Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good Sunday afternoon, dear ones.

The sun is shining through the fog now. Nice.

We engineered the 4 grandkids through breakfast, church, and lunch. At one point I commented to Becki, “Do you realize that there was a passage of our lives where we had 4 children of our own in tow?” Her immediate response was, “And it was easy!” That is comparatively a true statement.

After Pheasant Pointe, we’ll return the two little boys to Hillsboro. Devyn and Callie will remain with us while we meet my cousin, Skip and his wife, for a meal surrounding her birthday. I guess I gave you another little snapshot of our lives.

May your life remain snappy without making you feel shot.

Love, Dad/Ray.

It is quite understandable why many people exclaim that the Bible is hard to understand. And the reason they say that is because it is. At least, trying to sort through and figure out the cryptic messages of some of these Old Testament prophets is puzzling and difficult to put together so as to form a clear high-definition picture. This chapter is an example.

Micah amazingly pinpoints the birthplace of the Messiah—Bethlehem. He makes reference to the mind-boggling condescension of the incarnation where God becomes man by stating that this Messianic Ruler was pre-existent to His birth—“whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” Let’s pause to reflect on this, along with the first few awesome verses of John’s Gospel, since they substantiate so well that description: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it” (John 1:1-5). We’re given an interesting mix of concepts—light and darkness, life and death, understanding and non-understanding. This offers a measure of understanding as to why these realities are hard to understand. The essential parts of the mix are LIGHT and LIFE. And since those essentials are wrapped up in this special PERSON, I understand that there is no real LIGHT/UNDERSTANDING or LIFE/FULFILLED EXISTENCE independent of Him—THE AUTHOR OF IT ALL.

Here’s something else very difficult to understand about those who don’t understand—another mind-boggling reality—why it is that “Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19)? If you are with me on this thought trail, you can imagine with me someone who says, “Don’t confuse me with truth (“light”)—I’m quite in love with my ignorance and confusion (“darkness”)!” Is that why some say, “Ignorance is bliss?”

The description Micah gives of the Messiah makes it sound as though His rule and reign in the millennial kingdom will follow in close succession. He, like Isaiah, describes the work and ministry of two advents of the Messiah without any separation or distinction—that is, His first coming as a babe, and His second coming as a conquering King. I remember a Bible teacher explaining this kind of difficulty in terms of geography. He pointed out that we may view in the distance two mountain peaks that appear to be so close to each other as look like they are one mountain—but in fact, those two peaks may be separated by many miles—though they are part of the same range. That helps to enhance my understanding.

However we work this out, we must understand that the second advent will be as certain as the first. And if we love Him, we will love His appearing—both of them (2 Timothy 4:8).