The truth will set you free

The Truth will set you free!

Pontius Pilate was a weak leader who lacked courage and principle! When Jesus was brought before him, he told the crowd that “he found no guilt” in Jesus. Pilate had seen it all, and in front of him, he knew stood an innocent man, yet rather than protect the innocent, he killed him. 

In Jesus’ discourse with Pilate, found in the Gospel of John, Jesus said to Pilate, … “everyone who is of the truth hears my voice”, to which Pilate replied What is truth? He then went through the process of setting about killing Jesus. 

 Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Pilate *said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and *said to them, “I find no guilt in Him. John 18:37-38a 

Pilate’s problem with truth was that it was inconvenient; rather than stand on principle and risk a riot, he would rather give the crowd what they wanted, even if it was an evil choice. 

Today in the 21st century, we find ourselves in Pilate’s shoes, and rather than stand on the truth, we would rather give the crowd what they want. Let me explain this by first commenting on facts. 

Facts and understanding the world around us. 

For this exercise, I am defining a fact as “a thing or event that is known and proven to be true”. 

Facts are important to us; they form the basis of our learning and are the structure by which we accumulate knowledge. In all areas of learning, science, history, medicine, etc., facts play a key role in the way we understand the world around us. We gather facts, study the facts, and we formulate a hypothesis based on the facts. We test that hypothesis or theory against the continued study of the known facts, and we draw a conclusion. If the facts disprove the theory, we continue study and gather more facts, test new theories, and eventually, through this process, we understand more about the matter at hand. That is how history is studied, and medical science makes advancements. Facts prove or disprove theories and help us to better see and understand the world around us. 

We can see the importance of facts in the practice of law. Over the centuries, we have built a legal system that is fact-based and focused on finding out the truth of a matter and rewarding or penalising people according to the facts or evidence presented in court.   We set rules of evidence gathering and rules by which that evidence can be presented in court. 

When it comes to the legal process, accuracy is everything. The facts of the matter are presented to a court, together with the theories of what happened; the theories are tested against the facts, and a decision, or verdict, is made. If people lie to the court or tamper with the evidence, then they can be sent to jail for doing so. In our society, facts and truth matter. In our court system, we tell people, we want the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and we mean it. 

 Alternative facts 

I remember in 2017 I heard a person at a press conference talk about the “alternative facts” of a situation, and I wondered what they meant by “alternative facts”. There are only facts that will either support or disprove a theory or claim. It is a binary matter of true or false. Yes or No. 

But it’s not just “alternative facts” that concern me; there are other aspects of people’s perceptions of truth that are just as worrying. Like the person who tells another, you have your truth, and I have mine. I perceive the world only through the framework of my personal truth, and my personal truth does not have to be based on facts. There is no absolute truth, no right and wrong, just unproven truth at a personal level. 

Alternative facts and untested personal truth is an extension of the Hindu idea that, as rivers end up in the sea, so all religions are basically the same and end up attaching us to some greater collective conscience. The idea is that you can choose whatever river you like, and it is all the same because it all ends up taking you to the same place. This dangerous idea is very prevalent in current Western thought. 

With no absolute truth to guide them, some people base their worldview solely on untested theories and, in some cases, conspiracy theories rather than on proven facts. For example, some people believe that COVID was a conspiracy to get us all to take a vaccine that was really the “mark of the beast” in disguise. The internet is full of sites that preach this kind of stuff and offer no factual basis to support their allegations, just links to other conspiracy sites that make similar untested claims. 

Then, there are the “flat earthers”, some of whom claim that the reason the people in America can’t see the Southern Cross in their night sky is not a horizon (that would suggest the earth has a curved surface), but rather that the Americans are just too far away to see it! Think about it, we are talking about stars that are 88+ light-years away from the Earth, not being seen from a supposedly flat surface, because the people in America are 15,000 miles further north than the people in Australia. Really!! 

Or how about the ones that say that the moon landing was faked? This conspiracy theory has a hard time explaining the presence of retroreflector mirrors on the moon, placed there by Apollo missions 11, 14 and 15 that scientists use to this day to bounce lasers from the Earth to the Moon. The presence of these mirrors makes it possible for scientists to measure the distance between the Earth and the Moon at any given time with millimetre precision. 

A conspiracy theory is just another theory that needs to be tested by the known facts. The reluctance of conspiracy theorists to allow their theories to be tested by known facts should be worrying to us all. We only have facts and theories. The facts of the matter will only support or disprove the theories that we have. 

