A Puritan Observes Advent

Before the holiday season is over, Uncle Cephas wishes to expound a few thoughts on the tradition.

I hope this will be a time when the Spirit of God works on millions of Americans and sojourners in their midst to bring forth a spirit of repentance and renewal of saving faith.

For much of my Christian life, I chose to ignore the Church Year, and much of it I will continue to ignore.  I have long thought the Puritan emphasis on a kind of worship that will not go beyond what can clearly be found in Scripture a wise one.  This regulative principle, as it is called, holds that the method God has ordained for His own worship is spelled out in Scripture, and reflects a view of authority--whether in the family, church, or state--as a kind of stewardship rather than mastery.  Hence the Westminster divines, in their Larger Catechism (designed for the training of the more mature) spill more ink on the sins of superiors than on the sins of inferiors in their exposition of the Fifth Commandment; hence their political theory wrought an idea of political compact, rule of law, consent of the governed, and right of rebellion in extreme cases a generation and more before John Locke.

But I have come to see certain observances, especially those connected with the life of Jesus Christ, as adiaphoric rather than wrong.  Clearly, God commands us to remember those events of the Gospel, and if some focus on the Incarnation in midwinter and on the Passion and Resurrection in the Springtime, let charity assume that these other Christians still remember such things for the rest of the year--especially since the use of Sunday as a day of rest and worship rather than the original Seventh Day recalls the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.  As long as the consciences of other Christians are not to be bound by such observances or exploited for gain, I rest content.

In this, I have been helped by Heinrich Bullinger, who expressed such a view in the Second Helvetic Confession--a document from which modern Reformed folk might proft, along with the Westminster Standards and Three Forms of Unity.  The Swiss Reformer wrote a little before the Vestments Controversy and other issues hit England; and well before James VI and I's infatuation with the powers ceded to the crown by the English church had turned his head (with disastrous consequences for his son Charles).

Further, our Lord Himself was willing to observe a holiday not established in Scripture, but which nonetheless served as a reminder that God had not abandoned nor forgotten His people, and remained their defender--Chanukah.

John 10:22-23 found Jesus in the Temple during this wintertime festival commemorating the victory of the Maccabees over the Hellenistic and paganizing Seleucid oppressor.  It was on that occasion, when the site of atonement, cleansing, and divine presence was reclaimed, cleansed, and re-dedicated, that Jesus presented himself as the way by which his sheep approach the Father, and himself as the atonement through which they approach.

So, in this time of year, when the festivities are not going to be ruinous to my house and during which I have no intention of abusing food and drink (concerns which influenced the Parliament men in their banning the celebration during the Commonwealth times), I pray that the Gospel will reach many people who might not even give Christ a second thought any other time of the year. I myself have already used the time to quickly review Isaiah, Zechariah, Daniel, Matthew, and Luke.

Were I to become active again as an elder, I would not demand that anyone observe these times, for I remain adamant that such would go far beyond the limits which God has set for the church.  Yet I have found a new comfort during this season in thinking about the faithfulness of God in fulfilling His promises through the prophets. And I hope the gifts given this time of year will lead others to focus on God's great gift of the Messiah.

A Reflection on Jesus, Chanukah, and Salvation

When I was younger, the discovery that the Jewish holiday of Chanukah is mentioned in the New Testament came as quite a surprise.

And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. And
Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch. (John 10:22-23).

The purpose of this is to call attention to Jesus’ redemptive work. Redemption brings us back to an ancient Near Eastern world, in which people go into bondage due to their inability to repay debts. However, they have hope in a wealthy kinsman who may discharge their debts and redeem them from slavery.

How then, is Jesus work like this?

The feast of Chanukah—first mentioned in the apocryphal books of the Maccabbees-- celebrates the re-dedication of the Jerusalem temple to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel after that center of Judaism had been defiled by pagan rites under the Greek Seleucid emperors. Once again, the sacred place was used by the Jews to present their sacrifices; once again it was the place of atonement. The Judaism into which Jesus was born was not an easy, laissez-faire religion; but one with a very deep and pervasive sense of the seriousness of sin, and the need for atonement. The temple, unlike a synagogue or church, was not a place primarily for prayer and teaching, but for sacrifice—and these animal sacrifices of the Old Testament addressed the need for atonement. A great historical drama appears in the history of the Jews after the Babylonian exile, in which joy at being restored to the land and permitted by the Persian Empire to rebuild their temple, followed by the sudden revocation of their privileges under the Seleucid Antiochus. No wonder the successful revolt of the priestly family of Judah the Hammer caught the imagination of devout Jews to the point where they made a prominent holiday out of an event not mentioned or enjoined in the Hebrew Bible itself.

In John 10, Jesus discusses his person and mission. He speaks of giving his life for his sheep, giving them eternal life, and how no man is able to pluck his sheep from his Father’s hand (John. 10:29). This is a quick outline of the redemptive work Jesus performed for us. His death is a sacrifice rather than martyrdom, for he is offering himself not as dissenter, but as the Anointed of God by whose wounds and stripes his people are healed (Isaiah 53). In this he fulfills his role as the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). He takes us from the dominion of sin and death to return us to his God and Father. So great is the debt our sins have piled up that it cannot be discharged save by one infinitely greater, more holy, and more righteous who takes it on himself. In this, he is our redeemer from sin. For this, the Messiah was named Jesus—Yehoshua—or “Jehovah saves” (Mt. 1:21).

Just as Judah the Hammer and his family rededicated the temple after its defilement, let us rededicate ourselves to our God, showing thankfulness for the redemption he sent when the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Let Jesus be our true temple and the presence of God with us. Immanuel.