Home for Christmas - redefining Christmas/birth/change/home

During this time of year when so much pageantry and celebration is happening, the thoughtful person tends to reflect upon the real purpose of Christmas, the birth of the anointed one, the Christ, the big bambino, you know the sultan of swat.  He was sent from God. He came to us. He was made in the flesh like us. He died for us.  He was taken to heaven. And here is the catch, we are predestined  to be like him, to be conformed to his image (Romans 8:29). He was the first born of many to be like him.
(I feel a little like Bud Abbott in "Who's on First". At some point in this great routine Abbott said"I don't even know what I am talking about").
 He became like us so we could be come like him? Genesis says originally we were made in the image of God (Gen.1:27 - note the we means male and female). Of course that did not last long so we fell from that created state. 2 Corinthians 4:4 tells us plainly that Christ is the imago Dei (the image of God). And it warns that if we do not see this then we have been blinded by the god of this world. Are the images of Christmas blinding me or helping me? Am I seeing clearly what I am celebrating? Am I seeing the Christ, the anointed one? Have I found where he lays?  If so where am I seeing this? Like the wise men saying "where shall we find him"?
We are definitely in deep Theological waters when we reach to understand who and what is being talked about when we speak of the "image of God". Paul talks of  being changed in the twinkly of an eye (1Cor.15:51-52) and as "we borne the earthy image, we will bear the heavenly image" (1Cor.15:49). What does change into a heavenly image have to do with Christmas and finding the birthed Christ?
We were made in God's image. We fell in some way from that image. Christ came to earth as the imago Dei (Col.1:15). We are to be changed, (predestined to conform) to the image of Christ (in case your wondering summovrfouß is the word Paul uses for conformed which means literally "with change". Sum morphous, English would be our metamorphous). So we have this change taking place in us into the image of Christ.  Christmas is the time to celebrate Christ birth. I should have it clearly in my mind what this looks like, right?  Is our celebration about the plastic baby in the nativity scene?
Christmas brings about so many images. We have images of sugar plums dancing in our heads. Santa and his reindeers, rudolph the red, frosty, just plain presents and toys, the eastern star,  the nativity, with the wise men, and don't forget the Christmas tree, are  all images closely associated with Christ's coming, oh yeah, Angels too, and elves. By the way, the word in Greek for image, yes you guessed it, it is eikon - icon. You know the little idols made with hands. The making of images and idols is prohibited again and again in the Pentateuch (Ex.20:4, Lev.26:1 Deu.4:16).  The one true image that seems to be missing from my Christmas list of icons is the imago Dei.  So we are commanded not to have any icons or idol other than God.  But to visualize this is difficult. Christ is the image of the invisible God. What does that mean? Where can this image of Christ be found and what will it look like? If I am to celebrate it, I must find it. One key for us maybe found in Romans 8:29. Here it tells us that the way we can be sure that we are worshiping and celebrating the true image is that we are being changed.
I know this because Paul links change to the birth of Christ. A full reading of Romans 8:29 gives us this promise, o{ti ou}ß proe√gnw, kai… prow◊risen summovrfouß th:ß ei∆kovnoß tou: uiÔou: aujtou:, ei∆ß to; ei«nai aujto;n prwtovtokon e∆n polloiæß a˙delfoiæß` It says we are changed (metamorphosed) into his image the one who was first born of many brothers (and sisters). So maybe the real celebration is the birthing of Christ in us.  It is his birth in us who are being changed into His image, the imago Dei.  Am I in the right place, celebrating and worshiping the right image? If change is happening then I am. Is my focus on wether I got a lot of presents or had a rockin' time? Or was it that I changed this Christmas? Did I go through a metamorphosis? Was the anointed one, Christ, born within me. Did I have a new birthing of anointing from God. Or am I the same man fallen and blinded by the images of the god of this world? The big man and his eight not so real reindeers, did they help or hinder? 
I want to start this New Year off with the image of God being wrought in my life. Changed into His image is for me the true celebration of the birth of Christ. And I want to be among the many sisters and brothers who feel the same. That is my "home for Christmas". 

