It’s often said, we have only one life to live! We need to live it well.’

How many people really believe this? Most people have a sneaking suspicion that there is more to life – that death is not the end of our existence.

C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity commented, If I find in myself desires which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.

Come with me to a significant question that Jesus put to his close followers. We read it in Mark 8:28: “Who do people say that I am?” he asked.

Up to this point, Mark tells us, Jesus’ followers seemed dull and obtuse in their understanding of him. They had seen first-hand his power and authority when he had healed the sick, commanded the powers of evil, and even raised the dead to life.

On one occasion they had been in a boat with him when a sudden storm threatened their very lives. When they cried out in fear, he calmed the tempest at a word. “Have you no faith?” he’d asked them. They saw his many miracles and they heard his teaching, yet they still didn’t understand.

Let’s think about this. Most of us have seen pictures that have two perspectives. We look at the drawing one way and we see a vase. We look at it another way and we see a face.

Sometimes we can look at a picture like this for hours and only see one thing. The second perspective remains hidden. Then we blink our eyes or turn our head and look back, and there the second perspective is. We wonder why we didn’t see it before. Psychologists call this a Gestalt phenomenon. It comes from the German word meaning shape or pattern.

The phenomenon can’t be broken up into logical stages. We can’t get half-way. It’s all or nothing. We either see the second perspective or we don’t.

Opinions about Jesus are a little like this. There have been times when I have talked with people for hours about him – answering questions, making points, developing the case that Jesus is who he claimed to be. Yet often they don’t see what is so obvious to me.

The ability to recognize the uniqueness of Jesus is an insight. We can’t organise it. It’s a perception we must have. It comes, not as a conclusion to a logical argument, but as a gift.

In the same way that people can be perplexed by picture puzzles, the disciples couldn’t make proper sense of Jesus.

Then came a critical moment. Jesus had taken them away to Caesarea Philippi. “Who do people say that I am?” he asked. Mark tells us they cited the popular perceptions: some say you’re Elijah, others, John the Baptist, and others, one of prophets.

It was obvious to everyone that Jesus was someone very impressive, but there had been impressive people before. The general consensus seems to have been that Jesus belonged to the group of great ones in Israel’s history.

But Jesus was not content with this, “What about you?”. He pressed them: “Who do you say that I am?”

Suddenly, Peter seems to have got it. He’d probably thought about it before, but it was too crazy for words. But now the penny had dropped and his blurred vision cleared. Jesus wasn’t just a prophet. He was the One the prophets had foreshadowed.

We can almost hear a click as Peter saw this new perspective. “You are the Christ”, he said.

How did Peter work this out? Was it the outcome of reasoned research? No. The moment of insight came, as it does for every true believer – out of the blue. It wasn’t a deduction or a discovery. It was revelation!

And there was something else: inspiration! The ministry of the Holy Spirit. In Matthew 16:17 we read Jesus’ words: “… Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.”

It is here that we find the key to the meaning of life. To see that Jesus is no mere man but God in the flesh, is to see that there is much more to life than what we experience now. For to understand that Jesus of Nazareth is God’s Messiah, God’s eternal Son who has set aside his true glory and become one of us, opens our minds and hearts to a hope and a joy that satisfies our deepest longings.

As we reflect on these deep matters of life we see that there is something mysterious in the way God opens our eyes. As we come to know the Jesus of the Gospel records, we come to realize that there are critical moments when we are conscious that Jesus is personally asking us: “Who do you say that I am?”

How do we experience this? We don’t have the advantage of having Jesus with us in the flesh. But we do have the reliable accounts from those who did meet him or had verified their record with eyewitnesses (Luke) – the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. And we note that the account about Jesus is not written up by only one man, but four!

Many people are aware that there is more to life than our material existence. Without that hope, life offers little purpose for most people.

We often forget that God’s Spirit uses his Word to touch and transform lives – opening their eyes to who Jesus really is, convicting them of going their own way rather than God’s way, and bringing them to a ‘Gestalt moment’. However God doesn’t act in a vacuum. He gives us the privilege of working with him in his ministry of mercy to which he is passionately committed.

