Josh Benner

Tag: God

  • Sermon: The 10 plagues: water into blood

    In this passage, we see a clash of world views as Pharaoh is commanded to release the Israelites. When he refuses, the first of the ten plagues befalls Egypt. Pharaoh was viewed as a quasi-divine person in Egypt, but we see he’s no match for the Lord, nor are the Egyptian pantheon a match for the Lord’s plagues which shows his dominion over nature and over life and death.

    Sermon manuscript

    And the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. 2 You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. 3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, 4 Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. 

    5 The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.” 6 Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them. 7 Now Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh. 

    8 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 9 “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Prove yourselves by working a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.’ ” 10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. 

    11 Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. 12 For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. 13 Still Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said. 

    14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hardened; he refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is going out to the water. Stand on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that turned into a serpent. 16 And you shall say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness.” But so far, you have not obeyed. 17 Thus says the Lord, “By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall turn into blood. 

    18 The fish in the Nile shall die, and the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will grow weary of drinking water from the Nile.” ’ ” 19 And the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, their canals, and their ponds, and all their pools of water, so that they may become blood, and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’ ” 

    20 Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile turned into blood. 21 And the fish in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. 22 But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts. So Pharaoh’s heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said. 23 Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this to heart. 24 And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the Nile. 

    Prayer 

    14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart 

    be acceptable in your sight, 

    O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. 

    Introduction – series context 

    We’re continuing in Exodus this morning. Once again, taking a break from the Gospel of John for a few weeks. 

    Last week, we began our study and talked about the opening chapters of Exodus. That the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt but with a rapidly growing population, the Egyptians had made attempts to kill off the Israelite males. 

    He had attempted this through genocice and killing of males. Then Pharaoh had ordered males to be thrown into the river and drowned. 

    Barbaric. 

    We see the birth of Moses and his eventual calling to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. 

    I give all of that background just as a reminder of where we’ve been. 

    Today we come to some of the best known events in the Bible. 

    The plagues of Exodus when Pharaoh is repeatedly told to release the Israelites. 

    And when he refuses, God brings divine judgment. 

    The Nile river turned to blood. 

    A plague of frogs. 

    A plague of gnats.

    A plague of flies. 

    The death of livestock.

    A plague of boils. 

    A plague of hail. 

    A plague of locusts. 

    Darkness. 

    Death. 

    It’s interesting to consider the plagues of Exodus. 

    Because I look back at the last year and a half, and I can’t be the only one who at times looked at everything going on in our nation and around the world and felt like we were actually LIVING through the Biblical plagues. 

    Plagues of 2020

    Starting last year, in March, we had Covid turn our whole society upside down. 

    Then we ran out of toilet paper. 

    None of us probably ever thought that would be an issue we’d have to deal with, but deal with it we did. 

    Then in May, there were stories about murder hornets in the Pacific Northwest. 

    Murder hornets!

    Throughout the summer, there were riots and civil unrest. 

    More shortages. Everything from coins, to cleaning supplies, to bicycles. 

    Shipping delays. Total disruption of supply chains. 

    Wildfires. 

    I read that last year was the worst year for wildfires in recorded U.S. history. Five of the six worst wildfires to hit California since 1932 happened last year. 

    Disease, murder hornets, civil unrest, wildfires, no toilet paper. 

    Last summer, there was a plague of locusts in Africa. Did you know that? 

    Billions of locusts. Tremendous destruction to crops. 

    That’s something about the Biblical plagues to understand. When it talks of things like plagues of locusts or infestations of frogs, those are real things. Those are things that cause issues in parts of the world.

    More shortages. 

    Now we have labor shortages. 

    Economic fallout. 

    Inflation. 

    More product shortages. Building materials, microchips, and beef are all through the roof. 

    And on, and on, and on. 

    We’re surviving. But it’s amazing how these changes can so drastically impact life for so many. 

    Bridge

    So with that, we return to Exodus this morning and we’re going to look at three scenes. 

    Pharaoh’s opposition to God. 

    God’s warning to Pharaoh. 

    God’s judgment on Egypt. 

    The main idea of this passage is that opposition to God will never work. 

    1. Pharaoh’s opposition to God

    In Exodus 4, after God had called upon Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, the Lord shows Moses two miracles. 

    He turns the shepherd’s staff of Moses into a serpent and he gives Moses leprosy and then heals him. 

    The Lord tells Moses to show these signs to Pharaoh, but in Exodus 4:21, the Lord says: 

    “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. 

    I point this out because this will become a common idea throughout the Exodus plagues, and it’s found for the first time here. 

    The hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. 

    Between Exodus 4 and Exodus 14, the idea of Pharaoh’s heart being hardened is mentioned 19 times. 

    Most of those instances are God as the active agent who is hardening the heart of Pharaoh, such as what we see here in this current verse. 

    What does that mean? 

    To harden one’s heart? 

    Does that mean that God is causing Pharaoh to resist him? Is God causing him to sin?

    No. 

    God never causes us to sin. 

    Something that’s important to understand from the outset is throughout these passages, there is a clash of world views and a clash of religions in Exodus. 

    The Egyptians believed in a pantheon of gods. Gods of the river, the weather, livestock, the sun, the sky. And in the plagues, you have the Lord God showing that their false gods are all powerless against the Lord. 

    In these passages, you’ll have a clash between Pharaoh, who was thought to be a quasi-divine person vs the Lord. Spoiler alert: the Lord wins. 

    And you also have a conflict of the religious views of the Israelites and the Egyptians. 

    In Egyptian religion, they believed that when a person died, the heart was weighed. Sin added weight to the heart. There are hieroglyphics which show the heart being weighed compared to the weight of a feather. 

    A person’s admittance to the Egyptian idea of heaven depended on their own goodness. That’s what most religions ultimately believe. 

    Old Testament scholar Douglas Stuart is very helpful on this point. 

    Since the Pharaoh was such a revered figure in Egypt, they viewed him as being a morally pure. And that’s something that is very different from how we view our leaders. 

