ultimately, a reunion with God who made you.

Find yourself in Him.

Scripture references:

2 Corinthians 4:18 – Look to what is unseen

Romans 3:24 – Redemption

Romans 6:23 – Sin brings death, Jesus brings eternal life

Romans 8:2 – Freedom from the law of sin and death

Romans 8:39 – The immeasurable love of God

Romans 12:5 & Romans 16 – Family in Christ

Ephesians 2:10 – Created in Christ Jesus for good works

1 Corinthians 1:4 – Grace of God given in Christ Jesus

1 Corinthians 15:19 – Eternal hope in Christ

2 Corinthians 5:19 – Reconciliation with God through Christ

The Servant King

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Inspired by Philippians 2: 1-11

All my allegiance belongs to the servant king

Who died that death might lose its sting

Emptied and weary, He comes for the lost

My soul on His heart, my life in His thoughts

What king gets his hands dirty and leaves his throne

Living like a servant, dying for his own?

With power in His hands the world has never seen

The lame walk, the deaf hear, the leper is made clean

Obedient in agony and submissive in sorrow

King Jesus secures the sinner’s tomorrow

There has been none as humble, none more meek

Than the one who also formed the highest peaks

God then exalted Him above every name

Risen and ascended, as death lays slain

Come to Jesus and leave everything

The Lamb of God, the Servant King

Voices

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We live in a noisy world.

Billions of voices fill it.

The volume of worldviews and ideologies we encounter each day hums in our minds like voices in a packed stadium.

To hear the friend seated next to us at a game, we must stick our ears as close to their mouths as possible. Especially if you’re in Philadelphia! The same holds true when attempting to discern truth in a world filled with alternative voices.

Its easy to grow weary and become bogged down with complex questions. I’ve been there. Does the quantity of perspectives and beliefs mean there can’t be one correct one? Is it being arrogant to assert your belief as true? Is it the loudness or popularity of a voice that makes it accurate?

As the noise level rises, it doesn’t necessarily matter how disciplined your mind is or how dialed in your ears. The noise of this world will confuse, destroy, and intimidate those who call it home.

Everyone has beliefs. A belief, by definition, is something one holds to be true. It seems asserting your beliefs only becomes arrogant when someone else’s belief disagrees. Not everyone will literally come out and say this, but when we have a belief we long to convince others to accept, we say in our hearts:

“Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”

Ironically, the same can be said of the belief that holds there is no absolute truth because everything is equally true. That belief is self-defeating because it relies upon the very thing it says doesn’t exist to survive and be accepted. Centuries of history show how popular opinion shifts and something held as true for centuries, such as the a geocentric view of the universe, can be proven false by a quiet minority.

So why is it when Jesus of Nazareth says,

“Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”

we respond like Pilate, who asked,

“What is truth?”

In one breath we fight for truth and hold unswervingly to our definition of what is true. In another, we ignore the highly veracious accounts of Jesus’ life and join Pilate in asking,

“What is truth?”

In the book of John, Jesus describes Himself as the “good shepherd” who cares for His sheep. He does so by tending to their needs, even to the point of laying His life down for them. Despite such beautiful statements of His love for sinners, another central focus of the text is seen through repeated mentions of the shepherd’s voice. The sheep hear the shepherd’s voice and follow it because they know His voice. Others come and try to speak to the sheep but they don’t know those voices, so they don’t follow them.

In our noisy world, the voice of Jesus should be the one we lean in to hear like we do with our friends at an Eagles game. The one who claims doing so would be arrogant or narrow-minded should evaluate their treatment of what they believe.

We often long for the audible voice of God to come thunder to us and eliminate all need for faith; the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. God’s voice has graced human ears before as recorded by the Apostle Peter:

“For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,’ we heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.”

2 Peter 1:16-18

God the Father only speaks audibly to humans three times in the accounts of Jesus’ life. Two of the three times, He tells man that Jesus is his Son as Peter describes above. Jesus, as the Son, came to die in your place for the offenses stemming from your heart and committed against God. It’s this heart condition that alienates us from God and it’s faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus alone that brings us near and into the Good Shepherd’s fold.

You’ll hear many voices that say otherwise. The deceitfulness of that rebellion will sound enticing. Unbelief might sound more practical. Rejection might sound liberating.

However, if you take the time to open His word and listen to His voice, you just might find yourself to be “of the truth.”

Everyone is listening to someone.

Who better to then the King of the universe?

Scripture References:

John 10 – I am the Good Shepherd

John 18:37-38 – Jesus and Pilate’s exchange about truth

Matthew 3:17 & Matthew 17:5 – God speaks about Jesus

1 Corinthians 15:3 – Christ came to die for your sins

Matthew 15:18-20 – Sin comes from a mans heart and separates us from God

Ephesians 2:13 – Faith in Christ’s blood atonement brings you near to God

Ancient Of Days

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A poem inspired by Daniel 7

The Ancient of days takes his seat on the throne

Elevated above all that can and cannot be known

America, Babylon, Persia, yes, even Rome

No nation nor tribe outlasts His own

His light through the darkness has gloriously shown

His immaculate power will never be loaned

A servant king who brings sinners home

The Son of Man sits to the right of His throne

His enemies were real, and their rise like foam

Raging for a moment yet now crushed bone by bone

Arrogance persisted in creation’s defiant tone

Unaware of the reaping which rebellion had sown

Once were the saints weighed down by hearts of stone

Now they ascend and are free of their groans

Sons and daughters to Abba have flown

The Ancient of Days, the king on the throne