Israel, Jerusalem and the End Times

 Israel is dominating the news again with the Hamas invasion and Israel’s declaration of war.

 Like many, I have visited Israel.  I have descended the path from the Mount of Olives, strolled among the shops, lunched on falafel with hummus and pita, walked the Via Dolorosa, prayed at the Western Wall, visited the Temple Mount and walked the ramparts of Jerusalem.

 There is no place on earth like Jerusalem, built on the southern slope of Mount Moriah where Abraham ascended with  his son Isaac beside him bearing a bundle of firewood.  It was here that God provided the sacrifice, a ram caught in the thicket over 4,000 years ago.  His descendants returned hundreds of years later after the Egyptian captivity and the Exodus.  The young king David chose Jerusalem for his capital 3,000 years ago and his son,  Solomon built the first temple. Jesus was crucified outside its gates 2.000 years ago. And it was here that He rose from the dead. It is difficult to sift through centuries of warfare and reconstruction to find the original sites and to imagine them as they were. 

 Alexander the Great conquered Jerusalem in 332 BC. The Romans in 63 BC. After demolishing the city in 70 AD, Rome rebuilt it in 135 AD. After Constantine, Jerusalem came under Roman Christian rule which included construction of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which was destroyed by the Persians 300 years later. In 638 the Caliph Omar captured Jerusalem and brought it under Islamic rule. The Dome of the Rock was built in 691 where Solomon’s Temple once stood.  Between 1099 and 1250 rule over Jerusalem shifted repeatedly between Muslims and Christian Crusaders ending with Islamic rule between 1250 and 1517.  For the next 400 years Jerusalem was ruled by the Ottomans until British rule was established in 1917 following WWI. The present state of Israel was created in 1948 following WW II and the Holocaust. Jerusalem was a divided city until Israel took possession of Old Jerusalem in 1967. In the light of this long history and current events, the words of Zechariah and the words that Jesus spoke only days before His crucifixion sound remarkably relevant. 

 Zechariah wrote, “It will come about on that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will injure themselves severely. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it,” (Zechariah 12:3).

Jesus said, "Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.  There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress among the nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves,  people fainting from fear and the expectation of the things that are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near,” (Luke 21:20-28).

Water of Life

 Perhaps somewhere out there some extraterrestrials are listening to Jimmy Carter’s greetings and Chuck Berry singing, Johnny Be Good on the recordings launched into space aboard Voyager in 1977. Voyager has left the solar system and is in interstellar space.  Or, maybe someday we will pick up alien radio messages like Jodie Foster in Contact. But, so far, the evidence indicates that life in the universe is precious.  Quite possibly, we are it. Although I have to agree that it makes sense there should be life somewhere out there.  Surely in God’s economy He would not create this vast expanse of universe and only create life on our small pebble.

 Scientists are searching for water again.  Not on earth, but in far-flung places in our solar system and the universe.  In their search for life on other planets they know that water is the key.  Where there is water, there could be life. Scientists have discovered a vast cloud of water in space containing 130 trillion times the water in all the seas and oceans on earth. (Space is a big place). The only problem is that it is 12 billion light years away.

 Whenever scientists search for life in the universe they search first for water.  Ellen Stofan, chief scientist for NASA said, “NASA science activities have provided a wave of amazing findings related to water in recent years that inspire us to continue investigating our origins and the fascinating possibilities of other worlds, and life, in the universe.” Water is the essence of life as we know it. Without it, life cannot exist.

 Most of us think little about water. We are more focused on beverages that tease our taste and promise a lift.  We take water for granted.  But water is the essential element for life. Humans can live weeks without food.  But living without water is another story. Most wilderness guides warn that we can only survive a  few days without water.

 Jesus knew this when He spoke about water.  He said, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life,” (John 4:13-14).

 As important as water is to the existence of life and to our own physical well-being, there is another element even more important to the life of our soul.  Millions who have access to food, shelter, water and wealth are dying every day for lack of the spiritual water that can nourish their soul. 

