The Birth of My Son

My baby son, Jonathan James Miller, was born at 1.49 am on 11 January 2012 at the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow, weighing 8 lbs 4 oz.

The name Jonathan is from the Hebrew Yonatan and means "given by Yahweh" or "the gift of Yahweh" or as we might put it "God's gift".

It reflects our faith that our son was given to us by God as a precious gift.

His middle name James is after my late and much-missed father and by extension, after me.

Jonathan already has a special place in my heart and I am looking forward so much to sharing the rest of my life with him and his mother who was truly "super-mum" personified throughout the pregnancy, labour, birth and beyond.

Christ as the Faithful Israelite

One of the key underlying concepts in the New Testament is that Jesus Christ is the one faithful Israelite through whom God works to bless the world. That is part of what his mission was to be as the Messiah.

Too often in evangelical theology we have been guilty of downplaying or ignoring the fact that Christ was first and foremost the long-promised and prophesied King of the Jews. And it is precisely because he is the Jewish Messiah that he could be the Saviour of the world and the King of kings.

Instead, we often seem to talk as if God could have chosen to use more-or-less anyone as his appointed Saviour as long as he made sure they were sinless (by virtue of the virgin birth), in order that they could end up an innocent sacrificial victim dying as our substitute to take our sins away and give us his righteousness in return.

Now, of course, nothing in this presentation is wrong. It is true that Christ could only be the Saviour because he was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary and was born sinless. It is true he was an innocent sacrificial victim and that he died as our substitute on the cross to take our sins away and rose again that we might be justified in his righteousness. Yet if the story of Israel is missed out and if we ignore the fact that Jesus came as the Jewish Messiah, then we will miss out a whole lot of biblical nuances from the overall picture presented.

God's plan was always to bless and save the world through the Messiah, through the promised Redeemer. As far back as Genesis 3:15 this is promised. "I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel." (HCSB).

But it is also clear that the Redeemer would be born not just as a human child, but as one of Abraham's descendants: "I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." (Genesis 12:3, NIV). "And through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed." (Genesis 22:18, NIV).

God's purpose was therefore always to choose Israel as a means of bring salvation to the whole world. Yet, there was a problem. Israel as a nation was far from perfect. Israel was chosen to be "light bearers" for the world: "I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." (Isaiah 49:6, ESV). Yet the people time and again chose darkness rather than light. They always revealed themselves to be "in Adam" - just as sinful at heart as all the rest of humanity.

This is why though Israel was called to be faithful to God, it was going to take an extra special Israelite who would actually be able to fulfil the divine covenant promises and fulfil the divinely appointed mission for Israel. It was going to take the Messiah to do for Israel and for the world what Israel could never do for herself.

Christ's coming as Saviour and Lord was not God's Plan B. He only ever had a Plan A: to save the world through Israel.

How he did it is extraordinary in its sheer scale and wisdom and utterly surprising grace. All the gospels make it clear, but especially Matthew's Gospel, that Christ came to re-enact the failed history of Israel in his own life and person, except that where Israel failed over and over again, the Messiah, Jesus would not fail but would fulfil his divinely appointed destiny - all the way to death, his death on the cross, and right through to his rising from the dead on the third day.

Matthew's Gospel is basically structured to show the parallels between Christ's life and Israel's history. Like Israel, Jesus is called out of Egypt (only Matthew focuses on the Egyptian period of exile when being hunted by Herod). He then goes into the wilderness for 40 days (compared to the nation's 40 years in the wilderness). Like Moses with the Ten Commandments, Christ goes up a mountain to teach the people the truth about God's law in the Sermon on the Mount. And so on. Parallel after parallel until we reach that last passover in which Christ offers himself as the unblemished lamb that takes away sin and breaks the power of death.

Through his life, death and resurrection, the Messiah redefines who the people of God are around himself, so that he becomes their representative and what is true of him, then becomes true of them too. This re-booting of Israel as God's people (if we can use that modern phrase) includes such clues as choosing twelve apostles (the number twelve tying in with the twelve tribes of Israel), talking about Christ's people being the true temple of God - and by implication not the Temple in Jerusalem, and so on.

As people respond to the gospel message in faith they enter into union with Christ, become part of the people of God, and receive all the blessings of salvation that belong to God's people in Christ (Ephesians 1).

N. T. Wright sums it up like this (discussing Romans 3:21-31): "And, beginning in 3.21, he provides a fresh answer to the question, an answer not available to writers like 4 Ezra: God has unveiled his dikaiosyne in the faithful Messiah, Jesus, the one in whom at last we find an Israelite faithful to God’s purpose, the one through whose death sin has been dealt with, the one through whom God has now called into being a renewed people among whom Jews and Gentiles are welcome on equal terms."

So much of the richness of biblical teaching is lost if we neglect or silence the link between Israel, Christ and the saving purposes of God. Nothing is lost, and much is gained when we include the fact that Jesus wasn't just acting as a sinless man in his mission, but as the faithful Israelite whose life was fully and comprehensively in line with God's will for the glory of God and the rescuing and renewing of the entire cosmos.

