Category: Hear From the President

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

A hot topic in the media these days is the way Christians respond to LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) issues. A few weeks ago, Greg Williams, Charles Albrecht, Rick Shallenberger and I participated in a day-long discussion on this topic sponsored by the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE). We gleaned much helpful information—I’ll share some of it with you here.

Because same-sex marriage has been legalized in some states, pastors are being asked if they will officiate at same-sex weddings. During the gathering, an attorney explained that while the media tends to sensationalize reports of certain litigation, clergy will not be forced to perform same-sex marriages in the U.S. in the foreseeable future.

A presentation that was particularly relevant to pastoral ministry was given by Dr. Mark Yarhouse (pictured at left). Mark is an ordained elder, a faculty member in the doctoral program in clinical psychology at Regent University in Virginia and founding director of the Institute for the Study of Sexual Identity. He’s written two books: Homosexuality and the Christian, A Guide for Parents, Pastors, and Friends and Understanding Sexual Identity, A Resource for Youth Ministry. He blogs at http://psychologyandchristianity.wordpress.com.

In his NAE presentation, Dr. Yarhouse identified three lenses through which people tend to view same-sex attraction:

• The integrity lens, which tends to focus on how integrity and sacredness of male and female differences are key.
• The disability lens, which tends to focus on how sexual orientation/identity is a reflection of the non-moral aspect of our broken and fallen world.
• The diversity lens, which tends to focus on how relationships and community present us with a call to compassion and the recognition of diversity.

Because each lens has strengths and limitations, Mark advocates that we take into account the strengths of all three. This broader perspective recognizes that God has ordained male and female differences as part of his good creation. It also recognizes that we live in a broken, fallen world where no aspect of life (physical, social, psychological, economic or political) remains untouched by the Fall and our sin. Though we celebrate the good differences of being male and female, we recognize that gender distinctions often are expressed in ways that display our brokenness. We also realize that sexuality is not the most important factor in our identity. Our calling, relationship and identity in Christ is the first and most important thing for all humanity.

In creating us human, God gave us a common nature and destiny. And while we have these similarities, we also have differences. Sexual identity, job identity, positional identity and all other forms of identity are secondary subsets of who we are and are becoming. This is where the gospel must remain clear and not be diverted to lesser issues in response to an agenda being set by society. The gospel is about our identity and relationship to God and his relationship to us, now and forever. The gospel is not primarily about our social identity, our brokenness, or even our sin. It is about who we are and who we are becoming under the grace of God through Christ in the power of the Spirit.

Gospel-focused pastoral care does not mean that we never talk about sin, but it does mean that we don’t use sin (or particular sins) as a means to divide others from us. We don’t allow sin to be the primary means of identifying who we are. Instead, we realize that we are all forgiven sinners and have all fallen short of the glory of God. The apostle Paul gave us the proper way to relate to anyone in any kind of sin: “Love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:8). This is nailed down well in a statement attributed to C.S. Lewis:

There is someone that I love enough even though I don’t approve of what he does. There is someone I accept, though some of his thoughts and actions revolt me. There is someone I forgive, though he hurts the people I love the most. That person is me. (Quoted in UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity… and Why It Matters, p. 198).

Lewis pointed out another important understanding in one of his letters:

I take it for certain that the physical satisfaction of homosexual desires is sin. This leaves the homosexual no worse off than any normal person who is, for whatever reason, prevented from marrying… Our speculations on the cause of the abnormality are not what matters and we must be content with ignorance. The disciples were not told why (in terms of efficient cause) the man was born blind (John 9:1-3): only the final cause [ultimate purpose], that the works of God should be made manifest in him. This suggests that in homosexuality, as in every other tribulation, those works can be made manifest: i.e. that every disability conceals a vocation, if only we can find it, which will “turn the necessity to glorious gain.” (Quoted from a 1954 letter from Lewis in Sheldon Vanauken’s A Severe Mercy, pp. 146-148).

As the NAE gathering drew to a close, we found consensus on these key points:

• We define marriage as being between a man and a woman.
• We are not required to perform any marriage, homosexual or heterosexual.
• As Christians, we are opposed to verbal or physical abuse of anyone in the LGBT community or any other community.
• We should point out that singleness is a spiritual gift.
• We understand marriage to be the exclusive biblically-sanctioned context for expressing sexuality.

These points are relevant to pastoral ministry and I believe we all can accept them. Greg, Charles, Rick and I spent extra time talking about singleness as a spiritual gift. Unfortunately the words and actions of some churches imply that if you are single, you are somehow not a whole person. But that viewpoint is wrong—it flies in the face of the gospel, which proclaims that it is Jesus who makes us whole. Jesus was single and Paul wrote about singleness as a gift (1 Corinthians 7:1-40). We hope to address this topic in the future. In the meantime, let me recommend the resources listed in my PS below.

Another highlight of the NAE gathering was a presentation from Christopher Yuan (pictured at right). He told us that while attending dental school he began using illicit drugs and living promiscuously as a homosexual. Within a few years, he had been expelled from school, imprisoned for drug dealing and found to be HIV-positive. He now lives an abundant new life in Christ, is a graduate of Moody Bible Institute and Wheaton College Graduate School, and is now pursuing a doctorate at Bethel Seminary. At http://youtu.be/NJdEZv_24Uk you’ll find a video of a panel discussion that includes Christoper. The discussion has some of the most helpful material I’ve found on same-sex attraction. What Sam Allberry says is especially helpful (Sam is the author of a book entitled Is God Anti-gay?).

Though some declare celibacy impossible for gay people because their homosexual orientation is the “unifying center of their consciousness,” I believe that Jesus and Paul would disagree. Both were unmarried celibates who went out of their way to praise the single (celibate) life. This does not mean that our gender as men and women who have particular sexual orientations is irrelevant or an unimportant aspect of who we are. But first and foremost, we belong to Christ and are called to die daily so as to be transformed and grow up continually in him. Our sexual orientation and marital/single status can never be as important to us as our union with Christ and our calling to live a new life in him—a life lived in the hope of where he is taking us as his beloved children. In Christ we are members of his body and thus members one of another. Together we live at the foot of the cross—in the light of his holy, loving and transforming grace. We are brothers and sisters in Christ. That is our true identity!

