Friday, July 30, 2010
God's Perfect Trifecta
Last night I could not sleep so I decided to get my IPOD and start listening to Christian music to relax and unwind. One of the songs I listened to is called "While You Were Sleeping" by Casting Crowns. I have heard the song many times but last night the Lord spoke to me about a new way to look at that song. The lyrics are:
Oh little town of Bethlehem,
Looks like another silent night,
Above your deep and dreamless sleep,
A giant star lights up the sky,
And while you're lying in the dark,
There shines an everlasting light,
For the King has left His throne,
And is sleeping in a manger tonight,
Oh Bethlehem, what you have missed while you were sleeping,
For God became a man And stepped into your world today,
Oh Bethlehem, you will go down in history,
As a city with no room for its King,
While you were sleeping, While you were sleeping
Oh little town of Jerusalem,
Looks like another silent night,
The Father gave His only Son,
The Way, the Truth, the Life had come,
But there was no room for Him,
in the world He came to save,
Jerusalem, what you have missed while you were sleeping,
The Savior of the world is dying on your cross today,
Jerusalem, you will go down in history,
As a city with no room for its King,
While you were sleeping, While you were sleeping
United States of America,
Looks like another silent night,
As we're sung to sleep by philosophies,
That save the trees and kill the children,
And while we're lying in the dark,
There's a shout heard across the eastern sky,
For the Bridegroom has returned,
And has carried His bride away in the night,
America, what will we miss while we are sleeping,
Will Jesus come again,
And leave us slumbering where we lay,
America, will we go down in history,
As a nation with no room for its King,
Will we be sleeping, Will we be sleeping
United States of America,
Looks like another silent night
The song talks about how Christ is rejected by different nations and how they are linked together. When He was a baby, He was rejected by Bethlehem. When He was an adult, He was rejected by Jerusalem. Finally, the song is a warning that America is dangerously headed down this same path as many reject Christ and His coming again. What struck me is how this song captures the entire Gospel message. The Gospel message is that Jesus was born of a virgin, died for our sins, and rose again on the Third Day according to the Scriptures. In the first stanza of the song, we see the born of a virgin part of Jesus and how Bethlehem was metaphorically sleeping and was not aware of who was in their midst.
In the second stanza we see Jesus as He is rejected by Jerusalem and eventually crucified on the cross. Again, Jerusalem is metaphorically asleep as they do not realize who it is that was in their midst.
In the final stanza we see the United States in danger of following the same path of Bethlehem and Jerusalem by not realizing that Christ is the savior and that He is returning. Again, the metaphor of being asleep is used to describe the apathy in America towards Christ.
This made me think of the Trinity and the very nature of God. God is a triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) and we were created in His image which makes us triune beings (body, soul, and spirit). Then this led me to the thought of the significance of the number 3 in the Bible. Let's look at some examples:
- The number of months Moses' parents hid him as a baby
- The number of annual feasts (Feast of Unleavened Bread, Feast of Harvest and Feast of Firstfruits)
- A chord of "three" strands is not easily broken (Eccles 4:12)
- The number of men (times 100) that God gave Gideon to defeat the Midianites (300)
- The number of gifts given by the wise men when they arrived at the home of Jesus (gold, myrrh, and frankincense). The Bible NEVER specifically says there are 3 wise men so it could have and probably was more than 3.
- The number of men Nebuchadnezzar threw into the fiery furnace (Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego)
- The number of times Peter denied Jesus
- The number of times Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him
- The number of crosses when Jesus was crucified (Jesus + 2 thieves)
- The number of days Jesus was in the grave before He arose
- The number of days Jonah was in the belly of the fish
- The number of people at the transfiguration (Jesus, Elijah & Moses)
- The number of days Jesus said it would take to raise the temple (see John 2:19)
- The number of pieces of silver (times 10) Judas received for portraying Jesus (30 pieces)
- According to Acts 2:41, the hour of prayer (3 o'clock)
- The number of hours between the death of Ananias and Sapphira
- The number of days Paul was blind after his encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus
- The number of times Peter has a vision of the sheet that was sent down from Heaven to explain to him that all animals are clean
- The number of times Paul was shipwrecked
- The number of times Paul was beaten with rods
- The number of times Paul asked God to remove his thorn in the flesh
- In I Corinthians 13, Paul listed 3 Spiritual Gifts of prophecies, tongues and knowledge that would cease after completion of the New Testament, but 3 remained... Faith, Hope & Love with the greatest being Love.
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