Will you join with me in praying that the Lord will be pleased to renew his people with the vision of reaching the lost, so that many others might come to know and love Jesus Christ as their Lord and their God – through experiencing a life-changing Gestalt moment?

Prayer. Lord Christ, eternal Word and Light of the Father’s glory: send your light and your truth so that we may both know and proclaim your word of life, to the glory of God the Father; for you now live and reign, God for all eternity. Amen.

© John G. Mason

No-one likes a hypocrite – someone who says one thing and does another. I’m not talking about times when we fall short of the Lord’s expectations of us. I’m referring to the general disposition of someone whose professed faith is hollow.

A hypocrite – an English word derived from the Greek, hypokrisis – means actor.

In Matthew 6:1 Jesus warns: “Beware of practising your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.”

Earlier in his Sermon on the Mount Jesus taught: “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven…” Now he is saying, “Beware of practising your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them,..”

In both places he is talking about being seen by others. At first glance his words seem to be contradictory. Is he inconsistent? No.

In Matthew chapter 5, Jesus begins his sermon on the Mount with what we call the Beatitudes – qualities of lives blessed by God. Jesus also says that his followers are to be salt and light in the world and he goes on to exemplify what this looks like in areas of anger and lust, truth-speaking, retaliation, and prayer for enemies.

Now in Matthew chapter 6 he is saying that our faith doesn’t entitle us to promote ourselves. There’s all the difference in the world between honoring God in our lives and wanting to make a name for ourselves.

These days we may not win popularity for our faith in the wider community. However, it can be a different story within the church. Preachers and church leaders, musicians and generous givers can generate acclaim if they work at it. And social media networks can promote it.

But with three examples in his Sermon, Jesus warns against a faith that has no substance. John Stott commented, ‘Our good works must be public so that our light shines; our religious devotions must be secret lest we boast about them.’

Giving. “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others,” Jesus says (6:2).

Giving to the ministry of God’s Word and providing assistance for those in need is biblical. Writing on Godly and responsible giving in 2 Corinthians 8:9, Paul the Apostle says: For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might be rich.

However, when we give so that others know what we are doing, whether in the street or in the synagogue, whether in church or at a charity function, we are being hypocritical. It’s not the kind of giving that honors God, because it is motivated by self-interest. This is a reason why for decades the names of living benefactors were not on plaques in church buildings.

Jesus is saying that hypocrites give in order to be honored by those around them. ‘And’, he says, “I tell you they have their reward” (6:2).

Jesus uses a telling metaphor that the right hand should not know what the left hand is doing. No one, apart from God, should know about our giving. He will see our true motives: our real concern to support gospel ministry and to care for the needy. Such giving will be rewarded by our heavenly Father, Jesus says.

Prayer. “And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward…” (6:5).

To be invited to lead the prayers in the synagogue was a mark of distinction, especially as the leader prayed in front of everyone. Jesus knows how easy it is for anyone leading prayer in church to focus on themselves, their presence, the theological and literary quality of their prayer – even the tone of their voice, rather than truly addressing God.

Now Jesus isn’t saying that prayer must always be in secret. He and his disciples attended services in the Temple and synagogue. Prayer in public is not the issue: it is our attitude. However, there is something special about prayer in private. It reveals who we really are – including the fact that we pray! Prayer in the privacy of our room will be more honest and genuine. We are less likely to focus on self. It’s the kind of prayer God hears and blesses.

Fasting. “And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show to others that they are fasting… (6:16).  Fasting was one of the characteristics of Jewish devotional life and was particularly observed on special days, such as the Day of Atonement.

With his words, “whenever you fast …” Jesus assumes there will be times when his followers will fast – as we read in Acts 13:2-3. Fasting was typically associated with a time for reflection with a Bible open and repentant prayer. Fasting can be a helpful self-discipline, prompting us to focus on God without distraction.

But once again Jesus warns: “And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show to others that they are fasting…” There is to be no ostentation, perhaps through whitewashing the face or using ashes or earth on the face. Rather, Jesus says, use oil to brighten the face – again not ostentatiously. We are not to show or tell others what we are doing: it is between us and God.

