Reading the Bible in 2013

How will you read the Bible in 2013? I'm assuming, since you found your way here, the pressing question os 'how; not 'why' or 'if.' How can we read the Bible well in the new year? We know we must. We know one of the marks of a flourishing relationship with Christ is a regular relationship with His Word. We know the way God speaks to us today is in His Word, so how will we best expose our hearts and minds to the written word?

For quite a long time, i was opposed to Bible reading plans. For the first four years of being a Christian i didn't use one (i've been a Christian for eleven years next Easter, for four years constitutes 'quite a long time!'). I thought they were guilt producing and unnecessary thank you very much, i'll read the Bible in my own way. But, i've pretty much done a one eighty in the last couple of years, and now, i think, i see a good Bible reading plan as almost indispensable.

I've used the following three of four over the years, and, as you plan your Bible reading in the new year, i commend one of these to you;

The Ron Frost Bible Reading Plan.

This takes you through the Bible three of four times in a year, and is the plan i've most recently been following. It's really simple, you start in Genesis, read ten chapters a day, and you get to Revelation a few short months laster. It's really wonderful to get a birds eye view of Scripture. To arrive at Sinai the week after you left Eden. To see the themes of the prophets unfold, and the sun rise from the dark as you land in Matthew. And when you get done in Revelation, turn round and start again. Ten chapters a day seems like a lot, but it'll take 30-40 minutes a day. Think of it, forty minutes a day gets you through the whole Bible several times a year!

Grant Horner's Bible Reading System.

This also takes you through ten chapters a day, the difference from the Ron Frost plan being that you read from ten different places a day. I can't recommend enough reading large chunks of the Bible every day, think of the pay-off you'll receive over the years. I found this slightly less satisfying than going from Genesis to Revelation because it was hard to hold ten parts of the story together at once, but, you see more of the Bible at once. It's a personal thing. If you're already reading the Bible through in a year, why not try and read it though three of four times in 2013? You won't, you can't regret it!

The McCheyne Plan.

This is probably the most popular 'Bible in a year' system. Used by men like Spurgeon, Hudson Taylor and Lloyd-Jones, it takes you through the New Testament and Psalms twice a year, and the rest of the Old Testament once. This is the plan i used for years, and, if it's good enough for the men mentioned above, who are we to disagree! Four chapters a day gives more time for reflection and prayer, more time for a journal, but if you miss a day, you'll have to catch up to keep with the schedule, something that's not true of the other two, because there is no schedule. But this served me well in the past, and no doubt will in the future. You can't go wrong with McCheyne.

Finally, remember, we read the Bible to commune with Jesus, not to tick a box. Don't read the Bible for the sake of a schedule, if you fall into that trap, spend a month in Galatians. Read the Bible to eat in the morning, read the Bible to feast! Read it because you need it.

Whatever else you do in 2013, take and read!

Best 12 of 12

Best book that i read this year written in 2012
Delighting in the Trinity by Mike Reeves. And for once it wasn't even close. Foundational to our faith, heartwarming, readable, funny, Biblical...this book has got everything. And it's an 'everything' we need. If we don't worship the Triune God how are we Christians? Are we Christians. If you read one book in 2013, make it this one. And then read it again!

Best book that i read this year not written in 2012
Iain Murray's two volume biography of Dr Lloyd-Jones. You can read my (too long) thoughts on it here.

Best (personal) tip of 2012
Going to Duck, North Carolina, on the northern Outer Banks for a couple of days over Spring break. It's quiet up there, the beaches are perfect, and i let her beat me at crazy golf. I should like to go again right now.

Best (ministry) trip of 2012
Taking six teens to Provo, Utah. An amazing place, with an amazing work led by Logan Wolf. We're still seeing (and hearing) the impact of this trip in our lives and the lives of the teens who came.

Best sporting moment of 2012
Was this not the sports year that kept on giving? The Olympics were stunning, England won a test series in India for the first time since 1985, the Supporters Trust wrestled control of Wycombe Wanderers from a property developer, the ECU Pirates went 8-4 and there was a month of Euro 2012 to enjoy. And we won the Ryder Cup. How do i pick a single moment from that?

Feeling like an Englishman abroad moment of 2012
The opening ceremony of the Olympics. That was brilliant.

Feeling like an Englishman abroad moment of 2012
NBC's coverage of the Olympics. That was an embarrassment.

