Dana
emailed on Mon, Apr 10,
2017 at 3:07 PM
Hi John,
Happy Easter! Yes, it is that time again. Spring has begun to “sprung?” That is, trees and flowers and grapevines
have begun to awake and put out buds, which will soon bloom and form shoots, leaves,
flowers, then clusters of fruit. Here in
NC, we still have to be wary of weather anomalies such as the continued threat
of frosts, and yes, freezes even.
In 2007 we had a very warm March, and our white
grape vines woke up early. By Easter
weekend we saw one to two feet long green shoots with leaves all up and down
the arms of the vines resting on their trellis wires. Then without warning, over Easter weekend the
overnight temperature dropped down to 19 degrees Fahrenheit for two nights in a
row. The result was that we lost all the
new growth to that point, completely wiped it out. Grapevines have secondary and tertiary buds
which will pop, putting out new shoots, but it’s only a 50/50 chance they will
be fruitful. Ours were not, so we got no white grapes that year.
Our red grapes were not as developed as
the whites, as they do not ripen until around the time when the whites have already
been picked. But just because they had
not popped their primary buds, didn’t mean there would not be problems. There were.
The red vines were filling with sap (liquid) and the freeze did what
freezing temperatures will always do with containers full of liquid with no
room for expansion—ever put an unopened glass soda bottle in the freezer to
cool it quickly—and forget it? Several
to a lot of red grapevines split from the ground up throughout the length of
the vertical trunks. So we remain
cautiously optimistic about spring. It’s
nice to not have to build a fire every night to stay warm, and the sunny days
are pleasant for going outside and having lunch, but they are by no means an
indication that we’re entirely out of the woods.
This coming Sunday we will have our
traditional Easter Sunrise Service. Honestly
I cannot remember one in the last five or six years where bringing a jacket (if
not a coat) was a bad idea. We hold our service at the entrance to our church
cemetery (I guess the contrast between filled graves and the empty tomb is
supposed to be in view), and our music director always plays an Easter hymn on
his trumpet. One year a couple of stray
puppies wandered up, and when the trumpet solo started, the dogs reared back
their heads and began howling for fare thee well. It was quite comical, and everyone had a good
laugh at such strange accompaniment. It
was the sort of thing that I believe might have even caused God to smile.
As with so many of our observed Christian
holy days, old, pagan practices are tending to infuse themselves into the once,
primarily religious meanings of said days.
The Easter Bunny makes his yearly appearance, and the kids hunt for
candy and Easter Eggs, which are seemingly innocuous holdovers from the bad old
days, when the spring equinox holidays were more about procreation, fertility,
and wanton revelry than about the resurrection of Christ.
Previously
we’ve spoken of the Christianization of pagan festivals, such as Christmas
replacing the Druidic and Celtic solstice observances. That was a good thing, but I fear we are
slipping backwards, returning to paganism over Christianity. TV commercials and much in the main stream media
tends to pointing to this trend, as the church loses its prominence and
influence with every passing year.
Paganism is on the rise, and is becoming more and more accepted in
society, while the church is beginning to feel the initial stages of ridicule
and hostility. Practitioners of Wicca
and other occult based groups are becoming main stream, appearing on TV shows
and radio interviews, while the church is portrayed almost as unearthed
dinosaur bones.
We’ve touched on the fact that loss of
thankfulness (Romans 1) leads to the downward spiral of turning from the
Creator of the universe, to the worship of the earth, sun and stars, and later
to even more base creatures such as bugs and snakes. Many of the modern new age religions have
their primary focus on closeness to the earth and seeking guidance from the
celestial bodies.
Christians sometimes say how they would
love to go back to the days of the early church. I’m sure they mean to the days of
unmistakable Pentecostal fire, the church suddenly springing to life, powerful
and moving preaching from the Apostles, and all the attending miracles. Sounds good in some respects, but we must not
forgot that the early church was also persecuted (sometimes lethally) by both
the entrenched Jewish religious establishment, and also the Greco-Roman pagan
cultures and their influences of that day, which aside from possessing the modern
technology of our time, aren’t all that
different from our own new pagan cultural practices. We may yet get to revisit the days of the
early church in our time. So let’s be careful for what we wish…we might just
get it.
In our Sunday School class, we are presently
working our way through the book, “Supernatural,” by Dr. Michael Heiser, and
using his monumental works, “The Unseen Realm” and “Reversing Hermon” as
backups, since many in the class are not familiar with his written works or
with his “Naked Bible Podcast.”
A word about the aforementioned podcast
might be in order, as I’m sure some may be scratching their heads, and
wondering what in the world does he mean by “Naked Bible Podcast?” Dr. Heiser is one of the foremost Old
Testament, Hebrew language, and Ancient Near East Scholars writing and teaching
today. He doesn’t care much for “systems,”
and either denominational or theological schools of thought, which act as
filters for interpreting the Scriptures.
His point is that rather than reading the
text of the Bible in the context in which it was originally written and first
understood, we impose sometimes quite different meanings upon it because we
read it in the light of post 1st century Christian thought. He’s not knocking the Protestant Reformation,
or any of the more modern day movements, or even your own particular
denominational particulars, or saying that they are wrong. But he accurately points out that said
systems or schools of thought do often cause their adherents to read and
understand the Bible with a completely different emphasis than what the
original writers intended, or the way those to whom it was originally written
understood the material, thus leading to misunderstanding today.