As a Christian, I am so glad that the Bible and its history been put to the test of research and fact-checking for centuries, because time after time, archaeology and research prove the historicity of the Bible. Now, some things cannot be measured, such as the New Testament’s claim that Jesus is God incarnate; that is a matter of faith, but, if the historicity of the Bible is true, it gives us confidence that it’s non testable claims are also true. So, let’s look at what the Bible says about truth.  

Jesus and the truth 

Jesus had a lot to say about the truth. We do not have time here to explore all that He said on the subject, but I will make some comments about what He has said. 

In John 8:32, Jesus associates truth with freedom. If you know the truth, the truth will set you free. 

 “And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” John 8:32 

Freedom, according to Jesus, is about knowing the truth. And by implication, if we know the truth, we should live the truth. 

There are a lot of conversations that are happening around us, and many ideas and theories are being planted into our minds. Not all of them are true. The internet has brought a revolution to how we live, but it has also given a voice to people who propagate ideas and lifestyles that are destructive to others because they are not based on the truth. 

If you accept that ideas result in actions, and that by our actions we impact ourselves and others, then it must be important for us to guard what we allow ourselves to think about, and not to just accept it all as being good. The apostle Paul puts it this way, 

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. Philippians 4:8 

We notice that the first item on Paul’s list of things to think about is “whatever is true”. Thinking about things we know to be true helps us to have the right actions and reactions toward others and the world around us. 

If we accept the lies that we are told, we will find it easier to accept other lies propagated to us from other sources. What we believe affects our actions and reactions to others. Proverbs 23:7 tells us that as a person thinks in their heart, so they are.

Where lies have been propagated in people’s lives, it does not take long for disaster to follow. We can see this from history. 

Hitler’s final solution. 

It is a known fact that Hitler hated the Jews and wanted to exterminate them. However, the Nazis did not just execute 6 million Jews the minute they had power; such actions would have created sympathy for the Jews and caused unwanted resistance from the German people. The Nazis needed to make mass murder palatable to the wider population. 

Hitler came into power in January 1933. The first killing camps that signified the beginning of Hitler’s final solution, opened in December 1941. So, from 1933 onwards, the Nazis laid a foundation through their propaganda ministry, accusing the Jews of all kinds of evil. They labelled them as “German haters” and spread the ideas of hatred and distrust for the Jews. Kristallnacht (the night of broken glass) occurred in November 1938 and was the antisemitic riot that caused the windows of Jewish synagogues and businesses to be broken, Jewish homes, hospitals and schools were ransacked, and 30,000 Jewish men to be arrested. 

The Nazis not only persecuted the Jews, but they planted the idea in the minds of the German people that the Jews were very sick people, and the most humane thing they could do was euthanise them. Even when they were comfortable moving forward with the final solution, they were still secretive about the details of what they were doing. 

Before the final solution was activated, the Nazis had already established a state-run euthanasia program in which chronically sick people were euthanised. All they had to do to justify “the final solution” was to broaden the categories and definitions of those who needed to die. They did this by seeding people’s minds with ideas that would justify their actions. What people were thinking lessened resistance and thus made it easier for the Nazis work towards their goal of eradicating all the Jews in Europe. What we think helps to shape what we believe and determines our actions and reactions. 

Thinking about truth

Thinking about the truth sets us free. However, Jesus is saying here that if we know the truth, think about the truth, accept and practice the truth, we will be set free from the lies and the confusion that the other messages around us bring into our lives. That is why Paul, in Romans 12:2, tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. We need to think about the truth and set our minds free from the values and propaganda that the world brings our way. 

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2 

There is around us a raging battle for the control of our minds and the minds of our children, and it centres around thinking about what is true. We are told that binary thinking is not cool anymore, and that answers to complex questions are not as simple as yes and no, male and female, right and wrong. Recently, laws in Australia have been passed that will make it very hard for me to express any views that are binary in nature about certain issues and lifestyles. However, those laws cannot stop me from thinking otherwise, from believing otherwise and from praying otherwise. 

I believe in absolutes. I believe in God. I believe that what the Bible says about Him is true. He is Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient, Holy, Kind, Compassionate and Just. I also believe that sin is in the world, and that Jesus came to die to save us from sin. 

What is sin? 

Sometimes, when I am lecturing, I ask the students, “What is sin”? Usually, they give me a list. 

 Lying 

Stealing 

 Adultery 

Murder etc. 

 But, whilst these are sinful acts, it does not tell us what sin actually is. 

Sin-cancer

I have a brother named Robert, and he died from cancer in 1986. He had an advanced melanoma, and he went to his doctor. The doctor ran tests and told him he had cancer. They tried to surgically treat him, but it was too late. He died; he was 27 years old. 

