Jesus is the Barley Harvest

How can you not love the book of Ruth? This is the small package good things come in. It has everything. Romance, intrigue, drama, history, a possibly loopy mother-in-law.

But perhaps one of the reasons we love Ruth so much is that the characters are so human. Boaz is passed the first flush or youth, and so doesn't approach Ruth when he perhaps would have as a younger man. Ruth is an outsider, who grows from timid farm help to a proposing lover. Perhaps no one's humanity is so raw as Naomi's in the first six verses.

There's no food in Bethlehem, no crops coming though. The city is filled with sin. It's not a place to bring up two young boys. She trusts Elimelech, she loves him. Our God is King, he's always telling her, so maybe the move to Moab won't be that bad. She pushes the worries about where they'll worship, and who the boys will marry to the back of her minds and they pack up and leave the Promised Land.

But it didn't work out. There's food in Moab sure, but not much else. The people are wicked here, in a different way to her friends in Bethlehem. Sure, their religion was pretty empty, but it had a heart. She doesn't know what to make of chemosh, or his rituals or his followers.

And then, Elimelech is sick, and there's no one to help. He dies in her arms as she wipes his brow. There's no going home now, better to make a life of it here, and let the boys marry those Moabite girls they've been talking to. It seemed like things were going to turn out ok, but now she'll never forget that day. The noise, the blood, the screams of the Moabite widows, bent over the broken bodies of their lifeless husbands.

We need Naomi in the Bible because she knows life as we know it. Sometimes life is brutal for no good reason. But more than that, we need Naomi, because of what she hears in verse 6. The rebellion at home is over, the Lord has visited His people and given them food. The rains have come, and crop is growing. There will be a barley harvest, she can glean, she can eat. She's bitter, but she has hope, more than she knows.

And we, like her, have more hope than we know. Jesus is the barley harvest. Jesus is the sweet good news from a far country. Jesus is our hope. Jesus who was plunged into a brutality more focused and less deserved than we'll ever know, and came out the other side. Jesus is the hope humming along in the background while the noise of the world tries to drown Him out. Because Jesus lives, so will we, because Jesus lives, we can face tomorrow. Jesus is the anvil, His enemies the hammer, smashing themselves to ruin.

Jesus is the promise of good, and the promise of better to come.
Jesus is the good. Jesus is the better to come.
Jesus is the barley harvest who draws us home. Come to Him.

So Take and Read

In a world of created changeable things, Christ and his Word alone remain unshaken.

O to forsake all creatures, to rest as a stone on him the foundation, to abide in him, be borne up by him!

For all my mercies come through Christ, who has designed, purchased, promised, effected them.

How sweet it is to be near him, the Lamb, filed with holy affections!

When I sin against thee I cross thy will, love, life, and have no comforter, no creature, to go to.

My sin is not so much this or that particular evil, but my continual separation, disunion, distance from thee, and having a loose spirit towards thee.

But thou hast given me a present, Jesus thy Son, as Mediator between thyself and my soul, as middle-man who in a pit holds both him below and him above, for only he can span the chasm breached by sin, and satisfy divine justice.

May I always lay hold upon this Mediator, as a realized object of faith, and alone worthy by his love to bridge the gulf.

Let me know that he is dear to me by his Word; I am one with him by the Word on his part, and by faith on mine;

If I oppose the Word I oppose my Lord when he is most near;

If I receive the Word I recieve my Lord wherein he is nigh.

O thou who hast the herats of all men in thine hand, form my heart according to the Word, according to the image of thy Son,

So shall Christ the Word, and his Word be my strength and comfort.”

Christ The Word, from Valley of Vision, Pp30-31

Run To Jesus

Run!

That's the command at the start of Hebrews 12.

Run!

Run for your life. Not because you're being chased by a man eating lion, but because you're being chased by a much worse adversary. Run! Run from your sin. Running is one of the themes of Hebrews. We're told not to neglect our salvation, but run hard towards it, we're told not to harden our hearts but to stay the course, and then we're told at the end to run to Jesus, outside the camp.

As we run we are encouraged by the saints who have gone before us. We hear their stories, and we're encouraged that the God who did extraordinary things with ordinary us is the God who can do the extraordinary with us. We're encouraged to look at their example, and see their witness that Jesus is better than the wealth of Israel and the gods of foreign women. Run! Cast off the sin that entangles you. When you crouch on the starters block, don't have your legs tied, don't wear running shoes of concrete, cast off what holds you back. Stop asking, 'is this a sin,' and ask 'does this help me run?' Not, what's wrong with X, but what's right with it.

Run, don't meander or walk, run, and run towards Jesus.

Look to Jesus, says the author in verse 2. When you look at A you look away from B. When i looked to Rachel in marriage i looked away from every other women. When you looked to Jesus for salvation you looked away from every other religion, every other philosophy, every other salvation scheme. Look to Jesus. Look to Jesus in your local church, as you sing, and hear God's Word preached, and celebrate communion. Look to Jesus as you read the Bible for yourself, ten verses a day, ten chapters a day, it's not important, just look. Look to Jesus as you pray. As your innermost desires and despairs are given vent to a good God.

So look to Jesus today. This looking and delighting in Jesus is the foundation of our faith, that Christ is to us, the chief among ten thousand, and ten thousand thousand. As we look at Jesus, as we are captivated by His goodness, and stunned that He would be good to us, 'the things of the world will grow strangely dim,' and we'll desire nothing more than to be His, more and more.

