Justin's Christmas Prayer

A few years ago we began video taping our Christmas morning. We've caught some really precious moments with our kids and their excitement, but this year something special happened at the very beginning.

Click on the title of this post to view a larger version of this video on YouTube.

What Is A Type of Christ?

You know what a “double-take” is? It’s when you glance at something, look away and then realize that you saw something you didn’t expect to see. So you take a closer second look. Well, the Old Testament is filled with “double-take” value.

At first glance, the Old Testament just seems to be the history and stories of some fascinating people from ancient times. But it is much more than that. It is the detailed record of God’s unfolding plan to send Jesus to walk on earth and live a perfect, sinless life, and then die on a cross for the sins of the world.

The double-take value comes in when you realize that certain people, events, and practices recorded in the Old Testament serve as hints, clues, and pre-illustrations of the life of Jesus. These are sometimes called a “type” of Christ. In the Bible, a “type” is something that points to a future event and spiritual reality, either by similarity or by contrast. If there were just a handful of them, you could pass it off as coincidence. However the truth is that the Old Testament is filled with types that ultimately point to Christ. This is strong testimony as to the divine origin of the Bible, and more than that: to the divine identity Jesus Christ.

The first Old Testament type of Christ is in Genesis 1:26 when we learn of the creation of the first man, Adam. Just a few verses later, we read of the first sin as Adam disobeyed a direct command from God. As a result of his sin, death entered into the human race. Although we are not personally guilty of Adam’s sin, we are still under the consequences of his sin: death.

The New Testament book of Romans makes an interesting statement about Adam when it says that, “Adam was like the One who was coming in the future” (Romans 5:14, NIV). As you read the following verses, notice how the One who was coming brought a blessing, not a curse. Notice also what the similarities and/or differences are between Adam and Jesus.

15But the gift that God was kind enough to give was very different from Adam's sin. That one sin brought death to many others. Yet in an even greater way, Jesus Christ alone brought God's gift of kindness to many people. 16There is a lot of difference between Adam's sin and God's gift. That one sin led to punishment. But God's gift made it possible for us to be acceptable to him, even though we have sinned many times. 17Death ruled like a king because Adam had sinned. But that cannot compare with what Jesus Christ has done. God has been so kind to us, and he has accepted us because of Jesus. And so we will live and rule like kings. 18Everyone was going to be punished because Adam sinned. But because of the good thing that Christ has done, God accepts us and gives us the gift of life. 19Adam disobeyed God and caused many others to be sinners. But Jesus obeyed him and will make many people acceptable to God. 20The Law came, so that the full power of sin could be seen. Yet where sin was powerful, God's kindness was even more powerful. 21Sin ruled by means of death. But God's kindness now rules, and God has accepted us because of Jesus Christ our Lord. This means that we will have eternal life. Romans 5:15-21 (NCV)

45The Scriptures tell us, “The first man, Adam, became a living person.” But the last Adam—that is, Christ—is a life-giving Spirit. 47Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven. 48Every human being has an earthly body just like Adam’s, but our heavenly bodies will be just like Christ’s. 49Just as we are now like Adam, the man of the earth, so we will someday be like Christ, the man from heaven. I Corinthians 15:45, 47-49 (NLT)

Notice some of the differences between Adam and Jesus. Adam avoided taking responsibility for his sin by blaming his wife. Speaking of Jesus, the Bible says that although “he committed no sin … he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:22, 23, NIV). I n other words, Jesus took personal responsibility for the sins of others. What a contrast.

When the moment of truth came, Adam chose to hide from God rather than be confronted with the truth. However the Bible records that when a mob of soldiers came to arrest Jesus and take him away to be crucified, Jesus stepped forward (John 18:4) and offered himself up for the sins of the world.

Adam and Jesus were alike in some ways, also. Neither Adam nor Jesus had a physical, earthly father. Their Father was God himself. Both Adam and Jesus came into the world without the stain of sin.

Well, not only is Adam a type of Christ, so is Moses and King David, Joseph and Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and many others. You can’t help but to have a double-take as you read through the Old Testament. Time and again Jesus is being represented through people, places, things, and events.

Now here is one final thought. In Genesis, God starts with nothing and makes something great. Out of nothing, God crated the universe and called it “good.” After Adam and Eve rebelled and sin and corruption entered into the world, Genesis 3:15 records the promise of God of one who would destroy the work of the serpent. That One was Jesus Christ. God went to a man named Abram, who was just an ordinary man. And because of God’s work in his life, Abraham’s story is known throughout the world still to this day. Joseph was young and despised by his brothers. He was sold into slavery and forgotten as though dead. However, God did not forget. He had other plans for Joseph and caused him to rise to great heights as the second in command throughout the ancient empire of Egypt. Through Joseph, countless people were spared of death by a famine.

