Why You Want to be Spiritually Ripped
What’s the difference between the unsaved version of you and the saved version of you?
Beyond the fact that you’re going to Heaven and you have the option of dropping to your knees and and whispering a prayer in crisis situations, what is it that constitutes a practical advantage over that version of you that doesn’t know Christ? Imagine this:
I) On Your Stomach
Lay down on your stomach and close your eyes. This is the perspective that you have of yourself and the world around you, as far as the unsaved version of you (Ps 19:8; 36:2; Is 6:10; Matt 13:15; 2 Cor 3:14; 4:4; Eph 4:18; Jas 4:13-14).
You’re virtually “blind” to what is going on around you in terms of the spiritual realities that comprise the human experience. And before you dismiss the term, “spiritual” as some kind of ethereal mysticism that has no place in the context of a practical perspective, bear in mind that you can’t put anger in your pocket nor can you put happiness on like a ball cap. That which irritates us or makes us feel good may be a solid object of some kind, but the emotions and the psychological machinery that’s initiated by those objects aren’t things you can quantify or package.
Our whole world is one big box of “spiritual” commodities that we’re constantly processing according to the way our personalities are wired. It’s what inspires our values, it’s our mood, it’s our outlook, it’s all of what make us unique as individuals – it’s that host of intangibles that we encounter and contend with everyday (Eph 6:12).
When you’re spiritually dead, everything that drives the way you process yourself and the world around you is based on what you “feel,” rather than what you can truly see and know (see 2 Cor 4:4; Phil 3:19). Rather than being upright with your eyes open – and even standing on top of something so you have a good view of what’s going on -you’re in the dirt and incapable of processing the world as it truly is.
We’re oblivious to what’s under the hood. We can hear the car running, maybe, but we don’t see life as anything beyond what we want and what we feel. The bigger and the more important picture is “hidden” and we tend to wear ourselves out attempting to understand and control that which cannot be managed or anticipated (Jas 4:14).
II) Do You Smell That?
On the other hand, the born-again version of you has a clue. At least, we have access to a perspective that takes into account the Reality of that which is unseen (Heb 11:1). Purpose (Eph 2:10), Peace (Gal 5:22-23) and Power (Acts 1:8) – we have the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16) and our eyes have been open to what constitutes the difference between light and darkness (Jn 9:39; Acts 26:18).
For the sake of our illustration, we’re on our knees with our eyes now fully open. Do you smell that? That is the aroma of Divine Perfection and it lives within us (1 Cor 1:30; Col 1:27).
That’s motivating!
But what does that mean?
There’s no doubt, that’s True. But how does that translate to something practically advantageous? And let’s go ahead and acknowledge the obvious perk of being able to bring our troubles before our King in prayer. That piece of it, along with the guarantee of Heaven, is a given (Jn 3:16; Phil 4:6).
But what about Monday morning?
How does being a follower of Christ resonate in the context of homework, bills, bad debt, dreams and car tags? What’s the difference in the way you negotiate the everyday, as far as the approach the saved version of you is going to take as opposed to the spiritually clueless version of you and the way that person is going to engage the day?
Are you ready?
Buckle up…
wait for it…
Everything.
Everything is different.
Take a look:
III) Every Moment – It’s Never About “What’s Happening…”
It’s never about what’s “happening,” it’s what God is doing. You are not a victim of circumstance – ever. Your triumphs, your defeats as well as all of the decision you make – both the good and the bad – are laid out before your King Who’s not limited by the constraints of time or space. In Psalm 139:16 it says, “…all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Couple that with Jeremiah 29:11:
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jer 29:11)
…and Ephesians 2:10:
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Eph 2:10)
…and you have a life that reeks of Purpose, Significance and Substance. However this particular moment appears from a human standpoint, there is a stamp of Divine Purpose upon it and when you get your head around that, something shifts in the way you process your activity and your surroundings. It’s motivating. Even if you’re just cutting the grass, that’s a point in time that was on God’s radar long before you decided the yard needed mowing. And while knocking out some chores doesn’t reverberate as profoundly as the career you choose or the person you marry, it is nevertheless an investment of time and effort and that is therefore a part of your life – the existence that God purposefully initiated before you were even born.
And the thing is, God didn’t just haphazardly throw you together and give you a role as an “extra.” The Plan that’s in place for your life is uniquely tailored for you and the strengths He gave you. The greatest amount of fulfillment you could ever hope to experience is in the context of living out the Purpose that He created you for.
Park here for a minute because this really is a game-changer.
Years ago, I was working a job that lacked substantially in prestige. I had just gotten out of the USMC as a Staff Sergeant and I had moved to Nashville on the tail end of a very successful tour that had me thinking I was on the cusp of a successful career as a full time musician. Fast forward several months later and I’m working for a buddy that owned and operated a fast food franchise at the local food court. What started out as “temporary” thing had bloomed into a full time dynamic and I was smelling like a chicken nugget at the end of everyday.
Not happy.
But as I was making my way into the mall one particular morning, I was encouraging myself with the fact that I had yet to be asked to clean the commode. That was one task that I had not been assigned.
That morning, as if by Divine Appointment, my buddy, the manger, greeted me at the door with a green scouring pad and a can of Comet. “I’ve got a job for you,” he said.
Moments later, I’m on my hands and knees scrubbing the ceramic throne and having a very frank exchange of ideas with my Heavenly Father. I was reflecting on the how I had exchanged some stripes on my sleeve for a nametag on my shirt. Where I had been interacting with a who’s who of Contemporary Christian Music artists and hearing the thunderous applause of arena sized crowds every weekend, I was now listening to disgruntled customers complaining about the availability of certain menu items.
And now, here I am, scrubbing the contaminated floor surrounding the toilet in the employee restroom.
“You seein’ this?” I asked. I’m praying as I’m scrubbin’… I’m talking to God and I heard Him in my mind ask me a question:
“What if I had been the One Who asked you to clean the commode rather than Michael? Would that have made a difference?”
“Well, sure!” I said.
Then God replied, “Well, guess what…?”
At that point, I remembered Psalm 139:16 and other verses that talk about God’s Sovereignty.
Fact is, because “…all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be,” He had tasked me with that job and while the clean up operation didn’t suddenly become anymore prestigious, my perspective changed dramatically. It’s never simply a matter of “what’s happening,” it’s what God is doing.
There’s a Plan in place that allows you to process even the most inconvenient and annoying occurrence as something that has Purpose. When you’re confronted with something that takes you by surprise, you can maintain an even disposition by claiming every Resource that God’s already unpacked and placed on the table because He knew this moment would come long before it happened.
And when the pressure’s on and it’s up to you to turn in a truly noteworthy performance, there’s something about how God’s had this on His screen for quite some time that makes the inclination to reach for the Strength along with the Calm that He offers that much stronger and intuitive.
Even when things are going great, by reflecting on how it is God that orchestrated your situation, the tendency to be thankful is that much more automatic (Rom 12:3; 2 Thess 5:16-18).
The Bible is full of personalities that God elevated in the context of wealth and power who then allowed themselves to become corrupted by crediting themselves with the success they enjoyed (Dt 8:17-18). Authentic gratitude is more than just “thanking God” as a courtesy, as much as it’s a comprehensive theme of reverence and humility that characterizes your perspective on yourself and your accomplishments.
Being intentional about constantly seeing yourself within the framework of God’s overarching Purpose is not automatic, despite it being the most logical and the most healthy approach one could take. But it’s far easier to do so when you remain cognizant of how this moment and every moment of your life was known and planned by your Heavenly Father long before it ever showed up on your calendar.
IV) Momentum – the Guarantee of Forward Movement
While we can rest assured that every moment of our lives is chock full of Divine Purpose, there’s also the guarantee of forward movement.
