Sometimes the Lord opens a door so wide that it shocks you as you stumble through it into a place that is clearly His will. Especially when the door opens in a place where you know there is opposition to you or to your message. Paul said the same of his time in Ephesus, a godless city of affluence, worldly lusts, and idolatry. He wrote to the church in Corinth, “I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.” (1 Cor. 16:8-9)

On Thursday, May 9, I finished my college classes for the spring. On the occasion when we have time to do it, I love to have the students do an impromptu speech on the last day. They draw two topics out of an envelope, choose one, and then they have two minutes in the hallway outside the class to prepare a 1-minute speech. And I sweeten the pot for them a little by telling them at the end of the round, I will go to the hallway and they can decide as a class what my topic will be. “Anything you want,” I say to them, “but keep it clean.” They are to write it on the board and call me in to speak for at least a minute without notes and without any preparation. I love these days. Especially when they choose a topic like my 8am class this spring. I walked in and saw they had written, “Roe v. Wade” on the board. They were grinning at me like, “Hey, Prof, we know you are a Christian and a pastor, so what are you going to do with this one?” I felt like Brer Rabbit in the briar patch. I smiled and started with this, “The most famous quote from the Declaration of Independence, one of our founding documents, is this: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”  Then I said that there are two dark and ugly stains on America’s history, the first being slavery. The Three-Fifths Compromise in the US Constitution stated that only three out of five slaves could be counted for the purpose of taxation and representation. That fostered among many a belief that slaves were not fully human and were therefore disposable. In fact, slave owners could kill their slaves and were very rarely punished for doing so.  They could sell a husband to another slave owner and keep the man’s wife. They could sell all of the children that belonged to a slave couple or split them up and sell them. I asked the class, “How could we have ever believed such an atrocity, that it is ok, even good, to own another human being? How could we commit such a heinous crime against humanity? That is the way we think about slavery now, isn’t it? In the same way, I pray for the day that America’s second dark stain will be looked at the same way. I pray the day will come, and it may not be in my lifetime, when we look back at the practice of abortion and say, “How could we have ever believed that it is perfectly acceptable to kill an unborn child? How could we have ever said, “It is a woman’s right to choose?” God alone has the choice to give or to take away. 

When I finished, I saw a student in the class who comes to Antioch grinning at me. He told me later that he now uses that same argument with his friends who believe in abortion. 

I give all glory to God that He gave me the opportunity He did and that He had prepared me to speak to the topic. He did it. Not me. 

There is a wide open door for effective ministry given to us as followers of Christ. Every one of us. Not just to speak on the subject of the sanctity of life, which God surely cares about. But to speak to the issue of eternal life, which is offered only because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. 

We cannot be silent, saints!

John heard a loud voice from heaven, the place that cannot be shaken, and the voice said, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.” The kingdom of God has come, the authority of Christ is preeminent, Satan is defeated! But not only that, we are partakers in that victory. How? We have conquered him by three things. First, by the blood of the lamb. The devil is constantly accusing us. Jesus ever lives to intercede for his own, the devil lives to accuse us. He accuses us before God. He accuses us before our own conscience, and he accuses us in every way he can. But listen to me, beloved. We are covered by the blood of the lamb. If the death angel had no authority to touch the people of Israel whose doorposts were marked by the blood of a lamb, how much more are we covered, protected, and made conquerors by the precious blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God! Imagine two families in the same house on the evening of the first Passover. These families are sharing a lamb, and one of the fathers is really nervous and tells his friend of his fear. The other says, “We put the blood of the lamb on the door, right?” He responds, “Right, but I am still worried, with everything that’s been going on from the river of blood to the flies and boils. Now God is going to kill the firstborn. What if we didn’t do something we were supposed to do?” The other says, “What are you talking about? We did everything. We are packed and ready to go. The blood is on the doorposts and the lintel. I am telling you we are going to be fine. God will take care of us.” He responds, “Well, I hope so. But I have only one son, and you have two. I don’t know what I would do if I lost my son.” That night the death angel came through. Which one of those men lost their firstborn? Neither. Because the promise was not only that the one whose faith was the most settled and the one who had the greatest peace would be spared. No. The blood on the doorpost settled the matter. In the same way, the blood of the Lamb of God silenced the accuser of the brethren. We have conquered by the blood of the Lamb. Eliza Jane Hewitt’s wonderful hymn, My Faith Has Found a Resting Place” said it beautifully: “I have no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died, and that he died for me.”

Second, we have conquered by the word of our testimony. How is the enemy defeated? By the word of our testimony, by the gospel. How does the kingdom of God advance until Jesus returns? By the word of our testimony, by the Gospel, by the power of His word. And we who have the word by grace and through faith are given the greatest privilege in all the world: to tell others about the good news of great joy. We are granted the privilege to testify as witnesses who have seen Jesus change our lives, forgive our sins, adopt us into His family and give us the assurance of eternal life. In some places is against the law to do that and sharing the gospel may lead to death. That’s the third way we are conquerors: our willingness to die for His sake. “For they loved not their lives even unto death.” We are more than conquerors through him who loved us, Paul wrote. Dying for Jesus is not the worst thing that can happen to a believer. To die is gain! 

