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Our Ancient Hope

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INTRODUCTION

It is regrettably commonplace for expositors, even conservative ones, to state that the doctrine of the resurrection was not plainly taught in the Old Testament. But the event of Christ’s resurrection came in the middle of human history, and Paul calls this event the “hope of Israel” (Acts 28:20; cf. Acts 25:19). The resurrection of Christ from the dead caught everyone by surprise . . . but it should not have.

THE TEXT

“For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself” (Philippians 3:20–21).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Just as the death of Adam (Gen. 5:5) signaled the future death of us all, so also the resurrection of Christ is the first fruits of our general resurrection. Our foundational citizenship is in Heaven, and we look for the Lord Jesus Christ to come to us from there (v. 20). When He comes, on that day He will transform our vile bodies—some still alive, and others in the grave—and these bodies will be conformed to the pattern of His glorious body (v. 21). This will be done in accordance with the power that enables Christ to bring absolutely everything into subjection to Himself. This is the blessed hope, and this is what we look forward to—the telos of all human history.

NO NEW-FANGLED DOCTRINE

I began by lamenting the fact that so many dismiss the resurrection faith of the saints in the Old Testament. When the Lord Jesus shut down the Sadducees on this question, He did it with a rebuke that backhanded their ignorance of the (Old Testament) Scriptures. They did not know the Scriptures or the power of God (Matt. 22:29). Martha, a devout Jewish woman of the first century, knew that her brother Lazarus would rise in the resurrection on the last day (John 11:24). How could she know this? It would have to be from the Old Testament.

And consider this great confession of Job:

“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God: “Whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” (Job 19:25–27, NKJV).

The doctrine is not an obscure one.

“After two days will he revive us: In the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.” (Hosea 6:2).

“I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. O Death, I will be your plagues! O Grave, I will be your destruction! Pity is hidden from My eyes” (Hosea 13:14, NKJV).

Isaiah says the same, and in a passage that Paul quotes in his defense of the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:54-57):

“He will swallow up death in victory; And the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; And the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: For the Lord hath spoken it” (Isaiah 25:8).

This is something that the people of God have known from the book of Genesis on (John 8:56; Mark 12:26). This has been our hope, from ancient times until now.

RESURRECTION POWER NOW

The transformation of our vile bodies will be complete when the Lord Jesus comes down from Heaven, but that is not when the transformation process starts. The transformation begins with regeneration. Our experience of Christ in our lives now is an experience of resurrection power in the here and now.

“For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him . . . Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:5–8, 11).

The power that raised Jesus from the dead is the same power that is dealing with you in your day-to-day striving against sin.

“But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you” (Romans 8:11).

THE OLD WORLD IS PREGNANT WITH A NEW WORLD

When Christ came out of the grave, He walked into an old world that had at that moment been made new in principle. When He went to the cross, He transformed death. When He was laid in the grave, He sanctified all of our future graves. And then when He rose from the dead, He entered into a world made new.

“And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful” (Revelation 21:5).

But it was not His sovereign good will to transform everything by throwing a breaker. Something like that will have to wait until the Second Coming. The Second Coming is when the world, now pregnant with life, will give birth to that life. Until that time, until the due date, the world will grow continually heavier with this life, carrying in the womb of the world the glory of the coming world.

“For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now” (Romans 8:22).

And all of this is a manifestation of resurrection power. We see it in history, we see it in our own testimonies, we see it in the growth of the church throughout the world, and we see it by faith in the glorious day that is coming. Contrary to the grievous errors of the full preterists, the world is not going to be pregnant forever.

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Death Defanged (Good Friday 2023)

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The message of the cross of Christ would have no power or authority whatever apart from the profound vindication of that crucifixion that gloriously occurred three days later. The crucifixion makes no sense apart from that triumph of life over death, but with that vindication, the meaning of the cross itself comes into focus.

Because of this, as we tell the story, we find ourselves always going back to that blackest of moments, the time of the Lord’s anguished cry of dereliction. Paul tells the Corinthians that he had resolved to know nothing among them except Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor. 2:2). He also says that every time we break bread and drink the wine of the new covenant, we are proclaiming His death until He comes again (1 Cor. 11:26). On top of that, the Lord Himself predicted that when He was lifted up on the cross, that all men would be drawn to Him. “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” (John 12:32). It is that death that exhibits that fascinating power. It is His death that has the authority to draw men to Himself.