 In John’s Revelation Jesus said, “ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give water to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life, without cost.”

 “Thus says the Lord who made you and formed you from the womb, who will help you, …  ‘For I will pour out water on^]the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring  and My blessing on your descendants;  and they will spring up ^]among the grass like poplars by streams of water,” (Isaiah 44:2-4).

Finding Denouement - Tying Up Loose Ends

Every time we attend a play, watch a movie, or read a book, we are looking for, and expecting denouement. Webster’s Dictionary defines denouement as “the final solution or untangling of the conflicts or difficulties that make up the plot or a literary work.  The outcome of a complicated or difficult situation or sequence of events.”

In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet the denouement occurs when enmity between the Capulets and Montagues drives their beloved children to suicide.  In Les Miserables the denouement occurs when Jean Valjean rescues his adopted daughter’s fiancé from battle in the French Revolution. Simultaneously, he spares the life of his enemy, Javert, who, in despair, casts himself into the Siene and drowns.

 We all want denouement in our stories.  Whenever we read a book that leaves us hanging without reconciling the conflicts and questions raised by the telling, we feel unsatisfied.  Life, however, is not like fiction.  It does not always tie the loose ends into a neat bow at the end.  Often, we are left to live our lives with unanswered questions.

Yet the Bible offers us help.  The unanswered questions in our immediate circumstance can find meaning in the greater narrative found in its pages.  The Bible is, after all a story: the grandest of stories, from creation to consummation of the age.

 In his early adult years Joseph would have had difficulty predicting the denouement of his life.  In a rage of resentment and jealousy, his brothers sold him into slavery.  Finding himself a slave in Egypt, he was falsely accused by his master’s wife and thrown into prison.  Through a series of events in which he continued to demonstrate faithfulness and a gift for discernment, he was rescued from prison and rose to prominence in Pharaoh’s court. Years later, during a global famine, his brothers arrived in Egypt desperately seeking food. When they recognized their brother they had sold into slavery, they feared for their lives. But, with tears, Joseph embraced them and declared, “You meant it to me for evil, but God meant it to me for good.” 

 While we are in the midst of life we have difficulty predicting the outcome of the tragedies and disappointments that come our way. But in the end, the Master Author of life will write a denouement for those who put their faith and trust in Him. 

 The Apostle Paul recognized this when he wrote, “All things work together for good for those who love the Lord, for those who are called according to His purpose.”  As long as we love ourselves and seek out own purposes, life will continue to be a mess.  But, when we love God and are called according to His purpose, all things work together for good.

 Jesus provides the greatest example of this truth.  At the crucifixion, everything seemed to have fallen apart. Nothing good, it seemed, could come of this.  But the resurrection changed everything.  The empty tomb provided the greatest denouement in the history of man.

When You Are Angry

 Anger doesn’t require significant issues to raise its ugly head.  Several Tampa Bay baseball fans got into an angry fight over a foul ball that landed in a garbage can. After tempers flared, the security guard stepped in and ruled that the ball would remain where it landed, beneath a pile of peanut shells, beer cans, hot dog wrappers and whatever else had been deposited in the can. If we can’t get along with one another, nobody wins.

We are all acquainted with anger. We have felt the rising resentment and boiling emotions that overwhelm rational thought and take control of our words and our actions leading us to say things and do things that we later regret. We call it losing our temper. It is built into us. We are born with it. Anyone who cares for a newborn soon discovers that babies have a temper. For most of us, age helps. We call it “mellowing.” Things that once pushed our button and shoved us over the edge are not as frustrating as before. We become more patient; we gain greater perspective.

