John 3:1-8
 
The true Christian believer is an enigma to fellow human beings.  No less human, the believer in Jesus Christ possesses an added dimension to his person, his perception and his experience (1 Corinthians 2:10-16).  The differentiating quality is not any superior human faculty in the believer themselves, or anything personally meritorious.  What is distinctive about the Christian, of strong or weak faith, is union with Jesus Christ and the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ, and the understanding to some degree of spiritual truths not available to “natural man”.  
 
The believer, through divine revelation and instruction has access to the thoughts of God communicated through Holy Scripture - thoughts the unbeliever cannot access in their essential salvific and sanctifying meaning.  The unbeliever can recognize and recite bare facts of the faith, but they are incapable of entering into them in any experiential sense with personal comprehension and feeling.  The truths of the gospel do not possess them and they do not hold those truths in sincerity and with reverence before God.  Unbelievers may be able to lecture theologically and even from the Bible in certain contexts on matters of grammar and history.  They may possess noteworthy eloquence and speculative powers, but their souls are not spiritually “alive!”.  Formal orthodoxy may be relatively common, but there is no personal grasp of Jesus Christ, the sum and substance of Holy Scripture.  They do not “close’ with him.  
 
Whether good-naturedly or maliciously, the people of this world view believers as a source of puzzlement, for they have no link to the world to come.  There is a vision of reality granted by God that is beyond that which is observable and assessable visually.  St Augustine calls it the “eye of the soul”, sometimes “the eye of the heart”. 
 
Christian outlook and conduct are different, and in many ways an offense to the worldling.  Our common humanity truly exists but birth from above (regeneration) transcends the limitations and tendencies of our sinful humanity; not necessarily in our natural capacities and faculties, although these are in process of purification and direction, but the lives of believers are oriented to God in Christ, the manifestation of the Lord and the model of authentic humanity.  
 
The new ingredients within renewed mankind (true believers) are supernaturally imparted knowledge of God, and divinely produced holiness in resemblance of God - a compatibility and communion with him that in its essence, not in the behavior it engenders, is undetectable to human discovery.  It arises from the factual but mystical union of faith - an attachment to and connection with God the majestic Three-in-One.  The Father loves us as his chosen, the Son redeems us as his people, and the Spirit enlivens us, raising us from spiritual death.  
 
The reality of Christian believing is summed up by the phrase, “The life of God in the soul of man” (Henry Scougal).  The deep-down location of all who trust in and obey the Lord is a place of intimate and ultimate secrecy and safety for as long as they live in this unbelieving and rebellious world until their full identity is disclosed at the judgment:  “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things,” exhorts the apostle Paul, “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:2-3).  Those alien to God cannot fathom believers.  Many will hate us and some will hurt us.  Quintessentially, the world is at enmity with God through its desires and designs.  The Christian is an uncomfortable rebuke to rebel hearts, for we are among the troops of the One who has come to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). 

RJS

Proverbs 8:22-36  
 
The passage referenced is a most intriguing portion of Holy Scripture.  Here wisdom speaks as a person.  The question often posed is interpretive - as to whether wisdom happens to be a personal entity beside God or an aspect of God.  Some choose to explain this section as Messianic others as metaphorical.  Is it a description of the eternal Son of God soon to be among us as man, or is it a poetic description of the wisdom of God in creation and his generous guidance of humankind that preserves and enhances our life? 
 
The arguments are attractive either way.  What is beyond doubt is the direction in which the passage points.  If these charming verses do not describe Messiah in a direct way they do prepare us for the full revelation of Messiah as the ultimate expression of divine wisdom both in the creation and control of the universe and all that it contains, and of all that unfolds within it. 
 
New Testament comparisons permit us, with hindsight, to view this passage as a “preview” of the status and meaning of the Lord Jesus.  Fuller insight into his Person afforded by the apostolic teaching enables us to peruse these verses in Proverbs in symbolic parallel to actual later disclosures concerning the Lord Christ.  He does personify the wisdom of God as well as all the other divine qualities.  
 
Jesus is the Word made flesh; God’s self-expression in every way.  He has ever been with God and is his collaborator in making all “that has been made” (John 1: 1-3).  A most captivating expression in our chapter sets the mind to magical musing, for without original intention on the part its author it applies aptly to Jesus both in his divine nature and human nature.  It is a gem of Scriptural portraiture.  “Then I was the craftsman at his side.  I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence” (v30).  
 
Father and Son are depicted as joyful and affectionate collaborative artisans bringing the cosmos and our earth into being through the Spirit (Genesis 1:1-2).  The passage is especially affecting when we think of Jesus as the master carpenter of Nazareth, the craftsman who made the best wooden objects in Galilee.  
 
