OCH! IT'S GREAT BEING A GRANDAD!
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Is Jesus God the Son?
(Photo by Neil Cullan McKinlay)
As we continue on considering what God has revealed about Himself in the Bible, let's now think about who Jesus is. He is the Word become flesh (John 1:-3, 14).
As we continue on considering what God has revealed about Himself in the Bible, let's now think about who Jesus is. He is the Word become flesh (John 1:-3, 14).
We love the simplicity of the Gospel whereby Jesus Christ is the Saviour of sinners - that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).
But we also love the profundity of the Gospel - that it's on account of Jesus being a Divine Person that His salvation is of infinite worth and His work on earth goes out into eternity.
Ontologically God is ever pleased, but is never displeased or angry, with Himself. Each of the three Persons of the Godhead, though distinct, is well pleased with the Others and Himself. God does not experience anger.
Economically God is pleased and angry only metaphorically because the nature of God itself never changes. Because God is not a man not a hair of His head was singed nor was the smell of fire on Him when He was revealing Himself to Moses in the burning bush. We know God only analogously.
God made man in His own image and likeness. But this image and likeness of God is not exhaustive. Unlike man who is finite, God is infinite. Therefore God is not the image and likeness of man – which would be to confuse or mix our created human nature with His eternally uncreated and unchanging Divine nature. God does not absorb anything in or of nature. Nor does creation absorb anything in or of God. God transcends matter.
The eternal Second Person of the Trinity, the Word, became flesh in time but continued unchanged as God. Christ's incarnation, resurrection, and ascension prove that the divine and human are and will remain two distinct natures forever. Christ's human nature with its passions (pain, anguish of soul, hunger, thirst etc.), are forever distinct from His Divine nature. Yet God knows these passions in the same way He knows good and evil (Gen. 3:22), but experiences none of these because He is without passions in and of Himself.
Speaking of Paul and Barnabas certain men said, “‘The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!’ To which Paul, by the Holy Spirit replied, ‘Men, why are you doing these things? We are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn away from these vain things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them...’” Acts 14:11&15. Paul here is stating that the nature of God is not the same as the nature of man: the two natures are distinct and are not to be confused – as was being done by the men whom Paul was addressing.
God is eternally well pleased with, and is never angry with His Son, whether at the Word’s incarnation, or His baptism, or His transfiguration, or His crucifixion. However, God is never pleased with the wicked, but angry with them every day (Psalm 7:11). Paradox? Not in Christ!
Christ never was, nor ever became, one of the wicked. Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. He is a Divine Person. Neither His divine nor human nature changed at His crucifixion. Jesus did not become a sinner on the cross. He became a sin-offering, and as such, received God's out poured fiery wrath. But Jesus suffered only in His human nature which remained distinct from His divine nature.
Christ never was, nor ever became, one of the wicked. Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. He is a Divine Person. Neither His divine nor human nature changed at His crucifixion. Jesus did not become a sinner on the cross. He became a sin-offering, and as such, received God's out poured fiery wrath. But Jesus suffered only in His human nature which remained distinct from His divine nature.
Was God pleased, or angry with Christ on the cross? One might as well ask whether Christ was angry or pleased with Himself on the cross? That is the question! Was there a conflict between His two natures? Was His Divine nature angry at His human nature – as God poured out His anger upon Him? And was His human nature angry at His divine nature for the suffering caused?
All paradoxes between the Divine and human (even God and creation) are resolved by keeping the two natures of Christ distinct. Confuse them and both the nature of God and man begin to change: Man becomes God and God becomes man. But either way both disappear like the metaphorical snake that swallowed its own tail!
In Christ God (the Word) and man are one in unity but not in substance. The properties of both natures may be ascribed to the One Person, i.e., Jesus Christ. But the nature of His Divinity must not be ascribed to the nature of His humanity, nor vice versa. Thus the Man Jesus Christ’s anger (overturning tables etc.) may very well be an expression of what is understood to be God’s anger.
