THE GREAT PALINDROME
A sermon by
Pastor John Glass, D.Min.

Do you know the 1st Commandment? "Thou shall have no other gods before me." Ahm, doesn't that sound more like people than God? No other gods before me. Me first!?

Uncle Arthur (author of The Bible Story) used to tell the story of a brother and sister waiting in line to get on the ferris wheel. They were next up when two other children jumped into their seat yelling "Me first!" The operator sent them up with the children's sense of justice really whacked. The girl quietly said, "That didn't seem very fair." "Not to worry, Missy," the operator replied. "I knows what to do with Me Firsters." The wheel went around just three times and stopped to let the Me Firsters out. "Your turn." They got on and the operator forgot they were on the wheel. They rode to their heart's content. Me first. Is God a "Me Firster"?

It is easy for us to understand law from the perspective of what it says we are to do - or not.
Years ago I had a rule in my home: "thou shalt not stand up in the high chair." Neither of the girls ever liked that rule. It was clear. Whether they liked it or not they had to live by it.
It is a lot more difficult to figure out what law is telling us about the lawgiver, particularly when the lawgiver is God. God knows this. He said, "You thought I was one just like yourself." Psalm 50.21 When we read the 1st Commandment it sounds like God is as self-centered as we are. Me first. My. You and I are so stuck in sin we can hardly understand God at all.

Why did I ever set up a rule my girls couldn't stand? One evening one of the girls was standing rocking front and back when suddenly it toppled backwards with a resounding "whack" followed by that long whistle of air being sucked in fast preparatory to being exhaled even faster. After that it was always a rule. I was (am) a father who cares enough for my children that I don't enjoy seeing them get hurt. The name Deuteronomy comes from the Greek Deutero Nomos: second law. The Ten Commandments are listed a second time in chapter 5 and most of the book is a reiteration of all the rules and laws God gave Israel. Have you ever noticed 6.24? "The Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our lasting good, so as to keep us alive, as is now the case." Our "Me First" God wants His children alive and well and safe.

IS God a "Me Firster"? Thomas asked Jesus one day, "Lord, show us the Father." Jesus about dropped whatever he was holding. "Thomas! Have I been with you all this time and you haven't seen the Father?! If you've seen me you've seen Him!" John 14.9 "In Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell." Colossians 1.19 (see also 2.9) Did Jesus ever put Himself first? Whatever did He spend His nights doing? Praying for people. Whatever did He spend His days doing? People: healing them, teaching them, tousling their hair, loving them, giving Himself utterly for them. He invested nothing in acquiring personal possessions. He had no home. At His death the only thing He owned was a seamless robe. "He emptied himself." Philippians 2.7 More: "For our sake he made him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5.21 He gave Himself completely for us. Me first? Hardly.

Well, if God isn't a Me Firster, then what is He? Have you read Exodus 20.2? It's a preamble like "We, the people of the United States..." "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery..." In Ezekiel 1 and 10 and again in Revelation 4 four heavenly "living creatures" are described, each with 4 faces: the face of a human, the face of a lion, the face of an ox, and the face of an eagle. What's this all about? Jesus said (John 5.39) "the Scriptures testify of Me." Four faces. Human: Jesus called himself "the Son of Man." Lion: scripture calls Him "the Lion of the tribe of Judah." Ox: an ox was a sacrificial animal. Jesus is our sacrifice for sin. Eagle: Revelation 4.7- "a flying eagle." Exodus 19.4, "You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself." Eagle: the Deliverer! "I delivered you from Egypt. Therefore..."

For how long had their deliverance been planned? God told Abraham, "Know this for certain, that your offspring shall be aliens in a land that is not theirs, and shall be slaves there, and they shall be oppressed for four hundred years; but I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions." Genesis 15.13-14 Centuries later God told His enslaved people, "I am the Lord, and I will free you from the burdens of the Egyptians and deliver you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has freed you from the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord." Exodus 6.6-8 Is there anyone here who is enslaved to sin and evil? Is there anyone here needing deliverance? I proclaim to you this day that there IS a deliverer, the Great Deliverer: Christ Jesus, the Son of Man. He will bear you on His wings to freedom.

"And He will lift you up on eagles' wings;
Bear you on the breath of dawn;
Make you to shine like the stars
And hold you in the palm of His hand."
(Written by Michael Joncas)

The 1st Commandment is a promise of deliverance. God will deliver us. He HAS set us free from sin and one day soon He will set us free from this dirty old world to live on a brand new planet, created just for us.

This week Doug Batchelor has been presenting the seminar "Most Amazing Prophecies" from Pioneer Memorial Church on the campus of Andrews University. We've hosted the seminar at Milwaukee Junior Academy and through Thursday evening some people have found the Deliverer: two have decided for rebaptism and 2 more for baptism. They have found deliverance! The other evening Doug referred to what most of us call the "secret rapture." The idea is that prior to the "great tribulation" the saints will all be snatched away from planet Earth and all the trouble. Doug pointed out that through the Scriptures God has never saved His people FROM trouble, but rather IN trouble. Why? I think it's because he looks better that way.

One father had a powerful disciplinary means: the attic. It was dark up there. If the offense was bad enough you were banished to the attic. One evening the littlest was banished. Crying softly as he went up the stairs dragging his blanket he curled up on the air mattress. Then he heard the door open and Daddy coming up the stairs. "Daddy, can I come down?" "No, son. You have to spend the night here. Move over; I want some room." "Oh, Daddy." He threw his arms around his Daddy. Why does God deliver us IN trouble? He enjoys our arms around His neck.

Daniel ended up IN the lion's den, not avoiding it. God's deliverance was so spectacular even king Darius said, "In all my royal dominion people should tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God, enduring forever. His kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion has no end. He delivers and rescues, he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth; for he has saved Daniel from the power of the lions." Daniel 6.26-27 Earlier Daniel's 3 friends went into the fiery furnace and were delivered there. Their deliverance was so spectacular king Nebuchadnezzar decreed, "Any people, nation, or language that utters blasphemy against the god of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins; for there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way." Daniel 3.29 There is no other god who is able to deliver you from whatever you need delivering from. "He is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them." Hebrews 7.25

"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me." What god is like our God? Which god can deliver us as He has - and does - and will? For how long was OUR deliverance planned? "You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God." 1 Peter 1.18-21 I proclaim to you today that there is HOPE! There is a lamb, slain from before the foundation of the world, that the likes of you and me can be delivered from sin and this world and saved in the kingdom of God.

Now, about that title: "The Great Palindrome." What's a palindrome? It's a word or phrase or sentence that reads the same in either direction. John 3.16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life." The Hebrew for "give" is a palindrome: nun, tau, nun. Think. God's giving has no end, no limit no matter which direction you go: forwards or backwards. His loving giving continues forever. Why no other god? Romans 5.8-10: "God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life." The greatest deliverance possible is what I have already received in Jesus Christ my Lord, the Son of God. Now that I have been delivered, I live in relation to God through Jesus, and I haven't seen anything yet! Would I ever place any god ahead of my God? NO! The commandment is not even a command. It is stating a fact: when you and I have been delivered by God, we never will have any god but Him. "I am the great God who has delivered you through the death of My own Son. You will not have any god but Me." Let us sing the Doxology.