In Chemistry, there’s an anomaly called the “Latent Heat of Fusion.” You can see it illustrated in the graph to the right. What you’re looking at is the change in temperature as an ice cube is being melted. You’ll notice in the first blue area, there’s no change in temperature despite the fact that you’re increasing the amount of heat you’re applying to said ice cube. You see the same thing happen when it’s going from a liquid phase to a gaseous state. Again, there’s a zone where, although you’re increasing the amount of heat, yet there’s no measurable change in the temperature.
The two segments of the graph that are highlighted in blue represent what’s called the “Latent Heat of Fusion.” On the molecular level, what’s happening is that rather than the molecules moving about more “furiously”- which is registered in terms of temperature – the energy is being absorbed by the process by which the molecules that are grouped together according to whatever state they’re in are now coming apart.
During that timeframe, there’s no change in temperature.
Life can be like that sometimes. You’re working towards a goal, you’re waiting for additional information so you can make a sound decision – it’s during these seasons that you can feel as though you’re stalled.
Nothing’s happening.
But we can rest assured that God’s not dormant nor is our situation being ignored.
One of the best examples of that is the story of Joseph. Bolstered by dreams and his father’s favoritism, Joseph is convinced he’s on the threshold of great things. Apparently the gift of subtlety was not among Josephs strengths, however, nor was humility given the way he saw fit to inform his older brothers that one day that would bow down before him.
You know the story of how they sold him into slavery and how he eventually ended up in prison. By this time, Joseph doesn’t seem as forthcoming when it comes to promoting himself. As a matter of fact, when he’s given the chance to distinguish himself before Pharaoh, he’s quick to say that it’s not by his own ability that he’s able to discern the meaning of dreams, rather it’s God.
That’s quite a move for one who’s spent the majority of his young adult life either as a slave or as a captive.
Think about it.
Why would you not attempt to take as much credit as you could for being able to do something extraordinary when you’re standing before the one individual who has the power to set you free? How often do you think Joseph asked for God to intervene and end his enslavement or to commute his prison sentence? He was sold into slavery when he was seventeen (Gen 37:2). He entered Pharaoh’s service when he was 30 (Gen 41:46). 13 years spent waiting for…
something.
That’s a lot of “latent heat.” But it was during that time that God was transforming the character of Joseph into what would need to be in place in order to administrate the largest political power in the world. God wasn’t slow, He was intentional.
There may be something you’ve been praying about for a while. Perhaps you’ve reached that point where you’re poised on the threshold of some serious disillusion thinking, “This prayer thing doesn’t work!”
Don’t throw in the towel.
Remember there’s a Divine Purpose attached to every moment including those moments when you don’t seem to be moving forward. Even then, there’s supernatural activity being conducted Look… John 5:17 says:
17 In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” (Jn 5:17)
God is always working. He’s never idle so to be suspicious that your appeal has been ignored or lost is a pointless perspective. Things are moving forward and they’re moving forward at a pace that is nothing short of perfect in that it’s consistent with the tempo that matches the flawless Plan and Purpose of the One Who’s got your best interests at heart.
V) The Mandate to be Excellent
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Rom 12:2)
“Good” is more than just “acceptable.” It’s the Greek word, “agathos.” The Greeks used it to describe a noble warrior. Scripture uses it to describe moral and spiritual excellence.
Think about this for a minute: Imagine an employee that’s good at what they do (Col 3:17). They show up to work on time (Matt 5:16), and when you’re needing to get something done, this person is one of the first people that comes to mind because they’re that dependable (Prov 25:13). They function well as a team player and when the situation calls for someone to step up to the plate and lead, they have a knack for bringing out the best in others (Matt 7:12; Phil 2:3-4) and they’re able to oversee an effort that achieves the kind of results that exceeds expectations (Ecc 9:10).
What do you with that kind of employee?
You promote them!
You put them in a position where they can effect the greatest amount of good (Prov 22:29). Thing is, even if they don’t get the kind of recognition they deserve, the thing that makes this individual extraordinary is that they don’t go out of their way to be noticed by others. The applause they get from the crowd is not what drives them. Rather, they’re focused on personifying and pursuing a standard of excellence as a means to honor their King.
There’s a great scene in the movie, “Cinderella Man,” where Jimmy Bradock, played by Russell Crowe, is being interviewed by a mob of reporters who want to better understand how he was able to be in contention for the heavyweight championship of the world after having had to contend with several years of poverty and unemployment due to an injury and the Great Depression. His response included a comment where he said that he now knew what he was fighting for.
It wasn’t the money, it’s wasn’t the title, it was “milk.”
To him, the “prize” wasn’t about promoting himself, as much as it was being able to provide for his family – something he hadn’t been able to do for a while. His drive and his resolve were now fueled by something greater than himself. In a similar way, we are commanded to be “lights” (Matt 5:16) and “standouts” (Prov 22:29; Titus 2:7). Colossians 3:24 says it best:
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. (Col 3:24)
VI) On Top of my Spiritual Disciplines
Go back to that earlier illustration of being on your stomach with your eyes closed. That’s the unsaved version of you. Spiritually blind and limited in the way you see yourself and the world around you, as far as the spiritual realities that define the human experience (2 Cor 4:4; Eph 6:12).
Now imagine a person on their knees with their eyes open. This is the saved version of you. You’re aware of your need for Christ and you’ve handed Him the keys to your life (Acts 26:18). Now, picture a person standing on their feet. This person also has their eyes open, but because of their being on their feet, they have a better view of the world around them.
The qualifying factor in what defines the difference between themselves and the person on their knees is that they’re not only aware of God, they’re familiar with God’s Word (2 Tim 2:15).
Finally, the fourth and final person is standing on a chair and significantly higher than the version of themselves that’s simply on their feet. They’re not blind, their eyes are open and they’re aware of their need for God’s grace. But while they know God’s Word, more importantly they know God.
It’s not just an informed faith, it’s a tenured relationship. That’s where you want to be!
Being on top of my spiritual disciplines increases my capacity to see myself for who I truly am and to see the world as it truly is. And it’s more than just an intellection / emotional disposition. Ultimately, it’s a Presence that commands the majority of who and what I am. It’s not just a filter, it’s a default setting and the benefits that go along with that kind of spiritual maturity cannot be overstated in terms of an active strength, an influential character, a practical wisdom and an appealing depth. It is the greatest level of success you could ever aspire to in that it resonates on all levels.
I want to be spiritually ripped because that kind of fitness prevents me from seeing myself as a victim of circumstance, rather, I’m an agent of change. I’m not defined by things that are destined to die, quit or fail, I target that which endures and that is what fires me up. I aim to achieve a level of excellence in all that I do because I’m commanded to do just that.
Regardless of the scoreboard or who’s not returning my calls, my focus is on the King of kings, my God, my Redeemer. I am being constantly inspired in the most profound yet practical way to reach, to accomplish and triumph over a casual work ethic, a lazy sense of morality and a self absorbed agenda.
The Moment, the Momentum and the Mandate.
Constantly reaching for more of Christ that I might become all that He created me to be.
Bring it!
My Bride
When I’m in my car, I like listening to either music or comedy. On occasion, I’ll listen to a podcast of some sort, but generally speaking, I usually want to either groove or laugh.
A lot of the comedians I listen to will poke fun at domesticity – specifically the dynamic that often exists between a man and his wife. For the most part, it’s hysterical. But every now and then, I’ll get a little uncomfortable at the way marriage is portrayed as an institution that robs a man of his masculinity.
The schtick usually revolves around the way a man is prohibited from doing what he wants to do. It may be something trivial or it may be something significant, but in either case the wife is portrayed as an obstacle to her husband’s preferences in terms of how he wants to spend his time and even the way he thinks.
It’s funny because there isn’t a married man who can’t identify with the task of having to occasionally alter his perspective on himself and the world around him in order to preserve the harmony that exists between himself and his bride. But does that qualify as a surrender of one’s hold on what it means to be a “man?”
