Hilkiah said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the LORD.” He gave it to Shaphan. – 2 Chronicles 34:15

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 1, 2014): 2 Chronicles 34

On April 6, 1933, Nazi Germany began its practice of burning books. The campaign was initiated by the German Student Union, and organization made up of all of the Student organizations of the various Universities in Germany. The action was proclaimed as a nationwide “Action against the Un-German Spirit,” the climax of which was a literary purge of books thought to have contained dangerous ideas – and this purge was done by fire.  The purge was directed at books that consisted of what the organizers called “Jewish intellectualism” and heralded the need for the book burning as an action that was required in order to allow a return for the nation to the traditional German “family values.” It is surprising how often the cry for “family values” has accompanied cries demanding the burning of books.

A quick survey of a list of the authors burned in the German burnings contains a few surprises. Included among the German authors burned on that night were books by Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, novelist Franz Kafka, and political theorist Karl Marx. But along with the works of the many German speaking writers that were burned were works by French authors, including the novelist Victor Hugo (Les Miserables), as well as American authors such as Ernest Hemmingway, Jack London and Helen Keller – British writers such as H.G. Wells and James Joyce and Soviet writers such as novelists Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It was as if the Germans believed that by burning the books they could make the ideas disappear. It is not a new idea – but the idea has never worked.

It is likely that the books of the law had been hidden during the years of the evil reigns of several kings prior to the reign of Josiah – maybe during the reign of Manasseh, Josiah’s grandfather, but the books had probably been hidden even earlier than that. The hiding of the books was probably done in an effort to protect them from those that wanted them destroyed along with the ideas that were found within them.  It may have even been that the books had actually been forgotten in their absence. Until the day that the workers began to restore the temple and found this book in the very walls they were attempting to fix. The particular book that was found by the workers in the Temple was likely to have been the book of Deuteronomy.

As a result of the finding of the book of Deuteronomy, the religious reforms that were completed under Josiah’s reign went far beyond just the repairing of the temple and extended to a reform of the actual ideas and practices that the faith of the nation was designed to be built on. It was a much needed reform of the faith.

The reality of our contemporary Christian faith is that we need the same kind of restoration of ideas that Josiah brought to the Temple. The sacred books are not lost, but often they are ignored, even by people within the church. And in most of our churches, the carpet may need to be replaced and walls may need to be painted, but what is needed even more is a return to the ideas of the faith – concepts found in the writings that we carry in our Bibles. And our reality is that it is these ideas that we need to really live life.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Zephaniah 1

Note: Last Week's message from VantagePoint Community Church (Edmonton) - "Real Strength" from the series "The UpsideDown Kingdom" is now available. You can find it here.

He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done. Amon worshiped and offered sacrifices to all the idols Manasseh had made. – 2 Chronicles 33:22

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 31, 2014): 2 Chronicles 33

Polycarp was the Bishop of Smyrna during the second century, but at the age of 86, the Bishop was arrested for crimes against the faith. The actual charge was that he was an atheist because Polycarp refused to believe in the Roman pantheon of gods. So Polycarp is finally arrested and sentenced to death. But there is very little honor in executing an aged man. So repeatedly Polycarp was offered the chance to change his mind – to curse Christ and swear allegiance to Caesar and the gods of the land. But the Bishop of Smyrna refused. His famous reply to his captors was “Eighty and six years I have served him, and he has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King and Saviour? Bring forth what you will.” In the end, Polycarp was executed on Saturday, February 23, 156 C.E. in Smyrna, a port city in what is now Modern Turkey.    

If there is a lesson to be learned from the life of Manasseh of Judah, it might be found in this passage. Manasseh’s reign really needs to be divided into two parts. For the first part of his reign, Manasseh was one of the most evil kings that Judah had known. Rabbinic literature even credits Manasseh with the execution of the aging prophet Isaiah. Like the execution of Polycarp, it would seem that there would have been little honor in the execution. But complicating the issue even further is the fact that Isaiah was likely related to Manasseh – possibly an older cousin (or more precisely a cousin of his grandfather or great grandfather.)

But late in his life, there is a change in Manasseh. He stops worshipping at the altar of pagan gods. He repents of the things that he had done earlier in his reign. He takes down the worship sites and dedicates his life the God of Israel. But apparently the change comes too late for his son, Amon. Upon Manasseh’s death, Amon rises to the position of king and takes up the evil of the early part of Manasseh’s reign rather than the good of the last portion of Manasseh’s reign. The example set by Manasseh in the setting up of the altars for false gods and the execution of Isaiah seemed to be too much. While Manasseh recovered from his own evil, his son did not.

