The Lord be with you! (A call to prayer)

 

Pray for the grace to repent. 

Pray for those who proclaim the Gospel which alone has power to transform lives.

Pray for a deep desire to draw closer to God.

Pray for those in positions of authority: mayors, governors, congress, senate, supreme court and those seeking the presidency.

Pray for wickedness to be exposed and the plans for evil to come to ruin.

Pray that those who use chaos and division to gain followers will be shown the path of peace.

Pray for divine protection from the enemies of our country.

Related: The Prayers of Peter Marshall
 

Sign and Symbol

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

In the world there are an abundance of symbols. Each symbol represents something and the symbol calls that something to mind. Some symbols represent a product, a company, or a service agency. A symbol can be a warning or a solicitation. When a symbol or logo is seen often enough, one recognizes what it stands for. In other words, to understand what the symbol represents you need some prior experience or knowledge.

The world is also full of signs. Unlike a symbol, a sign points to something beyond itself that invites a closer look or thoughtful consideration. The cross is a symbol of Christianity as the Star of David is a symbol of Judaism. However, such symbols are also signs that point to the Infinite, the Ultimate, and the Highest authority. These are deeper, abstract matters that some dismiss from their minds. 

The Bible speaks of many signs: the Burning Bush, the Star of Bethlehem, the Cross of Calvary. These signs presage an event, which a symbol never does. The Burning Bush sets the stage for Moses' return to Egypt. The Star of Bethlehem sets the stage for the adoration of the Incarnate Son of God. The Cross of Calvary sets the stage for Christ's third day resurrection. The Empty Tomb sets the stage for Christ's entry into glory as our eternal king.

Moses did not know what the future held for him. The Magi and Shepherds did not understand what the Child's birth would mean for them. Jesus' disciples did not grasp the reason for Christ's crucifixion and resurrection. Nevertheless, reflection on the events that followed these signs helps to make sense of them.

In our world, there is too little reflection on sacred signs. We are caught up in political contention, our immediate concerns, and the fascination and obsessive engagement with games and fantasy. When we see someone wearing a cross, we might think "that person identifies as a Christian." But do we pursue the sign further and ask what that means?

The cross was an object of torture and cruel execution, but after the fact, it became a sign of God's infinite love for the world. He gave his only begotten Son so that whoever believes in him has forgiveness of sins and eternal life (Jn. 3:16).

Related reading: For Unto Us a Son is Given; The Irrepressible Truth 

What is Redemption?

 

What is meant by redemption? To be redeemed is to be bought back. Paul reminds the Christians in Corinth, "For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body." (1 Cor. 6:20)

When Jesus died and was buried, his followers were bereft of hope. They felt lost and confused. They did not immediately understand Christ's command as he was approaching his death to “Look up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:28) 

The Lord instructed them to expect their redemption. The same applies to all who put their trust in the Son of God.

We are redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb of God. We are sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and we are called to proclaim redemption to all who sincerely repent and turn in faith to God Father, God Son, and God Holy Spirit.

There is no redemption for the unrepentant. There is no redemption apart from that offered through the death of and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There is no justification without redemption.

Related reading: True Disciples Watch for Christ's Return; Salvation is Not an Event; Our Redemption Draws Near

RIP Edward F. Lundwall Jr.

 

"Discipleship is built on discipline. Period. It’s getting up when it is hard to get up. It’s praying when your brain is heavy with preoccupation. It’s choosing to spend time in Scripture instead of mindlessly watching YouTube videos. It’s choosing to follow when the world, the flesh, and the Devil are all trying to prevent it. Get up. Get your head in the game. You have been given a spirit of power, of love and self-discipline. (2 Tim 1:7)" - The Rev. Chris Findley, Rector St. Patrick's Anglican Church, Murfreesboro, Tennessee

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

Our friend Ed Lundwall has gone to his heavenly reward. A faithful servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, Ed was passionate about training disciples. Hope Rapson and I are thankful for the 11 years we were able to ministry with Ed to the readers of Distinctive Discipleship. God willing, we intend to continue his legacy at this blog for many more years.

The Rev. Edward F. Lundwall, Jr. served as an Army Chaplain. He was a veteran of the Korean Conflict and the Vietnam War. For nine years, Ed and his late wife, Marionette, were Baptist home missionaries. They have three children, five grandchildren, and one great grandchild.

Ed pastored Disciple Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee, a laboratory experiment to study biblical discipleship and how to apply it to the Church.