It is okay to become angry. When anger causes us to take action that will result in improved environment and behavior, it is good. Jesus became angry. He did not casually cleanse the temple. He drove out all those who were using religion for profit, overturned their tables, scattered their money on the stones and drove the bleating sheep, braying oxen and fluttering pigeons before him with a whip. Later, when the religious authorities wanted to prevent him from healing the sick on the Sabbath, the Bible says he looked at them “with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart.”

But it is not okay to lose our temper. Uncontrolled anger can be disastrously destructive. It is not okay to live an angry life as an angry person. Angry people alienate others, and, when their anger spins out of control, they inflict damage and injury to themselves and others. When anger cuts off conversation and communication that can lead to understanding and solutions to shared problems, it is a bad thing. When anger spills over into rage that lashes out at others to hurt and to harm, it is a bad thing.

Anger is one of those human emotions we all possess that must be channeled and controlled to produce constructive results. Left unchecked and allowed to run wild, it can destroy us. The Bible instructs us to “Be angry and yet do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger.”(Eph. 4:26). The Bible also says, “The anger of man does not fulfill the righteousness of God.” (James 1:20).

 When we are introduced to the Apostle Paul in the book of Acts, he is an angry young man. After assisting in the murder of Stephen, he proceeded to persecute Christians, going from house to house, arresting men and women and throwing them into prison. But, on the way to extend his rage to Damascus, he met the risen Christ. His life was changed.  His anger was quenched.  Later, he extended the love of Christ to those who persecuted him (Acts 16:22-30) and authored one of the greatest passages on love the world has ever known, (1 Corinthians 13).  

Spiritual Myopia

 Myopia. I learned the word when I was ten years old from the optometrist who checked my eyes and told my parents that I was nearsighted. I didn’t know I was nearsighted. I thought everyone saw everything the way I saw it. Trees were green blobs, the landscape blurred into blotches of pink, green, brown and blue, like an Impressionist painting. I wondered how other kids could catch and hit a baseball. I never saw the ball until it was on top of me. I could see some vague arm motion in the distance and then, wham! The ball was in my face.

My first pair of glasses changed my world. I discovered leaves on trees. I could see people’s faces inside their cars. I could read the blackboard from the back of the room. As a teenager I became the cleanup hitter on the all-star team, and could catch a fly ball over my shoulder while galloping toward the centerfield fence, like Joe DiMaggio. When I returned to the dugout, I heard the coach say, “I always knew if he could see it he could catch it.”

Myopia is not only physical. It can bespiritual. We are all born spiritually nearsighted. Like my childhood years, we think we see things clearly, but we don’t. We are unaware of what we don’t see. The only person who ever had perfect vision was Jesus. That is why He said, “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness … if anyone walks in the night he stumbles because the light is not in him.” (John 8:12; 11:10)

When the prophet Elisha and his servant were surrounded by the enemy at Dothan, the servant was gripped with fear. But Elisha told him, “Do not fear. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” When God opened the servant’s eyes, he saw that “the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” (2 Kings 6) When we are gripped with fear and despair, we need God to open our eyes so we can see clearly. “If God be for us,” Paul said, “who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31)

Jesus once met a blind man in the village of Bethsaida. Jesus laid His hands upon him and asked him, “Do you see anything?” The man responded, “I see people; they look like trees walking around. Once more,” the Bible says, “Jesus put His hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened … and he saw everything clearly.” (Mark 8:22-25) Many of us are like that blind man. We may be religious. We may attend church. But we need a “second touch” from God so that we can see clearly.

We are born with spiritual nearsightedness so that we only see things close up, our own self interests. As a result, we are often filled with fear, doubt, anger, resentment and despair. When we turn from our sins and place our faith in Christ, He is able to touch us so that we see clearly and walk in the light. Only Christ can cure the spiritual myopia that afflicts us from birth and enable us to see the world as God sees it.

This We Believe

 Over the years I have preached many funerals for friends and family.  None stands out more in my memory than the funeral I preached for my niece.  By the time she ended her long battle with breast cancer she was in her fifties.

