The Original Rolling Stone

Rock and Roll History

It was 1962 when Mick Jagger and the boys started it up back in London and formed the Rolling Stones. They would make rock and roll history. But a couple of thousand years before that, an angel rolled a rock that changed all of history. 

In a Jerusalem cemetery, a heavenly messenger was the opening act on the opening day of the Gospel’s non-stop world tour. 

This angel sat on the original rolling stone. No, I’m not talking about Keith Richards. Keith may look old, but he’s not THAT old!

Just in case you’re unfamiliar with the story, allow me to give you a little background. 

A radical Rabbi/Carpenter named Jesus rolled out of the Galilean boondocks and rocked the worlds of both Roman authorities and Jewish religious leaders. 

Despite hating each other, these groups teamed up to take down this troublemaker. 

Using a mole inside His organization, they were able to arrest Jesus one late night in an scene like something out of “Zero Dark Thirty.” A quick series of illegal trials led to His torture and execution on Friday. 

They thought once this alleged Messiah was dead and buried, His followers would scatter and no longer be a thorn in their side.

A Pair of Marys

But there was just one little problem with their plan. It began early on Sunday morning. 

We pick up the story as told by a former tax collector named Levi who now goes by Matthew (Mt 28:1-10). With the sun just about to hit the horizon, we see a couple of women headed toward Jesus’ tomb. 

It’s “Mary Magdalene and the other Mary” (v1). If you’re wondering, her last name isn’t Magdalene. That’s actually where she’s from. 

Magdala is a little fishing village on the shores of a big lake called the Sea of Galilee. That’s just 22 miles from Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth and only six miles from His ministry headquarters in Capernaum.

These two Galilean peasants met a couple of years back. Dr. Luke describes how Christ performed a miraculous exorcism on Mary and drove out seven demonic spirits that tormented her (Lk 8:5). She was just one of several ladies who had been part of Jesus’ posse. 

Did you realize His traveling party included more than the dozen dudes we call disciples? Mary Magdalene and her female friends probably kept the belching, spitting, and scratching to a minimum for these blue collar boys.

We’re not exactly sure about the identity of “the other Mary” (v1). Including her friend from Magdala, there are a grand total of SIX women named Mary in the NT. It was a common name then. It’s a common name today. 

Chances are this is “Mary the mother of James and Joseph” who Matt mentions as one of the ladies who witnessing Christ’s crucifixion (Mt 27:56). She may very well be the mom of “James the son of Alphaeus” (Mt 10:2; Mk 14:40), one of Jesus’ disciples.

Taking Roll on Resurrection Day

Now before you think these are the only two people present that morning, you may want to check out what Jesus’ other biographers have to say. According to Mark, the two Marys are joined by Salome (Mk 16:1). 

Luke mentions “Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them” (Lk 24:10). 

And John describes specifically only Mary from Magdala making the early morning visit, but don’t miss how she says “we” when describing who’s there (Jn 20:1-2).

Before you get all hot and bothered about the differences in the four stories, just slow your roll. Just because the various authors don’t seem to agree on who was there, it doesn’t mean they contradict each other. 

As J. Warner Wallace points out, “All the authors speak of a group and some authors identify specific members of this group base on their personal perspective, purposes, and audience.” 

This is less about how many people were outside the tomb and more about how many were inside it. And if you’re scoring along at home, the number inside is a big, fat zero.

He’s Not Here!

The two Marys in Matthew’s account arrive at the grave to see something they never expected. “An angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it” (v2). 

The heavenly messenger broke the quiet silence of the cemetery when he shoved the boulder from in front of Jesus’ tomb. It caused a “great earthquake” (v2). 

The rumbling was wild enough to freak out the Roman soldiers Pilate assigned as a guard detail (v4).

Dressed in the brightest white, the angel has some breaking news for the women. “Do not be afraid; for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for He is risen, as He said” (v5-6). If you’re looking for Jesus, you’re in the wrong place. 

