As we approach the most glorious time in the Christian’s calendar, I’ll post some poems I have written on the subject. The first is in response to the Word that tells us Jesus still bears the wounds in His body (He showed them to the disciples when He appeared to them). The second is because we are told He is constantly interceding for us. I hope you enjoy it.
HOLY WOUNDS
Oh, to think that I, with all my stains of darkness
Could stand before a God of white-hot holiness
And not be burned.
What holy wounds that gain for me
An entrance to the King!
For Christ in all his glory, stays injured still for me
His hands and feet, though brilliant bright
Stay pierced and raw through all my sin
And plead each day my cause.
For as I sin, and blot my soul, and then repentant come
His Father from His awesome throne
Looks down and sees his Son.
He sees His Son take on my guilt and then it’s penalty
I have a burning question: When the prophets such as Jeremiah, Isaiah and many of the minor prophets spoke harshly against the rulers of Israel and Judah, were they being anti-Semitic? Were they not crying out to a country they loved, as a parent cries out to a beloved child whom you can see is leading a destructive lifestyle? So, when we criticise Israel, are we being anti-Semitic and pro-Islam?
As I read the history of Israel and Judah in the Old Testament, it follows a (tragic) pattern.
God blesses His people (rescues them from Pharoah, gives them their own land, gives them a godly judge, in Samuel)
They enjoy the blessing for a while, and then turn their backs on God’s laws and follow other gods.
God warns them through the prophets, but they seldom listen (with a few exceptions).
God judges them and they suffer (often at the hands of their enemies.)
They cry out to God.
God rescues them and they live in His blessing for a while.
Then they revert to godless ways. (Baal and Molech worship, with child sacrifice, bloodshed, immoral behaviour, corruption, reliance on alliances with their pagan neighbours, instead of on God.)
He warns them of their wayward ways and urges them to change and come back to Him, but they ignore Him.
God judges them and they suffer (often at the hands of their enemies.)
They cry out to God.
God rescues them and they live in His blessing for a while, and then backslide once more
And so the cycle continues
But God always preserves a godly remnant. The theme of a faithful remnant pervades all Old Testament writing.
So, here’s my question. Can we not warn Israel of severe deviations from God’s ways without being labelled anti-Semitic? Or being accused of being pro-Islam?
Well, I have a great love for Israel, but let’s see if history is not repeating itself for God’s people once again.
God blessed them by giving them their land back.
He rescued them supernaturally and spectacularly from their enemies who had surrounded them on all sides.
But:
They allowed child sacrifice. Since legalising abortion, over 800,000 babies have been torn from their mothers’ wombs in Israel.
They recognise same sex marriages. The Bible is clear on God’s view of sexual behaviour between same sexes.
They have treated the alien with oppression and aggression, contrary to God’s instructions on how they should be treated (remembering that they were slaves in Egypt before God rescued them.) I have a good friend who worked in a Gaza hospital for the last decade and their inhumane treatment of the Palestinians is long-standing.
Despite God’s demonstration of how He can rescue them, as He did, miraculously, at the formation of their state, they have turned to America for aid rather than to God (as their ancestors turned to Egypt and were chastised strongly by God (Isaiah 30:1-7)).
I agonise over the behaviour of Israel. They should be a light to the Gentiles (unbelievers) showing the nature of the God whose people they are. Should we, as Christians unequivocally support them, without criticising them for the atrocities that are occurring, which is causing them to be pariahs, and generating support for their enemies? (Criticism is not the same as cursing. It is heartfelt concern for them and for the God whose they are.)
May I suggest that we pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Not a peace merely from the cessation of hostilities, but that which comes from the Prince of Peace. The peace that comes from obedience and subservience to the God who formed this nation to be a light to the Gentiles and to point the way to a loving, caring God of grace and mercy.
Let’s pray for the remnant God has preserved for Himself, as He did in Elijah’s time, that their voice will be heard, that Elijahs will arise to point the people back to God’s way and to repentance. Instead of unequivocal support for Israel, let’s agonise over her failures and be prepared to expose them.
And let us separate the issue of disobedience on Israel’s part from support for Hamas. We know Islam is a bellicose religion opposed to Christianity. Their tactics are the tactics of the ‘ruler of the kingdom of the air’. That should not surprise us. Criticism of Israel does not correlate into support for Hamas. Unfortunately, though, the harsh treatment and untold tragedies will surely cause more and more Palestinians to direct the anger their grief causes towards the Israelis. The weapons of our warfare should be different, as should those of the Israelis.
“With a numb sense of unreality, we caught the flight to Cape Town the following morning. I identified my dead brother and then, with Erica (his pregnant wife of just three months), my grieving parents and my sister, we buried him.
For three weeks I thought that I would tear apart from grief as waves of agonising sadness gripped my heart. Then that was replaced by a cold anger against God. I had always regarded Him as loving and caring. He could have stopped this happening. Didn’t He hold the whole world in His hands? Is that how He treated His creation?”
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” Psalm 22:1 “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?”
The question of reconciling suffering with a good God is one that has occupied the minds and words of philosophers for aeons.
My reaction to the death of my brother was merely the echo of a cry that has reverberated through the ages. I did not doubt the existence of God, as many who suffer have done, but I questioned His nature.
Have you done the same? It’s a natural response. After all, from a human perspective, what would we think of someone who had the chance to rescue us from a tragedy, yet stood by and watched it unfold?
