Issue link: http://denverseminary.uberflip.com/i/1433252
27 DECEMBER THE WISDOM OF GOD O come, O Wisdom from on high, Who ordered all things mightily; To us the path of knowledge show And teach us in its ways to go. Proverbs 8 My youngest son once heard me talking about the Old Testament. He looked at me and said: "OLD Testament? I think you mean GOLD Testament, because there's treasure in there!" Even though I'm a New Testament professor, I totally agree. There are so many veritable jewels and gems hidden in plain sight in the pages of the "Gold" Testament. In fact, many of the New Testament proclamations are intended to be a treasure map that invite us on an adventure to discover their fuller meaning in light of the Hebrew Scriptures. For instance, in 1 Corinthians 1:24, Paul declares that, for those of us who are called, Christ is the power and "wisdom of God." Rather than rushing by this comment, if we look more closely, we will see a dotted line that takes us back to Proverbs 8 where a cr yptic "X" marks the spot. There, we hear the stor y of Wisdom, a primordial figure who was with God before creation, "constantly by His side." As Yahweh formed the heavens and the ear th and all that's within them, Wisdom rejoiced over the divine masterpiece, and she delighted in the people the LORD had made. For this reason, Wisdom calls out to all humanity and opens up her mouth to speak to them truths more precious than rubies, more valuable than silver, and more costly than gold. To be sure, people who love the Wisdom of God will receive an inheritance from the LORD, and their treasures will abound—since those who find her find life. Eureka! From the Gold and New Testaments, we discover that the figure Proverbs saw dimly, Paul saw face to face. On the road to Damascus, he beheld Jesus Christ, the Wisdom of God and firstborn over all creation. Paul proclaims that through Him and for Him all things were created, and in Him all things hold together. This Wisdom, however, is not the wisdom of this age. Rather it is the Wisdom of God—a hidden myster y destined to be revealed to us before time began. That is to say, the Wisdom of God is the risen Lord of glor y, our High Priest, who delights in us, shares in our sufferings, and ensures us that our afflictions are light compared to the future, heavenly inheritance He has for us—a treasure that will never perish, spoil, or fade. This rich nugget of truth surely causes us to cr y, O come, O Wisdom from on high! Joseph R. Dodson, PhD, Associate Professor of New Testament O Come, O Come Immanuel John Mason Neale (1861)