Tag: hope

Are You Looking Forward to Christ’s Return?

On By Jason SmithIn Devotional, Theology for LifeLeave a comment

A couple weeks ago, I experienced the joy of reunion. I spent the previous week hunting deer in Wyoming and was glad to be back home with my beautiful pregnant wife and three boys. I love spending time outdoors, tracking game, and enjoying time with my dad and brother. But nothing beats coming home to my family.

Because I had already bagged my buck and my dad came down with a cold, we ended up driving home a couple days early. As you might expect, my family was pleasantly surprised to have me back sooner than expected. But just imagine if their response was disappointment instead of delight. Imagine if after I came through the front door, my wife frowned and said, “Oh, you’re back. I was kind of getting used to you being gone.” How do you think I would feel?

The question I’m asking here is: Are you looking forward to Christ’s return? Do you expectantly hope for this joyful reunion? Would it delight you or disappoint you if Jesus came tomorrow?

Just like if my family was not delighted at my return, wouldn’t a lack of delight indicate something is wrong with our relationship with Jesus?

“Our Lord, Come!”

At the conclusion to Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth, he makes a bold statement:

“I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come!” (1 Corinthians 16:21-22, ESV)

It’s worth noting that Paul says, “If anyone has no love for Jesus, let him be accursed (anathema in the Greek)”? Why doesn’t he say, “If anyone has no faith in Jesus let him be accursed”? Aren’t we saved by faith alone?

We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. But Paul is highlighting something significant. When we are brought to new spiritual life in the Lord through a process called regeneration (new birth), we are given a new heart that loves the Lord and longs to please Him. In other words, if you have no love for Jesus, you have no faith in Him either. That’s why Paul says, “If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed.”

This explains why Paul then says, “Maranatha,” a phrase meaning “Our Lord, come!” “Maranatha” has been the cry of believers for 2,000 years. As we look around this world, we see that Jesus has not yet set everything right. There are wars and rumors of wars. There is lawlessness, hatred, apostasy, violence, and all kinds of perversions. Therefore, we long for the glory of Jesus and His physical presence on earth to make everything right.

Coming the Same Way He Went

After Jesus was lifted into the clouds, the disciples stared into the sky with mouths agape. Two angels appeared beside them and said:

“Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11, NASB)

Ever since then, Christians have been waiting for Jesus to come back in the same way He ascended into the clouds. After all, the angels didn’t say Jesus will come in some metaphorical or hyper-spiritual sense as some Christians believe.[1] They clearly said, “This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” If the angels wanted us to believe Jesus was coming back physically and visibly, “in the same way” that He ascended before their eyes, I don’t know how else they could have said it.

In other words, this promise hasn’t yet been fulfilled. It wasn’t fulfilled in the first century, and it hasn’t been fulfilled since. Some Christians believe that the promise of Jesus’s coming has already been fulfilled in a metaphorical or spiritual sense at the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. But many passages—including the angels’ words—have to be virtually strained out of the New Testament to come to that conclusion.

Interestingly, even Paul had to deal with people thinking Jesus had already come in the first century. Apparently, this error has been around for a long time.

“Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way.” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3, ESV)

This is the great event Christians still look forward to with great anticipation. After you’ve given your life to Christ, you finally have real cause for rejoicing. You’re forgiven, made new, and now God is walking with you through every step of life. Infinite joy awaits you in eternity.

I cannot wait to see Jesus face to face! While on the one hand, I’m overwhelmed by the thought of seeing Him in all His glory, I also cannot wait. I want to look into those holy eyes full of love and compassion for the lost. I want to touch the hands that were pierced for me. I want to embrace the Savior who loved me and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:20).

A Day of Wrath or Joy?

The Book of Revelation tells us:

“Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him. Even so. Amen.” (Revelation 1:7, ESV)

Think of that. One day every eye will see Him—again, His return will be oh so visible—but not everyone will have the same response. Some will be overwhelmed with joy and exhilaration at seeing their Lord and being caught up to meet Him in the clouds. Others will be devastated and overwhelmed with shock and terror. Consider these sobering words of the Apostle John:

“Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (Revelation 6:15-17, ESV)

How awful must be their dread of Jesus if these people would rather be crushed by mountains and rocks than come under His wrath?

Sometimes I realize I haven’t really stopped to reflect on what I’ve just read in the Bible. Consider what is being said here. This day of wrath is going to be utterly terrifying for a vast number of people. Despite the fact that so many talk show hosts, comedians, screenwriters, politicians, and social media influencers mock the Lord Jesus today, a day of reckoning is coming. And, according to Scripture, it will come on a day that no one expects.

While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. (1 Thessalonians 5:3, ESV)

To downplay the seriousness of this reality is to pretend this passage isn’t in Scripture.

But, we are reminded, the picture is very different for those who love the Lord Jesus.

But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. (1 Thessalonians 5:4-5, ESV)

For those who long for the Lord’s return, that day will be a glorious day of rejoicing. This is because if you know and trust in Jesus, you don’t need to live in dread of Christ’s return or experience terror at His return. Instead, you get to look forward to being with your Savior and all your brothers and sisters in the Lord who have gone before you.

But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10, ESV)

If you have found salvation in the living Lord, you too can look forward to His return. It’s not something to shrink back from; it’s something to fuel your excitement. Jesus is coming back!

Are You Looking Forward to His Return?

Here’s what I’d have you consider. The deeper your relationship with Jesus, the more you will look forward to His return.

Full disclosure here: our home is not always pristinely clean with every dish put away and everything so immaculate that it sparkles like in those Swiffer commercials. We have three boys who love to turn our living room into a miniature city, with cars lined up in traffic and bridges going across chairs and couches. Don’t get me wrong. We do try to have them clean up after themselves, but, believe it or not, things don’t always go as planned. So, when we are expecting guests, we sometimes have to do what we call “blitzing” to get everything clean in time. Of course, there have been times when a guest showed up surprisingly early, and, frankly, we just didn’t feel ready.

Sometimes people feel that way about Christ’s return. They want Him to come back, but maybe not today. Soon, but not today. But the more we face challenges in life, the more we should long for Christ’s return. While those who don’t know Christ can fall into despair when bad things happen, the Christian should have a different perspective. Trials are meant to be God’s way of weaning us off our love for the world.

Sometimes a bit of pain is the only way to break us out of our cycle of pursuing the things of this world. He wants us to find ultimate joy with Him. So, in those times of trials, we need to turn our grumbling over circumstances into gratitude that our Savior is coming.

“Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming.” (James 5:7, ESV)

Sometimes we can be hoping and praying for something, and not expect it to take so long. Perhaps it’s physical healing. Or a relationship with a family member needing to be reconciled. Or a friend we want to come to know Jesus. We can wonder, “Why is this taking so long? I’ve been praying! Why is my heart still so heavy?” But that’s where we need to humbly surrender to the Lord’s timetable, because He sees things from a much grander perspective than we could.

And one day, when Jesus returns and we see Him face to face, we will experience ultimate healing, both in our hearts and our bodies. Thus, we say together “Maranatha!” “Our Lord, come!”

Have thoughts on this post? Feel free to comment below!

[1] A view called preterism holds that Jesus’s predicted return was fulfilled in the first century at the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 in a spiritual sense, despite the fact that the promise was that Jesus would return physically and visibly. Of course, our understanding of end times events should not be shaped by what is popular or what fits neatly into a particular scheme, but what is plainly taught in Scripture. For that reason, despite the apparent neatness of the preterist view, I have to reject it.

The Coffin Is a Better Teacher than the Crib

On By Jason SmithIn Devotional, Theology for Life5 Comments

The Bible’s message could be boiled down to this: Live every day in light of the end. Everyone dies, but most people live in denial of that fact.

God wants us to see how foolish it is to deny our own mortality. He urges us to look death straight in the eye. Face up to it. Because only when we come to terms with the fact of our own death will we be prepared for it.

Better to Be at a Funeral than a Feast

People love to argue about what is better.

We do this all the time. This book is better than that book. This vacation spot is better than that one. This political candidate is better than that terrible one. In the Book of Ecclesiastes, the Preacher (likely Solomon) gives a list of comparisons, to make us think about our own mortality. It begins this way:

A good name is better than precious ointment,
    and the day of death than the day of birth. (Ecclesiastes 7:1, ESV)

This is a theme that comes up in Proverbs, too, which gives us another reason to think Solomon wrote this book.[1] He’s saying, “Who cares if you smell like a bed of roses, if your reputation stinks!” In other words, far more important than coming into a room smelling like Chanel No. 5 is putting on a character that others want to be around.

So far, so good. This makes sense. But then Solomon says something strange: He says “the day of death” is better “than the day of birth” (v. 1). What could he possibly mean?

When I first read that, I was confused. The day of birth is filled with rejoicing and gladness. But the day of death? That’s always marked by emotional pain and mourning because you’ve lost someone rather than gained someone.

So, what does Solomon mean? It’s probably a good idea to keep reading.

It is better to go to the house of mourning
    than to go to the house of feasting,
for this is the end of all mankind,
    and the living will lay it to heart. (Ecclesiastes 7:2, ESV)

Solomon says, “It’s better to be at a funeral than a feast.” But why? “For this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart.” That’s another way of saying, “Attending a funeral reminds you that one day it will be you in the coffin, not someone else.”