Yet, think back to your childhood. Were there times when you thought your parent was unfeeling, harsh, and unfair? But now, through the wisdom of the intervening years, does that parent still seem so cruel? Gauged against the rest of their track record with you, is it consistent with the way they treated you? I remember bawling uncontrollably when my parents would not let me go to a boxing tournament (I loved my boxing as a ten-year-old) because I had been invited to an outing with family. Today, I look with amusement on that incident and realise I learned a valuable lesson. Family comes first. It’s a trivial example, but I can tell you, at the time, my feelings towards my mother were about as vehement as they were towards God when my brother was killed.
One of the problems is that we live with a world view that says all suffering is bad and should be avoided at all costs. In fact, think of the technical advances that have been made through the ages. Aren’t they nearly all designed to make our lives more comfortable?
There is no doubt that God’s ultimate purpose is for us to live in a world where there is no suffering. In Isaiah 51:11 God says, “Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.” Jesus demonstrated the heart of God when He walked this earth and relieved suffering wherever He went.
However, the time for that has not yet come. Jesus suffered at the hands of evil men, and we also might suffer because of the evil that lurks in a fallen world.
We are living in a war zone. We are on a collision course with the world and those under the control of the “ruler of the kingdom of the air”. (Eph. 2:2) In 1 Peter 4:12,13 we read,
“Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you.
Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.”
Therefore, we will suffer, as Jesus, our Commander in Chief suffered.
Yet, if we let Him, God will walk beside us through the storm, and will often use our suffering.
Looking back, I can see God used the death of my brother to shake me out of my complacency about God. I no longer took Him for granted, living a prayerless life and just assuming He would always be there for me in my independence.
There are two reactions we can take to tragedy. We can walk away from God, or we can hurry towards Him. I chose to walk away — into years in a wilderness of disillusionment.
Further scripture readings:
Isaiah 50:10
John 16:20
Psalm 27:13,14
For discussion:
Have you suffered a tragedy in your life? If so, how did you respond? How did that make you feel?
Psalm 34:18 says, “The Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Have you experienced that?
When others are broken-hearted, can you come alongside them as Jesus does with you?
The following is a devotional companion to God in the ICU:
Chapter Two
Impartation
Quote from God in the ICU:
“History was being made. The heart, mystically associated from the beginning of time with the very essence of a person, was being given as a gift of life to a dying man. Would it work? Was it, after all, only a beautiful, intricate pump?”
————- o ————
Psalm 139: “I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”
There was a video doing the rounds a while ago of the bereaved members of a family trying to placate a baby whose parents had been killed, leaving it orphaned. The child was crying hysterically as it was passed from person to person. No-one could pacify it. Eventually it was passed to a man standing by. As he took the infant, it gave a little gurgle, settled comfortably in his arms, and went to sleep.
Then the astounding caption spread across the bottom of the screen: “THIS MAN RECEIVED THE HEART OF THE BABY’S MOTHER IN A HEART TRANSPLANT.”
In a way we cannot understand, something of the mother was imparted to the baby through her heart in the chest of a stranger.
Contrary to what we have been taught for decades, the heart is not just a beautiful, intricate pump, as I describe in God in the ICU. It has approximately 40,000 nerve cells that are just like those in the brain, and these are connected to the brain in a nerve bundle, where 80% of the nerves carry messages from heart to brain and only 20% from brain to heart. The heart has its own minibrain, which scientists now call ‘the heart brain.’ It appears that somehow the mother’s heart brain was able to placate her baby.
What is the point of this story? It’s an introduction into the subject of impartation. You are far more fearfully and wonderfully made than you imagine or that the scientists have yet discovered.
God has implanted in your very makeup characteristics which are unique to you — not just in your personality, but in every part of you — even in your heart. And, in ways we do not fully understand, something of you can be imparted to others. There is something about your presence with another that is far more impactful than your image and voice on a TV or cell phone screen.
When I was teaching my junior medical staff, I would say, “If the sister in ICU phones you with a problem, don’t try to fix in on the phone. Go there! Something about being present at the bedside gives you a connection with the patient and an understanding of the problem that you will not get from the end of a telephone.”
The Bible has many examples of impartation. In Romans1:11, Paul writes: “I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong.” And in many instances the apostles laid hands on others as a means of impartation. In Acts 19:2 we read of Paul’s meeting with Ephesian believers: “(He) asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
After explaining what the difference was between John’s baptism and baptism into the name of Jesus, He laid hands on them “When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.” (Acts 19:6)
It is a natural thing for us, in comforting someone in distress to touch them. God has put in us an instinctive knowledge that there is something imparted in touch.
Even without touch, think about your own mood when you are in the company of a depressed person. Don’t you feel a heaviness in your spirit? And what about when you are with a group of people who are complaining. Is there not a temptation to join in?
Now, lets apply that to the church. Lockdown has changed the way many of us have had to do church. The only way has been to access a service and hear a sermon online. In many ways it has made life so much easier. You can watch when you like, in your pyjamas and slippers if you so desire. You can flip to your favourite preacher at the touch of a remote. Do not be deceived, however. God has designed you to impart what He has placed in you to others and to receive what He has put in them. You can only do that by your presence. You must be present for the phenomenon of impartation to take place.
Hebrews 10:25 says, “And let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another — and all the more as you see Christ’s return approaching.” This is a strong word for today. There are many signs that God is preparing His church for the return of Jesus. The church the writer to the Hebrews addressed was suffering intense persecution. There would be much more incentive than we have for them to have stayed safe and remained at home, but the writer urges them to keep meeting, because he knew how important it was for them to impart to one another what God had put within them. How important it is for us to take Paul’s words to heart today.
Further Bible reading:
Acts 2:42-44
Mark 1:40-41
2 Tim. 5:22
For discussion:
After the isolation of Covid, have you returned to your church or have you become comfortable staying at home and watching online?