I don’t think so.
When I took my vows, I promised to honor Michelle. To honor her, I’ve got to be both willing and able to make her perspective a priority. That’s not difficult for a man who’s secure in himself, but it’s a potential dealbreaker to the male who’s determined to remain fundamentally prideful and self absorbed.
That’s not to say my wife is always right, but I will say that I have benefited from my bride’s viewpoint on multiple occasions. I may not have been open to it initially, but because I had been taught that true strength is expressed in the context of humility and a willingness to listen, my situation as well as our collective dynamic, was dramatically improved (Phil 2:3-4).
Much of the literature that’s out there that pertains to leadership emphasizes the importance of character and leading by example. Nowhere is that more important than in the way a man leads his family, which starts with the relationship he has with his wife. There’s no other person on the planet who possesses a more comprehensive view on my strengths as well as those areas where there’s room for improvement than Michelle.
In the same way, there’s no other human being that can breathe life into me as profoundly as she can. The reason she has such complete access to me is because I love her and the reason I listen to her, even when I may be inclined to dismiss what she has to say, is because I choose to honor her above myself. That’s not a compromise of my masculinity, that’s an expression of it.
Maundy Thursday | Part II
I) Intro
“The Last Supper” is one of the world’s most famous paintings. Leonardo da Vinci was commissioned by Lodovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan in 1495 to create, what is now considered, a legendary work of art. Today, the painting resides in the dining hall at the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy.
At the time, however, it was Sforza’s family mausoleum.1 The painting measures 28 feet long and is 15 feet high. While it took three years to complete, it has been admired and studied for centuries. Da Vinci chose to depict the apostles’ reaction to Christ’s statement that one of them would betray Him. He does an amazing job of portraying a number of emotional reactions which can be seen in the faces of every one of the disciples, all of whom are grouped in threes.
While there are obviously no captions on the painting to reveal which disciple is which. Notes penned by Da Vinci himself have been discovered that reveal who’s who.2 If you take a look at the restored version of Davinci’s work crafted by Giovanni Pietro Rizzoli below, you can better decipher which disciple is which by using the key to the left.
The Last Supper, ca. 1520, by Giovanni Pietro Rizzoli, called Giampietrino (active 1508-1549), after Leonardo da Vinci, oil on canvas, currently in the collection of The Royal Academy of Arts, London; an accurate, full-scale copy that was the main source for the twenty-year restoration of the original (1978-1998). It includes several lost details such as Christ’s feet and the salt cellar spilled by Judas. Giampietrino is thought to have worked closely with Leonardo when he was in Milan.
1. Bartholomew
2. James, son of Alphaeus
3. Andrew
4. Judas Iscariot (Notice how he’s clutching what appears to be a money bag. He is also tipping over the salt cellar. This may be related to the near-Eastern expression to “betray the salt” meaning to betray one’s Master. He is the only person to have his elbow on the table and his head is also horizontally the lowest of anyone in the painting.)3
5 Peter
6. John
7. Thomas
8. James the Greater
9. Philip
10. Matthew
11. Jude Thaddeus
12. Simon the Zealot
When you pull back and pop the hood on all that happened that night, it’s evident that Jesus had a lot on His plate. There wasn’t anything haphazard about all that occurred, however. Ever since God’s initial conversation with Moses, where He laid out all that needed to be done for the Passover Meal, it was this particular evening that God had in His mind where everything would be brought together in a way that pointed to His Solution for man’s sin.
In a way, you could say that Jesus had a Divine script before Him that outlined everything that needed to be done in order for His death and resurrection to resonate the way that it needed to. It wasn’t just about positioning Himself as a martyr, it was doing so in a way that was consistent with the Truth and the prophecies that gave context to what was about to happen.
II) Divine Documentation
It’s nothing short of phenomenal when you really study God’s Word and see all of the symbolism and the manner in which all of these Scriptural “threads” are woven together in a way that results in something profoundly supernatural.
Ravi Zacharias is Founder and President of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM), which celebrated its thirtieth anniversary in 2014. Dr. Zacharias has spoken all over the world for 42 years in scores of universities, notably Harvard, Dartmouth, Johns Hopkins, and Oxford University. He has addressed writers of the peace accord in South Africa, the president’s cabinet and parliament in Peru, and military officers at the Lenin Military Academy and the Center for Geopolitical Strategy in Moscow. At the invitation of the President of Nigeria, he addressed delegates at the First Annual Prayer Breakfast for African Leaders held in Mozambique.4 On a podcast entitled “Created for Significance, Part 2,” he explains how the existentialist lives for the moment, the utopian is always looking to the future and the Hebrew focuses on the events and the traditions of the past. Given those dynamics, look at how Jesus addresses the present, past and future in the space of two sentences:
25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (1 Cor 11:25)
- “For whenever you drink this cup” – present
- “…the Lord’s death” – past
- “…until he comes” – future
When you really study the Bible as Divine documentation, it’s amazing what you discover in terms of 66 books all culminating into a rich, cohesive whole. 66 books written over 1,500 years all pointing to one central theme: the redemption of man.
Professor M. Montiero-Williams, former Boden professor of Sanskrit, spent 42 years studying Eastern books and said in comparing them with the Bible: “Pile them, if you will on the left side of your study table; but place your own Holy Bible on the right side – all by itself, all alone – and with a wide gap between them. For,…there is a gulf between it and the so-called sacred books of the East which severs the one from the other utterly, hopelessly, and forever…a veritable gulf which cannot be bridged over by any science of religious thought.”5
III) Spiritual Propaganda – Doubting the Credibility of Scripture
Some want to doubt the credibility of Scripture. Generally speaking, the hesitancy comes from one of two ideas that the Bible was compiled by strategically collecting a series of antique texts that happened to corroborate with the spiritual propaganda they wanted to promote. The other statement that you hear fairly often is that the Bible is “filled with errors” and is thus unreliable.
A) The Old Testament
Here are some things to consider: First of all, the Old Testament is a series of carefully guarded texts, most of which come from people who had direct contact with God. Their credentials, as far as having had contact with God, coupled with the accuracy of their prophecies, make it very difficult, even for the most aggressive cynic, to doubt their integrity.
For example, the Pentateuch – the first five books of the Old Testament authored by Moses. These books document the activity of God, the Law of God and the words of God all written by someone who had direct contact with God. Joshua, Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Jonah – while they didn’t converse as frequently with God face to face, they nevertheless interacted directly with their King. Most of the minor prophets present their content in the context of visions and oracles.
In other words, God dictated to them what they were to proclaim through an experience similar to a dream. Though that may seem somewhat subjective, again, the accuracy of their visions from a historical perspective certifies their content as more than credible.
1) Dead Sea Scrolls
While the notion that the OT should be perceived as reliable due to the supernatural conversations / interactions the writers had with God may resonate as logical, that doesn’t address the possibility that the original writings may have been changed and corrupted over the centuries. The Dead Sea Scrolls was an archeological find that effectively puts those fears to rest. The Dead Sea Scrolls are a series of some 40,000 inscribed fragments from which over 500 books have been reconstructed, Among these reconstructed books is the majority of the Old Testament.6 What made the find so significant is prior to their discovery, the oldest surviving manuscripts of the Old Testament that was available at the time was from 900 AD on. The Dead Sea Scrolls, specifically the book of Isaiah, was dated 125 AD making it over 1,000 years older than any manuscript we had previously possessed.