Epiphany

Today is widely celebrated in Christianity as "Epiphany" (from the Greek meaning "manifestation" or "sudden appearance") where we reflect on the fact that Jesus came not just for the Jews but for the whole Gentile world also. This was first shown not long after his birth when he was visited by the Magi or wise men in Bethlehem (Matthew 2).

We tend to think of the visit of the wise men as part of the nativity story. But the fact that Jesus was born in a place where animals were kept, but the family were in a house by the time the wise men arrived, strongly suggests that some time had passed between the two events. So perhaps the couple of weeks between Christmas and Epiphany is not so daft.

In the ancient world the division between the science of astronomy and the magical belief of astrology was blurred. The Magi were probably from modern day Iran or Iraq - we don't know if there were three of them - but they must have journeyed a long way and for many months to arrive in Palestine.

The Magi story is one of my favourite passages of Scripture. It tells us so many important things. Most of all it tells us that God's love and God's salvation is for everyone. It's for Gentiles as well as Jews. It's for people whose lifestyle the Scriptures do not approve of (astrology is condemned in the Old Testament as a pagan practice). It's for educated, sophisticated, intellectual people, not just for simple shepherds - the Magi were part of the intellectual elite of Persian culture. And it's for the wealthy as well as the poor - the Magi could afford to present Christ with lavish gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh - very expensive, luxury items of the ancient world.

Christ is for everyone. That's the central message of Epiphany. Isn't that a good reason to celebrate today?

A Prayer for 2012 (Adapted from Jonathan Edwards’ Resolutions)

A Prayer for 2012 (Adapted from Jonathan Edwards’ Resolutions)

Found this on Trevin Wax's blog and thought it was great and worth sharing.

Happy New Year

A very happy new year to all our readers. I hope 2012 is a peaceful and blessed year for you.

2011 Review of the Year

What a year of ups and downs this has been!

The year couldn't have got off to a worse start when my dad died on 1st January. Because of the need to have a postmortem exam and delays because of the Christmas and New Year backlog, his funeral didn't take place until 17th January. That period of time is a strange mixture of sharp memories of certain things and a total blur of winter days that passed so slowly while we waited for the funeral.

January was followed by a difficult February as the period of mourning continued. All this happened in the middle of our trying to start a family.

Then at the end of March we found out that Laura was pregnant and suddenly the year took on a completely different complexion as we began the nine month journey towards our baby's birth (a journey we are still on as the due date of 8th January approaches).

All this happened against the backdrop of world events in which the so-called Arab Spring swept through a number of Middle East countries as popular uprisings led to changes in governments.

The same could not be said in Scotland as the SNP was returned for the first time as a majority government at the Scottish Parliament elections in May.

In May too, the minister at our church retired and since then we have been "in vacancy". However, the number and range of good preachers that have taken services since May have been great.

In June, we took our summer holiday to our favourite cottage on the Isle of Bute. It was a good holiday although Laura's morning sickness was quite bad at that stage.

The Scottish summer wasn't great this year. I can hardly remember more than a week of hot sunny weather throughout the three months of June, July and August.

From September through to December, our main focus has been on getting ready for the new arrival. It is amazing just how much needs done around the house and how much equipment needs to be sought, reviewed, bought and assembled. But by Christmas we got there. Because there's no way to know when the bambino will decide to come, you have to be on standby all the time. That makes things exciting, but it also makes things tense, especially now we are in the last few weeks.

As far as my faith goes, it has also been an up and down year, but I feel that I have grown this year in understanding of theology and in trusting the Lord. I feel very content as we head into 2012.

Reading the Bible for Life

Are you looking for a Bible reading plan for 2012? I came across the "Reading the Bible for Life" plan today: http://www.bhpublishinggroup.com/readthebible/

What I thought was interesting was that it seeks to put the readings in roughly chronological order. If you are like me, you will always have found it tricky to work out where the prophets fit in with the Old Testament historical books, and also why the New Testament letters do not come in the order they were written.

This plan will help you get an overview of the Bible's story line by ordering the readings into a timeline and you can use it with whatever Bible translation you normally use.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone. We pray that you will know and experience the blessing of God this Christmas day and always.

I've been struck this year by this verse in Luke's Gospel that I've heard now at 2 or 3 services and bible studies during the last few weeks: "Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord."

Three titles in a single verse, each with something important to teach us about the baby born in Bethlehem whose birth we celebrate today.

Saviour - The name Jesus means "The Lord saves". And Jesus is the Saviour of the world, the one appointed by God to rescue humanity from its wickedness and stupidity. It is only by trusting in him that we can escape the punishment that we all deserve for rejecting God and failing to love either him or our neighbour as we should. The baby born in Bethlehem is therefore of supreme important to the lives of each one of us.

Messiah - The word "Messiah" in Hebrew means "the anointed one". In Greek, the same name is "Christ". This is the title of God's chosen and anointed King, foretold in the Old Testament. He would be a descendant of King David, born in Bethlehem, who would grow up to rule God's people and all the nations of the world. This is a reminder that Christianity is grounded in Jewish history and Old Testament prophecy.