Best insignificant decision of 2012
Starting to blog again (again). I hope my nine regular readers are enjoying it as much as i am! Or getting an iPhone. Those two are pretty close.

Best 'some things will never change moment' of 2012
Weeping with frustration for the leaders of Bristol CU a couple of weeks ago.

Best Bible reading of 2012
Reading the Bible ten chapters a day, and, with the help of commentaries, a verse at a time. The view of the canopy is beautiful, but the leaves sure are pretty.

Best 'other' book of 2012
Any other year Gospel Deeps by Jared C Wilson would be a run away winner in the book category. Get it. Read it. Revel.

Best 'best of list' of 2012
You just read it!

God in the Storm

As a youth pastor, a lot of what i do is aimed at Wednesday night's teen church service. Monday's are spent in staff meetings, and then in a daze trying to remember that great idea i had as i was eating lunch the day before, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are sermon prep time for Wednesday evening, before attention turns to Sunday on Thursday and Friday.

So this Tuesday morning, i was reading and thinking through Mark 6:45-56. In the aftermath of the feeding of the five thousand, the disciples get into the boat, and (yet again) get into trouble on the tranquil waters of the Sea of Galilee. And of course, as you know, Jesus saves them. He meant to 'pass by,' but when they cried out He told them 'it is I.' He'd just provided bread from nowhere, and now He's controlling the waters for the benefit of His people.

John gives us a detailed account of the day after in chapter 6. The crowds return, but there's no free food and no revolution on offer, so they all leave. All apart from the 12. Whatever happened that night on the boat made them stick around when the easiest thing in the world would be to leave with the crowds.

So what happened on that boat? Matthew and Mark seem to disagree at this time. Matthew tells us that the 12 cried out 'surely this man is the Son of God!' Mark tells us their hearts were hardened because they did not understand about the bread. 

What do we make of this, and what's the bread got to do with it?

Well we can piece it together this way. When they first saw Jesus, they didn't understand, but quickly after that, when they understood about the bread, they got it, and reacted as Matthew recorded. If Mark was writing in Rome it would make sense that he would want the first confession of Jesus as the Son of God to come out the mouth of a Roman solider wouldn't it? And Peter, Mark's source seems to go out of his way to shine the light on Jesus, and leave him the the rest of the disciples in the darkness.

But we still have to ask, what's the bread got to do with it? Well these guys grew up in Saturday School, they went to Junior Synagogue, or whatever, they were supposed to know their Old Testament. Maybe they started thinking, 'who provides bread from nowhere? Who controls the waves? Who passes by? Who says don't be afraid, it is I?'

Who provides bread from nowhere? The LORD in Exodus 16, and Jesus in Mark 6. 

Who controls the waves so His people have safe passage? The LORD in Exodus 14, and Jesus in Mark 6.

Who would pass by? The LORD in Exodus 33, and Jesus in Mark 6.

Who dismisses fear on the basis of being who He is? The LORD in Exodus 3 and Jesus in Mark 6.

No wonder, when the 12 understood about the bread, their hearts exploded in faith! Who else were they going to trust in the storm except Jesus, who lead His people out of Egypt? Who were they going to trust the next day, in the stormy loss of faith, except Jesus.

Jesus didn't come from nowhere, His track record is second to none. In the storms, we can trust in Him, just look at what He's already done.

Book Review: Iain Murray on Lloyd-Jones

In September of this year, i found myself in a second hand bookstall in an exhibition hall. Quite the life i lead.

Most of the books were Amish romance fiction and Children who have 'been to Heaven,' imagine my delight then, when, in a final 'just in case' sweep through, i saw volume one of Iain Murray's epic biography of Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones being unpacked from a box in front of my eyes. And it was only $5! Which softened the blow of what i had to pay for volume two if nothing else.

Even though these volumes were published in the early 80s, and tell the story of a man who was born in the 19th century, they are wonderfully and powerfully relevant today. Lloyd-Jones was raised in rural Wales, and though he lived and ministered for the majority of his days in London, he remained a Welshman. He trained for the medical profession, and was one of the most promising doctors of his generation, until slowly, but surely, He was called back to Wales to preach the Gospel. He started preaching in Port Talbot, in what would probably today be called a church plant. He grew this small church in a poor town by simply preaching the Gospel, simply telling the truth. This devotion to the plain, deep truth of the Gospel was to be the mark of the rest of his ministry. Through a series of events that can only be put down to divine providence, he was led to Westminster Chapel, the church with which he is instantly associated today. It was here that he was to serve as the Assistant Pastor, then as Senior Pastor until poor health ended his days in the Westminster pulpit, but opened up what the author describes rightly as a 'world pulpit.'