In verse 1 Jesus warns: “Beware of practising your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven,” And with each of the warnings against hypocrisy he contrasts two types of reward: the applause of others or the reward from your Father who is in heaven.

In verse 9, the first words of the prayer he teaches his followers to pray are: “Our Father …”

All God’s people throughout time, no matter their race or their status in life, are invited to call the creator of the vast and complex universe, “Father”.  It’s an extraordinary privilege, far, far greater than we ever imagined or dreamed.

Jesus’ words about giving, prayer and fasting are humbling. Doing the right thing before God, living with integrity before the Lord, must never become confused with play-acting spirituality, pious ostentation. Jesus challenges us to ask, ‘Who am I trying to please?’

Honest answers to this question can produce the most disquieting results. How many of us would want to hear God’s chilling verdict: “Hypocrite!”

The story is told of an occasion when the esteemed philosopher CEM Joad of London University was asked by a visitor at a College high table, ‘Tell me, Dr Joad, what do you think of God?’ To which he replied, ‘My greater concern is what God thinks of me’.

What reward are you looking for in life – approval of people you know or the secret blessing of the Lord that will one day be shouted from the rooftops?

Prayer. Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing that you have made, and you forgive the sins of all who are penitent: create and make in us new and contrite hearts, so that we, lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain from you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.  (BCP, Ash Wednesday)

© John G. Mason

HG Wells, historian and author of The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds responded to a request from The American Magazine in July 1922, to identify the six most influential people in history. “I am an historian,” he said. “I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history”.

Why then was HG Wells, and many like him, not a believer? Perhaps it has something to do with what we might call, God’s deep irony. In First Corinthians chapter 1, verse 22 we read: For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, …

The Jewish people wanted miracles – something that Jesus recognized in the course of his public ministry. In Luke chapter 11, verse 29 he seems to have strangely observed: “This generation… seeks a sign…” I say, strangely, because Jesus performed many miracles. He objected to performing signs because he knew what was in the hearts of people who asked for them: in their pride they thought they had a right to evaluate him, test his credentials.

Significantly, Paul the Apostle not only knew what was in Jewish minds; he also understood the mindset of the non-Jewish world, the Gentiles. They may not look for signs, but they too had a problem which proved to be an obstacle to faith. They believed they were smart enough to explain the world and life: if God exists, he would need to fit into their philosophical and scientific worldview.

First century Corinth was a world not much different from our own. But Paul came with a very different message – a message about a king who came and who was put to death. In verse 23 he writes: but we proclaim Christ crucified,…

It’s not what we would call a brilliant line! But it sits at the heart of God’s powerful message that can transform people’s lives across the nations and races throughout time. It doesn’t sound wise, but it is the only power that can rescue a lost humanity.

Many Jewish people longed for the coming of God’s Messiah who, they believed, would come in majestic glory and great power. For them, Paul’s message of a crucified Messiah was a contradiction in terms. It was blasphemy to think that God’s Messiah would hang, cursed by God, on a tree. And this is what Paul also thought before he met Jesus in a vision on the Road to Damascus.

Paul, a Roman citizen who had been educated in the University of Tarsus, also understood the non-Jewish world. He knew the Gentiles valued reason and philosophy. They weren’t interested in tales about an uneducated man who was put to death as a felon.

Both Jewish and Gentile peoples rejected or mocked the message about a cross. But Paul is insistent. In verse 24 he presses his point: but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

The Jewish people expected a powerful Messianic ruler, a great King David. They scoffed at the idea of a crucified Messiah. It is a matter of deep irony that Jesus’ death which seems to be a moment of supreme failure, is in fact a moment of God’s supreme power.

For their part, the Gentiles who prided themselves in wisdom, mocked the idea of a crucified hero. Yet again, it is a matter of deep irony that through what seems to be utter foolishness, the profound wisdom of God is revealed.

Which brings us to an all-important question: In What Do You Glory? In verse 26 he says: Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.

