A KNOCK ON YOUR DOOR

 

A KNOCK ON YOUR DOOR 

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1

An old guy used to knock on my door unannounced usually on a Saturday morning. Invariably, it would be at the most inopportune time. I’d be busy in the backyard or cleaning my fish tank or something. I’m sure you’ve had the same experience? Well, the first time the old guy knocked on my door I said to him, “You are here to tell me that Jesus is not God. Well, I am here to tell you that He is! You go first.” And then we’d crack open our Bibles. The old guy was persistent. He kept on coming back periodically. He usually had one of his older granddaughters with him. Eventually we just had nice conversations about our grandkids.

Does it really matter if Jesus is God or not? For that matter, does it really matter if God exists or not? What difference does it make whether God exists or that Jesus is God? Well, with all the books and movies coming out nowadays, you’d think that God and Jesus don’t matter and that we live in a universe that has no rhyme or reason to it. Indeed, they talk more about a multi-verse more than a uni-verse. Well, like I said to the fellow grandad who used to knock on my door, “You are here to tell me that Jesus is not God. Well, I am here to tell you that He is! You go first.”

Okay, it’s really hard to have a conversation with someone when they are reading. So, I suppose I’ll do most of the talking. But please feel free to express out loud any disagreements we may be having.

Right, you don’t believe in all that God stuff? Science has disproved it! And you don’t believe all that Bible stuff? Chinese whispers! Whoops! You think it’s inappropriate to refer to things by their ethnicity? Danish bacon, Scottish haggis, English breakfast tea, Canadian back bacon, Italian marble, but not Chinese whispers? Wow! You live in a strange world, a weird universe. Oh wait! I forgot. You live in a multiverse. You live in a place where wearing kilts and traditional Scottish dress is frowned upon as “cultural appropriation”. Inappropriate for some reason. Does one need to be Chinese to order a Chinese takeaway or Mexican to eat at Taco Bell? Can the son of a Scottish father and a Mexican mother wear a sombrero with their tartan kilt? Or is it either one or the other? Are we from different planets? Oh wait! We ought not to use the terms father or mother? And we shouldn’t refer to a male child as someone’s son? A Mexican is guilty of cultural appropriation if he wears traditional Scottish dress, but a man can dress-up as a woman and compete as a female in women's sports? Oh, let’s just talk about our grandkids instead of arguing about these things!

Is it safe to use the phrase, “The elephant in the room”? Or do we have to stipulate whether it’s an African elephant or an Indian elephant before we go there? Or is the mere mention of the words Africa or India some kind of “dog whistle” to those who live in a universe/multiverse where everyone is afraid of being accused of cultural appropriation? Well, let me start by talking about the elephant in the room…

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” Genesis 1:1-3. The Rev Prof Dr Francis Nigel Lee wrote a brief foreword for a book I published way back in 2006. In it, referring to Genesis 1:1-3 in particular he said, “God tri-une, at the start, created the tri-universe”. So, though not quite the multiverse of contemporary, i.e., Postmodernist, thought, we see that there are three aspects to what is known as the universe. Dr Lee spells it out elsewhere,

“God Triune, at the beginning, created the tri-universe (two-heavens-and-one-earth). Gen. 1:1f. The first heaven is the air surrounding our earth, and an integral part thereof (Gen. 1:6). The second heaven is outer space, and the third heaven is the dwelling-place of God’s good angels (II Cor. 12:2). All three, like the Three Persons within God Triune Himself, interpenetrate and overlap one another — which is quite what one would expect creatures of God Triune to do. Indeed, this is what Rev. Prof. Dr. Cornelius Van Til meant by ‘the one and the many.’ I Cor. 12:12-20.”[1]

So, here we see where that door-knocking granddad and I disagree with each other. Because he denies that there are “Three Persons within God Triune Himself”, he disagrees that Jesus is God. He thinks that Jesus, like the angels, the air surrounding our earth, outer space, the entire universe, is a creature like all the other creatures created by God, some just listed.

To deny that Jesus is God is to deny that God is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Christians are baptized into one name, not three names: “Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 28:19b. So, my fellow granddad was in error thinking that Jesus was not God the Son who entered into His creation as a fully human being at the very first Christmas. We see then that Jesus is God and Man in one divine Person forever. How do we know? Because the Bible tells us so.

“Chinese whispers”? Well, like my fellow granddad has done with Jesus, so some people likewise do with the Bible. They like to change the Bible to suit their own purposes. Their main purpose being to deny the God who has revealed Himself therein. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” has become garbled down through the ages. It is now “The multiverse just is.” What’s the multiverse? To use a movie title it is, Everything Everywhere All at Once. There is no God. There is no beginning. There is no rhyme or reason. It is only formless and void, chaos.

Yes, I’d rather talk about my grandkids than the weird things some people believe, but I was reminded the other day when lying face down on a table as my physiotherapist stabbed, poked, prodded and massaged my busted shoulders and neck that, now more than ever, people need to hear about Jesus. Why? Because of what He will do for those who belong to Him: “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:4.

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[1] God Triune in the Beginning – and for the 21^st Century: Dr F N Lee - Sermon God Triune in the Beginning – and for the 21st Century Page 2 (dr-fnlee.org)