Bush humbly entered the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and stood at the traditional site of Christ’s birth. Presidential Assistant Tim Goeglein, who is a liaison for the White House with the evangelical community, reported to members of National Religious Broadcasters that the President was deeply moved as he stood at this historic site so vital to his personal faith. US News & World Report captured this Bethlehem moment in a full-page portrait of wide-eyed wonderment as he approached the purported spot of Christ’s birth.
Goeglein told us that the President stated he "had come not as a politician but a pilgrim." Bush stood where tradition says the humble shepherds saw the newborn Christ cradled in a stone feeding trough. The babe was wrapped in cloth traditionally wound around a woman’s waist—cloth that was to be used as a burial shroud if the traveling woman died (Luke 2:12). The President also stood close to the spot where the wisest men of the East knelt to present their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Indeed, the Christian believer comes to the manger never as a vocational specialty or in human wisdom, much less as a politician, but as an adoring and worshipful pilgrim bowing before the newborn King.
President Bush also visited the Sea of Galilee standing on the slopes where the Sermon on the Mount was spoken by Christ. Having stood there ten times myself, I can appreciate the emotions that run high whenever a believer who has received Christ as Savior can visually focus the place where the Beatitudes flowed from the Son of God (Matt. 5:3), a slope dropping down to the beautiful inland sea where Christ walked on the water (Mark 6:48) and where He calmed the stormy sea (Mark 4:39). Along the shore one can see where the swine rushed down the steeps into the sea (Luke 8:33), where Christ fed the thousands (Matt. 14:21; Matt. 15:38), the hometown of Mary Magdalene (Matt. 15:39) and where He gave his disciples the miraculous catch and also prepared a post resurrection breakfast (John 21:9, 11).
Goeglein said that President Bush was "deeply moved" as he "reflected on these places of his faith." Well might we all since these are indeed actual places.
The Bible is a book of mystery, but it’s anchored in history. This is not fable, as some religious imaginations are, having no historical basis in fact. The places are still there, where the Bible indicates, and they carry with them the impact of tangible truth. Peter understood this physical impact wrapped in divine revelation writing, "For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty" (II Peter 1:16).
Of all the many places a president can visit and of all the stirring experiences during his term, standing at the stupendous Biblical sites of his personal redemption probably eclipses them all because, as the old hymn says,
Thrones and crowns may perish, kingdoms rise and wane,
But the Cross of Jesus constant will remain;
Gate of Hell can never ‘gainst the church prevail;
We have Christ’s own promise, and that cannot fail.
David Virkler
No comments:
Post a Comment