Christmas Miscellanies

Wow, we’re talking about Christmas already. Time sure flies!

More and more businesses are removing “Christmas” from Christmas. Happy Holidays from Costco and others…. Personally, however, I’m not too disturbed when our secular nation rejects a Christian holiday. For the first 300 years of Christianity all secular nations rejected all Christian holidays, and they persecuted us to boot.

R.C. Sproul’s radio broadcast Renewing Your Mind is offering daily specials. Yesterday I gave a gift to receive a copy of Sproul’s new kid’s book, The Prince’s Poison Cup. They gave an audio cd of it along with the book. Today, for any gift, you can get a new Christmas music CD (The Word Became Flesh), with narration of the Christmas story. Check it out.

I read an interesting post over at Parchment and Pen challenging many of the traditional trappings to the Christmas story. You think Christ was born in a lonely stable built into a cave away from the town? With no happy relatives there assisting? They say think again. Makes me want to research this topic out even further….

Finally, I’m going to strongly suggest that you stay tuned to BibleGeekGoneWild.com. Shaun Tabatt has an announcement to make this weekend. Something about tons of free book offers in the 12 days before Christmas. It may be in your best interest to follow his blog over the next couple of weeeks 😉 . UPDATE: here’s the link to Shaun’s announcement.

Melchizedek's Supper: Bread, Wine and a Blessing from the Prefigured Christ

breadwineMelchizedek is a mysterious Old Testament figure. He appears on the stage out of nowhere, it seems. Then he jumps right back into obscurity.

If you’re unfamiliar with the story, you can read it in Genesis 14:17-24. Abram and his army of servants and allies, defeated an invading army and rescued the people and possessions of Sodom, his nephew Lot among them. After this surprising victory, Melchizedek appears on the scene with bread, wine and a blessing. After blessing Abram and God, he receives a tenth of all the spoils from Abram’s hand. Then that’s it. He’s gone.

We do know a few other things about him. His name means king of righteousness, and he was the king of Salem (which means peace). He’s also referred to as a priest of God Most High. Ps. 110 speaks of Christ being a “priest forever after the order of Melchizedek” and Hebrews 7 builds on that.

For the purposes of my post, it’s clear that Melchizedek is a type of Christ (see Heb. 7:3). He is a Priest-King, and Jesus is the Prophet-Priest-King. Considering that God knew all along that Melchizedek was a type of Christ, and since God orchestrates all of history, including the events of Genesis 14, I think there is something for us to learn here from Melchizedek’s bringing bread and wine to Abram.

I was reading the 8th portrait of Christ in Bob Beasley’s book 101 Portraits of Jesus in the Hebrew Scriptures, when I was struck by this simple line, “He [Melchizedek] brings bread and wine, elements we use in the Lord’s Supper.” Melchizedek brought bread and wine, like in the Lord’s Supper. So I thought, what does this teach me about the Lord’s Supper? The answer might seem too simple and obvious but I think it is quite important.

The Lord’s Supper is a blessing that Jesus brings to us. It isn’t just a rite to be observed, but Jesus, comes to us bringing bread and wine. He blesses us through the meal He shares with us. As Melchizedek blessed Abram along with the bread and wine He shared with him, so Christ blesses us as we partake of holy communion.

The supper, after all, is Christ’s idea, His ordinance for His church. He says the elements represent His body and we should remember Him as we eat of it. In previous posts on the Lord’s Supper, I’ve shown how the idea of sharing a meal with God is behind the Lord’s Supper in part. I mentioned before that Wayne Grudem highlights Ex. 24:9-11 and Deut. 14:23-26 as examples of God’s eating with men. Perhaps this story of Melchizedek foreshadows those meals as well.

In the Supper, all the blessings we get come from Christ. Ultimately the bread and wine come from Him as well. This coming Sunday we’ll partake of the Lord’s Supper at my church, and I am eager to receive a blessing from the hand of Christ my Melchizedek. A blessing given through my enjoyment of the joy of wine, and the sustenance of bread. May Jesus be ever more my blessing, my joy, and my life’s sustenance. Amen!

My New Favicon: What Do You Think?