A Tale of Two Tongues

I have just finished reading "Bonded or Fused into Oneness" by John Robert Stevens, a latter day apostle. He claims the miracles will flow out of the oneness. In fact the miracles of Pentecost came from the oneness. This is very scriptural and very true. Christ said in John 17 that the world will believe because we are one. So a lot is hanging on our oneness, a oneness that Christianity has yet to achieve. How do we achieve this oneness?
This emphasis on oneness brought to mind a story about a group of people who did achieve a oneness. On the plains or valley of Shinar there was a city built of brick with a migdal-Hebrew for tower- that the peps were building to reach into the heavens. They were wanting to make a name for themselves "lest they become scatter upon the face of the earth". I am sure you know the story by now too. It is the story of Babel. The people had built this tower and God wanted to see it. More importantly to God was the fact that they, the peps of Babel, had reached a oneness that according to God "And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do(Gen.11:6, KJV). Nothing will be restrained from them that they want to do. The citizens of Babylon were one in their desire to make a name for themselves. Whatever they wanted to do they could have done, but it would have all glorified the people of Babylon. It was all about them. God was not being glorified, man was. Man was worshiping the works of his hands and not glorifying God. God came down and confused their language. Man's worship of the works of his own hands has had elements of confusion ever since.
The oneness of Pentecost was exhibited in the oneness of tongues. But I am getting ahead of the real story. The real story is not about tongues or oneness, but about worship. The worship of themselves, brought oneness that God had to confuse, but it did bring oneness. The Lord wants us to be positioned in these days to do mighty exploits (Dan.7:11), but they will be done only out of a oneness and a oneness that was created by our worship of the one true God. "However, worship becomes the principal channel by which oneness of spirit with the Lord really comes about. The quicker we move into this high plane of worship before the Lord, worshiping Him with all of our heart, the sooner we will come as individuals into that oneness with the Lord. Then, and only then, the oneness with one another also becomes a possibility."
(Stevens, John Robert: This Week, Volume X ,1979).
Two other things that I like about this story, (what's not to like?). One is that in the Septuagint the term they used for the instrument of their confusion is "glossan" or tongue. The same term in the Greek that is used at Pentecost, glossinalia. God used the same instrument to demonstrate His oneness that brought the early church's beautiful example of oneness that he used to cause the people of Babel to be scattered over the face of the earth. The very thing they dreaded and feared came upon them. They should have feared and worshiped the Lord.
Christianity today could learn a lesson. As we desperately need to end the confusion of doctrine, and bring the world to Christ. It may all begin with us reaching a new level of worship to God the Father. To make His name great among the nations, in our nation, our town, in our home, in our mouths and upon our tongues.

Is it I?

Much has been made of the Greek phrase used by Jesus speaking to the mixture of torch and pitchfork bearing crowd that came to fulfill the scriptures during the night of Christ's betrayal. When asked by the crowd if he were Jesus of Nazareth, He answered "I am He" ego eimi (John 18:5). This is the same phrase, exact in the Septuigent, that God spoke to Moses on Sinai. When Moses asked who should he tell the curious Jews who had sent him, God repiled "tell them I am sent you" (Exodus 3:14). Others have tied this phrase in with the many "I am this and I am that" that is found in the book of John. This makes good preaching but it might be bad interpretation.

Doing a simple search on this phrase in the New Testament Greek, it turns up fourty-eight times in the NT. The exact usage, I am (he), finds itself in many different contexts. We find Matthew quoting God describing himself "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac...." Here he is just saying who he is and not just I am He, or I am. He seems to be using good Greek, (English in our case) to form a clear explanation of who He is. And in a number of other places we find the phrase used in normal situations saying exactly what anyone else might say in context in that situation.

One person who really stands out is Judas. When Christ told his disciples that one in their midst would betray him, Judas asked "ego eimi?". Surely that was not God's name he was uttering. Maybe he was cursing using God's name in vain? I doubt it. He was simply asking a question. "Is it I?"(Matt.26:22). How then are we to interpret this powerful phrase? Are we to discount others interpretations? Maybe not, or maybe, you will have to decide.

I do want to offer another, simpler explanation. Maybe we have made the "ego eimi" too big a deal. Maybe God was simply saying I am in the present. NOT that this is my name, to be made holy, wash your hands before writing and never say it, type name. Not a name to which no one can relate. It was just "I am that I am". Popeye said it, "I am what I am and that's all that I am I'm Popeye the Sailor Man"(I Am What I Am by Edie Brickell).

Jesus may have simply said "Yes that is my name... I am he." Read verses 8 and 9 following. His response to their falling down was simple. "I told you I am Jesus of Nazareth". It was the Jews who fell down in their fear or religious piety or something. Paul said that "God is near you even in your mouth!(Acts 14)" Maybe God simply is. It is not a statement of religion but one of relationship, "I am here and with you, now. I am."

