Studying the Bible should be like a good meal – savoured and enjoyed!
Can you imagine how boring life would be if we only ate to stay alive, just gulping down our food because it was necessary to nourish our physical bodies? How crazy would it be if we never slowed down enough to actually relish and enjoy the tastes and textures and inhale the delicious aromas of each mouthful of food we ate?
Ive spoken previously of the precious gems of knowledge and wisdom scattered throughout all of scripture. Ultimately, they reveal to us more of the nature and love of God. To find these gems we need to learn to slow down and savour Scripture as we do a good meal, internalising the words, mulling them over and allowing them to point us to The Word, the One whom it is all about.
A few days ago I was reading Philippians 2:6-8 where Paul talks about God making himself as nothing and taking on the form of a servant and man. It is so easy to just read over this without fully understanding or even thinking about the implications.
Driven by love
Stop a while and ponder. The creator of the entire universe, the One who spoke the sun, moon, stars and galaxies into existence, unrobed himself of his power and glory that we as physical humans can never fully comprehend, and clothed himself with flesh. Not as a mature man, but as a helpless infant, totally dependent on his parents. And he did this driven by his love for you and me.
Christ our Lord, the greatest ever Missionary, discarded the glories of heaven and came down to earth to reveal to us the Good News, the plan of salvation and redemption through this ultimate act of selfless love. So the Son, beloved of the Father, in total humility, counted the glories of heaven as nothing, and humbled himself to be born as a babe in the little town of Bethlehem. One would think that God would surely have chosen a palace, and the centre of the civilised world to be born in, right? Bethlehem must have been the centre of the civilised world back then, surely?
Nope.
Not only was Bethlehem not the centre of the civilised world, it in fact probably held about as much importance as Bethlehem in the Free State! (sorry Bethlehemites).
A prophetic reference in Micah 5:2 proclaims; But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel.
And not only was the God-child born in a totally obscure village, he was born in a barn, that many scholars think could have been a small cave at the back of a dwelling, among the odour and noise that accompanies farmyard beasts. Not much of a grand entrance for God as he made his appearance on the world stage – the trumpet blast heralding a king replaced by the bleating of sheep and braying of donkeys.
And this humble King grew up in obscurity, never taking glory on himself, but always reflecting it back to the Father. Until at last in the 12th Chapter of the Gospel of John, he proclaims that the time has arrived for him to be glorified… and he is found riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. Jesus is at last recognised for whom he really is, the King of kings; palm leaves are laid in the road and prophecy is fulfilled. Hosannas are sung and he chooses, not a white stallion with flowing mane and tail, prancing through the streets; not even does he choose a full grown donkey! He rides in, feet probably dragging in the dirt, on a young donkey colt!
And then the ultimate humility; Philippians 2:8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death– even death on a cross!
He defeated sin, not the Roman Empire
Jesus was unlike what any Israelite thought their Messiah would be. He came not to overthrow the Roman Empire, as most hoped he would. Nor did he come to proclaim an earthly kingdom and exalt his people. He came born as a babe in a manger in some obscure town. He walked among the sick and the sinners and avoided the spotlight of centre stage through both word and action. He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey colt. Even though Heaven had been his throne and the Earth his footstool, he did not exalt himself in any way, because his only motivation was his love for you and me.
And yes, he did establish his Kingdom, the one that he had longed for since the beginning of creation. He defeated not the Romans, nor any other worldly empire, but sin that had held humankind captive for so long. And he rules over the hearts of believers. God did all this and at the same time taught us all a very important lesson in humility and love, revealing his very nature to us. After Christ humbled himself, the Father exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name (Philippians 2:9)
And now, as his willing subjects we look forward to his second coming, not obscurely in some remote village, but in glory and might and power, with all the world to see, this time riding a white horse and taking his rightful rule, not only over our hearts, but over all of creation!