Are you ever impressed when you find you are in a church where there are successful people – perhaps a top surgeon, or successful banker or financier, a top sports person? How easy it is to focus on people like this. But the reality is, in human terms, not many of God’s people are successful. This was true in the church in Corinth.

Back in Paul’s day, churches brought together people from all backgrounds and with a wide diversity of ability and skills. One of the things that came to be noticed about them was this very diversity – of free people and slaves, of rich and poor, of educated and uneducated.

Paul is reminding us of the way that God’s mercy reaches across our social divides. None of us can claim an advantage with God because of birth or family, position, success or wealth.

And Paul comments that even in this very diversity God has a purpose: But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God (1:27).

None of us can boast about anything we have done to secure a place with God. We are not good enough. Our relationship with God is God’s free gift to us. To quote Ephesians 2:8-9: For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

However, there is one thing about which we can boast: “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord” (1:31).

Typically, we don’t respect people who boast about themselves. It’s rude and arrogant, the height of pride and self-centeredness. Paul’s words about boasting here are of a very different order. He is talking about boasting in God. In fact, another word we could use for boasting is glorying – glorying in the Lord.

In verse 30 he tells us why: He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord”.

Christ Jesus who died and rose again is God’s wisdom. His wisdom secures our righteousness – our legal standing before him. God’s wisdom brings about our sanctification – the special status we have with God. It is God’s wisdom that purchases our redemption – the freedoms we now enjoy as God’s people – freedom from sin, from the power of evil, and from death.

How wonderfully wise is our God. How amazing is his mercy. The more we get to know him, the more we will want to bring every part of our life in line with him – our hopes and dreams, our joys and our sorrows, our laughter and our tears.

Here is the God who is not just worth knowing about, but personally worth knowing.

Prayer. Father in heaven, whose Son Jesus Christ was wonderfully transfigured before chosen witnesses upon the holy mountain, and spoke of his suffering in Jerusalem: give us strength so to hear his voice and follow him, that in the world to come we may see him as he is; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

© John G. Mason

As The Lord’s Supper is often confusing, let me step aside from my usual practice of providing a Bible reflection and make a few remarks about key themes that were crafted by Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1533-1556.

Cranmer was used by God to re-form the Church of England as a biblically-grounded, gospel-focused church. He achieved this through recovering the unique nature of the Scriptures as God’s written self-revelation, the development of The Thirty-Nine Articles, the Homilies (sermons on essential doctrines of the faith) and his 1552 Book of Common Prayer – which sits behind the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. To this day the 1662 BCP sets out the doctrine and principles of worship for the gathering of God’s people in the Anglican Church around the world.

To understand the shape of The Lord’s Supper we need first to appreciate Cranmer’s view of human nature which Dr Ashley Null summarizes as: ‘What the heart loves, the will chooses, and the mind justifies. Such is the nature of our broken relationship with God that the desires of our hearts dominate us. When we gather as God’s people our hearts need to be addressed and changed, and that can only be achieved by God – through his Word and his Spirit.

So, at the commencement of The Lord’s Supper, we pray: Almighty God, to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hidden: cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, so that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy name, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

We pray for the outpouring of the Spirit of God on the lives and hearts of everyone present, not on the elements of bread and wine on the Table. The prayer rightly calls down the Spirit of God on everyone gathered in the name of Christ Jesus.

And to remind us of God’s expectations, Cranmer called for the recitation of the Ten Commandments. Jesus’ summary of the commandments is sometimes used today – followed by a response: Incline our hearts to keep this law. Cranmer’s intention was to let the Holy Spirit work through the Scriptures to change hearts.

In the flow of the liturgy, the Scriptures are read and a Creed – a statement of belief – is said. A sermon is given, indicating that we can come only to the Lord’s Table through a response of faith to God’s Word. Prayers are said for the church, leaders in the wider community, and the needs of God’s people and others.

The minister then exhorts everyone with words that echo Paul’s warning in First Corinthians chapter 11, about eating the bread and drinking the cup without heartfelt repentance and a deep desire to live out Christ’s commands.