Our calling as pastors is always to share the good news, which says that God’s love for us is not conditioned by our sexuality, our relationship status, or anything else. He loves us unconditionally because he is our Father and we are his children. He forgives all our sin so that we might be reconciled to him. As pastors and church leaders, we always need to promote positive views and examples of marriage and sexuality. In the same vein, we need a more robust view of singleness, friendship and simply being brothers and sisters in the body of Christ.

Living and sharing the gospel with you,
Joseph Tkach

P.S. Here are some additional resources related to this topic. I think you’ll find them helpful:

• Dr. Gary Deddo’s papers at http://www.trinitystudycenter.com/topical/why-we-are-gendered-beings-g-deddo.pdf and http://www.trinitystudycenter.com/topical/trinityandgender.pdf.
• NAE’s booklet, “The Theology of Sexuality” at http://nae.net/theology-of-sex/.
• Ron Sider’s Christianity Today blog post at http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2014/november-web-only/ron-sider-tragedy-tradition-and-opportunity-in-homosexualit.html.
• N.T. Wright’s presentation at http://youtu.be/AsB-JDsOTwE.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In explaining Trinitarian incarnational theology, we’ve spoken and written a lot about faith, describing it as personal participation in what God has called us to do—this is active faith. But we’ve also described faith as participation, by the Spirit, in Jesus’ own faith—this is passive faith. If addressing faith in both of these ways has caused confusion, I apologize. The truth is that it’s not either/or—it’s both/and. Christian faith is both active and passive. Let me explain.

I hope we remind ourselves every morning to live that day through faith in Christ. Doing so not only motivates us to prepare for the challenges ahead, it reminds us where our faith comes from. Faith and the repentance that accompanies it are gifts of the Spirit. I believe this is what Peter had in mind when he wrote, “Prepare your minds for action” (1 Peter 1:13 NASB). The early church must have had this in mind as they grew over a period of 300 years from 120 believers to dominating the Roman Empire. This reminder to live by the Spirit through faith in Christ is both active and passive.

Seeing our faith as either active or passive leads to an imperfect understanding of the revolutionary nature of Christian discipleship. Christ lives in us (active) but we also live in Christ (passive). As the apostle John makes clear in 1 John 1:8-10, we know no matter how active our faith may be in this life, we will never be totally free from sin and so never perfect. Thus our active faith is never sufficient. But, praise God, this is not the final word. Jesus came and began a new life in us that he will finish (Philippians 1:6)—he will continue to give us the gift of sharing (more and more) in his perfect faith (trust) in the Father by the Spirit.

I believe it is not only more theologically accurate, but also beneficial to our mental health that we recognize faith as both active and passive. Emphasizing one over the other leads to all sorts of problems. If we emphasize active faith, there is the danger of self-righteously viewing others as less faithful and righteous. But if we emphasize passive faith, there is the danger of antinomianism (believing there is no obligation to keep a moral law), libertinism (living without morals and responsibility) and spiritual laziness. Both extremes stem from an incomplete understanding of sanctification (in Christ and by the Spirit) and often results in a joyless Christian life.

Put another way, taking one side or the other is being one-dimensional in a four-dimensional world. Think of the two aspects as two points on a circle, each point leading to the other, and the whole circle in Christ. We better understand faith when we carefully examine the topic of sanctification. The word translated “sanctification” means “set apart” or “separation.” In his high priestly prayer, Jesus said: “For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified” (John 17:19). Jesus set himself apart in order to set us apart. Sanctification speaks to the passive side of faith as reliance on God to make us more like Jesus Christ by uniting us with him. In being united with him we are then drawn by his Word and Spirit into deep and personal relationship with the Triune God. This is the active side of faith—our response to God’s love, our desire to grow in our relationship with God. In that relationship we realize that God is empowering us to pursue and live out holiness, that is, live out our being set aside for communion with the Triune God.

Faith, in both its passive and active elements, rests upon and is under-girded by the faith of Jesus Christ, who lived in and lived out his relationship with the Father in the Spirit. This is what he came to share with us. When we lack assurance in the faith of Christ (his own faith and repentance in our place and on our behalf), we are thrown back upon ourselves to rely upon our own repentance and faith. One thing we should all acknowledge is that we can’t even remember all the sins from which we should repent. For this reason alone, we don’t want to be thrown back upon our own spiritual strength—we want the faithful strength of Jesus to be at work in us.

Note how T.F. Torrance explained Jesus’ faithfulness:

Jesus Christ stood in our place, taking our cause upon him, also as Believer, as the Obedient One who was himself justified before God as his beloved Son in whom he was well pleased. He offered to God . . . a perfect faith and response which we are unable to offer, and he appropriated all God’s blessings which we are unable to appropriate. Through union with him we share in his faith, in his obedience, in his trust and appropriation of the Father’s blessing; we share in his justification before God. Therefore when we are justified by faith, this does not mean that it is our faith that justifies us, far from it—It is the faith of Christ alone that justifies us, but we in faith flee from our own acts even of repentance, confession, trust and response, and take refuge in the obedience and faithfulness of Christ—“Lord I believe, help thou mine unbelief.” That is what it means to be justified by faith. (“Justification: Its Radical Nature and Place in Reformed Doctrine and Life,” Scottish Journal of Theology, vol 13, no 3. pp. 225-246.)

Our sanctification is the work of the Trinity. Jesus said “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working” (John 5:17). Our heavenly Father always works in us “to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13). God works in us to change our wrong desires. Jesus’ ministry sanctifies us, and his work on the cross became our sanctification (1 Corinthians 1:30 NASB). He is the author and the finisher of our faith. The Holy Spirit is the agent of our sanctification. He produces in us the fruit of sanctification (Galatians 5:22-23).

Perhaps we can see more clearly that we are both passive and active in our being sanctified. Passively, we trust God to sanctify us, for it is his will that we be sanctified. Actively, we choose to do what is good, right and faithful. Here is how Paul put it: “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable” (1 Thessalonians 4:3-4).

An easy way to show the value of both active and passive faith is in this statement: We praise God and respond (active) to the gift of sanctification that we can receive (passive) through the faith and faithfulness of Jesus through the Holy Spirit.