Often in Western Christianity, we seem to come to the conclusion that as long as we repent before we die, that is all that matters. But that is not really true. Yes, like Manasseh, we can come to God late and he will honor us. But for the sake of those around us, that example late in life might be too late to matter. For those that are watching us, there is a reason for us to live godly lives for the length of our lives. And there is nothing better than to have a testimony like that of Polycarp, and be able to say that “I have served him all of my life and he has never turned his back on me. How can I turn my back on him?” It is this lifelong testimony that changes the world – and it changes the lives of our children – the ones who are watching and learning from the actions of our lives. While turning to Christ in the last moment of our lives will save us from any eternal punishment, turning to Christ early will change the lives of those around us – especially of those closest to us. They need our example – and they need it now.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 34

“I am against you,” declares the LORD Almighty. “I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness and the kingdoms your shame.” – Nahum 3:5

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 30, 2014): Nahum 3

Primo Levi, an Italian Jew, spent the last months of WWII in the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. He was interred into the camp in February 1944 and remained there until the camp was liberated on January 27, 1945. He recalls his experiences in Auschwitz in his book entitled “If This is a Man.” In the book he tells the story of those who were incarcerated. The story starts with being shipped to Auschwitz in cattle cars that were so packed with people that the prisoners had to stand, and they were so close together that they couldn’t move and could barely breathe. Once in the camp they were stripped of all of their possessions, including clothing. Then, naked, the first selection would happen. Those prisoners not chosen to die in that selection, are then herded into another room where they are forced to stand for hours on end, still naked, awaiting whatever it was that was coming next. The next step of the process was to remove their name and replace it with a number that was tattooed onto them. It was by that number that they would now be known. Then they were finally given clothing to cover themselves, if it what they were given could be called clothing. Actually they were rags that had been worn by other prisoners until the time of their execution. Now these rags were theirs to wear until they shared the same fate as those who had previously worn the rags. Finally they were given a bunk, barely big enough for one person, and yet it was expected that two would sleep in these beds. The whole process was designed to degrade and remove the humanity from the prisoner.

Unfortunately the concentration camps of WWII were not the first places where these tactics were used. In ancient warfare, the dual practice of massacring the prisoners or degrading the ones chosen for life resulted often in people who were willing to fight until there very last breath. There was no expectation of humane treatment on the part of the conquering army – only death and the removal of their humanity of the captive. It was this devaluing that allowed for atrocities to be committed because anything could be done to someone who was less than human.

Nahum speaks earlier of the defeat of Nineveh. But in this passage he is speaking of the humiliation of Nineveh. And there are two factors to this humiliation. Maybe the most obvious is a revealing of the body. In saying that the skirts of the Ninevites would be lifted, Nahum is speaking to the forced nakedness of the captives. There is a removal of modesty by the compelled exposure of what would normally be covered. For many, this might have been the worst moment of their lives. And this would result in the dehumanization of the person. But the second part of this dehumanization is that the face is covered. Essentially this is like the removal of the name in Auschwitz. Everything that makes you, you, would be taken away. The individual once known by a name is no more. What is left is something that has been devalued and because of that devaluation, anything is proper in the disposing of what is left.     

It should be noted that Primo Levi tells the story of the dehumanization in the concentration camps during WWII, but the theme of the book is really humanity in the midst of inhumanity. For some, no matter what was taken from them, they refused to be dehumanized. The nakedness and the shame for these people was not revealed in them, but rather revealed in the ones that who attempted to remove their humanity. In the midst of this kind of dehumanization, people of faith can often look beyond themselves to find their humanity. But because Nineveh had rejected God, it might be that this option was not open to them. They had found their humanity in their strength, and when it is removed, there is literally nothing left for the captives to hang on to.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 33

Nineveh summons her picked troops, yet they stumble on their way. They dash to the city wall; the protective shield is put in place. – Nahum 2:5

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 29, 2014): Nahum 2

Nineveh was one of the first cities. It was one of the early places where people congregated together way back in the beginning of the history of the story of us. The city itself is supposed to be built by Ninus (Nineveh means “The City of Ninus,” but it is unlikely that Ninus ever existed. Rather, historians believe that he is a composite image combining several of the early Assyrian warriors and leaders. Ninus appears on absolutely none of the early lists of the kings of Assyria.) Ninus is supposed to be the one who first trained dogs to hunt and he was the first to tame a horse so that it could be ridden. It is because of this accomplishment that Ninus is often pictured in Greek mythology as a centaur. And very early on, the city was a cultural center dedicated to the worship of the Assyrian Goddess Ishtar. And for this reason, the people flocked to Nineveh.