The warning leads into a general confession, followed by a pronouncement of the promise of God’s forgiveness in the Name of Jesus, for all who truly repent of following their heart’s desires rather than God’s holy law. The biblical ground for the promise of God’s forgiveness is underlined by what are called ‘comfortable words’ (e.g., John 3:16;1 John 2:1-2).

With the exhortation and response, Lift up your hearts. We lift them to the Lord. we are exhorted to lift our gaze to the Lord of heaven and earth. We are also reminded that Christ is not physically in the world. Rather, he is in heaven.

In this context our hearts are lifted up to the Lord on high with words from Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4, known as ‘the Sanctus’: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are filled with your glory. Hosanna in the highest – period, full stop.

In Cranmer’s 1552 Prayer Book there is no following acclamation: ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ – words that reflected a false theology of ‘the real presence’ of Christ in the bread and the wine. If we read Luke 13:35 carefully we will see that Jesus spoke these words of himself and of his forthcoming sacrificial death. This work was completed once and for all through his crucifixion. Cranmer’s aim was gospel clarity, not ambiguity.

The themes of confession of sin, God’s grace and forgiveness, continue with the Prayer of Humble Access. The focus of our prayer is to the Lord whose nature is always to have mercy…

Cranmer’s prayer of consecration – the setting apart of the bread and wine for The Lord’s Supper – follows. It recalls God’s all-glorious act of redemption that was achieved through the Lord Jesus Christ who, in his death on the cross, made there … a full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world and thereby instituted a perpetual memory of his precious death until his coming again.

The prayer continues, asking that the bread and wine become for us the body and blood of Christ – not literally but spiritually in that the Spirit of God feeds our hearts and minds, with the benefits of what Christ has done for us.

It is important to notice that the sacraments are not administered to give us a nice warm feeling. Nor, as Cranmer’s 1552 Prayer Book makes clear, are they are a re-offering of the sacrifice of Christ. They are not something we do to achieve some merit in our relationship with God. Rather, the sacraments bring us through an outward sign, what God has done for us in Christ. For the true believer in Christ, they bring real spiritual benefits.

As God’s people eat the bread, they are exhorted to Take and eat this, in remembrance that Christ died for you, and feed on Him in your heart by faith, with thanksgiving. And in taking the cup all are exhorted to Drink this in remembrance that Christ’s blood was shed for you and be thankful. As we receive the bread and the wine, we are spiritually partaking of the benefits of Christ’s death. When we truly believe in Christ, they bring us spiritual benefits.

How important it is that when we come to The Lord’s Supper, we have reflected afresh on what Christ has done once and for all time to satisfy in full God’s righteous requirements for our sin and for the sins of the world.

The Lord’s Supper concludes with a prayer of self-offering (oblation) based on Hebrews 13:15 and Romans 12:1-2. With these prayers God’s people are sent into to the world to live for Christ and to change the world through the gospel.

A prayer. Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip us all with everything good that we may do his will, working in us what is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

© John G. Mason

With the elections in the UK and the US last year and upcoming elections in other democracies we wonder about the future. Good and upright leaders are rare. Indeed, while every election shows that no leader is perfect, most people long for someone who will use their position to provide for the security and welfare of a nation. In a fallen world the freedom to elect leaders is important and very precious – something for which we should pray.

When we read the history of Israel in the Old Testament we learn that the prophets spoke of a unique leader whom God would send. Isaiah chapters 1 through 39 reveal God’s condemnation of his people for their self-worship and their disregard of him. Isaiah had warned of God’s judgement and in 586BC the Babylonians demolished Jerusalem and took its people captive. But Isaiah is not all negative, for he opens a window on something new and lasting that God planned to do through a very special king.

In Isaiah chapter 61 we read: The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me;… Isaiah 61 continues by telling us what this Spirit-led figure will do: He has come to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor; And the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn… (61:1b-2).

It is not until we come to the New Testament that we see the real significance of these words.

For Luke chapter 4, verses 17 through 19 tells us that Jesus, as guest speaker in the synagogue in Nazareth, opened the scroll of the book of Isaiah at chapter 61. He read: The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me,… to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. Period. Full stop.