Hey everyone. Have you noticed my new favicon (the little picture to the left of my blog’s url address in your browser bar)? WordPress.com, the best free blogging service by far, now offers blog images, which double as favicons. You can upload your own image from the Settings menu (top left of the dashboard next below the Support tab).

My quandry is I really think I should redesign the header to match it. I designed this a long time back, before I really realized favicons weren’t possible for wordpress. So I can’t hunt down the cross image I used for this, to use in redesigning my header, so I may have to redesign everything.

I added a larger version of the favicon at the top of my sidebar (not quite as large as the one in this post). For now I’ll leave it like this. But I may get the designer in me going again.

So I thought I’d ask: What do you think of the current blog header? Or theme? Does it jive with the favicon? Should I change it? Are you happy with everything as is? (I know I tend to change things up around here too often….) I’m interested in your thoughts. Thanks.

Remembering the Mayflower: Happy Thanksgiving

I thought I’d wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving today. And I want to remind us all to remember that first Thanksgiving in Plymouth, 1621.

Last year I provided my family line which goes back to John Alden on the Mayflower. If you’re interested, I scanned some articles from a really old World Book Encyclopedia set I have (1925) which gives an interesting look at the Pilgrims. Alden is, you will remember, famous for his stealing of Captain Miles Standish’s would be bride, Priscilla Mullins (known as “The Mayflower of Plymouth”). “Why don’t you speak for yourself, John?” was her famous line.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, another descendant of John and Priscilla memorialized this event in a somewhat embellished poem, The Courtship of Miles Standish. You can read that poem in its entirety here compliments of Google Books.

For now, if you have some time, scan through the brief articles here (all pdfs) and remember the first Thanksgiving.

Racial Reconciliation at BJU

A while back I heard about a movement among Bob Jones University alumni to confront the institution about its racist roots. At please-reconcile.org, various proofs of racist policies and actions in the history of the school were brought forth. Always the goal was to get the college to own up to their mistake, admit that they have made an about face on this issue and to apologize.

That actually happened. BJU has put forth a statement on race in which they apologize for following their Southern culture more closely than the tenets of Scripture. I applaud them for “caving in”. The truth is, it’s sometimes harder to admit wrong when someone else points it out to you, than if you yourself see the problem. Wisely, BJU realized this wasn’t some attack on their institution’s name, but represented a real concern for the reputation of Christ.

I don’t think everyone has to apologize for all grievances, especially those of a long time ago. In this case I think it was appropriate, however (as some of the racial bias persisted even in the last 10 years). I’m glad BJU is doing what is right and setting an example. Here is an excerpt from the university’s statement:

Bob Jones University has existed since 1927 as a private Christian institution of higher learning for the purpose of helping young men and women cultivate a biblical worldview, represent Christ and His Gospel to others, and glorify God in every dimension of life.

BJU’s history has been chiefly characterized by striving to achieve those goals; but like any human institution, we have failures as well. For almost two centuries American Christianity, including BJU in its early stages, was characterized by the segregationist ethos of American culture. Consequently, for far too long, we allowed institutional policies regarding race to be shaped more directly by that ethos than by the principles and precepts of the Scriptures. We conformed to the culture rather than provide a clear Christian counterpoint to it.

In so doing, we failed to accurately represent the Lord and to fulfill the commandment to love others as ourselves. For these failures we are profoundly sorry. Though no known antagonism toward minorities or expressions of racism on a personal level have ever been tolerated on our campus, we allowed institutional policies to remain in place that were racially hurtful.

On national television in March 2000, Bob Jones III, who was the university’s president until 2005, stated that BJU was wrong in not admitting African-American students before 1971, which sadly was a common practice of both public and private universities in the years prior to that time. On the same program, he announced the lifting of the University’s policy against interracial dating.

Our sincere desire is to exhibit a truly Christlike spirit and biblical position in these areas. Today, Bob Jones University enrolls students from all 50 states and nearly 50 countries, representing various ethnicities and cultures. The University solicits financial support for two scholarship funds for minority applicants, and the administration is committed to maintaining on the campus the racial and cultural diversity and harmony characteristic of the true Church of Jesus Christ throughout the world.