One Way, Not Another

Last evening, I posted a portion of Scripture on Facebook that has become very personal to me over the last few months: 

"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers" (Psalm 1:1-3).

If there's one good thing to come out of this pandemic, it's the fact that the half-hazy floating I was doing in my spiritual walk with God intensified and solidified a hundred-fold as all the distractions and securities I had set up around me were stripped away one by one.

Worldwide: People begin dying from a virus without a vaccine, and global panic ensues.
Nationwide: Riots and racial tensions explode across the nation. A political circus soon follows.
Personal: Cancer reaches into our family and afflicts my own dad.

If there's one thing that 2020 has taught me, it's that nothing is certain except our God, and it's to that hope I cling. "Be still...

Be still.

Let me just pause there. And let the silence and the stillness settle over these words.

"And know...

And know. Deep down, truly, deeply, really know...

"That I am God...

I Am. "Tell the Israelites that I Am has sent you" (Exodus 3:14). I Am God. I Am.

"I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth" (Psalm 46:10).

What a promise!

I began dipping into the Scriptures, fascinated to increase my knowledge, and beyond my knowledge, to deepen the level of my faith to depths I had never yet reached. The stretching has been painful in some instances; in other ways, that same stretching has brought about the greatest joy of my life.

[Her] delight is in the law of the Lord, and on that law [she] meditates day and night.

I love the word picture created in this Psalm: a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. I've mentioned before that my name, Tamara, means "palm tree." I've said that the name has come to mean a lot to me, as I love the inherent symbolism: a tree that bends in the hurricane, but is one of the last trees to break. So this description of a tree, deeply rooted, drinking in the water of life, resulting in healthy leaves and fruit, hits home for me.

This morning, when I was reading today's passage, John 5:16-47, I was struck by Jesus' conversation with the Pharisees. This group of men truly rankle. They stick in Jesus' side like a thorn in the flesh. Jesus, in his ministry as He travels, teaching, preaching, and doing miracle after miracle, refuses to limit his compassion to weekdays only. He dares to extend His compassion to the Sabbath days, as well.

This infuriates the Pharisees, who have taken the Law of Moses and created a monster out of it. How dare He tell a man -- on the Sabbath! *gasp* -- to pick up his mat and walk!

Jesus sees past the letter of the law and breathes life into the spirit of the law. In Luke 14:5, He points to the ridiculous measures the Pharisees have taken the letter of the law: "If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?" I love this part: And they had nothing to say.

Oh, how I wish I possessed the gift of getting to the point like Jesus does, time and time again. If you've been following this blog, you can testify to my ability to use thousands and thousands of words. Granted, I hope my words make a point, but I do wish I could cut to the chase like Jesus did.

So back to John 5. In verse 39, Jesus says: "You diligently study the Scriptures, because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me to have life."

How this hurts my heart! These people are just so... dedicated to religion, that they've forgotten the relationship with the God that the religion is supposed to be about. They search the Scriptures for the rules and leave out the point entirely. They revere the Law of Moses, but they miss out on the very crux of Moses' writings -- which point to Jesus!

Genesis 49:10, a writing of Moses, which is essential to the Pharisees: "The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between His feet, until He comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is His." These words are spoken by Jacob, blessing his son Judah, through whom will come King David, and then later on, Jesus Himself. This prophetic word points to Jesus.

Exodus 12:21, a writing of Moses, again, essential to the Pharisees: "Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, 'Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover Lamb." The Passover Lamb constitutes a huge, overarching picture of Jesus' redemptive work on the cross, beginning with the story of the angel of death passing over the houses of the Israelites who obey God's command to coat their doorposts with the blood of an innocent lamb. This same concept carries through all the way to the day Jesus is crucified, where He rips the veil of the temple in two from top to bottom, and death itself is defeated.

Leviticus 16:5: a writing of Moses, essential, of course, to the Pharisees: "From the Israelite community, he is to take two male goats for a sin offering..." This one is interesting, because it includes two distinct parts of the picture of redemption. One of the goats is used as a sin offering, a sacrifice whose blood is shed to cover sin. The other animal is used as a scapegoat and is released into the desert after the priest lays hands on the animal, symbolically placing the weight of the nation's sins on its shoulders. The goat then carries away the sin as it runs into the wilderness. Jesus combines both aspects of redemption in His death on the cross: 1.) the shedding of innocent blood, and 2.) carrying the weight of the world's sins on his shoulders.

There are many other verses throughout Scripture, but the point Jesus makes to the Pharisees is that Moses, the very person the Pharisees so revere, alludes to Jesus over and over and over again. Jesus drives the issue home in John 5:45-47: "But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?"

The very people who have searched for truth in the Scriptures blow right by the multitude of arrows that aim, throughout Scripture, throughout centuries, to Jesus, Who is, as He says in John 14:6: "The Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." 

One thing the early post-resurrection church had to deal with was syncretism: the convergence of a lot of differing faiths and religions into one colossal ball. According to culture, there was no single truth and there was no single god, but all ways led to a form of eternal life.

Jesus pushes back firmly, and without confusion, pulling no punches: No. There is one way to the Father, and that is through Me. 

The Pharisees don't see it. Many today don't see it. Jesus says in Matthew 7:14: "Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." In John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, he calls it a "wicket gate," a small, plain-looking door, obscure, without decoration, easily missed, unless you are pointed in the right direction.

Don't miss that door. It's not attractive. It's not easy to find. It holds no promise of an easy path. But the result at the end is eternal life, and it's the only path that ends in the beauty of peaceful rest and unimaginable delight.

Because... "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has ever conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him" (1 Corinthians 2:9). I can't wait! I'm so excited!