thoughts...

He never had to die being Eternal God but He chose to take on a human body and suffer our sin and the death of that body as His cost for our freedom.  The freedom of those who had rebelled for all he stood for.  We who dead and never knew that our destiny was into the pit of hell, were made alive so that we could finally understand where we were going to be going without Him, understand He had changed our future and given us a destiny of life instead of death and gave us, most importantly, the ability to now understand His Glory and Majesty.  Without His opening our eyes and giving us life we would have none of this.

 God's Glory

Christ suffered the loss of so much glory himself in order to repair the injury done to God's glory by our sin.  In that He was received a greater degree of glory for eternity.

Christ's death showed God's love for us but we are not the center.  His Glory is!

 John Piper p.319 Desiring God. 

Population and the coming of Emmanuel.

I was thinking about when Christ came to this earth.  We tend to think today that the earth was as populated as it is now but it wasn't.  Doesn't it make sense that Christ would come into our world after the history of Israel had had enough time to show itself and show its failings and God's working with it but wouldn't Christ come before the greatest population growth since His work was going beyond Israel and into the whole world.  Why?  so that his important work would grow as the populations grow. The gospel was spread by a small number of people, His disciples, into a small world and grew as the world grew. The beginning of earth was the beginning of God's relationship with people and for that time was setting up that world for Christ to come at the right time to correct the chaos we had gotten ourselves into and create a history of His Story. 

 Gravity - the hand of God.  What we think of as a little feature of our existence on earth is actually the hand of God that has formed all that we live in.  The scientists came to understand that there was a "big bang", a beginning to the universe we know.  They thought eternal time in both directions gave them the time to teach that evolution is the reason everything is here.  But Steven Hawkins and others proved to their dismay that there was a beginning, putting to death the idea of evolution.  A beginning just didn't allow enough time for natural selection to happen even considering natural selection has never shown an increase in DNA necessary to make more advanced creatures.  But since then they have also found the physical evidence of big bang in the microwave layer.  

The Cosmic Microwave Background is faint microwave radiation that fills the entire universe. It’s essentially the afterglow of the Big Bang — leftover heat from when the universe was very young (about 380,000 years old).

At that time, the universe cooled enough for electrons and protons to combine into neutral hydrogen atoms. This allowed light to travel freely for the first time. That light has been traveling ever since, stretched (redshifted) by the expansion of the universe into the microwave range we can detect today.  (That wavelength shows up as red.)

The physicists say that everything was uniform shown by the cosmic microwave background and then after that, gravity formed the universe into very different organized features like galaxies, planets, etc. Because of gravity a smooth and uniform early universe can develop into the clumpy and varied universe we live in. Gravity is the reason for the order and complexity around us.  The hand of God is the reason for the gravity.

There are mysteries about Gravity that is still not understood.

In the 1960s–1970s, Stephen Hawking worked with mathematician Roger Penrose to apply Einstein’s general theory of relativity to the entire universe.

Together, they developed the Penrose–Hawking Singularity Theorems (1970).
🔹 These theorems showed that, under very general conditions, the universe must have begun from an initial singularity — a point where space, time, and the laws of physics break down.
🔹 This gave a solid mathematical foundation for the idea that the Big Bang marked the beginning of time and space, not just a moment within time.

Time started at the Big Bang and not before that.  In the beginning was the Word...

 

 

Why do we not see His beauty and excellence here and now?  Because we are seeing Him through this fallen and imperfect world.  And someday we will see Him fully in perfection. And yet his beauty and excellence shows forth in His people and what they produce to His glory.

 

Something to think about

 Jesus came into this world by a the virgin birth which required a power on high and left it by a resurrection that required the power of the Most High. Singular events.  And in between He did the even more amazing thing by appeasing the wrath of God for His people, who did not deserve it, by having bought them with His blood, resulting in our redemption from an eternity in hell.  Do we realize what we missed experiencing - do we realize we have received the gift of the universe.

He made His invisible attributes visible to us by creating this world.

God made this world.  Why make a world that is not where you live?   He made it a world to show His Glory then He made us.   Everything came out of his Mind and was made for a purpose.  He tells us in Romans 1:20 that in all He made it was telling us about Him, of his eternal power and divine nature which was put into everything he made.  These are the attributes of Him that are invisible to us but now can be seen in all he made.  So first He made the world to make his invisible attributes visible to those He made. (So all are without excuse to know their Maker.)

Second it was a world that was not foreign to Him because He created EVERYTHING in it.  It was His plan.  So it was a world He could and would come into to begin to finish the work - saving His people and then saving the creation from the sin that had entered into it.

God's plan tells us about Him.

 

Back to light again

Some Quantum Physicists have speculated that light is the basis of space.  This is intriguing because light is so basic to physics.  E=mc2 is based on the speed of light.  Sight is the only sense that requires something else - light.  If we understand that God put his attributes in everything He had made to be clearly seen then we can extrapolate much from thinking deeply about nature.  I was talking the other day with someone that water is the most basic part of life so we can expect to find an important mystery about God revealed there.  H20, the trinity.  Steam, water, ice are all simply H2O, same essence,  but in different forms, purposes, actions as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Just as a woman can be a mother, daughter and sister still being the same person but 3 different actions give 3 different roles depending on the different relationships, behaviors.