One of the places suspected to be Christ’s burial place in Jerusalem is the Garden Tomb. If you stop by there today, you’ll see a sign with the same message. “He is not here. For He is risen.” 

In other words, He’s STILL not here! He is STILL risen!!

Come and See, Go and Tell

Instead telling the ladies to beat feet, the angel has some interesting instructions for them. “Come and see the play where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead” (v6-7). 

Come on into the tomb. See with your own eyes that nobody’s in there. Then get going so you can tell the rest of Jesus’ followers all about it.

Come and see. Go and tell. And that’s exactly what they did. They came and saw. They went and told. 

“So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and and great joy, and ran to tell His disciples” (v8). 

Fear. What the women saw (or should I say what they DIDN’T see!) totally wigged them out. 

Great joy. But their excitement totally overwhelmed any worries they had about the big news from the graveyard. 

Are you afraid and panicked about telling others about Jesus? That’s okay. So were the two Marys. Let your delight and joy overwhelm that fear.

Worshiping Jesus

If all of that isn’t wild enough, Matt adds one other spectacular scene to this early morning visit. While the ladies were running out of the graveyard, guess who they ran into. “And behold, Jesus met them” (v9). Yes, THAT Jesus! The RISEN Jesus!! Fresh-out-of-the-empty-tomb Jesus! 

It probably comes as no surprise that the women immediately grabbed hold of Him. They “took hold of His feet and worshiped Him” (v9). 

Don’t miss the fact that they worshiped the resurrected Rabbi. As Jews, they knew only God deserves their worship. It’s the very first thing He lists in His original Top Ten (Ex 20:3). 

If they had any doubt before, the ladies have none now. Jesus is God.

It’s at this point that Christ reinforces the instructions of the angel sitting on the stone. “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me” (Mt 28:10). 

Go and tell. Make sure you spread the word. The tomb is empty. Jesus is alive! 

Come and See for Yourself

We’re still doing that today. Come and see. Go and tell. 

Come and see for yourself who Jesus is and what He has done. Investigate His claims for yourself. 

Don’t take my word for it. If you honestly look for the truth of Christ, you’ll find it. 

After that, go and tell. Will you be just a little afraid? Probably. But let the incredible joy of what He’s done for you overwhelm your fear. Spread the word.

Come and see. Go and tell.

So what are you waiting for? Tell everyone the story of the original rolling stone.

©2016
Jay Jennings

Slow Is Fast and Fast Is Slow

“Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure” (1Tim 5:22).

Too many businesses and churches lose their organizational minds when they have a opening at the top. People freak out. We need a new leader yesterday!! While it’s critical to fill that position, it’s even more important to find the right person. A bad leadership choice will cripple an organization for years. The best way to find a leader quickly is to find a leader slowly.

Paul was well aware of this principle back in the first century and shares it in a letter to his protege Timothy. “Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure” (v22). Filling a leadership void? Take your time. Pump your brakes. Check yourself before you wreck yourself. A quick choice of a bad leader is devastating. Sin spreads. Hearts break. People leave. If that’s not bad awful enough, you get to start the search all over again.  What seems like a painfully slow search actually saves time in the long run.

The church at Ephesus knows the pain of a bad leadership choices all too well. Been there. Done that. Got the t-shirt. Dropped off the t-shirt at Goodwill. It’s the whole reason Tim the lead pastor there in the first place. At some point after Paul planted the megachurch in this big port city, a team of spiritual hucksters weaseled their way into positions of influence. They sold Ephesian believers a snake oil mixture of “myths and endless genealogies” (1Tim 1:4) that led to “vain discussions” (1Tim 1:6). The apostle pulls no punches when he calls them “liars whose consciences are seared” who taught doctrine that was downright demonic (1Tim 4:1-2).