What do we know this Christmas, and every Christmas until Jesus returns? The greatest gift? We have peace because of the blood of the Lamb. We have an eternal home because of the blood of the Lamb. We have fellowship with one another because of the blood of the Lamb. We have “exceedingly great joy” because of the blood of the Lamb. We have nothing to fear because of the blood of the Lamb. 

We have every reason to say, “Merry Christmas!” It is all because of the blood of the Lamb. 

Thank you, Jesus, for your indescribable gift!

We used to sleep in the same bed together, my two brothers and me, on Christmas Eve. That alone was a Christmas miracle, given the fact that the other 364 days of the year would find us plotting ways to hurt one another. I remember BB gun fights, where we were running around the woods, shooting at each other. Or we would fight from room to room in the house with spit wads, using thick rubber bands to wing them on their way. To up the ante, we decided one day to shove straight pins through the spit wads. Yep, three little angels, that’s what we were. But on Christmas Eve, we crawled into bed together and tried to go to sleep, keeping one ear tuned for reindeer hooves on the roof, and one foot ready to launch any brother who got too close.

One of my favorite memories was the Christmas Eve we heard the front door open, and the distinct sound of something heavy being rolled across the threshold. Grandpa never used a wheelchair so we knew it wasn’t him coming for a midnight visit. And we had no idea why Santa would be bringing gifts through the front door, when we had a perfectly good fireplace in the den. So we just lay there in bed, whispering about what it could possibly be, and daring each other to sneak downstairs to steal a glance. Nobody wanted to risk being seen by Santa, or worse by Dad, so we eventually drifted off to sleep.

One of my favorite memories of Christmas Day was the next morning when three sleepy-eyed little Fox boys found a brand new yellow mini-bike parked under the tree. We lived on two acres and had a creek behind and beside us, and empty lots and woods all around, so we could not wait to jump on the bike and start blazing trails. But first, Dad needed to give us a lesson on how not to wreck a mini-bike. This is one of my favorite memories, too, as Dad straddled that kid-sized bike with his 6’3” frame, and proceeded to explain to us young boys how dangerous a mini-bike could be. He had barely gotten the words out of his mouth about how sensitive throttles are, when the bike shot off like a rocket and threw Dad into the air where gravity began to work immediately and brought him quite unceremoniously back to the earth. The bike and Dad were perfectly unharmed, but after a few minutes my sides were killing me. Even mom got a chuckle out of that one.

Christmas is a season of giving, and the yellow mini-bike has to go down in the Fox history book as one of the best gifts we ever received. We also got exactly one of them, so we boys had to learn how to share. I have no idea how we worked that out without BB guns or bloodshed. I just remember many happy hours riding that mini-bike, and I suppose both my older and younger brother did as well.

There may not be a mini-bike under your tree this Christmas, or even a reindeer on your roof. But that’s OK, because the best gift cannot be bought in a catalog or brought down a chimney. The best gift, the only one that matters, was laid in a feeding trough in Bethlehem many years ago. Here’s what the angel who brought the news to Joseph said about the gift: 

“You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

Pharaoh, with a heart hardened by God, called all his army and every chariot in Egypt together and took off after Israel. They caught up with God’s people, camped out and backed up against the Red Sea, just as God had led them! 

The people of Israel heard horses and chariots and men’s footsteps behind them and you get the picture of 2 million people turning away from the Pillar of Cloud to watch the enemy coming from behind. They knew their weapons of warfare were no match for the army headed their way. That is why Moses tells us “they feared greatly.” They cried out to the Lord, but you get the idea that it was just a reflex, “Help us, God!” with no faith behind it. Because then they turned on Moses. I think this illustrates four stages we can go through when we take our eyes off the Lord and put them on men, even godly men like Moses. First, they attacked Moses with irony, even sarcasm: “Did you bring us out here to die because there weren’t places in Egypt we could be buried?” Hey, they were building graves as slaves. Pyramids were graves. There were graves everywhere; Egypt was “Graves ‘r US.” Want a grave? You are probably standing next to one. 

Second, they accused Moses: “What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt?” This is angry. Bitter. But wait: WHO brought them out? It wasn’t Moses. God brought them out to see His glory. He didn’t bring them out for their comfort or for an easy life or just to be ‘free.’ To see God’s glory and to live for it would require everything from them. Third they justified themselves: “Didn’t we tell you to leave us alone and let us just live and die as slaves?” Finally, they collapsed into self-pity: “We would have been better off serving as slaves than dying in the wilderness.” They are not even a week out of Egypt and have already flipped the script in their minds on the horrors of slavery. 

Attack. Accuse. Justify. Wallow in pity. It’s an ugly pattern.

