Reuben M. Bredenhof

The Way, Truth, and Life

Written by Reuben M. Bredenhof |
Saturday, August 27, 2022
It’s not enough to have found the way to God, knowing who Christ is. It’s not enough to have learned much truth about God. We also need someone who can make us alive. And this is who Christ is: “I am the life.” He restores our life to how it was always meant to be: enjoyed with God, even in his very presence.

Someone’s last words are important. When a loved one speaks just before he passes away, you should listen carefully.
This is what’s going on in John 14. Jesus is with his disciples in the room where they have celebrated one last Passover. But celebration is far from their minds, for the Lord is about to be betrayed and arrested. Soon He’ll be dead. The dark shadow of the cross is looming over his words in verse 6,
I am the way, the truth, and the life.
The next days were going to be unspeakably painful. Yet it had to be this way: the cross was needed because our sin had estranged us from our holy Creator. Our unholiness meant we were banished from God’s presence and barred from ever coming back on our own. Only God could open another way. So on this night before the cross, Jesus announces the gospel by saying that He is “the way.”
We get a picture of this from the ancient world. Imagine a powerful king seated on his throne. Access to his presence is carefully controlled by one of his officials. Not just anyone can approach—and certainly not uninvited. If you dared to come near, it’d probably mean a summary execution.
But supposing that the king had a cherished son, he would put aside the requirement. No permission needed: his son could freely enter. And even the friends of the son, if they accompanied him, could go in to see the king.
That’s who Jesus is: He is the beloved Son. And when we sinners go with Christ, He is our way back to the heavenly Father.
When Jesus says, “I am the way,” He says He is willing to take us by the hand and bring us into God’s presence, even into the glory of God’s holiness. Because Christ died for sin, the way to God is now open.
You’re allowed to pray to God whenever you want. You’re allowed to meet with God in worship every Lord’s day. You’re allowed to hear God’s voice in the Word as often as you open it.
There is just one requirement to go this way: be united to Christ by faith. Remember who was allowed to go in and see the great king: only those who are the friends of the son. 
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Resurrection and the Life

Written by Reuben M. Bredenhof |
Saturday, August 20, 2022
Not long after John 11, Jesus will come out of his own grave in triumph over Satan and death. It is through the power of Christ’s resurrection that faith lives within us, together with hope, and love. And when we are made alive in Christ, death can no longer keep its hold on us. Believers still die, but now we’re joined to the One who is “the resurrection and the life.”

Death happens every day. Every day people die from cancer and drug overdoses and car crashes. Every day there are funerals at the local cemeteries. I read that about 160,000 people die each day, all around the world—that’s a lot of death.
And that’s just physical death. Think of the pandemic of spiritual death in this world, the many millions who are living without God and a knowledge of Christ. They are dead in trespasses and sins—just like we would be, apart from God’s grace.
So how wondrous is the good news in John 11:25, where Jesus announces with another of the seven “I am” declarations,
I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live.
Not far in the background of Jesus’s saying is the raising of Lazarus back to life. Lazarus, together with his two sisters Mary and Martha, were good friends of the Lord Jesus. But Lazarus had become very sick and was fading fast. It seemed like Jesus had an opportunity to go and heal him, but He delayed his journey. Now, when Jesus is finally near Bethany, Lazarus has been dead for four days.
Martha has gone out to meet Jesus on his way. We suppose that she is broken with grief over losing her brother. But despite her sadness, she speaks of great confidence in the Lord. And Jesus responds: “Your brother will rise again” (v. 23). On this dark day, the gospel is beginning to shine. Death isn’t the end, not for Lazarus, nor for anyone who believes.
Now, Martha knows already that Jesus has power to do incredible wonders. But she can’t imagine how Jesus can do something about her dead brother, here and now. This is what she says: “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day” (v. 24). She’s probably thinking about the Old Testament promises of resurrection, like in Psalm 16, and she is sure that God will raise her loved one on the great day of the Lord.
In response, Jesus doesn’t say, “Nice try, Martha, but think again.” He doesn’t correct her, but He shifts the focus onto himself. He will transform God’s promise of resurrection. For Martha is speaking with the person who is the sure fulfillment of every ancient word. “In me,” He says, “the resurrection has already come!”
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Bread of Life

