Month: May 2016

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The beginning of life has always amazed me. The fact that God designed life to start from something as small as an egg cell (ovum), united in the womb with an even smaller sperm cell (spermatozoon), is remarkable to say the least. At the moment of that union, known as conception, cells begin to multiply and a human life begins to take shape. Based on recent research, some scientists now refer to the moment of conception as the spark of life.

The term spark of life has been used over the years to convey several meanings. In her book Spark of Life: Electricity in the Human Body, Frances Ashcroft notes how electricity drives all we think, feel and do by moving through the ion channels in the membranes of the cells in our body. Because of this phenomenon, doctors are able to use an EKG to measure the electrical activity of our heart. This phenomenon explains how we discern a particular substance (like a chili pepper) as being hot. It also explains how a blood-sucking vampire bat detects the body heat of its prey (like the heat coming from your big toe as it protrudes outside the protective mosquito netting!).

Conception: the spark of life

Recent research concerning the spark of life comports with what Christians have believed for centuries—life begins at conception. Formal teaching of this belief goes back at least as far as the fourth-century writings of Basil the Great (one of the first and best theologians of the Trinity).

Though it is common to refer metaphorically to the “fireworks” that accompany conception, researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago recently have shown that another kind of fireworks occurs when the egg and sperm unite, forming a zygote. As shown in the artist’s illustration above and the amazing video below, at the moment of conception a flash of light occurs as a zap of energy is released around the newly fertilized egg. Though scientists had seen this phenomenon in other animals, the Northwestern researchers were the first to see it in humans. The flash occurs when the sperm cell enters the egg, triggering an increase in calcium, which then releases zinc from the egg. As the zinc shoots out, it binds to small molecules that emit fluorescence. In a press release, one of the researchers shared her excitement in this discovery: “To see the zinc radiate out in a burst from each human egg was breathtaking.”

video on YouTube at http://youtu.be/u-ZpXOQsYQI

Light and life

I love this discovery because it serves as yet another parable in nature pointing to God, the unseen Source of the light and life of the world. From antiquity there has been a recognition that there is a relationship in the natural world between light and life. This association was used by the biblical writers to point to the deeper and unseen reality of the gracious relationship between God and his creation. The nature and quality of this relationship was fully and finally revealed in the incarnate Word of God, Jesus Christ, beginning with his conception in the womb of Mary by the Holy Spirit as she received and freely submitted to the invisible Word spoken to her by the angel of God. You will recall Mary’s response: “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38 KJV).

The apostle John wrote this about Jesus: “In him was life; and that life was the light of all mankind” (John 1:4). In John’s Gospel, “light” is used 16 times to describe the work of Christ. Jesus is not merely a light, or another light among many. Rather, he is the only Light and the true Light (John 1:9). In claiming to be the Light of the World, Jesus was clearly declaring himself to be the Messiah. Since one of the names of the expected Messiah was light (Isaiah 60:19-22), there could be no question about his self-identification.

Knowing who Jesus is should, perhaps, make the discovery of the phenomenon of the flashing spark of light at conception a bit less surprising. Jesus is the life-giver and it is as though he gives an approving wink at each moment of conception. And since Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith, he will finish what he starts in each of us as we return a loving response to him, growing up in him and receiving from him a share in God’s own kind of life, that is, eternal life.

The theme of light goes all through the Scriptures and is even used to describe God’s throne in the book of Revelation:

After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. (Revelation 4:1-5)

Yes, life does begin with fireworks. But God apparently has more fireworks in store for us as we celebrate life in the Trinity for all eternity. I look forward to seeing the fireworks display!

Rejoicing in the spark of life,
Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I see motherhood as one of God’s greatest creations. I was reminded of that recently when pondering what to send my mother and mother-in-law for Mother’s Day. I thought back to how my Mom would often remark how blessed she was to be a mother to me and my two sisters. She said giving birth to us gave her another level of appreciation for God, which I didn’t fully understand until I witnessed the birth of my own children. I recall marveling how Tammy went so quickly from the pain of childbirth to the awe of holding our son and daughter. Over the years I have continued to be awed by a mother’s love, which I confess differs in some ways from my love and the love I experienced from my father.