A Man Of Rest

In 1 Chronicles 22:9, The LORD promises David that a son will be born to him who will give his people rest. In fact, he will be a man of rest, and will give peace to Israel all of his days. This son was Solomon, who ruled Israel during it's most peaceful and prosperous days. I love the section of Chronicles that tell us about the golden years of Solomon's reign. Peace on all sides and every man under his own fig tree, it's a brilliant picture of the future for God's people.

Solomon is David's son, a man of peace. Just like Jesus, a man of peace, the Son of David, the head son, the king son, the Son. All God's promises are yes and amen in Him, and so every promise made by God to His people in the Old Testament is a promise made to us, and 'amened' in Jesus. So Jesus is the man of rest who will give us rest. He came to give us peace.

He came to give us peace with each other. No wars in Heaven. No cross words caused by the million faces of pride, no marriages in strife. Because Jesus is a man of peace and He brings peace to all who are in Him. In His Kingdom there will be no broken hearts, no tears shed. We'll have peace with each other.

What's the source of our restlessness with other people? Our restlessness within ourselves. No one ever fell out with someone needlessly because they were perfectly happy with their own hearts. How often are our frustrations with others actually just reflections of the restlessness in our own hearts. Our sins are wracked by sin. They are ruined by our pursuit of self. Follow your heart has to be the worst advice you can possibly be given, because your restless heart will lead you astray. But in Christ's Kingdom, when we're face to face with the man of peace, our hearts will be full of Him, and there'll be no room for ourselves in there. And what a day that will be...

And the reason we don't have peace within ourselves, and with others? Is because we do not have peace with God. That's what we were made for, that's who were made for. The Kingdom of Israel was made for peace, made to be a light to the nations, but they turned their hearts and worshipped other Gods. They ripped themselves away from the source of all their peace, and were sent away, but not forever. We've been sent away too, but not forever. One came out of the wilderness and across the water, He fought the devil in the desert and prevailed. He has borne our sorrows and our trials. And our restlessness, and our lack of peace. He died under the weight of it and left it in the grave. And only in union with peace Himself can we find peace ourselves.

1 Chronicles 22:9 calls us to look beyond Solomon, because we know how his story ended. Beyond a son of David, to the Son of david, and find rest in Him.

He Came To Himself

I love the story of the prodigal son that Jesus tells in Luke 15, don't you? I love it's subtleties, who was Jesus talking to, and why does it matter? I love it's details, why does Jesus tell us the father ran, and kissed and put a ring on the finger and new shoes on the feet of his son? I love the way it subverts our expectations, i love that verse 25 does say, as you might expect, 'for i tell you, there is more joy in Heaven...'

There's been one phrase in this parable that has been lodged in my head for the last few days. In verse 17 Jesus tells us that the younger son 'came to himself,' and this started his journey home. You know the story of this young man. He asks his dad to pretend he's dead so he can go off and live the high life in the big city. He spares no expense while he's there. The King James tells us that he 'devoured (his fathers) living with harlots.' No expense was spared for this young man, he ran headlong into his new life.

And then famine. And then his new friends disappeared, there was a new show in town perhaps, or maybe they were more interested in food than parties. The young man, his clothes in rags, ends up feeding pigs. You can almost hear Jesus pharisaical audience shifting uncomfortably at this point. Pigs?! And he's feeding them?!

This is where sin leads us and leaves us. Deserted by friends. Cut off from family. Clothes in rags. Dreams in tatters. Feeding pigs, being jealous of pigs even. We throw ourselves into sin, we thirst for it, we leave our lives, our selves behind for it, blinded by it's promises. It uses us then abandons us, it promises us life, but cuts us off from the source of life.

But then we come to ourselves. We realise that it's only in communion with Jesus that we are who we are supposed to be. We're a key in it's lock, a hand in a bespoke glove. We're not limited by God, we're set free. This is what the younger son realised, surrounded by well fed pigs, wearing tattered clothes and beaten up shoes. I'm supposed to by my father's on, he realises. I'll come to myself, and go back to him,

And that's what we need to realise. Jesus made us for Himself, and we are restless, jealous of pigs even, until we find ourselves in Him. The Bible does just help us fight sin by telling us that sin is wicked, and evil, and painful, and destructive, but that Jesus is better. That when we come to Him, we come to ourselves. We don't lose our identity, we find it, and redeem it, and reclaim it, and live it forever.

Ironies at the Foot of the Cross

In Mark 15 verses 21-32, and see that God’s ironies tell us what Jesus will do. God’s ironies tell us what Jesus will do. What is irony? Mark uses a form of dramatic irony in these verses as he records people speaking better than they knew. The three voices we hear in these verses think they are mocking Jesus, but actually, they’re telling the truth about Him. These ironies show us what Jesus will do. We hear the first voice in verse 26, read that with me.  When someone was crucified they had a sign hung above their head detailing what their crimes where. It might have said ‘murder,’ or ‘treason.’ Jesus crime according to Pilate was that He was the King of the Jews. No doubt Pilate put this sign up to embarrass the Jews. The Jews themselves, those who arrested Jesus would have hated this. But Jesus really was the King of the Jews, the King of the new Kingdom. The King that David had been promised, the King that Judah had been promised, the King that the Jewish leaders should have been looking for. The King they needed but didn't want. The King that would have set them free from themselves. The King of the Jews, hung on a cross, cursed by God. 

