Throwing Stones

By Sylvia Bambola Monday, 29 July 2013 14:43:00

Ok, I admit this story bugs me. John 8:1-11 relays how the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman to Jesus who had been caught in adultery. They made her stand in the middle of the temple court as they exposed her sin, but their secret motive was to trick Jesus in some way. It’s so wrong on many levels. First, where was the man? Why didn’t they bring him, too? No one can commit adultery alone. So, not only did these so called “holy” men seem to be protecting the offending member of their own sex, they were using the holy law of Moses to further their own agenda of destroying Jesus. “Teacher,” they said, “This woman has been caught in the very act of adultery. Now the Law of Moses commands that such shall be stoned to death. But what do you say?”

They didn’t fool Jesus one bit. Instead of engaging them in useless dialogue, He bends down and begins writing “on the ground with His finger” and after awhile says, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And what do you know? One by one they left. The Amplified says they were “conscience-stricken.” And they left in a strange order: from the oldest to the youngest. I suppose because those who were older had more experience with sin. Finally, the court was empty and the plot to trick Jesus, foiled.

But how did Jesus handled the woman? Adultery is a serious offense in the sight of God. Did He stone her? He was the only one without sin in that entire place, the only one who had the right to do it. But no. Instead He said, “Woman, where are your accusers? Has no man condemned you?” and “she answered, No one, Lord. And Jesus said, I do not condemn you either. Go on your way and from now on sin no more.”

Oh what a wonderful Savior we have! How kind and tender He is to us. We are all sinners. And while the world, that is full of its own sins, seeks to throw stones—to humiliate, to accuse—Jesus’ heart desires to restore us, to love us, to bring us into His fullness. And at no one does the hypocritical world love to throw stones more than believers. “How can you call yourself a Christian after you did (fill in the blank)? Yes, we must deal with our sins, confess them and endeavor to “sin no more.” And then God is faithful and just to forgive us (1John 1:9). What’s more, He’ll never throw our sins back in our face, or rehash them over and over again. Rather, our sins, after they are confessed and forgiven, will never be remembered again. 

I like to think that that woman went on to live a full life in the Lord, transformed by His love, perhaps the only real love she had ever experienced. And the wonderful thing is so can we all.

Until next time,

Sylvia

 

 

Category
Spirituality

The Right Time

By Sylvia Bambola Monday, 22 July 2013 16:03:00

All His radical pronouncements made Jesus a marked man. A death sentence now hung over his head (John 7:1-53). It was inevitable. So when the Feast of Tabernacles draws near and his unbelieving kin, his natural brothers, tell Him to go into Judea, Jesus answers with, “My time is not yet come.” Like so often is the case, His words have a double meaning. He is proclaiming that it’s not yet time to lay down His life as the lamb of sacrifice nor is it time to become King, and tabernacle with man. So He stayed behind in Galilee. That is until the middle of Tabernacles when He went to Jerusalem secretly then began teaching in the Temple. 

But His teachings only managed to arouse more scorn and controversy. “He deceives the people!” some say. While others claim He’s “possessed by a demon.” To which Jesus responds, “My teaching is not My own, but His Who sent Me.” Then on the final and most important day of the feast (of Tabernacles) Jesus stands and cries in a loud voice, “If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink!” (John 7:37) A discussion breaks out as the crowd wonders if Jesus could really be the Messiah. “No one knows where the Messiah will come from,” some claim, showing their lack of knowledge of God’s word. Others who know the scriptures say, “Does the Messiah come out of Galilee? Does not the scripture tell us that the Christ (Messiah) will come from the offspring of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?” But it appears their knowledge is useless for they can’t apply it to Jesus. They had not taken the time to really learn Who He was. For one thing, if they had they would have known Jesus didn’t come from Galilee. And, thankfully, there’s a third group who openly proclaims, “This is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One!” All were Jews, but very different spiritually. And don’t you know we have these same three groups in our Church today? First there are those who have little real knowledge of God’s word. Then comes the “religious types” who know the Bible but fail to apply it to their lives, to live it. And finally, those who know God’s word and follow it.   