Living in faith,
Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The month name “January” is from the Latin word janua, which means a door or window from which a person may look both ways—in and out, backward and forward. As we stand at the doorway into 2015, I find myself looking back with appreciation and forward with anticipation.

Looking back, I can’t say I appreciate all that happened in 2014—we lost several dear friends, including Arnold Clauson, John Halford and Bernie Schnippert. Though I continue to mourn their passing, I thank God for the impact they had on GCI and on me personally. I appreciate their love, their relationships and their labor, which all will bear fruit for many years into the future. Though we will miss them, we’re glad their suffering is over and they are now “at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). I know you join me in praising God for the victory over death that is ours in Christ.

I also want to express my deep appreciation for Dan Rogers who retired this past week. Dan has been our U.S. Church Administration and Development (CAD) director for 19 years. His legacy will live on for many years to come. I appreciate all he has given to GCI, and I appreciate our personal friendship.

I also appreciate our new CAD director, Greg Williams, who with his wife Susan recently moved to Glendora. I’m looking forward to working with Greg on a regular basis.

Yes, looking back at 2014, there is much to appreciate. We have new pastors, new churches (including congregations that have joined us), new elders and ministry leaders. I also appreciate our U.S. Church Multiplication Ministries (CMM) team, which Randy Bloom has led for several years, building a foundation upon which we will build. Randy, who now serves as a U.S. regional pastor, has passed the baton of CMM leadership to Heber Ticas. I know we all appreciate what Randy has built and anticipate where Heber and his team will lead us in the future.

This brings me to looking forward into 2015 with great anticipation.

In the U.S., Greg Williams and his team will be implementing a new CAD structure that has six geographic regions. Each region is led by one of our regional pastors: Lorenzo Arroyo, Randy Bloom, Ted Johnston, Paul David (P.D.) Kurts, Mike Rasmussen and Rick Shallenberger. In serving the pastors within their respective regions, each RP will be assisted by a team of senior pastors.

Internationally, the new year will bring several new developments. I’ll be sharing the good news in the next few months.

As we enter 2015, I extend personal thanks to all our pastors, elders and others serving our church membership. As the apostle Paul tells us, this is a noble work. Your faithfulness to our Lord and Savior is a delight to behold. I believe you all join me in looking forward with anticipation to what the Holy Spirit will be doing within our fellowship in the year ahead. I think it’s going to be an exciting year! I pray God’s blessings upon you all in the new year.

Appreciating and anticipating,
Joseph Tkach

PS: Thanks to all who sent me birthday cards (my birthday is in December)—I enjoyed every one of them!

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

As the traditional day for celebrating the birth of Jesus, Christmas provides the church its focal point for gratefully acknowledging the Incarnation of the Son of God. In response to this historic event, the angels joyfully praised God (Luke 2:13) as they watched God’s master plan unfold. I believe this is significant to notice. The angels rejoiced because they knew it was God’s desire to be reconciled to his children, and that in Jesus, the children would be reconciled to their Father.

The Incarnation is not only for humanity and our reconciliation to God; it is also for the Father whose purpose has always been to be reconciled to his children. As fully God, Jesus acts in the role of the reconciler, and as fully human, he acts in the role of the one reconciled. Because he worked for both God and humanity, I fondly refer to Jesus as a “double agent.” But unlike other double agents, Jesus was loyal to both parties. One of my favorite secret agents, James Bond, temporarily saved the UK and the world from terror and ruin as he awaited his next assignment. But Jesus, through his one assignment, redeems and saves the whole world for eternity.

Whether or not the birth of Jesus occurred on December 25 is not important; what is important is that it did occur and is a real event to be celebrated. In Christmas celebrations, Christians honor the reality of the one plan of redemption throughout history—a plan brought about by Jesus Christ, who fulfills the promise to Abraham: “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Galatians 3:27-29 ESV). As the one true son of Israel, Jesus is the answer to and fulfillment of all of God’s promises. “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory” (2 Corinthians 1:20 ESV).

As you know, God made a covenant with Israel: “If you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:5-6). Unfortunately, Israel as a nation was not faithful to the covenant as the prophets repeatedly warned: “They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words. They have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant that I made with their fathers” (Jeremiah 11:10 ESV).

It is only in Jesus’ total obedience as a human son of Israel that the covenant is fulfilled. He is the true Israel of God. He inherits the Abrahamic promises on behalf of of all Israel. And that’s good news for all people because the eternal Son of God, through his Incarnation, became the second Adam—the representative for all humanity. Therefore we rest on his perfect obedience. As our great High Priest Jesus acts in our place and on our behalf. In this way, all who “belong to him” are included in God’s “Yes.” “Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed’” (Galatians 3:7-8 ESV).

In his book, Incarnation, T. F. Torrance makes the point that Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecies:

If it is the historical factuality of Jesus that is of controlling importance, then that Jesus must be presented as really embedded in history, embedded therefore in the hard stubborn history of Israel. That is precisely the case with Jesus (p. 16).

Jesus is God in the flesh. He is Israel in his humanity so that in him God and humanity are brought together in flesh and blood, in time and space, in person.

As I said before, Jesus is a true double agent—always for us, always on our side, the only one who has redeemed and saved all. And also like a double agent, not everything is transparent. Jesus’ mortal humanity concealed his divine identity. In commenting on Paul’s thoughts to the Philippians, Karl Barth says the following:

[Jesus] puts himself in a position where only he himself knows himself in the way that the Father knows him. In the unknowability into which he enters, it is now certainly the Father’s part to reveal him. But the step that brings him into that unrecognizable condition, into the incognito, is grounded entirely in himself alone… He exists in such a way that to any direct, immediate way of regarding him—e.g. to the historical and psychological approach—he does not present the picture of his proper, original, divine Being, but solely the picture of a human being (The Epistle to the Philippians, p. 63).

What becomes revealed in Jesus is that the Triune God cannot be known in a true and saving way by mere mortals. So God the Father in the person of Jesus, reveals the divinity of his Son by the Spirit. And that revelation can only come about by grace which, at the same time, reconciles and redeems us. Knowing God in Jesus the incarnate Son transforms us in every way. That is why Jesus said, “All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matthew 11:27). The early church put it this way: “Only God knows God and only God reveals God.”