However, because all revelation of God is not exhaustive and is only analogous one sees in the Man Christ Jesus’ anger more a revelation of God's Holy nature than of any supposed human passion of “anger.” Christ’s anger is revelation of God’s holiness, not God’s anger.
To say that God was both pleased and angry at the same time when Christ hung on the cross is to speak metaphorically of the holiness and righteousness of God. For God revealed who and what He is at the cross. But we must not confuse God’s anger or His pleasure with human passions. The nature of God who made heaven, the earth, and all things that are in them was not changed by His creation nor by Christ's cross.
To say that God was both pleased and angry at the same time when Christ hung on the cross is to speak metaphorically of the holiness and righteousness of God. For God revealed who and what He is at the cross. But we must not confuse God’s anger or His pleasure with human passions. The nature of God who made heaven, the earth, and all things that are in them was not changed by His creation nor by Christ's cross.
All creation is revelation of who and what God is: even Hell itself! All creation therefore, though solid and real, is a metaphor of God.
Christ is the ultimate revelation of God, for He is the express image of His person. Christ's human nature is what God would be like if He were clothed in flesh. His humanity is not God, but is united to God forever.God’s anger at Christ’s cross therefore is not revelation of an emotion of God akin to man’s anger, but rather it is the expression, the revelation of His pure and holy nature which is infinite in being and perfection, invisible, without body parts, or passions.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Baby Tristan
Well done Granddad!
Well done Tristan!
Well done Jennifer and Matthew!
Well done Granddad (again!)
Well done Dot and Neil
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Lonesome Train
As a bit of light comic relief I thought I would post this video of myself trying to sing and play guitar at the same time. Not an easy feat - for me!
My daughter Nina did the videoing on my wee Kodak Digital Camera. It kind of looks like something out of a Chinese Kung-Fu movie, what, with my lips out of sinc with the vocals etc.
Anyway, this is just an experiment with a view to more adventurous future Blogging.
The song is an original by me, and is called Lonesome Train.
Nina says we should try and do a proper job of it, with railway stations in the background etc. So, next time I'll brush my teeth and hair, and I'll put on my cleanest Country and Western shirt!
Words for: LONESOME TRAIN (Neil Cullan McKinlay)
I felt at the wicket from the price of the ticket
I was witness to a serious crime.
As I turned and shook my head the stationmaster said,
"Good grief! The train is on time!"
Is it predestination when your train leaves the station
and journeys to some place new?
Or is it just a bore when you've seen it all before
like some permanent deja vu?
Lonesome train... Take me away!
Is it providence or fate when you enter through the gate
to find your train standing on the wrong track?
Does your heart skip a beat when you notice that your seat
has got your name printed on a gold plaque?
With a teardrop in your eye you smile and wave goodbye,
you're trying to escape from your mind,
but on the rack above your head there's a suitcase filled with dread,
you packed the things you should have left behind.
Lonesome train... Take me away!
You've got to travel fast to escape a shady past
but the present always hangs around,
the future's always near but it never gets that clear
when you don't know where your train is bound.
You won't clean out your mind you're afraid you're going to find
some thought that's going to cause you pain,
but the world still passes by out the corner of your eye
when you sit aboard that Lonesome Train.
Lonesome Train... Take me away to a bright new day
It's a bright new day!
My daughter Nina did the videoing on my wee Kodak Digital Camera. It kind of looks like something out of a Chinese Kung-Fu movie, what, with my lips out of sinc with the vocals etc.
Anyway, this is just an experiment with a view to more adventurous future Blogging.
The song is an original by me, and is called Lonesome Train.
Nina says we should try and do a proper job of it, with railway stations in the background etc. So, next time I'll brush my teeth and hair, and I'll put on my cleanest Country and Western shirt!
Words for: LONESOME TRAIN (Neil Cullan McKinlay)
I felt at the wicket from the price of the ticket
I was witness to a serious crime.