When comparing the manuscripts from 900 AD to the scrolls date 125 AD, the accuracy and consistency was nothing short of stunning. For example…
Of the 166 words in Isaiah 53, there are only seventeen letters in question. Ten of these letters are simply a matter of spelling, which does not affect the sense. Four more letters are minor stylistic changes, such as conjunctions. The remaining three letters comprise the word “light,” which is added in verse 11, and does not affect the meaning greatly. Furthermore, this word is supported by the LXX and IQ Is. Thus, in one chapter of 166 words, there is only one word (three letters) in question after a thousand years of transmission – and this word does not significantly change the meaning of the passage (LXX refers to the Septuagint and IQ Is is the Isaiah scroll found in the first cave at Qumran, the site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found). 7
Given the consistency of the texts, to doubt the overall credibility of the Bible is to adopt a prospective based on a nonsensical cynicism more so than an objective analysis.
B) The New Testament – the Bibliographical Test
The New Testament is just as solid. In this case, you’re not having to reach back as far in order to examine the accuracy of the original manuscripts and the number of original MSS is significantly more. When seeking to verify the integrity of an ancient manuscript, two things are considered:
- how many original copies do we have
- how many years have lapsed the original document and the first copy
These two dynamics combine to form what is referred to as the “Bibliographic Test” and is used to evaluate the authenticity of ancient texts. Compared to the New Testament, Homer’s Iliad is the most credible, based on the above criteria. Take a look at how the two compare:
| Bibliographical Test – New Testament Compared to Homer’s Iliad | ||||
| work | when written | earliest copy | time span | number of copies |
| Home (Iliad) | 900 B.C. | 400 B.C. | 500 years | 643 |
| New Testament | 40 – 100 A.D. | 125 A.D. | 25 years | over 24,000 |
The strength of the New Testament is nothing short of substantial. When comparing one copy to another, the variations that exist are minimal. Josh McDowell, in his book “Evidence That Demands a Verdict” writes:
That textual variations do not endanger doctrine is emphatically stated by Sir Frederic Kenyon (one of the great authorities in the field of New Testament textual criticism): “One word of warning already referred to, must be emphasized in conclusion. No fundamental doctrine of the Christian faith rests on a disputed reading…
It cannot be too strongly asserted that in substance the text of the Bible is certain: Especially in this the case with the New Testament. The number of manuscripts of the New Testament, of early translations from it, and of quotations from it in the oldest writers of the Church, is so large that it is practically certain that the true reading of every doubtful passage is preserved in some one of other of these ancient authorities. This can be said of no other ancient book in the world.
Scholars are satisfied that they possess substantially the true text of the principal Greek and Roman writers whose works have come down to us, of Sophocles, of Thucydides, of Cicero, of Virgil; yet our knowledge of their writings depends on a mere handful of manuscripts, whereas the manuscripts of the New Testament are counted by hundreds, and even thousands.8
So, from the standpoint of consistency, as far the copy of the Bible that we have in our possession today being the same as what was originally dictated by God and documented by the writers He spoke through, we have an intellectually solid justification for concluding that we have an accurate copy of the original.
C) The Canon
So, we’ve got an authentic collection of antique texts. But how were those texts assembled and was there conflicting literature that was strategically omitted in order to preserve a line of thought that was more of a human campaign than it was a Divine revelation? Bottom line: No. The “canon” of Scripture was not assembled according to a template that accommodated preferences as much as it insisted on authenticity.
1) The Old Testament
The manner in which the Old Testament was compiled is best explained by simply considering the Jewish people. As God worked in their midst through events and specific personalities, His Activity and Counsel was documented. The resulting literature was not a collection of commentaries as much as it was a record of what God said and what God did. It was not a subjective account manufactured by a panel of like minded spectators. It was an exclusive collection of individuals, each of whom had been specifically tasked to lead, speak and teach with the Authority that had been given to them by God.
Anyone that qualified as a “man of God” was not perceived as such because of their charisma or academic credentials. They were recognized as prophets because of the way in which they presented their platform under the heading of “thus saith the Lord.” You could conceivably pose as a prophet, but the consequences of falsely presenting yourself as a messenger of God were lethal (Dt 13:15). Only an obvious fulfillment of the prophecies you proclaimed could validate you as authentic (Dt 18:21-22).
Hence, true prophets were easily identified and the content they disseminated as being Divinely Inspired was readily accepted. In A.D. 70, a council of Jewish religious leaders congregated in Jamnia to discuss the canonization of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Solomon and the book of Esther. Some want to point to this conference as an example of a subjective human element being used to establish the content of Scripture. Thing is, these books hardly constitute the bulk of the Old Testament. Furthermore, these books weren’t disputed as much as they merited discussion for a variety of reasons – one of which is the book of Esther doesn’t mention the Name of God even once. This quartet of unique texts would be recognized as canonical and the discussions that took place were documented, thus providing evidence for future generations that not only were these books recognized as Scripture, but the majority of the Old Testament at the time of Christ and before had been established and embraced unreservedly.
2) The New Testament
The criteria used to define a particular New Testament book as worthy of being included in the Canon was similar to the attributes that were considered where the Old Testament was concerned. Namely, apostolic authority. Did the writer interact with Jesus himself, or did the writer have the approval of one who did? Given that kind of filter, the field is narrowed considerably.
The early church was staffed by the apostles. This was not due to a lack of qualified personnel or a knee jerk reaction to the departure of Jesus. This is the way Christ had set it up. For three years, Jesus had taught and led these men so they could accurately and effectively promulgate the gospel. In John 16:13, He explains how the Holy Spirit would guide them and you see that Authoritative Guidance in Acts 2:42 where it says that the early believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, the breaking of bread and to prayer.
Matthew, John and Peter were both apostles, having walked with Christ during His three year ministry. Paul was commissioned as an apostle by Jesus on the road to Damascus in the ninth chapter of Acts. Between those four individuals, you have the majority of the New Testament (Matthew, John, Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1-2 Thessalonians, 1-2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John and Revelation).
In addition, you have the brothers of Jesus; James and Jude (the books that bear their names). These men do not promote themselves as apostles, but in 1 Cor 9:5 they are referenced alongside the apostles which implies an apostolic dynamic. The fact that Jesus appeared specifically to James (1 cor 15:7), along with the way in which Paul sought him out when he visited Jerusalem in the immediate aftermath of his conversion (Gal 1:19), makes it obvious that James possessed credentials that were recognized as apostolic (see also Gal 2:9).
While there isn’t a specific biblical account of Jude having been visited by the risen Christ, 1 Cor 15:3-7 references a group of people referred to as “apostles” that are listed independently of the “Twelve.” Jude may have been a part of that group. The bottom line, however, is that both James and Jude had a unique relationship with Christ given the fact that they were all a part of the household of Joseph and Mary. They were both initially skeptical as to the Divine Identity of Christ (John 7:5), but were committed champions of His gospel after the resurrection. So while Jude is not mentioned as prominently as James, given the aforementioned realities and the content of his epistle, his book was embraced as canonical and was referenced as such by Clement of Rome in A.D. 96 and Clement of Alexandria in A.D. 200.9
They Synod of Hippo in A.D. 393 was a gathering of religious authorities whose purpose was, in part, to confirm the 27 books that comprised the New Testament as canonical. There wasn’t any doubt as to which books belonged and which did not, but it was nevertheless an appropriate step to take in order to reinforce the fact that in order for a book to qualify as Scripture, it had to be penned by an apostle or someone who represented an authenticated extension of that ministry.
Some had attempted to sidestep that test of authenticity thus making it needful to clearly define the books of the New Testament. The thing that’s crucial about this meeting is that nothing new was established. They simply stated what was already understood as far as what books in the New Testament qualified as Scripture.
There’s a group of texts called the Apocrypha that were added to the Old Testament in 1546.10. The books in question had been in circulation for a while, having been written over a period of centuries dating as far back as 200 years before Christ (Judith) and 100 A.D. (Baruch). But while the books, in some cases, deal with biblical themes, they are sorely lacking when compared to their Scriptural counterparts in terms of authority and accuracy.
