Christ: Triumphant over the gods

I spent the days of my youth reading myths of Hindu gods and goddesses waging war on evil asuras, falling in lust with mortals, and other feats that would put Superman to shame. These gods were, in a way, a reflection of the agonizing quest of millions of Indians to find that one and only perfect man. Fallen man had always needed perfect and supreme deity who would lift mankind from the bottomless pit of spiritual insanity. Unfortunately the gods man had created would turn out to be fallen themselves. The ancient rishis realized that they, like their gods, had fallen into bondage. Here is a prayer from one of the ancient Indian texts:

From unreality lead me unto the Reality,
From darkness lead me into Light;
And from death lead me unto Life Eternal.


Around two thousand years ago, a physician by the name of Luke wrote to the Greeks who, like the ancient rishis, were searching for the perfect man. Unlike the man-made gods, Luke's Saviour came face to face with evil, withstood the temptations of sin, and triumphed over the powers of darkness. Luke's Saviour was truly the perfect and supreme Deity man had been looking for throughout the ages. Luke's Saviour was: the perfect Teacher (Luke ch. 6), the perfect Servant (John 13:5), the perfect Prayer (John ch. 17), the perfect Lover (John 15:10), the perfect Warrior (Revelation 19:11), and the perfect Ruler (Revelation 19:15-16).

Luke's Saviour was none other than...

Christ - The Teacher of God
Christ - The Servant of God
Christ - The Prayer of God
Christ - The Love of God
Christ - The Warrior of God
Christ - The Almighty God

Where does Christ Jesus stand compared to the gods of man? I leave that to a man named Heinrich Heine and his description of Christ entering the feast of the gods.

Then suddenly approached, panting, a pale Jew with drops of blood on his brow, with a crown of thorns on his head, and a great cross laid on his shoulders; and he threw the cross on the high table of the gods so that the golden cups tottered, and the gods became dumb and pale, and grew even paler till at last they melted away into vapor.

THE ABSENCE OF CHRIST

The following article is written by Jim McGuiggan. Jim is the author of "Celebrating the Wrath of God"; "The God Who Commands the Impossible"; "Jesus: Hero of Thy Soul" and "The Dragon Slayer". His website is http://www.jimmcguiggan.com

“In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good.” 1 Corinthians 11:17; do see 11:17-34.

His following remarks rise out of what was happening at the Eucharistic (Thanksgiving) meal in particular. They had the bread and the wine to eat and drink but it wasn’t the Lord’s Supper they were eating (11:20); it was an exhibition of crass selfishness and bitter resentment.

The setting seems clear enough. They were having a “love feast” at which time they engaged in what was to be Holy Communion and Thanksgiving (see 1 Corinthians 10:14-22).

If there’s a section in the NT that shows us that ordinances without heartfelt understanding and commitment to God in Jesus Christ are worse than useless it is this one. The meaning and purpose of the Lord’s Supper is obliterated in practice despite the fact that the bread is eaten and the wine drunk with the correct prayerful words if the assembly is divided against itself (11:18).

The body of Christ speaks of Christ himself! While the bread and wine always remain just that, bread and wine, they are no longer merely bread and wine when God’s assemblies eat in faith. In the refrigerator at home or in the pantry the wine and bread are merely wine and bread but when we place them as provided by the Lord before him in the Lord’s Supper they are no longer merely bread and wine. Now they are a sign of his presence by his Holy Spirit who indwells the Church, the Body of Christ. Something happens to the bread and the wine. It isn’t magic and there’s no molecular change in their structure but if shot through with truth and visioned by faith the bread is food and the wine is sustenance and the Lord by his Holy Spirit is present in the midst of his people.

At the “haves” brought plenty of food and wine and gorged on them while sitting there beside them were the “have nots” who burned with resentment at being betrayed by brothers and sisters. So when some shepherd rose to “offer thanks for the bread” it was merely bread they ate! When the prayer was offered thanking God “for the blood of Christ” it was merely wine they drank! Even the mere bread and wine was now less than mere bread and wine—the Lord had been driven from the entire proceeding.