Here’s a related quote I much enjoy from N. K. Gupta:

Christ by becoming a mortal, accepted slavery to those cosmological forces that lord over humanity. But, like a true “double agent” of popular espionage, he never forsook his true allegiance to God or his status as Son of God… Christ is ingeniously able to nullify their own power through the ultimate act of eschatological reversal: his own death and resurrection that is capable of being shared by others” (Horizons in Biblical Theology, 32.1, pp. 1-16).

At Christmas we rejoice along with the angels in this great reversal. We celebrate Jesus’ perfect obedience, which fulfilled the covenant on our behalf. We celebrate that Jesus is the one true son of Israel, and because we are in him, by faith we share with him in the covenant promises. We celebrate that Jesus never forsook his allegiance to God nor his allegiance to humanity. We celebrate the redemption we have in Christ our Savior. We celebrate the Incarnation.

Merry Christmas!
Joseph Tkach

PS: For a parody of the rock anthem “Bohemian Rhapsody” that powerfully recounts the Nativity story, watch the video at http://youtu.be/pW1pbuyGlQ0.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The Advent-Christmas season is a time of joy, hope and promise as we reflect on Jesus and the Incarnation. People all over the world are telling the story about his birth. The airwaves are filled with songs of the season. Churches are celebrating with pageants, cantatas and choirs. It’s the time of the year when you’d think the whole world has a chance to learn the truth about Jesus, the Messiah.

Sadly, many don’t get the full meaning of the season and simply celebrate Christmas because of the holiday spirit. They miss out on so much because either they don’t know Jesus or have fallen for the lie that Jesus is merely a myth—a contention that has been around since Christianity began.

This time of year it’s common for articles to declare that “Jesus is a myth,” typically noting that the Bible is unreliable as a source of history. But these claims overlook the fact that the Bible has been around far longer than many “credible” sources. Historians often cite as reliable the writings of historian Herodotus. Yet there are only eight known copies of his writings, with the earliest dated 900 A.D.—some 1,300 years after Herodotus’ time.

Contrast that with the “discounted” New Testament, which was written shortly following Jesus’ death and resurrection. The earliest New Testament manuscript (a fragment from the Gospel of John) is dated A.D. 125-130 A.D. There are more than 5,800 complete or fragmented copies of the New Testament in Greek, about 10,000 in Latin and 9,300 in other languages. Let me share with you three notable quotes that point to the authenticity of the New Testament accounts of Jesus’ life.

The first quote is from first century Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus:

Now there arose at this time a source of further trouble in one Jesus, a wise man who performed surprising works, a teacher of men who gladly welcomed strange things. He led away many Jews, and also many of the Gentiles. He was the so-called Christ. When Pilate, acting on information supplied by the chief men around us, condemned him to the cross, those who had attached themselves to him at first did not cease to cause trouble, and the tribe of Christians, which has taken this name from him is not extinct even today. (Antiquities, 18.3.3)

F.F. Bruce, who translated this quote, noted that, “The historicity of Christ is as axiomatic for an unbiased historian as the historicity of Julius Caesar.”

The second quote is from Roman historian Carius Cornelius Tacitus who also wrote in the first century. Referring to accusations that Nero burned Rome and then blamed Christians, he wrote this:

Nero procured others to be accused, and inflicted exquisite punishment upon those people, who were in abhorrence for their crimes, and were commonly known by the name of Christians. They had their denomination from Christus, who in the reign of Tiberius was put to death as a criminal by the procurator Pontius Pilate… At first they were only apprehended who confessed themselves of that sect; afterwards a vast multitude discovered by them, all of which were condemned, not so much for the crime of burning the city, as for their enmity to mankind. (Annals, 15, 44)

The third quote is from Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, official historian of Rome during the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian. In a book written in A.D. 125 concerning the lives of the first twelve Caesars, Suetonius wrote this about Claudius (who reigned from A.D. 41 to 54):

He banished the Jews from Rome, who were continually making disturbances, Chrestus being their leader. (Life of Claudius 25.4, and note his spelling of Christ as “Chrestus”)

Suetonius’s statement points to the growth of Christianity in Rome prior to A.D. 54, only two decades after Jesus’ death. Reflecting on this and other evidence, British New Testament scholar I. Howard Marshall concluded: “It is not possible to explain the rise of the Christian church or the writing of the Gospels and the stream of tradition that lies behind them without accepting the fact that the Founder of Christianity actually existed.”

Though other scholars doubt the authenticity of the first two quotes and a few even claim them to be forgeries by Christians, the criterion for validating these references is solid. I enjoy a comment made by historian Michael Grant in his book, Jesus: An Historian’s Review of the Gospels: “If we apply to the New Testament, as we should, the same sort of criteria as we should apply to other ancient writings containing historical material, we can no more reject Jesus’ existence than we can reject the existence of a mass of pagan personages whose reality as historical figures is never questioned.”

Though skeptics are quick to dismiss what they don’t want to believe, there are exceptions. Noted skeptic and liberal theologian John Shelby Spong wrote in Jesus for the Non-Religious, that “Jesus was, first of all, a human being who actually lived at a particular time in a particular place. The man Jesus was not a myth, but a figure of history from whom enormous energy flowed—energy that still in our day cries out to be adequately explained.”

In his days as an atheist, C.S. Lewis believed that the New Testament accounts about Jesus were mere legends. But when he read them for himself and compared them with what he knew of actual ancient legends and myths, he saw clearly that these writings were nothing of the sort. They had the form and quality of recollections concerning the daily life of a real person. With that recognition, a barrier to faith fell away. From that point forward, Lewis had no problem believing in the historical reality of Jesus.

Many skeptics assert that Albert Einstein, as an atheist, did not believe in Jesus. Though Einstein did not believe in a “personal God,” he refused to combat those who did, because “Such a belief seems to me preferable to the lack of any transcendental outlook” (Einstein and Religion: Physics and Theology, by Max Jammer). Einstein, who grew up a Jew, admitted to being “enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene.” When asked by an interviewer if he accepted the historical existence of Jesus, Einstein gave this reply: “Unquestionably. No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life. How different, for instance, is the impression which we receive from an account of legendary heroes of antiquity like Theseus. Theseus and other heroes of his type lack the authentic vitality of Jesus” (“What Life Means to Einstein: An Interview,” by George Sylvester Viereck, The Saturday Evening Post, October 26, 1929).

