“If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
Sometimes you come across something in the Scriptures that, if you think about it very hard, can make you break out in a cold sweat. It doesn’t happen so often as to make you read with armor on, but you’ve still got to watch out for it. This is one of those places.
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“They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
What does it look like to live like the Scriptures are true? In the church today there is much talk about the authority and reliability of the Bible. That’s been the case for much of the last century. There is a whole industry of folks who are committed to defending the Bible as absolutely true. That’s not necessarily a bad thing by any means, but defending the truthfulness of the Scriptures and living our lives as if they really were true are two different things.
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“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.”
– Luke 6:22-23 (ESV – Read the chapter)
In this world there are two opposing forces. They are not even remotely equal, but opposite, as popular literature and several different religions hold them to be, but they are opposing all the same. There is the world and there is God. If we are received by and accept the reception of one, we will reject the other. As Jesus Himself made plain, we cannot have both. More specifically, if we receive God, the world isn’t going to like us anymore.
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“Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
This is the hardest part of the story. This episode reveals Herod—known to history as Herod the Great—as one of the single greatest monsters ever to walk the face of the earth. It puts him in the ranks of Hitler and Stalin and Mao. He may not have killed nearly as many (though he had many thousands more than this put to death in his time, including family members), but anyone who would order the wholesale slaughter of babies jumps to the head of that deadly class. The bottom line right now, though, is this: What on earth are we supposed to do with this?
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“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
This is a whole lot bigger a chunk of text than I usually include in these notes, but I couldn’t take this one in piecemeal fashion without spending several days on the whole thing—something I will come back and do at some point in the future. I defy you to find a better, richer, fuller expression of the incredible hope and joy we have in our faith and the salvation that comes from it than what Peter writes here. These words are worth reading several times with some meditative prayer along the way.
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The Nexus 