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Jesus of Nazareth vs. Caesar Augustus

Perspectives on Power

Consider Jesus of Nazareth alongside Caesar Augustus.

At the time of Christ’s birth, Caesar had issued a call to the Roman world that everyone be counted and properly taxed. As he enjoyed luxurious accommodations in his Roman palace, he hoped to demonstrate his own greatness before a watching world by publicizing the great number of people under his domain. And yet in an unnoticed corner of Caesar’s kingdom, in a simple stable, sleeping in a feeding trough, the Son of God had come to show the glory of his Father.

The nature of infancy teaches us something about weakness, and it teaches us something about our God. Every Christmas we celebrate not Caesar’s triumphant census, but our Emmanuel: God with us.

The Apostle Paul tells us that Jesus made himself a servant. The infinite God enclosed himself in a woman’s womb for nine months. God the Son was wrapped in swaddling clothes and placed in a manger for a bed. God made himself vulnerable.

Picture Jesus, the firstborn above all creation, the one through whom God spoke the creation of the universe, sitting on his mother Mary’s lap, learning to read and write! Such mysteries can never be fully explained. But it is the story of God coming to earth – God’s being with us – that lies at the heart of the Christian worldview.

Imagine Caesar in his palace and Jesus in the manger. Which one looks more like a king?

What would you do if you were in Bethlehem at the time and you had to choose to pledge your allegiance to either a baby boy who excited a few rugged shepherds, or the ruler of the known world with an army of thousands at his command?

Who was more powerful? Caesar or Jesus? Things are not always as they appear.

Christians must have a radically different conception of power. After all, when Jesus was crucified, it appeared that he was dying as a weak man at the hands of the strong. Pilate appeared to have the authority and power. “We have no king but Caesar!” the people shouted.

Caesar ruled by conquering lands and subjugating people. Jesus conquered sin, death, and the grave by suffering and dying – by bearing the full weight of God’s wrath towards the evil of the world and then rising again to new life.

From Holy Subversion by Trevin Wax. Check out Trevin’s blog at trevinwax.com.

December 22, 2010 | Posted in: Author,Christmas,Life of Christ | Author: Angie Cheatham @ 6:00 am | 0 Comments »

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“God Becomes Man”…What?

Guest Post by Elyse Fitzpatrick

Okay, hold on just one moment. I know we’re all busy and that this time of year creates all sorts of added responsibilities and distractions, but what is that title again? “God Becomes Man”?…Um…What? Really?

Christmas is the one time of year when the entire world is forced to recognize that something astounding and significant has happened. Yes, I know that the majority of Christmas fuss isn’t about what we call the incarnation, but the truth is that the incarnation itself is so universe-altering that even the most crass commercialism is forced to surrender its cynicism. Words like “hope”, “peace” and “love” appear on shopping bags. Songs extolling the obscure birth of a seemingly illegitimate baby are hummed by shoppers everywhere. All of a sudden even the most hardened Scrooges among us remember friends and family and long to return to a time when what really matters matters: home and faith and selflessness. Something astonishing has happened: God has become man.

Now, if non-Christians respond to the incarnation like this, one might assume that Christians who understand the reality beneath the holiday shadow would be transformed by the truth of the incarnation every day…but are we? Are we shocked when we see the baby in the manger? Do we shake our heads in wonder? Or, have we left the incarnation, what He’s done, behind and focused in on what we’re supposed to do? If that’s the case with you, here are a few thoughts to help you remember what the incarnation means about you, about Him:

  • The incarnation shows us how weak we are: After all, how much power and influence does an infant have? And yet, He’s the Savior we needed.
  • The name of that incarnate baby, “Jesus” shows us our true need: We need a Savior from our sin, not moral reform. We need a Rescuer, not a self-help guru (Matthew 1:21).
  • The incarnation shows us that in every way He’s just like us. He suffered as an infant. He’s been tempted in every way just as we have, yet without sin. He knows what it is to be cold, to be dependent, to die…yes, even to live again.
  • The incarnation tells us that Christmas isn’t ever over. When we’ve packed up all the decorations and taken back all the mistaken gifts, he’ll still be the God/Man, interceding for us, bearing our flesh. Christmas will never end for Jesus: He’s eternally transformed.
  • The incarnation means that the only person who is qualified by His nature and life to pay for our sins has done so. The incarnation was always meant to lead him, to lead us, to the cross.
  • The incarnation means that we have fulfilled all the Law. Because we are united with him and he with us, we have loved God and our neighbor perfectly, because he has. We’re righteous because the God-Man has already done everything that needed to be done. We’re justified.
  • The incarnation means that when we enter heaven we’ll be greeted by Someone who is just like us, but with nail-scarred hands and feet. He’ll be the only one there with scars.

The Christmas story is ultimately a story about what Jesus has already done for us. It’s His story about His work accomplished because of His love for His bride. Let’s ask God to help us celebrate Christmas, the incarnation, all year, shall we? He’s done it all. We’re loved. What an astounding gift!

Guest Post by Elyse Fitzpatrick, author of Because He Loves Me, Comforts from the Cross, Counsel from the Cross, and the forthcoming Give them Grace. Elyse blogs at elysefitzpatrick.com.

December 20, 2010 | Posted in: Author,Christmas | Author: Angie Cheatham @ 6:00 am | (3) Comments »

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When the Gospel Transforms Your Christmas Expectations

Guest post by Stephen Altrogge

I have certain expectations when it comes to Christmas.  I expect to drink egg nog, even though I don’t really like it.  I expect to listen to hours upon hours of Christmas carols.  I expect to watch the movie Elf.  I expect to drive around with my family and look at Christmas lights.  And I expect to get some gifts.  Twenty-eight years of Christmas experience has taught me what to expect.

But how would I feel if some of my expectations weren’t met?  What if I didn’t get to do the things that I so look forward to?  No Elf. No Christmas lights.  No nog.  No gifts.  Could I be happy?  Could I be content?  Could I rejoice in what I have instead of what I don’t have?

If I’m going to be content during Christmas, I need to make a concerted effort to remember what I have received, particularly what I’ve received in the gospel.  So what have I received?

Forgiveness – Through the gospel I have received forgiveness from God.  How quickly I take this for granted!  I deserve fury, but instead I have forgiveness.  I deserve wrath, but instead I’ve received mercy.  God has really pardoned all my sins.  They can’t come back to haunt me like ghosts from the past.  During the Christmas season I want to revel in my forgiveness.

Fellowship With God – Through the gospel I have fellowship with God.  Through the gospel God calls me his friend.  His son.  His heir.  His beloved. I can actually speak to God and he hears me.  He gives his presence to me, and his joy to me.  What is such a gift worth?  What would I pay for such a gift?  It’s priceless.  Precious.  Invaluable.  And because of Jesus I have it.

Freedom – Billions of people will wake up on Christmas morning as slaves of sin.  Unable to break free from the desires and passions that are ruining their lives.  Unable to change, but miserable because they can’t change.  Unable to love things that are truly lovely.  In Christ I am free.  Sin doesn’t rule me, Christ does.  He has set me free to pursue a life that truly matters.  Apart from Christ my life would be dark and aimless.  Christmas is a celebration of freedom.

This Christmas I can be content in Christ.  The gospel is enough to make me content.  Forgiveness is enough to make me content.  Fellowship with God is enough to make me content.  Freedom is enough to make me content.  What else do I need to be happy?  In Christ I have it all, and then some.

Guest post by Stephen Altrogge, author of Game Day for the Glory of God and the forthcoming The Greener Grass Conspiracy. Stephen blogs at The Blazing Center.

December 15, 2010 | Posted in: Author,Christmas | Author: Angie Cheatham @ 11:40 am | 0 Comments »

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Navigating the Narratives

Shaped by the Bible’s Story or the Culture’s Story?
Guest Post from Jim Hamilton, Part 2

How does “God’s glory in salvation through judgment” relate to the moral, ethical, social, economic, and political issues in our culture?

