HEAVENS!

One of the delights in attending worship at High Hilton Church, here in Aberdeen, is the music. Quite a change from the mélange of styles that I’d been accustomed to in the U.S. Actually this is a harking back to the sounds and strains from my growing-up days in India. Organ music and some terrific, “old-fashioned” congregational singing. Marvelous. Not that I have anything against amplified instruments, but, honestly, I really don’t mind the break. No, not at all!

And Drew! A gem of an organist, he’s been in the business of producing music for churches for decades. His operation of the keys and pedals is sensitive, skilled, stylish. Stirring with the voluntaries. Sparkling in his improvisation. Serious about Bach. What more could one want! Oh, and did I mention spiritual?

The other day, Sunday morning fell as usual upon Aberdeen, dreich (damp and dismal), rainin’ auld wives and pipe staples (coming down in gallons); it was right attery (stormy) that morning with the tousle (blustery) wind rather snell (biting), making everyone fair jeelit (icy cold). In other words, it “stunk” (from the Latin “stink, stank, stunk”)!

There was the usual hubbub in church before the service commenced—some folks catching up on the week’s happenings, other folks (yours faithfully, for instance) complaining bitterly about the weather and bemoaning their fate (and missing the glorious 100°F / 38°C mercuries of Texas). All of a sudden … did I hear it right? Yes, Drew was playing. No, it couldn’t be that. Not today. Not this morning of all mornings. Yes, it was! Indeed, it was!! Praise God, it was!!!

Franz Josef Haydn (1732–1807). No. 14 from his oratorio The Creation. The mighty chorus (with soli) “Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes” (“The heavens are telling the glory of God”). Grand and glorious. Click here for a minute of this great piece!

The Heavens are telling the glory of God,
The wonder of his work displays the firmament.
In all the lands resounds the word.
Never unperceived, ever understood.
The Heavens are telling the glory of God.

Taken straight from Psalm 19.

The heavens are telling
of the glory of God.
And their expanse is declaring
the work of His hands.
Day to day pours forth speech,
And night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech,
nor are there words;
Their voice is not heard.
Psalms 19:1–3

And I couldn’t help wondering that dank, damp, and dreary morning—What a choice of a prelude! And how true! Reality is what is beyond vision and sense, what is beyond cloud and storm. Reality is who God is, what God says, where God is. Truth!

Therefore, the Scriptures enjoin us …

Set your mind on the things above,
not on the things that are on earth.
Colossians 3:2

For we are now partakers of a new Reality, a better Reality, an eternal Reality. That is why in these days of darkness, dire situations, and desperate happenings, we are bidden to be of good courage. We belong elsewhere.

… knowing that while
we are at home in the body
we are absent from the Lord
—for we walk by faith
not by sight—
we are of good courage ….
2 Corinthians 5:6–8

The heavens may be gray and dull, hard and unyielding, thundering and sleeting. But with one voice they are declaring the glory of their Creator, our great God. He reigns! Child of God, be of good courage! And let’s join the heavens to proclaim Him!

BRIDE?

Nope! Not me!

In case you were hoping to be receiving a wedding invitation shortly, forget about it. I ain’t invitin’ nobody. Cos’ I ain’t getting’ married.

Nope! Not me!

I have no clue how that bridal garment turned up in my closet in the Morgans’ household—my dwelling place in DFW during these peripatetic days of my life. I didn’t do it. Honest! It just showed up there.

You can rest easy. You are not going to have to shell out cash for the wedding gift. Neither am I, for rings and roses, photographers and preachers, hairdos and honeymoons, and other such paraphernalia and personages that are the staple accompaniment of nuptial rites.

Nope! Not me!

But come to think about it, that white outfit with a long train is not a bad one for a Christian. For you, see, the Christian, as part of the church, is part of that corporate body considered the “bride of Christ.”

In his treatise on marriage, Paul writes to husbands and wives, often comparing their relationship to the one between Christ and the church.

… as Christ also is the head of the church …
… as the church is subject to Christ …
… just as Christ also [...] the church.
… with reference to Christ and the church.

Ephesians 5:23, 24, 29

Husbands are enjoined to love their wives …

… just as Christ loved the church
and gave Himself up for her;
that He might sanctify her,
having cleansed her
by the washing of water
with the word,
that He might present
to Himself the church
in all her glory.
having no spot or wrinkle
or any such thing;
but that she should be
holy and blameless.
Ephesians 5:25

(No spots? No wrinkles? We dermatologists will go bankrupt!)

Anyway ...

That remarkable metaphor of the church being the betrothed bride of Christ is carried through to the end-times. The book of Revelation suggests that there is going to be some kind of magnificent wedding feast—the marriage supper of the Lamb—to celebrate this grand union.

Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God,
the Almighty, reigns.
Let us rejoice and be glad
and give the glory to Him,
for the marriage
of the Lamb has come
and His bride
has made herself ready.
Revelation 19:6–7

That’s interesting. The “bride has made herself ready.” Christians ready themselves to be with their Savior. The next verse tells us how.

And it was given to her
to clothe herself in fine linen,
bright and clean;
for the fine linen
is the righteous acts
of the saints.
Revelation 19:8

While it is Christ Himself who cleanses us (Ephesians 5:25–27), it is also the responsibility of the bride to live righteously. This is akin to the “paradox” found a little earlier in Ephesians.

For by grace
you have been saved
through faith …
it is the gift of God;
not as a result of works ….
Ephesians 2:8–9

Yet there is a responsibility that falls upon the believer.

For we are His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus
for good works,
which God prepared beforehand,
that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:10

And this let us do, as the “bride of Christ”, taking care to walk by faith, trusting in His grace that enables us to responsibly conduct ourselves in a manner pleasing to our Lord.