He didn’t complete Isaiah’s words: …and the day of vengeance of our God, but went on to comment: “Today these words are being fulfilled in your midst”.

By leaving Isaiah’s words incomplete, Jesus implies that there are two stages to the ‘Day of the Lord’ – the day of favor, and the day of justice. His first coming inaugurates the time of God’s favor, or mercy – the era of God’s rescue operation. His return will be the time of God’s judgment and the establishment of Jesus’ rule in all its perfection and glory. Everyone will see it and feel it.

It’s important that we notice how Jesus applies Isaiah’s words to his public ministry: he says he has come to the aid of the poor, the captives, the blind, and the oppressed.

When did he do this? After all he didn’t provide food and clothing for all the needy around him; he didn’t release any prisoners, not even John the Baptist. Why? Because he has a bigger plan.

Words such as poor, blind, captive and mourn in Isaiah and the Old Testament as a whole, are often used as metaphors. The poor is often a reference to the spiritually poor, the blind, to the spiritually blind, and the captives, to those who are captive to self, sin and death. Those who mourn are aware of their own broken relationship with God as well as the brokenness of the world in its relationship with God.

That said, there were times when Jesus literally fulfilled Isaiah’s words. He did feed people who were hungry; he did give sight to some who were blind; and he did release people who were captive to the powers of evil. In each instance the miracle is a picture of God’s compassion and his ultimate purpose to provide life in all its fullness and freedom for his people. The events pointed to the beauty and perfection of the rule of God’s king.

By reading from Isaiah chapter 61 in the synagogue in Nazareth that day, Jesus assumed the mantle of the anointed servant-king of Isaiah’s vision. He was announcing that the final great era of God’s mercy had dawned.

Yes, he introduced a tension between the is and the yet to be of God’s rule, but it is a tension we need to work with, for it is God’s plan. It’s important that we see this for we need to live with this tension in our lives.

Many around us have thrown God out of their lives and view political power and their own world-view as the solution to the world’s ills. But no matter how good human leaders might be, they will always fail us. How wonderful it is to know that the day will come when Jesus Christ will return in all his kingly glory to usher in a new heaven and a new earth where truth and righteousness, peace and joy will prevail forever.

Before he departed from his followers, Jesus commissioned them with the primary task of proclamation – announcing God’s good news of release to all nations. What’s more, he continues to raise up men and women to carry on this task, to give people everywhere the chance to turn to God. Isaiah tells us and Jesus repeats: ‘Now is the time of God’s favor – the era of God’s grace’. The opportunity to respond to God’s good news won’t last forever.

Now is the time to listen up and to respond. In Jesus we find the leader we long for: God’s king who will come in all might, majesty, dominion and power.

Do you believe this? Are you prepared? And are you keen to help others to be ready for the return of the King?.

A prayer. Almighty God, we thank you for the gift of your holy word. May it be a lantern to our feet, a light to our paths, and strength to our lives. Take us and use us to love and serve all people in the power of the Holy Spirit and in the name of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

© John G. Mason

There are many things in life that baffle and trouble us. If God is almighty and all loving, why does he allow pain and suffering, evil and injustice to run riot through the world? From the wildfires in Los Angeles to conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, why does God allow us as individuals to go through so many of the things we do?

If we are to understand the trauma and trials of life, we need more than human wisdom and understanding. Abraham Lincoln once remarked: I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed insufficient for the day.

Wisdom. When the Bible speaks of wisdom it speaks of the complex matrix of intelligence, knowledge and power within a moral framework working together towards a good outcome.

Wisdom is the practical side of moral goodness. Because God alone is good, and because he alone has the power always to achieve his goals, his ways are always wise. Wisdom is an essential part of God’s character.

Isaiah chapter 42, verse 21 through chapter 43, verse 7 provides us with two scenes of God’s wisdom. The first speaks of tough times and God’s justice. The second speaks of peace and contains some of the most tender words of God’s love.

