"Faith in Jesus does not make humans immortal. What it does bring about is that from this moment on they no longer live under the power of death. Resurrection is therefore not a matter of the 'last day' but of now, of listening in faith to the Son of God." (The Gospel of John, Herman Ridderbos, page 397)
What a transforming event faith in Jesus Christ becomes! It truly does pass one from death into life! To quote the Master, "Believest thou this?"
Tuesday, May 16
Wednesday, May 3
The Shepherd's Voice
John 10 records Jesus' illustration of the shepherd, as well as His identification of himself as the Good Shepherd. Tucked away in those verses are phrases referring to 'his voice' that the sheep recognize. In fact, the voice of a stranger (anyone who is not the shepherd of a particular sheep) is said to cause panic and the dispersal of the sheep. The application seems clear: sheep always follow the shepherd to whom they belong.
What about the sheep who claims to belong to one shepherd who ends up following another shepherd? Something clearly has gone wrong. Either the sheep never belonged to the flock of which they claimed to be part, or they forgot what the voice of thier shepherd sounded like. This "other" voice may have had the same tenor or pitch or volume, but it was not the voice of the right shepherd.
I say all this in light of the recent release of the Gospel of Judas and the soon theatrical release of The DaVinci Code. Many who claim to follow Jesus will listen to the voices of 'scholarship' and 'reason' and conclude that perhaps the material presented by DaVinci Code, Holy Blood ~ Holy Grail and others have merit afterall. Some will even embrace the teachings fostered by the movie and book and adjust their thinking to reflect such insights. This is most dangerous!
The DaVinci Code and other materials of its ilk are nothing more than the voice of a strange shepherd! This is not the voice of the Good Shepherd; the teaching ought to cause every follower of Jesus Christ to respond in revulsion. This is not scholarship to be considered; it is heresy to be refuted!
I am not advocating that we stick our collective heads into the proverbial sand and ignore the issue. On the contrary, we need to be ready to defend our position for a historical and Biblical Jesus. The "facts" of Dan Brown's case do not hold up to any reasonable scrutiny. They are a modern retelling of an ages-old heretical position that seeks to distort one's view of Jesus Christ.
We as sheep following our Great Shepherd need to be intimately aware of His voice; and other voices (such as the ones we just discussed) ought to cause us to run for safety - not nibble for curiosity.
What about the sheep who claims to belong to one shepherd who ends up following another shepherd? Something clearly has gone wrong. Either the sheep never belonged to the flock of which they claimed to be part, or they forgot what the voice of thier shepherd sounded like. This "other" voice may have had the same tenor or pitch or volume, but it was not the voice of the right shepherd.
I say all this in light of the recent release of the Gospel of Judas and the soon theatrical release of The DaVinci Code. Many who claim to follow Jesus will listen to the voices of 'scholarship' and 'reason' and conclude that perhaps the material presented by DaVinci Code, Holy Blood ~ Holy Grail and others have merit afterall. Some will even embrace the teachings fostered by the movie and book and adjust their thinking to reflect such insights. This is most dangerous!
The DaVinci Code and other materials of its ilk are nothing more than the voice of a strange shepherd! This is not the voice of the Good Shepherd; the teaching ought to cause every follower of Jesus Christ to respond in revulsion. This is not scholarship to be considered; it is heresy to be refuted!
I am not advocating that we stick our collective heads into the proverbial sand and ignore the issue. On the contrary, we need to be ready to defend our position for a historical and Biblical Jesus. The "facts" of Dan Brown's case do not hold up to any reasonable scrutiny. They are a modern retelling of an ages-old heretical position that seeks to distort one's view of Jesus Christ.
We as sheep following our Great Shepherd need to be intimately aware of His voice; and other voices (such as the ones we just discussed) ought to cause us to run for safety - not nibble for curiosity.
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