Everyone approaches these issues from the perspective of a wider narrative. Homosexual marriage and abortion are questions that people look at from the perspective of the story of the whole world. The big story of the world told by the Bible has been challenged by academics who argue that the Bible doesn’t tell a coherent story, and that has weakened the confidence of some evangelical scholars and teachers. Others are distracted from it, or they really don’t think it can be established, or they haven’t thought about it because they’re more comfortable analyzing pieces of the puzzle than trying to put the puzzle together, or for whatever reason they don’t bring its relevance to bear on their thinking about these issues. As a result, many people, including Christians, have begun to operate as though the story told by the modern myth and fable makers is true.

These modern myth and fable makers are the witch doctors, medicine men, and shamans of contemporary culture. Today’s myth makers tell people that in a past so remote we can’t understand it (billions of years ago), there was a big bang, a huge explosion, and though it took more years than any of us can understand (and it seems the more they think about it the longer it took) everything ultimately resulted from a sudden unexplained release of energy. What caused that no one knows. That’s what they tell us. Everything came from nothing. And they can prove it. They have these machines that tell how long a rock has been decaying, and they have these complicated mathematical equations. Smoke and mirrors haven’t gone out of style.

Even though there have been some major scandals showing that some of these shamans have perpetrated some significant frauds, as long as we call them scientists, their integrity is not the issue and believing what they say is never regarded as taking anything on faith. Since the myth-makers say it, even if many of them disagree with each other, those who believe the myths have every right to insist that their beliefs are based on solid fact rather than faith.

According to their story of the world, there’s no God, no meaning, no absolute truth, no ultimate purpose, humans are no more valuable than animals, there is no such thing as ultimate morality, and everything is evolving on to something better, however better may be defined. If you ask them how they identify what is good, they tend to change the subject.

Make no mistake about it, this modern mythology has its morality: Inconvenient children can be killed if they are still in the womb. No sexual perversion is off limits. People of the same sex can marry each other. Those who object to the fundamental tenets of the myth and its morality are ignorant, immoral, and can be treated with righteous contempt for the public good. Those who reject the myth and its morals are bad people who can be ignored, dismissed, insulted, and mocked. The shamans, witch doctors, and medicine men are not to be challenged.

But what if the Bible tells the true story of the world? What if the biblical authors aren’t some less evolved collection of incoherent wild men who can’t agree with each other? What if the biblical authors really were every bit as human as we are? What if they can be shown to be in agreement with each other? What if they believed that God made all that is, and that he did so with a purpose? What if they tell us what that purpose is? What if they say that God is revealing all the glory of his infinite goodness by exalting the exact rectitude of his justice so that those who receive his mercy will be so transformed by it that they will sing about it forever? What if they all agree that God thus glorifies himself by saving people through judgment, and what if that is the center of biblical theology? Would that mean that the Bible speaks to pressing moral, ethical, social, and economic questions? I think so . . .

Jim Hamilton is author of the new release, God’s Glory in Salvation Through Judgment.

December 13, 2010 | Posted in: Author,Christmas,History and Biography,Social Issues | Author: Angie Cheatham @ 6:00 am | 0 Comments »

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What is God’s Ultimate Purpose?

Guest post from Jim Hamilton, Part 1

Do you want to ponder a question that has roots that stretch so far back into eternity past that we will never come to the end of them? How about this: What is God’s ultimate purpose?

I would argue that God’s ultimate purpose is to display his glory and that his glory is seen most clearly when people understand and feel the way that God’s justice highlights mercy (cf. Rom 9:22-23).

We have to feel the weight of God’s almighty, everlasting, righteous wrath crushing us so that we will perceive the liberating relief of God’s mercy. When people understand the gospel, they perceive the glory of God’s justice and his mercy in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I contend that every single biblical author had God’s glory in salvation through judgment at the heart of his theology. If I am right about this, then the biblical authors have communicated what God’s ultimate purpose is, and the biblical authors are in agreement with each other.

Jim Hamilton is the author of the new release, God’s Glory in Salvation Through Judgment.

December 11, 2010 | Posted in: Author | Author: Angie Cheatham @ 8:23 am | 0 Comments »

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