That Week This Week 2000 Years Ago

First, there won’t be any show notes this week. While I’m off the radio today for a family matter, I’ll be on the radio this week. And you can get your fill of politics on the radio show until Good Friday when even that will pivot.

But here, in this email, for this week, I do my very best to avoid the politics of the day to try to get you and me to focus on what really matters.

None of this matters as much as we like to think. Next week, the problems that plague us this week will remain. Despite the battles and fights in Washington, not much will change. When, not if the Republicans take Congress in November, many of the same issues will remain. Washington has a limited ability to profoundly affect you in ways so many think it is possible.

What matters way more are the events of this week almost two thousand years ago. This is the anniversary of the most important week in human history. Even secular historians largely agree with that statement. This is the anniversary of the week a man named Jesus went to his death.

That matters more than anything else that will happen this week. Should calamity befall you or the nation itself collapse, it is still of less consequence than the events of this week all those years ago. In that event’s outcome, you can place your hope. No nation or politician, no idea, and no idol can give you that.

Two thousand years before the events of two thousand years ago, God made his covenant with Abraham.

7 And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” 8 But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” 9 He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. 11 And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. 12 As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him.

17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, 19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Ge 15:7-12, 17–21). (2016). Crossway Bibles.

In ancient times, an illiterate people would enter into agreements with the kings in this way. They would physically cut animals in half and walk between the pieces, over the blood, to physically illustrate their covenant — if they failed to uphold their end of the deal, the king would kill them.

But before Abraham could walk between the pieces, God put him to sleep and in a vision Abraham saw God, the king, pass between the pieces. God made a covenant with Abraham and vowed that should Abraham not keep the covenant, God would die.

Two thousand years later, God fulfilled the covenant. He walked, instead of over the bodies of animals, over the palms cut by the crowd welcoming him into Jerusalem, and went to the cross then into the tomb. But the story did not stop there.

It took two thousand years from Abraham to the crucifixion and another two thousand years is almost upon us. In those years between Abraham and Christ, God revealed more of what the covenant looked like. In Jeremiah, God said,

31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Je 31:31–34). (2016). Crossway Bibles.

This Immanuel principle, God with us, was fulfilled in Christ and now all who call upon His name and put their faith in Him will have everlasting life with Him.

This week, you will encounter ideas, people, positions, and more that you don’t like. You’ll find causes you care about or deeply oppose. Don’t care about them or oppose them so much that you make an idol of them or put them first. More than any impact Washington will have on you, you have the ability to have a greater impact on others just by being a kind soul reflecting Christ and glorifying God in both what you do and how you do it.

In the grand scheme of all eternity, the concerns of the present world matter far less than how they will affect your blood pressure this week. Christ’s empty tomb matters most because truth matters most. The truth is, Christ is more important than anything in American politics and no American politician or mob can stop the advance of the Kingdom of God. So this week, focus on eternity, not Washington. Use this week to reset your outlook. The king is coming.