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The Divine Code
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Introduction
Just one wife!
Cracking the Divine Code!
Royal Blood
Finding T.R.U.T.H.
Conclusion: Royal blood?
1. Introduction: (Art Gallery Shot)
Our curiosity is always piqued, and we are especially intrigued when some
aspects of life are shrouded in mystery. Have you found that? It provokes
investigation, doesn’t it, because someone has said, “If we know the truth, the
truth will set us free.” And so there is a lot of talk these days about cover-ups,
codes and symbolisms and secret societies, riddles, and conspiracy theories,
all in an effort, really, to find original truth.
Perhaps we find ourselves today, like Pontius Pilate did before Jesus Christ
2000 years ago, asking the question, with frustration, “What is truth?” And in
the silence of the response, this ruthless Roman Potentate, turns to the
crowd, and says, “I find no fault in this man!” There’s something about the
sincere pursuit of truth that seems to “find no fault” somehow. And yet,
there’s something about a society gone mad, when confronted with the
essence of moral truth, that shouts back, “Crucify Him!” So whilst the “Da
Vinci Code” has generated much debate, I would like to look at something
we’ve called “The Divine Code” today, and investigate some of the parallels
between the two, that hopefully will help you and I in our search for the Holy
Grail! You’re watching ITS4REAL; I’m Martin McCrory; thanks for joining me
on this treasure hunt today …
2. Just One Wife! (Church Shot)
I suppose to find fault with the author, the progenitor of moral truth, to find a
chink in the armour of the one who claimed to be the truth, would, in some,
strange way, make us feel a little bit easier about our own faults. Can you see
that? And so we read in Dan Brown’s book, “The Da Vinci Code”, that, so dark
is the con of man that the cover-up of the church is that Mary Magdalene was
Christ’s wife, and her bloodline has left us with the last living descendant of
Jesus Christ.
Guys, the only problem there is that this same moral teacher taught that a
man should be the husband of one wife, and said in the Good Book that
Ephes. 5:31-32 (NASB-U) For this reason a man shall leave his father and
mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one
flesh. (NLT) [32] This is a great mystery, (Paul said) but it is an
illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. So Christ is the
husband of one wife, and that wife is the church! Paul, a citizen of Rome,
writes a second letter to the Church in Corinth and says, 2 Cor. 11:2-3 (NLT) I
am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. For I promised you
as a pure bride to one husband, Christ.
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The church, then, is Christ’s pure bride. So here’s a question: How would you
feel if you discovered that your husband had another “wife” or “bride”? Well,
that would be called adultery, wouldn’t it? Or, at the very best, polygamy! Paul
had said in an earlier letter to the Corinthians, 1 Cor. 6:16 (MsgB) There's
more to sex than mere skin on skin. Sex is as much spiritual mystery as
physical fact. As written in Scripture, "The two become one." So if Christ
is already married to Mary Magdalene, he’d be cheating by offering his hand
in marriage to the church, and he would be running foul of 2 of the Ten
Commandments which say, don’t commit adultery, and don’t covet your
neighbour’s wife! So if this is a great mystery, can we crack the Divine Code,
or does the Divine Code actually have some cracks in it, as Dan Brown would
have us believe?
3. Cracking the Divine Code
I mentioned earlier that when life issues are held in the realm of mystery, a
curiosity and intrigue is provoked in man. But many times these secrets form
a kind of elite sect, “my four and no more”, kind-of-thing. Masks, hoods,
initiation rituals, pacts and oaths. But secrecy is not transparency, and many
times mystery is just a convenient shroud for what is really lying at the heart of
something. You need to know what you’re getting into before you walk thru
the front door of anything; the cards need to be on the table; it needs to be an
open book.
That’s why you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to crack the Divine Code.
When Paul wrote a letter to the Colossians, he said, Col. 1:26-27 (MsgB) This
mystery has been kept in the dark for a long time, but now it's out in the
open. [27] God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and
glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background,
regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just
this: Christ is in you, therefore you can look forward to sharing in God's
glory. It's that simple. That is the substance of our Message. Christ is
God’s mystery revealed. He cracked the Divine Code! It’s out in the open!