As I turned and shook my head the stationmaster said,
"Good grief! The train is on time!"
Is it predestination when your train leaves the station
and journeys to some place new?
Or is it just a bore when you've seen it all before
like some permanent deja vu?
Lonesome train... Take me away!
Is it providence or fate when you enter through the gate
to find your train standing on the wrong track?
Does your heart skip a beat when you notice that your seat
has got your name printed on a gold plaque?
With a teardrop in your eye you smile and wave goodbye,
you're trying to escape from your mind,
but on the rack above your head there's a suitcase filled with dread,
you packed the things you should have left behind.
Lonesome train... Take me away!
You've got to travel fast to escape a shady past
but the present always hangs around,
the future's always near but it never gets that clear
when you don't know where your train is bound.
You won't clean out your mind you're afraid you're going to find
some thought that's going to cause you pain,
but the world still passes by out the corner of your eye
when you sit aboard that Lonesome Train.
Lonesome Train... Take me away to a bright new day
It's a bright new day!
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Abraham's God, and Mine!
(Photos by Neil Cullan McKinlay)
As we continue looking at God...
A bunch of people were arguing with Jesus about their descent from Abraham. Jesus said to them, "If I honour Myself, My honour is nothing. It is My Father who honours Me, of whom you say that He is your God. Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, 'I do not know Him,' I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." John 8:54-56.
Notice that Jesus is calling them liars for alleging that they know God when clearly they don't! Jesus is saying that God honours Him as His only begotten Son. "Then the Jews said to Him, 'You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham? It's in reply to these unbelievers that Jesus says, "Most assuredly I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM." John 8:58.
Who is the I AM? When Moses encountered the Angel of the LORD who appeared to him in the bush that burned but was not consumed, the LORD said to Moses, "I am the God of your father - the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Then He said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." Exodus 3:6; 14. Thus the "I AM" is the One who eternally is, was, and always will be. This name of God is usually rendered in English as Jehovah or LORD (note the upper case).
Put it all together and what have we got? The One who appeared to Moses is the same One who appeared to Abraham. And is the same One who was standing in (human) flesh in the midst of a group of deluded unbelievers who started picking up stones to stone Him for the (in their spiritually-blind eyes) blasphemy of calling Himself God!
But how did Abraham and Moses know that the I AM was God? Well, Moses was the one who wrote about Abraham when he compiled the first five books of the Bible (ie, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy). Paul the Apostle under inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote, "And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles [ie, the Ethnoi] by faith, preached the Gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, 'In you all the nations shall be blessed.'" Galatians 3:8. Therefore Moses and Abraham understood the Good News!
But isn't the Good News about what God has done in Christ? Yes, of course it is! However, Abraham knew beforehand what God was going to do in Christ, because, as we've already noted, "Scripture... preached the Gospel to Abraham beforehand..." That's what the promised blessings to all the nations is all about. It was about God the Father in Christ the Son by the power of their Holy Spirit subduing the nations after Satan's crushing defeat by Christ as a Man!
You see, Abraham's God and mine is the Triune God of the Bible. God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three Persons, one God. As, while under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Moses wrote, "Hear, O Israel: The LORD [ie, the I AM or Jehovah] our God [ie, Elohim or three Persons but one God], the LORD [ie, the I AM or Jehovah] is one." Deuteronomy 6:4.
Thus Abraham's God and mine is not three separate gods, but one God with three distinctions in the Godhead, ie, the Father, the Son or Word, and the Holy Spirit. Therefore,
when Scripture records God as saying, "Let Us make man in Our own image" and "Come, let Us go down there and confuse their language" and "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us" Christians hold that it is the Triune God speaking to Himself and referring to Himself.