Paul gives Tim a handy dandy list of godliness and integrity to use when looking for new elders (1Tim 3:1-7) and deacons (1Tim 3:8-14). Make sure to honor those leaders who do a great job, especially as teachers and preachers (1Tim 5:17-18). Don’t mess with every accusation made against an elder if there aren’t a minimum of two witnesses (1Tim 5:19). If need be and the evidence is there, it’s time for an intervention, for the good of both the leader and the church (1Tim 5:21). Leadership is no place for prejudice or playing favorites (1Tim 5:22). 

It’s at his point that the apostle goes out of his way to point out the critical importance of taking your time when selecting your leaders. “Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands” (v23). You see the physical laying hands on people throughout the Bible. It’s done for three reasons. One, as a means of blessing. Two, as means of healing. Three, to demonstrate the call to leadership. That’s what Paul’s talking about here. 

It started way back in the day when God set apart the Levites for service (Num 8:10) and Joshua as Moses’ successor (Num 27:18, 23). The first church put its paws on the original deacon team (Acts 6:3-6). Paul was on the receiving end when believers in Antioch endorsed him and his buddy Barnabas as missionaries (Acts 13:1-3). And he reminds Tim of the time when “the council of elders laid their hands on you” (1Tim 4:14).

Don’t make the mistake of thinking the laying on of hands is the transfer of some sort of mysterious mojo to the new leader. Instead this ceremony accomplishes a couple of important purposes. Those on the receiving end realize in a significant way that things in their life have changed. They’re accountable to God and His people in their new role as servant/leaders. Meanwhile the church sees this as a unified endorsement of those stepping into leadership. They’re telling these ministers they have their backs. They’ll support them in many ways, not the least of which is prayer. 

But long before you get your jazz hands ready for such a ceremony, Paul tells us to take our foot off the accelerator. “Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands” (v22). When it comes to finding new leaders, take your time. We need to do our due diligence. Checking the background of a potential pastor, elder, or deacon against the biblical qualifications (1Tim 3:1-14; Titus 1:5-9) takes time. This is no time for the microwave. Selecting leaders is best done in the crockpot. Or as Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones like to sing, “Time is on your side.”

Don’t get me wrong. Leadership is critical. Any organization like a church is like plane. It can only fly for so long on autopilot before things go badly. That’s why Solomon writes, “Where there is no prophetic vision, the people cast off restraint” (Prov 29:18). While good leadership is critical, bad leadership is fatal. Don’t let the urgency of a leadership void freak you out and lead you to a decision you’ll soon regret. That’s why Solomon also writes, “Like an archer who wounds everyone is the one who hires a passing fool or drunkard” (Prov 26:10). Rash decisions lead to collateral damage. People get hurt.

Take. Your. Time. Stephen Covey says, “With people, if you want to save time, don’t be efficient. Slow is fast and fast is slow.” Slow is fast. Fast is slow. You’re inviting danger by failing to check out any leader before they serve. Just ask the folks in the Ephesian church. I’ll bet you they would do anything they could take a mulligan on their previous elder choices. Do everything possible to prevent a scandal on the front end. Slow is fast. Fast is slow.

Paul goes on to tell Tim not to “take part in the sins of others” (v22). He uses a Greek verb here (Gr. koinoneo) that means to share, have in common, or jointly participate with others. If you’ve spent much time in church growing up, you’ve heard the word koinonia. You probably had koinonia at a potluck dinner in the Fellowship Hall. But the original language has less to do with a plateful of fried chicken and potato salad and more to do with being teammates in something. The apostle is quite clear here. Don’t play for Team Sin.

So what in the world does this have to do with leadership? So very glad you asked. Paul is probably warning against the dangerous impact of leaders whom we fail to check out. When we don’t fully vet any leadership candidate ahead of time, we’re giving them the stamp of approval to continue in their sin. We’re telling them everything is okay. By doing so, we “take part in the sins of others” (v22). We also expose those under the care of the church as potential targets and victims of this unchecked leader. 