Sorrow is better than laughter,
    for by sadness of face the heart is made glad.
The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
    but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. (Ecclesiasts 7:3-4, ESV)

At first, this sounds so morose, something akin to the cute little star in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, who spouts nihilistic statements like, “The only hope is the sweet relief of death.” But Solomon is not a nihilist. Here’s the key: “The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning.” What’s the point? When you’re at a funeral, you’re coming face to face with reality. This life doesn’t go on forever. All who came before us have died. And—unless Jesus returns first—you reading this will one day die. That’s not being morbid. That’s simply the truth.

Death, Our Teacher

So why would the day of death be better than the day of birth? Let’s think about this. The day a baby is born, it’s exciting, but no one really knows anything about that little one. No one knows what kind of person they will be. There’s not a lot to say about the baby herself other than, “Look at how cute she is” or “She looks just like her mother.”

But on the day of someone’s death, you have an entire lifetime to reflect on. You can consider what the person’s character was like. You can think of all the memories you shared, their laugh, their personality, their accomplishments, their failures, and whether they lived for their Maker.

The coffin is a better evangelist than the crib.

Solomon’s point is that the man at the funeral has an opportunity to stop, look death in the eye, and consider his own end—where everything is leading. When you’re at a party, you’re just living in the moment. You’re having fun. That’s not bad in itself. Celebrations are a gift from God. In fact, God is supremely happy and wants His children to be happy.[2] We are even commanded to rejoice in the Lord (Philippians 4:4). But parties don’t prepare you for what comes next.

Death can be our teacher, reminding us to live in light of the end.

The thought of death focuses the mind. It forces us to think about meaning – what is it all for anyway? It compels us to ask the question, “What comes next?” and “How can I be sure of where I’m going?”

If you’re going on a rock-climbing expedition, the time to learn how to climb isn’t when you’re there on the edge of the precipice. You must learn ahead of time and prepare yourself.

And Solomon’s point is this: “If we always avoid the thought of death, we won’t be prepared when it comes for us.”

The coffin is a better evangelist than the crib.

Why Deny the Obvious?

Ernest Becker wrote a book called The Denial of Death. As far as I know, Becker is not a Christian, but he observes that people tend to deny the reality of death in their daily lives.

He says:

“… the idea of death, the fear of it, haunts the human animal like nothing else: it is the mainspring of human activity—activity designed largely to avoid the fatality of death, to overcome it by denying in some way that it is the final destiny of man.”

He goes on:

“All culture, all man’s creative life-ways, are in some basic part of them a fabricated protest against natural reality, a denial of the truth of the human condition, and an attempt to forget the pathetic creature that man is.”

He’s starting to sound a bit like Ecclesiastes, isn’t he? What’s he saying? When you consider human culture and behavior as a whole, you see that man is constantly trying to distract himself from the thought of death. Why? Because he’s afraid of death.

Becker is actually agreeing with the Bible. Jesus came to rescue us from this fear.

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. (Hebrews 2:14-15, NIV)

When Jesus came to bear our sin and guilt on the cross, He was allowing death to do its worse to Him. And by dying in our place, He broke the power of death and the devil, so that we would no longer have to live like slaves haunted by the thought of death.

People deny death in a myriad of ways. One of the ways we do that is through our self-made “immortality projects.” These “immortality projects” are ways people try to live on—symbolically—apart from Jesus.

For some, the whole idea is to live on through children. They figure, “Even if I can’t live forever, I can live on through my kids.” Or some people will try to leave a big enough mark on the world by writing books, running for office, or building a corporate empire. Even atheists long to live on in some way.

That’s why so many long for fame and fortune. In the back of their minds, they’re thinking, “I can’t live forever literally. But I can at least become so famous that people will remember me.” Even during their lives, celebrities are worshipped. The hope is that if they can just get people to know and remember their name, it’s a way for them to live on.

P. T. Barnum, of circus fame, was often criticized early in his career. His response was: “I don’t care what the newspapers say about me as long as they spell my name right.”

People long to be remembered, but the big question is Why?

Their Deeds Follow Them

Every one of us has this desire to be immortalized, to know our lives count for something greater and longer lasting than 70, 80, or 90 years.

This is one reason people think so much about their legacy—how they will be remembered—especially when they’re getting older. People hope to be thought of well by others after they’re gone.

This idea is at the heart of A Christmas Carol, the little book by Charles Dickens. Scrooge has lived selfishly for much of his life, but then the Ghost of Christmas Future leads him to a graveyard and points a long finger at the headstone that reads “Ebenezer Scrooge.”

Scrooge shutters and says, “Hear me! I’m not the man I was. I will not be the man I must have been.” It is only when Scrooge faces up to his own impending death that he suddenly realizes he has no legacy. And from that moment onward, he vows to change and live a generous life.

That is the effect of facing up to our own death. And that is one way we live wiser in light of our own death. But leaving a good legacy still doesn’t change the fact of death.

Here’s the point. If you reject the God who gives you eternal life, you still try to live on in other ways. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says “eternity” is still in your heart. You still long for immortality, even if you turn away from the God who can give it to you.

Wanting to leave a good legacy isn’t wrong. The problem is that it can put the emphasis on the wrong thing. When we care about leaving a worldly legacy more from self-preservation than from love, then it won’t last. Along with the worldly trends, it will eventually be forgotten.

Consider what the Apostle John writes in Revelation:

And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!” (Revelation 14:13, ESV)

For those who die in the Lord—who have trusted in Christ as Savior—their deeds follow them. The world will eventually forget them, but they aren’t forgotten in Heaven. God keeps a record of what you do for His glory.

Have thoughts on this post? Feel free to comment below!

[1] Proverbs 10:7; 22:1

[2] See Nehemiah 8:10

Photo from the Jim Carrey’s 2009 film A Christmas Carol.

How Humility Leads to Joy

On By Jason SmithIn Devotional1 Comment 
“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” (Philippians 2:3, ESV)

Recently, I was talking with an atheist friend about our different views of reality. Rather than pointing to more objective evidence, I asked him if there was ever a time when he had been in awe of the sublime grandeur of nature. After a brief pause, he said he had indeed felt overwhelmed by the vastness—and even beauty—of the universe. I pointed out how, whether we claim belief in God or not, we humans seem wired to take joy in something greater than ourselves.

At its core, humility is the ability to take joy in something or someone outside yourself. Some people think of humility as a posture of self-degradation (“I’m not really good at anything”), as if running oneself down all the time is a sure sign of a humble spirit. But that’s incorrect. Humility is not self-focused at all; it’s a willingness to be so invested in others that the joy of others becomes your joy.

Count Others More Significant

No wonder that a New Testament letter on joy in Christ gives one of the clearest teachings on true humility:

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:3-4, ESV)

Paul says that when the Philippians do this, his joy is complete.

Many have pointed out how strange it is that while Americans are among the wealthiest in the world, we are also a nation where anxiety and depression are steadily on the rise. We also live in a nation where individualism and self-esteem are prized far more than most cultures of the world. Could it be that our me-centered mindset is directly linked to this general decrease in happiness?

Of course, this isn’t a uniquely American problem. Even in first century Rome, the Apostle Paul could speak of the coming problems of the last days:

“For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.” (2 Timothy 3:2-5, ESV)

Two things stand out to me about this passage. First, this parade of qualities is a perfect description of our ungodly 21st century world. Second, I find it interesting that every single one of these traits seems to be directly opposed to a humble spirit.

Worldly wisdom says that happiness is found in putting yourself first. Your needs. Your desires. Your appearance. Biblical wisdom says that thinking too highly of yourself actually steals your joy.

"For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you." (Romans 12:3, NIV)

Who Am I?

Self-centered thinking leads you to believe everyone owes you. That you’re always in the right and that everyone else is in the wrong. But true humility leaves you in awe of how truly blessed you are. The humble person can look at all they have in life and say, “Who am I, that I get to have all these blessings in life?”

Some of the most miserable people in this world are those who have either forgotten or maybe never known how precious it is to walk in true humility. To have no sense of entitlement. No sense of God owing you. And what can change all that unhealthy thinking is humbly recognizing just how extraordinarily gracious God has been with you. Yes, you! God has loved you while knowing everything about you. He loved you even when you were weak, even when you were His enemy (Romans 5:6-10). Think of what kind of love this must be! And He loves you more than anyone else ever could or would.

Jesus told His followers, “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5), because He wanted us to humbly recognize just how much we need Him in every part of our lives. It’s about admitting that if we are in the driver’s seat of our lives, the car always ends up in the ditch. Life is far better when the true King and Captain of our soul is behind the wheel.

Without Grumbling

“Do all things without grumbling or disputing.” (Philippians 2:14, ESV)

This is one of those verses that convicts me the more I contemplate it. It’s so easy for me to complain about things in life. I can complain about circumstances, relationships, the weather, the government, high prices, and all the God-denying aspects of the culture. What about you? How easy is it to complain to co-workers about things at home? And then to come home and gripe to your spouse about co-workers? I don’t know about you, but complaining is something that comes way too easily for me.

But it happens more than just at home, doesn’t it? If someone was to look at how people talk about national leaders or what is said on social media, you’d think that grumbling was America’s favorite past time. It reminds me of the Israelites in the wilderness. God does so many amazing feats for them, like rescuing them from enslavement in Egypt, splitting the Red Sea for them, and causing water to gush forth from a rock in the desert.