So we do not talk about the cross all the time as though the resurrection never happened. Rather, we talk about the cross all the time because the resurrection has enabled us to talk about the cross all the time.

We do this in part because what the resurrection means for us is walking in newness of life (Rom. 6:4)—but without a stark reckoning at the cross, we will have a tendency to thinkthat we are walking in newness of life when we have simply rearranged some of our old furniture. The cross is where deep repentance happens. The cross is where repentance goes down to the bone. The cross is what deals with the sin that was dealing with us.

And at the very center of this efficacious and powerful work, we find that the cross is God’s appointed instrument for the crucifixion of all envy. This is a truly pervasive sin, and throughout all human history, throughout our lives, but we often don’t recognize it in ourselves because it does most of its pernicious work out of our lizard brain.

“A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; But a fool’s wrath is heavier than them both. Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; But who is able to stand before envy?”

Proverbs 27:3–4 (KJV)

Envy is a formidable sin, and the only thing that is powerful enough to dispatch it is the death of Christ on the cross. Because envy took Christ to the place where he died, Christ is the one who put envy itself to death.

Christ was sent to the cross because of envy, as Pilate plainly recognized.

“Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ? For he knew that for envy they had delivered him.”

Matthew 27:17–18 (KJV)

This envy meant that they wanted His power, His gifts, His authority, His charisma, and they couldn’t have any of it. He taught with authority, and not like the scribes, and this meant that the scribes were left alone in their own clouds of dust, teaching like scribes. And because envy is deadlier than covetousness, wanting not only to have what the other has, but also wanting to destroy the other’s enjoyment of it, the Lord clearly had to die. Because they couldn’t be like Jesus, it was necessary to kill Jesus.

But what they did not know is that God had placed a hidden trap for them in this. They did not know that the sin that drove them to strive for His crucifixion was the very same sin that was doomed by His crucifixion. If the rulers of this age . . .

Here is what the apostle Paul says about it:

“Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”

1 Corinthians 2:6–8 (KJV)

All their kingdoms, all their power, all their machinations, all their plots, all their strategies, all their conspiracies, depend upon envy. They run on envy. It is their natural fuel. And in the cross of Christ we see this sin of envy defanged and rendered helpless.

But how? How does this work? Envy only works because the self is constantly alive to self. Envy draws its motive power from the utter centrality of “me” in every human heart. And what invitation is given to us in the cross of Christ?

We are all invited to come and die.

“Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?”

Romans 6:3 (KJV)

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

Galatians 2:20 (KJV)

When Christ came out of the tomb on that glorious Resurrection Day, He walked out into a graveyard. When Mary Magdalene embraced Him, she did so in a graveyard. This is a metaphor for the whole world. Christ, the Incarnation of Life itself, walked into the world of the dead (Eph. 2:1-2). From that moment on, a message of new life in a creation has been preached in the great boneyard of our broken and sorry planet.

And this means that everyone you know falls into one of two categories. They are either dead, or they are among those who have died. And what happens the dead die? What happens to them could only happen through the cross of Christ. When the dead die, when the envy dies, the dead rise to life again, and follow the footsteps of Jesus Christ. Those footsteps are what we must walk in as we take up our cross daily in order to follow Christ. And because it is the path where the ego dies, it is the way of life.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen.

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Crisis at the Temple (Palm Sunday 2023)

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Introduction

The Triumphal Entry was an episode in the ministry of the Lord that had a beginning, middle, and end. The beginning was when the disciples came back to the Lord with the donkey and colt, placed their garments on them, and seated the Lord there (Matt. 21:6). The middle of this event was when Jesus entered the city, and Matthew says that the whole city was moved (v. 10). So this middle was the procession itself. The culmination of this Entry, the climax of the day, the crowning event of what happened, was the cleansing of the Temple (v. 12).

The Text

“And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest. And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them. And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise? And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there” (Matthew 21:8–17).