In their new position of leverage, a sinning leader could influence the other elders negatively. He has the distinct possibility of dragging the entire leadership team into his sinful activity. Just a little bit pollution has the potential to corrupt everything. That’s why Jesus warns His posse to have a zero-tolerance policy for the “leaven of the Pharisees” (Mt 16:6, 11-12; Mk 8:15; Lk 12:1). He’s NOT suggesting they go gluten-free.

Just in case there’s any doubt about the importance of sin-free leadership, the apostle tells the Ephesian lead pastor to “keep yourself pure” (v22). The grammar of the Greek has some interesting implications. The verb here (Gr. tereo) is in the present active imperative form. That simply means we can easily translate this as “keep on keeping yourself pure.” Tim’s doing a good job already. Paul is just encouraging him to keep on keeping on. 

This is NOT some sort of keep-yourself-clean-so-you-can-keep-yourself-saved kinda deal. Remember, there’s no way to make ourselves squeaky clean enough to enter God’s kingdom in the first place, much less stay that way. The only way that happens is when Jesus saves us when we trust in His sinless life and substitutionary death. He lives the perfect life we fail to live. He dies the brutal death for our sin we should have died. He rises to new life that we don’t deserve. Christ does for us what we could never dream of doing for ourselves.

In telling Tim to “keep yourself pure” (v22), Paul emphasizes here is the importance of Tim’s role as a pastor for believers in the local congregation. As a spiritual leader in the Ephesian church, his personal walk with Jesus and integrity must be top priorities. As we said before, sin in such a position of influence can cause widespread damage throughout the flock. You don’t have to go into gory detail believers in this church. The evidence in Ephesus is all around them. It’s why Tim is pastor to start with. 

As a matter of fact, the entire crisis at this church is a case study in how NOT to find and fill leadership positions. At some point, people panicked when there was a vacancy at the top. Instead of doing their due diligence, they got ahead of God and quickly installed someone as an elder or deacon who had no business being there. It wasn’t long before these unqualified and unchecked leaders took down others who took part in their sin. As a result, personal purity took a backseat. A rush job to find leaders is an incredibly slippery slope. 

A leadership vacuum is wrong time to rush. Slow your roll. Pump your brakes. A quick choice of a bad leader is devastating. Sin spreads. Hearts break. People leave. If that’s not bad awful enough, you get to start the search all over again.  What seems like a painfully slow search actually saves time in the long run. The best way to find a leader quickly is to find a leader slowly. Slow is fast. Fast is slow.

I Can't Get No Satisfaction...without Jesus

“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).

Ah, the legendary Philippians 4:13. It’s kind of the Troy McClure of Bible verses. You probably remember it from such familiar places as football player’s eye black, coffee mugs, t-shirts, bumper stickers, and post game interviews. It’s your life verse, isn’t it? Come on, admit it. I’ll come clean, it was mine for years. (Which brings us to the idea of a “life verse.” What in the wide world of sports is a “life verse” anyhoo?)

There’s just one teeny weeny theological problem with all the press this verse has gotten over the years. Paul is NOT talking about Jesus giving you the power to score that game-winning TD in the fourth quarter. It has nothing to do with God stoking you with the ability to close that big deal with the sweet commission. How ‘bout claiming that verse to find that hunky husband you’ve dreamed about? Not so much. 

Meghan Trainor may be all about that bass, but understanding Scripture is all about context. Flip open Philippians to chapter four. If you’re a chronic Bible highlighter like me, verse 13 jumps off the page thanks to a rainbow of colors, underlining, stars, and exclamation points. Now throw it reverse and back up to verse 11. Let’s take a scriptural running start at the passage. When we start reading there, it becomes pretty stinking obvious what our man Paul is talking about. Contentment in Christ in any situation. Satisfaction in our Savior no matter the circumstance. Seriously, if it meant God giving him powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men in order to bust out of prison, wouldn’t the apostle have done that already? It’s like Pete Briscoe frequently says. “A text without context is a pretext for a prooftext.” 