God even invented the first store-to-front-door delivery system, with delicious cakes and fresh quail arriving outside their tents faster than an Amazon Prime van. God took care of them, and He commissioned Moses to lead them. And what happened, over and over, in that wilderness? They grumbled about Moses and God (I counted no less than 14 times the Bible records Israel grumbling in the wilderness!).

There’s a scene in the film Saving Private Ryan, where Captain Miller, played by Tom Hanks, is asked if he has any gripes about their mission. He responds, “Gripes go up, not down. Always up. You gripe to me, I gripe to my superior officer, so on, so on, and so on.” Gripes always go up says Captain Miller. If that’s true on the cosmic scale, then think of how much griping God must hear daily.

But imagine what it would look like if Christians were known, not for our complaining, but for our joyful acceptance of difficult circumstances. Paul calls us to do all things without bitterness, resentment, and grumbling. Why?

“…that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world…” (Philippians 2:15, ESV)

Radiant Joy

Paul says, that because of the joy of the Lord, we can live as true children of our God. When Paul says we can be “blameless and innocent,” he’s not talking about Christian perfectionism here. He’s speaking about humbly recognizing that, as grace-drenched children of God, we really have no reason to grumble. We can say, “Who am I, that I should be called a child of the living God?” When we live with a confidence in God’s hand guiding us through every trial, instead of being known as complainers, we’ll be known for our radiant joy, even in difficult circumstances.

Just yesterday, Dennis, one of the elders at my church prayed something like this, “Father, we really don’t know just how good we have it. Help us to see that we have nothing to complain about.” Amen!

All of this can only happen when we regularly apply the power of the gospel to our lives. As we humbly submit our thinking to what God has done for us in Christ, the Holy Spirit fills us and leads us into songs of joy and thanksgiving (see Colossians 3:12-17). Grace is always best received by the empty hands of those who most recognize their need for it.

When we refuse to bitterly complain even in the midst of hardships or mistreatment, we’re telling the rest of the world that we have a hope they need to get in on!

Here’s a question to consider for personal application. Do you look at difficult situations or dark times as a chance to grumble to others or be humble toward others?

Have thoughts on this post? Feel free to comment below!

Is Christianity a Force for Good or Evil?

On By Jason SmithIn Theology for Life, Why I Believe2 Comments 
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16, ESV)

In 1971, the popular Beatles singer, John Lennon, sang of a dream he had where no religion existed in the world. In that dream, not only was there no such thing as religion, but also no heaven or “hell below us,” and “above us only sky.” Such a world, he sang, would bring about world peace and unity since there’d no longer be anything worth killing or dying for.

Many today hold on to Lennon’s dream. In 2020, when most of the world was in isolation during the COVID-19 outbreak, Lennon’s song “Imagine” was sung by 25 celebrities in a compilation video posted on YouTube. Many still believe that a world without religion would be preferable. More specifically, many people have thought it better if Christianity didn’t exist in the world.

The so-called New Atheists, such as Richard Dawkins and the late Christopher Hitchens, have argued vociferously in their books The God Delusion and God Is Not Great that “religion poisons everything.”

However, only 8 years before Lennon recorded that song, another dream was expressed across the pond by Martin Luther King, Jr. In that dream, he imagined that one day “little black boys and black girls [would] be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.” The irony is that while Lennon’s dream envisioned a world where there was no Christianity, King’s dream was firmly rooted in biblical Christianity. His iconic speech appealed to his Christian faith, which holds that every person was made in God’s image and has sacred value in God’s sight. King even deliberately quoted Scripture like Isaiah 40 to make his point.

“I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.”

After quoting this passage, King declared, “This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with… With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.”

So which worldview is right? Is religion—and more importantly—is Christianity a force for good or evil in the world today?

Is Christianity Headed for Extinction?

In a 2016 survey, 30.9 percent of freshman college students claimed no religious affiliation, which is a 10 percent rise since 2006. Many have noticed this growing trend to be non-religious and have predicted that Christianity and the other religions are destined for extinction. This has been called the secularization hypothesis, because it predicts that religion will be pushed more and more to the fringe as secular values advance.

But is this true? Actually, no. In contrast to the thinking of many academics, the reality is that Christianity has never had a wider reach. Right now, Christianity is the largest belief system in the world, with 31.5% percent of the world’s population identifying as Christian. While it’s true that those identifying as religious in Europe and North America has declined in recent years, on the global scale, Christianity is growing stronger than ever.

Many sociologists have been forced to admit that the whole secularization hypothesis has been totally debunked. Robust Christianity is globally on the rise, and the trend is actually toward a more religious rather than secular world.

Biblical Christians would expect nothing less. Not only did Jesus promise that His gospel would be proclaimed to all nations (Matthew 24:14; Mark 13:10), but He also promised that the church He built will prevail “and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (Matthew 16:18, NIV).

But the question remains: Is Christianity a force for good or evil in the world? After all, just because something is believed by many doesn’t make it true (also, many who claim to be Christian don’t follow Jesus’s teachings).

Joy in Knowing Jesus

A 2016 article in USA Today was entitled “Religion May Be a Miracle Drug.” The authors begin by asking, “If one could conceive of a single elixir to improve the physical and mental health of millions of Americans—at no personal cost—what value would our society place on it?”[1]

They go on to lay out all the correlations between mental and physical health benefits and consistent religious participation. According to their research, Americans who are actively involved in a local church tend to be more optimistic, have lower rates of depression, are less likely to commit suicide, have greater purpose in life, are less likely to divorce, and even tend to live longer! There is also good research showing that those who live out a robust Christianity—including having a regular prayer life, active Bible reading, consistent church attendance, and meeting the needs of others in the community—tend to be happier in life.

In fact, in his book The Happiness Hypothesis, even atheist social psychologist, Jonathan Haidt, makes the case that devout Christians tend to be happier than secular atheists like himself!

He writes: “Surveys have long shown that religious believers in the United States are happier, healthier, longer-lived, and more generous to charity and to each other than are secular people… Religious believers give more money than secular folk to secular charities, and to their neighbors. They give more of their time, too, and of their blood.”[2]

Obviously, sociological research isn’t the ultimate reason to surrender your life to Christ. We are to surrender to Christ because He is the “King of kings and Lord of lords” (1 Timothy 6:15). But it’s worth noting that objective research done by secular scholars inadvertently agrees that there really is joy that comes from knowing Jesus. Non-religious scholars like Haidt have begun to realize there really is something to what Paul taught: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, rejoice” (Philippians 4:4).

The truth is that when the Bible is taken seriously and faith in Christ is lived out, there is a positive impact—both personally and in society. Christians first started universities to educate the mind, launched hospitals to care for the sick, and built orphanages to house those whom the world had rejected as a lost cause.

It is because of their Christian faith that William Wilberforce worked to abolish slavery in England, Dietrich Bonhoeffer spoke out against the Nazis, and Martin Luther King marched for the civil rights of black Americans. Today, many speak out boldly for the life of the unborn, largely due to their faith in Christ.

From Atheism to Jesus

This happened for Dr. Sarah Irving-Stonebraker. Sarah was an atheist, known by her friends at Cambridge for being “politely hostile” to Christianity. She passionately believed that one should defend the human rights for the hurting and underprivileged. But something happened while she attended a series of lectures given by the well-known atheist, Peter Singer, who was trying to make the case for human rights from an atheistic worldview.

As Sarah listened, it slowly dawned on her that despite Singer’s best attempts to prove otherwise, the godless worldview of the atheist gave no explanation for why humans should have any rights at all. If we are nothing more than a bunch of organized cells in a mindless universe, how could anyone really speak of human rights at all? She later met a group of Christian students whose lives were deeply shaped by Jesus. They were a joy-filled community that lived out their faith “feeding the homeless, running community centres, and housing and advocating for migrant farm laborers.”[3]

As Sarah considered this issue, she realized that it was none other than the biblical worldview—which she had rejected as a teenager—that made the best sense of humans having value and therefore, having rights worth defending. A human being, she realized, whether born or unborn, is not just another organism to be disposed of, like a worm or a beetle, but had intrinsic value because he or she had been made in God’s image, and thus was a neighbor deserving her love. Sarah gave her life to Jesus and today she fights for the rights of the underprivileged from the solid standing of a biblical worldview.

This is just one of countless examples of how the light of God’s truth can pierce through the darkness of this fallen world and bring about the dramatic transformation of a single individual.

I began by asking whether Christianity is a force for good in the world today. Consider that Christianity alone—of all the world’s religions—not only offers a reasonable explanation for why human beings have value in God’s sight, but that it also declares the truth that everlasting life is found in knowing this great God. Christ-centered Christianity is without question the greatest force for good this world has ever seen, because it alone points to the free offer of eternal life found in Jesus Christ (Romans 6:23).

But this is only the case as Christians have held tightly to the Word that their Lord gave them. When Christians have conformed to the world around them and lost touch with the biblical worldview, they have ceased being a force for good, because they no longer have brought hope to the world. And I think we can all agree that this world desperately needs hope.

Because Jesus is the ultimate Light of the world, His followers are called to be lights shining in the world (Matthew 5:14-16).

Consider what this means for you personally. In what areas of life is it hardest to bring the light of Christ? In whatever area that may be—at home, in the workplace, with family—ask God for courage to hold fast to the Word of life in this dark world.

Have thoughts on this post? Feel free to comment below!