So what did i learn from this book? Why should it be near the top of your 2013 reading list?

Firstly, as i've touched upon, never overlook God's mysterious providence. Had Lloyd-Jones not been worked to the point of exhaustion in his first ministry, he probably never would have ended up at Westminster. Had he not suffered from cancer in the mid seventies, he never would have had the time to prepare his manuscripts for publication, and never would have had to worldwide, posthumous ministry that he has today.

Second, information is a great servant and a terrible master. For the majority of his local church ministry, Lloyd-Jones's position on the major issues of the day was misunderstood. This was down in part to the fact that so few of his thoughts were disseminated. His messages on the state of evangelicalism and ecumenism, on Pentecostalism and revivalism to name some of the issues he faced simply didn't read a big audience. They weren't podcasted, or streamed online. Some of his messages lay in a drawer in his study for twenty years. Via social media and the internet in general we can keep pace with tomorrows controversy. And this is important, but it's not the most important thing. Lloyd-Jones was influential despite those disadvantages, his priority, when it came down to it, was his local church. And ours needs to be. I don't need to keep pace with what's happening in Minneapolis or Seattle, i don't need to hear which foundational doctrine Rob Bell has just denied. I need to know where the people of Trinity are at, and how i can serve them.

Third, this book has made me reflect on the state of British evangelicalism. A greater part of Lloyd-Jones's London ministry was spent thinking through, and dealing with the issues around whether evangelicals could responsibly stay in a denomination that was moving further and further away from the Gospel. Not much changes does it!?Lloyd-Jones was a prophetic voice, calling his generation back to the Bible, and counselling those behind him. Do we have that prophetic voice today? As the Church of England seemingly drifts further and further from the truth, where is the voice that a broad spectrum of evangelicals will listen to? Who is teaching non-conformists what exactly it is they don't conform to? Who, in a hostile world is helping my generation stand firmly on the Bible. I know part of the problem with this question is that few people would have answered 'Martin Lloyd-Jones' to those questions in his day, but i feel they're questions worth asking.

Finally this book has challenged me as i make some plans for 2013. Lloyd-Jones was a great reader. Now, of course, he had the advantage of weeks away from his desk in the summer to use for that purpose, but he has helped me dream a bit bigger when i think about my own reading for next year. Of course, some sort of systematic Bible reading plan will be central, but what then. Lloyd-Jones loved the Puritans, and he has inspired me to take down the copy of Overcoming Sin and Temptation, that has intimated me for so long. He believed in taking time to work through larger books, so, God willing, 2013 will be the year i read the Institutes every day. He hasn't introduced me to either John Owen or John Calvin, but has pushed me back towards them.

Reading this biography was helpful, and inspiring, and ultimately sanctifying. Add them to your 'to read' list for 2013, and you'll not regret it.

The Shepherd King

Hear Randy Alcorn on shepherds:

'In Jesus' day, shepherds were the bottom rung of the Palestinian social ladder. They shared the same unenviable status as dung collectors and road sweepers. Only Luke mentions them... Some shepherds earned their reputation but others became the victim of a cruel stereotype. Religious leaders maliugned the shepherds good name, rabbis banned pasturing sheep and goats in Israel, except in the desert plains...smug religious leaders maintained a strict caste system at the expense of shepherds and other common folk. They were labelled 'sinners' a technical term for a class of despised people. In to this context of religious and social snobbery stepped the Son of God.'

When we understand something of this social context, two more things about the incarnation should surprise us. First of all, that shepherds were invited at all tells us that something abnormal was going on. The angles didn't appear to the religious elite, or to King Herod, but to Mary, and to shepherds. The birth of Jesus wasn't a gathering of the great and the good. Quite the opposite in fact.

We should be reminded that Jesus came for 'them.' The people that you'd cross the road to avoid, the people that you hope your kids don't grow up to be like. Not only did Jesus come for them, He made sure they were invited to His birth. It teaches us that moralism and attendance does not equal Christianity. The Pharisees could cross both those things off their lists, but ti did them no good. The shepherds knew they needed a Saviour, they knew it deep in their blood, they knew it in their bones. Do we?