Paul tells his friends back in Philippi that he’s uncovered a huge secret to life (Phil 4:11-12). And it’s allowed him to be an ATV of contentment. He’s satisfied wherever he rolls. When he doesn’t have two shekels to rub together. When he’s rolling in the Benjamins. It just doesn’t matter. He’s good. He’s got everything he needs. You can imagine this important bit of information has come in handy since he’s been in the slammer for the past five years. 

It’s at this point Paul scribbles those legendary words. “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (v13). A closer look at the original language provides a little better understanding of what’s going on here. First of all, he writes that he “can do all things” (v13). The apostle uses the Greek verb ischuo, which means to be able, have resources, or be strong. When John Mark tells the story about Jesus meeting the wild man living in the cemetery, he says, “No one had the strength (Gr. ischuo) to subdue him” (Mk 5:4). When the Gospel turns Ephesus upside down, Dr. Luke describes how “the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevailed mightily (Gr. ischuo)” (Acts 19:20). We’re not talking about barely eking out enough energy and barely pulling it off. This is no 95-pound weakling here. This is serious muscle. It’s beefy. It’s brawny. It’s ripped. It’s yoked. 

The apostle pulls back the curtain on the source of his strength. Is he drinking Muscle Milk? Maybe the key is creatine. Has Barry Bonds’ trainer slipped him either the clear or the cream? None of the above. He’s able to do this “through Him who strengthens me” (v13). If you have any doubt about the Person behind the pronoun “Him,” he’s talking about the resurrected Rabbi/Carpenter from Nazareth. In several of his letters, Paul says he would test positive for Jesus, not PEDs. “I thank Him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord” (1Tim 1:12). Jesus gives us supernatural “power through His Spirit in your inner being” (Eph 3:16). And here’s the crazy part. The gift of His strength does its best work when we’re at our weakest (2Cor 12:9). 

Because of Jesus and our faith in who He is and what He’s done, we are able to take on any and all situations. Paul says it’s because He “strengthens me” (v13). The Greek verb here is endunamo’o. It’s a compound word that literally means to give someone or something else the ability to do something that couldn’t otherwise be done. To empower. To enable. To provide strength. Every single time it’s used in the New Testament, God is the One providing the power (Acts 9:22; Rom 4:20; Eph 6:10; 1Tim 1:12; 2Tim 2:1; 2Tim 4:17; Heb 11:34). Think of it this way. Jesus is our Enabler. No, He’s not that person in your life who sets you up to self-destruction. Just the opposite. He’s the Enabler who gives you and me the victory over our sinful habits and addictions. One Greek expert translates this verse, “I am able to face all conditions by the One who makes me able (to do it)” (v13). Our Lord is our Enabler. In a very good way.

For fifty years, the Rolling Stones have told everybody who would listen that they can’t get no satisfaction. It doesn’t matter how hard they try and they try and they try and they try. Maybe they should have checked with the Apostle Paul. He’s clearly found the one thing Mick Jagger and the boys have been looking for. Contentment that’s not restricted by any zip code, time of day, or economic situation. The man from Tarsus can’t get no satisfaction…without Jesus. Sorry about the not-so-subtle Jesus Juke, but that’s EXACTLY what Paul wants the world to know. Check out the verse over in the Message. “Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am” (v13 The Message).

So instead of being some sort of being the Christian equivalent of rubbing the bottle of the Bible so Jesus the genie will pop out, Philippians 4:13 describes how we can stand strong against the storms of life in Christ. Jesus Himself talks about how our obedience to what He commands make us like a house built for a hurricane (Mt 7:24-27). We find our satisfaction in our Savior because HE IS THE BLESSING! It doesn’t get any better than getting God. That idea is all throughout the Bible (Ps 16:5; 73:26; Lam 3:24; Lk 10:42). With Him, I have everything. Without Him, I’ve got nothing. So take it from Paul. He can’t get no satisfaction…without Jesus. 