I could go on, but as Roman Catholic scholar Raymond Brown has rightly noted, concentrating on the question of Jesus being a myth causes many to miss the real point of the Gospels. In The Birth of the Messiah, Brown mentions that he is often approached around Christmas by those wanting to write an article about the historicity of Jesus’ birth. “With little success I try to convince them that they could promote understanding of the birth stories by concentrating on the message of those stories instead of an issue that was very far from primary [for] the evangelists.”

When we keep our focus on sharing the story of Christmas, instead of on trying to convince people that Jesus was not a myth, we are giving living proof of Jesus’ reality. That living proof is the life he now lives in us and among us. The Bible’s focus and purpose is not to prove the historical validity of Jesus’ incarnation, but to share why he came and what his coming means to us. The Holy Spirit uses Scripture to put us in actual contact with the incarnate and risen Lord who draws us to himself that we might believe in him and worship the Father through him. Jesus came into the world as a demonstration of God’s love for each and every one of us (1 John 4:10). Here are a few other reasons why he came:

• To seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10).
• To save sinners and call them to repentance (1 Timothy 1:15, Mark 2:17).
• To make himself a ransom for humanity (Matthew 20:28).
• To bear witness to the truth (John 18:37).
• To do the will of the Father, which is to bring many children to glory (John 5:30, Hebrews 2:10).
• To be the light of the world, the way, the truth and the life (John 8:12; 14:6).
• To preach the good news about the kingdom of God (Luke 4:43).
• To fulfill the law (Matthew 5:17)
• Because the Father sent him: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:16-18).

This month we celebrate the truth of God entering our world in Jesus. It is good for us to remember that not everyone knows this truth, and we have been invited (commissioned) to share it with others. Jesus is more than a historical figure—he is the Son of God who came to reconcile all to the Father in the Holy Spirit. That is what makes this season one of joy, hope and promise.

Enjoying the season,
Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Recently, three couples who are our dear friends shared that they are expecting grandchildren. For two couples, it’s their first grandchild and they gave me a delightful rundown of their plans to be present at the birth. For the third couple, it’s their second grandchild and they too plan to be present for the wonderful event.

Tammy and I still remember the glorious emotions we experienced awaiting the arrival of both of our children. We still talk about it as if it were yesterday. I imagine most of you share similar memories and some of you are anticipating the wondrous time of new life in the weeks or months ahead. So it’s fairly easy for most of us to identify with the joy felt by two pregnant women in Luke’s account known as The Visitation.

At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!… As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy (Luke 1:39-42, 44).

In response, Mary offered a song known as The Magnificat.

“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm, he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, he has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of low degree; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his posterity forever” (Luke 1:46-55, RSV).

The phrase “my soul magnifies the Lord” can mean to praise, glorify, celebrate, adore, enlarge, exalt or extol. The words convey an experience of being enlarged, lifted up and out of one’s self by power from another realm. This is a quality of joy and hope that transcends human emotion—it comes only from God.

Mary’s song, which weaves together the language of several of the Psalms, is patterned closely on the song of Hannah, who could not bear children until the Lord visited her (1 Samuel 2:1–10). While Mary’s song is focused on humility and calmness, Hannah’s song focuses on her sense of indignation, followed by personal triumph. An unusual feature of both songs is that God is portrayed in terms of what he has done as well as what he will yet do. This is a literary technique where the past tense is used to express hope for the future. Both songs remind us that what God has done in the past is what God will do in the future. As we continue to celebrate Advent, we celebrate this fact—noting God’s involvement in our past and relying on his involvement in our future. We rejoice in knowing that all God’s acts are the fruit of his consistent character—his faithfulness demonstrated in Jesus Christ.

Another noteworthy feature in Mary’s and Hannah’s songs is that God’s justice and mercy are presented in terms of the reversal of fortunes for the proud and the humble, the mighty and the lowly, the rich and the poor. The God of our past and future will make everything right, straighten everything that is crooked and heal all that is broken. We read of this in Isaiah 40:1-5, a passage often sung during Advent in performances of Handel’s sacred oratorio, Messiah.

The biblical accounts of Hannah and Mary (with Elizabeth) are chock-full of symbolism and prototypes from the past. Both Hannah and Elizabeth were barren until, in their later years, God intervened miraculously as he had for Sarah, Abraham’s wife. In the Old Testament, barrenness was much worse than an inability to bear children—it was a symbol of the end of human potential, the choking off of life. It pointed to the impotence of the human race in the face of sin and death. It’s no wonder that God would use a barren woman, Elizabeth, to point to his Son Jesus, who announced and accomplished the astounding reversal that Isaiah and other prophets proclaimed.

At Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth, who was pregnant with John the Baptist, said “the baby in my womb leaped for joy.” Both Elizabeth and Mary experienced great joy in receiving and proclaiming God’s sure promise concerning the future. They knew that God’s promises always come with the power to see them fulfilled. The overlapping pregnancies of these women were beautiful signs that what was promised was about to happen. In God’s economy, it already had! Mary’s song—The Magnificat—celebrates the divine events as though they already had occurred. She knew that God is as good as his Word!

Mary and Elizabeth symbolically represent the poor and oppressed, those of “low estate,” who can be filled with joy knowing their hope is in God who is faithful to fulfill what he has promised. The two miraculous pregnancies are living examples of what Jesus later proclaimed: “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). In his almighty love, God entered this world in human flesh. All who positively, willingly respond to that love by embracing their new lives in Christ, will experience magnificent joy for all eternity.

In joy,
Joseph Tkach

PS: It was a treat for me to join Pastor Frank and Leslie Howard in Newark, New Jersey to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the 24/7 Community Church. This is the first church plant after our doctrinal transformation. They began with 14 members and now have 125. Here are four pictures of the event, bearing in mind that I make no claim to being a photographer.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In his first letter to his young protégé Timothy, the apostle Paul shared this profound truth: “There is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). Though the Christian church is blessed with many inspiring and skillful worship leaders, only Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, leads us into the presence of God. He is our true worship leader.