Ok, what about the Feast of Tabernacles? What do those two references about that feast in John 7:1-53 tell us? First off, the Feast of Tabernacle is the last of seven feasts of Israel, or feasts of the Lord. These seven feasts provide a picture of prophetic events spanning the seven thousand years which many Bible scholars believe encompass all of human history. In the middle of the seven feasts or feast number four, is Pentecost. Jesus’ appearing in the middle of the “feast” is a foreshadowing of Pentecost and the new dispensation of grace. It literally speaks of His soon coming death and the appearance of the Holy Spirit who would herald an entirely new eon, a new era. Grace would replace law. And when Jesus rose up and proclaimed Himself living water on the “final day” He was also referring to the Holy Spirit who would come at Pentecost. It’s no accident that this took place on the last day or Great Day, the culmination of Beit HaShoevah, the ritual of the water pouring where the high priest passed through the Water Gate with his golden pitcher to collect water from the pool of Siloam then used it to cleanse the Temple altar. Jesus was soon to cleanse humanity by pouring out His blood upon God’s heavenly altar and herald in the Age of Grace where the Holy Spirit would be “living water,” the ultimate living water, for all those who thirst after righteousness.

But here’s the best part. Jesus is no longer saying “my time is not yet come.” He has fulfilled part of the prophecy of the Feast of Tabernacles. His blood has cleansed the heavenly altar and His Holy Spirit is the very fountain of living water. We can all experience Jesus as both our lamb sacrifice and as our living water through the Holy Spirit. And even though Jesus has yet to appear on earth as King, and tabernacle with us physically—that will occur during the millennial reign—He will tabernacle with each of us individually if we ask Him. So His time has come. And it’s the right time for all three groups. The right time to truly learn God’s word; the right time to apply it, to live it; and the right time to tabernacle with Jesus, and make Him King over our lives.

Until next time,

Sylvia

Category
Spirituality

Declaring the Mission

By Sylvia Bambola Monday, 15 July 2013 14:48:00

When Jesus finally gets around to declaring His actual mission it sends His disciples into a tailspin (Matthew 16:21-28; Mark 9:31-32; Luke 9:44-45). What was this talk of suffering? Of death?  Of rising on the third day? Wasn’t Jesus the Messiah? The Anointed One? The One who would deliver them from the heel of Rome? The Bible tells us His disciples were afraid to question Him further or talk to Him about it. All except Peter, that is. He charges in with, “God forbid, Lord! This must never happen to You!” It garnered Jesus’ immediate rebuke of, “Get behind Me, Satan!” Jesus’ road was to be the unfathomable path of God that required sacrifice and suffering and ended in death, not the easy path of man who sought to avoid them all.

There is only one Savior, and His name is Jesus. His sacrifice can never and needs never to be duplicated. However, a few verses down in Matthew 16:24-26 Jesus declares our own mission. It too is one of sacrifice and death. “If anyone desires to be My disciple, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” This is tough. What person likes to deny himself? We are a culture bent on self-gratification. And taking up a cross? The thought is downright repugnant. After all, a cross is an instrument of death.  But both are necessary if we are to fulfill our mission. Like Jesus, our mission is death, but a different kind of death. Ours is to be a death to selfishness, self interests, self aggrandizing. In short, death to all forms of “self.” And replaced with what? Christ, of course. His interests, His glory, His honor, His kingdom.

It’s so easy to say, so easy to write about, but so hard to do, and downright impossible without the Holy Spirit. Even so, a lifetime of cross-carrying is hardly enough. I fear parts of self will always be alive and well until we cross over into glory and then we will be wonderfully changed into the very likeness of Jesus. But I also fear that the desire to deny self and carry our cross is rapidly disappearing in our churches. Instead of preaching this hard word, too many preach the doctrine of self-worth, self-fulfillment, self-awareness. Self, self, self. Didn’t Jesus say, “seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33)? When we truly follow the Lord He fills us with worth, with peace, with joy. And when we delight in Him He will even give us the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4).

Jesus knew how difficult His words about self-denial and cross-carrying would be to accept. He knew how much they cut against our natural grain. That’s why He added in verse 24 (Amplified) “whoever is bent on saving his temporal life, his comfort and security here shall lose it (eternal life) and whoever loses his life, his comfort and security here for My sake shall find it (everlasting life).”