    Look at most presidents throughout our history. We generally don’t look to them as our exemplars of morality. 

    But with the Pharaoh who was a king and also a religious figure, they did. 

    And so the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart is a judgment. 

    Again, the Egyptians thought that the gods weighed the heart, judged the heart. 

    The fact that the Lord can harden the heart shows his power over Pharaoh. 

    This also showed – quoting Douglas Stuart now – “​​that Yahweh had done what the Egyptians thought the “gods” would usually do—weigh the heart and decide whether its owner was worthy of eternal life or not.”

    The weighing of Pharaoh’s heart is a matter of showing the sin and rebellion of Pharaoh. 

    Ultimately the choice to refuse God is one that Pharaoh continually makes in these passages. 

    And as a result of that, his heart is hardened. Weight is added to his heart as he continues to sin. 

    We’re still building up to the first plague. 

    At the beginning of chapter 5, Moses asks Pharaoh to allow the Israelites to go into the wilderness for a religious pilgrimage. . 

    Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’ ” 2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.”

    We see Pharaoh’s hubris before the Lord. 

    And as I mentioned a moment ago, we’ll see him trying to go toe to toe with the Lord. 

    Who is the Lord? 

    Last week, we pointed out that the book of Exodus never tells us which Pharaoh this is. 

    So he asks Who is the Lord? 

    But the Bible leaves us questioning who is Pharaoh? 

    He doesn’t listen. He continues to make life miserable for the Israelites. In chapter 6, Moses is again told to confront Pharaoh. 

    Exodus 6:10 into verse 12:

    ​​So the Lord said to Moses, 11 “Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the people of Israel go out of his land.” 12 But Moses said to the Lord, “Behold, the people of Israel have not listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me

    As we saw last week, Moses continues to explain why he’s not the man for the job. 

    At the beginning of chapter 7, the Lord gives Moses and his brother Aaron their marching orders. 


    Exodus 7:2-4:

    2 You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. 3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, 4 Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment.  5 The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.

    In summary: 

    The Lord says he will give the words to speak. 

    Pharaoh’s heart will be hardened. 

    The Lord will show greater signs and wonders. 

    Pharaoh will not listen. 

    God will bring judgement

    God will bring his people out of Egypt. 

    With that, we come to our second scene for today. 

    2. God’s warning to Pharaoh 

    Verses 8-9:

    8 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 9 “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Prove yourselves by working a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.’ ”

    As a reminder, this was a miracle that the Lord had shown Moses in chapter 4. 

    A shepherd’s staff was a common possession in ancient times. They were used to aid in walking, they could be used for protection, they could be used for helping to tend to livestock. 

    So a pretty ordinary object for the time period. 

    But the Lord will work through this ordinary object for an extraordinary purpose. 

    Verse 10: 

    ​​10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent.

    So Moses does this sign to display the power of the God whom he serves. 

    But then verse 11 tells us: 

    Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts.

    Pharaoh’s people do the same thing. 

    The verse calls them wise men and sorcerers. 

    They seem to be people who may have had some sort of priestly function. 

    So when the word magician is used, it’s not like Penn and Teller are doing this. 

    The passage does not tell us how they replicate turning their staffs into serpents. 

    Perhaps it’s simple trickery. 

    Perhaps it’s demonic. 

    The text doesn’t tell us. 

    But if there’s any confusion about the Pharaoh’s wise men one-upping this miracle, verse 12 says: 

     12 For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.

    So when they threw their staffs to the ground, and those staffs also became serpents, Aaron’s serpent ate there’s. 

    And so Pharaoh is unmoved. 

    Verse 13:

     Still Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said. 

    A sinful heart can always find reasons to ignore the Lord. 

    He’d been warned by God’s word. He’d been shown a divine sign. 

    And he said “No.” 

    Pharaoh had seen evidence for God working but refused to listen because he chose instead to trust in his wise men. 

    When we don’t want to trust in the Lord, we can always find a reason. 

    I think of all of the evidence we have for God, evidence for the resurrection, reasons to believe in God, and still so many say no. 

    Why? 

    Not because there is a lack of evidence, but people don’t believe in God because they don’t want to. 

    Validation – going our own way 

    Romans 1:18-20 says: 

    the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

    There’s evidence for God. 

    God reveals himself to the world. 

    Psalm 19:1: 

    1 The heavens declare the glory of God, 

    and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. 

    For Pharaoh, he looks at what his wise men had just done and uses that as a justification to ignore the Lord. 

    Today, I fear that this is what science has become. 

    I’m not anti-science. And there are many scientists who are strong believers. 

    But there are also many people in our society who look to science and since they feel they can’t observe or measure God, scientifically, then they shouldn’t believe in him. And what that’s doing is quite literally putting faith in science and its putting your eternal hope in science. 

    Which as someone who studied philosophy in college, I’ve always found this mentality to be self destructive. Because the idea that all truth is scientific is itself not a scientific idea. It’s a philosophical idea. 

    The methodology by which things are judged as being scientifically verified is also philosophical. Science cannot create its own scientific method. 

    And so for science to stand, it needs something outside of itself to give it its structure. 

    I get that there are people who are very scientifically minded. I appreciate that.  

    And again, I’m not anti-science. Scientific discoveries have helped revolutionize the modern world. 

    But we shouldn’t blindly place our faith in it.


    Romans 1:24-25 says: 

    God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 

    Pharaoh was called upon to release the Israelites. He refused. 

    God will not compromise. 

    So you have Pharaoh, the anti-God who tries to stand down the Lord God. 

    In Jesus, we see the one who truly is fully man and fully God. We see the one who truly does have a pure heart. We see the one who truly is righteous.

    And he invites us to believe in him. He invites sinful people to be forgiven in him. 

    And for that, he will also not compromise. 

    God’s judgment – the first plague

    Starting in verse 14:

    14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hardened; he refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is going out to the water. Stand on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that turned into a serpent. 

    Moses is called to given Pharaoh a forewarning of this judgment. 