Regardless of the particular form or style, behind all true worship is the mediating ministry of our high priest, Jesus Christ. According to the author of Hebrews, Jesus is “a great priest over the house of God” (Hebrews 10:21), “a minister [leitourgos] in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man (Hebrews 8:2 NASB).

When we hear the word “worship,” we typically think of worship practices like praying, singing and receiving an offering. But worship is much larger than that. Properly defined, worship is a lifestyle that expresses grateful response to God for all he has done for us in Christ. Included is the way we treat others, based on the truth that we have been reconciled to God through Christ (2 Corinthians 5:18).

Paul reminds us that this life of worship is one of self-sacrifice: “I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship” (Romans 12:1). “Proper worship” translates logikos latreia hymeis, which is translated as “reasonable service” in the NKJV, “spiritual worship” in the NRSV, and “intelligent service” in the YLT. True worship includes all of these.

In the Old Testament, Israel’s worship was led by the high priest who served as the representative of all Israel, standing in solidarity with the people. In his full humanity, Jesus stands in solidarity not only with Israel, but with all humanity. And in his full divinity, Jesus reconciles humanity to God. Jesus’ once-for-all, self-offering sacrifice brought complete redemption and forgiveness. In referring to Jesus as the one and only God-man priest “in the order of Melchizedek,” the author of Hebrews was explaining a special aspect of Jesus’ role as our high priest in representing us to the Father and the Father to us. Unlike Melchizedek, however, Jesus’ priesthood is eternal.

The God-man Jesus, who has rightly been referred to as “the perfect fusion of undiminished deity and complete humanity,” is both the recipient and the giver of worship. By always being in communion with the Father in prayer and worship, Jesus modeled for us throughout his earthly ministry what it means to be in relationship with the Father and the Spirit. Whereas Israel’s high priest temporarily carried the names of Israel’s 12 tribes on his breastplate, Jesus, our high priest, forever bears the names of all humans within his own representative humanity. Our Lord affirms this through the prophet Isaiah in declaring that, “I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands” (Isaiah 49:16 NRSV).

As our high priest, Jesus reveals the Father to us. In his high priestly prayer to the Father, he declared, “I made your name known to them, and I will make it known” (John 17:26 NRSV). As the one mediator of a new covenant, Jesus shows God to be a Father who desires his children’s presence (Hebrews 9:15; 12:24). This gives us cause for worship, reminding us that Jesus is both the center and mediator of that worship. In Jesus, humanity meets God in person!

In Worship, Community and the Triune God of Grace, James B. Torrance notes that our worship is Unitarian when it’s about techniques of experiencing God on our own. But our worship is Trinitarian when it’s about Jesus, our elder brother and great high priest who draws us into the eternal communion of love that characterizes God’s life as loving Father, beloved Son and Holy Spirit. As our true worship leader, Jesus goes to the Father in our name and simultaneously comes to us in the Father’s name.

The author of Hebrews makes the same point in this way: “Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. He says, ‘I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters; in the assembly I will sing your praises’” (Hebrews 2:11-12). As we worship in spirit and in truth, we join our voices with that of Jesus in praise to God. Jesus stands in our midst as one of us, taking us into God’s presence. And he stands with the Father, bringing God into our presence in perfect unity and holy love for all eternity.

Worshiping with Jesus,
Joseph Tkach

PS: I was pleased to read in the October 2 issue of The Behemoth, an article entitled “Already Friends of God.” The article, by Christianity Today editor Mark Galli, quotes T.F. Torrance in showing how the gospel is not about a transactional God but about the God of love and grace revealed in Jesus. You can read the article at www.christianitytoday.com/behemoth/2014/issue-6/already-friends-of-god.html.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

This week most of us in the U.S. will celebrate Thanksgiving. This annual holiday isn’t unique to us here—many other countries have Thanksgiving celebrations. Though rituals and customs differ, the reason is pretty much the same—to give thanks to God. In the U.S., Thanksgiving Day rituals include a turkey dinner with all the trimmings—according to the National Turkey Federation, 95% of Americans eat turkey on Thanksgiving.

Before or after the Thanksgiving meal, many gather around the TV to watch football. Football on Thanksgiving is a tradition that dates back to 1876 when the first intercollegiate football championship was held on Thanksgiving Day. One reporter called Thanksgiving “a holiday granted by the State and the Nation to see a game of football.” Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. is also known for parades. Many communities hold parades and more than 46 million people watch the most famous of them all—Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City, which began in 1924.

The true purpose of Thanksgiving, of course, is to give thanks to God. These days, we don’t praise him for the fall harvest as much as people did in times past and as much as many do in other parts of the world today. But we do praise God for our families, friends and the many other blessings we’ve received over the past year. From pre-meal prayers to laughing with family, to providing meals to the homeless, Thanksgiving is truly a celebration of praise and thanks.

Each year during Thanksgiving I’m reminded of Paul’s exhortation to the church at Philippi: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4). Thanksgiving reminds us that we have many reasons to rejoice. When families gather at the Thanksgiving table, the question is often asked, “What are you thankful for?” Then each person shares their answer. When it’s my turn, I look around the table to see the many reasons for which I am thankful. And it’s all because of the One who loves us, as T.F. Torrance notes so eloquently in The Mediation of Christ:

God loves you so utterly and completely that he has given himself for you in Jesus Christ his beloved Son, and has thereby pledged his very being as God for your salvation. In Jesus Christ God has actualized his unconditional love for you in your human nature in such a once for all way, that he cannot go back upon it without undoing the Incarnation and the Cross and thereby denying himself. Jesus Christ died for you precisely because you are sinful and utterly unworthy of him, and has thereby already made you his own before and apart from your ever believing in him. He has bound you to himself by his love in a way that he will never let you go, for even if you refuse him and damn yourself in hell his love will never cease. Therefore, repent and believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior (p. 94).