Colossians 1:15-17  Here is the Pauline version of the notion of “the craftsman at his side”.  Speaking of Christ, the apostle remarks:  “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For by him all things were created:  things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him. 
 
Just as wisdom was begotten or possessed by God at the beginning (Proverbs 8:22), so the Word was with God in the beginning (John 1:1) and that Word in all his reasoning and instruction was pure divine wisdom - inherent wisdom (we might think analogically of thought, intention, or plan) - and active wisdom; divine success and achievement in all that God proposes or constructs as the supreme power and architect.  Christ participates in that supremacy of concept, control, and completion.  His supremacy is adorable and evokes our reverence and worship. 
 
Colossians 2:2-3  We encounter and receive the benefits of divine wisdom in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Paul desires that we should have “the full riches of complete understanding, in order that we may know the mystery of God, namely Christ” - the mystery of God, i.e. all the secrets of the divine mind and purpose of salvation are disclosed to us in our personal knowledge of Christ in whom his purpose for mankind is made plain:- “Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge”. 
 
Christ is wisdom.  Christ imparts wisdom.  He is our means of seeing things as they are, the way that they ought to be, and the end that is best for us.  “I am the way, and the truth, and the life (John 14:6).  His wisdom is a joy to contemplate, and a blessing to fulfill in all its dimensions of conduct and commanded obedience.  
 
Well might we borrow the concluding words of Proverbs 8:  “Listen to my instruction and be wise; do not ignore it.  Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway.  For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord.  But whoever fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death” (vv 33-36). 


RJS

Matthew 8:23-34
 
What command is evinced in the speech and actions of Jesus.  His authority is universal over every realm of creation:  nature, humanity, and the demonic.  Nothing is beyond his power to control.  Once we grasp this fact we discover him to be worthy of all honor and trust.  His humanity is his condescension to serve our welfare.  He demonstrates his almightiness to induce our confidence in him.  He is deserving of our maximum awe and adoration.  
 
The Calming of the Storm (vv23-27) 
Jesus and the disciples set out to cross the lake.  The weather seems to facilitate a smooth crossing.  In weariness Jesus takes the opportunity to snatch a brief nap.  His human nature requires refreshment.  Asleep and inert there is no indication of the power he is able to exert.  Sleep renders us vulnerable and defenseless in an emergency.  In the posture of slumber Jesus resembles any ordinary man for he was indeed fully man. 
 
Suddenly, and surprisingly, especially to astute fishermen with expertise in reading the weather conditions with a high degree of accuracy, a furious storm arose on the lake and threatened to overturn the disciples’ vessels.  In the panic and fear of drowning the anxious friends of the Lord advise him of the crisis:  “Lord save us!  We’re going to drown!”  There is some expectation of the exercise of his miraculous power but there is no sense of the safety that their passenger ensures simply through being with them.  Accordingly, Jesus rebukes them of small faith and unnecessary fright.  After the rebuke administered to his men the Lord manifests divine strength by rebuking winds and waves and restoring a serene surface to the lake and the abatement of wild winds.  
 
There is dual revelation here.  The Master of the men is Master over the forces of nature.  They obey his word, perhaps accompanied by a commanding gesture.  He can also calm the tempests that assail the mind and heart of frail human beings who appear to be drowning in trouble. 
 
The Banishment of Demons (vv28-34) 
Again, in this narrative two aspects of the power of the Lord Jesus are disclosed.  Arriving at the other side of the lake two fearsome men accost him.  They are a terror to the residents of that region.  Their violence prohibits any approach and even a cautious passing-by at some distance.  The men met with Jesus but their speech was prompted by an evil source.  
 
These two wretched individuals were under the dominion of evil spirits.  Their persons were deranged and dangerous though the wicked and malicious powers that indwelled them.  How this possession of their souls occurred we cannot tell but they lived in an area of darkness and superstition.  Through their voices the vile demons shouted at Jesus from their sense of terror at their ultimate doom as desperate enemies of God.  “What do you want with us, Son of God.  Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”  The realm of darkness recognizes the authority of the Lord Christ.  They foresee that Jesus will expel them from the minds and bodies they inhabit.  They beg to take up residence in a herd of pigs. Jesus gives them a firm and ringing command that causes them to shiver and shove off.  Go! 
 
Our comprehension of the might of the Messiah is extended.  He issues orders to devils and ordains that the oppressed should be healed and freed.  There is no sphere of reality where Jesus does not rule.  But still men do not receive him.  They cannot recognize the benefits of his power and goodness and they bid him to depart.  Unrepentant sinners banish Jesus from their region at eternal cost. 

RJS