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I want to preach Christ. And I want to do it from everwhere. Jesus says he’s everywhere in the Bible, so when I preach, I want to find him, and make him clear to people. 

Sometimes, this is easy. Turn to Mark, and it’s fairly easy to see Jesus. Turn to Esther, and it’s not so easy (whoaoh there cowboys! Don’t rush ahead to the comment bit yet…).

Or in Job. This Easter I thought I’d be a smarty pants. Job 19 -  ”I know that my Redeemer lives”. Piece of cake, thought I. Jesus = The Redeemer, He lives. Easy. 

Until I started working on it. Who was this Job? Job in the opening chapter, we’re told, is a good God fearer - makes sacrifices for his family and has lots of cows. Sounds like Abraham, probably one of his contemporaries. Which means he’s proper early in the Bible story. Pre-exodus, and importantly, pre-law of Moses. That’s important because it’s from the Law that we get all our understanding of the Redeemer that Jesus ultimately fulfills. So the question I started asking (and am still asking) is ‘what did Job mean when he said ‘Redeemer’?’ And as much as I tried, I couldn’t answer with ‘the same as us’. 

See, I know that Jesus is our kinsman redeemer because a redeemer had to be like the one that he was taking the place of, or avenging. As Jesus came in the likeness of sinful flesh to redeem us from the curse of the law, he was like us, and did for us what we couldn’t do. I see how Jesus fulfills the Redeemer thing. But if Israel was not going to have any idea about what a Redeemer was meant to do for another few hundred years what did Job mean… and don’t even get me started on Job not even being an Israelite…

Two things over-ride my thinking. First is this ‘progressive revelation’ thing (a posh way of of saying that as the Bible story developed, people learnt more about Jesus). I think it’s real. To me, it makes perfect sense that Adam knew less than us, Abraham knew less than us, Moses knew less than us… Isaiah knew more, but still less than us. Now, as Jesus goes ‘no one gets to the Father except through me’ it’s clear that they were all saved by Jesus. But whether they knew that as we do? I seriously doubt. 

Which brings me back to Job. It’s clear that he trusted God. It’s clear that he was vindicated by God. and that he spoke to God. And all of this, looking back, I am convinced is Jesus. Lookinh via the cross, I know that Job 19 is about Jesus. I just don’t have a clue whether he knew this at the time.

The other factor is that I want to be true to the text. I don’t want to go all Spurgeon on anyone. I know “he was greatly used by God” and that I should pray for a bit of what he was given… but he’s no model for explaining the text  is he? (Except for the Treasury of David for some reason…). 

But maybe I’ve gone too far over to the dry side. All word and no spirit, that’s what they call it. The more I tried to find Jesus legitimately in Job, whilst fighting my temptation to see him as I see him, before seeing him as Job saw him… the less I could see anything. Are you confused? Good. So was I.  

In the end, I cut my loses. And went after Romans 1 instead.      
 

Ever noticed how Jesus doesn’t have a shrine? To me that seems a little unfair.

A quick white water google for ‘christian shrines’ sent me here to this site, which lists about 200 ‘Christian’ shrines in Britain alone! The world is littered with countless shrines to the virgin Mary be they elaborate Altar types in magnificent cathedrals or more humble ‘yard shrines’ in people homes. The Baha’i faith has two well known shrines (according to wikipedia) which are the resting places of the twin manifestations of the Bahá’í Faith, the Báb and Baha’ullah. Muslims have differing opinions on the validity of shrines but again, if you ask the right people (Shiah), they have literally hundreds of them scattered across the middle east. Shrines are also common amongst Buddhists and Shinto’s.

You’ll also find shrines to commemorate soldiers lost in wars. There are shrines for all the major wars (and some minor ones too) of the twentieth century in countries all over the world.

So, where is Jesus’ shrine? Isn’t it a little unfair that the head of the biggest religion in the world doesn’t have his own shrine?