The “haves” did not remember (for they had no heart to remember) that on the night the Lord was betrayed he said, “This is my body which is given for you.” He gave himself and they would not give so much as a decent meal to the hungry and needy. The “have nots” in their burning bitterness at betrayal forgot (for they had no wish to remember) that on the night in which Jesus was betrayed his response was not one of rage and resentment but of self-giving for the forgiveness of sins.

 “Do you think I should praise you because you come together as an assembly and have the ‘correct emblems’ when you humiliate and rob the needy among you or burn in unbridled resentment at those who sin against you? You think I should praise you because you are ‘doing what the Lord has commanded’? I certainly will not praise you! You eat and drink condemnation to yourselves.” Compare 11: 22, 27-29.

The assembly missed completely the body of Christ in the bread and the wine!

The assembly missed completely the body of Christ in the people who sat around them!

The Supper became an occasion for the various factions to express the absence of the Lord Jesus from their hearts and minds. There’s something frightening about a head bowed in seeming piety while the heart chooses to enjoy the humiliation or hatred of others.

The Supper is a celebration of joyous redemption and peace for penitent sinners.

The Supper is a unity meal that says in Jesus we’re one body.

The Supper is a covenant renewal meal in which we commit to the meaning of Jesus, his mission and his method.

The Supper is a time of feeding on Jesus and all that he means to God for us and all that he means to us for God.

THE BLOOD OF CHRIST – THE PRICE FOR THE SOUL

This is a guest article by a friend of mine: Ian Terry. Ian is an evangelist from the churches of Christ in Houston, Texas. He teaches on how to effectively share the gospel to people of other faiths. His website is: http://www.sharingtheabundantlife.org

When I lived in New Zealand there was a huge slaughterhouse located just outside the city of Wellington. Great herds of cattle and flocks of sheep were processed daily for the export market. You could see these animals waiting quietly but nervously for their turn on the killing chain.

As the animals were slaughtered their blood was hosed down channels that carried it out to a stream which flowed past the meat-works and on into the sea. It was a river of blood, and there was a spreading crimson stain at the place where the river ran into the ocean.

In the Old Testament, God required that animals be sacrificed as offerings for sin. Even though countless cattle, sheep, and goats must have been slaughtered throughout that period, the Bible teaches that no actual sin was forgiven (Hebrews 10:4). The purpose of the sacrificial system was to render a provisional forgiveness until the real price was paid by Jesus on the cross (Romans 3:25, Hebrews 9:15, 10:3).

Since it is, “...impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4), if every clean animal that has ever existed was sacrificed, the price would still not be enough to procure the forgiveness of a single sin!

In fact, if every human being who ever lived was sacrificed, even that price would not be enough to purchase the salvation of one soul (Psalm 49:7-8).

The magnitude of the sacrifice required to redeem the souls of men is so great that only God Himself has sufficient holiness and merit to pay such a price. And this He has done through the infinite value of the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross (Hebrews 9:11-14).

The Bible says that Jesus is the one who, “...loves us, and released us from our sins by His blood...” (Revelation 1:5).

God cares for the souls of men. He was willing to pay the ultimate price to redeem them. Do we care enough to do what we can to minister that salvation to the lost souls of our community?

The Breath of Life

In the book of Genesis we read of the creation of the universe and mankind. It is clear that the creation of mankind is the most wonderful creation of God, and it is because man was created in the image of God. Let us now look closely at the way God created the first man - Adam.

Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7, New American Standard Bible)

So God breathed life into the man and the man became a living being or, according to the King James Version, a living soul. It is also interesting to note that this 'breathing method' - the breathing to impart life or soul - is practiced by God alone in the Old Testament. This 'breath of life' is what keeps every human being alive as David rightfully asserted in Psalm 39 (v. 5,11).

In the New Testament the 'breathing method' makes a comeback, but this breathing is used to impart an entirely new form of life - not the physical life describe in the creation account but the spiritual life of which Jesus speaks in John 3.

