The Way Begins Here: A Pastoral Invitation to New Believers

Jesus, Spiritual Disciplines, Spiritual Growth, The Bible

I often meet people who are brand new to Christianity and want to follow Jesus, and they are looking for guidance on how to go about it. Certainly there is a bunch of resources (both printed and online) that are published for this purpose. But for several reasons, I’ve been feeling inspired to write my own concise, curated response. So this simple post will serve as something I can offer these people as I encounter them.

Four thoughts.

1 // Find, join, and invest yourself in a local church community.

Christianity is not an individual exercise. It can only be lived faithfully within gathered communities of people. The individuals within this church will not always agree on every particular cultural issue or theological idea. They will most likely represent a wide range of perspectives, backgrounds, and life stages. However, this kind of difference is actually healthy, necessary, and conducive for our spiritual growth. Healthy churches are communities of “differents” who otherwise unite around their common allegiance to Jesus as Lord.

In general, I recommend taking some time to determine which church to join. Churches come in many forms, shapes, and sizes. Personally, if I was in the position of looking for a church to join, there are numerous things I would be looking for. But I’ll offer two things that I consider to be extremely important.

First, find a church that makes a big deal about Jesus. Look for a church in which the pastor and primary leaders seem utterly fascinated with Jesus. Not just with the Bible. But with Jesus himself (Seriously. This is not always the case.). Jesus, his life, his teachings, his vision, and his present work in the world should somehow be the ultimate focus of every single sermon.

Secondly, find a church that is caring for you as a human being rather than merely counting you as a statistic. This doesn’t mean a church should not be large and/or growing numerically. But regardless of size, it should be easy to connect with people and build relationships. And hopefully someone very soon will be recognizing you, learning your name, and helping you find your way into the community.

From the very beginning of Christianity, the formal entry point into the community of Christ’s followers is water baptism. So once you’ve decided to join a local church, ask the pastor about the next opportunity to get baptized.

2 // Develop a healthy rhythm of prayer.

Your ultimate goal is not merely to become a Christian, but to become Christian. You’re learning to embrace a new way of life. So not only are we going to join a local community of Christ’s followers, but we are going to embrace formational practices that will, over time (by God’s grace), empower us to become people who increasingly reflect Jesus in the world.

Prayer is an indispensable means of formation into the image of Christ. We pray not simply to get God to do what we think God ought to do, but to be properly formed. You are misshapen. There are things that are fundamentally wrong with your inner life. And the purpose and practice of prayer (primarily) is to form you in a correct and healthy way.

If you have never prayed or are not quite sure where to start, I would encourage you to begin by memorizing and praying the Lord’s Prayer. The Lord’s Prayer belonged to the church long before it became canonized scripture. It is older than the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Try to take about 10-15 minutes with it. Pray it slowly with deep intentionality. Meditate on it section by section. Perhaps pray it a second time, substituting your own words, stretching it out a bit. Maybe eventually from there you might consider adding a second element, such as Psalm 23. Sometimes in prayer we want to jump immediately into making requests. And there’s plenty of opportunity for you to express yourself extemporaneously and pray from your heart. I’m not taking that away from you. I’m just suggesting placing it within a formative context. Before you pour concrete, you must build forms, or else it just goes everywhere and it ends up a mess.

The primary purpose of prayer is for the human being to encounter God and be formed by God. Because left to ourselves, a selfish person is going to pray a selfish prayer. A greedy person is going to pray a greedy prayer. A manipulative person will pray a manipulative prayer, a fearful person will pray a fearful prayer. You must not leave prayer up to your own self. We need the help and wisdom of scripture and our forefathers and foremothers in the faith.

For much more from me on prayer, I’ve written this book. Twice a year, I also give free one-day Prayer Workshops at Village Church in Burbank, CA.

3 // Become friends with the Bible.

Like prayer, the Bible as our sacred text is essential to Christian formation. The word Bible simply means “book.” And this book is comprised of two main sections, the Hebrew Scriptures, with its 39 books that we call the Old Testament, and the Christian scriptures, with its 27 books that we call the New Testament. The Old Testament is the story of God’s revelation of himself to a chosen people, and his interaction with them all leading up to Messiah.