The list of sins, lying, murder, theft, etc, are symptoms of a deeper problem. Sin is like a cancer inside of us, and we see the outer symptoms at work in our lives. It is the “sin-cancer” in us that drives us into further actions of sin. In describing the human condition, Paul puts it this way. 

For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. Romans 7:19-20 

Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Romans 7:24 

When you believe in Absolutes, and you see Jesus on the cross, and you accept the truth that He is God suffering for your sins. The reality hits home that Jesus not only paid for our sins, but he broke the power of sin in our lives and made it possible for us to live a holy life before Him. Because Jesus died for us, we can now say no to sin. 

 Again, Paul says it this way. 

For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, Romans 8:3 

The phrase “He condemned sin in the flesh” always worried me, until I did some research on it. What this phrase actually means is “God subdued, overcame, and deprived sin of its power in the lives of those who accept the sacrificial death of Jesus.” 

Jesus removes the “sin-cancer” in us. He heals and restores the places where it had been and gives us the power to say no to the actions of sin. We still have to grapple with sin every day, and our default position is to choose sin, so we find ourselves still coming to God to ask forgiveness for new offences. But knowing that the power of sin is broken does help us to say no to the devil, and make it easier to follow Jesus every day. That is part of the truth that sets us free. We need to think about it! 

I am the truth 

In closing, let’s look at what Jesus said about himself. 

Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. John 14:6 

Here, Jesus makes a clear statement that there is no other way to God except through Him. This is an exclusive statement; Jesus did not say 

I am A truth, or 

I am the CLOSEST truth, or 

I am the PREFERRED truth, 

He said I am THE truth. 

Jesus is saying, if you want to be saved, if you want forgiveness of all your sins, if you want eternal life,  then there is no other way, and truth that will bring you life other than Me. I am THE TRUTH, THE WAY and THE LIFE. 

If you want forgiveness and eternal life, then only Jesus can help you. Here, Jesus is challenging us with the reality that truth is a person, not a concept! When we hold on to Jesus, we hold on to the truth. When we listen to His words in the scriptures, we listen to the truth. Jesus is the truth that sets us free. 

So, we have covered a lot of ground here. What next? Well, if the truth is important to you, then Jesus needs to be important to you. 

Change your focus, accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, read the truth, think about the truth, live the truth and live your life forever with Him.

The science of being a grandparent!

I love my grandkids; they are a constant source of joy to me and hanging out with them is fun and a source of life to my aging bones!

One day, a few weeks ago, our youngest granddaughter, let's call her Susan, was keen to go to Kinder Gym, so Marie and I took her there. The Kinder Gym is a large area with trampolines, climbing frames, balancing beams and one large pit filled with foam rubber cubes. When Susan saw the foam pit, she looked at me with her big eyes and said, "GD, will you jump into there (pointing to the foam pit) with me?" Heart melting at such a lovely invitation, I said "sure", so we walked over to the pit, counted to 3, and both jumped in. Unknown to me at the time, the pit is over 2m deep. (You can see a photo of it below.)

Let me take you back to science class, you know, the subject in High School where you learn that big heavy objects, such as an adult male and lighter objects, such as a 3-year-old girl, have a different effect when applied to bodies of water, or pits filled with foam cubes.

Susan had landed on the top of the foam pit and was pleasantly making her way to mattress island and was laughing and having fun. I, however, had sunk deeply into the pit, had nothing on which to place my feet and could not make my way towards the edge. I was stuck. As I pondered my situation, the lady who runs the class leaned into the foam pit and asked, "Excuse me, sir, would you like to be rescued? I can put a mattress next to you, and you can climb out using that.” ( I could see Marie mirthfully looking on from a distance) However, I was stuck. "Yes, that would be very helpful", I replied. The mattress was duly supplied, and I crawled on as best I could in a dignified way. 

The next scientific principle at play is that of friction. One of the properties of foam rubber is, when you push against it, it pushes your shirt and jeans up, so as I made my way onto the rescue mattress and my shirt and jeans was being pushed up so skin was exposed, I would pull the shirt down and move again only to have it pulled up, this seemed to tickle my rescuers funny bone, she seemed to find the event quite amusing. I landed on the rescue mattress like a beached whale, and there was no shortage of onlookers. Trying to piece together my dignity, I eventually stood up and thanked my rescuer. "Oh, it's alright", she said, "you have no idea how many grandparents I have had to rescue from this pit." (Why were there no signs, "warning Grand-parent trap"?)