Tough times and God’s justice. The first scene portrays God’s people in exile in Babylon. Like refugees today, they were rootless, homeless, and friendless in a foreign land. But far greater than their personal loss was their sense that God had deserted them. They hadn’t believed prophets like Jeremiah; rather, they had preferred to listen to the popular preachers in Jerusalem who had told them that all would be well.

But it wasn’t. In 586BC their city had been destroyed, the temple demolished, and they had been deported. In Isaiah chapter 42, verse 24 we read: Who gave up Jacob to the spoiler, and Israel to the robbers? Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned, in whose ways they would not walk, and whose law they would not obey? Where was this only wise God?

Yet against all the odds, God’s ancient people survived. Indeed, no passage of the Bible expresses the renaissance of these people more clearly than Isaiah chapter 43, verses 1 through 7.

Which brings us to a second scene – a picture of God’s wisdom and love. It opens a window on God’s infinite wisdom and power at work.

In Isaiah chapter 43, verse 1 we read: This is what the Lord said, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.

Isaiah tells us that God took the growing embryo of our life and shaped it according to his good and wise purposes. But more than that, he redeemed us. For even though we have denied him and sought our independence from him, he bought us and brought us back to himself, even at great cost to himself.

We find this picture emerging in the Old Testament when he rescued the slaves in Egypt and shaped them into a nation. And when he returned the exiles in Babylon to Jerusalem and re-instated them as a people. But we see the greatest picture of God’s redemption when we turn to the New Testament. There we read that he has not only created us but has also redeemed us through the death of his one and only Son.

As Paul puts it in First Corinthians chapter 1, verse 18 and especially verses 24b and 25: Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser that human wisdom, and God’s weakness stronger than human strength. Jesus’ crucifixion seems foolish to world, but God in his infinite wisdom planned it.

Presence. God has not just redeemed his people. He promises to be personally present with us. Back in Isaiah chapter 43 we read in verse 2: When you pass through the waters I will be with you;…  God doesn’t promise that his people will be immune from tough times. He says when, not if. Furthermore, he speaks of his people passing through the waters not over them.

For the people of Isaiah’s day, it meant that God would be with them in the land of exile. For us who live on the other side of Jesus’ cross and resurrection, it’s an even richer statement, for we find that God has come amongst us in our pain and has participated in it.

This is the meaning of the manger in Bethlehem, and the cross outside Jerusalem. Christianity is not about a God who emails us sympathy notes. Rather he bore our sin and carried our sorrow. He descended to the lowest parts of the earth to rescue us. Immanuel: God is with us.

No other religion comes near this – a God who comes into a suffering world and suffers with us; a God who comes into the world and dies for us; a God who comes into the world and becomes a curse on our behalf. No other religion has even dreamed of this, let alone actioned it.

God wasn’t just satisfying some passing whim when he created and redeemed us. His plan and purpose, which he has been working out through history, is to establish a people who love him and glorify him.

Prayer. Lord our God, fountain of all wisdom, you know our necessities before we ask and our ignorance in asking: have compassion on our infirmities; and those things which for our unworthiness we dare not and for our blindness we cannot ask, graciously give us for the worthiness of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

© John G. Mason

Martin Luther King Junior’s 1963 Washington Speech, “I have a dream”, fired the hearts of American people across the racial divide to a new vision and energy to promote harmony and peace. Yet within five years Martin Luther King himself was dead, gunned down by an assassin’s bullet.

Is there any hope for our world where divisions, conflict and war continue? Or will there always be death and destruction?

Come with me to Isaiah chapter 60 where he speaks of a city yet to rise. With the Babylonian conquest of the Kingdom of Judah in 586BC, Isaiah’s first readers had lost their city, the temple (the symbol of God’s presence) and their king. Yet in the midst of the darkness and despair Isaiah provides shafts of light revealing God’s ultimate plans. We get glimpses of this in chapters 25 and 35 and especially in chapter 60.

With the close of chapter 59 Isaiah introduces the theme of a renewed city (verse 20), and in chapter 60 he speaks of God’s City – a place where the dark experiences of our present world will give way to light. Gloom will give way to glory.