Moses showed great restraint here, didn’t he? And great faith. He was standing clearly on the promise God had given him in verse 4, that Pharaoh would pursue and that God would be victorious. I don’t think Moses had any idea how God would do what He promised. But when our only hope is God, it is easier to go to Him and to trust in Him. That is why Moses could say these powerful, hope-filled, soul-energizing words to Israel as God says them to His people today at Antioch. First Moses says, “Fear not.” How often does God tell His people, “Do not be afraid”? It was the first thing the angels said to the shepherds on that glorious night. The Puritans used to say, “Fear God and you have nothing else to fear.” Second, Moses says, “Stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord.” Fear tells us to run and hide. Impatience tells us to do something, even if it’s wrong. Presumption tells us to jump into the sea and start swimming. God says just stand there and keep your eyes open. Watch for Me. Expect Me. There’s no need to run or fight or defend or anything else. Just watch. See the salvation of the Lord that He will work for you today.  And the Egyptians you see today you will never see again. Third, Moses says, “The Lord will fight for you, and you only have to be silent.”  God will do it all. You will contribute nothing to it because nothing is needed but God.

Do you see what God is teaching His people there beside the sea with the enemy approaching? He has taught them about redemption, but here He is teaching them about salvation. They were going to see what God looks like when He reaches down and saves His people from destruction. They were expecting nothing but death. God was showing them that in the darkest hour, He is and always will be triumphant. There is no greater demonstration of this collision of God and the forces of darkness in the Bible. Except one. 

None of us were backed up against the Red Sea, so we can only imagine it as we read this account. But every single one of us was backed up against the pit of hell when Jesus took our sins upon Himself on the cross and conquered sin and death and hell and the grave on our behalf. Can we see that and hold on to that and put away our fears every time they start to whisper to us? 

“The Lord will fight for you! You only have to be silent.”

The importance of the firstborn has been lost in many ways in our culture, and of course we want to love each of our children the same. But in the ancient world, the firstborn son represented the future of the family. He was given rights and privileges that were not given to the others, including the right to inherit a double portion from his father. But this was not to show favoritism. He was to be consecrated, set apart, to demonstrate that the whole family was set apart to God. We are all yours, God. It is the same principle that is illustrated later in Exodus when the people are told, “The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God.” When we give a tithe or an offering to the Lord, we are saying, “Everything I have belongs to You, God. This tithe or offering represents your bountiful giving to me.”

When Israel, God’s “firstborn,” was about to leave Egypt, He gave them a commandment to set apart the firstborn son. “Every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem.” They did this by sacrificing a lamb to God. This ritual of redemption was a reminder for every father and mother in Israel that their son did not belong to them but to God. It is the same for all of our children, and one of the reasons why we encourage child dedication at Antioch. We don’t have to sacrifice a lamb or even a turtledove. We simply ask the father and mother to hand their child into the arms of one of the elders, and by doing so they acknowledge their complete dependence on God’s grace for that child’s salvation. The elder prays for the child and for the parents, acknowledging that same dependence on God the Father. When the child is handed back into the parents’ arms, they receive him with a renewed desire to be good stewards of this precious gift that belongs to God, to do all they can, by God’s grace, to love and nurture and bring up their child in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. 

The people of God leaving Egypt were being given a new catechism and instructions on how to teach their children. They were being taught how to speak to their sons and daughters about God and faith. The firstborn son may say when he is old enough to understand it, So you dedicated me to God when I was born? Yes, we did. And you had to kill a lamb in my place? Yes, we did! A lamb had to die so that I could live in a holy way for God? Yes, son. You belong to God. You were born for a reason. You were redeemed for a purpose. God wanted you to be here now to ask me these questions so you could see that your life matters. You are not your own. You were bought with a price. You were not created by God to go your own way. You were not created by God to live for your own pleasure. You were created by God and redeemed by a lamb so that you may come to know the greatest pleasure, the greatest treasure in all the world: to know and love the Father, the one who loves us and redeems us and with a strong hand brought us out of Egypt.

How does all of this relate to us? You and I are redeemed by the One who “like a lamb (was) led to the slaughter…and opened not his mouth.” You and I were redeemed by the “firstborn of all creation.” God offered up His firstborn for us! 

I read this week that the greatest amount ever paid for anything at auction was $450.3 million dollars. That amount in 2017 purchased a painting by Leonardo da Vinci called “Salvator Mundi,” or “Savior of the World.” That is a lot of money. What if the owner of that painting gave everything he owned to be able to buy that painting and proudly display it in his home? And what if he now invites everyone he knows, everyone he meets, to come and see it?  That would be generous of him, to share that painting with others. But what if the person who owns that painting has not come to a saving knowledge of Christ, the subject of the painting, the one who laid down His life to save all who come to Him by faith? That would be a sad irony, indeed. 

None of us own that painting. We don’t have a DaVinci original painting of Christ. We have much, much more to invite people into our homes and into our lives to see. 

We have Jesus.