Given the depth and power of a mother’s love, it’s no surprise to me that the apostle Paul would use motherhood to illustrate important points about God’s covenant with humanity:

For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. (Galatians 4:22-26 ESV)

As you know, Abraham (Abram) had two sons by two wives. His son Isaac was born of his wife Sarah (Sarai), a free woman, and his son Ishmael was born of his wife Hagar, a slave woman. According to ancient law and custom, the status of the mother affected the status of her son. But there is another significant factor about these two births. Ishmael was born the ordinary way, requiring no miracle and no promise of God, but Isaac was born as the result of both a miracle and a promise.

As Paul explains, these details tell us something significant about God and his purposes for all humanity. Since Sarah was beyond childbearing age, God miraculously intervened to fulfill his promise in bringing life out of her barren womb. As a result, Isaac was born, and thus Abraham, Isaac and Jacob became patriarchs of the nation of Israel. It’s important to note that all three had wives who were barren, necessitating God’s miraculous intervention for this lineage to occur—a lineage that led, ultimately, to the incarnation of the eternal Son of God. Note T.F. Torrance’s comment:

The supreme instrument of God for the salvation of the world is Israel, and out of the womb of Israel, Jesus, the Jew from Nazareth—yet he was no mere instrument in the hands of God, but very God himself, come in person in the form of a servant, to work out from within our limitations and recalcitrance, and to bring to its triumphant completion, the redemption of mankind, and our restoration to fellowship with the very life of God himself.

We see Jesus prefigured in the story of Isaac. Isaac’s birth was of supernatural intervention, while Jesus’ birth was of supernatural origin. Isaac was offered up as a potential sacrifice, while Jesus was the actual (and willing) sacrifice of atonement that reconciled humanity to God. There also is a parallel between Isaac and us. Isaac was born of God’s promise and supernatural act, while we have been given new (supernatural) birth of the Spirit, being made to share in Jesus’ own sonship (John 3:3, 5). We, therefore, should not live as children of bondage, as if our relationship to God was mediated by a written, external law. Rather, through the mediation of God’s Son incarnate, Jesus Christ, and by his Spirit, we have been adopted into God’s family and have an eternal inheritance and hope.

In Galatians 4, Paul puts the old and new covenants in perspective. He points out that the old covenant had its origin at Mount Sinai and those under its legal arrangement (the Law of Moses) were slaves, not members of the family, and thus had no promise of receiving an inheritance. Just as Hagar brought forth a slave son, so too did the Law. In contrast, the new covenant reached back to God’s original covenant promise to be Israel’s God and for them to be his people, and through them bless all the families of the earth. This fulfillment was God’s covenant of grace. As Sarah brought forth a free son born into the family, so too does grace. Grace brings about the adoption of children. These children really belong to God. As part of God’s family, they have an eternal inheritance through their connection by grace with the eternal Son of God.

Paul makes another contrast in Galatians 4: Hagar stood for “the present” (first-century) city of Jerusalem—a city enslaved to Rome and in slavery to the Law—both offering no hope of citizenship or inheritance. But Sarah stood for “the Jerusalem above,” the mother of all the children of grace who belong to God and who have an inheritance. And that inheritance is far more than just a certain city. Our heavenly city, which one day will come to earth (Revelation 21:2), is “the city of the living God” (Hebrews 12:22). This heavenly Jerusalem is our home—it’s where we have our true citizenship. As noted in Galatians 4:26 (ESV), “The Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.” We are free to live as children of the Father because we are joined to the Son by the Spirit.

I thank God for Sarah, Rebecca and Leah—the three matriarchs of Israel who began the lineage that would lead to Jesus. Though these women were far from perfect, God used them, along with Jesus’ mother Mary, to bring forth the incarnation of the Son of God who, by the Spirit, makes us sons and daughters of God. This Mother’s Day, let’s praise our covenant-making God for his good gift of motherhood, thanking him for all mothers, including our own mothers, mothers-in-law, and wives. Motherhood truly is a sign of God’s natural and supernatural, life-giving goodness.

Thanking God for motherhood,
Joseph Tkach