Summary of the Text

As I have reminded you often, this great multitude was not the same crowd that was calling for the Lord’s crucifixion a short time later. They spread garments and palm branches in the road (v. 8). Now the crowd ahead of Jesus, and coming up behind, were all crying out for the Son of David to save them, which is what Hosanna means (v. 9). They were also saying, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord (Ps. 118:26), and “Hosanna in the highest.” When He entered the city, the whole place was shaken. Who is this (v. 10)? The crowd answered that it was “Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee” (v. 11). And then we come to the climax of the Entry. Jesus went into the Temple, expelled all the buyers and sellers, flipped the currency exchange tables, and the chairs of those who sold doves (v. 12). He said they had transformed the house of prayer for all nations into a thieves’ den (v. 13). Then some blind and lame people came, and He healed them (v. 14). When the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things He did, and the children who were still calling out “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were really displeased (v. 15). They sought to rebuke Jesus with the words of the children (v. 16), and Jesus answered them with the psalmist (Ps. 8:2). From there, Jesus returned to Bethany a few miles away (v. 17).

The Nature of the Event

Moderns are often misled by the fact that Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey. This seems to us the sort of mount that a pacifist would use. But throughout the Old Testament, it was a mount of nobility or royalty. Deborah spoke of it (Judg. 5:10), Jair, a judge in Israel, had 30 sons who rode on 30 donkeys (Judg. 4), and Abdon was similar, with his sons and grandsons riding them (Judg. 12:14), and the princes of Israel, David’s sons, fled from Absalom on mules (2 Sam. 13:29).

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: Behold, thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation; Lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass” (Zechariah 9:9).

Given this symbolism, and the prophecies concerning it, and what the people were shouting, Jesus was making an audacious claim to the be the King of Israel, the Messiah of God.

But these were not just words—it moved on to an authoritative action, one that challenged the economic center of Jerusalem.

An Authoritative Evaluation

The gospel of John tells us that Jesus had cleansed the Temple once before, at the beginning of His ministry (John 2:13-17). This was an event that declared that the House of God was diseased. Here in Matthew, the priest has now come a second time to inspect the House, and this time the house is to be dismantled (Lev. 14:44), not one stone left upon another.

Lord and Christ

If we are with the crowds of Palm Sunday, we are crying out, “Hosanna,” which means that we are calling for God to save us. That is our plea—Lord, save us.

But although this is used as a term of praise, it is not like Hallelujah, which simply means God be praised. Hosanna contains a petition, and the petition is for salvation, forgiveness, and deliverance. “Oh, Lord, hosanna, save us.” But from what?

Ultimately, this request is always for God to rescue us from ourselves. We are the ones with the problem, but it is also the case that we are the problem. We are the problem that all of us have.

But here is the difficulty. It is not possible to greet Him at the gates of the city with your palm branch, and then somehow to prevent Him from going up to the Temple and flipping over all of your tables. He is the Savior who interferes. He is the Lord Christ, and cannot be received in one of His offices and not in another.

He is the Son of David. Receive Him as such.

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The Anvil and the Hammers

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INTRODUCTION

This is a message about the trustworthiness of the Scriptures. Many critics have attacked the Word of God over the centuries, and while the Word is still here, they are all gone. It has been well said that the Bible is an anvil that has worn out many hammers.

What I want to do in this message is a little different than our usual pattern. In the first part I want to walk you through a detailed and somewhat didactic treatment of the genealogies of Christ given in Matthew and Luke, harmonizing them. I want to show you the Bible is reliable, in other words. And then after that, I want to do what all sermons should do, which is to proclaim Christ.

THE TEXT

“The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren . . .” (Matthew 1:1–17).

“And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli, which was the son of Matthat, which was the son of Levi, which was the son of Melchi, which was the son of Janna, which was the son of Joseph . . .” (Luke 3:23–24).

SUMMARY OF THE PROBLEM

These genealogies are different, which is why it is a common solution for people to say that one of them must be for Mary, and the other one is for Joseph. The problem is that both genealogies terminate with Joseph (Matt. 1:16; Luke 3:23), which then creates the new problem of why the genealogies are different. How can one person have two different family trees? So where are they different and why? Unbelievers, of course, can simply say that the accounts here are hopelessly corrupt—but that option is not open to us.