Therefore, Abraham's God and mine is the One who refers to Himself as Father, eg, "You, O LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name." Isaiah 63:16b. And God also refers to Himself as Son, eg, "Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son's name, if you know?" Prov. 30:4b. The Son is none other than the Angel, as in, eg,"And the Angel of His Presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bore them and carried them all the days of old." Isaiah 63:10. And "'The Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple. even the Messenger [ie, Angel] of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,' says the LORD of hosts." Malachi 3:1b. The Holy Spirit? Eg, "But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; so He turned Himself against them as an enemy, and He fought against them." Isaiah 63:10.
The God of all the earth, therefore, is the God rejected by Jew's in Jesus' day, today's Jews, Muslims, Secular Humanists, Neo-Darwinists, Atheists, so called Jehovah's Witnesses, etc. etc. etc. For our God is Triune - Jehovah Elohim. Our God is Abraham's God!
The whole triumphant host
Give thanks to God on high;
'Hail, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!'
They ever cry.
Hail, Abraham's God, and mine! -
I join the heavenly lays, -
All might and majesty are Thine,
And endless praise.
(Thomas Olivers, 1725-99)
"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen." 2 Corinthians 13:14.
As we continue looking at God...A bunch of people were arguing with Jesus about their descent from Abraham. Jesus said to them, "If I honour Myself, My honour is nothing. It is My Father who honours Me, of whom you say that He is your God. Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, 'I do not know Him,' I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." John 8:54-56.
Notice that Jesus is calling them liars for alleging that they know God when clearly they don't! Jesus is saying that God honours Him as His only begotten Son. "Then the Jews said to Him, 'You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham? It's in reply to these unbelievers that Jesus says, "Most assuredly I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM." John 8:58.
Who is the I AM? When Moses encountered the Angel of the LORD who appeared to him in the bush that burned but was not consumed, the LORD said to Moses, "I am the God of your father - the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Then He said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." Exodus 3:6; 14. Thus the "I AM" is the One who eternally is, was, and always will be. This name of God is usually rendered in English as Jehovah or LORD (note the upper case).
Put it all together and what have we got? The One who appeared to Moses is the same One who appeared to Abraham. And is the same One who was standing in (human) flesh in the midst of a group of deluded unbelievers who started picking up stones to stone Him for the (in their spiritually-blind eyes) blasphemy of calling Himself God!
But how did Abraham and Moses know that the I AM was God? Well, Moses was the one who wrote about Abraham when he compiled the first five books of the Bible (ie, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy). Paul the Apostle under inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote, "And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles [ie, the Ethnoi] by faith, preached the Gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, 'In you all the nations shall be blessed.'" Galatians 3:8. Therefore Moses and Abraham understood the Good News!
But isn't the Good News about what God has done in Christ? Yes, of course it is! However, Abraham knew beforehand what God was going to do in Christ, because, as we've already noted, "Scripture... preached the Gospel to Abraham beforehand..." That's what the promised blessings to all the nations is all about. It was about God the Father in Christ the Son by the power of their Holy Spirit subduing the nations after Satan's crushing defeat by Christ as a Man!
You see, Abraham's God and mine is the Triune God of the Bible. God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three Persons, one God. As, while under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Moses wrote, "Hear, O Israel: The LORD [ie, the I AM or Jehovah] our God [ie, Elohim or three Persons but one God], the LORD [ie, the I AM or Jehovah] is one." Deuteronomy 6:4.
Thus Abraham's God and mine is not three separate gods, but one God with three distinctions in the Godhead, ie, the Father, the Son or Word, and the Holy Spirit. Therefore,
when Scripture records God as saying, "Let Us make man in Our own image" and "Come, let Us go down there and confuse their language" and "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us" Christians hold that it is the Triune God speaking to Himself and referring to Himself.Therefore, Abraham's God and mine is the One who refers to Himself as Father, eg, "You, O LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name." Isaiah 63:16b. And God also refers to Himself as Son, eg, "Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son's name, if you know?" Prov. 30:4b. The Son is none other than the Angel, as in, eg,"And the Angel of His Presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bore them and carried them all the days of old." Isaiah 63:10. And "'The Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple. even the Messenger [ie, Angel] of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,' says the LORD of hosts." Malachi 3:1b. The Holy Spirit? Eg, "But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; so He turned Himself against them as an enemy, and He fought against them." Isaiah 63:10.