While Ninus may have built the city, it was Sennacherib that made the city great. At its height the city housed as many as 150,000 people within its walls (twice as much as Babylon housed at the same time.) It had an elaborate aqueduct system that furnished water for the city. Sennacherib built a “palace without rival” and it is even thought that the original “Hanging Gardens of Babylon” was actually built in Nineveh.

But within a hundred years of the glory days of Nineveh, the city was gone. Death came fast as the Assyrian Empire degraded into a series of civil wars and became ripe for defeat by her enemies. In 612 B.C.E, the fighting was brought to the city of Nineveh. Much of the fighting in the city was done house to house as the invaders came in and massacred all who had not left the city. The defender literally staggered from their houses to their posts, but they could not stop the disaster that was on the way for the city. Nahum’s prophecy of the best of the troops that the city had to offer stumbling into battle was uncannily true. The battle came and the troops could not hold the city. In 612 B.C.E., Nineveh died, and seven years later the Assyrian Empire was also officially brought to an end.

The site of the destroyed Nineveh was left untouched after the city’s final battle. No one inhabited, or possibly even visited, the site for centuries after the destruction of the city - and when archaeologists started to dig into the site of the ancient city, they found numerous unburied skeletons of people that had died on that day when Nineveh was razed to the ground.

Nahum prophesied of this defeat of an ancient empire that probably none of his first readers could imagine ending. And the prophecy stands as a warning to all civilizations that believe that they will stand forever. The reality is that we all come with an expiry date – and that is a humbling message. And the only answer to our expiry date is the God who exists without one. Only in him does ‘forever’ find its proper meaning. 

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Nahum 3

The LORD is slow to anger but great in power; the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished. His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet. – Nahum 1:3

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 28, 2014): Nahum 1

There is a story (and it is likely no more than a story) that Duke Wenceslas (posthumously declared as King Wenceslas) of the Kingdom of Bohemia rose each night and in his bare feet gave food to the poor. The story arose after Wenceslas’ assassination, most likely at the hands of his brother who succeeded him as the ruler of Bohemia. But the story was also legitimized by the Catholic Church who has declared that the story is true. This story, among others, led to the characterization of Wenceslas as a righteous king. According to the stories of Wenceslas, the duke sacrificed himself for his people. After his assassination in 935 C.E., Wenceslas was immediately given the title of Saint Wenceslas because in a day when it was widely believed that those who were powerful deserved to be powerful and those who were poor deserved to be poor, Wenceslas decided to cross the line, giving of himself so that others could live. He became a type of Christ.

For part of the Christian Church, we place a lot of emphasis on our belief in the justice and righteousness of God. And it deserves the emphasis – God is both a righteous God – he is the model for the righteous king – and he is a just king. And using passages like this one in the opening of Nahum, we are quickly reminded that although we serve a God of mercy and love, he is not of infinite patience. The time will come when God’s just and righteous nature will punish those who are guilty.

And an example of this line is in the story of Nineveh. The story of Jonah is about God’s call to the prophet Jonah to go to Ninevah and tell them of God’s judgment on the city. Jonah does not want to go because he is afraid that God’s mercy will let the city off of the hook – which is exactly what happens at the end of Jonah’s story. And yet, years later Nahum has a very similar complaint against the city – and once again God’s justice is about to be visited on the city. From our end of history, we know that Ninevah was destroyed – possibly proving once and for all the limits to the patience of God.

But as Christian’s we also have another story that stands in tension with this story of a just God. This story is of a righteous king that paid the penalty that we deserved for our sin - of the king that crossed the line that no one else was willing to cross so that we would not have to face the justice of God. Admittedly, it is a strange story – one that is almost impossible for us to understand. But then again, it is also hard for us to understand a ruler that rises from bed to take care of the poor when he could have simply delegated that task to someone else and still be considered good. And so we live inside of that tension – between a just God who will not leave evil unpunished, and a merciful God who has taken that punishment on himself.