SOME RANDOM BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Matthew is clearly working from written records (he mentions a book), and he starts with Abraham. Luke traces the Lord’s ancestry all the way back to Adam. Luke is probably dedicating this book to Theophilus ben Annas, who was the high priest from 37 to 41 A.D. He was the son of Annas, and the brother-in-law to Caiaphas—the term excellentwas one that was applied to kings and high priests. This means that great care would have been taken with genealogical claims, which the Jews took very seriously. Now Matthew and Luke run in parallel from Abraham to David, and then they diverge—Matthew goes through Solomon and Luke through Nathan (1 Chron. 3:5). They converge later in Shealtiel and Zerubbabel, and then part ways again until they come back together with Joseph. So how is Scripture not in error when it gives us Joseph’s lineage in two different ways?

Genealogical records were public, housed in the Temple, and available to any serious inquirer. The patrician households of David and Zadok also kept independent records. Matthew and Luke would have had access to these records, and it is worth remembering that others would have been able to come and check on their work as well.

Why does Matthew have three groups of fourteen names? One reason is that 14 is the numerological value of the name David. The three-fold repetition emphasizes the descent from David. But that is not the only reason for some of the omissions.

CURSES AND OMMISSIONS 

Matthew removes three kings from his list, jumping from Jehoram to Uzziah. He does this because of Elijah’s curse.

“‘Behold, I will bring calamity on you. I will take away your posterity, and will cut off from Ahab every male in Israel, both bond and free” (1 Kings 21:21, NKJV).

Matthew does this out to the fourth generation (Ex. 20:3-6). And also he later drops the wicked king Jehoakim (2 Kings 23:36-24:7)—doing this, I believe, in response to Jeremiah’s curse.

“Therefore thus saith the Lord of Jehoiakim king of Judah; He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost” (Jeremiah 36:30).

THE COMPLICATED PART

But omissions, while different, do not mess up a genealogy the same way different stirps do. (A stirp is a line of people descending from one ancestor.)

Matthew says that Shealtiel was the son of Jeconiah, and Luke says he was the son of Neri, and Shealtiel sure looks like the same man, the father of Zerubbabel in both places. How to explain this? Jeremiah, the prophet who cursed Jehoiakim, also cursed his son Jeconiah. And notice the first words.

“Thus saith the Lord, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah” (Jeremiah 22:30).

This next part is pieced together with the aid of some extrabiblical history. But we need to figure something out because there is a place in Scripture that says that Jeconiah had one son, Zedekiah, but then in the next verse it says he also had seven sons (1 Chron. 3:16-17). What about that?

So I take it that Zedekiah died young, thus fulfilling the prophetic curse. Then Jeconiah in Babylon married a woman named Tamar, granddaughter of King Josiah. Scripture calls Jeconiah a captive here (1 Chron. 3:17). Tamar had been married before to a man named Neri, and her oldest was Shealtiel, who came into Jeconiah’s line by adoption.

But wait. We are not done. Who was the father of Zerubbabel? Matthew and Luke agree that it is Shealtiel, but we read elsewhere that it was Shealtiel’s brother, Pedaiah (1 Chron. 3:19). This is likely the result of a levirate marriage—Shealtiel dying without issue, and his brother sired an heir for his deceased brother.

One last thing, speaking of levirate marriage. Matthew says that Joseph’s father was Jacob and Luke says that his father was Heli. According to a second century source (Sextus Julius Africanus), this was the result of another levirate union. Heli died without issue, and so his brother Jacob raised up seed for him—who was Joseph.

THAT YOU MIGHT BELIEVE

God’s Word is perfect. Without that perfect Word, we cannot have confidence in the perfection of the Christ who is proclaimed to us. With that perfect Word, we can see that God is in absolute control of every detail of human history, and is able to weave it all together in such a way as to make plain that the Messiah of Israel, the Christ over all, was none other than Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus was descended (in part) from the line of Ahab, of the tribe of Ephraim—thus fulfilling the stupendous promises made to Joseph through Jacob and Moses (Gen. 48:3ff; Dt. 33:13ff). He was Messiah ben Joseph. Jesus was descended (in part) from Levi, in that Mary was a Zadokite (a relative of Elizabeth, recall). And He was also Messiah ben David, of the tribe of Judah as attested in multiple places. So God promised a Savior for the world, and He also, by many different means, identified Him for us clearly. Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

The source for most of this is Jesus: The Incarnation of the Word by David Mitchell (Campbell Publications, 2021).