God is in the business of taking nothing and making something great. He has not changed. He is not only able to do the same for you, but he desires to do so. The question for us is this: will we open our lives up to God’s leading and allow him to create in us something great?

What Are You Chasing?

"My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him."

~Psalm 62:1

American author Iving Kristol said, "Being frustrated is disagreeable, but the real disasters of life begin when you get what you want."

This is because what we want -- or what we think we want -- is so often not what we really need in order to live a fulfilled, meaningful life. There comes a time when we realize that the trinket we worked so hard to aquire, or even the goal we sacrificed so much to reach, doesn't bring the satisfaction we expected it could. We then find ourselves asking, as so many have, "Is that all there is? Is this as good as it gets?"

Goals will always have a place in our lives, and accumulating possessions will always be part of the human experience, but we serve ourselves best the sooner we understand that these things will never be enough. We serve ourselves best when we are learn, as Augstine said, "Our hearts are restless, until they rest in thee."

Where are you seeking your rest today? In a paycheck? In a relationship? In a status symbol? In a measure of success? These things may not be the enemy -- they're not bad in and of themselves -- but it's important that we understand that they're not the finish line, either. If your heart is restless today, take a moment to re-evaluate what you really want. Strive to say, as David said, "My soul finds rest in God alone."

The Big Bang and the Bible

Cosmology is the science of the origin and development of the universe (it has nothing to do with makeup artist in the local department stores). One of the major questions cosmologists have wrestled with is where did the universe come from? How did it get here?

The prevailing idea from the time of Plato and Aristotle up through 19 century was that the universe was eternal; it had no beginning and it has always been here. This view was challenged by at least two different discoveries of science.

The first challenge came from the discovery of the Second Law of Thermodynamics. This is the law of entropy which says that with no outside influence energy will dissipate over time and be used up. Heat up a pot of chili on the stove and then turn off the burner. After a while, the heat energy will be used up and the chili will cool to room temperature.

Time Magazine ran an article a few years ago: “How the Universe Will End.” It basically said that a day will come when all pockets of heat will go cold and all sources of light will burn up and the universe will grind to a halt and be motionless. Lights out, party is over.

You ask, so what does all of this prove in relationship to the eternal nature of the universe? Well, the point is if the universe will one day use up all its energy, that means that it cannot be eternal. Eternal means always has been always will be. If the universe will some day "die" then it's not eternal and therefore has a beginning.

The second scientific discovery that led cosmologists to believe the universe had a beginning started to surface in 1915 when Einstein’s came up with the General Theory of Relativity which basically states that the universe exists in a continual state of expansion or contraction. This theory was proven to be true in 1929 with empirical data by astronomer Edwin Hubble (yeah, the guy they named the telescope in Earth's orbit after).

Hubble discovered that galaxies were moving away from us at a speed that was proportional to their distance from the earth. Since this was true it meant that at some point in the past the entire universe began. As you trace this expansion back in time the universe grows denser and denser until finally the entire known universe is contracted down to a state of infinite density which, essentially, marks the beginning of the universe. Cosmologists call this The Singularity where all matter and energy, physical space and time came into being. This literally represents the origin of the universe from nothing. Hubble’s discovery was that the universe had an absolute beginning at some point in the finite past.

So, science has confirmed that the universe, time, space and matter exploded into existence: BANG!

Prior to 1929, faith and science were opposed on the need for a Creator to have given us our origins. If the universe is eternal then there was no need for a Creator to explain things. But after science proved that the universe had a definite beginning where time, space, and matter came into existence faith and science took one GIANT step toward each other. Science proved that the universe had a beginning and was created out of nothing.

Humm. Kind of reminds me of a verse from the Bible where it says, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And God said, 'Let there be....'" (Genesis 1:1-2).

BANG!

Robert Jastrow, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies once commented,

What is the ultimate solution to the origin of the universe? The answers provided by the astronomers are disconcerting and remarkable. Most remarkable of all is the fact that in science, as in the Bible, the world begins with an act of creation. For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.

The Big Bang theory, rather than making the notion of a Creator obsolete has served to demonstrate that it’s scientifically and philosophically more intelligent to believe that God created the universe a finite time ago … just as the Bible has always taught.

As it turns out, the big bang has a Banger who is bigger!