Now people are no longer left in the dark. It’s for everyone, regardless of their
background. Not just for a few elite who make it in either by their intellect, their
money or their works. Poor Silas in the movie, practically flogs himself to
death, not realising the secret that Christ was already flogged to death for
him! And so Isaiah the prophet writes, Isaiah 53:5 (NLT) But he was
wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have
peace. He was whipped, and we were healed! There’s nothing more that
Silas, or you and I, could do to break this code. Christ is the one who went
thru the initiation right so that you and I have the right to share in God’s glory.
It’s that simple – the secret’s out!
4. Royal Blood
Mary Magdalene has, by Dan Brown’s account, the “sang reial”, royal blood
flowing in her veins, and is said to be a direct descendant of the royal
bloodline of King David. Now that would be an elite status, wouldn’t you
agree? I mean, how many of us have gone to these carts in the mall where
we can trace our family history or family tree? I’ve done that, and while we all
seek some form of elite status drawn from a unique, royal lineage, I came
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away disappointed, feeling like the best thing I could do with my family tree is
to cut it down! Certainly no royal lineage in my natural bloodline.
(A picture by a tree in the park) It’s interesting that the etymology, the origin of
the word “code” comes from “tree trunk”. So if you’re going to crack the code
of anything, you should be able to trace the family tree. It should be as clear
as day. Does Jesus have a family tree? Guys, Matthew, the taxman – and you
know what they’re like – they’re detail guys, has written the whole natural
lineage of Jesus Christ. It’s an open book. You can do your own audit thru
every generation!
So would Christ have a problem with Mary Magdalene being in his bloodline?
Someone that he delivered of seven demons? Would that diminish his divinity
in any way? No way! Why do I say that? Well, if you examine Christ’s family
tree, you’ll see that Tamar, the prostitute is in his lineage, Rahab, the harlot is
there too; as is Bathsheba, the adulterous! And without them, the genetic
Code could not be established! Most of us are embarrassed about having
relatives like this in our family tree, but the Good Book says, Hebrews 2:11
(NLT) So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father.
That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters.
Would Christ then be ashamed of you carrying his royal blood? No! That’s
exactly why he came. The Hebrews are told that Hebrews 9:14 (NASB-U)
“…how much more will the blood of Christ, … cleanse your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God? Hebrews 9:22 (NASB-U) And …
all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there
is no forgiveness. Forgiveness is more like a blood transfusion that it is a
natural bloodline. We’ve got to get rid of our “bad blood” somehow, and the
way we do that is for the royal blood, the “sang raiel” of Christ to cleanse us.
It’s the same royal blood that cleansed Mary Magdalene!
So the next time you want to hug a tree, or sit under its shade, perhaps it
would be good to check the roots!
5. Finding T.R.U.T.H.
How then do we find original truth? How do we tap intot he roots of
something? A compass can only direct with true north. A ship can only
navigate with a constant start. Time is only as accurate as an atomic clock. A
scientific experiment is as true as it is read against the control sample. So
how can truth set us free when much of the truth we come to know changes
like the wind, and is an eclectic blur with no reliable absolutes? No control
sample means we lose control!
There were two skydivers in a plane, and the one said, “Come on! Let’s jump
without our parachutes. I don’t like the harnesses; I don’t like the weight; I
don’t like all the straps. I feel so restricted. I just want to be free!” But the other
jumper said, “NO!” And they both jumped from the plane – one to his death;
the other to safety. And there’s something about the harnesses, the weight,
the straps and restrictions of moral truth that give us the freedom to take risks
in life, and still land safely!
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(Use a cross as a “T” symbol here) So do we have an answer for Pontius
Pilate, as to “What is truth?” How do we discover original and absolute truth
for ourselves? If we bring “TRUTH” down to a “T”, as Pontius Pilate did, it can
“HURT”, as was Christ’s experience on the cross. So we do need to be big
people if we are serious about finding out the truth. But let’s use the word
“TRUTH” to draw the 5 primary principles of how to find truth:
1. Truth itself! As with any valid scientific experiment, we must have a
control sample as a reference. If we are going to move forward in our
discovery of truth, then we need a “true North”, or “constant star” as our
bearing. John, the one who is called the beloved, and is painted
somewhat effeminately by Da Vinci in the last supper, quotes Christ as
saying, John 14:6 …"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one
can come to the Father except through me”. So we get our bearings
from Christ. He is the essence of truth. He is the absolute. As I said,
we’ve got to be big people if we’re serious about finding truth. In a
world where truth is said to be relative, it’s a tall order to point to an
absolute!