Many Catholic scholars throughout the Reformation period, as well as Luther and like minded reformers, rejected the Apocrypha. It was only at the Counter Reformation Council of Trent in 1546 that the Apocrypha was awarded canonicity by the Catholic leadership. Thing is, the Council of Trent was more about protecting the Catholic paradigm that it was upholding the Truth. The Reformation had brought to the surface inconsistencies that existed between what the pope was advocating and what Scripture proclaimed. Martin Luther lead the charge under the heading of “sola Scriptura, ” which means “Scripture alone.” He said “a simple layman armed with Scripture is greater than the mightiest pope without it.”11 Catholicism would not yield without a fight, however, and the Council of Trent was , in some ways, an attempt to reclaim the people and the reputation it had lost. But the Council appealed to tradition more so than Truth when attempting to defend its various practices. Thus, the adoption of the Apocrypha fails to resonate as an Inspired decision and is not included in the Protestant canon.
D) The Bible is Full of Errors
Skeptics will sometimes justify their refusal to take the Bible seriously by insisting that it’s “full of errors.” The reason for their skepticism, however, is not based on a careful study of Scripture. Rather, it’s more often than not, the perspective of a cynic that’s resolved to keep the Word of God at a distance in order to avoid having to perceive themselves in the light of its Truth.
That’s not to say there aren’t passages that are difficult to process and understand. The gospel writers sometimes describe the same scene differently to the point where critics insist that they contradict one another thus disqualifying the whole of Scripture as credible. But “differences” don’t necessarily equate to “contradictions” provided the elements that give each account an air of distinction don’t conflict with one another.
For example, when describing Jesus riding a donkey into Jerusalem in the context of his “triumphal entry,” Mark, Luke and John mention one donkey (Mark 11:2, Luke 28:30 and John 12:14-15). Matthew 21:2 mentions two. Take a look:
saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. (Matt 21:2)
Jesus wasn’t straddling two donkeys as much as it was Matthew simply mentioning what constituted a complete picture of the prophecy articulated in Zechariah 9:9:
Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zec 9:9)
Chances are excellent since the foal had never been ridden before, let alone paraded around in front a large and noisy crowd, having the mother lead the foal for the sake of psychological support would’ve been a logical move. The “Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties,” says as much:
The Zechariah passage does not actually specify that the parent donkey would figure in the triumphal entrance; it simply describes the foal as “the son of a she-ass” by way of poetic parallelism. But Matthew contributes the eyewitness observation (and quite possibly neither Mark nor Luke were eyewitnesses as Matthew was) that the mother actually preceded Jesus in that procession that took Jesus into the Holy City. Here agin, then, there is no real contradiction between the synoptic account but only added detail on the part of Matthew as on who viewed the event while it was happening.12
So, the gospel writers do not conflict with one another as much as Matthew is simply providing more detail.
You can read about more examples of “difficult to understand” passages in another “Muscular Christianity” post entitled “Ten Questions Christians Can’t Answer.” The bottom line, however, is that the Bible is not flawed. Passages that are difficult to understand do not constitute reasons to doubt the accuracy of the text as much as they are cues to pop the hood on said passage and actually study it.
Look at the original languages, consider the culture of the time, ponder the audience that’s being addressed. Deploy the approach of an investigative reporter, and do so in the context of a disposition that seeks to understand what happened, as opposed to a prejudiced perspective that questions whether it happened at all.
It’s interesting to watch the amount of academic dust that gets kicked up when educated critics of the Bible unleash the full fury of their sarcasm into the marketplace. Their credentials and the dogmatic tone of their rhetoric can come across as quite compelling as they dismiss the Authority of Scripture. Yet, on the other side of the aisle stands a formidable constituency of learned individuals who, while they don’t get the same amount of press, are nevertheless just as educated and just as forceful in their defense of God’s Word and the Christian perspective.
From a layman’s standpoint, it’s not always easy to sort out the weeds from the grass, but those who defend the integrity of Scripture inevitably win out because their defense is founded on a comprehensive analysis of the facts as opposed to their adversaries whose platform is characterized by a disposition that dismisses everything save that which is consistent with their intellectual preferences. In other words, of the information that exists to either verify or explain a particular passage of Scripture, the only facts they’re willing to admit into the dialogue are those that match their definition of what’s reasonable. The resulting exchange isn’t so much an objective evaluation of a biblical text as much as it’s an attempt of the part of the skeptic to overwhelm substance with sarcasm.
Dr. Gleason Archer is the author of the “Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties.” In the preface, he describes his inspiration for writhing the book and the experiences he draws from as he sets out to resolve the intellectual tension that some verses can create.
The problems and questions dealt with in this volume have been directed to me during the past thirty years of teaching on the graduate seminary level in the field of biblical criticism. As an undergraduate at Harvard, I was fascinated by apologetics and biblical evidences; so I labored to obtain a knowledge of the languages and cultures that have any bearing on biblical scholarship. As a classics major in college, I received training in Latin and Greek, also in French and German. At seminary I majored in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic; and in post-graduate years I became involved in Syriac and Akkadian, to the extent of teaching elective courses in each of these subjects. Earlier, during my final two years of high school, I had acquired a special interest in Middle Kingdom Egyptian studies, which was furthered as I later taught courses in this field. At the Oriental Institute in Chicago, I did specialized study in Eighteenth Dynasty historical records and also studied Coptic and Sumuerian. Combined with this work in ancient languages was a full course of training at law school, after which I was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1939. This gave me a thorough grounding in the field of legal evidences. Additionally, I spent three years in Beruit, Lebanon, in specialized study of modern literary Arabic. This was followed by a month in the Holy Land, where I visited most of the important archaeological sites. 13
He goes on to say that his faith has been validated and strengthened, rather than challenged and weakened as he’s tackled some of the more difficult- to-understand passages:
As I have dealt with one apparent discrepancy after another and have studied the alleged contradictions between the biblical record and the evidence of linguistics, archaeology, or science, my confidence in the trustworthiness of Scripture has been repeatedly verified and strengthened by the discovery that almost every problem in Scripture that has ever been discovered by man, from ancient times until now, has been dealt with in a completely satisfactory manner by the biblical text itself – or else by objective archaeological information.14
When you step back and consider the intellectual strength of the man who is speaking, coupled with the hands on experience he’s had with a variety of archaeological and literary artifacts, it’s virtually impossible to dismiss his content as a desperate attempt to protect a set of flawed convictions. What he brings to the table resonates as more than a mere “response.” Rather, it’s an objective platform as compelling as it is substantial – to the point where the criticisms leveled against the Word of God are quickly revealed as pathetic shadows that are effortlessly dispelled by the Light of God’s formidable Truth.
IV) Conclusion
George MacDonald was a Scottish minister as well as a prolific writer. He’s been cited as a major influence by authors such as C.S. Lewis (“The Chronicles of Narnia) and J.R. R. Tolkein (The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Ring).
He once said, “To try and explain the truth to him who loves it not, is but to give him more plentiful material for misinterpretation.”15 Some want to say that the Bible represents the quintessential example of circular reasoning. In other words, some will defend the Truth of Scripture by citing the Bible as its own witness. But Scripture is validated by history, archaeology, literature, as well as the multitudes of changed lives over the centuries.
It is not lacking for evidence, uniqueness, consistency or accuracy. As Professor Williams stated, there is a gulf between the Bible and every other book that’s ever been authored. It is, quite simply, the “words” of God. The substance of Christ’s comments to His disciples at the Last Supper is but one example of the richness of Scripture.
It says in 2 Timothy 3:16 that the entire Bible is God-breathed.
It truly is.
And the benefits that accompany obedience to God’s Word are as abundant as they are advantageous.
It’s true. It’s God. …and it’s only Thursday.
Wait till you see what happens this weekend!