    That will not happen with all ten of the plagues. 

    Where verse 15 tells Moses to go to Pharaoh in the morning as he is going into the water, either Pharaoh had a habit of swimming in the river, or bathing in the river. Either way, that’s the palace where Moses is told to meet him. Pharaoh will be a first hand witness to this judgment. 

    Moses is to take the same staff that had been turned into a serpent and to use that staff to touch the water. Now it’s not that the staff had power in itself. It was the Lord who was powerful and who will work this miracle. 


    Verse 17: 

    Thus says the Lord, “By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall turn into blood.

    This is what the first plague will be. 

    The NIle will be turned into blood.

    A few things to note about the Nile river. 

    It’s the longest river in the world. 

    Unlike rivers in this part of America which flow from north to south, the Nile flows from south to north. 

    In this period of history, the river would flood annually, usually in September and October as waters from further down the river in Africa and would flow down the river and cause floods in Egypt. Now we usually think of flooding as a bad thing, but it was essential to the Egyptians in a desert that sees very low rainfall. 

    Now it’s a fitting place for the first plague because hitting the Nile was hitting the lifeblood – no pun intended – of Egyptian society. It was necessary for their drinking water, necessary for their agriculture. 

    It’s also fitting to the story that the Nile is the site of the first plague. Earlier in Exodus, we’d seen Pharaoh attempt to punish the Egyptians by ordering that their male babies be placed into the river, as a horrific act of genocide. 

    But here that river will be what God uses to bring judgment on Egypt. 

    Something else to consider. I alluded to this earlier, but there were also Egyptian gods associated with the Nile. 

    Hapi was the Egyptian god of the flood. There were annual floods of the Nile which helped bring essential water to the soil. 

    Another mythological Egyptian deity associated with the Nile was Osiris, the god of the afterlife. The Egyptians also associated him with the river and the annual flood of the river became associated with life and death. The flooding of the river was associated with the resurrection of Osiris. 

    Something that I find interesting is that some scholars believe that this first plague occurred during the flood period. 

    We don’t know that for a fact, but if that was when this water into blood happened, at a time associated with the resurrection of Osiris, it would certainly be a very striking and unsettling sight for the Egyptians to see the Nile running red at a time associated with the deity whom they believed had power over life and death. 

    Pharaoh continues to be warned about what will happen to this river. Verse 18:

    18 The fish in the Nile shall die, and the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will grow weary of drinking water from the Nile.” ’ ”

    Dead fish, rotting dead fish, and undrinkable water. 

    Again, there are legitimate questions about what exactly happens to the water. 

    There are many places where Exodus doesn’t always give us all of the details we would like. 

    But the main point is that this is something that the Lord miraculously causes to happen. With all of the plagues, that’s the most important thing. That the Lord is almighty and he is the cause. 

    Something else to note. While the Nile is really an important symbol of Egyptian life and livelihood. This first plague is ultimately going to be a nuisance for the Egyptians. Future plagues will be far more severe. 

    Continuing with the narrative. 

    19 And the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, their canals, and their ponds, and all their pools of water, so that they may become blood, and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’ ” 

    The verse says: their rivers, their canals, and their ponds, and all their pools of water

    The point that seems to be making is that it’s not just the Nile’s waters which are impacted. It has a far reaching ecological impact. The river and where it flows. 

     there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’ ” 

    That verse has more than one plausible interpretation. The major interpretations all get at the idea that this is talking of the far reaching consequences of the blood. 

    Verse 20, after all of the warnings and what has been foretold, we finally see the first plague set into motion: 

    20 Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile turned into blood. 21 And the fish in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

    The river has been turned to blood. 

    Now there is question about if it’s literal blood. And if so, what type of blood? Human blood? Animal blood? 

    Could it be some sort of microorganism which turns the water red? 

    There can be algae blooms which turn water red. 

    Could it be turned red from some sort of rocky sediment? 

    Again, we don’t get all of the details. 

    Does it teach Pharaoh a lesson? 

    In verse 22, we see another twist in the story though. 

     22 But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts. So Pharaoh’s heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said. 23 Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this to heart.

    As we’d seen with the serpent, the Pharaoh’s wise men are also able to turn water to blood some how. By their secret arts. And again, we don’t know exactly how. 

    It is interesting that they too could do the same thing, yet what they could not do was fix it.

    And while they may have been able to turn some of the water to blood, it was certainly not as far reaching as what the Lord did. 

    Pharaoh had witnessed this miracle. He’d seen the destruction that had come from it. 

    But he still would not relent. 

    24 And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the Nile.

    The Egyptian people couldn’t use the Nile for drinking water so they had to dig for ground water. 

    So there was some potable drinking water. 

    So again, it is dramatic, it is significant, but it is ultimately a major inconvenience to the people. 

    It should have caught Pharaoh’s attention. 

    It should have caused Pharaoh to change and to listen to God, but it didn’t. 

    A lot more pain and misery will await him in the coming events of Exodus. 

    And there is a lot of misery in life when we avoid God.

    No, he might not reign down plagues on us. 

    Conclusion

    But he is truth. He is our creator. He is our Lord. 

    And the only way to live a life of true fulfillment, of true joy, of true peace is in him. 

    Does that mean all of those things will come easily when we say a prayer or get baptized? No. 

    Because there’s still sin in our life and in the world. 

    But without God, we can not have those things. 

    Does that mean that life will suddenly become easy at the snap of your fingers? No. There are challenges and difficulties. But you won’t be alone. You’ll have God. 

    Does that mean that everything you want God will give you? No. But God gives us what we need. And he gives us himself. Jesus literally gave himself on the cross. He literally gave up his life so that we could have life. 

    God calls us to trust, he calls us to believe. 

    And still so many turn their backs on him, find reasons why they can’t believe in him. It doesn’t work because it’s not living in accordance of what we were made for and who we were made for. 

    Quoting C.S. Lewis: 

    God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there.”