2. Research thoroughly and objectively. All of us have what Dr Langdon
described as "scotoma", which is a medical term that simply means
"blind spot." King Solomon tells us that Proverbs 25:2 (MsgB) God
delights in concealing things; scientists delight in discovering
things. Be a scientist in your investigation. Try and deal with personal
paradigm prejudices. We all have a lens that we see life thru. Someone
said “perceptions are reality”. But most times our experiences taint our
perspectives. Experience is not as empirical as experiment!
3. Understand what it is you are seeking. It was Sophie in the movie who
said that, “We are what we stand for”. And someone else said, “If you
don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything!” Job, who seemed to
suffer as much as poor Silas in the movie, not by his own volition, of
course, makes this statement: 28:28 (NLT) … this is what (God) says
to all humanity: 'The fear of the Lord is true wisdom; to forsake
evil is real understanding.' " The statement, “You never know until
you’ve tried it” is about as ludicrous as jumping out of a plane without a
parachute! Get understanding by staying away from evil!
4. Trust, not suspicion, is the way to find truth. Trust is the foundation of
every single relationship. And trust is an expectation based on
absolutes. If someone keeps moving the goal posts, it’s very difficult to
trust them. While intellectual integrity is essential in examining truth,
there’s something beautiful about the innocence that belongs to the
kind of trust that a child has. And a child develops that trust on the
basis of consistency. Build your trust on what is consistent, and you
wont have to be looking over your shoulder! When Paul wrote to his
son Timothy, he said, 2 Tim. 2:2 (NLT) You have heard me teach
many things that have been confirmed by many reliable
witnesses. Teach these great truths to trustworthy people who are
able to pass them on to others. So it’s not just being taught – it’s
having what is taught being confirmed by reliable witnesses. And then
it’s taking what is confirmed truth, and entrusting it to trustworthy
people. One of the unfortunate flaws in incorporating the Priory of Sion
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into the story is that the organisation is a hoax promulgated by Pierre
Blantard who was a convicted conman! Seeing is not always believing!
5. Humility. Moses was the one entrusted with the Ten Commandments,
the basis of all moral truth for mankind, and the Good Book says of him
Numbers 12:3 (NLT) Now Moses was more humble than any other
person on earth. That’s why Solomon also says, Proverbs 11:2 (NLT)
Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. Moral
Authority is drawn from the well of wisdom which has it’s foundation in
humility. Look at Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa, and Ghandi.
If you search for original truth using these tools of Truth itself, Research,
Understanding, Trust and Humility, then I want to assure you, that you will find
truth that sets you free!
6. Conclusion:
I’ve enjoyed being with you today. I hope you’ve felt that some of the mystery
has been cleared. That the Divine Code has been cracked for you. I trust that
we’ve all moved a step closer in our search for the Holy Grail! Perhaps the
con of man is so dark because his heart is so dark. What do you think?
Jeremiah lamented this state of man when he said, 17:9 (MsgB) "The heart is
hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out”. But it
can be cleaned out, and we saw that earlier by the washing of Christ’s royal
blood, so that he can bring you and I into his family tree.
So has the Da Vinci Code “shaken the very foundation of the Christian
church”? I think not! Paul says that there is no other foundation but Christ
alone. You would have to shake him to shake his church. Perhaps we need to
draw a line in the sand, with what Silas dug up from the rose-line in the
church, and found, Job 38:11 I said, 'Thus far and no farther will you
come. Here your proud waves must stop!' as GK Chesterton wrote, “When
men stop believing in God, they don’t then believe in nothing – they believe in
anything!”
(Walking away with cup in hand to a pond, testing the water, saying, “Perhaps
I’ll do better with the wine. Cheers!”)