Lord - The "Lord" is also the title accorded a king, but "Lord" (Adonai in Hebrew or Kurios in Greek) is also the way the personal, covenant name of God was normally referred to in Scripture. It is very likely Luke is here telling us that Jesus the Messiah is none other than Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob come to earth as a human being. As another title of Jesus says - he is Immanuel, which means "God is with us".

Putting these three things together, the birth of Jesus is about the promised King of the Jews coming to earth and revealing himself to be God incarnate, God become human flesh and blood, with the purpose of delivering and rescuing sinners, bringing them into God's kingdom, and preparing them to live for all eternity in a relationship of love with God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

No wonder we celebrate his birth with this great Christian festival year after year. No wonder we also sing with the angels:

Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those who have his goodwill (Luke 2:14).

Providence and Prayer

Providence and Prayer: How Does God Work in the World?
Terrance Tiessen
Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois 2000

This book on providence and prayer is great. It is one of the best Christian books I have read this year. In it, Tiessen explores various models of God's providence and how the various views have an impact on how we might view intercessory prayer.

Tiessen presents a total of eleven different models of providence. The first ten models he presents with meticulous fairness, presenting each model in as positive a light as possible (as if being presented by a proponent of the view) without negative criticism. The models presented range in a spectrum from "semi-deism" at the one extreme through to "fatalism" on the other extreme. The viewpoints explored include:

• The Semi-Deist Model
• The Process Model
• The Openness Model
• The Church Dominion Model
• The Redemptive Intervention Model
• The Molinist Model
• The Thomist Model
• The Barthian Model
• The Calvinist Model
• The Fatalist Model

One of the most interesting aspects of the book is that Tiessen presents a fictional scenario to begin with in which a man's son who is a missionary has been kidnapped with two others and is being held for ransom in a foreign country. The father then goes to his church prayer meeting and people pray for the men who have been kidnapped. Each chapter ends with how a person holding to each of the models of providence might pray in the circumstances in line with what each model teaches.

Towards the end of the book, Tiessen changes approach from a neutral presentation of facts to a more polemical approach favouring an eleventh model of providence which is his own preferred choice. Tiessen calls this view "Middle Knowledge Calvinism" (hereafter "MKC"). MKC is an attractive model somewhere between Molinism and Calvinism.

MKC differs sharply from Molinism because it rejects libertarian free will and accepts compatibilist free will - that we have a free will to make choices voluntarily, but not independently of our own desires, characteristics, circumstances, etc. Because God can influence these things, he is able to achieve his plans and purposes through the free choices of human beings without using anything like force or coercion. In effect, God has an infallible ability to influence us to do what he wants through doing what we want.

MKC is basically a form of infralapsarian Calvinism. The only difference being that in Tiessen's MKC, God does not need to positively foreordain everything in order to foreknow it will happen. Because he has middle knowledge of everything a free creature would do in any set of circumstances in any one of an infinite number of possible worlds, God merely has to choose to realise or "actualise" the particular world in which what human beings do what he wants to fulfil his purposes. God's will is then perfectly carried out while human beings act perfectly freely in the world God chose to actualise. The difference in Tiessen's view from standard Calvinist models is that MKC gives a much greater place to God's permission of events to achieve his purposes. If God knows what creatures would do in particular circumstances, all God has to do is create this particular world in which those circumstances arise to render certain future events without having to directly control them or even cause them. Due to middle knowledge, much of what happens in history only has to be left to happen because it is foreknown, though God is still free to intervene or display his power in direct action whenever he wishes to do so.

It seems to me that MKC is an excellent model of God's providence that preserves the biblical teachings on God's sovereignty and on human responsibility and freedom. Tiessen's view combines the sound aspects of several different models of providence. Although basically Calvinist, it also incorporates the key idea of middle knowledge from Molinism, and the concept from Open Theism that God's emotional responses to events are real and not merely anthropomorphisms.

Tiessen's book concludes with a chapter on how MKC offers a useful background to a sound doctrine of prayer.

Though not an easy read in that it deals with some of the most complex issues in theology, Providence and Prayer is not a technically difficult book. The chapters are all well-written and clearly explain the ideas involved in each model presented. It deserves to be better known that it is. It is a classic treatment of the doctrines of providence and prayer.

Understanding Advent

I don't think I've ever understood the waiting for the birth of a baby through the advent season as well as I do this year. As we wait for the birth of our son due on 8 January, I really felt a fresh insight into what Mary and Joseph experienced in those months, weeks and days before Jesus was born.

Of course there is a lot of emotion and sentiment in this as we have a unique "study guide" to advent in our lives this year, but this is something that will stay with me forever.

When you see a pregnancy close up, I can't help but think it gives some kind of extra insight into the mystery of the incarnation itself. The creator of the world really did come to us through the wonder of a pregnancy, the trauma of a birth, and the helplessness of a new born baby.