We hear the second voice in verse 29. Remember all the way though Mark’s Gospel, the claim that Jesus made early in His ministry, recorded in John 2 that if the temple was destroyed He would rebuild it in three days was something that people used against Him. People now insulted Him by saying, in effect, if you’re so clever that you can rebuild the Temple in three days, you ought to be able to get yourself off the cross. But again, this is irony. Jesus is The Temple, the real temple, the real place where man can meet with God. He is the Temple, the meeting place because He died. Mark shows us this truth again in the immediate aftermath of Jesus death . In verse 38, just after Jesus breathes His last Mark cuts away from Golgotha and takes us into the Temple. There he shows us the curtain, the thick, richly-woven, heavy curtain the symbolized mans separating from God being torn in two. Now if you want to meet with God where do you need to go? To Jesus? And when? Whenever you need to. You're invited by His nailed scarred hands. 

We hear the final voice in this section in verse 31. They admit that He saved others. He gave sight to the blind and legs to the lame. But now look at Him. Naked and nailed to the cross, totally hopeless. He can not save Himself they joke. What a fraud Jesus is. Except, there’s more irony here isn’t there.  It’s simply because He saved others that He can not save Himself. It’s because He’s dying on the cross for sin that He can save others from sin.

Mark uses the ironic comments of the passers-by to teach us that Jesus will be the King of a renewed Kingdom, the Kingdom of God. This has been Mark's message since the first verse of his Gospel. That he brings good news about the Son of God. This is how the King is crowned, and this is how the Kingdom works. IN the darkest of nights, there is light, in the worst circumstances there is hope, though the King wears a crown of thorns, He really is the King. There are mysteries in the Christian life, and ironies. But the King makes everything beautiful in it's time...

Hope Filled Risk

⁴² And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, ⁴³ Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 

Have you ever wondered what Joseph was up to?

It was the day of preparation, the day before the Sabbath. And not just any Sabbath, the Sabbath after Passover. It would have been some time after 3pm, and the Sabbath started at sundown, maybe 6pm. He had at most three hours to gain Pilate's permission to take Jesus body down, work out a way to take it down, wrap it up and deliver it to the tomb he had ready. He couldn't handle a corpse on the Sabbath without becoming unclean, and he knew that. he'd have to work quickly. It was risky.

Joseph was a respected member of the council. He was risking more than being unclean on the Sabbath, he was risking his very life. He'd either kept his mouth shut in the night time trial, or perhaps more likely, they'd not included him in the plans, as a known Jesus sympathizer. But he knew that the scorn of men was worth less than the scorn of God. He'd been looking for the Kingdom of God and he was pretty sure he'd found it. He was going to take care of Jesus body, he was going to identify with the Nazarene. It was risky.

But why take the risk?

Joseph would have known his scriptures. He would have known Psalm 22. He'd have known the hope of the God forsaken, and would have known the ultimate hope of the ultimate God forsaken. He'd have known that all the ends of the earth would come and worship the Lord, he'd have known that Jesus righteousness would be proclaimed to a people as yet unborn, that He has done it. He knew, perhaps through a glass darkly, the hope of the resurrection. So filled with this hope, he took probably the greatest risk of his life.

When we know the One who holds time, when  we know the One who sustains the universe, risk is right. In fact, there's not even really such a thing as risk. He knew that a life lived without hope filled risk in the resurrected Saviour was a life not really worth living.

Joseph, filled with hope went to get Jesus, and gave Him the burial He deserved. What might we achieve, filled with the same resurrection filled risky hope?

The Greatly Afflicted One

The story of the Bible is a story of the affliction of God's people. The faithful by the unfaithful.

Cain kills Abel. Noah is mocked. Abraham wanders homeless. Moses was opposed. The prophets were killed. The Kingdom was exiled. And Jesus suffered it all, and more.

Psalm 129:1-2 sums this up. Greatly they have afflicted me from my youth, let Israel now say, greatly they have afflicted me from my youth. This Psalm is put with the songs of ascent, sung by faithful pilgrims on the way to Jerusalem to celebrate. maybe the psalmist was reflecting on his own difficulties,  when it struck him that his people, God's nation, had been afflicted from the very beginning. And so Psalm 129 is born, and the pilgrims reflect as they sing.

Israel was afflicted by enemies. As soon as David died there was war, and even though that didn't split the Kingdom, David's grandson's foolishness soon did. They were afflicted, they were persecuted, they were sent far from home. Remember these things Israel, and sing of them as you go. 

Then comes Jesus, standing in Israel's place. Surely the tenants will respect the son? But no, the perfect Son of God was arrested, mocked, beaten and killed. He was afflicted, just as God's people have always been. The Bible teaches us these things for our good. It shows us a parade of imperfect man bring used by a perfect God. Imperfect men, afflicted by other imperfect men. And then the perfect man is afflicted too. The Bible can not be all ice cream and sunshine, because the life isn't all ice cream and sunshine. The Bible prepares us for life by showing us the reality of the affliction of God's people.

But verse 2 continues. 'Yet they have no prevailed against me...' From the very beginning God's people have been afflicted, set against, but here is the church, thousands of years later. The hammer of the world smashes itself on the anvil of the church. God's people are afflicted, but God's enemies do not prevail, and they never will.

Sing this, Israel, sing the end of verse two. Remember the affliction, and sing of the victory. Maybe, in Luke 24, Jesus taught His disciples from this Psalm. God's enemies have never prevailed over God's people, just like death did not prevail over Jesus. And we can know, for sure, forever, that God's enemies will not have the final say, because they did not have the final say, they did not prevail over The Afflicted One.