The Bible is not an end unto itself. What the Bible does is lead us to Jesus who is the Savior. The Bible is the inspired and sacred revelation of Jesus, who alone is the perfect and quintessential revelation of God (Jn. 5:39, Heb. 1:1-3). So that we read the Bible, not as an almanac, not as an encyclopedia, not as a law book, but as our most trusted guide to revealing Jesus to us.

There are plenty of approaches to reading the Bible. One of the methods I teach in the Scripture Workshop I give once a year involves reading the Bible according to the Christian calendar. Here’s the guide I use. I begin by spending roughly 15 minutes reading from the Old Testament (until I find a good stopping point), and then I do the same with the New Testament.

Reading the Bible this way provides enormous benefit. It keeps the larger story of the Bible fresh in my mind. Also, pairing the Old Testament reading with the New Testament often helps me identify interesting connections that I may not otherwise have seen. I also like this method of reading because it gives privilege to the Gospels, anchoring me to the life and teachings of Christ. (As a Christian why would I spend just as much time reading Leviticus as I read the Gospel of Luke, for example?) Finally, reading the Bible this way keeps me tethered to the Christian calendar and the richness it provides through its various seasons (Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, and Eastertide). If you’d like more information on the Christian calendar and when the various seasons begin and end, you can learn more here.

4 // Finally, give yourself lots of patience.

You are beginning a life-long journey of discipleship, becoming who Jesus wants you to be. And the journey itself is integral to the becoming. It will be happening even when you don’t know it’s happening. In fact, much of the time you are in the process of becoming when you least are aware of it. When you’re just involved in the mundane humdrum of following Jesus, praying prayers, coming to church, hearing sermons, reading your Bible… it may not always seem very exciting. But in the midst of all of that, you are in fact, becoming. It’s not a destination, but transformation that Jesus has in mind.

And in following Jesus throughout your life, some of the pain, some of the sorrow, and some of the failures that we experience are a necessary part of the journey. This is a complex issue that will not yield to simplistic answers. Does God cause all this evil to come? No, I’m certainly not saying that. But there are things that are allowed into our lives that are unpleasant, that we do not want to experience, but we do. And they are, in fact, necessary for us to become what we are intended to become. They’re not the end of the story. But they are part of the process, the journey of becoming.

So be patient with yourself. And even in your failures and sorrows, let the heavenly artisan go to work.

“Hosanna!” and “Crucify Him!” From the Same Crowd?

Cross, Jesus, The Bible

A bit earlier today on Threads, someone posed the following question:

The text doesn’t really give us much reason to think the “Hosanna!” crowd and the “Crucify him!” crowd were the same people, right?

It’s an interesting question. I’m not sure how much, if anything, is at stake here. But I’ve often heard the statement, “The same crowd that chanted ‘Hosanna!’ on Palm Sunday was chanting ‘Crucify him!’ on Good Friday.” It preaches well.

But is it true? To be honest, I can’t say for sure. But I seriously doubt it.

First, the Palm Sunday crowd seemed to be made up mostly of Passover pilgrims who had been traveling with Jesus from Galilee and from other places who joined along the way. Note the example of Bartimaeus, who after being healed, “followed him on the way” (Mk. 10:52). Also, notice how Matthew contrasts the Palm Sunday crowd with the inhabitants of Jerusalem:

When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?” (Mt. 21:10).

The city of Jerusalem, which normally maintained a population of around 20,000-30,000 people, during Passover season would swell up to about 2 million pilgrims from around the world. That’s a whole lot of people. So the multitudes who gathered in Jerusalem that week were not a monolith. And on that basis alone, it’s a significant leap to conflate the Palm Sunday crowd with the Good Friday crowd. It would be like me shopping at Target one afternoon, then returning a few days later, and assuming that the crowd of shoppers on both days was identical.

Secondly, all throughout the week, the Temple establishment had been plotting to arrest Jesus and kill him. But they realized that they had to do so by stealth. They were concerned a public arrest would cause a riot (Mt. 26:3-5). All the way up to Good Friday, Jesus remained a hugely popular figure with his followers.