Click here to read Part I
1. “The Last Supper”, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Supper_(Leonardo_da_Vinci), accessed May 12, 2015
2. Ibid
3. Ibid
4. Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, http://rzim.org/about/ravi-zacharias, accessed June 2, 2015
5. “Evidence That Demands a Verdict”, Josh McDowell, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, TN, 1972, p 15
6. “The Levon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library”, http://www.deadseascrolls.org.il/featured-scrolls, accessed June 17, 2015
7. “Evidence That Demands a Verdict”, Josh McDowell, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, TN, 1972, p 58
8. Ibid, p45
9. Although Jude had earlier rejected Jesus as Messiah (John 7:1-9), he, along with other half brothers of our Lord, was converted after Christ’s resurrection (Acts 1:14). Because of his relation to Jesus, his eyewitness knowledge of the resurrected Christ, and the content of his epistle, it was included in the Muratorian Canon (A.D. 170). The early questions about its canonicity also tend to support that it was written after 2 Peter. If Peter had quoted Jude, there would have been no question about canonicity, since Peter would thereby have given Jude apostolic confirmation. Clement of Rome (c. A.D. 96) plus Clement of Alexandria (c. A.D. 200) also alluded to the authenticity of Jude. Its diminutive size and Jude’s quotations from uninspired writings account for any misplaced questions about its canonicity. (notes on the book of Jude [“The MacArthur Study Bible”, Crossway, Wheaton, IL, 2010, p1922])
10. “Evidence That Demands a Verdict”, Josh McDowell, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, TN, 1972, p 36
11. “Sola scriptura”, “Wikipedia”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sola_scriptura, accessed July 23, 2015
12. “Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties”, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI 1982, p334
13. Ibid, p12
14. Ibid, p15
15. George Macdonald, quoted by Ravi Zacharias
Maundy Thursday: Part I
It’s Thursday, the 14th of Nisan. Tomorrow begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread – the high water mark of the Jewish spiritual calendar. At 3:00 today the Passover Lamb will be slaughtered and the Passover meal will be served. While it’s a ceremony in and of itself, over the years the Jews have merged the two events into one and it’s very typical to refer to this whole timeframe as “Passover Week.”1
And what a week it is!
But this year, when Jesus leads His disciples through the Passover liturgy, He’s going to explain the true meaning and purpose of this ritual that’s been performed for centuries.
The term “Maundy Thursday” is used to describe this day where Jesus had His “Last Supper” with His disciples. The word “Maundy” (pronounced “MAHN-dee”) is loosely based on the Latin word for “commandment” (man datum) – a word that Jesus used in John 16:33 when He said, “A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
It’s hard to overstate the significance of this time of year in the mind of your typical Hebrew. Long ago, on the night the Jewish nation left the land of Egypt and tasted the sweetness of freedom for the first time in 430 years, God established this festival that would mark the beginning of the new year. It would be on this night that the Jews would remember the awesome Power that God deployed on their behalf in order to set them free from the oppressive rule of their Egyptian taskmasters. From now on, the Jewish spiritual calendar would be centered around this night and for Christians this night would represent the initial phases of a Divine Plan that would defeat the power of sin once and for all.
This is Maundy Thursday.
It’s Time to Move
n Exodus 12, you have God telling Moses and Aaron how to prepare for what would be an event that the Jewish community would celebrate from that point on. Several plagues had ravaged Egypt, but the one that would be experienced this particular night would make all of the others pale in comparison. The firstborn of every household would die and before the night was over, there wouldn’t be a single home without a corpse somewhere inside, including the palace of Pharaoh. The only exception to that rule was the home whose door frames had been distinguished with the blood of a year old male lamb that was devoid of any kind of blemish or imperfection. It would be that blood that would cause the Lord to “pass over” that particular home and the firstborn would be spared. Every other house that had not been so identified would experience the wrath of God. Can you feel the crescendo? Not only is Israel on the threshold of being able to walk away from their bondage, but a wonderfully terrible manifestation of God’s Power was getting ready to happen that would
- reveal the gods of Egypt as being utterly false
- it would convince Pharaoh to let God’s people go
- and it would put in place a template that God would use to frame the institution of grace through the death and resurrection of His Son centuries later
This is a major milestone! So much so that God saw fit to establish a ceremony that was to be performed even before they christened their doorposts with the blood of the blood of the Passover lamb. And this same ceremony would be observed as a holiday that is celebrated to this day. It says in Exodus 12:1:
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt,2“This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. (Ex 12:1)
And the first week of the first month would be marked by a seven day festival called the “Feast of Unleavened Bread” – a collection of meals, offerings and sacred assemblies as described in Numbers 28:17-25. An Important Prelude The Passover Meal was the event that signaled the beginning of the Feast and it involved a specific sequence and a distinct menu which you can see in Exodus 12:8-11:
- You had the meat of the lamb that had been slaughtered in order access the blood that would be needed to stain the doorframe.
- You also had a collection of bitter herbs the were indigenous to Egypt that would remind future generations of their “bitter” lives as slaves under Pharaoh.
- And you were to eat it as though you were in a hurry, in order to remember how Israel had to leave quickly the night of the Exodus. Hence, you were to eat bread devoid of any yeast.
The night of the first Passover was characterized by a lot of activity. The Passover Meal was to be done “in haste” (Ex 12:11). Following the meal, the priority was to ensure the blood of the lamb was appropriately applied to every household’s door because come midnight, the Lord would unleash the tenth plague resulting in the death of every first born in Egypt. After that, they would need to be ready to leave because, according to Exodus 12:29-31, it was still dark when Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and insisted that they leave immediately, so there wasn’t much time. Once the Hebrews were settled, however, the Passover Meal was reconfigured somewhat. In Deuteronomy 16, it was established that the Passover lamb would be sacrificed at a location the Lord would determine. So while you ate the Passover meal with your family as you had before, you weren’t necessarily going to be eating it in your kitchen. Rather, you would be eating it wherever the tabernacle or Temple was located (see Dt 16:5-6).2
A Lot of Activity
By the time Jesus was preparing to eat His last Passover Meal, Jerusalem had become the central place of worship, thus the streets were clogged with pilgrims from all over the Roman empire eagerly anticipating Passover Week. Hayyim Schauss, in his book “The Jewish Festivals: A Guide to Their History and Observance,” describes the scene in Jerusalem that Jesus and His disciples were no doubt observing as they were preparing for the “Last Supper.”
Midday … The spirit of the holiday has permeated every nook and cranny of Jerusalem. By now all have ceased working; even the tailors, the shoemakers, the haircutters, and washers have finished the last piece of work for the pilgrims. Thousands of Jews march through the town, this one with a sheep, that one with a goat, riding high on his shoulder. All direct their steps to the Temple, to be among the first to offer their Pesach sacrifice. The regular afternoon sacrifice at the Temple is offered an hour earlier than usual and at about three o’clock the people begin the slaughtering of the Pesach sacrifice. The ritual is repeated three times. When the court of the Temple is filled with the first comers, the gates are shut. The Levites blow the ceremonial t’kioh, t’ruoh, t’kioh (a threefold blast) on their trumpets and the sacrifice begins. The owner himself slays the animal. The priests stand in rows, bearing aloft gold and silver trays, each metal borne by a different row of priests. They perform their share of the ritual and the Levites stand on a platform and sing Hallel, Psalms of praise for holidays, to the accompaniment of musical instruments. The elaborateness of the ritual and the singing and playing of the Levites add dignity and beauty to the scene, and the Jews gathered in the court are filled with devotion and piety. The first section files out of the court and the second section files in. The same ritual is performed again. It is repeated once more for the third and final section. Members of the third section are called “Lazybones.” The entire ceremony and ritual is carried on in a comparatively quiet and orderly manner. Once, in the time of the famous Hillel, there was such a surge and crowding at the sacrifice of the Pesach that an old man was crushed to death, but that never happened again. So orderly is the crowd that all three sections have finished in less than two hours, and the priests are left alone to clean up the court.3
The streets are choked with not only the locals, but people from all over the civilized world. When you can close your eyes and envision the sea of humanity that is converging on Jerusalem during this time, it gives you an even more vivid picture of the size and diversity of the crowds that would be gathered to demand the death of Christ, which would happen in less than 24 hours.
