I’ve always been a big fan of Christmas, and in recent years I have come to increasingly appreciate the hymns of Christmas. The theology of the incarnation of Christ is remarkable, and singing about it causes as much joy as it does contemplation. So imagine my shock when I noticed a “spelling error” in one of my favorite seasonal tunes.
It all started, innocently enough, during a Sunday morning church service about a year ago. We had just reached the magnificent third verse of “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” when I noticed the PowerPoint slide read as follows:
“Hail the heav’n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and Life to all He brings,
Ris’n with healing in His wings.”
Did you see it too? Sun of Righteousness? “Surely that can’t be right. Fred Holcombe (our music minister) must have overlooked that error,” I concluded. It had to be “Son of Righteousness.” And just to prove myself right, I grabbed the hymnal in front of me and searched for the song, found it, and read the same thing again, “Sun of Righteousness.” What a mistake Charles Wesley (writer of the hymn) made comparing the “Son” of God to the “sun” that burns in the sky.
(Total side note: Every time I think of how the sun and stars burn, I’m reminded of the following dialogue in the brilliant scene from “The Lion King” which goes something like this, since I’m going completely from childhood memories here: And yes, I’m about to use a parenthesis inside of a parenthesis. Sue me.
( Timon and Pumbaa staring at the night sky)
Pumbaa (a gastro-intestinal beast of a warthog): “What do you suppose all those lights are up there?”
Timon (a sarcastic meerkat): “They’re fireflies. Yeah, they all got stuck up in that big black thing.”
Pumbaa: “I always thought they were balls of gas burning billions of miles away.”
Timon: “With you, everything’s gas.”
I warned you. Total side note. That had absolutely nothing to do with the point of the article.)))))))) Just making sure I closed all the parentheses there.
Back to Wesley. How could such a revered scholar and song writer have missed this! Jesus was the “Son” of God, not the “Sun.” Well for about the next three or four months I was at a loss for explaining any of this. And then I read something in Malachi that caught my eye, where God says: “But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings” (Malachi 4:2). Oh my! I shouted, “The editors of my NKJV did the same thing!” (When I’m sure I’m right about something, I’m sure I’m right). I determined that my two years spent studying Hebrew ought to solve this problem.
(This is about to get boring. If you don’t care about Hebrew words and their usage in Scripture, feel free to skip down to the next paragraph. On the other hand, this is the most important paragraph of the whole shebang so don’t skip it. Endure the boredom.)
The Hebrew word for “Sun” in Malachi 4:2 is “shemesh” which means (wait for it…) sun (yep, s-u-n. You’re welcome for that insight). It’s the most prominent word for sun in the whole Old Testament. When Scripture talks about the sun standing still (Joshua 10), it uses “shemesh.” When Solomon uses the phrase “under the sun” thirty-plus times in Ecclesiastes, he uses the phrase “thachath ha shemesh” every time. Apparently, Malachi meant “sun.” So did the NKJV editors. So did Wesley. So did Holcombe. They were right and I was wrong. (There, I said it. Moving on.)
But why “sun”? How is this Messiah like the sun? Turns out the word “shemesh” is related to a similar Aramaic word for activity. Just as the sun is constantly active, so the Messiah would be continually and actively portraying righteousness, making Him the “Sun [universal center of activity] of Righteousness.” Malachi was prophesying that the coming Savior would be a beacon of flawlessness, perfectly representing God because He is God. There is even a play on words here: “the Sun … shall arise.” The rising of the Sun of Righteousness brings healing for those who fear the name of God.
So my arrogance was flattened, but my knowledge increased. I’m sure it’s for the better. Then again, since “knowledge puffs up” (1 Corinthians 8:1), I’m sure I’ll be back to my arrogant self in no time. Until then, sing it with me as we celebrate Jesus’ first coming and wait for His second: “Hail the Sun of Righteousness…with healing in His wings!”
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Thursday, December 1, 2011
A Change of Perspective: How God’s Providence is Causing us to Serve Others
God has a way of taking our experiences and expectations, and using them to change our perspective about Him. That has happened in our youth ministry lately, and the lessons are making an impact on our leaders and teens alike. As we shared testimonies with each other on Sunday night (Nov. 27), it was obvious that God has been working.
The first thing that was very evident was the sovereignty and providence of God. One story was told of how God provided a house for a family who was experiencing financial trouble. In addition, God sent many church members to help make the move easier on the family. Another story explained that a young man’s mother had to be taken to the emergency room over Thanksgiving weekend because of a severe infection. God spared her life, but she likely would have died had she not received the right care at the right time.