And when we understand how shepherds were looked at, it's all the more amazing that Jesus would identify Himself as the shepherd King. Jesus mourned for people because they were like sheep without a shepherd, when He fed five thousand men He organised them on the 'green grass' like a flock. Ezekiel promised Israel that they would have 'one shepherd.' Jesus was happy to identify Himself with this despised class of people, happy to redeem the image, happy to wear it.

The more we stand on our tip toes to gaze into the incarnation, the more amazing it becomes. Jesus the shepherd inviting, shepherd King. The slayer of pride among His people. The provider and protector for His basically helpless people. The King who identified with the lowest of the low. One of the myriad of reasons Jesus came as a baby? To help His people, His Church be humble. You can't be proud when you worship a shepherd.

The Innkeeper by John Piper

Watch as John Piper reads his advent poem 'the innkeeper.' This is as beautiful as it is powerful, and at times humourous. Take some time today to watch it, and to reflect, as we celebrate the incarnation and it's implications.

A Tale of Two Kings

Mark's Gospel is all about Kingdom, all about eucatastrophe, the Kingdom of God breaking out on Earth. The Kingdom comes as the King comes, and as He is worshiped. I spent most of the early part of the week puzzling over why Mark recounts the story of John the Baptist's beheading just before the feeding of the five thousand. The following, from last night's teen church message, represents my best guest!

We see that the kingdom comes as the real King is worshiped  Let’s read verses 14-16 together. Word has reached Herod of what Jesus is doing. He asks people who they reckon this healer preacher is. Maybe He’s Elijah, maybe He’s one of the prophets. This was the common opinion of Jesus at that time. But Herod is sure that Jesus is John the Baptist come back from the dead to haunt him.

Why?

Let’s read why John the Baptist was beheaded in verses 17-29. Can you see some of the themes here? Impurity, adultery, lust and jealousy. There were the marks of Herod’s family. This Herod is the son of the Herod who was King when Jesus was born. He had ten wives, and called all his children Herod, which explains why there are Herods everywhere in the NT. He had illegally married his brothers wife, and John regularly condemned him for it. Herod was a weak, cowardly man, doing whatever he could to save his reputation and appear powerful in front of his friends, even though it’s clear from this incident that it’s his wife running the show. And as a result of this man’s weaknesses, John the Baptist loses his head. This is an ugly, horrible story, an awful way for a King to act, an awful way for anyone to act.

Why does Mark tell us about this here? I think to show us what the real King is like. He wants us to contrast the actions of an evil, perverted human king, with the actions of Jesus, the Heavenly King.
Let’s read 30-44 together to understand this contrast. The disciples come back, and they’re tired, they need to rest. So Jesus takes them away in the boat, with the idea of having a break. But they get seen, people work out where they’re going, and before they get there a huge crowd has arrived. Five thousand men, Matthew tells us. So maybe a total crowd of 20 or 25 thousand, if they all brought their families. Jesus begins teaching them, but it’s getting late, and the disciples are tired and hungry. ‘send them away Jesus, we need to rest,’ they say. Jesus response is met with sarcasm. They haven’t got enough money, and even if they did, there’s no walmart to buy food for thousands of people. It’s got to be caught or baked, and then served. Totally impossible.

Verse 38 is where it gets exciting. They find five loaves, more like biscuits, and two fish, a pretty normal lunch for a Galilean kid, but no help to feed so many people. But no problem for Jesus. He has them sit down on the green grass, and divides out the food. There’s no indication that anyone in the crowd, or maybe even the disciples knew what was happening, the food just kept on coming, and people got full. The word used in verse 42 means something like stuffed. Everyone had more than enough food. And how many baskets were left over? Twelve! How many disciples were there? Twelve! I love that. Jesus cares and loves so deeply for His people that He won’t just feed them once, He’ll make sure that they’ve got something to take home with them afterwards.

Can you see the contrast between Jesus and Herod. Jesus is the Shepherd King organizing and providing for His people on the green grass, making sure they are fed and satisfied. Herod takes and takes, Jesus gives and gives, even to the point of giving His own life, so that we might be satisfied forever.