Was it Really Thursday?
There’s been some speculation that since the gospels don’t seem to agree on the actual night that Jesus performed this ceremony, these constitute portions of Scripture that are either flawed or have become corrupted over the years.
You have to be very careful before labeling a portion of the Bible as being in error because in so doing you inevitably create a dynamic where the whole of Scripture can be called into question. Should the Truth of God’s Word be determined solely on the basis of how well it resonates with one’s sense of logic, you no longer have an Authoritative text. Rather, you have a resource that can be either be embraced in part or dismissed altogether based on “what makes sense.”
In either case, you’ve positioned the human intellect above the One Who fashioned man’s capacity to reason to begin with. Not only is that not logical, it’s positively lethal in the way it strips God’s Word of its Power and Relevance (Matt 5:18; 1 Cor 15:16-19; 2 Tim 3:16-17; 2 Pet 1:20-21).
The confusion stems from John 19:14 where it says:
Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he *said to the Jews, “Behold, your King!” (Jn 19:14 [NASB][emphasis added])
According to Matthew, this conversation is happening on the Sabbath which puts Jesus’ crucifixion on Friday. Since the Last Supper happened the night before, it’s obvious the Passover Meal was celebrated Thursday night. Mark 15:42 references the time Jesus was buried as being “Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath)” which corroborates with Matthew. Then in Luke 22:7, it says:
So, again, if Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread are being referred to simultaneously with the term “Passover Week” or “Feast of Unleavened Bread,” then Luke’s reference to the “day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed” is obviously referring to the 14th of Nisan, which, that year, fell on a Thursday when you consider Matthew and Mark’s account. The NIV Text note on verse seven reinforces that:
Going back to John’s statement in John 19:14 – given the customary way in which the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were simultaneously referred to in the context of one term, it is now easily reconciled with his synoptic counterparts. In this instance, John uses the word “Passover” to refer to “Passover Week.” You see that in the way the New Century Version of Scripture renders the verse:
Now, it’s much more obvious that John’s use of the term “preparation day” is referring to the day before the Sabbath which, that year fell on the 15th of Nisan. Consequently, “preparation day” was not just the day prior to the Sabbath, it was also the first day of Passover Week. In addition, John uses the Greek word “paraskeue” to define the day, which by that point was a technical term that referred to the “day of preparation” for the Sabbath.
Remember, the Sabbath for the Jew is Saturday and not Sunday. Sunday would later be embraced as the “Lord’s Day” in that it was the day Jesus rose from the grave. So, given everything we’ve now considered, John’s account is consistent with all of the other gospel writers. Jesus was crucified on a Friday and the Last Supper happened on the evening before which was Thursday.
The Passover Lamb
When you really pop the hood on Scripture, you inevitably discover the kind of symbolism that ties the whole of God’s Word together in a way that’s nothing short of inspiring. For example, in the book of Ezekiel you read of how God gave him a vision of the glory of God departing from the temple. The southern kingdom of Judah had looked on while the Assyrians had conquered the northern kingdom of Israel.
But while it could be accurately said that the reason for Israel’s demise was because of their refusal to obey and honor God, Judah was right behind them. Ezekiel’s vision shows the glory of God departing from the Temple in Judah in chapters 8-11. In chapter 11, verse 23 it says, “The glory of the Lord went up from within the city and stopped above the mountain east of it.” The mountain being referred to here is the Mount of Olives. When Jesus made His triumphant entry into Jerusalem in Luke 19:29, He made His way into the city from the Mount of Olives. When He ascended into Heaven in Acts 1, He did so from the Mount of Olives (verse 12) and when He returns, according to Zechariah 14:3-4, He will take His stand against those who opposed Jerusalem from atop the Mount of Olives. Jesus didn’t do anything randomly. His whole life was punctuated with actions and characteristics that were fulfillments of prophecies articulated centuries beforehand:
- where He was born (Micah 5:2)
- His escape from Herod’s plot to kill all of Israel’s newborns (Jer 31:15; Hos 11:1 [Matt 2:15])
- the way His ministry was prefaced by a messenger (John the Baptist [Is 40:3; Matt 3:1-2])
- the passion He exhibited when He cleared the Temple (Ps 69:9; Jn 2:15-17)
- the healings that He did (Is 35:5; Matt 9:35)
- the manner in which He entered Jerusalem on a donkey (Zec 9:9; Lk 19:35-37)
While Scripture doesn’t specifically reference Jesus’ approach to Jerusalem as a mirror image of the route the glory of God used to exit the Temple centuries before, it’s still an intriguing act on the part of Christ as far as the way in which it brings yet another Old Testament event under a cohesive Messianic heading. You see that also in the way Paul references Christ as the ultimate Passover Lamb:
Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast – as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. (1 Cor 5:7)
It’s not that Jesus’ death occurred on Thursday afternoon when the lamb for the Passover Meal was being slaughtered as much as it’s a cue to step back and realize that God’s Purpose in establishing the Passover ceremony was not to simply remember how He had delivered Israel from the power of Pharaoh as much as it was to recall and embrace how the death and resurrection of Christ has destroyed the power of sin.
The NIV Text Note on that verse says “In his death on the cross, Christ fulfilled the true meaning of the Jewish sacrifice of the Passover lamb (Is 53:7; Jn 1:29).”6 That’s the Passover meal we participate in every time we take communion. It’s not just a piece of bread and small cup of grape juice, nor is it a mere piece of unleavened bread and a portion of mutton. It’s what’s represented by those things – the Solution to the lethal power of sin – the sacrifice of God’s Son. That’s what Jesus was explaining to His disciples at the Last Supper, the meal God had in mind when He first gave the Passover instructions to Moses.
Regardless of what day it may have been for the Hebrews when they celebrated the Passover meal the first time, for us as believers, it’s always the Thursday of Passion week that we recognize as the day Jesus collected His disciples in the upper room and spoke the words that we repeat every time we take communion: “Do this in remembrance of me…” (1 Cor 11:24). That’s Maundy Thursday.
Click here to read Part II!
1. “The week of masso-t, coming right on the heels of Passover itself (during which masso-t were actually eaten, along with the lamb, bitter herbs, etc.) very naturally came to be know as Passover Week (cf. Encylopedia Britannica, 14thed., 12:1041), extending from the fifteenth to the twenty-first of Abib, inclusively. (Arndt and Gingrich [Greek-English Lexicon, pp 638-39] state: ‘This [i.e. Passover] was followed immedialy by the Feast of Unleavend Bread…on the 15th to the 21st. Popular usage merged the two festivals and treated them as a unity, as they were for practical purposes.’)” (Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties, Gleason L. Archer, Zondervan Corporation, 1982, Grand Rapids, MI, p376)
2. Several regulations were given concerning the observance of Passover. Passover was to be observed “in the place which the Lord your God will choose.” This implied the sanctuary of the tabernacle or the Temple in Jerusalem. (“Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary”, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, TN 1986, p380
3. “The Jewish Festivals: A Guide to Their History and Observance”, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. Schauss, Hayyim (2012-04-04), p53
4. “NIV Study Bible”, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1985, p1582
5. Ibid
6. Ibid p1740
Good Copies: The Inerrancy of Scripture | Part I
I) Intro
When you’re talking about the infallibility of Scripture, you’re discussing something that goes beyond the mere academic evaluation of the Bible’s integrity. Ultimately, it’s about the way you’re either embracing its content from a mental posture that is both reverent and humble, or you’re asserting a philosophical superiority that subordinates the Bible to whatever seems reasonable. In other words, you’re either a student of God’s Word or a critic. A student benefits, a critic sneers.