Is it because the modern day church has shirked its mission of dying to self and being conformed to the image of Christ that so many in the world find it irrelevant? Something to think about.

Until next time,

Sylvia

 

Category
Spirituality

The Transfiguration Prophecy

By Sylvia Bambola Monday, 01 July 2013 17:09:00

One can only imagine what the transfiguration of Jesus was like (Mark 9:2-10; Luke 9:28-36). That word “transfigured” in Greek is metamorfoo and means transformed. Jesus was literally transformed! To be sure it was a remarkable event that both astonished and terrified Peter, John, and James, the three apostles who were there. The setting is a high mountain. Suddenly, Jesus is changed! He actually glows in His blinding white raiment. The Amplified describes Jesus’ garments as “flashing with the brilliance of lightening.” And if that weren’t enough, Moses and Elijah appear and begin speaking with Jesus. But what exactly did they talk about? Well, nothing less than Jesus’ approaching death in Jerusalem.

Peter, ever impetuous, immediately suggests they build three booths. The Bible says he suggests this because he doesn’t know what else to say. Peter is apparently dumbfounded and seems to blurt out the first thing that comes to mind. But it’s interesting that his words are recorded since I’m sure it’s not the only time Peter has spoken rash words which were never recorded.

The next thing that happens is the appearance of a cloud that overshadows them all and a voice coming from the cloud saying, “this is my beloved Son: hear him.” It’s the same voice and the same pronouncement John the Baptist heard after baptizing Jesus in the Jordan. Then the cloud lifts, Moses and Elijah disappear, and Jesus resumes His former appearance, then commands His three disciples not to tell anyone what they saw until “the Son of man were risen from the dead.” Now the apostles are really confused and keep asking each other what “rising from the dead should mean.” It will be much later before they understand it all.

Oh, there is so much to glean from these passages!  The “high mountain” where this entire scenario takes place is believed by many to be Mount Tabor, but some believe it’s Mount Hermon. I think the latter choice is the most reasonable since it is five times higher than Mt. Tabor and since Mt. Hermon is the place many Bible scholars believe Satan and his fallen angels descended to earth. What better place for the transfiguration to occur since it is a foreshadowing of Jesus’ second coming? It is the place where the three apostles get a glimpse of Jesus as God, Conqueror and King. It is the place where lawgiver (Moses), prophet (Elijah), and Messiah (Jesus) meet to discuss the reclaiming of fallen earth by the approaching death of Jesus, and through the shedding of His blood gain our freedom from Satan’s control! In essence Jesus was proclaiming Satan’s defeat on the very spot where Satan began his conquest of earth! And it is Jesus who both fulfills the law and the prophets. And many Bible scholars believe that it is Moses and Elijah who are the two witnesses of Revelation who will announce the coming of Jesus’ kingdom during the Tribulation.

And I don’t think Peter’s statement was foolish either. Though he may not have understood what he was saying, I believe his words were recorded for a reason. The three booths he wanted to build speak of the Feast of Tabernacles (or Feast of Booths), the feast that symbolizes the time when God will tabernacle with His people forever. This only occurs after the tribulation, when Jesus sets up his earthly kingdom and resides in the Temple of Jerusalem. Considering all of the above, I see the transfiguration as a foreshadowing of Jesus’ return in glory at the end of this present age. And what a wonderful sight it will be!

“And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming” (2 Thessalonians 2:8).

Until next time,

Sylvia

Category
Spirituality

The Big Question

By Sylvia Bambola Monday, 10 June 2013 15:56:00

By the time we get to Luke 9:18-25 and Matthew 16:13-16 the apostles have already seen wondrous things: Jesus healing the sick, driving out demons, feeding the five thousand, walking on water, and rebuking the waves and wind. So it’s not surprising that He finally asks, “Who do men say that I am?” The apostles answer: John the Baptist or Elijah or one of the other ancient prophets. But Jesus doesn’t let it rest there. He then asks the big question. “But who do you say I am?” And Peter nails it by saying, you are “the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

It’s interesting to note that all this took place in Caesarea Philippi, the territory that once belonged to the tribe of Dan but was now the seat of pervasive idol worship, where the Temple of Pan/Baal stood with its idolatrous statues filling niches carved into Mount Hermon, the very mountain where many Bible scholars believe Satan and the fallen angels descended to earth to work their mischief. And it’s here in this hotbed of sin and rank offense to God, Jesus asks His question.