Amen and Happy Thanksgiving!
Joseph Tkach

PS: Tammy and I recently participated in the 40th anniversary of our congregation in Bermuda. It was a joy to be with this delightful church family pastored by Cecil Pulley and his wife Senior. The celebration was held at their church building (pictured below). During the week they rent part of the building to a day care operation and the parking lot to a neighboring grocery store. Please join me in extending congratulations to the Bermuda church for 40 years of faithful service.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Sometimes we are so excited about celebrating the Incarnation of the Son of God at Christmas that we neglect Advent, the season that begins the annual Christian worship calendar. Spanning the four Sundays preceding Christmas, Advent this year begins November 30. The word “advent” is from adventus (Latin), meaning “coming” or “arrival.” Advent celebrates Jesus’ three “comings” (typically in reverse order): future (Jesus’ return), present (in the Spirit) and past (Jesus’ incarnation/birth).

Our understanding of Advent is enriched when we note how these three comings interrelate. The author of Hebrews used this phrase: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). Jesus came in the Incarnation (yesterday), he lives in us now through the Spirit (today) and will return as King of kings and Lord of lords (forever). Another way to look at this is in terms of the kingdom of God. Jesus’ incarnation brought the kingdom to humanity (yesterday), he invites believers to enter in and participate in that kingdom (today) and when he returns, he will reveal the already-existing kingdom to all humanity (forever).

Jesus used several parables to explain the kingdom that he was establishing: the parable of the seed, which grows invisibly and quietly (Mark 4:26-29); the parable of the mustard seed, which grows from a small seed to a large bush (Mark 4:30-32); and the parable of the yeast, which leavened all the flour (Matthew 13:33). These parables show that the kingdom was brought to earth at the Incarnation and still exists as a reality today. Jesus also said, “If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God [which he did], then the kingdom of heaven has come to you” (Matthew 12:28; Luke 11:20). The kingdom is here, he said, and the proof is in the exorcisms and other good works of the church.

The power of God is continually manifest through believers who live in the reality of the kingdom. Jesus Christ is the head of the church yesterday, today and forever. Just as the kingdom was present in the ministry of Jesus, it is present now (though not yet fully) in the ministry of his church. The King is among us; his spiritual power is in us, even though his kingdom is not yet operating in full power. Martin Luther analogized that Jesus has bound Satan but with a long chain: “He [Satan] can do no more than a bad dog on a chain, which may bark, run here and there, and tear at the chain.”

The fullness of the kingdom will come—that is the “forever” we hope for. We know no matter how much we try to live in a way that reflects God, we cannot transform the entire world into God’s kingdom today. Only Jesus can do that, and he will at his glorious return. So while the kingdom has a present reality, its fullness is in the future. Though largely hidden today, the kingdom will be completely manifested at Jesus’ final advent.

Paul spoke often of the kingdom in its future sense. He warned against the things that prevent people from “inheriting the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10; 15:50; Galatians 5:21; Ephesians 5:5). As his language often reflected, Paul predominantly thought of the kingdom as realized at the end of the age (1 Thessalonians 2:12; 2 Thessalonians 1:5; Colossians 4:11; 2 Timothy 4:1, 18). However, he also understood that wherever Jesus is, his kingdom is now present, even in what he called “this present evil age” (Galatians 1:4). Since Jesus lives in us now, the kingdom is now present and, as Paul taught, we are now citizens of the kingdom of heaven (Philippians 3:20).

Advent is also spoken of in terms of our salvation, which the New Testament refers to in three tenses: past, present and future. The past tense is our finished salvation. It is what Jesus accomplished in his first coming—through his life, death, resurrection and ascension. The present tense is what we have now—Jesus living in us and inviting us to participate in his kingdom work. The future tense is the fullness of salvation, which we will experience when Jesus visibly returns and God is all in all.

It’s interesting to note that the Bible emphasizes the visibility of Jesus’ first coming and final coming. In between the “yesterday” and “forever,” Jesus’ present coming is invisible in that we do not see him walking around as they did in the first century. However, because we are now ambassadors for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20), we are called to represent the reality of Christ and his kingdom. So while Jesus may not be visible, we know he is with us and will never leave or forsake us, and others can see Jesus through us. We are called to make visible some of the glories of the kingdom—doing so by allowing the fruit of the Spirit to flow through us and by keeping Jesus’ new commandment to love one another (John 13:34-35).

When we understand that Advent focuses on Jesus yesterday, today and forever, we are better able to understand the four traditional Advent themes (represented in the wreath pictured above): hope, peace, joy and love. As the Messiah the prophets spoke of, Jesus is the reality of the hope that sustained God’s people. He did not come as a warrior or conquering king but as the Prince of peace, showing that God’s plan was to bring peace. The theme of joy focuses on the joyous anticipation of the birth and return of our Savior. And love is what God is all about. God, who is love, loved us yesterday (before the foundation of the world) and continues to love us (individually and intimately) both today and forever.

I pray your Advent season is filled with Jesus’ hope, peace and joy along with daily reminders through the Spirit of just how much he loves you.

Trusting Jesus yesterday, today and forever, Joseph Tkach

PS: For more on the present and future reality of the kingdom of God, see the article “The Present and Future Kingdom of God” at www.gci.org/gospel/kingdom and the series of articles in GCI Weekly Update on the kingdom of God by Gary Deddo that begins at update.gci.org/2014/02/the-kingdom-of-god-part-1/.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Unless Tammy is travelling with me, I never know whom I’ll be sitting next to when I fly. Most seatmates don’t seem to want much conversation, especially after they ask me, “What do you do?” If I reply, “I’m a pastor,” there is often a polite comment made as they put on their headphones and/or open a book to read. If I say “I supervise missionary work,” a bit more conversation ensues. On a recent flight, after the initial courteous exchanges, my seatmate paused, then asked, “How big do you think hell is?”

As we talked, it became clear that he was wondering how many people are now in hell and will go there. Will hell be larger than we imagine and heaven smaller? It’s interesting he didn’t ask about my definition of hell, or what the Bible says about hell. He just wanted to know how big it is.

I joked with him and asked if he was familiar with the pictures of Dante’s Inferno. He said no, and I said, “Well, he makes it look as though hell is already full.” I went on to explain that this topic seems to suffer from more misinformation circulating about hell than is realized.

Most are surprised to learn that the early church did not dogmatize the topic of hell, nor was there a singular view of the subject. In fact, hell is not mentioned in either the Apostle’s Creed or the Nicene Creed. Perhaps this was because the early church fathers realized humans aren’t qualified to judge such matters of eternal consequence—only Jesus Christ is (a good realization, indeed!) .