John follows this theme with the many "I am...." sayings (ex. Egw◊ ei∆mi oJ a⁄rtoß th:ß zwh:ß, "I am the bread of life" John 6:48). If we take Christ at his word then we simply receive him as our food, our protection, our connection, our light. He is with us now and has always been with us, "before Abraham was, ego eimi"(John 8:58). The Greeks have a nuance for their present indicative tense. It is called continuous. This is the case here. God is continuously being. He told us " I will never leave you or forsake you"(Heb. 13:5). The great I am. This is a comforting thought for me, not a nomenclature.

The Catch of the Day

In John the 21 chapter we find the disciples out fishing. Jesus appears for the third time to the disciples. He is standing on the shore yelling at them. He is wanting to know if they have any "fish". This chapter is fun to read in the Greek because there is so many opinions about it. For one, some believe that the Gospel of John ends with the 2o chapter. This is the 21 chapter so naturally we are left wondering who wrote this marvelous story? Or maybe the book does not end with the 20 chapter. Something to talk about later. One hint at its later writing, though, is the use of the word prosfa◊gion.

This word is only found here in the NT and is a late Greek word. This means it has not always been around in the Greek language. (Like our adding of the words "fast food" to the English language.) In other places outside the NT the word means a relish put on bread made with fish. Some translate the word to mean "cooked fish" . T. A. Robertson translates it as "aught to eat". Certainly Jesus is talking about eating breakfast as he calls to the disciples. When the disciples arrive on shore, He eats some fish with them, in his glorified body. In verse 9 it is interesting that Christ already has some fish on the coals! He invites them to come "break the fast" (a˙risthvsate) or others say "dine" with Him. Its all about the food. Eating is after all the best way to a man's heart, and Jesus wants to get at Peter's heart.

Looking back at verse 5 the word prosphagon ( prosfa◊gion) means literally "to eat" (Robertson). This is the point at which many get side tracked. In looking around I can only find one translation that puts the emphasis on eating and not on the catch? The NIV, NET, KJV, and NASB all put the emphasis on the noun fish, or meat. Only the old ASV puts the emphasis on eating or the infinite verb form "to eat". The word "phago" in the English is about feeding or eating. We find it used often in Science to describe "a thing that devours" (Dictionary.com). It is a surprising to me that so many slant their translations toward the fish being caught and not the reason for the catch. Why is Christ asking the question from the shore. What does he do with the disciples? The motive for the fish is to have something to eat. The story is all about eating, not catching. Why do we get distracted by miracles?

It seems sequential to me that Jesus asks about something to eat and proceeds to help them get something to eat and then cooks the food and eats it with them. We normally get lost in the hugh amount of fish that the "dear boys" (paidi√a) caught. Look again at the sequence. Jesus appears on shore in the morning. He asks if they have something to eat (or meat or fish). They say no. He lets them catch fish. He makes a fire and furnishes some fish and bread. He asks them to "break their fast". He eats the fish & bread with them. Then he asks Peter to "feed my sheep". Could the emphasis of the 'catch of the day' be to illustrate the miracle ability of the risen savior to provide for His sheep. Why this emphasis? Peter has left the sheep and gone back to old ways of taking care of himself, which he is not able to do. No fish caught after all night! With God's provision he will be able to feed not just himself but "the sheep of his flock". After the amount of fish caught is noted we do not hear any more about the large catch. What we do hear is the continuous talk about eating, breaking bread, cooking the fish, feeding the lambs. An amazing illustrated sermon. What do you have? Nothing. Here is God's provision. Replenish yourself. Now feed my sheep, if you love me.

(This is also a good communion message)

Stay tuned: Next blog we'll tackle the three love me, love me nots.

Holocaust

In Genesis 22 we read of the sacrifice of Isaac. This story, for the Jews is one of the most reverend of the Old Testament. Here, Abraham is tested by God so the scriptures tell us. God asked Abraham to take his son, his only son of his love, and place him on the alter of sacrifice. The language of this story is very rich and deep. This story has implications that reach deep into the Christian heritage as well as the Jewish. There are many things that could be talked about and are in a number of other places. But one thing that I do not often see is the connection between the holocaust of WWII and Abraham's sacrifice.

