Word of Life Church Podcast

In Cain the world was organized around an axis of power enforced by violence. Violent power became the organizing principle for human civilization. This is the story of Cain of Abel, the story of Romulus and Remus, the story Sméagol and Déagol. These archetypal stories remind us of dark truths we would rather keep hidden. But Jesus came into the world to shine the light, tell the truth, and re-found the world. In Christ crucified the world is re-founded around an axis of love expressed in forgiveness.

On Good Friday the sin of the world coalesced into a hideous singularity that upon the cross it might be forgiven en masse.

John's poetic prologue to his Gospel is one of the loftiest presentations of Christology in all the New Testament—it's also one of them of the most beautiful passages of Scripture. John's theopoetics reaches its crescendo when proclaims that until we see Jesus, we've never seen God.

When Jesus was dedicated in the Temple, two old prophets -- Simeon and Anna -- spoke of the infant Jesus as Salvation and Redemption. Indeed, Jesus will save both Simeon and Anna, but neither of them knows how.

We look for Jesus in the story of Isaac, because as Christians that is how we read the Bible. Issac is the son of promise. Jesus is the fulfillment of all the promises of God. Isaac is the son of laughter. Jesus is the bringer of joy. Isaac is the son of sacrifice. Jesus is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Isaac serves as a signpost pointing to the hope, joy, and new life we find in Jesus.

In his many adventures Abraham constantly encountered Christ in some way. Abraham encountered Christ in the Voice that called him out Ur of the Chaldees and into the land of Canaan. In the foreshadowing of Melchizedek king of Salem who gave him bread and wine. In the trinity of strangers he entertained at his tent under the oaks of Mamre. In the smoking oven and burning torch that appeared when the covenant was cut. In the ram caught in the thicket on Mount Moriah on the day Isaac was offered up. Truly Jesus says, “Before Abraham was, I AM.”

Jesus is the Ark that carries the Cosmos away from corruption and into God’s new creation. Just as there was a door placed in the side of the Ark for access to salvation, so the side of Jesus was pierced that creation might enter the heart of Christ and be carried through the flood of destruction and arrive safely in a redeemed world where all things are made new.

Where do we find Jesus in Genesis in relation to Adam? We find Jesus as a new Adam who gives humanity a new original ancestor. We find Jesus in the Seed of the Woman who crushes the head of the serpent. We find Jesus in the One who comes in search of lost Adam.

If we read the Old Testament as only predating Christ instead of deeply anticipating and foreseeing Christ, we have failed to read it in a Christian manner. But when we see Christ as the Creator, as the New Adam, as Noah’s Ark, as Abraham’s sought-after city, as Isaac’s ram on Mount Moriah, as the ladder between heaven and earth that Jacob saw, as foretold in the life of Joseph, then are we reading the Old Testament in the way Jesus taught his disciples to read it following his resurrection.

John Brown went off to war to fight on a foreign shoreHis mama sure was proud of him!He stood so straight and tall in his uniform and allHis mama’s face broke out into a grin“Oh son, you look so fine, I’m glad you’re a son of mineMake me proud to know you’re wearing a gunDo what the captain says, lots of medals you will getWe’ll put them on the wall when you come home”That old train pulled out, John’s ma began to shoutTelling everybody in the neighborhood“That’s my son that’s about to go, he’s a soldier now, you know”She made well sure her neighbors understoodShe got a letter once in a while and her face broke into a smileShe showed them to the people from next doorShe bragged about her son with his uniform and gunIn this thing she called a good old-fashioned warThen the letters ceased to come, for a long time they did not comeCeased to come for about ten months or moreThen a letter finally came saying, “Go down and meet the trainYour son is coming back from the war”She smiled and she went right down, she looked up and all aroundBut she did not see her soldier son in sightWhen all the people passed, she saw her son at lastWhen she did she could not believe her eyesOh his face was all shot off and his hands were blown awayAnd he wore a metal brace around his waistHe whispered kind of slow, in a voice she didn’t knowAnd she couldn’t even recognize his face!“Oh tell me, my darling son, tell me what they’vd doneHow is it that you come to be this way?”He tried his best to talk but his mouth could hardly moveAnd the mother had to turn her face away“Don’t you remember, Ma, when I went off to warYou thought it was the best thing I could do?I was on the battleground, you were home acting proudYou wasn’t there standing in my shoes”“Well, I thought when I was there, Lord, what am I doing here?Tryin’ to kill somebody or die tryin’But the thing that scared me most was when my enemy came closeI could see that his face looked just like mine”“And I couldn’t help but think, through the thunder rolling and stinkI was just a puppet in a playAnd through the roar and smoke, the string it finally brokeAnd a cannonball blew my eyes away”As he turned away to go, his mother was acting slowSeeing the metal brace that helped him standBut as he turned to leave, he called his mother closeAnd he dropped his medals down into her hands