Susan seemed to think this was very funny and asked me to jump in with her again. An invitation I politely refused.

Today, I took Susan to Kinder Gym again. This is the third time I have taken her, and the foam pit rescue fiasco was well out of memory, or so I thought. As we walked in, Susan looked up at me with a gleam in her eye and said, "GD, will you jump in the foam pit with me?" To which I politely refused. With a gleeful smile on her face, she said, "Last time you had to be rescued!" I wish that were the end of the story, but there is more.

The last scientific principle I will mention is reporting: after you have completed your scientific experiment, you report your results. Susan was playing with a couple of older girls in the foam pit, and their mother was standing nearby watching. Suddenly, Susan jumped out of the pit and looked over to me, walked over to the girls' mother and then said in a loud voice, "Guess what! GD jumped in the pit with me, and he had to be rescued!" Fortunately, my dignity was protected as the lady did not understand the fullness of the message. She just said, "That's nice". (A sure sign that the communication was garbled at its point of reception!)

I am guessing that perhaps this particular incident will become yet another legendary moment in our family. I will be remembered for a less-than-graceful rescue out of the foam pit. Susan seems to be very mindful about it! Oh well!

My one regret is that I did not remember more from my High School Science classes before I started taking Susan to Kinder Gym.

A reflection on Abraham, Isaac and the blood that sets us free! 

Abram, was a man who had an encounter with God. God had called Abram and promised him and his descendants the land on which Israel sits today. 

In Genesis 15:5-6, God makes a promise to Abram that he will have many descendants. Childless Abram believes God; he takes God at His word, and God credits it to him as righteousness. 

And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. 

A few verses on, we read that God makes a covenant with Abram, Gen 15:18 

On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: 

In our time, the proof or sign of a contract or covenant between parties is the contract itself, which is usually witnessed by third parties and recorded in writing; however, for Abram, the sign of the covenant was the circumcision of all Abram’s male descendants. This outward sign was a constant reminder, over generations, that God had made a covenant with  Abram. 

 Two sons 

Years passed, and Abraham, as he is now known, had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. Ishmael was the son of his own doing. Despite God’s promise, Abraham sought to shorten the timeline by having sex with his wife’s Egyptian slave. Abraham should have known better, but he conceived a child through his wife’s slave girl, and the child that was born was named Ishmael. 

But Ismael was not the child of the promise. God had made the promise that Sarah would bear Abraham a child and that through that child, he would have many descendants, and through him, the nations of the world would be blessed. 

 St. Paul describes Ishmael as the son of the flesh. Some years after Ishmael’s birth, Sarah fell pregnant and had a son called Isaac. Paul refers to Isaac as the son of the promise, as Isaac’s arrival was part of the fulfilment of God’s promise to Abram. 

But the son by the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and the son by the free woman through the promise. Gal 4:23 

Sometimes we find God’s timing to be tedious, and in our impatience, we would prefer to hurry the process up. This is where we look to our flesh to solve the problem. By flesh, I am not referring to the outer organ known as the skin. No, our flesh as described in the Bible is our sinful nature and sinful desires, through which we interact with others. These are the very enemy of faith. 

Eventually, when Sarah was 90 years old and Abraham was 100 years old, Sarah fell pregnant and Isaac, the promised son, was born. It goes without saying that Isaac was not an immaculate conception; Abraham and Sarah had been sexually active even in their old age, and Isaac was the result. God had blessed their union. 

But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. Gen 17:19 

Hopes and dreams 

In Isaac, all of Abraham’s hopes and dreams had been realised. Isaac was indeed the son of his old age, and was dearly loved because of the promise that was attached to him, and one day, when Isaac had grown, God said to Abraham, 

 “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” Gen. 22:2

This is an important request by God. God had promised then he would make a covenant with Isaac and Isaac's descendants would be in vast numbers. God had made these promises, and now He was saying, “kill him”! 

God had given Abraham his heart’s desire, the one thing that he had longed for all of his life. Together with this heart’s desire, God had attached promises. Imagine if this were you. If God came to you and asked you to do the hardest thing you could do, the one thing that was of such high personal cost that it would cause you enormous pain and worry. Would you say, “Yes, Lord”? Or rebuke the devil and tell him to get his hands off the gift of God to you? Would you seek counsel from someone you know would take your side, or would you look up scriptures that might back your inclination to say no to that thought? Abraham didn’t. He knew the voice of God, and he knew that God was speaking, and he took steps of obedience. He obeyed God and went to Mt Moriah to sacrifice Isaac according to God’s command. 