A Letter to the Home Office

Sometimes you find the coolest things in the weirdest places. Who would ever expect to see God inspire His Word to be written in a letter from a couple of local pagan political appointees to a Persian dictator? Well that’s exactly what went down in Ezra 5:6-17. In this section of Scripture, the author cuts and pastes a note from some dudes named Tattenai and Shethar-bozenai back to King Darius. They’re concerned about the huge construction project back on the pile rubble that used to known as Jerusalem. Nobody back at the home office notified them about this. They check in just to make sure the Jews have all the proper permits and paperwork. But a funny thing happened after these local officials licked the envelope and dropped this in the mail. God decides to supernaturally include this letter in the Bible. Yeah, sometimes you find the coolest things in the weirdest places.

First of all, the folks who originally wrote this note are “Tattenai the governor of the province Beyond the River and Shethar-bezenai and his associates, the governors who were in the province Beyond the River” (v6). Beyond the River is actually the official name of an area under Persian rule just west of the Euphrates River. The authors of this letter are people appointed by the king to keep an eye on things. They’re not so much power players but political appointees who got their jobs because they support the king. There are actually ancient documents listing Tattanai as the governor of the region under Darius. The city of Jerusalem and the land of Judah would have fallen under the jurisdiction of Beyond the River. It’s only natural that these local officials want to know what in the world is going on right under their noses.

This letter from Persian bureaucrats actually includes some very cool details about the reconstruction of the temple. It gives us an interesting view of the scope and history of the project from a non-Jewish third party. First of all, they describe it as “the house of the great God” (v8). The city is in rubble. The temple is destroyed. But the reputation of the LORD still resonates throughout the land. There is a level of respect and honor for Yahweh in the words of these administrators. 

Tattenai and the boys also tell us about the kinds of building materials used by the Jews as well as their construction methods. “It is being built with huge stones, and timber is laid in the walls” (v8). The phrase “huge stones” describe stones so incredibly large that they can’t be carried. This is literally “stones of rolling.” Wait a minute! Were Mick Jagger  and the Rolling Stones providing musical entertainment in Jerusalem? Well, the Stones have been around a long time and Keith Richards may look like he’s a couple of thousand years old, but they did NOT play a temple gig back in 522 BC. At least I don’t think they did. The Israelites are building not just with these massive stone blocks but beams of timber running inside the walls. This is not only typical construction techniques of the day for large buildings, but the same method used by Solomon’s crew the first time around (1Ki 6:36; 7:12).

The letter also lets us in on the incredible work ethic of the Israelite craftsmen. “This work goes on diligently and prospers in their hands” (v8). They’re making up for lost time. Remember, a gang of Samaritans sabotage the project for 16 years (Ez 4:4, 24). God uses the prophetic pair of Haggai and Zechariah to light a fire under His people to get things going again (Ez 5:1-2). Once they’re back on the job site, they make HUGE progress. They are committed. They are tenacious. And the officials of Beyond the River make note of the fact that what’s going on at the temple project “prospers at their hands” (v8). They aren’t just throwing this new temple together willy nilly. This is quality craftsmanship.

This note to the home office quotes Hebrew officials as to the nature of what they’re up to. “We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth” (v11). They let these local Persian officials just who’s REALLY behind this effort. It’s the “God of heaven and earth” (v11). They’re not just serving some regional franchise deity. This isn’t your garden variety god. He’s in charge of of it all. Heaven. Earth. If you’re scoring at home, that’s pretty much everything. Take a look around. Whatever you’re looking at, He’s the God of it. That’s the God they served. That’s the God we serve.

Zerubbabel and his leadership team make it clear that this isn’t new construction. “We are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished” (v11). Just for review, that “great king of Israel” is the one and only Solomon. You can read all about the original project in 1 Kings 5-7. Solomon built the glorious first temple in 966-960 BC, 450 years before this reconstruction effort.