Still another told of how she had run away from home, and God is providing for her through caring family members. Another’s parent needed a job, and God has given this family another opportunity for work and ministry. Another told of losing a loved one recently. Another told of the divorce of her parents. On and on the testimonies came, some causing us to laugh and praise God, and others causing us to cry, and praise God anyway. Yet with each story, the teens were able to say, “God has helped me through this. He has provided. He never stops caring for me.”
It’s one thing to know that God is sovereign. We can usually come to terms with the fact that He knows all and controls all. But when it comes to the providence of God, we have a harder time grasping that. The difference is this: not only does God control all things, but He cares and is intimately involved in working things out for the ultimate good of His people, so that He can receive the most glory.
Through these things, God has taken our eyes off of ourselves, and turned them towards others in need. In September, we spent a weekend retreat learning from video sessions with Max Lucado and Francis Chan that we are made to make a difference, and that we should have courage and develop character to stand strong for Christ. Those challenges have led us to visit a children’s home to play games with underprivileged kids, fill boxes for Operation Christmas Child, donate and deliver food to needy families for the holidays, and spend the day before Thanksgiving serving food and spending time with homeless people downtown.
Even the things we’ve studied from God’s Word recently have emphasized that God is always good and always worthy of our obedience, no matter what the circumstances may be. In Jonah, we saw that God used a reluctant missionary to turn an entire city to Him. In John’s epistles, we saw that our fellowship together is strengthened when we serve God by serving others together. In Esther, we saw that God often works behind the scenes to bring about great salvation and deliverance for people. And on November 13, Jeremy Mattheiss taught us that we can best relate to Christ when we are looking to serve the needs of others, rather than asking, “What’s in it for me?”
I don’t tell you these things to brag on us, but rather to brag on God. We are not good people. And any hope we have of being right with God is found in what He has done for us, not what we might attempt to do for Him. I tell you these things to let you know that God is not silent in our youth ministry. He has caused us to see things with a different perspective. There has been a great deal of pain and loss in our church recently, and it affects our young people too. But these events are causing us to look for Him, and to recognize that we have much to be thankful for, because the King who came once is the King who is coming again.
The first thing that was very evident was the sovereignty and providence of God. One story was told of how God provided a house for a family who was experiencing financial trouble. In addition, God sent many church members to help make the move easier on the family. Another story explained that a young man’s mother had to be taken to the emergency room over Thanksgiving weekend because of a severe infection. God spared her life, but she likely would have died had she not received the right care at the right time.
Still another told of how she had run away from home, and God is providing for her through caring family members. Another’s parent needed a job, and God has given this family another opportunity for work and ministry. Another told of losing a loved one recently. Another told of the divorce of her parents. On and on the testimonies came, some causing us to laugh and praise God, and others causing us to cry, and praise God anyway. Yet with each story, the teens were able to say, “God has helped me through this. He has provided. He never stops caring for me.”
It’s one thing to know that God is sovereign. We can usually come to terms with the fact that He knows all and controls all. But when it comes to the providence of God, we have a harder time grasping that. The difference is this: not only does God control all things, but He cares and is intimately involved in working things out for the ultimate good of His people, so that He can receive the most glory.
Through these things, God has taken our eyes off of ourselves, and turned them towards others in need. In September, we spent a weekend retreat learning from video sessions with Max Lucado and Francis Chan that we are made to make a difference, and that we should have courage and develop character to stand strong for Christ. Those challenges have led us to visit a children’s home to play games with underprivileged kids, fill boxes for Operation Christmas Child, donate and deliver food to needy families for the holidays, and spend the day before Thanksgiving serving food and spending time with homeless people downtown.
Even the things we’ve studied from God’s Word recently have emphasized that God is always good and always worthy of our obedience, no matter what the circumstances may be. In Jonah, we saw that God used a reluctant missionary to turn an entire city to Him. In John’s epistles, we saw that our fellowship together is strengthened when we serve God by serving others together. In Esther, we saw that God often works behind the scenes to bring about great salvation and deliverance for people. And on November 13, Jeremy Mattheiss taught us that we can best relate to Christ when we are looking to serve the needs of others, rather than asking, “What’s in it for me?”
I don’t tell you these things to brag on us, but rather to brag on God. We are not good people. And any hope we have of being right with God is found in what He has done for us, not what we might attempt to do for Him. I tell you these things to let you know that God is not silent in our youth ministry. He has caused us to see things with a different perspective. There has been a great deal of pain and loss in our church recently, and it affects our young people too. But these events are causing us to look for Him, and to recognize that we have much to be thankful for, because the King who came once is the King who is coming again.
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