    True fulfillment cannot come apart from God, because to find fulfillment in anything else would be to find it in something that is less than God. When we aim for less than God, there is discontent because there is something bigger, something greater that we need. 

    Something that God has made cannot be the source of where we find fulfillment, where we find true joy, where we find true peace. 

    True life cannot come apart from the true source of life. 

    And so we’re called upon to trust in the Lord. And to trust in his son, Jesus Christ

  • Why the world missed Jesus (and why we miss him today) – Exploring John 1:4-13

    Why the world missed Jesus (and why we miss him today) – Exploring John 1:4-13

    In one of his stand-up specials, the comedian Jim Gaffigan talks about camping. In the monologue, Gaffigan mentions that his wife enjoys camping and says that it’s a tradition in her family. 

    But he points out that it used to be a tradition in everyone’s family before we invented the house. 

    He asks “If it’s so great outside, then why are all the bugs trying to get in my house?”

    During the bit, Gaffigan describes himself as being “indoorsie.”

    Full disclosure. 

    I don’t enjoy camping. I don’t understand leaving the comfort of home, of a bed, of air conditioning, of indoor plumbing, of restful sleep. I’m not judging you if you like camping. 

    But it’s interesting to consider leaving my house to go into the woods. 

    And I think about that and I think of what Jesus left to come into the world. 

    Jesus left heaven to come into the world. 

    I like my home. 

    But that’s not heaven. 

    Jesus left the most perfect and spectacular place in creation to come into our world. 

    He left a sinless place to come into a fallen world. He left a place of perfect beauty for a world that has gray skies and thunderstorms. He left a place of adoration for a world where he faced condemnation. 

    1. A righteous God 

    In the opening verses of John 1, it’s establishing the divinity of Jesus. 

    Jesus is eternal. He exists in fellowship with God. He is God. He made everything. 

    But as this passage continues, it will also point to the righteousness of Christ. 

    Verse 4: In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

    Life is found in Jesus. This is true both in terms of all physical life but it is also true of eternal life that comes through Jesus. 

    All life is in him. 

    And we’re told that his life is the light of men. Verse 5 says:  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

    Jesus was and is the true light. 

    The light of Christ shines in a dark and sinful world. Verse 9 says The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

    In this metaphor, light is good because it is light which provides illumination, truth, and enlightenment. 

    John 8:12, Jesus says: I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life

    Jesus will talk at greater length of light in darkness in John 3. The Lord contrasts light and darkness with good and evil specifically. 

    He’ll talk of himself as the light that is in the world and people who love the darkness of sin more than the light of God.

    the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” 

    Light and darkness is an almost universally recognized metaphor for good and evil. 

    The light is associated with the goodness, and righteousness, and truth of God. 

    John 12:46, Jesus says:

     I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.

    Jesus associates life through following him because he is the light. He is righteous and holy. 

    Numerous texts in the New Testament speak to Christ’s sinlessness. 

    2. A blind humanity 

    So far, we’ve been talking about the divinity and righteousness of Jesus. 

    He is sinless. He is the light of the world. 

    But the world is both sinful and blind to Christ. 

    John 1:10-11 says:  He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

    The God who created the world was not recognized by his world. 

    The only appropriate response to the Lord entering into creation would be to bow down and worship him, to behold his glory, to listen to his teaching, to bask in the glow of his light. 

    But the world was so sinful that that was not what happened. He was despised and rejected. His teachings led many to hate him. And his teachings still do that. 

    The world is often offended by the very words of God on earth. The world hates the gospel. 

    1 Corinthians 1:18 says:  For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God

    People dislike the exclusivity of Jesus. They dislike that they have to turn to him for salvation. People dislike his moral teachings which expose our sin. The world loves its darkness, and when the light of Christ shines on our darkness, many reject the light. 

    everyone who does wicked things hates the light

    Our passage says that the world did not know him. 

    The world did not know what they had. 

    John 1:10 says He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him (John 1:10).

    Jesus came to his world. It was his creation. And the world did not know him, the world did not respond to him as it should have, the world did not worship him. 

    And it’s doubly ironic by the fact that Jesus came to the world that he made in order to die to save a world that was sinful. 

    How sinful? 

    So sinful that the world didn’t even accept our own creator when he came into the world. 

    Many did not recognize Jesus for who he was. 

    3. A worthy savior

    John 1:10-11 focuses on the world and its failure to receive Jesus. 

    But that’s not the case for everyone. In John 1:12-13, the Apostle writes: But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 

    Jesus is God. He is the light of the world. His world has largely rejected him, even though the world desperately needs him. 

    But there are those who receive and believe in the message. That is the good news of the gospel. Notice that it doesn’t say opportunity. It doesn’t say chance.

    If you believe in Jesus, because of his tremendous goodness and grace, he gives you the right to become a child of God. 

    It has nothing to do with human goodness but our salvation is entirely by the will of God.  

    Of Jesus, John has already said “he was in the world” and that “he came to his own” and that the light was coming into the world. 

    Thanks for reading! If you liked this post, please share and subscribe. This post is the third in a series looking through the Gospel of John. For more posts in this series, please click here.

  • How is Jesus God? 4 life-changing truths from John 1:1-3

    How is Jesus God? 4 life-changing truths from John 1:1-3

    I was always a curious person. 

    Growing up, I didn’t go to church, but I always thought “there’s gotta be something out there.” 

    As a kid, I had cousins who were raised Catholic and who went to mass every week. They had a crucifix in their house, and there was this person on it. I didn’t know who he was, or why he mattered, or why he would be on display in someone’s house. 

    As a junior in high school, I took a humanities class where we spent a quarter of the year studying world religions. It was fascinating to me. 

    The idea of God made sense.

    The idea of a good and loving God made sense. But I didn’t understand where Jesus fit into that. I heard he died for our sins, but I didn’t understand the significance of that. 

    If you had God, then why did you need Jesus? 

    I didn’t know who Jesus was. I didn’t understand passages like John 1. It’s a passage that tells a lot about Jesus. And it’ll explain why he matters. 