The tension is real – and it is supposed to be there. Because it is in that tension that we realize how much God paid for our freedom – and how wide the mercy of our God really is. The answer to the question – will there be a judgment is definitely yes. But part of the price of that judgment has already been pain on a cross just outside the city of Jerusalem almost 2000 years ago. And that is something that we can never forget.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Nahum 2

The faithful have been swept from the land; not one upright person remains. Everyone lies in wait to shed blood; they hunt each other with nets. – Micah 7:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 27, 2014): Micah 7

Diogenes of Sinope roamed around Athens during the fourth century B.C.E. He had been exiled from his home town of Sinope because of his economic beliefs (he was an advocate of the debasement or devaluing of currency. Surprisingly, his father was a minter of coins.) So Diogenes moved to Athens. Personally, Diogenes modeled himself after the example of Hercules, believing that true virtue is revealed by action rather than belief – or an emphasis on orthopraxy (right practice) over orthodoxy (right belief.) So Diogenes lived a very simple life and used that life to criticize the social values of his time. He voluntarily adopted a lifestyle of poverty, begging on the street for food and living in a large ceramic jar – probably similar to a barrel – in the marketplace. Diogenes was known for his acerbic nature. He embarrassed Plato, he disputed Socrates and was highly critical of Alexander the Great. And he was known for his stunts. One of his practices was to walk around Athens in the middle of the day with a lit lamp saying that “he was searching for an honest man.” Evidently, in Athens during the time of Diogenes, an honest man was hard to find.

Micah would have seemed to have fit in with Diogenes. Micah describes the society as being without a righteous person (or an honest man.) His description almost fits something out of a contemporary post-apocalyptic novel. It is a society where law is missing – and there is no one to take care of the needs of the poor. Everyone seeks to do what it is that they desire to do. As Micah prophecies towards the end of Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, His description of society is very similar to the description we have of the society of Israel during the days of the Judges - In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit (Judges 21:23). Evidently the presence of a king had not changed the social situation of Israel. And it would seem that in Israel, Micah was also a prophet searching the streets, trying desperately to find an honest man.

But the words also reflect the reality of Israel at the time of the exile. When Babylon defeated Judah and took them into exile, they removed the best and brightest. But the process also continued. The purpose of the exile was to remove leaders from Judah, removing the ability of Judah to govern itself - and remove the ability of the nation to rebel against their Babylonian keepers. The result of the exile was a populace in Judah that would have spent all of their time and energy on simple survival. But even then, there would have been some who were upright that were left in the land.

Some have compared this description of Micah with our current society. Whenever brutal egotism (a sense that everything is about me) dominates a society, we would expect bribery to be rampant and the society itself to be in deep decline. And in that moment, both Micah and Diogenes would probably stress that what we need is to search for an honest man, one that lead us to something more than us – and lead us toward the essential community that great society is always based on.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Nahum 1

 

My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me. – Micah 6:3

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 26, 2014): Micah 6

I have a friend that struggles with the idea of Christianity. But part of the problem is that when we sit down and talk with each other, often we are talking about very different things. For my friend, Christianity is all about rules. It is about walking in step, and never deviating from the plan. He talks a lot of a church that preaches hate, a church that fears the differences between us. He speaks of a Christianity that is obsessed with hell and preaches of a God that can accept nothing but the unquestioned obedience of an automaton. And I can personally relate with none of these things.

For me, Christianity is about love – a love that crosses boundaries and differences. A love that welcomes everyone to the foot of a Cross where God made the decision to die for his creation. His death was never intended to limit us, it was intended to set us free – a freedom that we could never have known before. Christianity is more about mosaic of some very diverse people than it is about creating an army where everyone is the same. So it is no wonder that in our conversation with each other, often we lose each other. When we say Christian, we mean something very different.

Apparently the same discussion was happening during the time of Micah. And God responds through the prophet. How is it that you feel burdened by me? This has never been about the burden – it is about the freedom that you have found in me. A freedom that released you from slavery and brought you to a place where you could find your future. God refused to force Israel to serve him. And so they ran to other gods – and often these gods sought to bind them rather than free them. They demanded the youth of Israel as a sacrifice to be killed for their limited vision of the nation. And Israel was bound and enslaved – but this was not of God.

God’s freedom was always available to Israel, but often Israel was simply too bound to be able to see the freedom that was theirs for the asking. And when I sit with my friend I see the same thing. God’s promise of freedom is for all – and the diversity of the faith that results is amazing – but it is only available for those who work to see God as he really is. Too many of our friends are blinded by the lies of Christianity, missing the freedom. But we really are free. If only the world could see that truth.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Micah 7