These local bureaucrats even find out why the Israelites have to rebuild the temple. It seems that their ancestors had a bit of an issue with Almighty God. “Because our fathers angered the God of heaven” (v12). If their predecessors listed their relationship status with God on Facebook, it would probably be “it’s complicated.” The dust of the original temple hadn’t even settled when our boy Solomon started jacking around with other idols. It seems Sol was more concerned about his harem than his God (1Ki 11). That started a long, slow slide of idolatry and evil among God’s people and their kings.

When it comes to the kings of Israel, Manasseh was the poster boy of evil (2Ki 21:1-17). “He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel” (2Ki 21:2). He brought back old school idolatry that folks did back in the day. Manasseh put altars to false gods everywhere, including IN THE TEMPLE! He made witchcraft, the paranormal, psychics, fortunetellers, and mediums all part of the worship in Jerusalem. This crappy king even went so far as to offer his own son as a burnt offering! He wasn’t alone in his idolatry and led the people of God away from God. 

Yahweh might be slow to anger but He will get there eventually. “His anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh provoked Him” (2Ki 23:26). To say that “our fathers angered the God of heaven” is a bit of an understatement. Over and over and over, Yahweh tried to get His people back into obedience for their own good. He tried everything. But they kept turning to other gods to make their offerings (2Chr 34:25). And laughed at His handpicked prophets until He really had no other choice. “But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising His words and scoffing at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD rose against His people, until there was no remedy” (2Chr 36:16).

The Israelites tell Tattenai and his buddies how God eventually called on a pagan dictator to do His work. “He gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and carried away the people to Babylonia” (v12). Everybody knew all about Nebuchadnezzar. For 40 years, he was the baddest man on the planet. Yet he was just a puppet in the hand of Almighty God. Yahweh used Nebuchadnezzar like an errand boy to get the attention of His people when they turned their backs on Him. “Therefore He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of the sanctuary and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or aged. He gave them all into his hand” (2Chr 36:17). The Babylonians burned the city to the ground, including the temple, and bulldozed the massive city walls. It was an absolute bloodbath. Nebuchadnezzar’s army hauled the best and brightest of the survivors. They left behind the poorest of the poor and hauled most of the survivors back to Babylon (2Ki 24:3-17; Jer 52:12-16).

Seventy years later, the Persians are the new bullies on the block after knocking off Nebuchadnezzar. God taps King Cyrus on the shoulder and supernaturally suggests that he let His chosen people make the Exodus 2.0 (Ez 1:1-4). The Jewish leadership give these local officials know that they have the royal stamp of approval for their project (v13-16). If they will just check with the home office, they’ll see that everything is on the up and up (v17). Instead of shutting down the project until they get an answer from King Darius, we read earlier how God kept things rolling until they got a response from the capital (Ez 5:5).

It’s tempting to overlook what seems like a boring document from a bureaucrat to pagan dictator as unimportant. But God made sure that Ezra stapled it in the book he wrote about the Jewish return to Jerusalem and the rebuilding of the temple. In this note, we read about the massive construction effort, the quality of the work, the diligence of the labor, but most of all, we read of the God who was behind it all. Yeah, sometimes you find the coolest things in the weirdest places.

Grace in the Spotlight

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people” (Titus 2:11).

I absolutely love the excitement just before a great concert. Some legendary rock act has rolled into town. You’ve paid WAY too much for your tickets. But in the moments just before they take the stage, that simply doesn’t matter anymore. The house lights suddenly go out. The crowd cheers with anticipation. Suddenly the spotlight pierces the darkness to illuminate the lead singer and the place goes bananas! That’s exactly the scene that Paul’s describing here in his letter to Titus. No, this isn’t his take on the later tour by the Stones, the Who, or Maroon 5. The apostle reminds us how the place went crazy when God shined His divine spotlight on His Son Jesus in the middle of our dark world. 

It’s grace in the spotlight. And the crowd goes wild!