Opposing Jesus

The more people you meet in the Bible, the more you come to realise that people never change.

In Matthew 2, the wise men approach Herod and ask 'where is He who has been born King of the Jews?' Well, Herod's not supposed to know these things, so he assembles the chief priests and they tell him 'in Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophets...' The wise men then take off with their gifts, and go and worship God incarnate.

But Matthew 2 also tells us that when Herod was asked this question, 'he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him...' He was troubled by Jesus. He was the King, he ran this town, he ruled the Jews, if someone was going to be 'born' king of the Jews, that was going to upset him, and, Matthew seems to suggest, a lot of Jerusalem as well.

This is one reason that people oppose Jesus, that Jesus troubles people. They've got too much to lose. If the Gospel is true, their whole life will have to be different. The way they spend their money and their time, the way they relate to people. People are troubled by Christmas, and troubled by Christians. I was here once upon a time. I started going to church semi regularly about six months before i was saved and it bothered me. It bothered me that otherwise normal, sensible people would worship Jesus. It bothered me even more that i liked these people. Providentially, in Year 9 i was awful at maths, and ended up in the bottom set for my GCSE maths. That class was taught by my school's chaplain. He was a great guy (except he made me learn maths) and it bothered me that he was a Christian. What's he seeing that i'm not? I've got too much to lose if the Gospel's true. Too much invested in me. I, like Herod and like Jerusalem, and like people today, was troubled by Christmas, and Christians.

Sometimes people who don't know Jesus are like the second group we meet in Matthew 2. Sometimes people who do know Jesus are too. Herod calls the religious experts, the ones who never miss church and know their Bibles inside out, the moralistic attenders, if you like. Their response? 'The Messiah? Oh yeh, in Nazareth, any rookie Pharisee knows that...' Matthew doesn't tell us they were troubled by the wise men's news, in fact they weren't even that bothered by it. They just carried on with what they were doing.

This is a danger for people outside the church. The business of Christmas gets in the way, gifts, family and food, and they never consider the meaning behind it. Maybe, if we're doing our job, they get invited to a carol service, or a Christmas program, but they're too busy, too much living to do. This is what CS Lewis refers to as the gentle slope to Hell. No danger signs, no sudden cliffs, just an easy, gentle descent.

But inside the church we face the same danger. We can be too caught up in carol services, Christmas programs,  and church meetings themselves that we're just too busy to stop and reflect. 'Oh yeh, God Himself born of a virgin, now let's keep moving.' This is a danger for everyone in the church, for everyone who loves Jesus. With good, right and pure motives, we can forget about what we're supposed to be celebrating. Jesus.

Both these dangers are clear and present. We should expect people outside the church to oppose, or misunderstand Christmas, we all once did, and but for the grace of God, there go we still. But let's not make the same mistake. Let's stop. Let's sit down with the Bible and ask God to give us ears to hear. Let's not miss Christmas but focusing in Christmas, let's celebrate Christmas by celebrating Jesus.

Should the Church be Conservative?

Should the church be conservative? Yes and no, absolutely, and absolutely not. Here's why.

The Church should be conservative.

The Church has been entrusted with a deposit, the Gospel, to proclaim and protect for the next generation. We don't have a theory to improve or a hypothesis to prove, but a truth to pass on. We must protect these truth, as generations before us have protected it. Who will preach the Gospel in 2080 if we get it wrong in 2012? Who will preach to our grandkids if our kids think Jesus is just one way among many? Every so often in history, one group has had to call us back to a particular truth, whether it was the Church Fathers, the Reformers or the Puritans, each one had a slightly different emphasis as a result of which truth was under attack at the time. But they always brought us back to the book, to the Bible.

We must also, in our faith, be brought back to the Bible, this is where we are conservative, this is where our faith and practice stand or fall. This will always make us look odd to the outside world. In a society where, for shame, old fashioned has turned into an insult, being led by an old book will look weird at best.

The church should be conservative when it comes to who leads and speaks at it's meetings. Every evangelical church that i've come across has some kind of system whereby teachers and leaders are recognised. We don't let men in off the streets to teach. Whether that's seminary training within a denomination or the recognising of gifts within a local body, it has to happen.

The church must be conservative when it comes to protecting and proclaiming the Gospel.

The Church should not be conservative.