… walk in a manner
worthy of the Lord,
to please Him in all respects,
bearing fruit in every good work ….
Colossians 1:10

Let us make ourselves ready! No spot. No wrinkle. Blemishless.

KING!

I was there all of last week. In Midland, TX, approximately 300 miles west of our fair city, Dallas. The former is a metropolis about 100,000 strong that sits on the Permian Basin—source of a fifth of the nation’s petroleum and natural gas. It also has the distinction of being the hometown of current U.S. President, George W. Bush, and his wife Laura. Actually the President was born in New Haven, Connecticut, but was raised and married in Midland (to a local lass, Laura). And it was in this town that I had the delightful privilege of seeing dermatology patients for five days, filling in for a fellow-physician on vacation (Thanks, all of y’all, office and clinic staff, for the pleasant and productive week!)

The fact that I set foot upon soil trodden by a sitting President is, of course, not a big deal. No credit accrues to me. No honor spills over upon me. No luster is lent to my reputation for having had a connection, and that a rather tenuous one, with the hometown of the chief executive of the United States. Nothing for me to boast about.

There is, however, another association I have with another Executive, the Chief of all other chieftains, sheikhs, tsars, bigwigs, and potentates—an association that I can proudly boast about.

But He who boasts
is to boast in the Lord.
2 Corinthians 10:17

… for he is Lord of lords,
and King of kings.
Revelation 17:14

As a believer in Jesus Christ, I am a child of God, a son of the King.

See how great a love
the Father has bestowed on us,
that we would be called
children of God.
1 John 3:1

Indeed, the Bible asserts that all believers, as children of this Real King, the True King, the Only King—the King who never loses referendums, elections, or battles—are corporately a kingdom of priests, a royal priesthood.

… and He [Jesus Christ]
has made us to be a kingdom,
priests to His God and Father ….
Revelation 1:6

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

A singular calling indeed. A unique honor. An august entitlement. A calling that has some magnificent consequences.

You have made them to be
a kingdom and priests to our God;
and they will reign upon the earth.
Revelation 5:10

The children of the King will rule! What a glorious privilege. But this honor is not without present responsibilities.

… you also, as living stones,
are being built up
as a spiritual house
for a holy priesthood,
to offer up spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God
through Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 2:5

Spiritual sacrifices comprising our talents, gifts, resources, means, time, and, indeed, our own lives, our—everything.

Therefore I urge you, brethren,
by the mercies of God,
to present your bodies
a living and holy sacrifice,
acceptable to God,
which is your spiritual service
of worship.
Romans 12:1

This is the will of God. This is the inescapable duty that accompanies our calling.
His pervasive “kingship” includes everybody, overshadows everything, owns all. Therefore to Him, everything is owed. We and all ours. A living and holy sacrifice to the King.

BOTH!

I had Tex-Mex last night at that notable institution in Dallas, Luna de Noche. For those of you non-connoisseurs of that delectable branch of gastronomic delights, Tex-Mex is an odd juxtaposition of culinary characteristics creating something entirely new … and mucho delicioso! For those of us, its ardent aficionados, it is a regional American cuisine with roots going back to the hybridization of Texas/native American and Mexican influences over several centuries, a mélange characterized by cumin, chiles, cabrito, carne, and lots of cheese! Not something one can lay hands upon with ease in Scotland, I engorged myself on this coalescence of the idiosyncrasies of Texan cooking and Mexican cuisine.

As I write this, I am reminded of another “mixture”, one of tremendous significance for the followers of Christ: we claim that Jesus Christ was both human and divine, two natures in one person. How exactly can one speak of the divinity and humanity of Christ? Is the nature of Christ a new product, a tertium quid, a third other—the “humandivine” amalgam (“texmex”)? Is He more human than divine (“TEX-Mex”) or more divine than human (“Tex-MEX”)? Does both human and divine natures undergo some change in the blending process (“txe-mxe”)? Or perhaps Christ’s human and divine natures remain separate and isolated (“Tex / Mex”)?

What do the Scriptures assert? Of course, there is no formal statement that defines the nature of Christ in a particular chapter and verse. Instead, Christ’s nature is in “solution” form in the Bible and must be “crystallized” out from various texts.

He is God:

Christ according to the flesh,
who is over all,
God blessed forever.
Romans 9:5

For in Him
all the fullness of Deity
dwells in bodily form.
Colossians 2:9

… our great God and Savior,
Christ Jesus.
Titus 2:13

He is man:

For there is one God,
and one mediator
also between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus.
1 Timothy 2:5

God sent forth His Son,
born of a woman.
Galatians 4:4

Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures.
1 Corinthians 15:3

The formal proclamation of this bedrock of doctrine dealing with the humanity and divinity of Christ was hammered out at the Church Council of Chalcedon (A.D. 451). In carefully chosen terms, Chalcedon defined the biblical and orthodox understanding of what it meant to say that Jesus Christ was both human and divine: “We confess that one and the same Christ, Lord, and only-begotten Son, is to be acknowledged in two natures without confusion, change, division, or separation.”

A mystery—fully God and fully man, a 200% person, the God-man! How a single person can possess two natures is beyond our comprehension. But this is the testimony of the Bible and we must hold it to be true. If Christ were not divine, he couldn’t have saved us—only God could have been perfect enough to pay the infinite price to purchase our salvation. If He were not man, he couldn’t have died for us, in our place, substituting His life in place of ours, when we were the ones who deserved the punishment for sin.

Praise God! Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. Our Savior, our Redeemer!

He humbled Himself
by becoming obedient
to the point of death,
even death on a cross.
For this reason also,
God highly exalted Him, …
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee will bow …
and that every tongue
will confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:8–11

Tex-Mex will never be the same again!