This is the whole reason why the Temple hierarchy was willing to pay Judas. The arrest needed to take place in secret, under cover of darkness, away from the public eye. Judas knew Jesus’ movements. He knew he could find Jesus in the privacy of Gethsemane in the evening. From there, Jesus would be led straight across the Kidron Valley to the home of Caiaphas where he would undergo a sham, overnight trial.

Then very early in the morning, Jesus is handed over to Pilate, who at some point presents a gathered crowd with the choice of releasing either Jesus, or a violent revolutionary named Barabbas. Here’s how John describes it:

After he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, “I find no case against him. ³⁹But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover. Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” ⁴⁰They shouted in reply, “Not this man but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a rebel. (Jn 18:38-40)

Numerous times throughout John’s account of Passion Week, he uses the phrase “the Jews.” This is a quite unfortunate reality that has been used to promote and support abhorrent antisemitism throughout history. Nevertheless, whenever we see this phrase in the Gospel of John, he’s using this phrase as shorthand to refer to the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem who stood in opposition to Jesus. Not to Jews in general. Again, John’s use of this phrase has had terrible ramifications throughout history. And I think translators need to come up with other options.

Regardless, it tells us something about the composition of this crowd. Keep in mind that the whole point of staging a secret arrest followed by an overnight “trial,” along with handing Jesus over to Pilate in the wee hours in the morning was to get him convicted and sentenced before the public could assemble and influence anything.

If everyone in Jerusalem (all 2+ million!) had turned on him by that point, then there would be no need for any of that nonsense. But that’s not the case.

So, I don’t think there’s any reason to think they were the same crowd, and plenty of reason to assume they weren’t. It doesn’t preach as well, but I think it’s probably the truth.

Nevertheless. Have a meaningful Holy Week. Don’t rush to Easter. Embrace the story.

(The painting is “Ecce Homo” by Antonio Ciseri)

The Immanuel Prophecy and its Surprising History

Essays, The Bible, Theology

“Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son and shall name him Immanuel.” —Isaiah ben Amoz, 734 BCE (Isa. 7:14)

For nearly twenty centuries, Christians have drawn upon Isaiah’s Immanuel oracle as a prophetic connection in support of the doctrine of Christ’s divinity. Indeed, the Gospel of Matthew references this ancient prophecy in his account of the birth of Jesus:

“All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ‘Look, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they shall name him Immanuel,’ which means, ‘God is with us’” Mt. 1:22-23 (NRSV).

Following this tradition, every year during Christmas season, Christian churches gather together to sing, pray, and reflect upon Jesus as Immanuel. However, in order to better engage with this ancient text and to avoid common misconceptions, it would be helpful for us to explore its original context and learn more about its interpretive history.

Historical Background of the Events of Isaiah 7

The occasion for this famous encounter between Isaiah son of Amoz with King Ahaz of Judah is at the beginning of the Syro-Ephraimite War (likely 734 BCE). The Assyrian Empire, under Tiglath-Pileser III, is expanding westward, seeming to impose a serious threat to the nations of Syria, Israel, and Judah. Therefore, Rezin, the king of Syria, and Pekah, the king of Israel form a military alliance to withstand any potential Assyrian advance on the region. Seeking to bolster their strength, the joint forces of Israel and Syria plan to besiege Jerusalem and attempt to dethrone Ahaz, installing a puppet king to ensure Judah’s participation in the coalition.[1]

It is immediately before this siege that the conversation depicted in Isaiah 7 between the prophet and the king occurs. Ahaz has been exploring the possibility of reaching out to Assyria to protect Judah from its neighbors to the north in return for paying tribute. Isaiah prophetically challenges Ahaz to resist this urge and to instead put his trust in YHWH, using a small child as a prophetic oracle to communicate the Lord’s impending deliverance. However, as Hyun Chul Paul Kim states, in the end “King Ahaz could not make a leap of faith relying on the prophecy of a little child but instead resorted to submitting to the grown-up Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III.”[2]

Overview of Isaiah 7:1-9

The passage begins with a brief reference to the siege of Jerusalem and Ahaz’s fearful reaction (vv. 1-2). The Lord instructs Isaiah to take his son and meet Ahaz “at the end of the conduit of the upper pool” (v. 3), where Ahaz is likely inspecting the city’s water supply in preparation for the siege.