So he is not preaching a new gospel or a
different teaching from accepted Christian Evangelicalism. But he believes the Bible should be stripped
bare of man-made “filters” which can impede our understanding, and get back to
reading the Bible in the context in which it was first written and understood
by the people of that time. Dr. Heiser
is a consummate scholar, who carefully underpins everything he writes and
teaches with peer-reviewed material from some of the finest minds in Christendom,
who are writing, teaching, and preaching today.
Most of what is next I got from his writings and his podcast…but it’s
good stuff.
He makes an interesting point when
discussing the crucifixion of Jesus, and its implications. Quoting Paul in 1st Corinthians 2:
6-8:
“6 Yet among
the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of
the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But
we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages
for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of
this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the
Lord of glory.” (ESV)
Using verse 8 in particular, Dr. Heiser points
out that when Paul speaks of “rulers of this age” he isn’t necessarily
referring to just human rulers like Caiaphas, Herod, or Pontius Pilate, but
rather unseen malevolent spiritual beings, demons, the devil and his minions,
who surely rejoiced at the death of Jesus on the cross. God’s plan of redemption wasn’t unveiled in
its fullness before the resurrection.
There were small pieces of the puzzle scattered throughout the Old
Testament, but never a complete chapter and verse, step by step explanation of
said redemptive plan in its entirety.
Even Jesus ordered people in His day, and especially evil spirits not to
speak of certain things involving him.
Consequently, the resurrection of Jesus
was unforeseen by Satan and company, hence their rejoicing quickly transitioned
into horror and despair when they realized that the empty tomb represented
their signed death warrants. (Psalm 82: 6-7). Their mistake of manipulating the
thoughts and actions of sinful men, inspiring them to persecute and execute the
Son of God, while disastrous for them, but was beneficial for us. That the Christ had to suffer and die, and
that His sacrifice was accepted, meant that we could be set free from sin and
death. The unwitting actions of the
“rulers of this age” (Ephesians 6:12), God used to fulfill His redemptive
plans, allowing said “rulers” to, as it were, shoot themselves in the foot at
the same time. He allowed them enough
rope to hang themselves.
Another passage, which many will not be
thinking about this Easter, is the vision from Daniel 7
.
9 “As I looked, thrones were placed,
and the Ancient of Days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the
hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were
burning fire. 10 A stream of fire issued and came out from
before him;
a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened.
a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened.
11 “I looked then because of the sound
of the great words that the horn was speaking. And as I looked, the beast was
killed, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. 12 As
for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were
prolonged for a season and a time.
13 “I saw in the night visions, and
behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented
before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a
kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his
dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom
one that shall not be destroyed.” (ESV)
The empty tomb
which we celebrate this Sunday (and that which we should every day) led to the
ascension, and fulfilled what Daniel saw centuries before in Babylon, as the
resurrected Jesus took the throne and reins of the Kingdom and now rules from
on high, directing and leading His people to go forth and reclaim those of
every nation, tribe and tongue who are His inheritance (Psalm 2:8). It should also be noted that the term “son of
man” was Jesus’ favorite designation of Himself.
The empty tomb is
victory. It was God’s victory. It was Jesus’ victory. And, that victory was so graciously given to
us, who did nothing to obtain it. So
when we are tempted to despair over the state of this nation and the world, let
us remember Easter. The risen Christ
reigns over all, and His Kingdom will last forever, and he who is the final and
most potent earthly enemy of the church, the Anti-Christ, is no match for
Him. Verses 11-12 right in the middle of
the passage quoted from Daniel 7 portrays his doom. Let us not focus on the kingdoms of this world,
nor cower at those “rulers” who play such a part in the evil those kingdoms
do. The victory has been won and will be
finally won at Jesus’ appearance at the end of the age.
Again, have a happy Easter,
Dana
++++++++++++++
John responded on Mon,
Apr 10, 2017 at 8:59 PM
Hey Dana
Your
email is a wonderful reminder to praise the King of Kings and Lord of Lords this
Easter, and always.
I remember when I was 15, 16, 17, and even 18,
and I was an acolyte (like an altar boy in the Catholic Church) in the
Episcopal Church we faithfully attended each Sunday. For the last three of
those years, I was the senior acolyte. I would carry the more gilded of the crosses
in processionals and recessionals, I attended to the leading reverend, I helped
with communion. I could recite, from memory, nearly all of the regular prayers
and Psalms throughout the entire service.
On Palm Sundays and Easters, which were very holy days in our church, I
was rather proud to play a significant part in those services. I looked the
part of the holy helper in my red cassock and white starched and ironed
surplice. And I had the cross around my neck. But I didn’t know Jesus, nor did
I understand what Easter really meant.
I
had to leave home, go in the service, become a drunk, end up divorced, and lose
custody of my child, before I sunk low enough to know that I had to look up to
see the cross and what Jesus did for me, not just the entire world, but for me.
I
don’t remember which Easter it was when I finally realized the significance of
that day. I wasn’t religious then. I had a relationship with the risen Savior.
So now each year on the day of the designated holiday, I praise the Lord that
He beat death and the devil and rose on the third day and now sits at the right
hand of the Father, and ever lives to make intercession for us. But on the
following Sundays, and many weekdays in between, I praise Him for the same
reasons. For the born again believer, as you reminded us above, every day
should be an Easter. Lord, help us all
to remember that each day can be an Easter and give you the praise and
thanksgiving You deserve.
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