Isaiah pictures the sun rising over Jerusalem as a metaphor for God’s future city. His readers would know the rising sun appears over the Mount of Olives before striking the city below, driving away the darkness and flooding the whole scene with the glory of its light. It’s a sight that tourists still marvel at today.

Significantly, Isaiah’s words came true. For against all odds the Jewish people did return to Jerusalem and rebuild it. Cyrus the Mede had risen and conquered Babylon and in 520BC he decreed that the Jewish people could return to their homeland.

But there’s another layer to Isaiah’s prophecy. He didn’t just speak of the city of Jerusalem rebuilt after the exile. He was taking up a theme found in chapter 25, where God’s Messiah, his king, would come down to earth. God would bring in a whole new order, a new creation, where Messiah would host a banquet far beyond anything that anyone dreamed.

Yes, the return of the exiles and the re-building of Jerusalem was part of God’s plan, but the earthly city Isaiah is speaking about is a picture of a greater city yet to come. Isaiah uses the earthly city of Jerusalem as a metaphor: God himself will rise over Jerusalem, filling the whole of the city with the light of his presence: Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

The imagery of light and darkness is often used to portray God’s creating work. In Genesis chapter 1, we read that thick darkness covered the earth, but that God’s light overcame it. In Isaiah chapter 60, darkness is a metaphor for moral evil and spiritual blindness.

The darkness of moral and spiritual failure is a shroud that embraces all people and covers all the nations. But, in the same way God’s light pierced the darkness in creation, now Isaiah sees God’s light piercing the darkness of human failure and the emergence of a new city.

At the centre of this new world is God – God’s throne and God’s city. Here there will be no need of a sun or a moon, for God’s glory will shine forever. God’s city represents everything that was promised in the original creation – relationships with God and with one another where there is truth and love, joy and peace, forever.

Furthermore, God’s light will shine world-wide. People everywhere will be drawn to it. In verse 3 we read: Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Lift up your eyes round about and see; they all gather together, they come to you.

Nations and kings will come to Zion, not to conquer it, but to acknowledge God and submit to him. Those who refuse, verse 12 warns, will perish: For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; those nations shall be utterly laid waste.

It is one of the ironies of history that the power of Rome which crucified Jesus in the first century capitulated to him in the fourth century when the emperor Constantine was baptized.

It is striking proof that Isaiah’s words were no idle dream. The kingdoms of human power would fail; they would amass their wealth only to lay it down at the feet of the king of kings.

It’s an inspiring and encouraging picture. How much more should it encourage us, who live on the other side of the coming of God’s Messiah, the Lord Jesus. With Jesus’ coming and his resurrection from the dead, we have greater assurance that God’s plans will come to pass. God’s rule and God’s City will be established in glory and greatness forever.

What then should we be doing in the meantime? Part of the answer lies in our need to be biblically rich in understanding God and his purposes.

We need to believe what we read in Colossians, chapter 3, verse 4 for example: When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. While Jesus Christ is already enthroned at God’s right hand, his rule remains hidden for the present. In this meantime, he wants people to come to him in faith, trusting him for who he is and what he has done for us.

This means in part, that we should not withdraw from society with its issues and concerns. Rather, to quote Jeremiah’s words to exiles in Babylon: But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare (Jeremiah 29:7). We all have a task to serve the best interests of the community around us.

We also have a greater task to assist the lost in being introduced to the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet sadly, the majority of churches in the West have lost their zeal to promote this good news.

In chapter 60, Isaiah wants us to see the restoration of ancient Jerusalem in the 6th century BC as a picture of God’s promise of a far greater city, when the dominion, power and glory of the Lord will be revealed in all its awesome majesty. Come what may, no human authority, no evil power, is greater than God.

As we read in Colossians chapter 2, verse 14, when Christ died, God defeated the powers of evil, sin and death. The day will come when that reality will be seen in all its fullness and glory.

Prayer. Almighty and everlasting God, ruler of all things in heaven and on earth, hear with mercy the prayers and petitions of your people, and so grant us your peace all the days of our life; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

© John G. Mason