Written by Reuben M. Bredenhof |
Sunday, July 24, 2022
The amazing thing is that the more we eat the Bread of Life, the hungrier for him we become. Once we have started to experience Jesus’s grace and power, we want more of him. Your appetite for Christ doesn’t decrease the more you get to know him, or the more you read his Word. Your appetite for Christ will only increase when you taste and see that the Lord is good. Such a hunger isn’t oppressive, but there’s a great joy in it. For the hungry are being filled with the Bread of Life.

Have you ever eaten a meal that seemed to fill you for only an hour, or even less?
Perhaps it was a Big Mac and fries or a plate of white rice. Such food can be disappointing. This is what people mean when they refer to ‘empty calories,’ food and drink composed primarily of sugar, or certain fats and oils.
In John 6, Jesus’s message isn’t about proper nutrition. Yet He does warn against the emptiness of earthly bread. He has just fed the multitude in an amazing display of his power and compassion. But it’s not long before the people are asking him for another meal. To the hungry crowd, Jesus gives this warning in verse 27:
Do not labour for the food which perishes.
They want enough sustenance to keep going another day. When Jesus warns here against “food that spoils,” He’s not just talking about filling up your pantry and freezer with non-perishables. For over time, almost any kind of food will spoil: growing moldy, or stale, or freezer burnt.
This isn’t mainly about food, but about all things that decay, every earthly good that will not last. He is thinking about the house you live in right now. He’s imagining the car you drive. He means all the other treasures that you treasure, the opportunities and privileges you desire. For like the crowds trailing Jesus in John 6, we can become fixated on what is physical.
Earthly bread is hollow, and worldly satisfaction is like so many empty calories. Yet we sometimes let ourselves be motivated by such things.
For instance, we might let our incentive for daily work become little more than material gains. You can earn a lot of money today: the longer hours you put in, the better clients you have, the more jobs you sell, the more money you can take home.
Is that what our life is for, the endless pursuit of earthly bread? To what end do we go to work tomorrow and the next day?
It’s a question which should make us reflect on our reasons for everything we love to do. Why do we serve in the church? 
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Quieted by God’s Love

Written by Reuben M. Bredenhof |
Thursday, July 7, 2022

He calls the church to keep alive the spark: “I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent, and do the things you did at first” (Rev 2:4-5). Be quiet enough that you can hear God’s loving words to you in his Word. Take time to admire God’s greatness and to glorify Christ as Saviour. Then He will surely quiet you, and you will enjoy his peace.

Have you ever needed to quiet someone? That’s not yelling at your kids to shut up for a while or telling someone to get over their problems already.
To quiet someone is to hear them out, then gently respond to their concerns. Picture a loving husband doing this for his wife. She’s bothered by something, worried and stressed, and she’s crying. So a husband will quiet her and speak to her in her trouble.
That’s a good image for the hope God gives to Judah in the time of Zephaniah. The people had suffered many deprivations and indignities from the nations. This was God’s just judgment on their sin, and more judgment was looming, even a lifetime in Babylonian exile.
But despite everything, the LORD embraces his people and declares his unfading affection. God says in 3:17,
He will quiet you with his love.
What a relief to hear these words of calm after all the noise of Zephaniah’s earlier chapters. Judah has been hearing the warning sirens of destruction, and her peace had been shattered by violence: “The noise on the day of the LORD is bitter; there the mighty men shall cry out” (Zeph 1:16). There was no peace.
This is always the nature of sin and its effects: it is a cacophony of alarm and restlessness. For instance, all around us and every day we hear the shouting of temptation: “Try this! You deserve it! Click here. Buy me. Drink to the fullest. Don’t hold back! Because I promise you’ll be happier.”
Or you hear your conscience yelling its shrill accusations: “You’re guilty. You’re worthless. You’re hopeless. Why would God even bother with you?”
Or voices of doubt ring in our heads, “Did God really say that He loved you? Did God really give his Word? Is it actually worth it to follow Christ?”
The godless world just adds to the uproar with its distractions and diversions. So much information, so many conflicting opinions, so much noise and commotion—we can get overwhelmed by everything that’s going on, all the time.
But if you’re listening, God quiets you with his love. 
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Sunday Celebration