 I still remember her innocent blue eyes as a child.  I watched her grow through childhood and into her teen years.  When she was a young adult, she was lured down painful and destructive paths refusing to heed the warnings of those who loved her. I prayed for her, along with others and she fell deeper into addiction to drugs and alcohol. She gave her first born up for adoption and eventually served a sentence in prison.

 But somewhere along the way, whether in prison or afterward, she came to faith in Jesus Christ. Just as He said to the woman who pressed through the crowd and touched the hem of His garment, Jesus said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you whole.” 

 In the last decade of her life, I saw her reunited with her first-born whom she gave up in her youth. She was reconciled with her family who surrounded her with love.  God brought a good man into her life who, like herself, was a recovering alcoholic.

 She often shared with me her testimony of faith and what God had done in her life.  She still wasn’t perfect. She still had issues. But she was different. God was healing her on the inside.

 The week before she died, we visited.  Family and friends gathered around her, comforting her, praying for her and loving her.  On Wednesday of that week, she drew her last breath.

 Once again, I thought of her as that innocent blue-eyed girl I first knew. It reminded me of Jesus’ visit to the home of a mother and father whose twelve-year-old daughter had died.  The house was surrounded by people who were weeping. But Jesus entered the child’s bedroom with her parents and spoke these gentle words to her.  “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”   She immediately breathed, opened her eyes and got up.   

 This is the faith we believe as followers of Christ.  We make mistakes.  We may wander far from God.  We may cause pain to ourselves and others.  But He seeks us out.  He never lets us go.  He reconciles, redeems and, in the day of our death, He raises us up!

Did Jesus Do Dishes?

 Did Jesus do dishes?  The very question sounds sacrilegious.  That might be the point.  Sometimes our “religion” prism causes us to miss the real miracle about Jesus.  The whole idea of “religion” tends to confine our thinking to “church” related activities and theological conversations.  To most people, Jesus never enters day-to-day conversation because to do so is to introduce “religion,” and daily life has little to do with religion.

 Those who knew Jesus, who met him, heard him, saw him, ate with him, and walked with him were struck by his humanity.  He was real, but, as some say, “not real religious.”  He went to the synagogues and spoke there, but it was the religious people who had difficulty with him.  He ate with tax collectors, visited with prostitutes, and befriended lepers, violated religious laws by healing the sick and allowing his disciples to harvest grain on the Sabbath.

 Jesus’ divinity continued to shine through for all to see:  he made the blind see, caused the deaf to hear, enabled the lame to walk and raised the dead.  Even the wind and the sea obeyed him.  But, just as importantly if not more so, he made the mundane extraordinary.

 He lived most of his life as a carpenter in a remote village.  As Dallas Willard wrote, “If he were to come today as he did then, he could carry out his mission through most any decent and useful occupation.  He could be a clerk or accountant in a hardware store, a computer repairman, a banker, editor, doctor, waiter, teacher, farmhand, lab technician, or construction worker.  He could run a house cleaning service or repair automobiles. In other words, if he were to come today he could very well do what you do.”

John described him like this:  “The Word became flesh and lived among us and we saw his glory, glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14);  “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.”

 The Bible never says that Jesus did the dishes.  It does say that he washed feet. Which, it seems to me, required a great deal more humility than washing dishes.  I expect dishes were prized possessions in most homes of Galilee. They weren’t cheap.  You could not pick up dishes at the local Walmart or the Dollar store.  They were all hand crafted and often passed down from generation to generation.  Most homes likely had little more than the essentials when it came to dishes. They did not pile up in the sink waiting for someone to unload the dishwasher. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jesus helped his mother out, or even lent a hand to Martha in the kitchen at Bethany, and washed dishes.

I always think my wife will be most impressed when I buy her flowers.  She does appreciate them. But what she really seems to like is the times that I do the dishes.  It may be that the most spiritual thing you do today is to do the dishes.  It could be a God thing.