Peter Misselbrook's Blog

Jan 20 2020 - Luke 9:28-50 – A new exodus

Jesus took Peter, James and John with him up a mountain where he spent time in prayer. As he prayed, his appearance changed and his clothing shone as brightly as a flash of lightning. The disciples saw two men talking with Jesus whom, somehow, they realised were Moses and Elijah. Luke records that they were speaking with Jesus about his "exodus" that he was "about to bring to fulfilment in Jerusalem" (Luke 9:31).

My use of the term "exodus" here is simply a transliteration of the Greek work used by Luke – a word often translated as "departure". But I can't help thinking that Luke chooses this word as a deliberate echo of the central theme of the second book in the Hebrew Scriptures. Moses had been used of God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. He had been the leader of their exodus. The prophets had spoken of the way in which Israel's unfaithfulness would lead to a new captivity and would require another exodus. Now Moses and Elijah are speaking with Jesus about the greater exodus that he is about to accomplish in Jerusalem.

Jesus' death and resurrection will be the means by which he will lead his people out of captivity and into the freedom of his kingdom; a kingdom in which they will be freed to serve God. On the night that Jesus was betrayed he celebrated a Passover meal with his disciples. Through that meal they remembered how God had rescued the children of Israel from Egypt.

On that first Passover night the Israelites had taken a lamb and killed it. The blood was painted around the doorway into their houses and they remained in the house that night eating lamb and flat bread. During that night, God had come down in judgment and the firstborn son in every house in Egypt had been struck dead. The blood had protected the Israelites; when God saw the blood on the doorway he passed over their homes and they were safe. The Israelites had been saved by the blood of the lamb. There was a death in every house in Egypt that night; in the Egyptian houses the death of the firstborn; in the Israelite houses the death of a lamb.

And so the Israelites were expelled from Egypt. They were set free. They achieved their exodus.

At that Last Supper with his disciples, Jesus took the elements of the Passover meal, the bread and the wine, and he applied them to himself and to his death which was only hours away. Christ our Passover was about to be sacrificed and because of his death and resurrection God’s judgment has passed over us and we are saved. We have been set free and he is leading us out of all that has held us captive to the place he has prepared for us. He has accomplished our exodus.

And he calls us to remember continually what he has done for us. He took bread and wine from the Passover meal to act as reminders of his death because they formed the staple diet of the first century disciples. They were to remember daily what Jesus had done for them. They were to celebrate together their freedom in Christ and proclaim his dying love and risen power to all.

Lord Jesus, thank you that your death and resurrection brings freedom. Help me to follow you as you lead me by your Spirit through the wilderness of this present world. Keep me from the desire to turn back to the secure captivity from which you have set me free. Help me daily to remember what you have done for me and to declare your praises, for you have called me out of the kingdom of darkness into your wonderful light.

Jan 20 2019 - Psalm 8 – The majesty of God

Once, when travelling on a deserted road in Australia, we stopped to lie on our backs and look up at the sky. We had a wonderful view of the southern night sky with all its many stars and galaxies and the great sweep of the Milky Way. It was a breath-taking sight.

David the shepherd boy would often have watched over sheep by night and must have looked up to the sky above him and marvelled at the countless stars and the beauty of the moon with its changing face. The sight not only filled him with wonder at creation but also with awe at the one who had made all of this and whose power kept it daily in being. So he cries out, "Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!"

We know so much more about the universe around us with its 100 billion galaxies each perhaps, containing 100 billion stars as does our galaxy, the Milky Way. Such knowledge of the universe only increases our wonder as we look into the night sky and fills us with awe concerning the one who created it all.

Nor should the immensity of the universe make us feel small and insignificant by comparison. David asks, "What is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?" only to answer that we human beings have been "made a little lower than the angels", or perhaps, more accurately, "a little lower than God himself."

David echoes the opening chapters of Genesis where we read that human beings, male and female were made in the image of God and put in charge, under God, of all that he had made. They have been "crowned with glory and honour." There is something very special about human beings – about us. We are animals but more than mere animals. We were created to appreciate the wonder of the world that God has made, the intricacy, beauty and glory of creation. We have eyes to see its wonder even if we do not always look through the beauty of creation to the glory of its creator. And, as those created in the image of God, we have the ability ourselves to create things of beauty in art and in architecture and to appreciate the beauty of human achievement.

But the tragedy is that, despite all of our knowledge and capabilities, we have made a mess of God's world. We have not cared for it as God intended but have exploited the world for our own ends. We have not lived well with each other but have exploited one another and oppressed one another. Instead of reflecting the glorious character of God we have been intent upon becoming gods for ourselves. The image of God in us has been twisted and marred.

That is why the author of the letter to the Hebrews applies Psalm 8 to the Lord Jesus Christ (see Hebrews 2:5-9). Jesus is the one in whom God's glory is most clearly revealed – he is the radiance of God's glory. Though he was, and is, the living God through whom all things were created, yet he was made for a little while lower than the angels – he took upon himself human flesh. And he did so that we might see clearly all that we were meant to be as human beings, created to reflect God's glory. And one day Jesus shall return and make all things new. The world to come will be under his perfect and gracious rule and will radiate the glory of God in every part just as God intended.

Creator God, give us eyes to see your glory in creation and in ourselves as those made in your image. Help us to see your glory especially in the Lord Jesus and in his death and resurrection and to long for that day when his glory will be fully revealed, when all things will be made new at his return. Help us now to live in submission to our beautiful Saviour and to live towards the day of his coming. May his beauty, his glory, be seen in us.

Peter Misselbrook