There is of course something that links all the shrines in the world. Regardless of religious or national allegiance they all bare one thing in common. They are for dead people. For someone to have a shrine to them they have to be dead. And here we come to the answer to the original question. Jesus isn’t dead. Ergo Eco warrior sum, he doesn’t need nor get a shrine.

As Christians we celebrate (and always have) the fact that Jesus is alive. Part of this celebration is NOT setting up a shrine to him. What’s reasonable about faith is that in the months and years after Jesus resurrection none of his bereaved followers fancied enshrining his tomb…because he wasn’t dead. JESUS IS RISEN!!!

I know it’s been a while since I talked about a series outlining some of the proof we have for an historical resurrection, such a while perhaps you have no idea what I’m talking about. (For those who fall into this category why not revisit my post here). But alas, it is finely here and I’m quite excited. UCCF recently ran a series of lectures/debates featuring a certain William Lane Craig titled, ‘Reasonable Faith,’ and that’s just what we have, reasonable faith. In part 2 of this series I’m going to look at two reasons for that reasonable faith. One from within the Bible and one from without.

Within - Old Testament prophecy, perhaps a point at which those pesky Jehovah’s really can stick it to us Christians. The argument goes like this. Jesus said He was God, He also said He’d rise again from the dead. Prophecy inclines us to believe Him on both counts. I’ve read somewhere that there are over a thousand prophecies which Jesus fulfilled, not sure about them all but a smattering will demonstrate my point. Throughout Genesis and the OT the Messiah was promised to be a descendant of Abraham, not something Jesus could control, but something He was. Place of birth was predicted in Micah 5:2, again not something He could control, but was. Zech.11:12 says how much He will be betrayed for, 30 pieces of silver…yep, they got it right. Psalm 22:18 describes exactly how His clothes would be divided, now this is getting spooky. And that’s just 4 . Take a look at Isaiah 53:8-12, it talks about Jesus being born into humble circumstances, dying a brutal death and rising again. Jesus was God made man and sent to rescue. We have no ‘reason’ to doubt when He said He’d rise again.

Without - Chumps to champs. On a completely different curve we can look at the transformation of the disciples. A bunch of cowardly, timid fisherman who were transformed into bold, even to the point of death, witnesses of a resurrected Christ. They gave up everything they had (most even their lives) and for what? A lie? Lies usually benefit the person telling them, this is clearly not the case with the disciples. The transformation in these men (and women) was nothing short of a miracle. Burden of proof firmly placed in the skeptics court.

I know it’s bitty, but allow me over time to build it up. If your not convinced already, you will be, there’s loads more to come.

Not that long ago actually, if your talking about the anniversary of the event. An event that is maybe one of the most hotly debated in history. You hear that, IN HISTORY!?

Jesus said, when he was meandering around the Middle East , “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (John 11:25). No wonder it is so hotly contested. If it’s true, then it obviously has some pretty big implications, even if we die, we live. If it isn’t true then hey, when we die, we die.

Nowadays you don’t even need to be an aggressive atheist to argue the fact that Jesus rose on Easter Sunday, apparently it’s become something that us vicars are allowed to uphold… or cast aside…or, you know, whatever. But, if our Bible has a 1 Corinthians in it and that 1 Corinthians has a chapter 15 and verses 3 through 6 then we can not do anything but hold it up so high, so long, that our arms drop off.

There is evidence both within and without of the Bible to support the facts of history, which confirms that Jesus did rise to life three days after he was buried. Over the next few weeks I’m hoping I can cover a few (or more, there are lots you see) of these evidences to help us find more and more certainty in an event which is central to our faith.

From within - Old Testament Prophecy, Jesus predicted it, Jesus actually died, Jesus was actually buried, Jesus appeared to thousands afterwards, within 5years it was a Church Creed, Jesus family started worshiping him, Saul becomes Paul.

From without - Chumps to Champs (the disciple’s transformation), perseverance of the disciples (lying to death), the breaking of the Commandments, empty tomb syndrome, H-bomb Mushroom clouds and how they look a little like an early Church.

All in all it’s a pretty convincing case. I hope it’s going to be useful, even if only for me.