Satan is still working his mischief, seeking to wreak havoc and to “kill, steal and destroy.” And though the world is a hotbed of sin and offense to God, Jesus’ question to His disciples is the very question He will ask each of us one day. And how we answer will determine our eternal destiny. If we have come to accept that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” who died for our sins so that we can be forgiven, we will be; and we can expect a glorious eternal destiny. But if we have not, if we are stuck in the Temple of Pan, paying homage to the world and its systems, and seeking to gratify self, our eternal future is bleak indeed.

Jesus tells his disciples in Luke 9:23 that they must take up their cross daily. The Amplified Bible perfectly explains what this means. It says we must die daily to self (our cross) laying aside our own interests for Christ’s. It is a life that can only be lived by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. But make no mistake, whatever we choose, we will not be able to escape the “big question.” And with so much riding on it, it would serve us well if we began today to formulate our answer. With so many false teachings about the “many ways to heaven” we need to be sure where we stand.

In parting, I leave you with Jesus’ own words: “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?”

Until next time,

Sylvia

 

 

Category
Spirituality

Walking on Water

By Sylvia Bambola Sunday, 02 June 2013 18:22:00

After the miracle of the loaves and fishes in John 6:1-14, Jesus, knowing that the people wanted to make Him king, withdrew to a secluded place while His disciples took a boat and began rowing to Capernaum. Since I’ve already written about this I’ll repost it now.

It was the fourth watch of the night (John 6:14-21; Matthew 14:22-32) sometime between three and six in the morning. The boatload of apostles, under Jesus’ instruction to “go to the other side,” have made it only halfway because the wind kicked up and the turbulent waves had impeded their progress. For hours their boat had been toss around like a toy. The Sea of Galilee was like that. Calm one minute, treacherous the next. Then all of a sudden the apostles spot a man walking on the water. “A ghost!” they cry in fear, for what else could it be?

But it’s Jesus’ familiar voice that rings back, “Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.” And it’s Peter who responds by asking Jesus to tell him to come walk on the water, too. When Jesus does, Peter gets out of the boat, and what do you know! He really does walk on water, that is until he takes his eyes off Jesus and once again notices the boisterous winds and tossing sea, and then he starts sinking.

What a lesson! In this tempest tossed-world, with storms all around us to impede our progress, we don’t have to drown in our circumstances. We can actually walk on these troubled waters, but only if we keep our eyes on Jesus. The minute we take our eyes off Him and put them on our problems, we’ll start sinking. There’s no doubt in my mind that had Peter kept his focus on Jesus he would have walked all the way across the sea to the other side.  Instead, Jesus had to pull the nearly drowned Peter out of the water and into the boat. And I’m sure Peter’s heart broke a little when Jesus admonished him with, “O thou of little faith, wherefore didst though doubt?”

Most of us want to do what Jesus has instructed us to do. But as the world becomes more unstable, and circumstances more trying, it’s easy to allow fear to enter. And when it does we have two choices: Do we keep our eyes on Jesus and allow Him to take us through to the other side? Or do we concentrate on our circumstances and allow them to overwhelm us? I think we’re going to have ample opportunity in the days and weeks and months ahead to answer that for ourselves.

Until next week,

Sylvia

Category
Spirituality

Multiplying Our Little

By Sylvia Bambola Monday, 27 May 2013 15:58:00

As we continue following Jesus we next find Him on a mountainside surrounded by a multitude (Luke 9: 12-17; John 6:1-13). It’s a desolate place and darkness is falling. More than 5000 have gathered in search of a miracle, a healing, a word . . . from God. Luke 9:12 tells us that Jesus has already talked to them about the kingdom and has healed “those who needed restoration to health.” In short, He has poured Himself out for these people and had every right to leave in search of much needed rest and seclusion. But that’s not what happened.