    John 1 passage has some of the loftiest verses in the Bible about Jesus:

    John 1:1-2 says: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

    It can be so easy to read verses like those for a few seconds and just continue on with the rest of the passage. But it’s a mountain of meaning. 

    John 1:1-3 makes four affirmations that are four of the most fundamental truths that  you possibly can know about Jesus.

    1. Jesus is eternal 

    “In the beginning was the Word.” 

    John opens up by referring to Jesus as The Word. 

    I take it almost as a title for Jesus in the beginning of John. In the Old Testament, it is through the word of the Lord that God creates, speaks to his people, makes his promises, and points people to truth. 

    In Jesus, we see the ultimate disclosure of divine love, wisdom, truth and salvation, and so it is therefore fitting to refer to Jesus as the Word. 

    In the beginning was the Word. 

    That means that there was never a time when the Word was not. 

    And this is very important because right from the beginning of John, it confronts a common error that has existed in the church essentially since the time of Christ. 

    And that error is thinking Jesus is created. Or thinking that God made Jesus. Or thinking that he was a really good man who was given a promotion and became divine. 

    He was in the beginning. 

    This is something that John repeatedly emphasizes in his writings. 

    In the beginning of First John, he again speaks of Jesus’ eternality in the opening verse when he says: That which was from the beginning, (1 John 1:1)

    We also see John referring to Jesus as an eternal being in the beginning of the Book of Revelation. 

    In a vision of Jesus, John says: When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last

    Jesus is the first and the last. He is eternal. 

    He has always existed. This is something that will continue to unfold throughout this passage, but Jesus is not a created being. 

    2. Jesus has fellowship with God

    The verse continues “and the Word was with God.” 

    Another absolutely monumental and profound reality from this passage. Think about this for just a moment. 

    The Old Testament is filled with lofty language of the majesty of God. Rightfully so. Exodus 33, Moses wants to see the glory of God (Exodus 33:18). 

    God tells Moses in Exodus 33:20: you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live

    It’s because God is so vibrant, and righteous, and full of life that it is completely overwhelming for fallen and finite people. 

    But in that story, we see the glory of the Lord is revealed to Moses and Exodus 34 tells us that when Moses came down from the mountain, his skin was so radiant from beholding the glory of God that people were afraid (Exodus 34:29-30). 

    He shined so brightly that he had to wear a veil. 

    1 Kings 8, the Ark of the Covenant is brought into the Temple. And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, 11 so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord (1 Kings 8:10-11). 

    The glory of the Lord was so overwhelming that the priests could not stand to minister. 

    Isaiah 6, the prophet is given a vision of the throne room of God and he is terrified: 

    Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5)

    The presence of the Lord is completely awesome as you behold his glory and majesty and life. 

    If you’ve ever stood at a great waterfall, as the hundreds of thousands of gallons of water crash over the edge every minute, you can feel the power and rush of the water. 

    That’s awe inspiring in its own right, but it’s no comparison to encountering the eternal and almighty God of the universe. 

    And yet, with Jesus, we’re told that the Word was with God. Jesus can see God, he can behold the glory of God because he himself is glorious and righteous.

    In the beginning, there was fellowship with Jesus and God the Father. Not mentioned in this section, but also with the Holy Spirit. God did not make us because he was lonely or bored or because he needed us. 

    God had always existed in fellowship with himself. It is eternal and perfect. 

    This passage does not build the entire Doctrine of the Trinity by itself, but it’s very helpful in understanding a Trinitarian theology. 

    God is triune. 

    Jesus was with God. 

    Something else that matters is that this passage is showing distinction between Jesus and God. 

    Jesus is not simply God the Father coming into the world. 

    Rather he exists in fellowship with God. There is no dysfunction in the Holy Trinity. Only perfect unity. 

    That’s something that’s really hard to wrap our minds around because we’re sinful and fallen. Our relationships and families have dysfunction. Even good relationships, we still have times of hurt or disagreement. It’s all we see and all we know. 

    And so it is hard to imagine a perfect relationship where there’s no keeping score, where there’s never any resentment or bitterness. Where there’s no sin. 

    But really that says a lot about us as people. That we’re so dysfunctional and hurtful and sinful that a perfect relationship almost seems weird to us. 

    Jesus has a perfect relationship with God and that in itself is helpful in understanding the restoration that Jesus brings into the lives of people. 

    Jesus died to mend the broken relationship. But it’s because there is perfect fellowship within the Trinity that this is possible. 

        3. Jesus is God

    The text continues “and the Word was God.” 

    The central theme of John’s Gospel. The Lordship of Christ. 

    Something to consider…

    This would have been such a radical idea in the first century. 

    There’s a prayer that Orthodox Jews recite daily, in many circles, multiple times a day that’s taken from the book of Deuteronomy. 

    It affirms both that there is one God and also gives the command to love God. 

    Deuteronomy 6:4-6

    4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

    Everyday, multiple times a day reciting these words. The Lord our God, the Lord is one. It was, and is, at the very bedrock of the Jewish belief system. 

    And John was Jewish. And Jesus was Jewish. 

    Yet without contradiction, right off the bat in his testimony of who Jesus is, John says “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” 

    John believed and here affirms that Jesus is God. 

    That is the Orthodox view of Christianity throughout the history of the church. 

    Jesus is God. 

    He’s a person of the Trinity. 

    Borrowing from Wayne Grudem in his book Systematic Theology: 

    Historical, Orthodox, Biblical Christianity believes the following

    There is one God. 

    God is three persons. 

    Each person is fully God. 

    Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

    Again, you can’t build an entire theology of the Trinity from this passage alone. But this passage affirms that Jesus is God and also that there is distinction between Jesus and God. 

    You might think “that’s so hard to wrap my mind around.” 

    You’re wrong. 

    It’s impossible to truly wrap your mind around. You’re not God. We don’t have to know exactly how it’s simultaneously true that we have one God, who is three persons, and each person is fully God. 