As we read this story, both in the Greek (LXX) and in the Latin (Vulgate) we see the word "offering" being translated as Holocaust(Latin) ὁλόκαυστον(Greek). I have often wondered who labeled the terrible persecution of the Jews in WWII as being for the Jews the Holocaust. The name implies a burnt whole offering to the Lord. The definition in an English dictionary of holocaust is just that, a burnt offering. Maybe I am coming late to the table but that is very moving for me. That the Jews see their sacrifice of those horrible years as equal in some way to the Abraham sacrificing his son, the son of his love. God gave His son for humanity. God asked Abraham for his son, did God ask the Jews for their sacrifice? Is that what is meant by the Holocaust? The word in Hebrew for whole offering or burnt offering is olah. It is the only offering that is wholly burnt, no meat is eaten or left from the offering. Who knows what really turned the tables in WWII so that good would win over evil.

In our present condition as Christians what should our attitude be of suffering? Paul told Timothy "not to be ashamed to testify of our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering (pa◊scw) for the gospel, by the power of God."(NIV, 2Tim.1:8). The word that Paul uses here and elsewhere for suffering is indeed the same word as Paschal, the sacrificial lamb that Christ became. Our suffering as Christians is as a sacrifice to God, by His power and grace. We as Christians are participators in this suffering and sacrifice. It makes me appreciate even more our Jewish brothers and the call of God that is upon their lives.

Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is a wonderful, blessed time of the year. We think of it as an American holiday and so we should. But as Christians it should be something we do regularly. The word "thanksgiving" is used eight times in the New Testament alone. Paul tells us repeatedly that we should give thanks to God. In his letter to the Phillipians he says "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." (4:6,NIV). What does thanksgiving mean. I know it means giving thanks, but lets look at the Greek for a moment. The word for thanksgiving is eucharistos. Charistos means grace. Eu is a small prefix that can mean 'good' or as Low and Nida define it as 'excellent', in the science community it can means 'true, or perfect'. Thanksgiving then in short is excellent grace or true grace. As Paul might explain further, it is the result of our receiving excellent Grace. God sheds his love and grace upon us and it results in our giving praise and thanks to God. Our ability to praise God and give thanks is a result of God's grace towards us. Another advantage point to help understand this term is to recognize that the liturgical name given to the Lord's Supper is the Eucharist, excellent grace. We celebrate the eucharist regularly. What then are Christians celebrating world wide? It is thanksgiving, given through the blood and body of our Lord and Savior. The proof is in the pudding or the communion. After I take communion my heart is filled with his grace which causes me to give thanks, excellent thanks, true thanks, thanksgiving in the truest form to our Father. Isn't it great, that as Christians we can do this year around! Happy Eucharist.

Hear O students

When called upon to listen, my students often reply that they were hearing. But over the years I have discovered that though they were hearing they were not always listening. In the Greek, as well as the Hebrew and other semitic languages like Akkadian the word for listening is the same word for obeying. "To hear is to obey" is an old saying that I am learning says more than at first pass. The Greek word akouw, Heberw shema and the Akkadian semnum are all verbs of listening and obeying. The shema, "Hear O Israel the Lord you God is One" is saying more than that Israel should hear. Israel was hearing but not listening. They did not internalize what God was saying so they could be obedient to the one God. Moses complained about their obedience and so did God. Jesus complained about people who hear but do not listen (Matt.13:13).

How can we not become like the people Christ was referring to? Maybe you can develop an ear for hearing. God says in his word that faith comes by hearing and hearing by a word from God (Rom. 10:17). Hearing is created by a word from God! This is the hearing that elicits obedience. This is what I need in my class room! Sitting under the anointed apostolic word creates the ear for hearing. Not just hearing. But the kind of hearing that means obedience to the word. Hearing and obedience go hand in hand. A child has not heard until he is obedient. No wonder my mother repeatedly ask me "are you listening?". Obedience develops the ear for hearing. Maybe this is why Samuel heard the voice of the Lord, he was obediently serving the Lord at Shiloh. When the Lord spoke, Samuel heard. As we serve the Lord we develop our hearing. Do you want to learn the voice of the Lord? Then learn to listen until the obedience to what the one is speaking is felt. "The sheep hear His voice."

