The Bridegroom
The bridegroom’s arrival is representing Christ’s return and the end of this present evil age. May we prepare with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind to be ready when He comes that we might go forth to the marriage supper of the Lamb!
Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
Matthew 25:1
The subject of the parable may be the ten virgins nevertheless the focus of this parable is the bridegroom.
It is the bridegroom that the virgins were waiting for. It is the bridegroom who is coming. It is the bridegroom who closes the door. Like with other elements of the parable so with the bridegroom the Lord does not refer to new concepts and ideas but rather uses those things which are known from Scripture to paint the picture of the Kingdom of Heaven. The prophet Isaiah famously illustrated the rejoicing of God over His people as a bridegroom rejoicing over the bride: “For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee” (Isaiah 62:5).
Early in Christ’s ministry the Lord gave evidence that He was that bridegroom of Isaiah 62 and that He is one and equal with God, when He said, “Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast” ( 9:15). Immediately after revealing Himself as the bridegroom, a ruler came to Jesus worshipping Him. What greater confirmation of the identity of the bridegroom than this? Jesus revealed Himself as the bridegroom and immediately Jesus the bridegroom was worshipped. Jesus Christ Himself is the bridegroom.
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Good News Times Four
Matthew, Mark and Luke see things together (which is why they are often called The Synoptics), John seems to write from ‘Heaven down’ beginning with Christ’s deity and choosing an almost completely different selection of stories to prove his point. Add all four Gospel accounts together and we have a fully-rounded view of the Saviour, his ministry and his message.
Three minutes to go and it was 2-2. As the forward went past the defender, down he went! A moment’s silence then the referee blew his whistle and pointed to the spot. The home side had a penalty to win the game with just seconds remaining! Stood on the terrace behind the goal I was convinced it wasn’t a penalty and went home sure that the three points were undeserved.
Two days later I came across internet footage from the same moment. This time the camera angle was different, taken from the television tower on the side. Now I saw it from a completely different view and the contact was clear. It was a definite penalty! Seeing the incident from a different viewpoint meant spotting things I’d missed first time around.
In one sense it’s a little like that with reading the four Gospels; the written, historical records of the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ upon earth. Almost uniquely in terms of the Scriptures we have four accounts which cover much of the same material. That gives us possibilities but also challenges if we are to read them to maximum benefit.
Reading Them Together
What difference does having four accounts make? The four Gospels have many things in common as well as different features that distinguish them. They are all written collections of accounts of the life, ministry, teaching, death and resurrection of the Saviour. All four spend a disproportionately large section (between a quarter and a half) on the events following Palm Sunday, the last week of the life of Jesus. That means they are not biographies as such. They all point us to the centrality of Calvary and of the empty tomb. We do well to read every verse of the Gospels with that in view.
All four are written to point us to who Jesus is – not just an ordinary man, not even just a great prophet or leader like those we have already seen throughout the Old Testament. The titles that are given to him by the Gospel writer himself, from the lips of those whose stories each Gospel records, or even within Jesus’s words themselves, are building up a picture for us so that we might see who he is and believe in him ourselves. It is here that we will see how different writers bring different themes to prominence.
In the first few verses of Luke’s Gospel and the last few of John’s we are assured not only of the reliability of the records in front of us, but also of the purpose for which they were written.
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Gaining Wisdom
Written by John F. Evans |
Monday, October 16, 2023
Though true wisdom should never be confused with native intelligence and education, there is need for study and reflection if we are to gain wisdom. Scripture commends to us a study of the “book of nature” down to its tiniest details: “Go to the ant . . . ; consider her ways, and be wise” (Prov. 6:6). Biblical wisdom involves a perception of God-given order, purpose, and meaning in creation. We could even say that wisdom is embedded in the created order, as the handiwork of “the only wise God” (Rom. 16:27). To “be filled with the knowledge of [God’s] will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Col. 1:9), we study the creation order, since it reveals the glory of Christ (vv. 15–20), by whom “all things were created . . . [and]all things hold together,” and through whom God has “reconcile[d] to himself all things” by the cross.What does the Bible mean by true wisdom? We may speak of it as godly understanding and a faithful orientation to live (1) before the God we fear, (2) for the God we love, and (3) for the lasting benefit of God’s other creatures, whom He from the beginning purposed to bless. Wisdom is a pattern of life characterized by behaving with “godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God” (2 Cor. 1:12). We all need this.
Scripture does more than encourage us in this area; it issues an imperative: “Get wisdom” (Prov. 4:5, 7). This wisdom is a “must,” and God’s people are told to make its pursuit a main responsibility in life. For the purposes of this article, we will understand “gaining wisdom” in two senses: acquiring it in the first place and then growing in wisdom.
As a first principle, every Christian must grasp that wisdom comes from God. It does not belong to us but is “from above” (James 3:17). God causes us to know wisdom (Ps. 51:6). Let us say that true wisdom is taught by God, teaches of God, and leads to God (with apologies to Thomas Aquinas for adapting his aphorism about theology). Worldly wisdom, on the other hand, will never lead us to God (1 Cor. 1:21) and tends toward foolishness in suppressing the truth about God (Rom. 1:18–23).
As the Old Testament uses the term, wisdom has many shades of meaning and practical aspects. More generally, it can denote “learning,” “cleverness,” or “common sense.” It may mean “skill” or technical know-how (Ex. 28:3; 31:6; 1 Chron. 28:21; Ps. 107:27; Isa. 10:13;), such as an artisan would possess from long work experience. The Bible associates wisdom with good character and personal discipline. Think of diligence, truth-telling, peacemaking, being a good listener, self-control, and compassion. Wisdom has been defined as “the art of steering” through life, with its obstacles, uncertainties, temptations, and injustices. It includes avoiding the wrong paths (life’s dead ends) and turning back when we make mistakes. This article, however, concerns specifically the wisdom of God that we gain in communion with Him through the gospel. In other words, our question is, How does God mean for us to gain “a heart of wisdom” (Ps. 90:12) in Jesus Christ?