If we take Jesus seriously when he teaches about mercy, we should also take him seriously when he teaches about punishment. After all, mercy only has meaning if we are escaping a real punishment. Jesus used a variety of word-pictures for the punishment of those who refuse the loving mercy of God: fire, darkness, pain and destruction. Jesus is describing the result of a life of perpetual resistance to God’s love. Whatever hell is, it is a state of alienation from God for those who refuse his unconditional love, grace and mercy. However, this does not mean that God is the one who dispenses the pain and anguish. It is not the equivalent of parents who spank or abuse their children.

Tragically, the all-too-common misperception of God dispensing pain arises from a faulty view of God’s nature. It ignores the eternal relationship between the Father, Son and Spirit, which is lived out in the life of Jesus. It misses the point of God’s kind of humility, which is expressed in mutual self-deference to the other. We should always bear in mind that Jesus said he came to reveal the Father (Matthew 11:27; John 17:25-26). And the Holy Spirit was sent to reveal Jesus’ mission (Hebrews 10:15-16). Jesus taught that when the Spirit comes, he’ll not bear witness to himself but to Jesus (John 15:26). We see that mutual, reciprocal love in Jesus’ teaching about his purpose for coming to earth, saying he did not come to condemn the world but to save or rescue it (John 3:17).

Even more tragically, many people view God as if he suffers from manic depression or a multiple personality disorder. They struggle with the idea that on the one side, God is a being of wrath and then on the other he is a God of love. Some go so far as saying the Father has wrath, but Jesus came to bring love. But if Jesus is the “exact representation” of the Father (Hebrews 1:3) we cannot separate the Father’s nature from the Son’s nature or the Son’s nature from the Father’s. The same is true of the Spirit. Rather than seeing God in such an inconsistent and dissected manner, it is vital to realize that wrath and love are two aspects of a single attribute that is the fundamental character of God. Our talk about God is only accurate when based on the reality of Jesus Christ. He came from the Father to reveal the Father. And what we see in his life and ministry, including at the cross, is that God’s love and God’s wrath are not finally separate.

At the cross, God’s love in Christ is patently real, but so is God’s hatred toward sin. It isn’t that God loves the elect and hates the reprobate—rather, he loves us all, but hates the sin in our lives. Therefore we should think of hell in the same framework as we think of heaven by relating both to the love of God in Christ. God tells us to love our enemies and does no less himself. Because he loves us, he must be against whatever is against us—whatever damages us, harms us and ruins our relationships with God and with others. Anything less would not be loving. The sin in us is the object of God’s wrath because we are objects of his love.

At the cross, we see that the wrath of God has been meted out against human sin, guilt and alienation. Sin was literally put to death there. And it is of paramount importance to see that Christ assumed our broken, diseased humanity, turned it back to God and took on himself the judgment against our sin and guilt. As a result, we have been rescued from our sin, while our sin is condemned and sent away. The punishment due sin was (note the past tense) endured on the cross and does not take place in hell.

Systematic theologian Colin Gunton uses an interesting analogy to understand the love of God on the cross. He equates it to the cosmos suffering from cancer and Jesus taking all of that cancer into his being to heal it. His point is this: at the cross we see both God’s judgment against evil and God’s love for sinners. Since God loves sinners, our understanding of hell must account for both the judgment and the love of God that takes place at the cross.

A person who rejects God’s love is not going to enjoy heaven, and God is not going to force them to be part of the heavenly celebration. Even if he did, they would not enjoy it or experience its benefits. Instead, he permits those who repudiate his mercy to follow their own direction—one decisively shaped by their rejection of God’s love and their perpetual choosing of evil. They cannot see love and mercy as a good choice since they insist on having their own way, saving their pride, no matter what the consequences. Hell is therefore created by those who eternally resist God’s love—it is for those who will not and thus cannot be in the presence of God’s holy love. C.S. Lewis describes this understanding well in his novella, The Great Divorce:

There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.” All that are in hell, choose to be there. Without that self-choice there could be no hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. Those who knock it is opened.

When we talk about the glories of heaven compared to the agonies of hell, we should bear in mind that we really cannot conceive the reality of either. It is, to paraphrase the apostle Paul, what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard and what no mind has conceived. The best way to contrast heaven and hell is the way C.S. Lewis described it:

And yet all loneliness, angers, hatreds, envies, and itchings that it [hell] contains, if rolled into one single experience and put into the scale against the least moment of the joy that is felt by the least in heaven, would have no weight that could be registered at all. Bad cannot succeed even in being bad as truly as good is good.

We’ve all experienced loneliness in feeling separate from God and we’ve all experienced joy in understand that we are loved, forgiven, adopted and included by God in the love and life shared by the Father, Son and Spirit. One simply cannot compare one experience with the other.

Here is a final thought to bear in mind when we think of hell as the culmination of judgment: Not only should we see that hell is related to the love of God, but that heaven is also part of the judgment of God. Those who turn to Christ are overjoyed and overwhelmed in realizing that Jesus is the real Judge, a judge who died for the people he judges. “The Father judges no one,” said Jesus, “but has entrusted all judgment to the Son” (John 5:22). Jesus, our Judge, has paid the penalty for the sin of all. Being in heaven means being in fellowship and communion with the Judge who saves by means of his judgment.

The one who judges the righteous, the unevangelized and the wicked, is the one who gave his life so that others might live eternally. Jesus Christ already has taken the judgment of sin and sinfulness upon himself. Therefore judgment should signal a time of joy for everyone, as it will usher in the glory of the everlasting kingdom of God where evil is banished forever and nothing but goodness will exist throughout eternity. Those who want to live with Christ in that goodness will be able to; those who do not want to will not be forced to.

Our hope is in God who sent his Son who ministered to the cosmos through the Spirit to make hell a smaller, rather than a larger place. The real answer to my seatmate’s question is this: Only God knows how big hell will be. And he has done everything he can to make it as small as possible. Given who God is in Jesus Christ, there is no good reason for anyone to go to hell—only the foolish “reason” of repudiating God’s love and forgiveness in order to keep one’s pride.

Trusting Jesus,
Joseph Tkach