The Joshua Victor Theory

  Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. Just last week we heard in Romans 11:33, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” Since God’s wisdom and ways go far beyond our knowing or understanding, there are many things in life that just don’t make sense to us. We often grapple to understand His plan in our lives. The disciples likewise grappled with God’s mysterious plan surrounding Jesus’ death on the cross. It was a turning point in human and salvation history. Jesus tried to prepare them. In Matthew 16:21, Jesus brings it up for the first time. The Gospels record three distinct times when He openly told them about His coming death and resurrection. Listen again: “ From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on t...

            In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Today is Trinity Sunday. This Sunday is unique on the Christian calendar, because it doesn’t commemorate an event, miracle, or a person, but rather a doctrine. The teaching of the Trinity is central to the Christian faith. Attacked for centuries, but always defended as the orthodox or correct teaching of the Bible. From the earliest centuries the Creeds were confessed to defend against distortions of the Bible, especially about the Trinity. We could get stuck on the semantics of the word “Trinity”. The word itself is not found in the Bible, but that’s not the important question. The important question is whether the teaching is found in the Bible. We simply use “Trinity” to describe how God shows Himself in Scripture; as Three Persons, One God .             I assume most or all of you alrea...

P: The Savior is Born! C: He is born in a manger! Several weeks ago, my children and I had a very interesting conversation, about how confusing it is that God reveals Himself as the Trinity—3 in 1. Their little minds were grappling with the cosmic mystery of how 1 God can be 3 persons, and not 3 gods. How Father, Son, and Holy Spirit relate to each other, and are One God. How Jesus can pray to the Father—isn’t that God praying to Himself? God made a mathematical universe, but Math cannot explain it. God has ordered His creation according to relentlessly predictable laws; but the laws of nature cannot explain it either. God has created us with our reason and all our senses—but even these cannot explain the eternal, unfathomable mystery of the Godhead—the Three in One. I related to my children the analogy of trying to empty out the ocean, or to scoop up the whole ocean in our beach buckets. Impossible! The ocean seems infinite compared to our buckets. And many have compared God’s...

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Good Christian friends, we have waited and worshipped these weeks of Advent, we have yielded to the call of the messenger crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the Way of the Lord”, we have followed Joseph, Mary, and the shepherds all the way to Bethlehem, to the manger, to the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, just as the angels told. Baby Jesus nestled in a lowly manger, bringing Joy to the World and Peace on Earth. But the Gospel of John describes Jesus’ birth with a different phrase. No mention of Mary, mangers, Bethlehem, or shepherds. It’s John’s Christmas Verse: John 1:14, “ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. ” What a deep and wonderful phrase: The Word became flesh and dwelt among us . This is the Christmas mystery; a deep and profound truth that does not cease to be a mystery once you know it, bu...