On the approach to the site of the sacrifice, Isaac asked his father,    

“Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Gen. 22:8 

To which Abraham replied, 

 “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Gen. 22:9 

This is a key verse for us to consider, even though God had asked Abraham to kill his son, to whom the promise had been attached. Abraham knew that somehow, God would not claim the life of his son. I think also in this moment, Abraham was also being prophetic, but we will talk about that later. So, Abraham and Isaac built the altar, Abraham ties up Isaac and places him on the altar and is about to strike the death blow when an angel calls out to him to stop. He said, 

“Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” Gen 22:13 

Abraham saw the ram caught in the thicket and offered it in Isaac’s place. God had indeed provided for himself a lamb! What a relief to Abraham, and for Isaac! 

 Sacrifices 

Animal sacrifice was a bloody business; the blood of the animal that was sacrificed would have sprayed all over the altar until the animal’s heart stopped beating. The loss of their blood brought about the loss of their life. But this was all part of the plan. God says in Lev. 17:11 

For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.’ 

 The shedding of the blood ensured the taking of the life of the sacrificial animal. The writer to the Hebrews tells us that there can be no forgiveness without the shedding of blood, or in other words, the sacrificial lamb must die, and the means of death is the shedding of its blood. Its heart will stop beating because of the lack of blood. 

 And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Heb 9:22 

The sacrificial lamb was to make atonement for sins committed. It acted as a substitute for the person making the sacrifice. God insisted that the animal offered had to be the best of the flock, not the weak or the diseased. The animal sacrifice had to be costly to the one making the sacrifice. It was not an opportunity to get the poor breeding stock out of the flock! 

 At Mt. Moriah, Abraham was giving his costly best; he was making a sacrifice for sin and using his only begotten son as the sacrificial offering. To Abraham, he was giving the absolute best he had. 

 Providing the lamb 

Now, let’s go back to Abraham’s words, “God will provide for himself the lamb.” Abraham knew that God was going to keep his promise through Isaac. The writer to the Hebrews puts it this way. 

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; it was he to whom it was said, “IN ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS SHALL BE CALLED.” He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type. Hebrews 11:17-19 

And, true to His character, God did not let Abraham sacrifice his son, but at the critical moment stopped him. The sins of the Canaanites were partially centred on child sacrifice and were an abomination to God. God would not be asking Abraham to sin by sacrificing his child. Hence, the provision of the ram in the thicket. 

 After the sacrifice of the ram was completed, God said to Abraham, 

 “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” Gen 22:16-18 

Covenant actions 

So, what is going on here? Let’s backtrack to the fact that Abraham had a covenant with God. When a covenant exists between two people, one person cannot deny the other person what they have first asked of them. So, if the person who is in covenant with you asks you for a cup of sugar, they cannot deny you a cup of sugar when you need one. 

God had asked Abraham to put to death his only begotten son, as an offering for sins committed. Abraham’s only son, whom he loved, and Abraham had not withheld him. At Mt Moriah, God was putting Himself in a position where He could not deny sending His only begotten Son to shed his blood on a cross for our sins. John 3:16 says 

 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 

 “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love …. Gen. 22:2 

Abraham did not withhold his only begotten son, and now God would not withhold his only begotten Son. At Mt Moriah, Calvary was locked in! 

So how old was Isaac when Abraham placed him on the altar? 

This is an interesting question. Most people think he was just a young boy of about 12 years, because the text translates the word as “lad”, but some scholars say that the same word has a wider range of meanings and can mean anything from a baby to a fully grown man. Some Bible scholars estimate Isaac’s age at about 37 at the time of the sacrifice. The Jewish historian Josephus said Isaac was about 33 years old at the time of the Mt Moriah sacrifice. We cannot say for sure how old Isaac was at the time of the sacrifice, but for a minute, let’s say that Josephus was right and Isaac was about 33 years old. How old was Jesus when He died on the cross? About 33 years old! 

 The Passover 

Abraham eventually died, but his descendants through Isaac continued to grow and multiply. At the time when the Hebrews entered Egypt, there were about 70 of them. When they left 400 years later, there were 600,000 men, plus women and children. So, it is possible that well over a million people followed Moses into the wilderness. 

At the first Passover, God told the children of Israel to kill a lamb and place its blood on the lintel and doorposts of their houses, so that when the Angel of death passed through the land, he would “pass over” the houses that were marked with the blood of the lamb. 

 The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. Exodus 12:13 

This configuration of blood on the lintel and doorposts is symbolic of the cross. There would have been blood at the top of the cross from Jesus’ head and on the sides from the nails in his hands. It was the spilling of the blood of the lamb that saved the Israelites from death, and it is the spilling of the blood of Jesus that saves us from eternal death. 