Tremble before God
Fear of the Lord is most basic to acquiring and growing in wisdom. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Ps. 111:10; Prov. 9:10; see also Job 28:28). Without a deep reverence for our Creator and a dread of offending Him, we lack wisdom. Without the fear of God, we have not made a start. If we lose a proper fear of the Lord, we must go back to the beginning and start over.
If “the fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom” (Prov. 15:33), we must be inducing and exercising a proper fear. Keeping our minds focused on God and the truths about God—He created us for Himself and to accomplish His will; His eyes are always on us; He orders our steps; He is our Judge; and under His sovereignty we return to dust (Ps. 90:3)—will promote a proper fear that, in turn, instructs us. Meditating on the truth of a final judgment (Eccl. 12:13–14; Rom. 14:10, 12; 2 Cor. 5:10) goes a long way toward instilling and strengthening that fear of the Lord that instructs in wisdom.
Sense Your Need for What Is outside Yourself
Wisdom can in many respects be equated with spiritual maturity, a growing up into Christ, who is the wisdom of God. The New Testament certainly calls us to strenuous effort in the Christian life (1 Cor. 9:27; Col. 3:23; 2 Peter 1:5–10). And we must indeed apply ourselves with all seriousness to the goal of growing in knowledge and wisdom. As with the entire sanctification process, however, we must never lose sight of the truth that ultimately it is God who works in us to will and to do His good purpose (Phil. 2:13). We do not gain the wisdom of God—what this article is about—by dint of effort and study or by an unceasing determination to become like the Savior. Ultimately, we pray for God the Father to grant us wisdom. We are taught wisdom by Him. We receive His wisdom as God the Son, Jesus Christ, dwells in our hearts by faith. Just as the incarnate Son had the Spirit of God rest on Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding (Isa. 11:2), so the Spirit must rest on us if we are to become wise. The gospel is not only about coming to know in Christ an “alien righteousness” (a righteousness outside ourselves, not our own), as Paul so wonderfully explains in Romans, Philippians, and elsewhere, but it is also about receiving what we might call an “alien wisdom.” There is a righteousness and there is a wisdom that we can never achieve on our own. We will never gain this wisdom without acknowledging our need and seeking the Giver of this good gift. “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” to give you His wisdom (James 4:8).
I relate this point to the Bible’s teaching on union with Christ. How gloriously Jesus Himself is our salvation! We believers do not have life in ourselves, but we draw it continually from the Lord Jesus, in our faith-union with Him. We have no righteousness of our own, but we are counted righteous and begin to make progress in holiness as we are joined to Christ. He is our life, our righteousness, our sanctification. Likewise, Jesus Christ Himself is our wisdom (1 Cor. 1:24, 30; see also Col. 2:3).
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Emmanuel (God with Us), Even Now
Written by K.J. Drake |
Tuesday, December 20, 2022
Today, we stand on the other side of Christ’s first coming and long for his ultimate return. As we live in this time between Christ’s first advent and his second, the interadventum, we live in faith that although he is bodily absent from us, the ascended Emmanuel has not abandoned us.In John‘s prologue we are given a transcendent perspective on the identity and mission of Jesus Christ. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)
Unlike the other Gospels that begin the story of Christ with his genealogy and virginal conception (Matthew and Luke) or his public ministry (Mark), John guides us behind and above these events and history itself to the eternal ground of Jesus’s identity: The Son of Mary is the eternal Son of God.
This is the essential mystery of Christmas—that the babe of Bethlehem is Emmanuel, God with us. But to truly be God with us; he must remain God without us. In the Incarnation, the Divine Son assumes a human nature, taking on a unique relation to his creation, without undergoing change to his eternal relations with the Father and the Holy Spirit. One in substance with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit—Blessed Trinity, and one in substance with us—Emmanuel. In the following article, I will seek to show from Scripture and Church History that in becoming everything that we are, excluding sin, Christ remained everything that he was, including omnipresent. Then, in the spirit of Christmas, I will offer a word of comfort and joy as we reflect on this truth.
If Jesus Christ, in coming into our human nature, is the true way to the Father and the full revelation of God, he must remain one with the Father in divinity. John combines both Jesus’s coming and his unique relationship with the Father in John 1:14, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.” To grasp what John means here by the glory of Christ we must not look only to the manger but to the eternal foundation of Christ’s identity as the only-begotten Son. For Christ to be God in human flesh he must also be God beyond human flesh.
Learning from Church History
This recognition that Christ was wholly present in his human nature and yet simultaneously beyond (extra) that nature as the eternal Word of the Father, who is transcendent and everywhere present, is often named the extra Calvinisticum.[1] However, despite the Genevan Reformer’s name given to this idea (which is actually better called the extra Carnem [beyond the flesh]), ample support exists in the Church Fathers and across the Christian tradition for this biblical idea. For instance, Athanasius can say:
For [Christ] was not, as might be imagined, circumscribed in the body, nor, while present in the body, was he absent elsewhere; nor, while he moved the body, was the universe left void of his working and providence; but, thing most marvelous, Word as he was, so far from being contained by anything, he rather contained all things himself.[2]
One should not think that God the Son was shrunk down or limited himself by becoming a human being. Rather, he remained who he eternally was with the Father and continued as the upholder of Creation (Col. 1:17; Heb. 1:3), while also taking to himself human particularity and weakness. This is the mystery the angels celebrate when they cry before the Shepherds, “Glory to God in the highest” (Luke 2:14).
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