Risen Indeed!

Preacher: Alan Cameron

Verses: Luke 24:1-12

Risen indeed!

Alan Cameron

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In the days before television, a radio programme ‘Consider Your Verdict’ fascinated me.  The listener was required to evaluate evidence presented and whether one’s verdict coincided with that of the court.  It made for entertaining ‘theatre of the mind’.  The evidence for the resurrection transcends the realm of entertainment.  It demands a verdict.  “The message of Easter is either the supreme fact in history or else a gigantic hoax” argues Prof J.N.D Anderson.  It is literally a matter of life and death not just a comforting story.  The Apostle Paul put it this way: “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.  More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God.” (1 Cor 15:14,15)

Hebrews for Today: The Majestic Jesus - xi. Christ our Sanctuary

Preacher: Alan Cameron

Verses: Hebrews 9:1-28

Hebrews for Today: The Majestic Jesus - xi. Christ our Sanctuary

Alan Cameron

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The writer of the Hebrews depicts Jesus resplendent in majestic glory.  He attempts to describe the indescribable.  No visual image will suffice.  This presents a creative challenge for us today.  One social critic has described our contemporary world as having shifted from the Age of Exposition in which the written world prevailed to the Age of Entertainment in which image trumps words.  Lines have been blurred.  Confusion parades as creativity.  Comprehensive descriptions of reality are regarded as suspect.  Our postmodern world has come of age in which a multiplicity of ‘truths’ (small t) have replaced ‘Truth’ (capital T) reminiscent of Pontius Pilate who asked ‘What is truth’ and did not wait for an answer.

 That notwithstanding, Hebrews is quite content to describe Jesus as God’s final word. (Heb 1:1,2).  Various metaphors are used – Jesus as high priest, an anchor for the soul, the guarantor of a new covenant, culminating in Jesus as our Sanctuary, the one who offers forgiveness and a clear conscience.  “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death so that we may serve the living God” (v14).

Hebrews for Today: The Majestic Jesus - x. The Matchless Christ

Preacher: Alan Cameron

Verses: Hebrews 8:1-11

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Recently the State President exhorted us to view South Africa, with all its present challenges and opportunities from the perspective of a glass half full rather than a glass half empty.  He offered the country hope based upon a social contract between government and people.  The writer of Hebrews, in contrast, offers hope not by way of a social contract, but a covenant based upon the promise of God.  In light of this perhaps we need to ask ourselves what hope is not.  Hope is not based on the ‘power of positive thinking’ as Norman Vincent Peale advocated.  Hope is not a pious Pollyanna wishing things would get better.  Hope according to Hebrews is choosing to believe and trust when everything around me and within me suggests that it is foolish to do so.  Hope is not simply human aspiration, rather taking hold of the presence and power of God in the midst of human frailty.