i promise i'm not an angry little elf. but for this advent installment i do want to speak with a level of soberness that may be better reserved for a lenten season, but forward i go nonetheless.
one of my more quasi-embarrassing moments in israel this past summer came as i was standing under the shadow of the southwestern point of the temple mount. there we were walking through some classic archaeological sites when i blurted out, "i can't believe we're walking where benjamin mazar did his work" (google him if necessary). coincidentally, it is also the area where Jesus walked and did His work, but my thoughts were apparently somewhere else. the israel trip was a three-week intensive course that was not intended to leverage our emotions; thus, i think my mazar statement made my prof. proud, but it left me realizing two things: 1) apparently i really have ascended into the realm of being a real life ph.d. student and 2) at some point during the trip, i needed to shift my thoughts in other directions, at least once.
on another day, we were standing on the mount of olives (i took the pic above). Carl Rasmussen, our teacher, had just painted a brief but heavy picture of God's saving work throughout the history of His people. they were words that i had heard before...they were words that i had uttered before. but that morning, as we stood looking over the city, his words - their truth - were loaded with all the spiritual freight in the world for me. it wasn't emotional, i was just locked in and getting it.
after he shared, we scattered. we took our pictures. because it was still early in our three weeks, we marveled. there's much to process standing in these places. a few of us talked. i don't remember how we got to the particular place in the conversation, but the phrase from Hebrews 9:14 - how much more... - just kept rattling around in my mind as i looked over the city.
as we looked over the valley, the temple that had served as the place of God's presence among His people was gone, but ironically the story was coming alive. this was the place where God's people came to sacrifice, to worship, and to receive forgiveness.
i should add here because it will be important throughout, when we talk of salvation/forgiveness/etc. in the old testament we are not talking about some sort of defunct form of divine salvation/forgiveness/etc. it almost sounds stupid to say, but God's forgiveness in the old testament was forgiveness. and, without denying that people from time to time skewed the graciousness of divine action, when people came seeking forgiveness and salvation in the ways that God had established for them to do so i think they received it.
now, before we get too far down the road, i want to affirm what the book of Hebrews has to say about Christ's coming as it relates to all that i just said above. the significance of Christ's coming and His ministry mean that for the people of God something much more is now available in Christ that was not previously so before His advent.
but what is this "much more" of which we speak? what does it look like in the life of a believer? and if you feel that i have created some sort of a "much more" abstraction that is too broad or broader that the passage is really getting at, fine. but what then is the "much more" that provides a clean conscience through the blood of Christ, by the work of the Holy Spirit? whatever it is it's not just some kind of mental thing. read hebrews 10. then ask yourself why is it that this cleansing is also inherently linked to service? and one more - why is it that when you delve ever so slightly into the original, you find an implied ability to distinguish right and wrong in this term? is this "how much more" simply the a clean conscience and the mental capacity to tell (others!) right from wrong?
honestly, i have an agenda in this post. i don't know if i will be able to put my finger on it clearly enough, but my basic concern is a church (Christ's church, the church with which i am honored to be part) that is missing the "more" and thereby excusing or even inviting "less"...maybe even less than was available through the grace of God in the old testament. maybe the last question above encapsulates my fears best - Christ's church seems plagued with the desire to have clean consciences, but wants little, if anything, to do with categories that imagine anything beyond.
i think some of my issue goes back to what i started discussing above: a misconception of grace, faith, and forgiveness before Christ's coming. i fully understand what is meant when we hear the following: "everything in the Old Testament points to Christ." but i wonder if, in our constant regurgitation of such theological and easy axioms, we miss the reality behind statements like those found in john 1 or colossians 1:15-17. if Christ truly was already at work and/or participating in creation and redemption prior to bethlehem, i guess i want to decipher what people mean when they say "everything points to Christ." because i agree with the general statement...but these words were to Him as the fulfillment, not merely as substitute.
was God's work before Christ's birth somehow deficient? again, certainly not as full as when the fullness of time emerges. what is often implied (both intentionally and accidentally) is that before Christ, God's grace was somehow substandard. but think on that a bit: what exactly does the substandard grace of God look like? partial forgiveness? partial grace? again, we can say it certainly wasn't as clear prior to Christ's arrival...but let's not say it is anything less than what it actually was for the people. was God's forgiveness, which was so richly dispersed throughout the pages of the old testament, only a 49.49% kind of divine forgiveness?
are you tracking with me? let's use a specific. what was it that David was pleading for in psalm 51? were his prayers for forgiveness answered? certainly David's prayer serves as a kind of model for us now...everybody gets that. but did he or did he not receive forgiveness from God? and, if his prayers were answered (which the Bible seems to suggest they were), would we really want to say it was only some marginal form of God's grace and forgiveness at work?
at this point, some of you may be wondering why this is important. can't the old testament guy stop belaboring the point. i'm belaboring simply because i believe that if we miss the reality of God's saving work in the old testament - which included His forgiveness, His presence, His protection, His righteousness, and His holiness - we'll have no way of celebrating the full ramifications of Christ's coming and the "how much more" embedded in His life and ministry.
