Where are you God?

About God's presence in my previous post what I meant was a spiritual presence. It is not like God is leaving us. God is the God of Immanuel. When we can't feel the presence of God, what happen is we're falling away from God. Paul said (Rom 8:38, 39) nothing can separate us from the love or presence of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. It is sin; our disobedience to God causes us to separate from His presence.

We like to think that if we go to church, we'd feel His presence. If we come to pray to Him, we'd feel His presence, but we know this is not true. There are times we did all these and yet we can't sense His presence.

We imagine that we can lock God in a room and so when we come to Him, we'd find His presence. How naive are we sometimes. King Solomon knew better that it is impossible to take captive of our mighty God.

After the completion of the temple he prayed, "But will God really dwell on earth with men? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! (2 Chronicles 6:18a)

So, where are you God?

You'll know it when He is there…by the Spirit He gave us. (1 John 3:24b). Amen.

2 Samuel 22:2-3

The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; The God of my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, My stronghold and my refuge; My Savior, You save me from violence.

Do you seek God's presence?

In our modern living many Christians mostly pay lot of attentions to God’s divine protection, provision, and His promises. Few actually care about whether God’s presence is with us. This phenomenon can be easily detected in our prayer. We ask about anything except His presence.

If you look at Old Testament, you’ll notice that the Israelites concern a whole lot when they heard about the distressing news that their God is not going with them to the promise land. They mourned and took off all their ornaments showing regret for putting up a golden calf in their midst. (Exodus 33:4)

After Moses pleaded to God to forgive what Israel had committed, God told Moses, "Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, 'I will give it to your descendants.' I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way." (Exodus 33:1-3 NIV)

From the above passage we see that God still keeps His promise to give the people the land and send an angel of escort to protect them from their enemies. Nonetheless, the people were not satisfied with just God’s promises, protection, and provision. They wanted God’s presence as well. Moses even boldly told God not to send them if His Presence was not with them. (Exodus 33:14)

In fact, the reason of putting up a golden calf is exactly for the sake of seeking the divine presence by the people. Look at Exodus 32:1 below:

When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, "Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him."

Do you seek God’s presence? Is God’s presence still important to us?

We know God is Immanuel, i.e. He is with us. However, we must admit that there are times we can’t feel or sense His presence at all. Many people said we’re not supposed to feel, we simply acknowledge God is here. While it is theologically correct, is that so in real life? Is God real to you? There is no doubt that God exists, but do you feel His presence?

You may have all the blessings, wealth, good education, and a great future or career, but do you have God’s presence? If you don’t, your heart is probably empty and lonely right now despite all the great blessings you’ve been receiving.

If you want God’s presence, my friends, you must obey Him and depend on Him. You must not substitute Him with anything else. You must not be stiff-necked doing what is pleasing to you and continue to grieve the Holy Spirit. Let us love God and obey His commandments. Jesus said, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23). Amen.

The Lost Letters of Pergamum - Part II

Throughout Antipas’ correspondence with Luke, we do not know when exactly Antipas is converted. One thing the readers do know for sure is Antipas’ faithfulness in following through the gospel. This is evidenced by his frequent engagement or correspondence with Luke and his increased enthusiasm in Christian virtues. Besides, Antipas’ compassion for Simon ben Joseph, his love for the little girl Nouna, his sympathy for the woman and her baby where he met during the voyage to Caesarea, and his changed attitude towards the gladiatorial game at the end also tell us that he was being transformed gradually without him even realizing it. What is shocking and unexpected of Antipas is his sudden appearance in the gladiatorial game appealing to the emperor for the life and freedom of Demetrius, imitating Jesus Christ who laid down His life on the cross for us. Truly, “greater love has no one than this,” The Lost Letters of Pergamum by Longenecker is a gospel by itself depicted through the transformed life and acts of love of Antipas. It seriously challenges my faith again– would I be like Antiapas if I were in his situation?

The stark contrast between the two Christian Bible study groups: one by Kalandion and another by Antonius resemble very much to our present day context even though the story is told in an antiquity setting. Without doubt, Longenecker is doing a marvelous narrating to intertwine historical data and fictional characters into a very believable biblical account. I truly find it helpful and experience for the first time to better appreciate the gospel of Luke when I heard it from Antipas. The experience or the feeling I have in reading Antipas’s narrative is like you heard from someone in the historical context who talked about his own experience. Antipas’ description of his personal experience, which he encountered at the house of Antonius, is very heartwarming. It resonates with my heart for the same desire – Isn’t this the kind of fellowship we Christians long for in our Bible study group at home?

Book Review - The Lost Letters of Pergamum (Part I)

If you love the novel “The Shadow of Galilean” by Gerd Theissen, you’d probably enjoy reading “The Lost Letters of Pergamum” by Bruce Longenecker as I did. The genre of the latter however is very much different from the former. What is common between them is both authors are New Testament scholars, both their story is fictional intermingled with historical facts and the setting of their narrative is both in first-century NT time.