    But the Bible affirms all three of those statements. I mentioned a few minutes ago that the belief in one God was central to Jewish belief. 

    It’s central to Christianity too. We also believe in one God. But God is triune. 

    Throughout his ministry, we see Jesus showing his divinity through his miraculous signs. 

    We see his victory over death. We see his perfect and holy life. He’s God.

    All of this taken together in our passage we see: that the Word was with God shows there relationship and distinction. 

    That Jesus is God shows his divinity. 

    Again, this matters tremendously. 

    And we have all of these affirmations right from the beginning of John’s gospel. 

    If Jesus were not God, then he would not be a worthy sacrifice for our sins. If he were just a great man, he would still be fallible. If he were just a great teacher, he could still be wrong . If he were just a great leader, he would still be finite. 

    But he is the perfect God of creation. He entered into a sinful creation to redeem humanity. 

    It also matters because if Jesus were less than God, then not only would he be unworthy of our worship, but the very act of worshipping him would be blasphemous.

    From the beginning of the Ten Commandments. 

    Exodus 20

    2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

    3 “You shall have no other gods before me.

    We’re told elsewhere in the Bible that God is a jealous God. But the gospels show people worshipping Jesus. He never corrects them or deflects worship when that happens. 

    That is either blasphemous or warranted. There’s no middle ground. 

    John’s Gospel is that it constantly confronts us with absolute claims with Jesus. Chief among them is that Jesus is God. 

    That’s an absolute claim. It’s either true or it’s not. If it’s true, the only response is to believe in him, to worship him, to trust in him. If it’s not, the rest of this gospel is meaningless and blasphemous. 

    4. Jesus made everything 

    Verse 3: All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

    Again this is speaking to the divinity of Jesus. All things were made through him. All means all. 

    The ground, the trees, the sand of the beaches, the stars in the sky, the air we breathe, the materials we use to build things, all of it was made by Jesus. 

    He made every person. Each of us has billions of cells in our bodies. Incredible complexity and structure just within our own bodies. The universe is incredibly big. 

    I thought this was a fun exercise. So the distance between the earth and the sun is 93 million miles. 

    If that distance was represented by the width of this one sheet of paper, the distance of our entire galaxy would be a stack of papers 453 miles high. 

    One stack of papers a mile high is about 15 million sheets of paper. Times 453 miles. With each sheet of paper representing 93 million miles. 

    And that’s just our galaxy. 

    There are one hundred billion galaxies. 

    If you could have an atlas of every galaxy in the entire universe and each page represented an entire galaxy, and if you spent just one second on every page and continually turned pages in the atlas, it would take you more than 31,000 years to flip all the way through the atlas. 

    The universe is incredibly, unfathomably big. 

    There are more stars in the sky than there are grains of sand in all the beaches of the world. Yet there are more trees on earth than there are stars in our one galaxy. 

    And that’s just looking at the amazing size of of our universe. There is amazing creation within our world. 

    New species of animals are still being discovered. And they’re not all insects or really small animals. 

    Since 2000, there have been new species of primates discovered. We don’t even yet know everything on our own planet. 

    Yet Jesus made it all. 

    There are other passages in the New Testament which speak to this fact. 

    Colossians 1:16: For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

    We see this language as well in the opening chapter of the Book of Hebrews.

    Hebrews 1:10 referring to Jesus says: 

    You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,

    and the heavens are the work of your hands;

    Jesus is the creator. He made everything. 

    And John states it both ways. 

    He made everything.

    And also there’s nothing that he didn’t make. 

    All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

    He’s a mighty God. 

    It’s a lofty passage. It’s a confrontational passage. You affirm these truths or you don’t. 

    Our society often likes to treat Jesus as something you can take or leave. 

    Gravity isn’t something that you can take or leave. 

    Arithmetic isn’ t something that you can take or leave. 

    Breathing isn’t something that you can take or leave. 

    Jesus isn’t something you can just take or leave. Jesus isn’t just a nice person or a nice idea. He’s the Lord of creation. 

    Many cherry pick certain teachings. Others treat him as a great teacher or a great religious leader. 

    Jesus isn’t one good teacher among other great teachers. He’s God. 

    The sages of other major religious traditions were born. Buddha wasn’t there in the beginning. Mohammad wasn’t there in the beginning. 

    But in the beginning was the Word. 

    There have been great leaders in the world who have influenced nations and movements. Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Gandhi. Some like to just act like Jesus was a wise peace maker who came with a good message. 

    He’s so much more than that. In the beginning was the Word. And the Word created all things. 

    Thanks for reading! If you liked this post, please share and subscribe. 

    This post is the second in a series in studies on the Gospel of John. For more passages in this series, please click here.

  • Jesus is the God of creation and new creation – Exploring John 1:1-18

    Jesus is the God of creation and new creation – Exploring John 1:1-18

    Photo courtesy of Unsplash @Greg Rakozy

    Jesus is the Lord of creation and new creation.  

    I’m going to highlighting a few words and phrases in this opening prologue to John.  

    “In the beginning.”  “Word.”  “Life.” “Light.” “Darkness.”

    Just to name a few.  

    These are all found both in John 1, but also in Genesis 1. 

    The Word of God

    Opening phrase of the Gospel of John: In the beginning was the Word. It’s the same way in which the Bible opens up, the first words in Genesis are: in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1).

    John starts with: in the beginning was the Word.  Now, it’s interesting that John says “the Word.” 

    He doesn’t say “in the beginning was Jesus” or “in the beginning was the Christ” or “in the beginning was the Lord” but “in the beginning was the Word.”  

    But, in the beginning was the Word. 

    Given that in the Old Testament, God’s word is tied to creation, salvation, healing, and deliverance, the incarnation of Jesus is God’s greatest and most spectacular form of expression to the world. The Word is an appropriate title for Jesus because it is through this Word that we have ultimate truth, eternal life, future hope, assurance of God’s promises, and God’s greatest revelation of himself to the world.  