i think this is observed in the fact that the same people who prone to argue that everything in the old testament points to Christ with relentless rigidity (i.e. having no biblical insight that God's work among His people might have been effective before that holy night), are the same ones who are going to reduce Christ's life, death, and resurrection to a second act of hope deferred. why is it that the same folks who assert that everything in the old testament pointed to Christ are also the ones that have a penchant to defer the possibility of radical obedience to Christ's radical call on us to His second coming or our death? something just doesn't make sense. the long awaited Messiah, who the Scriptures pointed to, who the people longed for, arrives...but...but...for real victory, those who become His disciples must now await His second coming or, even more oddly, death, our final enemy? this is the victory of Christ's coming? His life, His cross, and His resurrection...boils down to hope deferred, again? surely not. and yes, there is a hope deferred in the not yet of His return, but if you're focusing on that and missing my point thus far, stop reading because it's only going to get worse.
here's a recent advent link as an example of what i'm talking about. particularly take notice of the part dealing with the lyrics of 'joy to the world.' first, i in no way want to minimize the reality and depth of the pain that this lady is speaking to. but i couldn't disagree more with where she goes with it.
of course the "effects of sin have infiltrated every part of creation." of course "when Jesus came the first time, earth did not receive her king but instead hung him on a cross." and yes, "even after his death and resurrection, sin and sorrow still grow, and the thorny effects of the curse remain." but what about those in whom Christ has wrought His new creation? what about me? what about you? what exactly is this "new" faux-creation? merely forgiveness? yea...definitely that. but it seems David (and many others in the Old Testament) got that too.
then, take note of how the article wiggles psalm 98 free from reality. can it be used to talk about Christ's first coming? definitely. mr. watts has done a rather nice job with this one. can it be used to speak of His second coming? i would say so. but do not miss that this was an expression of faith for those living centuries before Christ about who this God was and would be for them in their historical circumstances. they knew their God to be faithful...who would judge the world with righteousness (and had in fact brought about this judgment on their behalf on various occasions). what i am simply trying to say is that the israelites experienced God's faithfulness, righteousness, and salvation - they declared it over and over again. did they know it as deeply as what is now available through the life and work of Christ? as a Christian and as one who believes the paramount significance in the coming of the Messiah, i would say, no...but that doesn't make their awareness insignificant. in fact, it makes their confessional posture all the more demanding on those who place their hope in Christ. are we experiencing the "how much more"?
this is my point.
make no mistake in what i am saying. as Christians, there are places of weakness, infirmities, and idiosyncrasies which we may never get over; areas where the weight of depravity cannot be altered in the world that surrounds us; "genetic codes" that will remain out of order and unchanged; the possibility for environmental disaster; among other manifold places where we have little control over others. but the moment these true statements alleviate us from thinking the grander thoughts, namely, that when Christ showed up on the scene He offered so much more than what the world formerly knew as it pertained to the love of God, the grace of God, the faithfulness of God, and the righteousness of God (and on we could go), we have done a disservice to the work of God in this world and to Christ's message of salvation fulfilled.
it seems a majority of Christians have determined - without Scriptural warrant - that the fundamental and primary work of Christ's redemption is forgiveness. but, as i've been trying to get at above, beyond being free from the rigmarole and the perceived weight of God's law, i just can't see how the "how much more" in Christ is all that much more when this is the case. sure, as Hebrews says, He was the perfect sacrifice and no more will the sacrificial system of the old testament be necessary - he was offered once for all. and while we enjoy imagining our lives are fully influenced by the glory of Christ, in reality, i'm afraid, we've exchanged His glorious work of full redemption for our lack of obedience in word, thought, and deed on a daily basis.
the sick thing in all of this is that we've come to a place where i'll be the one accused of harming the faith because i am unwilling to allow that forgiveness is the only thing that springs from the work of God in and through Christ. or i'll be accused of somehow undercutting the new testament because i've affirmed the actuality that God's forgiveness and saving work in the old testament is necessary to understand if we are to understand Christ's ministry and His invitation into the "how much more."
forgiveness is initial and, undeniably, a constant in the Christian life. but is there nothing more? i guess something that i've been taking for granted here is that God's work in the old testament offered so much more than what most of us realize. the whole problem with the golden calf in exodus 32 was that it thwarted and/or jeopardized the possibility of God's abiding presence that would become clear in exodus 40. the whole sacrificial system was God's way (His established means of grace...again actual grace) of offering His people the possibility for fellowship. that's significant.
but when our only, or even riskier, our primary focus of Jesus' coming and work is forgiveness, then we Christians have neglected a vital component of the "how much more."
as i stood there on the mount of olives, overlooking that sacred place where so many had found God faithful in the past - prior to Christ's coming - i was reminded again just how deep His love delved and was clarified in advent. yet far too often we act like the only benefit is that we don't have to hassle with the burdens of the old testament. but then we bump into the burdens of faithfulness as described in the new testament and push off the full ramifications of Christ's work until His second coming or heaven because it's just easier that way.
if that's where we are overtly (as a theological rubric) or subtlety (just because it's the path of least spiritual resistance), i don't think it's a stretch to claim with the writer of Hebrews that the only infancy we are adoring this advent would be our own.
be not a baby in a spiritual manger. but grow up in Christ and seek the full measure of grace available. i think we will discover that it certainly "flows as far as the curse is found." undoubtedly, we will bump up against those places where sin and depravity seem unmovable, but even at these places, cultivate the ground for God's grace and we may be as surprised as they were on that first night of the Messiah's arrival.
-scott|e.
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