Isaiah’s prophetic message to Ahaz begins with the exhortation, “Do not fear” (v. 4). Ahaz is assured that the threat from Rezin and Pekah will come to nothing, because they are mere men who are no match for YHWH (vv. 4-9a). However, this promise is conditioned upon Ahaz putting his trust in YHWH rather than in an alliance with Assyria.

Unfortunately, Ahaz will eventually choose the pragmatic option of seeking Assyria’s help. This policy was problematic not simply because of its idolatrous nature, but also because of the resulting burden it would inevitably extend to the ordinary people of Judah. As a result of its alliance with Assyria, Judah would now pay tribute to the empire, which would result in a substantial increase in taxation. While this move would save his political power, it would result in economic hardship for the rest of the population.

The Immanuel Prophecy: Isaiah 7:10-17

Through Isaiah, the Lord now invites Ahaz to ask for a sign, an invitation that is unprecedented in the Bible. Ahaz refuses to ask for a sign, pretending to take the pious approach. In verse 13, Isaiah responds by giving voice to YHWH’s frustration (“Is it too little for you to weary mortals that you weary my God also?”). It seems as though Ahaz’s rejection of a sign betrays his predisposition for an alliance with Assyria.

In the narrative connected to this passage (2 Kings 16), Ahaz’s eventual plea to Tiglath-Pileser III begins with the statement, “I am your servant and your son” (v. 7, emphasis mine). Here, Kim sees a possible source of YHWH’s frustration: “In an intertextual reversal of Psalm 2, where YHWH declares to the Davidic king, ‘you are my son’ (Ps 2:7), Ahaz now renounces this sonship and becomes Assyria’s slave and son.”[3]

Therefore, given Ahaz’s refusal, the Lord gives him a sign: “Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son and shall name him Immanuel” (v. 14b). The Hebrew word for young woman, is ‘almā, which, according to John J. Collins, “can, but does not necessarily, refer to a virgin.”[4] Walter Brueggemann notes that the word simply refers to “a woman of marriageable age.”[5]

There seems to be no suggestion whatsoever that this verse is speaking of a miraculous conception. Among scholars, there are many theories floating around pertaining to the identity of this young woman. I am inclined to agree with the prevailing assumption that whoever she is, she is most likely closely associated with Ahaz, perhaps his wife or a woman in his harem.[6] Regardless, she must be an identifiable figure in order for the sign to have any meaning to Ahaz. The son shall be named Immanuel, meaning “God is with us,” which for Ahaz is meant to serve as a summons to faith, trusting that the Lord will protect and defend Judah.

In vv. 15-16, Isaiah declares, “He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.” In other words, the oracle seems to indicate that within a very short time following the child’s birth, the threat will be removed, Judah will live in peace and prosperity, and its northern neighbors will have serious problems of their own.

Finally, verse 17 declares, “The Lord will bring on you and on your people and on your ancestral house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria.” In its immediate context, YHWH turns His attention away from Ahaz and issues a declaration of judgment directly towards Syria and Israel (Ephraim). Indeed, the Assyrians will completely decimate these regions within a short period of time. However, it seems there also might be something else going on. Could this verse possibly be a double-edged sword, addressing multiple audiences living in different time periods?

The Immanuel Prophecy for the Exilic Community

In light of Ahaz’s ultimate refusal to trust in YHWH, verse 17 could also be seen as an intentional harbinger of what will come much later for the nation of Judah at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar in the early 6th Century when Jerusalem is destroyed and many Jews are exiled to Babylon.

The scholarly consensus is that book of Isaiah is an anthology of prophecies and narratives that originated from at least three different sources who lived over a span of at least 200 years. In the ensuing generations, scribes edited and assembled these works into what we now know as the Book of Isaiah.

For reasons I won’t enumerate here, it seems likely that the composers and redactors of this particular passage were shaping this story (set during a much earlier time) in order to speak freshly into the experience of the exilic community following the catastrophe of 587 BCE, challenging them to live in fidelity to YHWH, the true Lord of history.

Immanuel in Christian Interpretation

At some point between the 3rd and 1st centuries BCE, the Hebrew text of Isaiah 7 would be translated into Greek and become part of what we now call the “Septuagint” (the Greek translation of the Hebrew canon). The Hebrew word, ‘almā, translated “young woman” in verse 14, becomes parthenos in Greek, commonly translated “virgin.” It is this Greek version of Isaiah 7:14 that will later be cited in Matthew 1:23 in connection to the virgin birth of Christ.