 The Lamb of God 

The New Testament picks up the whole idea of the sacrifice of Jesus. When John the Baptist saw Jesus pass by, he said, 

“Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29 

 Remember earlier I said that Abraham was being prophetic when he said, God will provide for Himself the lamb. John was making this connection for us. God was up to something. Abraham’s children and the rest of the world all needed their sins forgiven, and the only way this could ever happen would be if someone died in their place. That someone was Jesus. 

Some time ago, I released a video that talks about the 4 reasons why only Jesus could die for us. You can find that video here. https://youtu.be/DSbnHOd4Q94 

These comments by John indicate that John was in on the secret. He knew Jesus was going to be offered up for the sins of the entire world, and by the shedding of His blood, we would be forgiven. 

Jesus was not being forced to give up His life; it was something that He willingly did because of His great love for us. 

 For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.” John 10:17-18 

 Remembering that the Bible says that with the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness. If Jesus had not shed his blood, if His life had not been taken, there would have been no forgiveness for our sins, and we would have been damned, eternally. 

 The hymn writer was right when he penned these words. 

 “O the blood of Jesus it washes white as snow.” 

 And again. 

 “There is power, power, wonder-working power in the precious blood of the Lamb.” 

 And finally 

"Are you washed in the blood, in the precious blood of the Lamb? Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?"

The cross was a bloody and painful way to die, like an animal sacrifice; it was messy and not easy to watch, but through it, we are now forgiven and free and heaven-bound. 

Jesus died for us because of His great love for us. To receive the benefits of Jesus’ death on the cross, the Bible tells us that we need to do only two things: repent (turn away from) of our sins and believe the gospel. I will go into this in greater detail another time. 

 We love, because He first loved us. 1John 4:19 

 Oh, how I love Jesus, because He first loved me. 

 The sacrifice of Jesus is directly linked to the promise that God made to his friend Abraham, all those years ago. Isa 41:8. 

 God is both a promise maker and a promise keeper who we can trust!

Missions is Personal

After Jesus’ resurrection, the disciples had to do a lot of walking! Jesus told the women at the tomb that Jesus would meet the disciples in Galilee. (Matt 28:7) Galilee is no short walk; it is about 150km from Jerusalem.

 

The trip for the disciples would have been a trip down memory lane, highlighting different memories of their time with Jesus, depending on which route they took.

On the map shown here, the white route shows the road to Galilee via Samaria, a route that devout Jews never travelled, but Jesus did. We know this because John records Jesus stopping in the village of Sychar in John chapter 4. If the disciples chose to travel by this route. They would have gone through Samaria, where Jesus healed 10 lepers, Sychar, where He met the woman at the well, and Nazareth, which was Jesus’ hometown. They would have passed by Chorazin, a city which Jesus cursed and Bethsaida, where He fed the 5,000, before going to Mt Arbel, where it is presumed that Jesus met with His disciples post-resurrection.

 

If they chose the red route, which is the way that most devout Jews travelled to Galilee, they would have travelled on the Jericho Road, which was the setting for Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan. They would have passed through Jericho, where Jesus healed blind Bartimaeus and called Zacchaeus out of the sycamore tree. They would have passed through the Decapolis, where Jesus delivered the man from a legion of demons, passed by Mt Tabor, where Jesus was transfigured, through Galilee, where Jesus gave the sermon on the mount, onto Mt Arbel and the meeting with Jesus. Either way, meeting Jesus in Galilee was going to be a 150km trip down memory lane!

 

The meeting on Mt Arbel

After a 150km walk, they meet with Jesus. In Matthew 28:16-20, we see the details of that meeting, which is thought to have been held on Mt Arbel. There, the disciples receive the Great Commission. 

 

The Bible says that even though Jesus was alive and standing before them, some doubted. 

 

The resurrection had changed everything and given them a reality check … death had been conquered … this was bigger than loaves and fishes and changing water into wine, the resurrection challenged reality as they understood it. Jesus was alive. What could all this mean? 

 

After receiving the Great Commission, to make disciples of all nations, Peter and the other disciples went fishing. We read this in John chapter 21. They catch nothing, and Jesus appears on the beach and asks them if they have a catch. When they say no, Jesus tells them to cast their net on the right side of the boat, and they will get a catch. The catch is so big that they cannot handle it. 

 

John recognises the circumstances and the person on the beach and says to Peter, “It’s the Lord”.  Peter remembers how Jesus called him when he was a fisherman. It also had to do with a large catch of fish, in Luke chapter 5, and he swam ashore. He and Jesus have a conversation that changes his life. 