We worship a guy who got murdered, we worship a man who was God, born to a virgin. How can any of that lead to being conservative!? We worship a God who loves us so much that He gave us His Son to die in the most brutal way we can imagine. How can we be conservative within our four walls? let's throw open the doors and invite 'whosoever' in. Let's go to the highways and hedge and compel people to join us. Let's live in such a way that people say to us, 'let us join you, for God is with you!' Let's say to those without money, come and eat food without price or payment.

We must not, ever, be conservative in our love, or with our lives. The men who have done the most for the Kingdom in their four score and ten have been the men who have counted their lives cheap, and flung them away for the sake of the Gospel. The ones who have, far from being conservative, 'let goods and kindred go.' We must not be conservative in how we love, or we love. Imagine how Mary, Joseph and Jesus would have smelt the morning after Jesus' birth. What would you think about people about that? The Gospel calls us to love 'them,' to serve 'them' and to lay our lives down for 'them.'

But here's the kicker. We can only be liberal with our love when we're conservative with our truth. We can only afford to love all when the truth of the Gospel is well proclaimed and well protected. Our love is only worth a snap of our fingers when it flows from the right understanding of the historic, transcendent Gospel. Love without truth will make us soft, truth without love will make us hard. Our conservatism in regard to the truth and liberalism with love have to held in the right balance and got in the right order.

Be conservative with the truth today. Beware novelty. Don't be conservative with your love today, beware cold orthodoxy. I want to get here. I want to love 'them,' because of what i read in the morning. I want to live liberally because of the conservative doctrine that should be filling my heart. When the Holy Spirit leads us in truth and love, we'll not go far wrong.

The Baby Changes Everything

Jesus is the greatest athlete you can imagine. He can kick, catch, throw and run so well that He makes the most vaunted pros look like you and me.

Jesus is the greatest musician you can imagine. He can compose, play and sing so well that He makes the best talents sound like a menagerie.

Jesus is the greatest author you can imagine. His prose make Shakespeare and Wordsworth look like so many monkeys with so many typewriters.

Jesus was born in a small town where nothing ever happened. Maybe five hundred people lived in Nazareth in those days, and it's not mentioned in any extant history until four hundred years later. Jesus was born, not in first world comfort, not even in the meagre comforts of the first century, but in a stable, next to farm animals. He worked and lived in total obscurity for most of His life. Never wrote a book, never commanded an army, never won a war.

The Christmas story demands that we hold these things in tension, demands that we are amazed by the beauty of Jesus the God-man. Perhaps the most amazing thing is that these attributes were hidden for so long. When He preached in Nazareth He was treated like a blasphemer. The Gospels record no one saying 'well Jesus was pretty good at sports, so it makes sense that He'd be the Messiah.' In fact they tried to kill Him.

If it had been me born to Mary, things would have been different. There might have been an orchestra following me around, i certainly would have made my sporting prowess known. But not Jesus, just quiet, obscure obedience  until the time came.

We should spend time this advent thinking about these things. Isaiah captures it well. Broadly speaking, the LORD of Isaiah 1-40 is coming in judgement, and the (same) LORD of 40-66 is coming in comfort. Which God can carry these apparent contradictions if not God incarnate?

Yes, Jesus is strong, mighty and powerful, He sits and rules at the right hand of the Father, He defeated death, amen and amen. He is glorious  But He is also incarnate. Born in the middle of nowhere, and growing up there. He didn't come as the son of the Emperor's daughter, but to Mary.

This has to inform the way we think about ourselves, our faith, our church life, our interaction with culture...everything. We don't have to be first, best, cleverest. We don't need the lights to come up when we walk on stage, we don't need to 'win' the culture wars. That the God-man was a helpless baby, born of a virgin, and that He did it for you and me is a subversive and ridiculous idea outside the church, but for Christians, it changes everything.

Jesus Tabernacled Among Us

And the word became flesh and dwelt among us

John 1:14

Martin Luther said this: 'we must both think and meditate on the Nativity. If the meditation does not reach the heart, we shall sense no sweetness, nor shall we know what solace for humankind lies in such contemplation. The heart will not laugh nor be merry. As spray does not touch the deep, so mere meditation will no quiet the heart. There is such richness and goodness in this nativity that if we should see it and deeply understand, we should be dissolved in perpetual joy.'

Think about Jesus as the tabernacle.