Back to light - but thinking about it light may be more basic than water.  We cant live long without water but we can't live life at all without light.  If we are in total darkness we can do nothing to live out our lives.  No work, play, growing, producing food, finding water, etc. Its lack affects more than water.  The sun He made gives us that most essential part of life, but we take it for granted each day. Its not just the life abilities that the sun gives our bodies, plants, but there is no living of life in the dark.

Spacetime

Theoretical physicists consider space and time so intertwined that they make it one word.  They can't be separated.  I realized a while back that God's first created thing was time.  "In the beginning..." There had never been a beginning before.  But if space and time are so intertwined then he must have created space at the same time.  Genesis tells us that the earth was without form and void.  This sounds like it was without space and that would make sense that he created both at that time.  Space and time form the reality of our world.  We take it for granted but this is the capsule of reality that God built for his creation to live in.  Outside that are different realities that Quantum physicists have discovered.  The subatomic and outer space function by different rules than our reality does.

We know God lives outside of time so it follows that he must live outside of space also.  God does not inhabit a space so one had to be created for us. He lives everywhere and so is in another dimension than what we inhabit.  Something Quantum physicists have also discussed.  We know this is true because the Holy Spirit works in this world and inhabits us but we don't see him.  He is existing in another dimension as all the Godhead does.

The other interesting thing that the QP has discussed is that they can see the universe/space is expanding.  It suggests a beginning in a tighter creation and that space and time will eventually expand and run out.  End of creation?  End of our reality?  We know by scripture that is coming.  There will be and end of time and space as we know it.

Reading QP, even unbelievers, leads one to understand more about God in a bigger way than previously.

Quantum Mechanics

I have been investigating what light is and that lead me into Quantum Mechanics.  This seems to be the physics at a beyond-microscopic/observable level.  Very weird things that do no follow the norms that exist in the macro world.  We know when we throw a rock into a pond that ripples will be formed and the rock will fall to the bottom.  But now that the elements that make up our world on a level beyond microscopes/observation are able to be measured and experimented with the results are not following the rules that exist in our reality.  Bohr and Einstein argued as to what this meant.  Experiments done recently prove who was right but to explain that would require going into areas too complicated and unimportant.  What is important is that they found a world in which the rules of existence as we know them don't exist.  When you think about it the same is true for the world beyond our reality.  Einsteins Theory of relativity shows that on a plane outside our reality time exists differently. 

God created a reality in which we live.  The rules and laws of our reality are observable and measurable.  But beyond that, in bigger things, and smaller things, the same rules don't apply. He created a world for just us, that we could understand and explain but not limitlessly.  He is so beyond our understanding.  The worlds beyond us (supermacro and micro) exist according to his rules.  He created this world we live in as a separate creation from what exists beyond us.  Man will never understand Quantum Mechanics, if it is possible at all, without an understanding of God.  And what they can discover about Quantum Mechanics will give them an glimpse of the immensity and majesty of God.

Wounded Spirit

Why do I have a crushed spirit?  Cares of my world are getting worse as I get older.  Financial circumstances continue to pile up, health issues increase, relationships get difficult, unsatisfying, church is less fulfilling than ever before.  My spirit is crushed by the circumstances of my life. 

But these circumstances that get me so down are irrelevant and I get down because I focus on them.  They are irrelevant to the life I have been given in Christ.  Paul learned to be content in all circumstances because good or bad his ultimate focus was on Christ and the goal of eternal life with him.  What occurs here is just temporary and a training ground for our faith.  Nothing in this life is ever going to give us the satisfaction we desire because nothing in this life is going to live up to the fullness of life we will find ultimately in the next world.  We want something that can't be had in this world.  Everything you look to to give you satisfaction doesn't and will not.  So be content with what God has given you, orient yourself to the truth of the gospel and what He suffered for you to give you this fullness of life that is coming, you will then find the joy beyond the walls of this world - a foretaste of the tree of eternal life.

New relationship to God

Christ brought to us the right relationship with the Creator that had never been possible in this world before.  Even those before Christ came to this earth had a relationship with God based on what Christ was to do. All we were, all our attempts to reach Him were rubbish but Christ provided us the ways and means to establish the right relationship with God.

You have given us Him that we may know You.

NT replacements for OT rituals

God always has and will deal with his people through covenants. 
God deals with peoples and not individuals.
In the OT we see the Passover celebrated
in the NT we celebrate Easter the resurrection
in the OT we circumcision as the sign of the covenant through families/heads of households
in the NT we see baptism as the sign of the covenant expanded to all
Pentecost - the promise is to you and your children Acts 2:39, 1 Cor. 7:14

God has made a covenant with his people.  Baptism is the sign of the covenant and replaces circumcision (Col. 2:11) Our children have a portion in the covenant and therefore they have the right of baptism.