“Give them food to eat,” Jesus tells Philip, to which Philip wails “that would cost more than 200 denarii!” a sum equal to nearly seven months wages.  John 6:6 tells us that Jesus was testing Philip, that He already had a plan, a remedy. There was a little boy nearby who had five barley loaves and two small fish. For Jesus that was more than enough.

At once, Jesus has the crowd recline on the grass in groups of fifty. Then He takes the small loves and fishes, blesses them and breaks them, and has his disciples pass them out. And what do you know? Not only were the loaves and fishes enough to feed this huge crowd there were leftovers! The disciples actually filled twelve small hand baskets with them!

This tells us several things. First, that Jesus is not only concerned about our spiritual wellbeing but our physical wellbeing, too. He cared that these people were hungry and that the nearest food store was a considerable distance away. Nothing is too small, too mundane to escape His attention or care.

Then there are all those numbers peppering the story. The number five in five loaves speaks of God’s grace and the number two in two fishes, talks about a division or difference. Jesus was showing them something new. He was showing them grace verses the law, the law symbolized by the number ten. This is again reinforced when He has all the men sit in groups of fifty (5 times 10). He was showing that His grace was sufficient to satisfy everyone. That it would never run out. And finally, the number twelve, as in the twelve baskets of leftovers, indicates God’s government. Remember the twelve tribes of Israel? And the twelve apostles? The twelve baskets of leftovers indicated that God was in control. That His government was perfection itself.  There is no lack in Him. He can take something small, use it and still have surplus. His government is bountiful and generous, as well as powerful.

But did Jesus really need the boy’s bread and fish to do His miracle? The answer is obviously, “no.” He could have easily turned the stones on the dusty ground into food. This tells me that God looks to use us for His glory even in our smallness and impotence, and that He is more than able to use our meager talents, works, activities we have dedicated to Him for something far greater than we can ever imagine. What a privilege to partner with Him in this way!

How greatly God cares for each of us. How deep is His concern for every detail of our lives! And He is a big God, capable of big things. We need not fear failure when we step out for Him. He will take the little we have and bless it and multiply it for His glory. All we need do is take that first step.

Until next time,

Sylvia

Category
Spirituality

Fence-Sitting

By Sylvia Bambola Monday, 20 May 2013 17:34:00

Jesus was not one to be intimidated. Even when the religious sect took exception to His healing the man at the Pool of Bethesda and they began plotting to kill Him, Jesus knowingly added fuel to the fire by boldly asserting things like: He only did what He saw the Father do (John 5:19 Amplified), and that “the Father dearly loves the Son” and just as the Father gives life, the “Son also gives life to whomever He wills” . . . and that “all judgment has been given into the hands of the Son.” Jesus went on to speak of the resurrection and judgment of sinners, and ended John 5 by telling these religious people that they didn’t know God at all; that they were blind to both God’s voice and the vision of God. And then the kicker. He told them that God’s love was not in their hearts and that they were only interested in receiving praise and accolades from each other rather than God.

The thing we have to understand is that Jesus left no wiggle room. There could be no fence-sitters in His camp. He made very definite claims about Himself and we have to come to a place where either we believe them or not. And we can’t pick and choose, either. We can’t say, “yes I believe Jesus gives life” but I don’t believe He’s ever going to judge sinners. And here’s the tougher reality, if only one of the things Jesus said about Himself is not true then all the rest, like a house of cards, must, of necessity, come tumbling down, for then He would be a liar, and can a liar be trusted or believed?

I believe Jesus is exactly who He said He is. I climbed off that fence long ago to align myself with His camp. So when I hear Christians, and especially ministers, picking and choosing what they want to believe, I find it disturbing. As Christians we are to proclaim God’s Word, His entire Word. And yes, some of that Word can make us uncomfortable. It can be inconvenient and even downright painful. But to do less would make us like the “religious” crowd in John 5, blind to God’s voice and vision, lacking God’s love in our hearts, and only interested in receiving the praise of man rather than God’s.

Oh God, may we not be fence-sitters.  “Create in us a clean heart and renew a right spirit in us.”