[1] Tyler VanderWeele and John Siniff, “Religion May Be a Miracle Drug,” USA Today, October 28, 2016, https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/10/28/religion-church-attendance-mortality-column/92676964/

[2] Jonathan Haidt, “Moral Psychology and the Misunderstanding of Religion,” Edge, September 21, 2007, https://www.edge.org/conversation/jonathan_haidt-moral-psychology-and-the-misunderstanding-of-religion.

[3] https://believersportal.com/former-atheist-prof-sarah-irving-stonebraker-shares-incredible-story-of-conversion-to-christianity/ Accessed on May 3, 2023.

Are We Living in the End Times?

On By Jason SmithIn Theology for Life2 Comments 
“The end of all things is near.”  (1 Peter 4:7, NIV)

Many Christians today are asking the question: “Are we living in the end times?” They look at how much of our society has lost its moral bearings, how godlessness is growing, and how it is becoming increasingly a challenge to live faithfully as a Christian in the Western world. So they wonder: Is Jesus coming back soon?

My answer, based on Scripture, is yes, we are most certainly living in the end times. However, I don’t base that conclusion on any recent turn of events in American society or on the international stage. Strange as it may sound, I believe that the church has been living in the end times ever since Jesus died and rose again. Why would I say that? Because all through the New Testament, we see this plainly taught. For example, the author of Hebrews could speak of living in the “last days” in the middle of the first century:

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.” (Hebrews 1:1-2, ESV)

Writing around AD 54, the Apostle Paul told the church of Corinth that Old Testament scripture was written “for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come” (1 Corinthians 10:11, ESV). When the Holy Spirit was given to the early church at Pentecost, Peter interpreted this event by quoting the prophet Joel:

“And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh…” (Acts 2:17, ESV)

Even more remarkable is Peter’s statement in his first epistle: “The end of all things is at hand” (1 Peter 4:7, ESV). Of course, we might reasonably wonder, If Peter in the first century could say “the end of all things is at hand,” why on earth are we still here 2,000 years later? That’s a fair question. There are other passages where the Bible says something similar. James even tells his readers that Jesus’ coming is so soon that you can already think of Him as “standing at the door” (James 5:9)!

Were the Apostles Mistaken?

Many have wondered, Did the Apostles get it wrong? Did they assume Jesus was coming back right away but were mistaken?

I think this type of question is resolved when we stop to first remember that the Bible claims to be the word of God Himself (2 Timothy 3:16-17). So, we aren’t just reading what the Apostles thought; we are reading the very words of God (1 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Peter 3:15-16). Furthermore, Jesus promised His Apostles that the Holy Spirit “will guide you into all the truth… and he will declare to you the things that are to come” (John 16:13, ESV). So to assert that the Apostles might be in error in their teaching is actually to cast doubt on Jesus’ integrity.

But let’s consider something important about how biblical prophecy often works. Many have termed this “prophetic telescoping.” The idea is that when you look at biblical prophecies, it is often like looking at a mountain range. A single prophecy might appear to be fulfilled in that first mountain you can see, but what is not always explicitly stated is that there also may be greater fulfillment in the next mountain behind it and so on. In other words, when a prophecy is given, there are partial fulfillments, which tend to happen sooner. And then there are ultimate fulfillments which happen farther down the timeline.[1]

Another thing is that the Bible talks about the “last days” or the “end times” in terms of a phase in redemptive history. So, if you were to ask the Bible, “Are we living in the end times?” The clear answer is, “Yes, we are.” But that’s more a statement about us living in the final phase of redemptive history than it is about the precise timeline of Jesus’ return. The Messiah has come. He has suffered, risen again, and sent the Holy Spirit. The message of salvation is going forth.

The Bible views history as split by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. He’s the central figure, and His resurrection was the central event. Before Christ, God’s people lived in anticipation. We could call those the “former times,” when the prophets anticipated a coming Messiah (Hebrews 1:1). But after Jesus came and accomplished redemption, a new era began, an era when God’s people are permanently indwelled by the Holy Spirit. This is the church age, but it’s also the final phase of redemptive history.[2]

Ready and Alert

Now, you might say, “It’s awfully confusing for Peter to say ‘the end of all things is near’ if there was still at least 2,000 years to go.” Well, not if you see it as a call for vigilance. God was intentionally ambiguous about the timing of Christ’s return. It’s a fixed date on His calendar, but He wanted every generation of Christians to live with the expectancy that Christ could return very soon. And even today, we should live with that expectancy. Jesus could come back very soon. That’s what the Bible means when it says we are living in the “last days” or end times.

We are called to faithfully and expectantly await His soon return, knowing it always could be just around the corner. Regarding His return, Jesus called His followers to “Keep alert at all times” (Luke 21:36) and “be ready” (Luke 12:40). He said, “Keep watch, because you do not know the day on which your Lord will come” (Matthew 24:42).

Here’s something else we should consider. The Bible hints at the fact that Jesus would seem to take a long time to return, but each generation should anticipate His return with alertness.

In God’s eyes, Jesus’ return will be right on time, but there are indicators from Scripture that Jesus would seem to take a long time from our perspective. Why else would Jesus tell the parable of the ten virgins who waited for the bridegroom to come for the wedding? Five were wise and brought oil, and five were foolish and unprepared.

Jesus says, “The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.” (Matthew 25:5, NIV)

The foolish virgins who are not ready for the bridegroom’s sudden arrival end up excluded from the wedding feast.

In the chapter before that, Jesus talks about the faithful servant who is ready when his master returns and then compares that to the wicked servant who grows negligent when his master takes longer than expected.

“But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 24:48-51, ESV)

In both cases, there is a hint that Jesus will take longer than expected to return. But it doesn’t go so well for those who start to live like Jesus is never coming back. That is why Peter says “the end of all things is near,” and Jesus said He was coming soon (Revelation 22:20). From a divine perspective, He is coming soon (2 Peter 3:8-10). These are calls to be ready. Christians are to live as servants expecting their master’s soon return.

Sober and Effective Prayer

The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. (1 Peter 4:7, NIV)

It’s fascinating how often drunkenness is contrasted with being filled with the Spirit in Scripture. The priests of Israel were not allowed to drink alcohol if they wanted to enter the Tabernacle. Samson’s mother is told not to drink alcohol during her pregnancy so that her son can be filled with God’s Spirit for his life’s mission. An angel prophesies that John the Baptist “is never to take wine or other fermented drink,” because “he will be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Peter has to correct people on the Day of Pentecost who assume that he and his fellow believers are drunk when they are actually filled with the Spirit.

And then there’s Paul’s explicit command: “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to reckless indiscretion. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” (Ephesians 5:18, BSB)

Drunkenness is primarily about escapism. People get drunk to avoid the troubles of life. They run from the battle and resort to the bottle. People look to the bottle to calm their fears, dull their senses, and relax.

But being filled with the Holy Spirit is about rescue from our old way of life. It’s not about running away; it’s about overcoming. Rather than encouraging us to hide from challenges, the Holy Spirit urges us to face our problems in reliance on Him – and overcome.

If being drunk dulls our senses, being filled with the Spirit sharpens them. People run to alcohol when they want to have a good time. But it is the Holy Spirit who brings the true joy and peace we are craving.

That’s why, contrary to what some think, Christians actually have a lot of fun together. The Spirit Himself creates the joyful atmosphere that we share together. While the Bible doesn’t forbid us from ever drinking alcohol, we don’t need alcohol to have a good time. And it’s worth noting that four out of the six sins that Peter mentions in 1 Peter 4:3 refer to abuse of alcohol.

So Peter is saying in verse 7, “Keep the gunpowder dry, so that you can fire off those effective prayers that can radically change circumstances. Tune in to what the Spirit is doing rather than tuning out.”

On September 17, 1788, the Austrian army achieved the unthinkable. They managed to lose the Battle of Karansebes before the enemy even made it to the battlefield. When the Ottoman army was delayed in arriving for the battle, the Austrian army got bored and decided to try the local Schnapps. After getting wildly drunk, the Austrians suddenly mistook one another for the enemy and began firing on each other. When the Ottoman army finally did reach the battlefield, all they found was an encampment of 10,000 wounded or dead Austrians.

Let’s not be like the foolish Austrians at the Battle of Karansebes. Let’s stay alert and sober, because there is a real spiritual war taking place right now. We are right in the thick of it, and the devil would love for us to begin turning our muzzles on one another and forget that he is the real enemy.

When you’re thinking deeply about Christ’s return, you will be moved to pray more effectively, renounce hidden sins, and demonstrate sacrificial love for others. Live expectantly in these last days. Anticipating His soon arrival compels us to live both soberly and passionately for the glory of our coming King.

Have thoughts on this post? Feel free to comment below!

[1] One clear example of this in Scripture is the prophecy of the coming “day of the Lord,” which had immediate partial fulfillment in the days that prophecy was given, but will one day have ultimate fulfillment on the day the Lord returns to judge and to save. For example, when Zephaniah writes of the day of the Lord (Zephaniah 1:7-8, 14-16), he describes it both as a coming event in history when Jerusalem will be destroyed (1:4, 10-12), but he also talks about it as an event at the end of history when people are wiped off the face of the earth (1:2-3, 17-18).

[2] This doesn’t rule out what the Jewish rabbis have called “Messianic Age,” which I believe will be fulfilled in the Millennium spoken of primarily in Revelation 20:1-10. I would simply incorporate the Messianic Age as a time of greater realization of blessing and peace with Christ’s reign on the earth in this age. I get this from passages like Ephesians 1:21, which speaks only of “this age” and “the age to come,” which I believe is the new creation and eternal state (Revelation 21-22).