Jesus and Joy (1 John 1:1-4)

This was one of the last letters written in the NT, sometime between 90 and 95AD, so John would have had to have been in his 80s at least when he wrote it. In these first four verses, his introduction to his letter, we see what he’s writing about in verses 1 and 2, why he’s writing in verses 3 and 4, and we’ll see why we should trust him as we take an overview of this verses all together.

Let’s read verses 1 and 2 together. John is writing about what he calls ‘the word of life.’ That’s the name of his message. Look at what we learn about the word of life from this verses. It was eternal, it could be seen and heard and touched. It doesn’t sound like a normal message does it? John starts his letter by reminding us that he spent time with Jesus. He heard His teaching, rested his head against Him at the last supper, he saw him every day. John was writing to a city where people were teaching that Jesus wasn’t really a man, that He was just a spirit. Right from the beginning we see John fighting these ideas off, and making a big deal about the fact that Jesus was a real man with a real body.

John goes on in verse 2. This life, this message, this word was made manifest, that means it appeared to them. It was physical, it had skin and teeth and bones. It was a real man. Maybe we don’t understand why John is making such a big deal about this yet, but we will do as we keep studying this letter. John says in verse 2 that this is not just a word of life, but it’s a message about eternal life. So what John  wants to tell us about isn’t something that will just make us happy in the here and now, but something that will impact us forever.

So John’s message is physical, and eternal, and divine. Look at the end of the verse 2 with me. ‘which was with the Father.’ The message that John is proclaiming comes from Heaven. He’s not interested in adding to the symphony of ideas already in Ephesus. He’s not interested in beging another famous teacher with another idea to gain followers. He is interested in God the Father. This is what sets him apart from the false teachers in Ephesus, and this is what sets the Bible apart from the rest of religion and philosophy. The message was with the Father. It’s physical, it’s eternal and it’s divine.

We need to pay attention to it.

Why did John write this letter and share this message. Verses 3 and 4 gives us two reasons. Read those verses with me. See that first reason in verse 3. He’s writing to the church, and we’re reading this now, that that they, and we, might have fellowship. Fellowship with us, John says, that means so that they can be united together in something bigger than themselves. That their friendship and partnership can be based on faith in God. But he makes it even bigger. John writes about his physical, eternal, divine message so that we might have fellowship with God. So that we might have a relationship with God. So that we might be saved, in slightly more modern language.

John says this fellowship, this relationship is with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. We know that Jesus is the message that John has been wiring about. That Jesus is physical and eternal and divine. That it’s Jesus that brings us into fellowship with God the Father. This is why 1 John is important, because it shows us how to have eternal life. There’s nothing more important that that!

What does this phrase, ‘fellowship with God,’ teach us about eternal life? Fellowship just means friendship or having a joint interest with someone. So let me ask the question this way, do you have a joint interest with God? That’s what John is trying to get us to understand. Fellowship with God is only based around Jesus. You can’t have fellowship with God based on your church attendance or Bible reading or witnessing. You just can’t. The Father’s primary interest in the world is Jesus. Is that true of you? The Father loves Jesus. Is that true of you? And fellowship involves conversation. You can’t have a relationship with someone if you never talk to them. John writes this letter so that we would understand that a relationship with the physical, eternal, divine Jesus is a two way thing. We talk to Him in prayer and He talks to us in His word. We present our requests to Him and He gives us our commands.

So how is your fellowship with God? How’s your conversation? Are you listening to His voice? If you’re not listening to the voice of the physical, eternal, divine one, then whose voice are you listening to? Who are you having fellowship with?

The second reason John writes is found in verse 4. Look at the end of that verse; ‘so that your joy may be full.’ There is something in a relationship with Christ that produces joy. Even more than that, one of the best evidences of a real relationship with Christ, or of real fellowship with God, is that it produces joy. The word used for our there can also mean your. So John is writing that our joy, and your joy may be complete. John finds his joy in ministry in the Christian growth of those he loves. Why else would he write this letter? I find my joy in ministry in the Christian growth of those I love, you guys, otherwise, why would I be here on a Saturday morning? And your fellowship with God produces joy. I keep saying this, but that’s because it’s so important. Psalm 16:11 is not lying! Neither is John. Do you want joy? Then come to Jesus, and have fellowship with Him.

Finally, we know we can trust John. He loves this church, he calls them ‘little children,’ he has such affection for them. He walked and talked and ate and wept with Jesus. He ended up in a lonely exile for the sake of this message. We can trust him.

Let me conclude by asking you some questions How is your joy? Are you enjoying your relationship with Jesus? Do you like Jesus? Not do you love Him, but do you like Him? How is your fellowship with God? Are you listening to Him, are you talking to Him? If your joy is weak it’s probably because you’re not spending enough time with Him, you’re being led astray by the lies of the world. And finally, are you sure that you believe the real Jesus? The physical Jesus. The eternal Jesus. The divine Jesus. Helping us to grow in fellowship with Him is the reason John writes.

Here's Your King

Probably the best way to read Judges is quickly. Move through it at pace, and then the awful themes become clearer. The repeated refrain that there was no king in those days, that everyone did what was right in their own eyes, the systematic moving through of the tribes of Israel, none of them left untouched by rebellion and poor leadership. Even the best of them are pretty rotten.

There are many things that these dark days of Israel's history teach us, but the desire of the author, probably Samuel, is to help us understand that without a King, the people perish. A Heavenly King of course, we need Jesus to be the King of our lives and passions and desires, but an earthly King as well.