The Tabernacle was for use in the wilderness. Jesus was lead up by the Spirit into the wilderness. Matthew 4:1

The Tabernacle was outwardly humble and unattractive. (Jesus) has not stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. Isaiah 53:2

The Tabernacle was where God met with men. I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6

The Tabernacle was the centre of God's camp a gathering place for God's people. And I, if i be lifted up from the earth will draw all men to myself. John 12:32

The Tabernacle was where the sacrifices for the sins of God's people were made. But He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God. Hebrews 10:12

The Tabernacle was a place of worship. My Lord and My God. (John 20:28)

We do not understand the teaching of the Old Testament in all it's fullness unless we read it through Jesus Christ- His incarnation, life death and resurrection. The Tabernacle has absolutely no meaning apart from Jesus.

Taken from 'Come Thou Long Expected Jesus' Pages 18-19, 26.

The Sun of Righteousness

Of the many things that would surprise the 17 year old me about my life today (uses a mac, enjoys lasagna, makes a living from standing up in front of people and talking) perhaps the one that stands out the most is that i married a teacher.

The American day starts early, very early. In fact kids have to be at school fully an hour before i did when i was their age. That means at this time of year we see a lot of sunrises! A lot of blacks turning dark blue, then pink then light blue, a lot of frost being melted. I think Malachi would regard this as an advantage of marrying a teacher. Daily reminders of what Christ's coming will be like.

Towards the end of the final book in the Old Testament, Malachi tells us that 'the sun of righteousness will rise.' The Son is a sun. Why this word picture? Well because Israel were about to head off into 400 years of darkness with no word from the LORD, until John The Baptist showed up, but also because the sun does many things that the Son does.

The sun chases away darkness, and so does the Son. Daylight gradually moves from east to west, rising over my family in Australia, then my family in England, and finally here. It gets rid of darkness totally. Just like Jesus. He comes, and darkness flees, darkness screams and begs to be dismissed into a herd of pigs. We don't stand in our gardens at 3am trying to chase away the darkness, the sun rises and does it for us.

The sun frees us from fear, and so does the Son. I'm not really scared of the dark, and we live in a safe neighbourhood, as evidenced by the fact that we've occasionally left the doors unlocked all night, but sometimes a strange noise at 2am can be unsettling. How often our lives are like a strange noise at 2am! But with Jesus comes light, and with light comes the casting out of fear. We can see that noise was a squirrel running into a tree, we don't need to fear what;s just ahead of us. The Son is here, we can see and we can understand.

The sun brings growth, and so does the Son. This summer we had a mixture of ridiculously hot weather and tropical rain. And that meant the grass, plants, and sadly the weeds grew like crazy! As we're exposed to the Son, we grow. It can be argued that Christian growth is simply loving Jesus more and more. As the Son rises we naturally are drawn towards Him, as the sun draws plants towards itself.

The sun bring song, as so does the Son. Why do the birds sing? Because they are warmed by the sun. Should we not sing when our hearts have been warmed by by the Son? Christians sing because they can't help it. The wonderful things Christ has done for us bring us leaping out the stall like a calve, full of joy. Birds in darkness don't sing, maybe the same is true for Christians.

Perhaps the one advantage of being up early on dark mornings is to see the sun rise. The greatest advantage of Christmas is that the Son has come, chasing away darkness and fear, and bringing growth and joy.

George Whitefield and the Anti Santy Ranty

It's December! Christmas season is about to swing into full flight. My own personal prayer this advent is that i would not be distracted by the three Christmas plays coming up at church and school, by the decorations and the gifts, but that my excitement about those things would be transposed into a deeper and richer excitement about Jesus.

In chapter one of 'Come Thou Long Expected Jesus' George Whitfield says: 'Did Jesus come into the world to save us from death, and shall we spend no part of our time conversing about our dear Jesus, shall we pay no regard to Him who came to redeem us from the worst of slavery; that of sin and the devil, and shall this Jesus not only be born on our account but also die in our stead, and yet we shall be unmindful of Him? Shall we spend our time in those things which are offensive to Him? Shall we not rather do all we can to promote His glory and act according to His command?'

I wonder if how we think of God often tempers our expectation and takes our joy away. Do we want the stuff, but not the Saviour? Enjoy and be provoked by the anti santy ranty, courtesy of Glen Scrivener, and 10ofthose.com