Saturday, October 26, 2013

Jesus truly was one of us.


As we behold the mystery of His tears, hunger and thirst, let us remember that the one who wept also raised the dead to life, rejoicing for Lazarus. 
From the very One who thirsted flowed rivers of living water. 
He who hungered was able to wither the fig tree which offered no fruit for His hunger. 
How could this be, that He who was able to strike the green tree dead merely by His word could also have a nature that could hunger? 
This was the mystery of His hunger, grief, and thirst, that the Word was assuming flesh. 
His humanity was entirely exposed to our weakness, yet even then His glory was not wholly put away as He suffered these indignities. 
His weeping was not for Himself, His thirst was not for water, nor His hunger merely for food. He did not eat or drink or weep just to satisfy His appetites. Rather, in His incarnate humbling He was demonstrating the reality of His own body by hungering, by doing what human nature does. And when He ate and drank, it was not a concession to some necessity external to Himself, but to show His full participation in the human condition. 
Hilary of Poiters (c. 315 – c. 367) 
"ON THE TRINITY"

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

God is Good. God is Love.



If God were good but not loving, He would condemn and destroy anything that turned away from His goodness. Conversely, if He were loving but not good, he could not turn against anyone who rejected His nonexistent goodness. Nor is there anything remarkable about a good God who loves creatures who are as good as He is; that is just what we would expect. But the Christian gospel says that, in His love, God has reached out to those who have rebelled against Him and embraced evil.
Gerald Bray, God is Love : A Biblical and Systematic Theology, 
Crossway, 2012, pg. 70

Who controls our frail lives?


Moreover, believers must turn their eyes to Jesus the enthroned Lord. He is at the throne of God. His redemptive work complete, He waits for the consummation of the ages and for the great moment when every tongue shall confess His lordship. These first century believers were about to be exposed to the cruel hands of Caesar’s lordship. As the social pressures gave way to physical assault, they would need this assurance of the enthroned Christ. They took heart from the assured fact that their destiny was not in the hands of Caesar, his provincial governors or their local magistrates. Their frail lives were in the strong hands of Jesus, the enthroned Lord.
Raymond Brown, The Message of Hebrews, Inter-Varsity Press, 1982 Pg. 230