And not the one that Samuel was serving under at the moment. If the sceptre was never to depart from between Judah's feet, why was there a Benjaminite on the throne! A Benjaminite, from the tribe spoken of in such despicable tones at the end of Judges. Samuel says no, he says that Kings don't come from Benjamin, they come from Judah. And then, as he dips his quill in his ink, and asks again for help, he turns the page, and tells us about Ruth. And he says, this Israel, this is where Kings come from.

I love the story of Ruth. It's a beautiful short story all on it's won. Love and romance, death and tragedy, intrigue and unexpected plot twists, it's got it all. It also has the coolest guy in the Old Testament for a hero. Boaz. Say it slowly and in a deep voice. Bo-az. So how is it about Kingship? Well has the end of the story ever confused you? It has me. Where do Ruth and Boaz go? Our two starcrossed lovers just disappear, and we're left with Naomi, sweetly bouncing her grandson on her knee. And a genealogy. One that takes us from Perez, though Boaz, to David. King David. This where your Kings come from Israel, Judah, not Benjamin. Where do Ruth and Boaz go? It doesn't matter, they've served their purpose in this tract on the benefits of  a Davidic King.

So Israel, that's where your King should come from, but what should he do? He clearly shouldn't be like a King od the other nations, to ask for a King like that was a sin, and Saul wasn't doing a great job in teaching his people the law. Israel, your king should be like YHWH, like Boaz in fact.

What does Boaz do? He greets his bride as she comes in from the wilderness. He provides for her and protects her. He spreads his wings over her, even though he has no cause to. He loves her. They are betrothed, and he goes outside the city (Outside. The. City!) to fight off other suitors. Then they marry, and they can look at each other and say, I am my beloved, and my beloved is mine. Israel, choose a King who will do these things, who will take, and love, and sacrifice and fight for you.

Israel had to choose a King like that, and so do we. We need a King who accepts us from the wilderness, hairy, sweaty and unattractive. A king who will spread His wings over us. Who will nourish and protect us. Who will take us to Himself, who will leave the comforts of the city to win us. Who will be married to us forever.

It's no wonder Spurgeon called Jesus 'our glorious Boaz.'

The Great Promise

I love the great promise of Matthew 24:14. This Gospel will be preached to all nations, and then the end will come. Is there a sweeter 'and then' in all the Bible?

Jesus doesn't say the Gospel should be preached, or might be preached, or could be preached, He says it will be preached to all nations, and then the end will come. And we know Jesus is coming, we know the end is coming, so we know that the Gospel will fill the Earth as the waters fill the sea.

Nations doesn't mean Canada, Mexico and Brazil, but language groups or ethnic groups. The Gospel will be preached in and to every language, and then Jesus will return. So there's no fence sitting in the Christian life. There's no waiting around to see who wins, and then jumping in, we commit to pray, participate and proclaim.

We commit to pray. Jesus told us to. When He looked at the fields white for harvest, He didn't tell us to go, he told us to pray. How we pray for the end is how we gauge our passion for Jesus return. We don't prepare for His return with rapture wallcharts and collecting tinned food. Neither do we prepare for His return by doing nothing about it. We pray, maranatha, come Lord Jesus.

As we pray, we participate. We take part in the life of our local church, we commit our time and our treasure and our talents to what our church is doing. We share our faith with our friends, we let them know that we have found a feast in the wilderness, we ask them to come with us, because we will do them good, we tell them of our beloved and invite them to enjoy Him with us. We pray and we participate.

And we proclaim. The Gospel isn't true because it works, but it does work because it is true. It changes people, and so, because know the Gospel overcomes, we share the truth of it with people. We're not worried about being slurred because we believe in one God and one way to Him, we go and we lay down our lives to share the Gospel, like the millions before us have.

Is the great promise of Matthew 24:14 making a difference in your life? Are you praying? Are you participating? Are you proclaiming?

Consider Jesus

Hebrews 3:1 could be the theme verses of the whole book. 'Consider Jesus.' The author points his readers towards Jesus throughout this book. In times of trial consider Jesus, in times of joy, consider Jesus. There is a sweetness in meeting with Jesus. A sweetness in His Word and in praying to Him. In all things, we can consider Jesus.

In all things, yes in all things. In Jesus exists such a glorious collision of attributes that if it happened to anyone else they simply couldn't bare it. But Jesus can. Jesus, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is also the Jesus who was hung on the tree. The beloved Son of God was also cursed by God as He hung there. The one who Moses wrote about was struck by those sitting in Moses seat (and, interestingly, poured forth water and blood). Tis mystery all, the immortal dies! The King is rejected by His people, and then rises to reign over those who will have Him.

So whatever you're facing today, consider Jesus. Remember Jesus. During the hardest time of my life, as my wife clung to life in an intensive care bed, Jesus held me. I'd sit on the outside deck of our apartment in the morning before going back to intensive care, and later rehab, read the Bible, and it was like the sun was rising in my heart. I';d hear His voice, know His presence, consider His good, gracious and merciful sovereignty, and face the day. Whatever calamity is next in life (and it'll have to go some to better that one!) i know as i consider Jesus He will help me. And i know, whatever calamity you're facing today, as you consider Jesus, He will give you strength.

Jesus is the high priest of our confession, Jesus was not ashamed to call us brother. Jesus is everything we can never be. Jesus is our punishment and perfection. Jesus went outside the camp, carrying our sin far away. Let's go to Him there. When we're faced with sin, when we're trapped in temptation, we need to consider Jesus, remember Jesus and cast off the sin that so easily entangles us.