II) Good Copies
When it comes to the way in which the Bible measures on the scales used to authenticate the credibility of ancient texts, it is second to none. Two questions are generally asked:
- How many years lapsed between the original writing and the first handwritten copy?
- How many handwritten copies do we currently have that we can check for consistency when compared with one another?
A) The New Testament
The New Testament was written between 40 and 100 A.D. The oldest copy of the book of John is dated 125 A.D. – a mere 25 years later. There are over 24,000 handwritten copies of the New Testament and with the exception of differences in spelling and grammar; the essence of its content is consistent. Compare those figures to Homer’s Iliad – considered to be the most widely read work of antiquity. It was originally written in 900 B.C. and the oldest handwritten copy is 400 B.C. – a gap of 500 years.
We have only 643 original handwritten copies and where there are over 764 lines that appear inconsistent with one another in terms of their content, in the New Testament, only 400 words are questioned, but only in the context of their grammar, not in their meaning.1
B) The Old Testament
The Old Testament is not as easy to verify, simply because the original text was completed around 400 B.C. and the oldest handwritten copy is dated around 900 A.D. resulting in a gap of some 1,300 years. In addition, the strict rules surrounding the way in which scribes were to lay aside older copies of the Law result in a situation where you don’t have as many copies to compare with one another.
That problem was remedied, however, with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947. Dated over 1,000 years earlier than the earliest Hebrew manuscript, this discovery gave scholars the opportunity to verify the authenticity of the Old Testament using a document that predated their other metrics by a full millennium. As far as the consistency noted between the Dead Sea Scrolls and the other manuscripts that existed, Dr. Gleason Archer is uniquely qualified to comment.
Dr. Archer served as Assistant Pastor at Park Street Church in Boston, Massachusetts from 1945 to 1948. He then became a Professor at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California from 1948 to 1965 and from 1965 to 1986; he was Professor of Old Testament and Semitics at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. He had a PhD in Classics from Harvard University as well as a degree in law from Suffolk Law School.2 He writes:
Even though the two copies of Isaiah discovered in Qumran Cave 1 near the Dead Sea in 1947 were a thousand years earlier than the oldest dated manuscript previously known (A.D. 980), they proved to be word for word identical with our standard Hebrew Bible in more than 95 percent of the text. The five percent of variation consisted chiefly of obvious slips of the pen and variations in spelling. Even those Dead Sea fragments of Deuteronomy and Samuel which point to a different manuscript family from that which underlies our received Hebrew text do not indicate any differences in doctrine or teaching. They do not affect the message of revelation in the slightest.3
So as far as textual criticism is concerned, the Bible is sound. Sir Fredrick Kenyon, British scholar and assistant keeper of manuscripts for the British Museum from 1898-1909 writes:
…the Christian can take the whole Bible in his hand and say without fear or hesitation that he holds in it the true Word of God, handed down without essential loss from generation to generation throughout the centuries.4
Again, the bottom line is that the Bible has to be infallible in order for it to qualify as the Word of God. You can’t imply that God scored a 99% on His Final Exam or Jesus made a bad decision by choosing to quote from the Old Testament when He taught, given the flawed status of the document He was quoting. Either it’s the Inspired Word of God, or it’s not. That’s what makes the issue of Scripture’s inerrancy such a volatile subject. It’s the foundation upon which a Christian’s creed is based. Should it be revealed as defective, critics are validated and believers are undone.
For more reading on this subject, click on the links below:
Left Behind Bible Studies | Video Commentaries: Session One – Are You Ready?
Recently I had the chance to write the adult bible study curriculum to compliment what compliments the “Left Behind” movie.
How cool is that?
Having seen the rough footage, I’m confident this is going to get some people thinking about the Reality of Scripture. For some, it will be an occasion to beef up their defenses, for others it will be a chance to revisit the fact that one day the Rapture is going to happen.
Just like that, we’re going to see Him face to face and that’s good news.
One question that you hear a lot is “How could a loving God send a person to hell?” On the surface, that seems like a reasonable question. But it’s the wrong question. The real question is “How could a rational thinking person say ‘No’ to God?” And you know what? It’s not just a matter of your eternal security. We say “No” to God quite a bit when it comes to being on top of our spiritual game in general.
We’ve got this amazing invitation sitting in front of us every day to grab on to some serious Truth and look at ourselves and the world around us from a perspective steeped in Purpose, Peace and Power.
I get stoked anytime I’ve given the chance to challenge folks with questions like “If you had to create a billboard that promoted a relationship with Christ and you couldn’t say anything about missing hell and going to Heaven, nor could you say anything about how God helps you with your problems, what would your billboard say?” In John 17, Jesus defined eternal life as “knowing God.” Salvation was never engineered to be something that comes to bear only in the context of a Divine emergency procedure or a funeral parlor.
The six sessions you see below are designed to get you thinking and get you fired up about life in general. You weren’t put here to make an appearance, you were put here to make a difference. And that difference is accomplished by you and I taking the time to catch a clear vision of Who God is, hearing His Voice and enjoying the benefits that go along with obedience.
Buckle up!
Session One: Are You Ready?
Do you believe in God? Do you believe that Jesus rose from the grave? You do? That’s awesome. But if you’re thinking that’s enough to get you into Heaven, think again. The demons believe all that and they’re not spending eternity with God. No sir. This session looks at what it means to believe in your heart and how it’s God’s Spirit in you that defines you as someone who truly “believes.”
Session Two: Your Guide to a Spiritual Six Pack
1 Timothy 4:7 says to train yourself to be godly. I love that word picture. So often we marginalize spiritual disciplines as things that you do when you’re feeling either especially noble or extremely desperate. Nuts to that! You train so you can better implement and enjoy the Resources Christ brings to the table:
- passionate approach to the mundane
- confident perspective on the impossible
- steady response to the difficult
- gracious reaction to victory
- unshaken resolve when confronted with the unexpected
That’s a life worth living right there! And that’s the result of a toned spiritual six pack!
Session Three: Location, Location, Location
While it’s not uncommon to be more preoccupied with the words that we say, we have to be attentive to the life that we display and be able to use that as a way to earn the right to be heard. Location, location, location. “Where are you at?” Where are you at in terms of your personal life, your vocation, the relationships you have with your friends and family? Do those dynamics reveal the Power of Christ in a way that makes people curious? Does the way you live your life earn you the right to be heard?
Session Four: Apples of Gold on a Tray of Silver
You’ve earned the right to be heard, now it’s time to say something. You know what you want to say, but have you given much thought to the way it needs to be said. It’s one thing for someone to hear you, but it’s another when you’re able to speak in a way where they’re truly listening. That’s the example Christ sets when you look at the way He interacted with the woman at the well in John 4. “A word aptly spoken…” That’s what we need to be shooting for.
Session Five: How to Handle Angry Customers
Not everybody is open to the Truth. Some are downright antagonistic. What do you do? This session looks at three things to keep in mind: Don’t take it personally, find common ground, and try to see it from their perspective. Not everybody who’s “difficult” is skeptical. Some are carrying around some hurt that never healed. Should God determine to use you to influence the way they think, you want to be real intentional making sure your words are not compromised by your emotions.
Session Six: Lose the Frogs
Pharaoh had an option of either ridding himself of the frogs immediately, or he could choose to let them linger for one more night. You’ve got to wonder what he was thinking. Why in the world would you put off the relief that’s staring you right in the face? Yet, as outrageous as that may seem, we do the same thing. God calls, He offers, He invites, He commands and we…put Him off. Like Pharaoh, we would prefer one more night with the frogs. Lose the frogs! If any of these session resonate with you, be sure to head out leftbehindthemovie.com and click on “Minsitry Resources.” They’re offering free samples as well as other materials for your entire church. Great stuff! Go get ’em!