In many ways, this verse sums up God’s VERY Good News. Period. Grace is God’s absolutely undeserved goodness. We can’t earn it. We can’t buy it. It’s only out of His overflowing love and mercy that we’re on the receiving end of this mind-blowing blessing. God saves us just because He’s so incredibly awesome. One of the mega-ginormous themes of the Bible is that God is an amazing Giver. That’s why we call it amazing grace. He offers His unthinkable blessing to a world full of rebels and rejects. Why? Because He’s good and because He’s God. 

Paul tells us our incredibly good God cut on the spotlight to reveal His grace. When the apostle writes “the grace of God appeared” (v11), he uses the Greek verb epiphaino. It means to give light, illuminate, shine on something for everyone to see. It literally means “to shine light upon.” Check out its three other appearances in the New Testament. God uses the father of John the Baptizer to announce to the world that his boy would “give light (Gr. epiphaino) to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death” (Lk 1:79). When the freighter carrying Paul and Dr. Luke to Rome got caught in a massive hurricane, “neither the sun nor stars appeared (Gr. epiphaino) for many days” (Acts 27:20). Just down the page here in this letter to Titus, the apostle once again describes how “the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared (Gr. epiphaino)” (Titus 3:4). When God’s spotlight hits the stage, His grace shines in the darkness.

It’s grace in the spotlight. And the crowd goes wild.

So just what do we see when God hits the lights? Who is standing at center stage? It’s none other than Jesus! When the Trinity pulls back the curtain, Christ is front and center. You see, Jesus is Grace Incarnate. He is God’s ultimate gift of grace to our horribly undeserving world. Grace isn’t so much an abstract concept but a Person. When Christ made the ultimate rescue mission to earth, He was “full of grace and truth” (Jn 1:14). The crazy thing is that Jesus is both the Light that shines in the darkness (Jn 8:12; 9:5) but the One it reveals. What does God’s grace look like? The better question is WHO does God’s grace look like? Jesus, the resurrected Rabbi/Carpenter.

It’s grace in the spotlight. And the crowd goes wild.

The purpose for focusing the attention of God’s goodness on Jesus is because He’s “bringing salvation for all people” (v11). So just what is salvation? For a lot of us, this is a Bible word that’s lost a lot of its oomph over the years. The word in the original language here is soterios. In its most basic sense, the term describes rescue and bringing safety. Think Superman or the Dark Knight coming to save the day just in the nick of time. Simeon had waited expectantly his entire life for God to send His Messiah. When he took one look at the baby Jesus, he knew without a doubt that his “eyes have seen Your salvation (Gr. soterios) that You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light of revelation for the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel” (Lk 2:30). A huge part of John the Baptizer’s prepping the way for the coming of Jesus was announcing that “all flesh shall see the salvation (Gr. soterios) of God” (Lk 3:6).

Here’s what we need to constantly remember. Jesus left the comforts of His heavenly paradise to make the most breathtaking rescue mission the universe has ever seen. It’s the ultimate dumpster dive. He willingly jumped into the most disgusting pile of sin and filth to save us. To save us from our own sin. To save us from God’s wrath. We desperately needed saving. Jesus told His new buddy Zaccheus, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Lk 19:10). He’s talking about you. He’s talking about me. We needed a Hero. We needed a Savior. Can we get a spotlight on our Rescuer?

It’s grace in the spotlight. And the crowd goes wild.

Who else is on the receiving end of this rescue mission? According to Paul, that would be “to all people” (v11). In the immediate context of this letter, he’s talking about old men, young dudes, old women, young ladies, and slaves. In other words, EVERYBODY! Jesus’ last words before He headed back home to heaven was for us to take this marvelous message of rescue to every people group on the planet (Mt 28:18-20; Acts 1:8). The invitation isn’t exclusive. You don’t have to be a member of any particular club or organization. You don’t have to belong to a specific family. You don’t have to live in a certain part of the world. You simply need to know you need to be rescued. 

It’s grace in the spotlight. And the crowd goes wild.