Confrontation in Nazareth (10)

 

“He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read” (Luke 4:16).

 

I asked, in closing the previous reflection, “Are we one with the Word of God, and is the Word of God one with us?”

 

This is a process, it is an “already – not yet” proposition, an experience that ought to be ever unfolding. We enter the Book and the Book enters us; we become one with the Word and the Word becomes one with us. This is an element of the continuing Incarnation of Jesus Christ, the Word which was in the Beginning is the Word which is in our new Beginning – it is the imperishable Seed through which we are born again, the Seed which is “living and enduring” (1 Peter 1:23). As we “receive the Word implanted,” our souls are saved (James 1:21).

 

“In the Beginning was the Word” (John 1:1).

 

“In the Beginning God created” (Genesis 1:1).

 

“All things came into being through Him” (John 1:3; see also Colossians 1:15 – 17).

 

“The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God” (Rev. 3:14).

 

When we read the word “beginning” in Genesis 1:1, John 1:1, and elsewhere, we typically think of a chronological beginning, of the first point on a timeline. While this is a facet of the word “beginning,” there is more to the vision than a timeline, much more. The Beginning is a Person, that Person is the Son of God, who we often term the Second Person of the Trinity, not “second” in terms of rank, but second in a referential sense, so that we can distinguish One from another in that mystery in which there is One in Three and Three in One.

 

This is along the same line as seeing that God, who was All, is becoming All in all (1 Cor. 15:28). (I do not use the term “becoming” to suggest a change of Being, but rather to indicate His unfolding Presence and expression – a mystery! The Grain which has fallen into the ground and died is coming forth in much fruit – John 12:24.)

 

As we know Jesus Christ as our Author and Finisher, as our Beginning and our End, as our First and our Last, as our Alpha and our Omega; we see ourselves in Genesis through Revelation. We see ourselves in Creation and in Consummation. Therefore Paul writes, “God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).

 

Genesis speaks to us of Christ, it speaks to us of our salvation in Christ, and while we may see physical creation in Genesis, this is of little benefit if we do not experience Genesis in our own lives. Are we new creations in Christ Jesus? Has God said, “Let there be Light” in my own life?

 

Has the ark of Noah become the Ark of Christ to me? I may believe that there was such a thing as Noah’s ark, I may believe there was a flood, I may go visit a replica of the ark, but this all does me little good if I do not see that Jesus Christ is my Ark and that I must enter into Him. Telling others about Noah’s ark is of little value to them if I am not telling them that Jesus is our true Ark, if I am not imploring them to enter into Him.

 

Do I see myself in Christ in Genesis? In Revelation? In Isaiah?

 

When Jesus stood up to read in the synagogue, He saw Himself in Isaiah Chapter 61.

 

When we stand up to read we ought to see Christ in what we read, and we ought to see ourselves in Christ in what we read. When we see ourselves, we ought to see ourselves as individuals and also see ourselves as the People of God. I see myself and I see “us.” I speak to myself and I speak to us.

 

Therefore, when we read, we read the story of Christ, and in reading the story of Christ we read the story of Jesus Christ the Head, the story of the Body of Christ, and the story of the members of that Body…which means I am reading my story, you are reading your story, we are reading our story.

 

And this in turn means that when we stand up to read, that we are not reading an unfamiliar account of something that happened somewhere else, in another time and place, to other people; but rather are reading that which belongs to us and to which we belong.

 

For sure what we read has its expression in history – of course it does. But that expression in history has its roots in eternity past and it continues its manifestation with us as it reaches forward into eternity future. The heavenly patterns flowing from the Throne Room flow through the ages and ascend upward back into the Throne which is in that City whose Builder and Maker is God. “From Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Hm be the glory forever. Amen” (Romans 11:36).

 

When we stand to read from the Book, we are standing to read from our Book. This is not a foreign document from which we are reading, this is our very own Book given by our Father to His sons and daughters. He has given us His very Spirit so that we might understand the Book, understand our heritage and our life in Him (John 16:12 – 15; 1 Corinthians Chapter 2). He has given us the Book, our Book, so that we can partake of His Divine Nature (2 Peter 1:4).

 

In the Book, the living Book, is Jesus Christ the Word; in Jesus Christ the Word is the Book.

 

In the Book is your story, is my story, is our story.

 

How foolish we are when we allow ourselves to be brainwashed into thinking that we can find our story in politics, in economics, in entertainment, in materialism, in nationalism, in sports, in pleasure, in fame, in ever-shifting values…how foolish to trade our love and glory in our Father for garbage (Phil. 3:8).

 

I am puzzled when people stand to read before congregations and it is as if they are reading a foreign document, pages with which they are unfamiliar. If they were reading a proclamation bestowing one million dollars on each hearer what would their posture be like? How would their voice sound? What would be the facial expression?

 

Do you think it would matter if they couldn’t pronounce unfamiliar names?

 

Do you think there might be excited anticipation?

 

Might there actually be a sense that Good News was being read and proclaimed?

 

O dear friends, this is indeed your story in Christ, from Genesis to Revelation…so much so that when you stand and are handed the scroll and open the Book that you can find your place within it. You can read it and say, “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

 

I’ll close with this…

 

I often read the Bible in bed, or on the sofa before taking a nap (old people get to take naps!). As I fall asleep, I am holding my Bible. I love holding my Bible as I doze off, I love having it in my hand, close to my body. I want to hold the Bible close to me, as the Bible holds me close to Christ.

 

O dear friends, let the Book of Christ become your Book too.