 

Jesus tells the disciples in Luke 24 that they are to wait in Jerusalem to receive power from on high and the promise of the Father. 

 

The Mount of Olives

So, at the time of Jesus’ ascension, the disciples had travelled over 300km to Galilee and back, and they are now in Jerusalem walking with Jesus on the Mount of Olives. 

 

The disciples are still trying to work out what happens now, they still cannot fathom the resurrection and ask Jesus if this is the time He is going to restore the Kingdom to Israel. Jesus says that the Father has those things worked out, and these are His last words to the disciples. 

 

but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” Acts 1:8

 

So, Jesus has given them both the Great Commission and is now sending them to the remotest parts of the earth. 

 

Incidentally, if you are standing on the Mount of Olives, you can’t get much more remote than Tasmania. So if you are a Tasmanian resident like me, congratulations, you are preaching the Gospel in the remotest areas of the earth. If you measure remoteness by distance alone.

 

 

After saying these words, Jesus defies gravity and ascends into the clouds. With jaws wide open, the disciples watch Jesus disappear. 

 

A couple of Angels turn up and point out that Jesus will return in the same way that He left. The disciples don’t know what to think. Jesus conquers death, defies gravity, and the Pharisees are still looking for them.

 

They go back to the city and lie low in the upper room and wait to see what happens. When the day of Pentecost arrives, we see transformed disciples. No more doubt, no more uncertainty, they are bold, they understand the meaning of the resurrection and what God has done, and they are willing to die for their faith. The difference is the Holy Spirit. 

 

Here is what we can learn from this. If you find parts of the scripture difficult, or if you're not quite sure what the Gospel truly means, the best thing you can do is ask the Holy Spirit to guide you. He will reveal the truth that will set you free.

 

At Pentecost, the church was born, and the gospel went forth and continues to do so, and we all have a part to play.

 

My call to missions

My part in missions began when I was about 14 years old. God called me to be a missionary when I was a teenager, but I did not know how to answer the call. After a few years, I eventually dropped out and became a hippie. I thought I could change the world that way. However, God had other ideas, and I eventually got saved and have been preaching the Gospel ever since, both within Australia and overseas.

 

Over the years, I have spent a lot of time thinking about Acts 1:8 and the Great Commission and how I can best respond to those calls. 

 

In 1998, I took over a YWAM international ministry that was supposed to be caring for the poor but had trouble finding its way. As I prayed about what God wanted me to do as the ministry’s new leader, God spoke to me. He said, “I want to be represented to people who are experiencing the ‘worst day of their life.’

 

 

Worst day

We all know what a bad day is, but what about a ‘worst day’? What was the worst day of your life? Was it when someone close to you died? Was it an event that changed you in some way, or a failed relationship? Or something someone else said about you? There are lots of worst day experiences, and we need to know that in our worst day experience, God is closer to us than our own heartbeat.

 

Within days of God nudging me in this direction, I received an email from a man in the US who wanted to set up an international disaster response ministry. This email ended up with the ministry I was leading, setting up an international disaster response ministry with this guy. It took us years to train; our first outreach was the Iraq War. 

 

 

 

Iraq

Two of us deployed, and after a few days, we found ourselves talking to a US Marine Colonel who headed up the US medics that were supporting the forces in Iraq. We needed his permission to cross the border into Iraq. When we told him what we were planning to do, he laughed and said, “Why hasn’t someone thought of this before? Trust the Australians to come up with something this good.” He gladly gave us passes for us to travel in and out of Iraq as many times as we wanted. 

 

So, what were we planning on doing? Firstly, there was only a small planned medical response for civilians in Iraq; the major medical focus was for troops. A small number of medical teams were set aside for civilians, but nowhere near enough for the needs. In the early stages of the war, the medical focus was mainly on the military. 

 

We were planning on being first responders for civilians at local hospitals, doing basic medical stuff that would keep the few doctors that were available focused on the more complex cases.

 

Over the years, this ministry ended up going to dozens of disasters, and people who were experiencing the worst days of their lives were bumping into God’s representatives who were there with them, and when they asked why we were there helping them, we would tell them about Jesus, the God who loves them right where they are. 

 

 

Boxing Day Tsunami

I remember in the Boxing Day Tsunami, a Muslim teacher who came to our clinic had lost his adult children in the tsunami. He came to me on several occasions for medical treatment, and through an interpreter, we would talk as I treated him. Before returning to Australia, I gave him some money to help him and his wife. He looked at me and said. “You are a Christian, aren’t you?! To which I said “Yes”. With tears in his eyes, he hugged me and said, “You have given me hope.”