12 Reasons to Believe that Jesus Rose from the Dead

On By Jason SmithIn Why I Believe3 Comments

From its beginning, the Christian movement has been rooted in the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. No other religion or faith tradition so powerfully bases everything in the reality of one event. And yet, Paul can write to other Christians, “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:14, ESV). Everything hinges on the truth of this singular event in history. Apparently, evidence matters even to Jesus Himself. The Bible says, “After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3, NIV). That being the case, it’s worth considering the following twelve pieces of evidence from both Scripture and outside Scripture for this event.

1. Jesus died by crucifixion.

All the evidence both within the Bible and outside the Bible demonstrates that Jesus truly died on Good Friday (Matthew 27:50-56; Mark 15:37-41; Luke 23:46; John 19:33-35). Roman soldiers were professional executioners, and if a soldier failed to carry out his orders, his own life would be on the line. No one survived crucifixion. This rules out the swoon theory, which argues that perhaps Jesus didn’t die on the cross, and somehow survived being covered in myrrh, wrapped in burial cloths, and laid in a stone ossuary for 36 hours. If, by some miracle He survived all this, could Jesus really have convinced His followers that He had come back as the Lord who conquered death?

2. The location of the tomb was well known.

Every record we have uniformly teaches that Jesus’ body was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea (Matthew 27:57-61; Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-55; John 19:38-42). Because there are no competing accounts for the tomb’s location and women followers witnessed his burial, that rules out someone going to the wrong tomb on Easter morning.

3. The tomb was empty.

The earliest record of Jesus’ tomb from both friends and enemies of Christianity is that the tomb was empty on the Sunday following the Friday that Jesus died on the cross. Christ’s enemies claimed the disciples stole the body, and this continued to be their claim even in the time of the second century apologist Justin Martyr.[1] One thing the “stolen body” story assumes is that the tomb really was empty. Interestingly, we don’t see any of Christ’s enemies claim that the disciples merely went to the wrong tomb, or that the tomb was still occupied. Enemy attestation is generally powerful evidence in court, so this proves that the tomb Jesus had been interred in was empty on Easter morning (Matthew 28:1-8, 11-15).

4. Women as the first eyewitnesses.

The first eyewitnesses of both the empty tomb and the risen Jesus were women (Matthew 28:1-10; Luke 24:9-12). This is significant because a woman’s testimony was not valid in a first century court.[2] The fact that women are recorded as the first eyewitnesses who courageously went to the tomb while the men were holed up in an upper room behind locked doors is an embarrassing detail that would only be included if it truly happened (John 20:19, 26). This demonstrates that the account has the ring of truth and is not an invention of Christians.

5. Individuals and groups saw the risen Jesus.

The accounts of Jesus being witnessed demonstrate that He was seen in a variety of circumstances by both individuals and groups of various sizes (1 Corinthians 15:1-8; Matthew 28:9-10, 16-20; Luke 24:15-32, 36-53; John 20:14-29; John 21; Acts 1:3-9, 9:3-9; 1 Corinthians 15:3-8). Some skeptics have argued that the disciples probably just had hallucinations of Jesus, as sometimes happens with the bereaved. However, the fact that Jesus appeared to groups as large as 500 people rules out the hallucination theory, since hallucinations are subjective experiences for individuals. If a group witnesses something, they must be seeing something that has an objective reality outside themselves.

6. The physical nature of Jesus’ body.

Jesus proved His resurrected body was real and physical by showing the nail scars in His hands and eating with the disciples (Luke 24:36-43; John 20:19-28). This shows the risen Jesus was not a ghost or a spiritual vision. N. T. Wright has also demonstrated that in the ancient world, the word resurrection universally referred to “new bodily life” after death.[3] It was not a general term for the afterlife or “going to heaven.” When Paul preached Christ’s resurrection to the Athenian Greeks, they scoffed – not because they didn’t believe in the soul’s afterlife, but because they denied any return to bodily life (Acts 17:32). Jesus’ resurrection is recorded as a real event with eyewitnesses, not a metaphor for “Jesus rising in our hearts” or some other such nonsense.

7. The resurrection was proclaimed from the beginning.

Our earliest records indicate that the most pivotal message proclaimed by the early church in Jerusalem from the beginning was that Jesus was bodily raised from death and that this was based on eyewitness testimony (See Acts 2:22-24, 32; 3:13-15, 26; 4:10-11; 5:30-32; 10:39-41; 13:26-31, 34-39; Romans 1:4; 4:24; 7:4; 10:9; 1 Corinthians 15:15-20; Ephesians 2:6; Colossians 2:12; 2 Timothy 1:10; 1 Peter 1:21; 2 Peter 1:16; 1 John 1:1-3). This rules out the legendary development theory.

8. Origin and sudden growth of Christianity.

It’s very difficult to explain the origin and sudden growth of the Christian movement apart from Jesus truly rising from death and appearing to eyewitnesses (Acts 2:41-47; 5:42). There were other self-proclaimed messiahs in the first century, who were later killed or crucified. In each case, these movements died with their founders. So what led the early Christians to begin worshiping Jesus, who was also crucified as a criminal by Rome? Historian N. T. Wright said, “Never before had there been a movement which began as a quasi-messianic group within Judaism and was transformed into the sort of movement which Christianity quickly became.”[4] One early Christian creed dates from within the first few years after the cross and includes a list of eyewitnesses to the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:3-7). Such an early date rules out legendary development, too.

9. Liars make poor martyrs.

The Apostles went from hiding behind locked doors to being willing to suffer and die for their claim to witness the resurrected Jesus (John 20:19, 26; Acts 5:40-42; 6:59-60; 12:1-2). This is compelling because while martyrs can be deceived and may unknowingly die for a lie, it’s hard to imagine a group of men willingly dying for what they knew to be a lie. Can you imagine their rallying cry: “Okay, fellas, we’re about to go out and suffer horribly and possibly die for this whopper we’ve just cooked up. Who’s with me?!” When people try to cover up a fraud, there is usually some kind of motivation, like money or power. But these men only lost power because of their devotion to the risen Lord. They had nothing to gain in this world by proclaiming the resurrection. Their only motivation for enduring persecution and death must have been their firm conviction that Jesus truly did rise as Lord of life. Historian Michael Licona has said, “Liars make poor martyrs.”[5] And Blaise Pascal said, “I only believe histories whose witnesses are ready to be put to death.”[6]

10. Early belief that Jesus is God.

All the evidence shows that the earliest Christians were Jewish monotheists (believed in only one God). However, they also worshiped Jesus as God, something utterly unthinkable unless Jesus had truly proved Himself to be God by rising from the dead (John 20:28; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 1:15-19). Skeptics like Bart Ehrman have tried to argue that the view that Jesus was God evolved over time, but the evidence of the New Testament shows that Christians understood Jesus to be God from the first decades while eyewitnesses to His resurrection were still alive. They simply adopted the view that Jesus took of Himself, such as when He forgave sins as only God can, claimed to be the Giver of life, said He shared in the Father’s divine glory, and took the divine name “I Am” (Yahweh) to Himself on numerous occasions. We can especially note Jesus’ affirming response to Thomas, who after seeing the resurrected Lord proclaimed, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28).[7]

11. Unexpected conversions.

Even non-Christian historians generally acknowledge that both James, the Lord’s brother, and Saul of Tarsus were initially skeptics about Jesus being the divine Messiah. In fact, the book of Acts records Saul as a passionate opponent of Christianity who wanted to destroy the movement until he encountered the risen Lord and later became known as the Apostle Paul (read about this transformation in Acts 9:1-30). It’s very hard to explain James’ and Saul’s sudden conversion to Christianity after initially opposing it apart from the resurrection.

12. Immediate transformation of religious observance.

The first Christians immediately began meeting on Sunday, instead of Sabbath (Saturday), the day that Jews had gathered for worship for hundreds of years (Exodus 20:8-11; Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2). This only makes sense if Jesus did in fact rise on Sunday (John 20:1-2). The first Christians also began celebrating the Lord’s Supper (a special meal that commemorates the Lord’s death; 1 Corinthians 11:17-34) and baptism (which is the initiatory rite of a disciple and pictures union with Christ in His death and resurrection; Matthew 28:18-20). Both ordinances only make sense in light of Christ’s substitutionary death and resurrection in history.

Conclusion

Certainly, it might be hard to accept that someone truly defeated death itself on the basis of one or two pieces of evidence. However, the cumulative case that can be made for Christ’s resurrection is staggering. Because of space constraints, I’m only giving a brief overview, but this is just the tip of the ice berg. Each one of these could be unpacked in far greater detail. The point is that the Christian claim that Jesus rose from the dead is well-founded in history. This gives the Christian great hope. Salvation is by grace alone, apart from any good works or religious obedience. All who put their trust in the risen Lord are assured of forgiveness of sins and eternal life with Him (Romans 10:9-10). Jesus said, “Because I live, you also will live” (John 14:19, NIV).

Have thoughts on this post? Feel free to comment below!

[1] This is mentioned in Justin’s Dialogue with Trypho.

[2] N. T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God (Minneapolis, Fortress Press, 2003), 686-96.

[3] N. T. Wright, Surprised by Hope, 35-36.

[4] N. T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God, 17.

[5] Quoted in Gary Habermas and Michael Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus.