Written by Reuben M. Bredenhof |
Sunday, June 26, 2022
We rejoice in what the Lord has done for his people in all centuries past, right up to today. Think especially of how God sent his own Son to die for sins, to be the perfect and final sacrifice of blood for our forgiveness. Praise God for the abundance of his grace at the cross! Then, on the first day of the week, Christ arose from the grave. By so rising, He knocked Satan off his throne and defeated all the powers of sin and death. This is our joy as we gather as church—no longer on the seventh day of the week, but on the first day.

We know that from its heading: “A psalm. A song for the Sabbath.” Tradition has it that this was the song sung in the temple courts on the seventh day of the week.
Though the worship at God’s house took place almost constantly, this was the climax: when the people gathered on God’s holy day, and presented their gifts of thanksgiving and sacrifices of atonement.
As these sacrifices were offered, the people sang in verse 1,
It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High.
Those opening verses set the tone for all the worship in God’s courts that day.
Their worship of him would be enthusiastic, even exuberant, with “the music of the lute and the harp… the melody of the lyre” (v. 3). It was a time for pouring out everything before the LORD, for making the most beautiful praise.
It’s good to worship like this, because God is so worthy. He rescued his people from slavery in Egypt and He gave them his law. 

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Not Orphans

Written by Reuben M. Bredenhof |
Saturday, June 18, 2022
Through his Spirit, our Saviour is always near: to bless, to guide, to comfort, restore and forgive. For He has united himself to us, like a rabbi and his students, like a head and its body, like a shepherd and his sheep. It means Christ doesn’t forget us when we’re grappling with uncertainty nor overlook us when we’re grieving. He’s not out of earshot when we cry in a prayer of pain.

Israel had a rich tradition of rabbis and their students. A wise teacher would attract a band of followers and carefully instruct them in all the things that he wanted them to know. Over years of lessons and interaction, there would grow a close connection between the teacher and his pupils.
And so when a rabbi died, his bereaved disciples were often described as “orphans.” They were like parentless children, like youths without a legal guardian. Now there was no longer someone to lead them—they were on their own.
In the tradition of the Jewish rabbis, Jesus led and taught his disciples for years. And He knew they feared the day of being alone. So on the eve of his death, Jesus speaks comfort and hope. His words in John 14 have a Trinitarian theme. He tells them about the Father’s heavenly house, about the Son’s mission to do the Father’s will, and about the promised Counselor, the Holy Spirit.
Jesus is leaving, but this good rabbi won’t abandon his students as orphans. He says that He is going to come to them yet. He would be gone, but not absent! Ten short days after ascending, He would send them the Spirit.
Even as the disciples are despatched into all the world to testify about the Christ, and even as they face opposition and encounter a lot of unbelief, Jesus says in John 14:18,
I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
After He ascends, the good Teacher will send the Spirit. And not just any Spirit, He will send his Spirit. He is a Spirit so connected to Christ, a Spirit so full of Christ, that it would be like Christ himself was still among them! “I will come to you.” This is how Jesus can say to his disciples just before He departs for heaven, “I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt 28:20).
This beautiful truth lives on today in this place. He has ascended, but Christ is with us. As God’s children, whoever we are, wherever we are, whatever we are doing, Jesus comes to us, He draws near to us, and He stays among us.
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Satan’s Attack, Turned Back

Written by Reuben M. Bredenhof |
Saturday, April 23, 2022
The devil is hard at work, trying to ruin your faith with his lies. With all the mess of this world, he is trying to break your focus, wanting you to react with anger, fear, or despair. The short-term forecast seems bleak for Christians. But God takes the long view. He sees every outcome—even Christ’s final triumph. The devil has inspired many hostile movements and godless trends, but all will crumble even as the foundations of God’s kingdom remain firm.