Until next time,

Sylvia

Category
Spirituality

Religion vs. Relationship

By Sylvia Bambola Monday, 13 May 2013 16:11:00

After Jesus healed the man who had the “lingering disorder for thirty-eight years” (last week’s blog) the Jews wasted no time in finding fault. “It’s the Sabbath and you have no right to pick up your bed” they told the newly healed man in John 5:10 (Amplified). Then they demanded to know who it was that healed him. When the Jews found out it was Jesus, they began persecuting Him and even “sought to slay Him because he had done these things on the Sabbath day” (verse 16).   

Every time I come across one of these incidents in the Bible where the Pharisees or other “religious” types want to kill Jesus for healing or doing something else on the Sabbath I want to scratch my head in wonderment because instead of trying to garner the bigger picture they were constantly, as Jesus put it in Matthew 23:24, “filtering out a gnat and gulping down a camel.”

If I had been there would I have done the same? Would I have failed to appreciate what Jesus was doing? Jesus had already told them He was the Lord of the Sabbath (Matthew 12:8) yet they just couldn’t break old habits, their old traditions. Would I have overlooked the move of God’s Spirit for the sake of my theology? My religious traditions? When I actually sat down and thought about it I realized that at certain times I had done this very thing. It’s easy to get hung up on our church’s way of doing things. We are comfortable in the service that usually runs the same amount of time each week and has the same format. After all, it’s the way our church has always done things. Why change now? But what if the Holy Sprit wants to move in a special way and take a few hours longer? Or change the format? Or add a different type of music? Or maybe come with such power He brings everyone to their knees for the entire service? What then? Do we yield or do we, like those “religious” Jews, miss the moment and a chance to really interact with God?

The comfortable, the familiar can be the enemy of God. It can make us miss Him completely. We need to keep ourselves open to the Holy Spirit. We can trust Him. He will never violate Scripture but He may violate our sensibilities, our preconceived ideas. And if we cling too hard to the familiar we can end up with religion and not relationship. Relationship with the most High God who loves us more than we will ever be able to comprehend and who is always looking to do something new in our lives and take us out of our comfort zone. The question is, will we let Him?

Until next time,

Sylvia

Category
Spirituality

House of Kindness

By Sylvia Bambola Monday, 06 May 2013 15:46:00

Imagine being desperately ill for thirty-eight years and the only chance you thought you had of ever getting better was to dip into the Pool of Bethesda. Only problem was, a lot of other people wanted to get healed in that pool, too, and only the first to reach the water, whenever an angel stirred it up, ever seemed to get well (John 5:1-5). Even so, this poor man didn’t give up. Year after year he went to the pool hoping he’d be the lucky one this time.  But after trying for thirty-eight years, I’m sure he was at the point where he wondered if he’d ever make it first into the pool, especially since he had no one to carry him down. Then along comes Jesus.

John 5:6 tells us that Jesus “noticed him (the sick man) lying there helpless” and knew at once that he had been in this poor state for a very long time. His first question to the man seems a bit odd. “Do you want to become well?” Even to a casual observer the answer seems obvious. Or is it?  Sometimes after being so long in a certain condition we can become resigned, lose our hope, even become comfortable in our misery and let it define us. Some people even use their misfortunes to manipulate and control others. There are numerous stories of parents/husbands/wives/friends/neighbors who have used an illness or misfortune to control those around them through guilt.

So at second glance Jesus’ question doesn’t seem that odd after all. And Jesus asks this same question of us. Do we really want to be free of that illness, that situation, that addiction, that heartache? Or do we want to hold onto it and let it define us? It’s no accident that Bethesda means “house of kindness” in Greek. Jesus is kindness itself and where He is allowed to enter, where He is invited to go, automatically is infused with kindness and mercy. We are much more fortunate than the man who suffered for thirty-eight years. We don’t have to wait for an angel to “trouble the waters” then race to its edge trying to be first. Jesus is our Pool of Bethesda. He is our “living water.”  He is our “House of Kindness.” We need nothing more. And if we are serious and want His intervention in our lives He will not disappoint. And His grace will carry us through as He works things out in His way and according to His timing.

Until next week,

Sylvia

Category
Spirituality