This blog is the cooperative effort of Ed Lundwall, Hope Ellen Rapson, and Alice C. Linsley. The three met in the summer 2013 in Rossville, Georgia for brunch, and after the meal, Ed invited us to his home where we saw the extent of his writings on discipleship. There was an entire wall with floor-to-ceiling shelves filled with notebooks. As we chatted and perused the volumes, Hope and Alice realized that this dear disciple of Jesus Christ deserved a wider readership. Hope was an English teacher and Alice had experience with blogs. The plan was to make Ed's writings accessible to a wider audience.

This blog isn't sexy. It isn't provocative. There is nothing here to thrill those energized by polemic and politics. The posts are about being a disciple of the Righteous King. They are somewhat old-fashioned, with the flavor of good ol' time religion. The material is practical. It can be used for daily devotions, for Bible study, and to teach Sunday School classes.

The posts do not reflect a specific denomination. Ed was a Baptist, Hope is a non-denominational Evangelical, and Alice is an Anglican traditionalist. It is our intention that every article be biblical, honest, and helpful.

Devotional materials related to discipleship may be found by using the INDEX which lists topics in alphabetical order.

A Future for this Nation

Painting by Liz Lemon Swindle

What follows is a first-person account by a biblical person that draws the reader into the life and times of Jesus and his followers. Such vignettes stimulate the imagination. They encourage contemplation of real events and real persons.



By S. J. Clydeson


The last time I felt this discouraged was when my good friend “John in the wilderness” was beheaded.

Then Jesus came speaking words my ears had never heard before. He spoke of hope and everlasting Life. His parables were remarkable and profound. They changed me from the inside out.

It was very pleasurable to see the effect His words had on the “spiritual leaders” and the SO Sad U sees who rejected belief in bodily resurrection.

The thought troubled me that people could despise one so much. Because of all the good Jesus had done, they put Him to death, but not until they had Him beaten unmercifully, then the crucifixion!

My Savior was tortured, bleeding, and in agony. How could anyone endure this suffering?

My heart is broken! What am I to do? Who will save Israel now?

After the events on Friday there is an emptiness within me, even the report of the tomb being empty does not register.


It happened like this:

My good friend Cleopas and I were heading to Emmaus, when a stranger met us on the road. As we walked, He listened intently to our rantings about what we had witnessed days earlier. The stranger listened. The last thing I remember saying was, "No longer is our conquering redeemer with us. Is there a future for this nation?"

Then the stranger began to speak. He spoke of things that sounded so familiar, as if straight from the Scriptures! We insisted He break bread with us and as He blessed it, we saw His nail-pierced hands and knew immediately that our King Jesus lives!


Father, forgive my unbelief!

* * * * * * *

"Imagine the greatest Teacher explaining the greatest themes from the greatest book and bringing the greatest blessings to men's lives: eyes open to see Him, hearts open to receive the Word, and lips open to tell others what Jesus said to them." ~Wiersbe

His was a crushing, body piercing, hole boring death.

Jesus Carrying his Cross by Daud Akhriev

At Calvary Jesus was treading the winepress alone; and of the people there were none with Him. (Is. 63:3) His disciples had abandoned him.

The treading of the winepress speaks of divine judgment (Is. 63:2; Lam. 1:15; Rev. 14:19; Rev.14:20).

The Virgin Mary stood weeping before her beaten and wounded son who she knew to be God's son. A sword pierced her mother's heart. (Lk. 2:34-35)

The closer we are to our Savior, the more we will feel the sorrow of His passion.

Winepresses are found throughout the Ancient Near East and Egypt. They were especially common on the hills within Abraham's territory which extended between Hebron and Beersheba. 

The winepress consisted of two vats or troughs (Heb. yekebh, Gr. hypolenion). The higher vat is where the grapes were trodden upon, and the second, lower vat received the juice from the bruised grapes. 

Jesus' suffering is described in Isaiah 53:5 - But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

The oldest Hebrew copy of the Psalms from the Dead Sea Scrolls, dating to the century before Christ reads the verb in this verse as ka’aru. This is a Messianic passage:

 ...a pack of villains encircles me;
they pierce my hands and my feet.
All my bones are on display;
people stare and gloat over me.
They divide my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment.

The Hebrew ka'aru indicates a deep wound. It suggests boring a hole. The term relates to the leather workers (tahash) who bore holes in their materials. They are called karmaara, a word related to the Hindi lohakara, meaning copper smith. As a child in India, I remember the sound of the copper smiths who pounded their wares.

There is a linguistic connection to the biblical word ka-aru. The word appears to be of Nilotic origin. Among the Luo of the Upper Nile ka-Aru means "the place of the one who pierces."

In Isaiah 1:6 the King James Version has the word "bruises" using chabbarah. Chabbarah is linguistically related to the Luo chaddho, meaning to cut out, to pluck out, or to bruise the skin. A wound of this type is called chaddhoreh in Luo.