A few people stand out during the last few days of Jesus’s life.
There is Peter, the brash disciple who denied his Lord three times. We remember Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, the hand-washer and crowd-pleaser.
And what would Jesus’s last days be without Judas Iscariot? This disciple is infamous for his greed and disloyalty. For the price of a common slave, Judas volunteered to hand over the Lord whom he had followed for three years. And this traitor met a fitting end. After Jesus was arrested and condemned, Judas was stricken with guilt, and he went and hanged himself.
It’s hard to forget Judas. He was a faithless traitor who, in the end, got what he deserved. But is it so simple? Was the Iscariot just a wicked unbeliever who at first followed Christ, but whose heart turned against his master?
When we study Scripture, we shouldn’t just look at the persons on its pages, seeing only their individual characters and stories. But we remember the cosmic conflict always playing out, the battle between God and Satan. This deadly conflict is seen in the lives of ordinary people—people like Judas, and Peter, and you and me.
The satanic dynamic of Judas’s activity is seen in John 13:26-27, “Having dipped the bread, Jesus gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. Now after the piece of bread, Satan entered him.”
The Gospels tell often about the poor souls possessed by demons. Servants of Satan would enter and torment a person and cause grievous harm. But here the prince of demons himself gets to work, and even enters one of the followers of Christ!
This means the betrayal of Jesus isn’t just a sad story about broken friendship or the dangers of greed. Those things are part of it, but it’s vital to see that Judas doesn’t act alone. He has help from below. He has been supernaturally empowered so that he can carry out a vile work.
Satan enters him when the moment is right. For after a third year of ministry, one marked by growing opposition, Jesus has finally come to Jerusalem. The hatred of the leaders is reaching the boiling point. By now they’ll do anything to get rid of Jesus.
So Satan recruits someone to make possible his arrest. Judas was useful, because he’d be able to keep an eye on Jesus’s whereabouts during the Passover feast when there were big crowds in Jerusalem. Then at the end, Judas could point out the desired prey to the hunters.
And as planned, Judas reports to the leaders that Jesus will be in the garden at night. Then in the darkness and confusion of Gethsemane, Christ is betrayed.
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Giving Voice to Your Adoration: Praying Aloud – Part 3

Written by Reuben M. Bredenhof |
Sunday, March 13, 2022
God has been at work, and He remains at work, among us and for our good. By retelling God’s saving works in public prayer, we remind the body of Christ about who God is and who they have become in him. Besides God’s creating and saving works, He remains busy in our lives daily. And so prayer can also acknowledge his gifts of that particular moment. Take time at the beginning, end, or middle of a prayer to adore God for the many blessings of a new day. 

Jesus taught us to put praise in the first position: “Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name.” With these simple words, He modelled an attitude in prayer where we seek to give glory and adoration to God.
In fact, the entire first half of his Prayer is oriented around adoration. Because his name is worthy, we ask God to exalt himself in everything. Because his kingdom is glorious, we ask God to advance it in power. Because God’s will is wise, we ask that his will be done. If the Lord’s prayer is any indication, then it is only right that our own prayers be saturated with awe for God.
Praise Aloud
In this series, we’ve been linking personal prayers with those we offer in communal settings, whether in the home, at school, at church, the classroom, or elsewhere. Here too, our private praise flows into public praise. ‘Leading in prayer’ is an exercise of ‘leading in worship,’ as we adore God together. As others join in our prayers, we can set before them the glory of God.
Jeffrey Arthurs describes the encouragement of a public prayer which is deliberately God-centered. By doxological praying, “We can draw worshipers from the undertow of the world to breathe again life-giving truths about God even as we address God in prayer” (143).
When Jesus prioritized praise in the Lord’s Prayer, He wasn’t inventing a new approach to prayer. Many of the Bible’s prayers speak worshipfully about God at the same time as humbly making supplication to him.
As one example, in 1 Chronicles 29 David offers a beautiful prayer about the preparations for building the temple. Notably, it is a prayer that he makes “before all the assembly” (v. 10), including many of the nation’s leaders.
All these leading men ‘listen in’ as David prays. It is a striking example of adoration: “Blessed are you, LORD God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever. Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and majesty; for all that is in heaven and in earth is yours; yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head over all” (v. 11). David will make requests regarding the temple, his son, and the Israelites, but the entire prayer is framed by deep reverence for God. Before he says anything else, David gives God his due honour.
This is a good reminder when we pray both silently and aloud, for we can easily become side-tracked. Our minds are ever inclined to wander, and our thoughts stubbornly return to our big catalog of personal concerns. Yet Scripture says that true prayer is communing with God.
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Lord Sabaoth His Name