“The Lost Letters of Pergamum” is a collection of correspondence between Antipas from Pergamum and Luke in Ephesus. The story began with Antipas invited Calpurnius of Ephesus, the son of Theophilus, to attend a gladiatorial game in Pergamum to be organized by his noble friend, Rufinus. Through the correspondence, Antipas becomes acquainted with Luke who is a real closed friend of Calpurnius and is helping him to oversee his household when Calpurnius has to leave town for a family matter. Antipas by origin is a pagan civic benefactor of his home cities Tyre and Caesarea. He was in Pergamum because of his great interest in studying historical documents. Because of such interest, Antipas soon develops a steady friendship with Luke after reading Luke’s monograph accounting for the life of Jesus of Nazareth. He corresponded with Luke frequently about his reading of the gospel. Later, under Luke’s recommendation, Antipas took the challenge to join a Christian gathering for fellowship at one of the Christians’ house in Pergamum

Antipas began by joining Kalandion’s group with his friend Rufinus, but soon realized that the social life of Christians there was far from what was being said in Luke’s narrative. People at Kalandion’s group were very conscious about their status quo and were attracted to Jesus’ miracles more than by his teaching. On Luke’s advice, Antipas attempted another Christian group led by Antonius. His experience with Antonius’ household and the Christian friends gathered there immediately drew him to reflect deeply in the biblical account of Luke. The fellowship at Antonius’ house was warm and sincere, and the spirit of brotherhood was evident and real. The people were opened to one another and cared for one another irrespective of social status. Noblemen, civic officials, merchants, artisans, women, and even people with no social rank at all like Simon ben Joseph, a past employee of Antipas, was treated as a Christian brother.

Longenecker's account of "The Lost Letters of Pergamum" is undoubtedly convincing and believable. His invention of an editor's preface to introduce the discovery of the "Lost Letters" and the additional footnotes about the dating of those letters is genius. It truly does create an effect like one is actually reading a long lost ancient manuscript. Although the book contains only letter correspondence, the story is carefully constructed out of a cinematic traditional plot. The main character Antipas was introduced as an enthusiast of the gladiatorial game at the beginning, but ironically he had become a victim of the game at the end for his friend's sake.

Isaiah 54:10

For though the mountains should depart and the hills be shaken or removed, yet My love and kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace and completeness be removed, says the Lord, Who has compassion on you. (Amplified Bible)

Recovering the Scandal of the Cross

Well, regardless of what the authors have attempted to accomplish in this book, I will still abide with the “penal substitution” theology. This is what the Bible speaks to me when I read from the Old Testament to the New Testament, so I am not prepared to change my perspective. Although one can derive other significant meanings from the cross, Jesus’ crucifixion impacted my life the most, and it is because of His sacrificial love on the cross that I truly feel forgiven by God.

The major concern of the authors is that they found the meaning and function of atonement have been narrowly defined in the last two centuries. Atonement, in their view, so far has been articulated in the doctrine of “penal substitution” or “satisfaction”. This doctrine albeit is biblically based and it speaks about the central theme of atonement that “Christ died for our sin”, its message may not be easily or universally understood by people who live in different society system or of different cultural background.

Green and Baker were afraid these two doctrines, based on the same theology that Christ Jesus died in our place for our sins to satisfy the judgment of a righteous God, may convey too much of a negative picture or message rather than a Gospel with love to the contemporary audiences or soon-to-be believers. They wanted the contemporary Christians, theologians, and especially preachers to take note that these two doctrines were formulated during the time of feudalism. While the cultural concepts and practices were appropriate during then, we cannot possibly articulate them in the same way in today cultural setting. They argued that even this atonement theory still serving well in a society driven by guilt-base in which offences or wrongful acts naturally resulted in consequences with punishment or justice, it can appear difficult to comprehend when it is being translated to a shame-base society like Japan.

Green and Baker presented a good case for contemporary believers to re-look at the full meaning of the cross or more precisely the significance of Jesus’ death on the cross as salvific act. The book opens a good opportunity for more conversation and thought and more research on the topic than ever before, however, the attack on the theological model of “Satisfaction” by Anselm and “Penal Substitution” model does not seem fair.

Anselm spoke of the issued related to his own contemporary and drew the meaning of the cross to appeal to his context should be understandable and nothing is inappropriate. Most historical models are time sensitive and appealed to its specific groups of people or culture. This by their nature is of timeliness and contextualization. The constraint and relevancy of the models should be properly recognized and fairly treated instead of being heavily criticized and attacked. The person who adopts the models lied with the responsibility to interpret the models in their proper context and original intention.

Overall the book offers a good survey on all the essential meaning of the cross in both the Old and New Testament, especially in Gospels, Apostle Paul’s and Peter’s epistles. It gives a sound biblical insight into Christ’s work that involves intercultural potential such as liberation from sin and guilt to the significance of Jesus’ life, his obedience (recapitulation) and resurrection as the final victory besides the atonement.