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True Examination (Authentic Ministry #28)

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INTRODUCTION

There is a basic spiritual dilemma that confronts everyone who accepts the truth of the Christian message. If is the case that there are only two final destinies for human beings—for the saved and the lost—and if it is also true that these two kinds of people are also found within the ranks of baptized Christian people, then the question is this. “How can I be sure that I am among the saved?” To that question, the Pauline exhortation here is often applied—examine yourselves. Yes, indeed, examine yourselves. But by what standard?

THE TEXT

“This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. I told you before, and foretell you, as if I were present, the second time; and being absent now I write to them which heretofore have sinned, and to all other, that, if I come again, I will not spare: Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, which to you-ward is not weak, but is mighty in you. For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you. Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? But I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates. Now I pray to God that ye do no evil; not that we should appear approved, but that ye should do that which is honest, though we be as reprobates. For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. For we are glad, when we are weak, and ye are strong: and this also we wish, even your perfection. Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the power which the Lord hath given me to edification, and not to destruction. Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you. Greet one another with an holy kiss. All the saints salute you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen” (2 Corinthians 13:1-14).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Paul founded the church. His second visit was the one where he ran into the opposition of the false apostles. This will be his third visit (v. 1). When he comes, he will bring judgment, and he will apply the biblical standards of justice (v. 1). He warns them solemnly now that unless there is repentance, his discipline will be strict (v. 2). He will do this to prove the strength of Christ in him, applied to them (v. 3). The strength of Christ is a death and resurrection kind of strength (v. 4), and Paul follows that pattern. Paul tells them to examine themselves before he comes and has to do it (v. 5). Christ is within those who pass the test, and is not within the reprobates (v. 5). And he is confident that they will recognize that Paul’s group is not reprobate (v. 6). Paul wants them to pass the test, to do no evil, and not for the sake of his reputation (v. 7). What matters above all is the truth (v. 8). Paul is glad to be weak and the Corinthians strong (v. 9). Paul’s hope is that he might get the sharp things out of the way in the letter, and then when he is with them, he might give himself to edification, not demolition (v. 10). He then gives a cluster of charges in his farewell—be mature, be comforted, be likeminded, be at peace, and may the God of love and peace crown it all (v. 11). Greet one another with an holy kiss (v. 12). The saints send their greetings (v. 13). He then concludes with a glorious benediction (v. 14).

EXAMINE YOURSELVES

Before you set yourself to “examine yourself to see if you are in the faith,” you must settle two other things first. First, what are you testing for, and second, what are you testing with? You are testing whether or not Christ is within you. That is the first thing. Second, you are testing with the standards set by the Scriptures, and not by standards invented by your Victorian great-grandmother.

What do you make of Jesus? What do you think of Him? You should not be looking for certain ecstatic emotions, or sentimental turbulence. We are talking about Christ the Messiah. What do you make of Him?

And what standards can we take from the Scriptures? We know Christ is in us because we have believed in the name of Jesus (1 Jn. 5:13; Rom. 10:9). We know that Christ is in us because the Spirit was given us (1 John 4:13). And how do we know that? He grows things (Gal. 5:22-23; Eph. 5:9), and He kills things (Rom. 8:13). We know Christ is in us if we love the brethren (1 John 3:14). We know Christ is in us and we are converted if we have humility of mind, like that of a little child (Matt. 18:3). We know Christ is in us if we are hungry for the Scriptures (1 Pet. 2:2-3). We know Christ is in us if the sacrifice of Christ on the cross makes sense to us as the power of God (1 Cor. 1:18). We know Christ is in us because of our growth in obedience (1 John 2:3). We know Christ is in us because of what happens when we disobey (Heb. 12:6). We know Christ is in us.

A GLORIOUS BENEDICTION

Paul concludes this epistle with a wonderful benediction. The order of the persons named is a little different. He begins with the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our starting point is with the one who first came to us as Immanuel, God with us. Christ is the one who brings us to the Father, and this Father is the one who loved us. And so it is that the love of God is mentioned second. And then, after we have encountered Christ, and have been brought to the Father, we find that we are in koinonia-fellowship with all of God’s people everywhere. And amen.

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