Written by Reuben M. Bredenhof |
Sunday, January 30, 2022
The hymn expresses well Luther’s faith, and not only his faith, but that of the church in his day. Christians back then looked to God Almighty as the one who would fight and also win their fierce battles against falsehood and persecution. For that reason, Ein Feste Burg has been called the “Battle Hymn of the Reformation.” It captured the spirit of the Reformation so aptly that when Protestant martyrs were walking to their death at the scaffold or stake, it was often “A Mighty Fortress” that they chose to sing.

Around Reformation Day—and throughout the year—this hymn is sung by the church with great passion. Often after sermons that celebrate the power and faithfulness of God our Saviour towards his people, the organist will pull out a few extra stops and we’ll belt out this cherished song.
Lord of the Sabbath?
As tends to happen with more of the tried and true psalms and hymns, “A Mighty Fortress” contains some old expressions whose meanings are no longer clear. And though we love to sing familiar lyrics , it’s proper that we know the meaning of what we are singing.
In “A Mighty Fortress,” in its second verse, we find especially one phrase that seems to be widely misunderstood. Speaking of the right Man on our side/ The Man of God’s own choosing, Luther asks and answers a rhetorical question about our Saviour: Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He. And then, to further identify this person, his title is given:
Lord Sabaoth his Name.
What is this title, “Lord Sabaoth?” If asked, someone might think for a moment and tentatively suggest that this could be linked to the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 12:1-8. There Jesus is disputing with the Pharisees concerning what is lawful on the Sabbath. Jesus ends his words to the Pharisees with this definitive statement, “For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath” (v. 8). So we might conclude that in the second verse of “A Mighty Fortress” we celebrate Jesus as the one with authority over the Lord’s day.
Lord of Hosts
But while Matthew 12:8 teaches an important truth, it’s not Jesus’ revelation of his lordship over the Sabbath that is being celebrated in Hymn 53:2. The confusion arises because the word “Sabaoth”—not Sabbath—is an English representation of a Hebrew word, sebaoth.
Of course, Luther didn’t write his hymn (Ein Feste Burg) in Hebrew, but in German. Yet in his original composition too, he simply gave the German representation of that Hebrew word sebaoth. So from Hebrew to German to English, “Sabaoth” has found its way into this favourite hymn.
For what this word “Sabaoth” means then, we must turn to the Hebrew Old Testament. There we regularly find this title for God: “Yahweh Sebaoth.” This title is often translated in English Bibles as “the LORD of hosts.”
Over what kind of hosts is the LORD? This is debated. There are some texts in Scripture that depict God as the head of human armies. For example, in 1 Samuel 17:45 David confronts Goliath with these words: “I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel.”
Other texts suggest that the hosts which God commands are the celestial bodies, like the sun, the moon and the stars. For instance, after God defeats the Canaanites, Deborah sings this: “From the heavens the stars fought, from their courses they fought against Sisera” (Jdg 5:20).
Still other texts say that the LORD’s hosts are heavenly creatures, such as the angels. The prophet Michaiah once described this war-room scene in heaven: “I saw the LORD sitting on his throne with all the host of heaven around him” (1 Kgs 22:19).
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