Word of Life Church Podcast

John's poetic prologue to his Gospel is one of the loftiest presentations of Christology in all the New Testament—it's also one of them of the most beautiful passages of Scripture. John's theopoetics reaches its crescendo when proclaims that until we see Jesus, we've never seen God.

When Jesus was dedicated in the Temple, two old prophets -- Simeon and Anna -- spoke of the infant Jesus as Salvation and Redemption. Indeed, Jesus will save both Simeon and Anna, but neither of them knows how.

We look for Jesus in the story of Isaac, because as Christians that is how we read the Bible. Issac is the son of promise. Jesus is the fulfillment of all the promises of God. Isaac is the son of laughter. Jesus is the bringer of joy. Isaac is the son of sacrifice. Jesus is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Isaac serves as a signpost pointing to the hope, joy, and new life we find in Jesus.

In his many adventures Abraham constantly encountered Christ in some way. Abraham encountered Christ in the Voice that called him out Ur of the Chaldees and into the land of Canaan. In the foreshadowing of Melchizedek king of Salem who gave him bread and wine. In the trinity of strangers he entertained at his tent under the oaks of Mamre. In the smoking oven and burning torch that appeared when the covenant was cut. In the ram caught in the thicket on Mount Moriah on the day Isaac was offered up. Truly Jesus says, “Before Abraham was, I AM.”

Jesus is the Ark that carries the Cosmos away from corruption and into God’s new creation. Just as there was a door placed in the side of the Ark for access to salvation, so the side of Jesus was pierced that creation might enter the heart of Christ and be carried through the flood of destruction and arrive safely in a redeemed world where all things are made new.

Where do we find Jesus in Genesis in relation to Adam? We find Jesus as a new Adam who gives humanity a new original ancestor. We find Jesus in the Seed of the Woman who crushes the head of the serpent. We find Jesus in the One who comes in search of lost Adam.

If we read the Old Testament as only predating Christ instead of deeply anticipating and foreseeing Christ, we have failed to read it in a Christian manner. But when we see Christ as the Creator, as the New Adam, as Noah’s Ark, as Abraham’s sought-after city, as Isaac’s ram on Mount Moriah, as the ladder between heaven and earth that Jacob saw, as foretold in the life of Joseph, then are we reading the Old Testament in the way Jesus taught his disciples to read it following his resurrection.

John Brown went off to war to fight on a foreign shoreHis mama sure was proud of him!He stood so straight and tall in his uniform and allHis mama’s face broke out into a grin“Oh son, you look so fine, I’m glad you’re a son of mineMake me proud to know you’re wearing a gunDo what the captain says, lots of medals you will getWe’ll put them on the wall when you come home”That old train pulled out, John’s ma began to shoutTelling everybody in the neighborhood“That’s my son that’s about to go, he’s a soldier now, you know”She made well sure her neighbors understoodShe got a letter once in a while and her face broke into a smileShe showed them to the people from next doorShe bragged about her son with his uniform and gunIn this thing she called a good old-fashioned warThen the letters ceased to come, for a long time they did not comeCeased to come for about ten months or moreThen a letter finally came saying, “Go down and meet the trainYour son is coming back from the war”She smiled and she went right down, she looked up and all aroundBut she did not see her soldier son in sightWhen all the people passed, she saw her son at lastWhen she did she could not believe her eyesOh his face was all shot off and his hands were blown awayAnd he wore a metal brace around his waistHe whispered kind of slow, in a voice she didn’t knowAnd she couldn’t even recognize his face!“Oh tell me, my darling son, tell me what they’vd doneHow is it that you come to be this way?”He tried his best to talk but his mouth could hardly moveAnd the mother had to turn her face away“Don’t you remember, Ma, when I went off to warYou thought it was the best thing I could do?I was on the battleground, you were home acting proudYou wasn’t there standing in my shoes”“Well, I thought when I was there, Lord, what am I doing here?Tryin’ to kill somebody or die tryin’But the thing that scared me most was when my enemy came closeI could see that his face looked just like mine”“And I couldn’t help but think, through the thunder rolling and stinkI was just a puppet in a playAnd through the roar and smoke, the string it finally brokeAnd a cannonball blew my eyes away”As he turned away to go, his mother was acting slowSeeing the metal brace that helped him standBut as he turned to leave, he called his mother closeAnd he dropped his medals down into her hands

My name was Richard Nixon only now I'm a girlYou wouldn't know it but I used to be the king of the worldCompared to last time I look like I've hit the skidsLiving in the project with my two little kidsIt's not what I would of choseNow you have to call me RoseI was boss of bosses the last time aroundI lived by cunning and ambition unboundThe suckers said they'd stand behind me right or wrongAs if they thought that hubris was the mark of the strongI was an arrogant manBut now I've got it in handIt's not what I would have choseNow you have to call me RoseCall me RoseCall me RoseIt's not what I would have choseNow you have to call me Rose My name was Richard Nixon only now I'm a girlYou wouldn't know it but I used to be the king of the worldI'm back here learning what it is to be poorTo have no power but the strength to endureI'll perform my penance wellMaybe the memoir will sellIt's not what I would of choseNow you have to call me Rose

We're all born to broken people on their most honest day of livingAnd since that first breath we'll need grace that we've never givenI've been haunted by standard red devils and white ghostsAnd it's not only when these eyes are closedThese lies are ropes that I tie down in my stomach,But they hold this ship together tossed like leaves in this weatherAnd my dreams are sails that I point towards my true north,Stretched thin over my rib bones, and pray that it gets betterBut it won't, at least I don't believe it willSo I've built a wooden heart inside this iron ship,To sail these blood red seas and find your coastDon't let these waves wash away your hopesThis war-ship is sinking, and I still believe in anchorsPulling fist-fulls of rotten wood from my heart, I still believe in saviorsBut I know that we are all made out of shipwrecks, every single boardWashed and bound like crooked teeth on these rocky shoresSo come on and let's wash each other with tears of joy and tears of griefAnd fold our lives like crashing waves and run up on this beachCome on and sew us together, just tattered rags stained foreverWe only have what we rememberI am the barely living son of a woman and man who barely made itBut we're making it taped together on borrowed crutches and new startsWe all have the same holes in our heartsEverything falls apart at the exact same timeThat it all comes together perfectly for the next stepBut my fear is this prison, that I keep locked below the main deckI keep a key under my pillow, it's quiet and it's hiddenAnd my hopes are weapons that I'm still learning how to use rightBut they're heavy and I'm awkward, always running out of fightSo I've carved a wooden heart, put it in this sinking shipHoping it would help me float for just a few more weeksBecause I am made out of shipwrecks, every twisted beamLost and found like you and me scattered out on the seaSo come on let's wash each other with tears of joy and tears of griefAnd fold our lives like crashing waves and run up on this beachCome on and sew us together, just some tattered rags stained foreverWe only have what we rememberMy throat it still tastes like house a-fire and salt waterI wear this tide like loose skin, c’mon, rock me to seaIf we hold on tight we'll hold each other togetherAnd not just be some fools rushing to die in our sleepWhile these machines will rust I promise, but we'll still be electricShocking each other back to lifeYour hand in mine, my fingers in your veins connectedOur bones grown together in timeOur hands entwined, my fingers in your veins connectedOur spines grown stronger insideBecause I know that our church is all made out of shipwrecksFrom every hull these rocks have claimedBut we pick ourselves up, and try and grow better through the changeSo come on and let's wash each other with tears of joy and tears of griefAnd fold our lives like crashing waves and run up on this beachCome on and sew us together, were just tattered rags stained foreverWe only have what we remember