[6] Quoted in Josh and Sean McDowell, Evidence that Demands a Verdict.

[7] There is also plenty of extrabiblical evidence that the earliest Christians worshiped Jesus as God, including the writings of the ante-Nicene fathers. In the year 112 AD, Pliny the Younger wrote to his Roman Emperor Trajan that Christians he saw “were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god, and bound them themselves by a solemn oath, not to any wicked deeds…”

Death I Do Not Shrink From

On By Jason SmithIn Devotional, Theology for Life2 Comments

For most people in the world, the grave is a terrifying prospect. Not many like to even think about it, but we all know deep down that these bodies don’t last forever. We all know the shadow of death looms on the horizon, inching its way toward us. No matter how much exercise we get or kale we eat, we won’t live forever!

One journalist, Tom Chivers, wrote: “I’m terrified of death; my own, my loved ones, everyone’s … 100 years after my death, no one will really know who I was. Do you even know your great-grandparents’ names?” Some think of death as the final end to our existence. Former CNN broadcaster, Larry King, once said, “My biggest fear is death, because I don’t think I’m going anywhere.” More humorously, Mel Brooks put it this way, “If Shaw and Einstein couldn’t beat death, what chance have I got? Practically none.”

As a human race, we try to push away the thought of death because it’s terrifying to think of life as we know it coming to an end and departing from our loved ones forever. At the same time, we also have this nagging sense that there is something beyond the grave. The Bible teaches that every single person who has ever existed is headed to one of two places: eternal joy in Heaven or eternal ruin in Hell. This is true for you, me, and everyone you have ever known.

In one very clear statement, Jesus said:

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels… And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.'” (Matthew 25:41, 46, ESV)

A Fixed Day on God’s Calendar

What if reminders of death are actually a gift from God, urgent warnings meant to get our attention? Every time we attend a funeral, we are granted one more nudge about the brevity of life. Through these cues, God puts us on notice to be ready for death and what comes after.

Hebrews 9:27 says, “People are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.” The real reason humanity fears death is because God has given us a sense that we will all stand before the bar of judgment one day. No one gets to call in sick for this exam day. The Lord of all will judge every one of us by His perfect and holy standard.

And therein lies the rub. This is our great predicament. God urges us not to shrug off this idea of a coming judgment. You can be casual with what you wear, but don’t be casual about one day facing God. Paul proclaims:

“So having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now proclaiming to mankind that all people everywhere are to repent, because He has set a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all people by raising Him from the dead.” (Acts 17:29-31, NASB)

When God sets a day on His calendar, it is irrevocably fixed and certain. And on this day, you and I will have to stand before God and give an account of the life we’ve lived. Once you have felt the weight of this truth, your need for Jesus should become crystal clear. Because it’s at that precise point of our failure to ever measure up to God’s righteous standard that the gospel of God’s free grace becomes the most precious thing imaginable.

Perfect Righteousness in Christ

Many have seen they don’t measure up, so their solution has been to “get religious” and work as hard as they can to live a life pleasing to God, hoping that this will help them fare better on this coming day. Many even consider Jesus to be the One that helps them become the person they need to be, still aspiring to be good enough for God.

But the standard for entering Heaven isn’t “good enough;” it is perfection. We need a perfect righteousness, but only Jesus Christ, the God-man, is perfectly righteous. So our only hope is to be found in Christ.

In Jesus Christ, God offers us perfect forgiveness. When we repent and trust in Jesus alone as our Savior, all our sins are washed away in His blood—all our sins—because He bore them in our place on the cross. At the cross, the judgment for our sins fell on Jesus, so that by faith in Him we wouldn’t have to fear the judgment to come.

If you have found refuge in the Lord Jesus Christ, having cast yourself on His mercy alone to save you, you no longer need to fear death. Your eternity will be secure in His loving hands.

“Instead, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.” (Romans 13:14, BSB)

When we are “clothed” in the righteousness of Christ, we are justified in Christ and reconciled to God. To be justified in Christ means that God declares us to be as righteous as Christ Himself, because we are united to Him by faith.

To Live Is Christ

Above, I quoted men who have dreaded the thought of death. In contrast, consider these remarkable words from Paul:

“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.” (Philippians 1:21-23, ESV)

Understand that Paul is not saying he’s longing for death itself. This is not the murmuring of someone contemplating suicide. He’s not looking forward to death itself, but to what comes after death. He says, “I am torn between the two. I so want to stay on with all of you and encourage your faith, but even more than that, what I really want is to just be with Christ. I want to be with my Savior, for that is far better.”

At the end of the day, Paul yields to whatever God sovereignly determines for his life. But if it were solely up to him, Paul would rather go through death, because nothing beats being in the presence of his Savior. This is not something true only of Paul, but of every person who has found refuge in Christ. Paul is simply taking eternal truth out of the abstract realm and applying it to how he faces every circumstance in life—including death.

When a Christian dies, there’s no soul sleep or purgatory that he or she must pass through. These teachings are man-made and not found in the Word of God. No, at the very moment of death, you are immediately ushered into the Savior’s presence (2 Corinthians 5:8).

But what does Paul mean when he says he eagerly expects and hopes to honor Christ “whether by life or by death” (Philippians 1:20). How will Paul’s death honor Jesus Christ? If he dies as one who is confident in his Savior’s power—not as one terrified of the grave—but as one assured that he will see his Savior face to face, he glorifies Jesus in his death.

When Paul says, “to live is Christ,” he’s saying, “As long as I’m here, I’m all in for Jesus. I live for His glory wherever he has me—whether preaching in the streets or in the court of Caesar or writing letters in a stinky jail cell.” When we come to Christ, we yield our lives to Him. Every follower of Jesus can say with Paul, “To live is Christ and to die is gain,” because at death we finally reach our reward—being with Jesus in Heaven.

Every day, millions of people live for something other than Jesus—entertainment, comfort, pleasure, career. But when you live for something other than Jesus, death results in the loss of everything. On the other hand, if Jesus is our Supreme Treasure in life, death results in gaining everything.

He Is No Fool

When we live all in for Jesus, He removes all fear of death. Death is no longer that looming specter that promises to take everything we hold dear. Strange as it may seem, death now becomes the doorway to joy, because all we could possibly want is found in Christ Himself.

John Chrysostom, an early church father, was known for criticizing the wealthy of his time for their lack of love for the poor. He was constantly getting into trouble because of the things he said. In fact, the authorities banished him twice. One of his followers once asked him if he feared for his life.

Here’s how Chrysostom responded:

“What can I fear? Will it be death? But you know that Christ is my life, and that I shall gain by death. Will it be exile? But the earth and all its fullness is the Lord’s. Will it be the loss of wealth? But we have brought nothing into the world, and can carry nothing out. Thus all the terrors of the world are contemptible in my eyes; and I smile at all its good things. Poverty I do not fear; riches I do not sigh for. Death I do not shrink from.”[1]

The great preacher Dwight L. Moody once said, “Some day you will read in the papers that D. L. Moody, of East Northfield, is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now.”[2]

It is this undying confidence in the Savior’s power to save that has compelled missionaries into grave dangers all over the world. Christians can die with courage, not because we are so great, but because we know a great Savior who loves us.

The martyr Jim Elliot put it best: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”[3] For each of these godly men, their firm conviction about the life to come meant they could live boldly for Christ in this life. In the same way, Paul did not shrink back from death, if that’s what God has appointed. He continues:

“But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.” (Philippians 1:24-26, ESV)

Paul says, “I’m not afraid to die. In fact, I’d gladly go to Heaven now. To die is gain. However, it seems that God isn’t ready to call me home. He has some work for me to do first.”

And here’s what I want you to see. Because Paul had this eternal perspective, where God could call him home at any moment, he could be most effective for Christ. If he had an earthbound focus where all he cared about was the here and now and what he could accumulate for himself in this life, he would not be prepared to serve. The fact that Paul knew he had a great reward coming compelled him to spend his life for the glory of Jesus rather than himself. And this made him fearless in the face of death and danger.

Have thoughts on this post? Feel free to comment below!

[1] Robert Wheler Bush, The Life and Times of Chrysostom (London, England: Religious Tract Society, 1885), 245.

[2] The Autobiography of Dwight L. Moody, 1.

[3] Quote found in Jim Elliot’s journal.

Why We Need the Hope of Christmas

On By Jason SmithIn Devotional1 Comment

One of the sure signs that the Christmas season is upon us is all the twinkling lights that suddenly adorn nearby homes and businesses. The tradition of putting up lights during the Advent season can be traced back to the Protestant Reformer Martin Luther. On a late-night hike in December, he was struck by the way the starlight beautifully danced on the boughs of a fir tree. Luther said he felt as if the hand of God had touched his soul. It was so moving, he set out to create a similar experience for his family in the home. Luther attached candle holders to the branches of their tree, and his family and friends were dazzled by the spectacle of a well-lit Christmas tree. Thus began a longstanding tradition, today replicated with the far safer set of electric lights you string around your Christmas tree.

From the beginning, light has symbolized the Christmas hope.

The World in Darkness

The first Christmas came at a time when the world felt very dark. Interestingly, the historian Luke begins his Gospel narrative by focusing not on Mary and Joseph, but on another couple that was far older, Zechariah and Elizabeth.