    And we learn from our passage this morning that this Word was in the beginning.  

    This Word is not some abstract idea or force. This Word exists. 

    Life

    Verse 4: In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

    Two more ideas that are found in creation. Life and light. Both of these ideas will also be significant themes in John’s gospel. Let’s start with life. Nearly half of the New Testament usages of the word life come from John’s writings.  

    In Genesis, life is created. The animals that walk the earth, the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, culminating in God’s creation of man in his own image. All life is created in Genesis.  

    And here, in referring to Jesus, it says that life itself is found in him.  

    He’s the creator of life, the sustainer of life.  He’s the giver of true life. Life in himself.  

    The best known verse in the entire Bible. John 3:16. Jesus refers to eternal life when he says  “God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  

    That’s the life that Jesus came to bring. John 10:10, Jesus says that he has come so that his people can have life and have it abundantly.  

    And it’s the life that can only come through Jesus. John 14:6, he says: “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the father except through me.”  

    And he has authority to say these things.  

    Because…

    In the beginning was the Word.  And in him was life.  And he made everything.  And he’s God.  

    And so John begins his gospel by talking of the God of creation entering into creation to make his new creation.  

    Light

    Next theme of creation that’s found in John. Light.  

    In Genesis, the first thing that God calls into being is light. 

    Genesis 1:3-4  And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good 

    Light is a symbol for life, salvation, and the presence of God. In Revelation 22, the final chapter of the Bible, a book also written by the Apostle John, in pointing to God’s coming kingdom, John talks of heaven and says:  

    They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light (Revelation 22:5). 

    The light of God displays his glory and presence. Yet John takes it to a fuller meaning.  

    In John 8:12, Jesus will say:  I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life

    Light is contrasted by darkness. Darkness in John refers to evil and sin. Darkness is the opposite of light both metaphorically and literally.  

    In Genesis 1:4, we’re told that God separated the light from darkness.  John chapter 1 says that “the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.”  

    Again, John keeps pointing back to creation to show us a new creation that Jesus is bringing into the world.  

    The Word became flesh

    Perhaps the climax of this entire introductory prologue of John’s gospel is found in verse 14:  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

    The language returns to using the word Word. And it says that this Word, Jesus, became flesh and dwelt among us. The God who created the world entered his creation.  

    What a profound reality that is. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. 

    In creation, before the fall, there was fellowship with God. It was paradise.  

    And yet Adam and Eve sinned. Cast out of the garden. But here in John, we see that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus came into our fallen world. Because he loved us. Because he’s gracious. Because he’s good. He is the eternal God of creation.  

    New Creation

    And he came to bring a new creation.  

    In the opening of John, we see the groundwork being laid for that which was lost in the fall to be regained through the gospel. Paradise was lost due to sin, but in the beginning of John, we see that the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Darkness came into the world because of sin, but we see that Jesus is the true light. Death came into the world because of sin, but in Jesus, there was life.  

    Not just anyone is capable of doing that. But Jesus isn’t just anyone. He was in the beginning. Jesus is the eternal God of creation who brings a new creation. He’s here to give you a new life. He overcame the darkness by living a sinless life. He brought life through his own death. He restored the relationship by being forsaken.  

    All of it was his work.  

    He invites you into a new life, a new covenant. He gives you a new heart.  

    The Apostle Paul said that anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. (2 Cor. 5:17). In John 3, a man named Nicodemus. He’s intrigued by this teacher and ministry and he wants to learn more. Jesus says that we must be born again.  

    On the night before he was crucified, he told his disciples to love one another, and he called it a new commandment.  In the closing sections of the Book of Revelation, John talks of seeing a new heaven and a new earth. He records Jesus saying that he making all things new. (Rev. 21:5).  

    When we trust in Jesus and are born again, Jesus does bring a new creation. He does make something new. He makes a new person. 

    Jesus is the Lord of creation and new creation.  

    Have you trusted in Jesus? Is he your Lord and savior?  

    There is no other way to God, there is no other way to life, there is no other way to forgiveness, there is no other way to heaven than through Jesus.  

    He is a mighty God.  

    And it takes the might of God to bring new life to sinners who were dead in sin.  You can’t make yourself alive. But Jesus can. Because in him was life.  You can’t make yourself worthy. But Jesus has. John 1:12-13: 

    To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 

    You can’t earn your way to heaven, but Jesus came from heaven to earth. The word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14).  

    And the present reality is eternal security and a heavenly hope. But it points forward still to the greater new creation that Jesus has promised and is bringing into the world.  

    Because a Christian is forgiven, to the glory of God. But the world is still fallen. We are still surrounded by darkness, and fall into sin. We have eternal life, but still face worldly death. But Jesus is bringing an ultimate and final new creation into his world.  

    He’s putting it back together.  

    He promised to bring restoration. And he is.  

    And as sure as he brought that at his incarnation, he will bring it finally and totally at the consummation of his kingdom.  

    All around the world, every hour of every day, people are coming to faith in Jesus. A miracle is happening, a recreation is happening in people’s souls. People are overcoming areas of sin, because of the work of Christ. Lives are being transformed by the gospel. People who don’t know Jesus are being impacted by the love of his followers.  

    And Jesus continues to work. 

    Thanks for reading! This post is the first in a series in studies on the Gospel of John. For more passages in this series, please click here.

  • Joseph, Mary, and a huge test of faith

    Joseph, Mary, and a huge test of faith

    In the Gospel of Matthew, a young couple named Mary and Joseph receive some truly shocking news. Mary is expecting! Despite the fact that they have never consummate their relationship and that Mary is a virgin. 

    Joseph faced a dilemma.What does he do? They lived in a small village. Inevitably Mary was going to start to show. With the cultural sensibilities of their day, this pregnancy in an unmarried couple would have been scandalous. 

    Mary would make it appear as though either Mary had been unfaithful to Joseph, or that Mary and Joseph together had violated the betrothal custom and conceived a child together. 