The linguistic connections should not surprise us because Jesus' early Hebrew ancestors spoke Akkadian, the oldest known Semitic language. Many Sanskrit words emerged from Ancient Akkadian. The Indian scholar, Malati J. Shendge, concluded that the language of the Harappans of the Indus Valley was Akkadian.

Ajay Pratap Singh has written, "Comparisons of Akkadian and Sanskrit words yielded at least 400 words in both languages with comparable phonetic and semantic similarities. Thus, Sanskrit has, in fact, descended from Akkadian."

The Bible also makes it clear that Jesus' early Hebrew ancestors moved into many parts of the ancient world from the Nile Valley (Gen. 10). He is a descendant of the early kingdom builders such as Nimrod, one of "the mighty men of old" described in Genesis 6. The Hebrew kingdom builders maintained commerce on the major water systems of the ancient world. They migrated out of the Nile Valley in different directions, and they were served by the prestigious caste of Hebrew ruler-priests.

Together the biblical references describe Jesus' execution as a crushing, body piercing, hole boring death.

Let us never forget what our Savior Jesus Christ did for us. May we bow our heads and bend our knees before his holy Cross.

Related reading: Meditation of the Holy Cross

A Healthy Approach to the Bible

 

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

For the sake of argument, what authority can the New Testament documents have without the doctrine of verbal plenary inspiration? This doctrine states that every word in the entire biblical text was inspired by the Holy Spirit so that there are no errors in the original Scriptures.

But what of discrepancies? When we consider the Gospel accounts of Jesus' birth, ministry, death and resurrection we find discrepancies that result from different perspectives. In fact, if the accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John agreed in every minute detail, we would have evidence of collusion among the witnesses. We would have reason to be suspicious. Such discrepancies on minor details are actually evidence of authenticity.

Even to speak of "errors" is misleading. Are contextual incongruities errors? A contextual incongruity is evident in Genesis 6:4 which poses the Nephilim as fallen angels (a Rabbinic notion) while also presenting them as historical “heroes of days gone by, men of renown.” The term Nephilim is derived from the same root as the Aramaic npyl which means giant, as in great. This is equivalent to the Arabic nfy, meaning hunter. Noah’s great grandson Nimrod is described as a “mighty hunter” or a “mighty man” before the Lord. Nimrod was a Kushite kingdom builder who married a Sumerian princess. He was among the "First Lords of the Earth."

Some portions of the New Testament include Jewish Midrash which contradict other portions of the canonical Scripture. Hebrews 12:16 describes Esau as an immoral and godless person, yet Hebrews 11:20 describes Esau as blessed. Which is the inspired word? It cannot be the midrash which contradicts the picture of Esau in Genesis as one who forgave his brother Jacob for trying to steal his inheritance birthright and his father's priestly blessing. 

In Hebrew 7:20-28, the author states that the former priests did not take oaths. However, there are historical documents that attest to oaths among the Hebrew priests. These include oaths of office, of loyalty, and of truth telling. The priest took an oath that declared loyalty to the high king who he served, and the oath was declared before the appointed royal official or high priest under whom the priest served.

The author of Hebrews is honest about his lack of information. He admits that many of the religious practices of the period of the Exodus are not familiar to him. Of the Ark of the Covenant, the mysterious manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, he explains in Hebrew 9:5 – “Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.” 

The Bible is indeed a miraculous codex. It contains all things necessary for salvation. It should be read as objectively as possible, apart from denominational interpretations, dispensationalism, or concerns about errors. The reader has a responsibility to apply reason. Today the amount of information available to help people understand the Bible is enormous. 

To those steeped in the mindset of "the plain meaning of Scripture" this might sound a strange teaching. There is nothing "plain" about the canonical Scriptures. They are dense, multi-layered, tightly woven, and provocative. They require intense study and close reading with great attention to details. This should be especially true for those who claim Scripture as their first authority (prima scriptura).

We are heirs to the empiricism of the twentieth century and we can legitimately draw on that heritage when investigating the Scriptures as objectively as possible. We may approach the Bible less polemically than past generations. We can understand difficult passages because of the work of learned Bible scholars, textual criticism, biblical archaeology, biblical anthropology, and the study of biblical languages and biblical populations. Today the available “ordinary means” of understanding the Bible are vastly greater and more diverse than in the past.

Related reading: Formed and Informed by the Bible; The Talmud's Influence on the New Testament Writers; The Roots of the Gospel are in Africa; The Bible on Trial; A Disciple's Guide to Bible Study; Distinguishing Midrash from Historical Realities; Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in the Bible