Koinonia

Phil. 2:1 π Ei“ tiß ou\n para◊klhsiß e∆n Cristw/Ç, ei“ ti paramuvqion a˙ga◊phß, ei“ tiß koinwni√a pneuvmatoß, ei“ tiß spla◊gcna kai… oi∆ktirmoi√,

Phil. 2:2 plhrw◊sate√ mou th;n cara˝n i”na to; aujto; fronh:te, th;n aujth;n a˙ga◊phn e“conteß, suvmyucoi, to; e’n fronou:nteß,

Phil. 2:3 mhde…n kat= e∆riqei√an mhde… kata˝ kenodoxi√an a˙lla˝ th≥: tapeinofrosuvnh≥ a˙llhvlouß hJgouvmenoi uJpere√contaß eÔautwÇn,

Phil. 2:4 mh; ta˝ eÔautwÇn e”kastoß skopou:nteß a˙lla˝ (kai…) ta˝ eÔte√rwn e”kastoi.

The encouragement of Paul to his churches includes this beautiful call to fellowship or Koinonia in the Greek. Here he asks "if there be any fellowship of the Spirit", some have interpreted this as "fellowship brought about by the Spirit". Not a great difference but one that might put the emphasis back on us the believers and the need for us to manifest the spirit.

The Word

There are so many different ways people have tried to translate John 1:1b, "the Word was God"(NIV). The problem is that in the Greek the word order is different. In the Greek it literally reads "God was the Word". Why, or how do translators end up with "the Word was God"? The answer is found in the Greek language. In the Greek language word order is used differently than in English. In English there is no way to tell which noun, God or Word, is the subject and which is the predicate nominative except by word order. In Greek it is different. The Greeks have several ways of separating the subject from the direct object, indirect object or in this case the predicate nominative. They did so by inflection. The words, nouns and articles had different forms for different parts of speech. So even though both God and Word are in the nominative, since they both are nominative, only the subject would have a nominative article in front of it. The word of God is the correct order because only "the word" has an article in front of it showing that it is the subject. But why did the Greeks put God before "the Word"? The Greeks did use word order. But they used it to express what was the most important thing in a sentence the author might be emphasizing. So back to our verse, God is first and the Word is second, but it has the article so the Word is the subject. But the author has God first so we know the author was putting equal emphasis on it. Both God and His son, the Word, are equal but separate. This according to Daniel Wallace is an expression of the Trinity. Jesus Christ is God and has all the attributes that the Father has. But Jesus is not the first person of the Trinity, God is (Wallace, 266-269).

Proclaim forgiveness to the Captives

Taken from Luke 4:18.

Let us look at the second phrase "for he has anointed me". This word for "anointed" is the same root as the wood we get Christ from, "chrisen". The phrase "he has sent me" is of course from the same word we get apostle from - apestalken (Robertson- First aorist active indicative of the verb chrioœ from which Christ (Christos) is derived, the Anointed One. Isaiah is picturing the Jubilee year and the release of captives and the return from the Babylonian exile with the hope of the Messiah through it all. Jesus here applies this Messianic language to himself.)- And the best one is 'proclaim the release to the captives. - Only it could easily read - "to proclaim forgiveness or remission of sin to the captives". We are in captivity because of our sin - We are freed by the anointed apostle by forgiveness being minister or proclaimed to us. This word kerusso - to preach can mean "to proclaim or herald"(example (Rev.5:2). Some have tied it to the trumpet being blown and tidings being proclaimed (Green). This is quite a powerful message that Christ is proclaiming reading from the scroll of the Bible.

Au and Ag

In Acts 3 Luke tells us the story of Peter and John going up to the temple to pray. They try to pass by a man that had been crippled from birth. The man asks for alms and Peter says that famous line translated best in the KJV, "silver and gold have I none but what I have I give you, In the name of Jesus Christ standup and walk. .. And he went walking and leaping and praising God." Great visuals because of the poetical translation are involved in this story. As I was reading it one morning before I was to teach my chemistry class, I noted that the original Greek has "silver and gold I do not have". I looked up my Vulgate and there were the periodic symbols for Gold and Silver, Au and Ag. Actually the symbols come from the Latin argentum et aurum. This gave me an excuse to read the section at the being of Chemistry. Fortunately I teach Bible to the same kids. As an aside this is one case where the poetry of King James is lost in the modern translation. The Message Bible says" I don't have a nickel to my name, but in the name...." At least it could say dime and get the metal correct.