Saving souls

Evangelizing is often pictured as saving lost souls.  But none who respond were "lost."  They are His that come at his chose time - his chosen ones.  He came to destroy the works of the devil through their faith.  He plants the seed of truth in them, waters it, and allows us to harvest his crop - bringing it into his kingdom.  There are none out in the world that were lost to Him but diverted to heaven.  All who respond are our brothers and sisters who were chosen before the foundation of the world.  We are just there when he calls them so fear not to proclaim the gospel - his chosen people will hear.

He doesn't call us to serve the world (who reject him) but to build up the body of Christ.  Eph. 4:11ff.  We were given apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers to equip the saints...for the building up of the body of Christ.

[the lost - is this a term the bible uses?  Are they really lost?  This term gives us the idea we have to rationalize people into the kingdom when really we are just finding brothers.]

In the acceptance of God's sovereignty in my life I must translate that into my dealings with ____ forgive and forget the damage done.  Can I do this?  No.  The Holy Spirit must empower me to do it and I must not give myself any credit.

The renewal

This world was in its infancy and God worked through Israel alone.  They became an example of the ways of people and the way they would choose to go left to make their own choices.  Then God choose to enter the world he created as Jesus and the world changed. It was filled for the first time with real life, love, hope, justice, mercy, etc.  The renewal had begun.  First his chosen children were being redeemed and renewed through each generation and, then finally creation so that the devil will have will have not conquered any area of the creation as his own.

The reason He came...

The reason He came was to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).  I never noticed this before and always thought he only came to save us his children.  But he did destroy the works of the devil by redeeming us and then he will again when he redeems all of creation.  Hebrews 2:14:  ...he himself likewise partook of [flesh and blood] that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death ...the devil.

Gal. 1:15 he ... had set me apart before I was born, and ... called me by his grace...

From the foundation of the world God gave Him children Heb. 2:13:  "Behold, I and the children God has given me."  Mankind was destined for hell but in the right time he came to change the destination of his children by destroying the one who had the power of death over them that they might  no longer fear death but think of death as a pleasure - a going home.

Santification

We think we remain the same after we have come to know Christ.  But if we take the time to look back we see that the loud screams of the flesh and our emotions that controlled us are drowned out and lessened and we instead can hear the Holy Spirit leading us to do the things of God.  We do not realize the change it is so gradual.  Our lives are formed not for our pleasure but his Glory.  These changes He ordains in his sovereignty.  One day we will see the glory that he has gotten from what He has done in us.  We cannot see it clearly now.

Why do bad things happen to good people?

We strive for, hope for, a life without trials, problems.  A life as we dream it to be.  But that is an impossible goal that I actually don't want to reach - it is counterproductive to the spiritual growth God intends for me.  Problems, trials are a gift from the hand of God - always good (Romans 8:28), always to help me in some way be conformed to the image of Christ. Without problems, trials I would never turn to him, grow in my faith, exercise my faith...

Anxiety is a sign of unbelief.  It is unbelief in his sovereignty over my life, in his love towards me at all times in all things.  Strive towards contentment in all trials knowing it is my job to obey and his to provide, knowing that he loves me and only sends me what is good for me.  As Spurgeon says when you are anxious and troubled you are meddling in God's business.  God is in control of all details of my life.  I need to believe it and live it.  I need to live it showing I believe it.   Everything that happens to me is for a good purpose.  Live that by being content in the life he has given me.

 Is it so hard to trust a God who died and suffered for me when he had a choice?  My whole trust is in his blood.  It proved his love for me as nothing else could.  May I never take for granted the words "Christ died for ME." It is the supreme message of the universe.  It is the gift of all time.  The God of Heaven and Earth came, lived and died that I may live with him for eternity.  He bought and paid for my life  -  can I not then trust Him with all of it?  It is his anyway.

2/16/15  Hardships are part of the journey towards knowing Christ.  Do not recoil from this discipline of Christ because these are among his most favored gifts.  He disciplines whom he loves.  

Our baptism

Scripture tells us (Col. 2:12) that we were buried with him in baptism.  But does this mean our baptism should be being immersed under the water to picture being buried like Christ?  As I think about it he was not buried under the ground but was in a tomb above ground surrounded by rock.  He had been prepared for his burial by pouring when the woman poured the flask of ointment over his head (Mark 14:3,8) "...she has anointed my body beforehand for burial."

1 Peter 3:20 - while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.  Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirst from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience...

Scripture tells us that baptism corresponds to the "salvation" the ark provided.  Who was immersed?  Not the those who were saved but those who died.  Who was saved - a few.  The saved were "sprinkled" upon from above not immersed.

Col. 2:11 - "you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands..having been buried with him in baptism."  Here Scripture equates circumcision and baptism.  This is the direct connection between the two in the NT. In the OT Jewish baby boys were circumcised as a sign of the covenant.  That sign continues in baptism but it is open to male and female alike.  Just as in the OT Jewish adult converters were circumcised, adult converters are be baptized in the NT,  male and female alike.  But that does not change it into being a sign of belief.  God does not do that.  It is a sign of the covenant still and so is still appropriate for babies to be baptized.