    Jewish teaching at the time essentially forbade marrying someone to whom you were betrothed who had been unfaithful. 

    In Matthew 1:19, Joseph initially does not see it as an option to marry Mary. But he doesn’t want to shame her either, so he just wants to try to make the breaking of the betrothal as painless as possible for both of them. 

    There appears to be a sensible course of action until Joseph is greeted with the most unexpected news. 

    An angelic messenger appears to Joseph in a dream. 

    Matthew 1:20:
    But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

    Sometimes the Lord can quickly change our plans. Joseph is told not to fear taking Mary as his wife. 

    The reason he needs to be told not to fear is that the religious and social expectation would be that Joseph would not take Mary as his wife, due to her apparent adultery. 

    For the town gossips in Nazareth, the explanation that Mary is pregnant with a child that has been conceived via divine conception is not exactly the easiest story to believe. 

    It would have been just as hard for someone in the first century to believe this was possible as it is for us in modern times. They knew where babies came from! 

    So to marry Mary is to also have to deal with the social ostracism of marrying an apparent adulteress. 

    But Joseph is told not to fear. 

    Now just because he’s told not to fear taking Mary as his wife, that does not mean that it’s going to be easy. 

    We don’t know a ton about the life of Joseph after Jesus was born. But the gospels give us a few snapshots, and it was hard. 

    In Luke’s narrative, when Jesus was born, there was no room for them. 

    A story that I plan to preach in a couple weeks, but when Jesus was just a baby, the King, a man named Herod hears about this King of Israel who was born and in his jealousy, seeks out to try to have Jesus killed off.  

    The family was forced to leave Judea and go into hiding in Egypt. 

    So we see an inhospitable world, danger, exile. Hardships. Church tradition holds that Joseph was already deceased by the time that Jesus began his public ministry. 

    Joseph is told to fear not. Why? Because he was following the will of God. But again, that doesn’t mean that following the Lord will be easy. 

    The disciples followed the Lord. But they had lives of difficulty and persecution, ultimately leading to the martyrdom of all but one of them. 

    We celebrated Thanksgiving last week. 

    I always think about the Pilgrims who came to this country in the 17th century. They came here in order to live out their faith. And they probably never could have imagined it at the time but they set forth a legacy which has extended into America to this day. The rich religious history that we have in this nation. 

    Was it wrong of them to come? Was it a bad idea to come? No. 

    But half of them died by that next winter. They had lives of hardship. 

    I think of the great missionaries over the centuries. 

    People who were serving a purpose greater than themselves. But the centuries of missionaries who have faced persecution and death for that calling. The work they did, the challenges and hardships they faced. 

    Father Damien was a priest who served a leper colony in modern day Hawaii. He served people who were the outcasts of society. He contracted leprosy himself in 1885. But he continued to serve until he died of the disease four years later. 

    Maria Taylor was the wife of Hudson Taylor, perhaps the most well known missionary of the 19th century. He ministered in China. Maria herself had been the daughter of missionaries. Born in Asia, her parents both died when she was ten years old. She was sent to England to be taken care of by family but married Hudson Taylor when she was 16. 

    In China, they faced opposition, persecution, and financial hardships. Of the nine children she birthed, only four reached adulthood. She died of cholera when she was just 33. 

    That’s so often not what today picture as the Christian life. We want to believe in a prosperity gospel that sells on the lie of just be good and everything in your life will be good. The problem is that it’s not true to reality and it’s not true to what the Bible teaches. 

    Sacrifice, difficulty, hardship.

    Why would anyone want that? 

    Because of the great God we serve. Because of the great savior we have in Christ. Because of the great cost that he paid for our forgiveness. 

    God gives grace. His power is perfected in our weakness. God sanctifies us through our difficulty. As we serve the Lord through challenges, and walk with him, it is also an opportunity to grow with him. 

    The Bible doesn’t teach that just have faith and it’ll always be easy. The Bible teaches to trust in God even when things are difficult. 

    It makes no sense in the eyes of the world. But God is the only thing that truly matters. And if all we have is God, that is all we need. Again in the eyes of the world, that is laughable. It’s worthy of mockery. 

    Why would a good God allow his most sincere followers to suffer so greatly? 

    But it’s a byproduct of doing ministry in a world that is fallen. We have a savior who can identify. Jesus went to the cross. He suffered. He was betrayed. He was mocked. 

    In life, everything that’s truly worthwhile and worth doing involves hardship and suffering and challenges. 

    Marriage is a great blessing. Marriage has its difficulties. It’s difficult seasons. Difficult conflicts. 

    But its’s worth it. 

    Having kids is a great blessing. But it’s hard. You’re trying to civilize a sinful person. Now no one forces you to get married. No one forces you to raise kids. You choose those things, even though they’re difficult. 

    I think of those great missionaries. They had difficult lives. But still they chose that life. They could have walked away. They could have left the mission field. At the first sign of danger or death, they could have given it all up. 

    But things that are worth doing are hard. 

    In life, all of those challenges bring their own blessings, in spite of the hardship. And truly living for God, in spite of the difficulties brings the blessings of knowing God and growing with God and living to the glory of God. 

    It’s not always easy. But it is always worth it. 

    In the gospels, there’s a story of Jesus and the disciples when they got caught up in a tremendous storm. Why were they on that boat? Because Jesus had led them to it. 

    In the Book of Exodus, the Israelites cross the Red Sea. Why were they at the banks of the sea between the water and the Egyptian army? Because that’s where the Lord had led them. 

    God is not always leading us to what’s easy. But he is always leading us to what’s right. 

    Our world has bought into this unbiblical lie that, in this life, you’re always being led to something really great. 

    Not always. Sometimes you’re being led into something really hard. Sometimes people suffer, sometimes people die. 

    It is in eternity and in the presence of God, when everything is ultimately made right and perfected. But in life, there are trials and challenges. The good news is that we have a savior who will be with us through it all. 

    And so Joseph is told to fear not. Not because it’s easy. But to fear not because of who God is.