Past Post

1. I was just studying the “Samaritan travel log” in the Gospel of Luke. Luke tells the story of Zacchaeus, the wee little man. Many of you may remember the story by that song. Luke’s use of the Greek vocabulary is more ambitious than the other evangelists and draws a lot from the Septuagint, which was a commonly read Old Testament translation in Jesus’ time. So as Luke is telling the story the crowd “murmurs” and complains about Jesus eating with the sinner, Zacchaeus. The Greek word for “murmuring” that Luke uses is found only in this story and one other place in Luke to describe the murmuring of a crowd of Pharisees. This exact same word is found in the Old Testament to describe the murmuring mixed multitude that rose up against Moses. Is Luke telling his Jewish readers what kind of crowd this was? By using the exact word Luke is likening this crowd to the mix multitude of Moses’ day. I think it was a 3D lesson for the Jewish readers of that day. But the meaning may pass us by if we just see the English.

2. Douglas Barker
   September 1st, 2009 at 8:21 am
   

   I was looking again at John 3:16 and the blog that Jeremiah wrote. Another simple word from that deep text caught my eye. “Houtos” in the greek, translated often as “so”, as in “God so loved the world”. The “so” connects to verse 14 and 15. God in this way – The Greek says “For God in this way loved the world. In what way? In a way that expressed His desire for us to live forever. He wanted us to have eternal life. He loved us in that way. Sometimes I forget that eternal life was very important to God. Jesus reminded his disciples of this, “rejoice that your names are written in the Lamb’s book of life”.

3. Douglas Barker
   September 6th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
   

   Prayer is an important part of our life. It is worth noting that the disciples didn’t ask Jesus for a lesson in systematic theology or a survey of church history. What they did ask for was to be taught how to prayer. In the prayer which the Lord taught them it is commonly known that he used the Greek form of the verb that is called the imperative. This form denotes action/command and it is important in prayer. What is often overlooked is the use of the vocative. This is an older form of the noun that is used when addressing someone specifically. This is not for general use. This is a very personal form of the noun. “Father” Christ was speaking directly to his father. Christ was inclusive enough to use the pronoun “our”. But he was talking directly to His Father. The vocative with the imperative shows us the language and the grammar of personal relationship. It is out of this very personal relationship denoted by the vocative that the imperative finds its use. It might be irreverent to demand from God, but if God is your Father, then from this relationship the deep demand can be made.

4. Douglas Barker
   September 10th, 2009 at 8:38 am
   

   The Greeks have a style for emphasizing a point. The structure of this literary style is called chiastic style. It has been used through the years by Homer, the unknown author of Beowulf, and Milton’s Paradise lost. We also find this used with regular frequency in the New Testament. Chiastic structure is best described as A-B-C-B-A. The word itself Chiastic comes from the Greek letter Chi which is our English X. If you envision the top left part of the x as “A” and the bottom right as the other “A” with the B’s on the top right and bottom left then you would have “C” in the middle, thus reading the X from left to right top to bottom it would be A-B-C-B-A. So what? Well Luke uses this form in his shorten recording of the Lord’s Prayer. He uses this form to emphasize the Lord’s teaching. There are 5 petitions in Luke’s Lord’s prayer. (A)Father, hallowed be your name, (B) Your kingdom come (C and the focused petition) Give us each day our daily bread (B) And forgive us our sins as… (A) And lead us not into temptation. By using this form to emphasize “give us each day our daily bread” Luke is saying that the Lord is teaching his disciples that above all that they daily must receive from the Father without which none of the other petitions could be accomplished. We need our daily connection or waiting on the Lord to accomplish the things we want done, even God’s will. John always wanted to write a book on emphasis. It may already have been done hiding in plain sight.

5. Douglas Barker
   September 11th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
   

   The English language has a word, kerygma. It means to preach. This comes straight from the Greek word kerussein. But it does not mean to preach in the Greek, it means to proclaim. In Isaiah 61:1f of the Septuagint, this word is found twice. In Luke 4 Christ reads this passage in the synagogue heralding forth his ministry. As the late Professor W.P. Friedrich commented on this passage by saying, “He proclaims, like a herald, the year of the Lord, the Messianic age. When heralds proclaimed the year of jubilee throughout the land with the sound of the trumpet, the year began, the prison doors were opened, and debts were remitted. The preaching (kerygma) of Jesus is such a blast of the trumpet.” We are fast approaching the day when we will blow the trumpets and herald in a new day, let it be with kerussein.