1517 Blogcast

I looked into his eyes. My hands fidgeted, my heart was racing, and I was sweating like a sinner in church. Though I was waiting for him to speak, I was not at all sure I wanted to hear what he would say.

For more stories like this check out the newest podcast from 1517, the Christian History Almanac with Dr. Dan van Voorhis, a daily five-minute podcast with stories, readings and poetry available wherever you download your favorite podcasts.

In the sixteenth century, society experienced upheaval as a result of the theology of Martin Luther and his Heidelberg Disputation being proclaimed and embraced by the Protestant reformers. Five hundred years later, the West is once again in upheaval as the truths of the Heidelberg Disputation are being rejected.

We like systems, or at least I do. They help me rationalize complexity and understand the world around me. We also like to think and talk about ourselves. Ask me about my personal ambitions and life plans and you’ll be sorry you opened pandora’s box. So it makes sense, then, that personality tests are popular because they offer us a better way to think about, well, us. 

Have you ever been in a situation where a person declared themselves in charge and then proved the least qualified to be in such a position? I don’t mean they disqualified themselves by some moral failing.

Jesus died with a Psalm on his lips, Psalm 22 specifically. “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1, Spoken by Jesus in Matt 27:46; Mark 15:34). And on many occasions before His death, Jesus lived with a number of other Psalms upon His lips.

Church tradition gets a bad name for being meaningless, stuffy, and boring and sometimes rightfully so! Occasionally we do something for so long we forget why we started doing it in the first place.

The blood of Christ. This is the New Testament. The blood of Christ purifies our conscience (Heb. 9:13-14). This means that we're not upset by memories of sin. Fear of death is quieted. Future punishment isn't on our radar. As the Psalmist says, "The righteous man isn't afraid of bad news. His heart remains secure, full of confidence in the Lord" (112:7). The blood of Christ does all this for us.

“And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many” (Matt. 27:50-53).

Easter is a day of visceral gladness. On the day of the resurrection, all guilt and doubt are erased and replaced with righteousness and sure hope. While the Psalms speak and stand for themselves, they are also a vast reflection of the emotion and movement of Scripture as a whole.