Whatever happens today, whatever happened yesterday, consider Jesus, who loves us, helps us, and died for us.

Jesus Vs Religion (Mark 11:12-26)

Mark’s Gospel is about the Kingdom of God coming. Mark’s Gospel is all about the King of that Kingdom coming. You would maybe think that when God’s chosen King, Jesus, came to God’s chosen city, Jerusalem, He’d be welcomed and adored. And last week we saw that he was. When Jesus entered Jerusalem on Monday the city went crazy, until Jesus slipped away, and went to inspect the Temple, and then went back to Bethany. Tonight’s passage covers the events of the Tuesday before Jesus is arrested on Friday morning.

The religious leaders of the Jews had been trying to kill Jesus since 3:6, they’ve been plotting to destroy Him, and His arrival into their city, onto their patch hasn’t helped calm them down any. Here, Jesus contention with the Pharisees steps up another level, and as it does, we learn something vitally important about the Kingdom of God, and about it’s King. We learn that life in the Kingdom is about a relationship, not about religion. About love, not about works. Tonight we’ll see Jesus condemn religion, and show us two things that real faith in God is based on.

First of all, in verses 12-21, we see Jesus condemn religion. What is religion? Religion is any system, or anything we do that we think makes God approve of us. For the Jews it was animal sacrifices, which were given to Moses to show him the need for a saviour, but by Jesus’ time had been turned into something corrupt and sinful. For us it can be anything. Our church attendance can be religious, if we feel like it makes Jesus love us more. Our Bible reading can be religious if it makes us feel like Jesus approves of us. Not committing sins that ‘they’ commit can make us religious, if it makes us think we are better than whoever they are. Here, Jesus condemns religion. Here, Jesus puts religion out of business. Let’s see how.

In verse 12, He’s hungry, He’s skipped breakfast to spend more time in prayer, and He sees a fig tree with no fruit on it, and curses it. How often have we opened the fridge at home and not found the food we were looking for and wish we could curse the fridge?! Well here that’s what Jesus does! But why? And why does Mark tell us about this? Well if you look at this passage you’ll see that Mark puts Jesus visit to the temple in the middle of the story about the cursing of the fig tree. Jesus is showing us what’s wrong with religion by showing us what’s wrong with the fig tree. It had leaves but no fruit. It looked good, but there was nothing worthwhile on it’s branches. We can say exactly the same thing about religion. It looks good, but it’s dead. The Temple in Jerusalem looked good, but there was nothing good there, no life there. Our religion, whatever it may be, looks good, but there is no life there. Jesus condemns religion as He curses the fig tree. Religion does not produce life, and therefore it is worthless.

Then Jesus heads to the Temple. Remember it’s Passover, and maybe as many as two million people have come to the city to take part in the festival. These people had foreign money that needed changing, and needed to buy animals to sacrifice. All this business took place at the Temple. It started as a good service, people didn’t have to bring a lamb with them when they travelled, they could buy one when they got there. People had to offer Jewish money in the Temple, so they could buy some with their Syrian or Egyptian money when they arrived. Except by Jesus time this had turned from a religious help into a money making scheme for the priests. Animals were sold at extortionate prices, money was exchanged at a 400% mark-up, meaning that if you gave $2 you’d get 5c back. This is what Jesus confronts as He enters the Temple. This is why there were money changes, and pigeon sellers and people carrying things through the Temple. And Jesus stopped them all.

Imagine how powerful, how influential Jesus must have been to shut all this down by Himself. To let all the animals loose, to stop all the buying and selling, to stop anyone bringing anything through the Temple. I would’ve loved to have seen it. And why was Jesus doing all this? Because of what he says in verse 17: ‘is it not written by house shall be a house of prayer for all nations, but you have made it a den of robbers. Jesus quotes from Isaiah to remind His listeners of the real purpose of the Temple, which is to meet with God. It’s a place for all people to come together and pray and worship and thank God. This is how we can know whether or not what we’re doing is from religion or from faith. Does your Bible reading bring you closer to God, or just make you feel better about yourself? Does coming to church bring you closer to God, or do you just come to stop feeling guilty? Are you faithful, or religious?

Jesus shows us the religion is not only fruitless, but also corrupt. Not only does it not produce good fruit, like joy, peace and patience, but it produces bad fruit like pride and greed. So are you joyful and patient or proud and greedy? That answer goes a long way to demonstrating whether you’re faithful or religious.

On the way back out of town that evening, they pass by the fig tree once more and Peter notices that it has withered. Just like the cursed Temple is finished so is the cursed fig tree. No fruit will ever come from the tree again, just like no fruit will ever come from the Temple again. The Temple was destroyed, never to be rebuilt, about forty years later in 70AD.

Why does Jesus do this? In Amos 4:9, God says this to His people: ‘I struck you with blight and mildew, your many gardens and your vineyards, your fig trees and your olive trees the Lord devoured, yet you did no return to me, declares the Lord.’ Jesus does this so that His people might return to Him, and how can we do that? Jesus shows us two things that real faith is based on in verses 22-25, read them with me.

First of all, real faith is based on dependence. Jesus doesn’t teach us here that prayer give us super powers, but that in a crisis, and in fact every day, we rely on Jesus, not on religion. We turn to Jesus and ask for help, we turn to Jesus and ask for guidance and wisdom and forgiveness. Religion doesn’t do those things, Jesus does. He promises the disciples that the Temple would be destroyed, but they have to wait 40 years for it. They have to depend on Him. He makes promises to us that we have to wait for.