Interestingly, it’s been demonstrated that at the time of its translation, parthenos “did not necessarily refer exclusively to a virgin (though of course it often included that meaning when appropriate), but that it developed to have that sense in a narrower way in the immediately pre-Christian decades.”[7] Thus, linguistic development paved the way for new theological development.

It must be acknowledged that this interpretive innovation on the part of Christians was certainly not anchored to the original intent of Isaiah’s prophecy as found in the text. However, as demonstrated above, the capacity for the prophecy to morph and speak freshly and legitimately into new contexts is embedded into the history and origin of the biblical passage itself. Therefore, as Wegner asserts, Isaiah 7:14 “forms a ‘prophetic pattern’ which Matthew picks up…and fills it with more meaning by applying it to Jesus.”[8]

Concluding Reflections

For Christian interpreters of the Bible, I would like to offer a few thoughts. First, it is necessary that we adopt a humble and open posture in our task of interpreting texts like these. For many centuries, Isaiah 7 has been a battleground between Jewish and Christian interpreters. However, when one learns about the context and history of this beautiful passage, it should be apparent that there is no need to stake an exclusive claim for one interpretation over another. Indeed, the original formation of this text itself is a creative, Spirit-inspired prophetic word for a contemporary audience far removed from the events depicted (much like the musical Hamilton or the 2012 film Lincoln).

Secondly, years ago in my “Hermeneutics” class in Bible College our curriculum instructed us to always use the “historical-critical” method of bible interpretation. The historical-critical method begins with the premise that the meaning of any passage is always located within the author’s intent. Therefore, it stresses the value of using tools to uncover the historical, cultural, and linguistic contexts when engaging in Bible study.

No doubt, embracing the role of context and identifying the author’s intent is always essential in the process of interpretation. However, the assumption that the text’s meaning is always governed by the author’s intent is not only false, but problematic (as this case study hopefully demonstrates). If Christians stubbornly hold to this assumption, we are sawing off the very plank we stand on.

The original authors and redactors of the Book of Isaiah had absolutely no idea that this passage from Isaiah 7 would later spark an entirely new connection that would have nothing to do with King Ahaz or the exilic community. The early Christian community’s association of the Immanuel prophecy with the virgin birth of Christ was a theological innovation aided by new translation and linguistic development that occurred long after the events depicted in Isaiah 7 or the text’s composition.

While the historical-critical method is an invaluable approach to discerning what a passage means in its original setting, it must be recognized that elucidating “meaning” from a text is not a lab science, but an ongoing Spirit-inspired process that often leads in unanticipated directions. This isn’t to say that “meaning” is up-for-grabs for anyone to twist as one likes. Interpretation always belongs within the broader Christian community (guided by the illumination of the Spirit).

However, over and over again, the Bible itself authorizes the creative, Spirit-inspired repurposing of prophetic texts to speak freshly into new contexts. Brueggemann calls this the “generative” capacity of prophecy. Once we embrace this idea, we can not only stand firm on the historical Christian connection of Immanuel with the virgin birth of Christ, but we can also keep our eyes open, looking for new ways in which we are indeed being invited to trust in God and uniquely experience God with us in our own contexts and experiences.

[1] These events are recounted in detail in 2 Kings 16ff and 2 Chron. 28:5ff.

[2] Hyun Chul Paul Kim, Reading Isaiah: A Literary and Theological Commentary (Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys, 2016), 8.

[3] Kim, Reading Isaiah, 60.

[4] John J. Collins, A Short Introduction to the Hebrew Bible, 3rd ed. (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2018), 218.

[5] Walter Brueggemann, Isaiah 1-39 (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998), 70.

[6] For a detailed discussion regarding the woman’s identity, see H. G. M. Williamson, Isaiah 6-12 (New York, NY: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2018), 155-160.

[7] H. G. M. Williamson, Isaiah 6-12 (New York, NY: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2018), 155-160.

[8] Paul Wegner, Isaiah: An Introduction and Commentary (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2021), 96-97.