Zechariah is a priest chosen by lot to present the incense offering before the Lord at the altar in the Jerusalem temple. As a Jew, this was an incredible honor for Zechariah. Most priests only dreamed of being the one who got to burn the incense on the altar of God. Since a priest could only win the lottery one time, this was quite literally a once in a lifetime opportunity for Zechariah.

But as he stood in this place of great honor, Zechariah struggled to feel blessed. For one thing, he and Elizabeth had failed to conceive in a culture where children were a sign of God’s blessing. Over the years, many of Elizabeth’s peers may have looked at her with an arched eyebrow as they hurried along with their train of youngsters.

On top of their personal pain, as a nation Israel felt oppressed by the Roman Empire. Rome’s overbearing rule and hefty taxes had become a weighty burden for an already beleaguered nation. Long gone were the glory days of King David and King Solomon and the First Temple. Long gone, even, were the courageous Maccabees to lead a revolution against all the foreign oppressors.

Many wondered, Where is the Deliverer God promised through the prophets? Why has God abandoned us to become pawns in the hands of pagans?  In short, it was a bleak time for Israel.

From Zechariah’s perspective, it didn’t look like God and His people were winning. The forces of darkness seemed to be having their way and showed no sign of weakening.

Hero of God

It’s in this context that old Zechariah is at the altar when an unexpected visitor shows up: the angel Gabriel. Gabriel – whose name means “hero of God” – had visited the prophet Daniel hundreds of years earlier to foretell a yet future arrival of a Messiah who would “put an end to sin” and “bring in everlasting righteousness” (Daniel 9:24). In a sense, Gabriel’s message hadn’t changed. But he now told Zechariah that he would father this Messiah’s forerunner. This son, whose name would be John (the Baptist), would prepare the nation and “turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God” (Luke 1:16).

Zechariah’s initial response is to doubt. Like many skeptics today who treat the Christmas story as an outmoded myth, Zechariah’s problem was spiritual, not intellectual, in nature. After all, a glorious angel of the living God was standing before his eyes. His unbelief was not caused by a lack of evidence. You see, doubt had probably infected his heart long before Gabriel showed up.

Luke tells us Zechariah and Elizabeth had lived upright and moral lives, but Zechariah had probably struggled to trust God for some time. Why? Today, we would say he lived with the anguish of unanswered prayers. Perhaps when he was younger his prayer for a child was fervent, but in his old age, he had almost certainly given up on such a request. Like the psalmist, he had probably pleaded with God to not forget His people, to break through the heavens, come down, and set things right.[1] But time after time, the Romans had reminded him and his fellow Jews that they were the ones in charge. In his head, he knew that the God of Israel ruled over all, but most days it felt like Caesar reigned supreme.

Heaven’s Perspective

Rather than coddling Zechariah, the angel challenges his unbelief: “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time” (Luke 1:19-20, ESV). It’s as if Gabriel is saying, “Zechariah, things may look dark from where you are standing, but I stand in the presence of the Almighty God Himself. And there is no darkness in Him.”

Zechariah had seen all of life’s circumstances from one angle, and to him, it looked like tragedy upon tragedy. It looked like the light of hope had all but burned out. But Gabriel brought heaven’s perspective, a perspective that is easy to lose in this broken world of suffering and death, but greatly needed.

Many think of Christianity as a nice fairytale for those who simply cannot deal with all of life’s agony, as if faith was an anesthetic that numbs us to the pain of reality. But Christianity never tries to downplay the truth of suffering. Christians have long called this world “fallen” because it no longer displays the ideal of what life was supposed to look like. Cancer, war, oppression, hunger, poverty, and death were not part of God’s original design. But Christianity announces that all this misery is ultimately rooted in humanity’s rebellion against its Maker, and our only hope is to be reconciled back to Him.

Indeed, for one to say that something is wrong implies that there is a way things ought to be. When someone gets away with murder, we don’t say, “Personally, I find murder objectionable. But who am I to judge?” No, we say, “This is evil!” That’s because deep down we recognize that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Atheism’s Problem of Suffering

People may claim that the world’s suffering shows that a good God does not exist, but the Bible says the real reason we deny God’s existence is that we don’t like being held accountable for the ways we have fallen short.[2]

If you resort to atheism, you still have to deal with the problem of suffering, but now you have a problem with no resolution. Many young atheists claim to be “scientifically minded,” as if science stood in opposition to belief in God. But when you turn to science for answers to life’s most perplexing problems (like death and our desire for lasting happiness), it doesn’t offer much help. Consider atheist Bertrand Russell’s perspective:

“Such, in outline, but even more purposeless, more void of meaning, is the world which Science presents for our belief… That Man is the product of causes which had no prevision of the end they were achieving; that his origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs, are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms; that no fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling, can preserve an individual life beyond the grave; that all the labors of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system, and that the whole temple of Man’s achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins… Only within the scaffolding of these truths, only on the firm foundation of unyielding despair, can the soul’s habitation henceforth be safely built.”[3]

And that was poor Russell on a good day. But isn’t Russell giving an honest appraisal that without God, we are left with “the firm foundation of unyielding despair”?

Without heaven’s perspective, the picture grows ever more hopeless and dull. But one reason we can know atheism isn’t true is that it is totally unlivable. No one can live as if there is no objective moral standard. Atheists cry out for justice when they get hit by porch pirates, too! And no one can live as if there is no meaning and purpose to life. It’s the most barren worldview imaginable, and it leaves us only in despair.

The Good News of Christmas

This world is in desperate need of hope, and Gabriel had come to announce good news. That’s why he began by telling Zechariah that his prayer was not ignored or forgotten, but had been answered. He would have a son and great joy would accompany his birth.

Later in the same chapter, Gabriel shows up again, this time with an announcement for a very young woman. The virgin Mary is told that she is highly favored and will bear a Son, Jesus. Gabriel says, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David” (Luke 1:31-32). The angels would later tell the shepherds, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people” (Luke 2:10).

The very Messiah Gabriel had foretold to Daniel was now arriving. And once John was born, Zechariah understood the significance of his role. Holding up his newborn boy, he said, “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins” (Luke 1:76-77).

Zechariah no longer doubted God’s goodness. Now, he saw afresh that God’s timing is always perfect, that He hadn’t forgotten His people, but rather that He had sent them a Redeemer. This Messiah would not only deliver them from all enemies (v. 71), but would “give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death” (v. 79).

Science and technology have given us many good gifts, but they could never solve our greatest problems of sin and death. God sent His own Son, the divine Messiah, to bring the light of hope where human effort only leaves us in darkness.

Martin Luther told his children the same thing I tell my boys. The lights on the house and the Christmas tree and the lit candles of the Advent wreath all signify the same truth: Jesus, the Light of the world, has come. And because of His coming, life, death, resurrection, and ascension, we now have hope. The good news of Christmas is that a Savior has come to defeat humanity’s greatest enemies and grant forgiveness and new life to all who throw themselves on His mercy, by trusting in the risen Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross.

Have thoughts on this post? Feel free to comment below!

[1] Psalm 144.

[2] See Psalm 10:13; 94:7; Isaiah 29:15; Job 22:13-15.

[3] Bertrand Russell quoted in Timothy Keller, Hidden Christmas, 9.

Is Original Sin a Biblical Idea?

On By Jason SmithIn Theology for Life, Why I Believe5 Comments

By Jason Smith

One of the hardest Christian doctrines to swallow is that of original sin. To many, it sounds old-fashioned, pessimistic, and puritanical. But what exactly is it?

According to theologians, the term original sin does not describe the first sin of Adam in the garden, although that is a common assumption. Instead, original sin teaches that we have all inherited a corrupt and self-centered nature from Adam. Original sin is the condition of being sinful by nature.

A Little Savage

Throughout church history, various people have disputed this teaching. One somewhat infamous theologian named Pelagius taught that we don’t come into this world corrupted, but rather, morally neutral. He said every human being is free to follow Adam’s bad example or live a morally unmarred life. Much like the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau who came along centuries later, Pelagius believed that man was conditioned to sin by a corrupt society, but goodness naturally flowed from the human heart.

I’m fairly certain that parents everywhere would disagree with Pelagius. No child needs to be taught how to lie their way out of a jam or how to steal that forbidden cookie. Even secular publications recognize this.

The Minnesota Crime Commission issued the following statement in response to the rising crime rate:

“Every baby starts life as a little savage. He is completely selfish and self-centered. He wants what he wants when he wants it – his bottle, his mother’s attention, his playmate’s toy, his uncle’s watch. Deny these and he seethes with rage and aggressiveness, which would be murderous were he not so helpless… If permitted to continue in the self-centered world of his infancy, given free reign to his impulsive actions, to satisfy his wants, every child would grow up a criminal, a thief, a killer, a rapist.”[1]

What this commission observed is merely what Christians have long taught about original sin. King David put this in stark terms:

"Surely I was sinful at birth,
    sinful from the time my mother conceived me." (Psalm 51:5, NIV)

John Calvin explained it this way:

“Original sin, therefore, seems to be a hereditary depravity and corruption of our nature, diffused into all parts of the soul, which first makes us liable to God’s wrath, then also brings forth in us those works which Scripture calls ‘works of the flesh’ [Gal. 5:19].”[2]

Not Just “Mostly” Dead

It is because of original sin that evil runs amuck in this world, and it is the reason we all need the redemption found in Jesus Christ alone.

If I was to guess, I would say the two biggest reasons people don’t see their need for Jesus are:

1) People downplay the majesty of God’s holiness; and

2) People downplay the seriousness of their own sin.