Do you depend on Jesus? Or on your religious works?

The Lord sums up His attack on religion in verse 25. Simply, if we want to live in the Kingdom of forgiveness, we must forgive. If the Temple was supposed to be a house of prayer for all nations, it would first have to be a place of forgiveness. If you and I are going to be forgiven by God, we’ll have to forgive others. Are you forgiving? Do you forgive? Or do you hold grudges to make yourself feel better about life? Do you forgive? Or religiously hold up a standard that no one can maintain.

In Mark 11:12-26 Jesus attacks the Temple, and with it attacks every form of religion that we care to mention. But let’s not feel smug and think that we have it right. That’s the heart of the religion that Jesus was attacking and condemning. Instead let’s examine ourselves, and ask God to reveal our motives. Why do we do what we do? Why do we read the Bible? Why do we go to church? Because we have faith in Jesus? Or because we are religious? And let’s ask Jesus for help. Help not to be proud, but help to be dependent on Him. We can’t get to God in any other way except through Jesus, and we come to Jesus through faith, not religion.

The Magic Gospel Bullet

Which famous Christian celebrity would you like the be discipled by? Paul? Augsutine? Calvin? Piper? Or how about Jesus Himself.

Of course, that's a bit of a false dichotomy, but in Mark 8:22-10:52 we find Jesus' private discipleship lessons, remembered by Peter, recorded by Mark, and given to us. Think of it! In these chapters we get to wander around Galilee with Jesus, listening in to some of His most intimate and important teaching, before striking off south, face set to Jerusalem.

Mark bookends these lessons with two stories of Jesus healing the blind. First of all in chapter 8 there's the man who sees trees walking. This was a real event that really happened, but it's also a parable. When the disciples looked at Jesus, they saw a tree walking. They saw Him feed five thousand men with a boys lunch, and then worried about where they were going to get bread. They looked at Jesus and didn't get it. If He's the Messiah, where His sword? More importantly, if He's the Messiah, where is our sword?

In this section Jesus predicts His death and resurrection three times, and three times the disciples misunderstand. Peter is often at the forefront of the misunderstanding, at least initially. It seems Jesus closest friend was not one to retweet compliments. Jesus says i'm going to be handed over to men, who'll treat me shamefully. The disciples argue over who is the greatest. Jesus says He'll be mocked, spat on and flogged. James and John wonder if they can sit either side of Him when He turns the Temple Mount into the centre of His earthly Kingdom. They don't get it. Even after Peter's great confession, even after the transfiguration, they still look at a man, and see a tree.

I wonder if Jesus was frustrated with them. He was certainly indignant when the twelve tried to turn away a child. Here's the great encouragement for me from these verses. Jesus was in charge of these guys discipleship, and they still grew slowly. They still misunderstood, they still didn't get in. Very shortly the leader of their group would cut a guy's ear off! Next time, when i feel like i'm failing in the same area for the hundredth time, or helping someone else who has, i need to remember that.

Everyone's Christian growth is normally incremental. Sure, there are times when growth occurs like a bolt of lightening across the night's sky, but it's more often like the sunrise. I was thinking yesterday how much i wished there was a magic bullet for Christian growth, but how, at the same time, i'm glad there isn't. As Jesus keeps teaching slowly their eyes opened as they learnt to depend on Him. The final increment didn't fall into place until the ascension, but their eyes opened in the end.

And so will everyone's eyes, yours and mine included. One day, we won't look at Jesus and see a tree, one day we'll be like Bartimaeus, the living example of what Mark 10 is about. Committed enough to stand out from the crowd, humble enough to ask for help, his only ambition to follow Jesus into the last week of His life. Slowly but surely, as Christ Himself disciples us, God's Word will do God's work, our eyes will be opened. We'll see, and we'll follow.

Faithlessness and Jesus

Mark 9 is a reboot, a re-beginning of Jesus ministry. You can cut Mark's Gospel in half, either side of Peter's great confession in 8:24. A week after that great moment Jesus takes Peter, James and John up a mountain and is transfigured before them.

Peter makes himself sound a bit slow. he often does in Mark's Gospel. if we agree that mark got his information from Peter, we have to conclude that Peter wasn't one to retweet his own achievements. He offers to make tents for the three men he sees. Jesus, Moses and Elijah. On that mountain, His clothes shining white, Jesus is endorsed by the law and the prophets. In Luke 24 Jesus tells us that the law and the prophets talk about Him, well, here are the law and the prophets talking to Jesus.

But not just the law and the prophets. The men here a voice from heaven as well. 'This is my beloved Son, listen to Him.' Just like at the beginning of Jesus' ministry in Mark, Jesus is endorsed by His Father. The second half of Mark starts like the first, Jesus is re-comissioned by the Father, and sets off for the final part of His earthly ministry.

Having been with Elijah and Moses, Jesus then faces what they faced. What happened when Moses left his meeting with God on a mountain? He was met with the faithlessness of his people, including, worst of all, Aaron. He found them dancing around the Golden Calf, worshiping it as the 'God who brought them out of Egypt.' Faithlessness. Why was Elijah on a mountain talking to God? Faithlessness. He told God that he alone was left, that everyone else has bowed the knee to Baal. He was wrong of course, but that was his perception.

What did Jesus meet as he came down the mountain? Faithlessness. The remaining disciples were arguing with some scribes because they could not cast a demon out of a boy. Jesus could and did. But why, the disciples ask, couldn't they? Presumably when Jesus sent them out two by two they hadn't met any such problems? What was the problem?

