There are a couple of strange details here. There are natural phenomena and then a sound
of a loud trumpet blast. As the trumpet
blast grew louder and louder Moses spoke and God answered him. Some have said that the sound of the trumpet
blast was from angels who attended the giving of the Law and Paul, in Galatians
3.19 says of the Law that "it was put in place through angels by an
intermediary." When he says that he
is referring to the Jewish tradition that the angels were there on Sinai just
as there would be cherubim on top of the ark guarding it. Why though does Moses speak as the noise from
the trumpets is getting louder and louder?
The giving of the Law is a fearsome time and God's presence there on the
mountain makes it imperative that no one come near without being bidden, His
holiness is too great. It is quite a
change from when Moses was here before speaking to God in the burning bush
isn't it.
John's discernment doesn’t just detect insincerity and
hypocrisy, it also detected something about Jesus, that John wasn't worthy to
baptize Jesus, it should be the other way round. The sign comes that John was told to expect,
the dove descending and remaining on the one who was Messiah. We see the Trinity fully present in this
picture of Jesus, the dove, and the voice from heaven proclaiming Jesus. This manifestation is certainly more beatific,
less fearsome than the revelation at Sinai.
Jesus says that this baptism was to fulfill all righteousness. Righteousness must point beyond the Law if
His baptism is to fulfill righteousness.
He was without sin and therefore there was no need for baptism, His
righteousness under the Law was complete.
Righteousness, however, is that Jesus fully identified with sinners in
this baptism that was for sin and at the cross He fully identified with sin. This righteousness was obedience to the voice
of God, not just to the Law.
Jesus is preeminent in all things, all things. He is the savior and Messiah for all
people. No one comes to salvation any
other way. In His baptism He identified
with sinners, which means He identified with all people, everywhere, for all
have sinned. Paul's argument in the
first few chapters of Romans makes clear that if Yahweh is God, the only God,
then only He gets to determine what constitutes sin and if that is the case, no
one is innocent, whether they are Jews, having the law, or Gentiles, who do not
have the Law. Gentiles know something
about God from creation and its order and ways and yet do not live in harmony
with creation's revelation and law.
Today, the idea of creation is under serious assault and at stake is the
idea of sin. If there is no creator then
there is nothing ultimate. If creation
is random and undirected, the world around me tells me nothing about either God
or something called sin. I am nothing at
all, nothing more than a collection of stuff that organized itself through
chance into me. Morals then are simply agreed upon societal notions that can be
changed at whim. Paul's argument here in
Colossians, if you accept it, destroys that idea. For Christians, freedom is circumscribed by
creation.
No comments:
Post a Comment