After His resurrection, the Lord paid a visit to His disciples.

So Jesus said to them again, “ Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. (John 20:21-22, New American Standard Bible)

The Lord breathed the Holy Spirit into His disciples and with the second Adam - Jesus - began a new creation and a new life. This second breath - Holy Spirit - extended into more men and women on the day of the Pentecost when about three thousand people were baptized into the church of Christ (Acts 2). This new life that was imparted into mankind would forever change the relationship between mankind and its Creator.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. (John 1:1-4, New American Standard Bible)

The Dove

In the book of Genesis we are told of the story of Noah and the flood. During Noah's time the world was filled with wickedness. Evil had consumed the world so much that God decided to drown all of mankind in a flood that would last a hundred and fifty days. God revealed to Noah that only his family would be spared, and so He gave Noah the tasks of building an ark and gathering a pair of each species of animals for the continuation of life.

After forty days of being trapped inside the ark, Noah did a curious thing to check if the waters had receded outside.

After forty days Noah opened a window he had made in the ark and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him. (Genesis 8:6-12 NIV)

One of the most popular symbols of world peace is a dove. Noah first sent out a raven and the bird kept flying around rather than report back to Noah! I remember having a good laugh with my Muslim friends about the raven's shrewdness. The dove, on the other hand, kept coming back until finally it disappeared. Where did it go?

When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:21-22 NIV)

Isn't it ironic that the Holy Spirit descended upon our Lord in the likeness of a dove? Peace itself would not become subject to man. Man often tries to send a dove of peace to his adversaries and in the process man tries to glorify himself. It is Jesus who is the real Prince of peace, without Him there can be no peace.

Theologians and historians may laugh at this explanation of why Jesus is the Prince of peace, but our God often catches the eye of the poet in our midst.

Focus on Jesus

Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

“Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man. (Luke 2:41-52, NIV)


The gospel of Luke never ceases to thrill or amaze me. This book, written by a Gentile-Christian, narrates the only account of the child Jesus. The account is that of Jesus and His parents' visit to the temple in Jerusalem. On the return trip from Jerusalem, Jesus' parents lose track of Him and that itself is an incident to ponder upon. Joseph and Mary knew that their child, born out of the miraculous conception of the Holy Spirit, was the Son of God. They knew that Jesus was the Messiah and the Salvation of God, and yet they lost track of Him! Note that they were only fulfilling the ordinances of God. Do we lose track of the Lord at times in our lives, especially when we follow God's commands? Food for thought!

Vance Havner once wrote, “Jesus’ parents lost Jesus at church, and they were not the last ones to do so.”

The President

When you enter the assembly places of many denominations and churches of Christ you will see a person occasionally 'calling' people up to the pulpit to pray, sing and preach. This person is often seated away from the assembly or near the pulpit. He is the 'director' or the 'presider'. He is equivalent to the 'master of ceremonies' of the secular world. He is the president, when you look at him you can read the words on his face that says: "I call the shots around here so don't get in my way or you suffer the consequences... my consequences."

My Dorling Kindersley dictionary says that the president is: head of the republic, society, college, public corporation etc. Strange, first of all I thought the church was a kingdom under the kingship of Lord Jesus Christ. The church isn't a republic, it certainly isn't a democracy, where the members have power to elect or appoint substitute 'heads' over them. The headship of Christ over the church is absolute. Looking at these things, I am amazed at how the simplest inventions of man can radically alter organic structure of Christ's body.

In the Old Testament God did appoint priests over the assembly of Israel, but sadly this doesn't justify the inclusion of presidents in the New Testament assembly.

But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light... (1 Peter 2:9, New American Standard Bible)


When Peter said these words, he didn't address them to any appointed official but towards entire congregations (1 Peter 1.1). It is imperative that we "the called out" maintain the headship of Christ, even in our assemblies. I think Christ has enough power to preside over his congregations than any mere mortal. All we need to do is to trust him. Are you willing to trust Christ as your Presider?