The God of all the earth, therefore, is the God rejected by Jew's in Jesus' day, today's Jews, Muslims, Secular Humanists, Neo-Darwinists, Atheists, so called Jehovah's Witnesses, etc. etc. etc. For our God is Triune - Jehovah Elohim. Our God is Abraham's God!
The whole triumphant host
Give thanks to God on high;
'Hail, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!'
They ever cry.
Hail, Abraham's God, and mine! -
I join the heavenly lays, -
All might and majesty are Thine,
And endless praise.
(Thomas Olivers, 1725-99)
"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen." 2 Corinthians 13:14.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Was Adam Trinitarian?
(Photos by Neil Cullan McKinlay)
Apologies for not blogging for a wee while. I was away...
Apologies for not blogging for a wee while. I was away...I had a great conversation with a couple of Army Chaplains the other day. They, sadly, were not Presbyterian like myself. However, happily, each of us is Trinitarian. That's partly what being a Christian is!
However, they started to fudge a little when I maintained that Abraham (who is the father of believers) was/is Trinitarian. (I didn't think that they were ready to hear the news that Abraham was also Presbyterian - with Elders and all! So I kept quiet about that. One thing at a time...)
We believe in the Reformational principle that Scripture interprets Scripture. Therefore God is always the same God from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21. God doesn't change. Therefore He has always been, always is, and always will be the Eternal Father, Eternal Son, and Eternal Holy Spirit, or, Father, Word, and Spirit.
Yes, Biblical revelation was progressive. But the opening verse of the Bible declares God to be at least three Persons who are one. (The word "Elohim" is not singular or dual, but plural!) God (the Father) spoke His Word and Their Spirit brought creation into being out of nothing. Moses knew this. Abraham knew this. And Adam knew this, and so do we. Which is to say that they as well as we (as Jesus says to the woman at the well), "know what we worship" John 4:23. Otherwise what is the point of God, for example, giving us His First Commandment?
If Adam, Abraham, and Moses did not know who or what God is then how are they supposed not to have any other God but God?
Letting Scripture interpret Scripture, Scripture says, "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened" Romans 1:20-21.
"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the earth" Psalm 19:1-4.
"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" John 1:14.
"In the unity of th Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son."
Yes, you're correct, Adam, Abraham, and Moses did not walk around with a copy of the Westmister Confession of Faith (Ch. 2:3) tucked under their arms. Nor did they have a copy of the Newer Testament in their back pockets. But they did have the Holy Spirit in their hearts! And they did, by the Holy Spirit, have access and communications to and from the Father through the Son (ie, the Mediator or Angel of the Covenant).
Enough to chew on for the momemt. Perhaps some more on this later?
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
When the Lights Go Out
(Photo by Neil Cullan McKinlay)How many Greenies does it take to change a light bulb? None. Someone's gone and changed them all already!
Our house had a couple of light bulbs that needed renewing. My wife Dorothy had heard of some of the new energy-saving light bulbs exploding and spraying their mercury contents about the place. So, because we care about ourselves and our environment we opted to return to the ordinary (ie, normal) light bulbs.
Problem: Where have all the ordinary light bulbs gone? All I wanted was some 25 watt and some 60 watt light bulbs - all of the bayonet type.
Problem Solved: After about a half an hour of scratching my head as I looked for these in the supermarket's selection, I ended up settling for some 53 watt bulbs (that somehow are really 75 watts), and some wee 25 watt bulbs whose globes were about a quarter of the size I'm used to!
Problem: One of the new 25 w bulbs died in a super-nova when I switched it on! I'm sure they didn't have these sorts of problems back in days of wax candles!
Question: Is my confusion over light bulbs just simply a symptom of me getting older and more fuddy-duddy, or has it actually got really hard just to change a light bulb nowadays?
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