Their problem was that even though the Kingdom comes to earth in glory, the Kingdom grows in our hearts slowly. Jesus tells them that they must pray and fast. I can't believe they weren't already doing that, but Jesus simply encourages them to do it more. Pray more, fast more, grow more. You'll get there.

How can we be sure we'll get there? Well, remember who told them to pray and fast? Who tells us to pray and fast? Who helps us grow as Christians. Jesus! Jesus who was endorsed by the law, the prophets and the Father! Jesus who stood transfigured before Peter, James and John. Jesus who took on death, and left it defeated in the grave. Jesus who rules the Kingdom for His people, Jesus who returns.

So if you wish you were growing more quickly as a Christian, you're in good company. And you've got all the help you need. Jesus encourages us to pray, to fast, to ask for help. And as we pray, He'll answer. The great and glorious Son of God will help us grow.

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.

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.

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.

Unbelief

Mark 6:6 might be one of the most worrisome verses in the New Testament. 'And (Jesus) marveled because of their unbelief...' Jesus was taken aback and amazed by the lack of faith He found in Nazareth. Most of the time in the first six chapters of Mark, people are amazed at Jesus, this time, Jesus is the one who is amazed, and not in a good way.

Jesus has gone home, for the last time as Mark records it. Back to Nazareth, one final teaching opportunity for His disciples before He sends them out two by two. He's asked to teach in the synagogue. I don't know whether or not this is the same occasion as Luke 4, but i want to say that it is. Why would the men of Nazareth try to kill Jesus and then have Him back to speak? It doesn't seem all that likely.

So Jesus teaches and people question Him, they insult Him (son of Mary, wink wink, nudge nudge), they're not really interested in what He has to say. In Nazareth He couldn't heal many because of their unbelief. This doesn't mean that Jesus is like Tinkerbell, He doesn't need our belief to give Him power, but it means there were no crowds, there were no women clinging to the edge of His garment, not desperate fathers with dying daughters. Just a few sick people.

And Jesus was amazed. Ouch.

How does He deal with this unbelief. Maybe we should pause and ask how we would deal with this unbelief. He knows that a prophet is not without honour except in his hometown, and he identifies himself with the faithful men of God in that way. I don't know what i'd do next, but i'm not i wouldn't have my own 'sons of thunder' moment here. You don't believe? Then BANG! i'll give you something to believe in. Y'know, something gracious like that. Jesus doesn't do that, instead, He carries their unbelief, and yours and mine, and dies under the weight of it.

What happened at Nazareth was in miniature what happened everywhere. Jesus came to His own and they rejected Him. He went to Jerusalem, and they rejected Him, eventually, most of His closest followers turned their back on Him, as He bore their sins on the cross.

This is how Jesus deals with our unbelief. He dies for it. He dies because of it, and rises three days later, and by His Spirit now graciously shows us His glory in the face of God. Before we saw nothing valuable in Jesus. We obscured His teaching with our irrelevant questions and oh-so-clever slurs. Now? Now we see, now He's died and risen we see who He is, and we can cry out 'i believe, help my unbelief!'

Jesus came and we didn't believe. We didn't want to know. And He took that unbelief and He killed it, and left it in the grave. Now He shines glorious from the pages of history, and we see Him, not just as the 'son of Mary,' but as the risen Son of God. And as we see, we believe.

The Bible Question is 'Who?'

We've been studying Revelation together for the past few weeks in Teen Sunday school. Last weekend we covered chapter 4, sort of leaving port and pushing off into the great unknown of the main body of the book. The stuff that i think my teens were thinking of when they asked to study this book, the many headed beasts, the woman clothed with the sun, the dead prophets in the street.

Something in us, and i think it's a good thing, wants to spend time puzzling these things out doesn't it? Something wants to tie down once and for all who the 144,000 are and whether the millennium is a literal thousand years, and what exactly happens during that time anyway. I'm no different. I was reading A Fire Kindled From Heaven again this weekend, and found myself wondering why i think the Puritan's have the Song right but Revelation wrong. It's ok to mix and match from history though isn't it. I don't even agree with Piper on everything (that's what i tell people anyway!)

I guess there are two equal and opposite errors we can make reading Revelation. We can either take it too literally, or not literally enough. If we make the first error we end up reading Revelation like Acts, trying to ascribe meaning to every detail, and missing the big picture. If we make the second, we forget that John really did see these things, and they really do have something concrete to tell us, and we end up missing the big picture.

And what's the big picture? Wrong question, who is the big picture? Jesus. Who is always the Bible question. Who does Abel tell us about? Or Joseph? Or Ahasuerus? It is the Revelation of Jesus Christ. It's not a text book for the end of the world.

This is clear in chapter 4. When you read it, the word throne stands out above anything else. So you can get caught up in the colours of His appearance, or who four things the living creatures signify. Or you can get your eyes on the throne, and bask, and join in with the worship of the creatures and elders. We can look around us and be discouraged whether in the first century or the twenty first, or we can look to the throne and see Jesus. See Jesus who holds everything in the palm of His hand. See Jesus who rules for His people.

This is the big picture isn't it? Not only of Revelation, but of the whole Bible. The question is who, not what. Who sits on the throne? Who is worthy of worship? Who is your beloved? Who is this man who commands the wind and the sea.

Jesus. He is the big picture, He is the answer to the puzzle, He is the key to the lock, He is the highest point of any superlative you care to name. And He is the point of Revelation. Let's get our eyes on Him.