You could think of it like this. The less high and holy God is and the less morally corrupt we are, the less obvious it is that we need a divine Savior. If we human beings are basically good by nature but not everything we could be, then a human solution is all we need. Many would argue this way. What we need is self-improvement skills, a more developed society, or better education.

You ready to hear what the Bible says about us? Brace yourself; it’s not pretty. The Bible claims that we are by nature “dead” in our “trespasses and sins.”[3] We’re not talking “mostly dead” as Miracle Max might put it (The Princess Bride); this is dead dead. It says that we are “sons of disobedience” who follow the devil’s leading, obey the fleshly “desires of the body,” and are “by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”[4] Did I mention that it says the devil has blinded us to keep us from seeing the truth about God’s glory?[5] The Bible traces the problem not merely to bad fruit in our lives, but to the fact that we are spiritually dead at the root.

Ouch! Not exactly a boost to your self-esteem, perhaps. But doesn’t this teaching explain a lot about why we are the way we are? When you look around this world, doesn’t it seem like something has gone drastically wrong with the human race? Why so many wars? Why so much bloodshed? Why is it that you lock your doors at night and need a password to log in to your computer? Why do people have to earn your trust rather than already having it from the time you meet them?

G. K. Chesterton once wisely observed that “Certain new theologians dispute original sin, which is the only part of Christian theology which can really be proved.”

He had a point, didn’t he? When you scour the annals of human history over the last few millennia or when you flip on the evening news, isn’t it painfully obvious that human beings are naturally depraved, just as the Bible teaches.

Interestingly, only Christianity holds this view about our natural condition. No other faith system is willing to say that we inherit guilt and corruption from our first parents. But the Bible gives it to us straightaway as the problem that needs to be solved.

Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be

In his letter to the Romans, Paul says that while we inherit our moral corruption from Adam, there is also a way to inherit a righteousness that is not our own from Jesus.

“Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.” (Romans 5:18-19, ESV)

Notice that Paul says it was not a host of atrocities, but only “one trespass” that “led to condemnation for all men.” Sin is always heinous; it is always an affront to God’s glory and a rebellion against His right authority. We should never again downplay the seriousness of sin after reading this. All it took was a single sin to drag the world down into condemnation. Only one!

If that seems over the top, could it be that we too don’t think sin is all that bad? Isn’t it our nature to relabel our own sins so that they don’t sound so bad?

Cornelius Plantinga Jr. writes:

“Vices have to masquerade as virtues – lust as love, thinly veiled sadism as military discipline, envy as righteous indignation, domestic tyranny as parental concern.”[6]

While we tend to see sin primarily as harming ourselves or others, the Bible makes it clear that sin is first and foremost against God Himself. We can try to pretty it up and make sin sound not so bad, but the reality is that you and I were born with a deep-seated hostility to our Maker. That is original sin. And original sin is the foremost reason the world is “not the way it’s supposed to be.”[7]

God created us to be good, but we’re not. So, what hope do we have?

An Alien Righteousness

Thankfully, the Romans 5 passage above explains that while Adam’s disobedience brought condemnation, another man’s obedience can make many righteous. God the Father sent Jesus into a world mired in sin and already condemned not to destroy us but to save us (John 3:16-18). On the cross, the sinless Jesus took the condemnation owed to us so that through faith in His loving sacrifice, we could be acquitted of all guilt and justified.

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1, NIV)

Spiritually speaking, the Bible says that we will belong to one of two men. In Adam, we inherited his corruption at conception and were marked by the associated guilt. In Christ, we inherit His righteousness by faith and are now marked by His redemption through the cross.

R. Albert Mohler said, “Most Americans believe that what their problem is, is something that has happened to them, and their solution is going to be found within. In other words, they believe that they have an alien problem that is to be resolved with an inner solution. The gospel says that we have an inner problem, and the only solution is an alien righteousness.”[8]

Do you believe that?

The Bible says that as long as we identify our chief problem as something external to us (our environment, society, family), we will never see our need for Christ. But the moment we agree with God that it is our sin that has separated us from Him,[9] then we are ready for the alien (external) righteousness of Christ that He lovingly gives us through faith.

Have thoughts on this post? Share in the comments below!

[1] This report is quoted in Charles Swindoll, You and Your Child (Nashville: Word Publishing, 1998), 21.

[2] John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1975), 2.1.8.

[3] Ephesians 2:1.

[4] Ephesians 2:2-3.

[5] 2 Corinthians 4:4

[6] Cornelius Plantinga Jr., Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin (Grand Rapids: Eerdsmans, 1995).

[7] Ibid.

[8] Mohler said this in his talk “Preaching with the Culture in View” at the 2006 Together for the Gospel Conference.

[9] “It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.” (Isaiah 59:2, NLT)

Photo by Johnny Greig

Our Anthem Is Hope

On By Jason SmithIn DevotionalLeave a comment

By Jason Smith

“And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.” (Romans 5:5, BSB)

Hope is something our world desperately needs right now. Widespread suffering and bleak economic projections have left people feeling lost and disoriented. Many feel caught in the perpetual cycle of hearing messages of gloom and doom.

Into this dreary darkness, God wants to shine a ray of hope. I love the chorus of a Switchfoot song that goes, “My heartbeat, my oxygen. My banner, my home. My future, my song. Your hope is the anthem of my soul.” Now, perhaps more than ever, Christians must recognize our anthem really is hope.

The beauty of Christianity is that it heralds a message of spectacularly good news especially for dark and dismal times like the present. The message of Jesus Christ carries a hope that nothing in this world can snuff out. What makes it so unstoppable is that it’s a hope that shines all the brighter as the world looks darker. It’s a message for this world precisely because it is a message that transcends this world. It stands above even a global pandemic and urges every person to listen and believe.

This hope found in Jesus does not rest on the success of political campaigns or how quickly a coronavirus vaccine is discovered – which I pray is very soon. The Bible calls this hope “an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (Hebrews 6:19, NIV), something strong enough to weather even the fiercest storms. In Scripture, hope is something solid and sure – not a whimsical and flimsy pipe dream. Our “hope of eternal life” will never let us down because the “God who cannot lie” promised this “before time began” (Titus 1:2, BSB). We say things like “I hope it won’t rain on Saturday” or “I hope our team makes the Super Bowl,” but such hopes often ring hollow and really belong to the category of wishful thinking. The Christian hope, on the other hand, “does not disappoint us” (Romans 5:5, BSB).

So what is the Christian hope? Many have supposed that Christianity is about God rewarding the faithful. In other words, Jesus came to save the good, moral, and godly among us. What else could they think? After all, aren’t Christians engaged in a culture war eager to impose a biblical morality on the rest of society? I’ve spoken to many who see it that way.

But… what if Christianity’s message is filled with hope and joy, not because it’s first and foremost about moral reform, but about redemption in Christ. The reason I say it’s not about Jesus saving “the good, moral, and godly” is because the Bible itself says, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6). Read it again. Jesus died for the “ungodly” – the immoral, the vile, the perverted.

Does that offend you? Well, it could be that you’ve missed the fact that, according to genuine Christianity, no one is saved except “by grace” (Ephesians 2:8). Grace is a biblical term that means “God’s infinite love to the infinitely undeserving.” The reality is that every last one of us has inherited the brokenness of our first father, Adam. “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Romans 5:12).

As a human race, we essentially told God to shove off, thinking we could become gods apart from Him. Because of our sinful nature, we all come into this world separated from God and justly condemned. We have all gone wrong, which is why our greatest need is to be reconciled to God and somehow put in the right. But “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). God’s moral standard cannot change. “The soul that sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20). God loves us dearly, but if He failed to punish our sin, this would lead to the moral order of the universe crumbling to a heap. Justice would be out the window forever. So what is God to do?

There is only one way God could save us while remaining perfectly just. He Himself would have to come and bear the punishment for our sin in our place. This is where the hope of the gospel glows with the brightness of heaven itself. You can probably think of someone you’d be willing to die for. But can you imagine dying for your enemy – for someone who has offended you, insulted you, and devalued you incessantly? Because that’s what Jesus did.

“For one will scarcely die for a righteous person – though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die – but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God” (Romans 5:7-9). To be justified is to be “declared righteous” by God because when Jesus hung on the cross, He took your sin and gave you His righteousness.

The truly astonishing thing is that while we were plotting to become gods in our rebellion against God, God became a man in order to rescue us. “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life” (v. 10).

This is the greatest message of hope our world could ever know. The moment you trust in Jesus Christ and His death for you, you are reconciled to God. From that moment on, “the wrath of God” (v. 9) no longer hangs over your head because you are covered in the grace of God. “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 1)

The Bible says that when you know this peace with God, it changes everything. Your whole world turns upside down… or, rather, right side up. Paradoxically, you can now have tremendous joy in the midst of trials.

“…and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (vv. 2b-5).

More than that, ours is a “living hope” because Jesus Christ is alive today. This is why Christians celebrate the resurrection of our Lord every Easter. His defeat of death signals to the whole world that the suffering of this world has an expiration date.

Do you see why this is the message of hope the world most needs? Whereas other hopes are dashed on the rocks of adversity, here is a hope that actually is strengthened by suffering. It’s a hope that God is offering you right now, because “Christ died for the ungodly” (v. 6). No matter how badly life looks, the Christian can always have this confidence: Our anthem is hope.

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