 

Through this worst day, we also became involved with refugees and in refugee camps. For more than 30 years, I have had an ongoing relationship with the refugees in the Mae La refugee camp in Thailand, journeying with these guys as they experience the pain of refugee life and the hatred that is expressed to them in the country in which they have sought refuge.

 

And there are many other things that God brought our way on this journey. 

Leasts

Matthew 25:31-46 is set in Jesus’ last days. He tells a story of the final judgement, where everyone is brought before the throne and divided into two groups.

 

One group Jesus welcomes to heaven with these words,

 

‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’

 

 

And those people will ask, “Lord, when did we do these things for you? And the Lord replied

‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

And we all know the rest of the story. The other guys did not do these things and were condemned for it.

 

God does not expect us to just go to the remote parts of the earth and hand out a few tracts; He wants us to get involved with people, especially the least.

 

Who are the least in Ulverstone? Who are the least in your workplace? Who are the least at your school? If you can put your finger on someone who is a least, then perhaps you are the answer to that person’s prayers, and God wants you to engage with them.

 

A “least person” does not necessarily have to be poor; they can be affluent but could still be suffering.  Did you know that cyberbullying, specifically, is cited as a factor in at least three suicides per week among young people in Australia? 

 

These kids may have all the nice stuff and come from wealthy families, but somehow, they are seen as ‘leasts’ and undesirable and are persecuted for it and are at risk. You don’t have to be poor to be “a least”! And I think that part of my journey has been to find and reach the least.

 

Thanks

Our calling as Christians is to make a difference in the lives of those who may not be able to say thank you or even know our name. At the Boxing Day Tsunami, we treated hundreds of patients a day, but there are only a few people I specifically remember, one of them, whom I mentioned earlier. I don’t know their names, but I can recall their circumstances.

 

Tears and grief

One of the other stories was about a woman who had lost her children and her husband in the tsunami. She just wanted to cry, but the Mullahs had told the people that it was disrespectful to Allah to cry and grieve. This lady was a time bomb of tears looking for somewhere to explode, but she feared the Mullahs. If her eyes leaked tears, she would wipe them away and put on a respectful face. 

 

After a day or so, one of the girls on our team walked up to this lady, grabbed her, put her head on the lady’s shoulder and began to cry. The woman’s tear dam broke, and she began to howl. A Mullah came over and told her she should not be crying. Our translator explained to the Mullah that our team member was very sad with all the suffering that she was seeing and that this kind lady was helping her in her grief. He said that was ok. 

 

I am very sure that these two ladies are no longer in communication with each other, but they will remember their encounter together for life!

 

Something happened to a "least", who was experiencing the worst day of their life, and God was there for them.

 

 

Rose Moo

I said that I have had the privilege of working with the refugees in Mae La camp for more than 30 years. One refugee I knew well was named Rose. She was a teacher, and her husband was a doctor; they were rich and lived in a mansion in Yangon. They started secretly visiting Mae La camp and provided help for the refugees. When the government found out, it confiscated all their money and real estate and put out warrants for their arrests. They were seen as traitors. Rose and her husband were stuck in Mae La camp.  

 

They and their children lived in the camp for some years. Rose felt that she needed to go back to Yangon to see her mother and father, so she did. On the way back to the camp, she was arrested at a military checkpoint, jailed and tortured for 6 months in a military prison. When she was released, she went back to the camp and found that her husband had died in tragic circumstances just a few days before her release. 

 

She cried out to God and said, “Lord, help me, what do you want me to do?” God told her to make sure that the children in the camp received a good Christian preschool education. And that is exactly what she did, she founded preschools and looked after orphaned children in the camp.

 

Rose was my friend. One day, I was talking to Rose, and I asked her if she was ever angry with God because of her journey. This is what she said to me.

 

“It does not matter what you think, or what happens to you in life, God is still God and He is good!”

 

 

So why do we as Christians do this? Is it because doing good works will get us to heaven? No, we are saved only by the grace of God, through the blood of Jesus. Jesus’ blood is enough on its own. There is nothing we can do to save ourselves.

 

We value kindness, compassion, mercy and do good works because that is how God has acted towards us. 

 

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.                John 3:16

 

 

God loved us, and acted for us, his enemies, the least persons He knew who were experiencing the worst day of their lives. He calls us to do the same to love our enemies and to reach out to the least persons we know. 

 

We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also. 

                                                                                                             1 John 4:19-21

 

 

Let’s pray.