King David: Create in Me a Clean Heart

When King David committed adultery with Bathsheba, and then ordered the death of her husband, Uriah the Hittite, the king’s life never would be the same (2 Samuel 12:9, ESV).  The prophet Nathan informed the king that perilous times lay ahead for him and his family as a consequence of his sin (2 Sam. 12:10-12, ESV).  I do not know if David found the Lord’s words frightening that the sword would never depart from his house (2 Sam. 12:10a, ESV).  The text is silent on the matter.  Perhaps that is for the best.  The fallout from this one moment of sin forever marks a turning point in the life of King David.

To the king’s credit, he repents of his sin and submits to the discipline of the Lord.  Psalm 51 provides the basis for this assertion.  Most Old Testament (OT) scholars attribute this Psalm to the pen of King David.  It represents one of the most heartfelt confessions ever written.  One of the things emphasized by the king in Psalm 51 is that his sin with Bathsheba ultimately was against the Lord (Psalm 51:4, ESV).  This is the sort of admission that runs counter to human notions of right and wrong.  How could the sin really and solely be against the Lord of heaven and earth?  At no point in Psalm 51 or in 2 Sam. 12:13, do we see David pointing the finger at others for his mess.  He accepts the full responsibility as a man.

Today’s culture and society needs a few more men like King David.  Women need men who own their crap and everything that results from it.  Children cannot afford men who run away when the going gets tough.  A man is not only someone who makes wise choices, but who takes responsibility for his mistakes.  He does everything in his might to set things right with his family.  Much of this might come off as pure poppycock.  Everywhere one turns, there are reminders to take what’s yours.  There are only so many hours in the day.  I am not promised tomorrow, next week, next month, or the next few hours.  Admittedly, this was the heart attitude of King David before Nathan confronted him.

According to Psalm 51, the king underwent a massive, spiritual transformation by acknowledging that he sinned against the Lord and only him (Psalm 51:4, ESV).  Some of the most amazing words in all of Scripture occur in Psalm 51:6-11.  King David pours out his heart to the Lord for redemption, for the forgiveness of his sin.  He yearns for the inner restoration or cleansing that only God can provide through the person and work of the Holy Spirit.  What fascinates me about Psalm 51 is that more than likely David wrote it after Nathan confronted him.  Everything that the king expresses in this Psalm already has taken place.  The reason that I point this out is that back in 2 Samuel 12:13, Nathan proclaims to King David that the Lord has dealt with his sin in such a way so as to spare his life.  I think this echoes Christ dying in David’s place for his sin.   Let me develop this a little bit.

In some sense, Nathan’s words that God has put away David’s sin foreshadows Christ’s atoning death on the cross.  It is through the Son that the Father deals with sin once and for all.  Jesus is King David’s sacrificial substitute as well as ours.  From the Triune God’s eternal perspective, he already solved King David’s sin problem before the foundation of the world (Acts 2:23, ESV).  If this was not the case, then Nathan never could have told the king “the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die” (2 Sam. 12:13b, ESV).  At some point, King David embraces this marvelous truth because he writes in another Psalm that “blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity…” (Psalm 32:2a, ESV).  The king rests upon the reality of his promised justification, which has nothing to do with him but everything to do with the Lord (see Romans 4:5-8, ESV).

One more thing, I say promised justification in relation to King David only from the standpoint of human history.  1000 years still needed to transpire before Jesus came on the scene in the first century A.D.  Like I mentioned earlier, King David’s justification was a done deal from God’s perspective.  This should build our faith and hope in God and his promises.  When he declares something, it is a reality.  His word does not return to him void no matter how long it takes to unfold from my time-bound perspective (Isaiah 55:10-11, ESV).  There are some things that the Lord has set in stone.  One of those things is the justification of sinners based upon Christ’s atoning work on the cross.  It is a glorious message of good news.  If this was not good news in any tangible sense, then King David never would have written Psalms 32 and 51.

Ligon Duncan on the Splendor of Glorification

After Eight Days

2015 is upon us, which means that the Christmas holiday has ended.  When I look at it another way, the formal observance of Christ’s incarnation no longer holds sway.  Everything associated with his first coming is a thing of the past.  Who knows how many lost their senses during the New Year festivities?  What I want to do with this entry is to refocus onto Christ’s first advent.  It needs to occupy a little more space in our hearts.  Before I proceed any further, here is the passage in front of us:

“And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb” (Luke 2:21, ESV).

I find this verse to be a curious one in the second chapter of Luke’s gospel.  In the first seven verses, Luke records the journey made by Joseph and Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the census and the birth of Christ (Luke 2:1-7, 11 ESV).  Then, the gospel writer presents to the reader a glorious vision of angels seen by the shepherds about the Savior’s birth in addition to describing their subsequent visit to the young couple (Luke 2:8-20, ESV).  The first twenty verses of Luke’s second chapter make it into hallmark cards, the Christmas carols, and scripture readings.  They are wonderful verses displaying the grandeur of Christ’s birth, the prophecies fulfilled because of it, and the glory due God the Father (Luke 2:12-14 & 21, ESV).

Luke’s second chapter is essentially the Christmas story along with Matthew’s account in the second chapter of his gospel narrative.  It is only in the former’s gospel where the details appear about Christ’s circumcision and being named.  Where am I going with this?  Today, January 2nd is exactly eight days after December 25th.  Nearly 2000 years ago, Joseph and Mary obeyed their Jewish customs by circumcising their male child on the eighth day while giving him the name Jesus (Luke 2:21, ESV).  What this verse demonstrates is the simple, but profound obedience of Joseph and Mary to God and his commands.  They reveal their faith in God and his promises by circumcising their firstborn child and naming him Jesus as foretold to Mary by Gabriel (Luke 1:31-32; 2:21, ESV).

The name of Jesus is no small detail.  In fact, this seems to be the emphasis of Luke at this point in the gospel narrative.  In the Greek, the word for Jesus is Iesous, which means Jehovah is salvation or the Lord saves.  This is no different than what Gabriel said to Mary about the nature and doings of her unborn son (Luke 1:32-33 & 35, ESV).  In Hebrew, the equivalent word for Jesus is Yeshua or Yehoshua, which is the name of Joshua, who took over for Moses in order to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land.  One day in the future, Jesus, who is the greater Joshua, will return for his people and lead them into the ultimate, promised land, the New Heavens and the New Earth (Hebrews 11:13-16; Rev. 21:1-4, ESV).  This means that Christ’s first coming guarantees his second.

If the very name of Jesus means the Lord saves, then I think it behooves God’s people to marinate in that truth a little bit longer.  It is wonderful to read about the Magi who visit Joseph and Mary with gifts for the baby Jesus (Matt. 2:11, ESV).  I think it goes without saying that the angelic host appearing to the shepherds is highly inspirational.  All of those points are historical facts and wonderful, gospel truths; however, the birth of the Savior reveals something deeper and fuller.  Jesus not only opens the way of salvation for his people, but he is their salvation; consequently, he displays the Father’s salvation (John 14:6; Ephesians 1:7-10; Heb. 9:11-14 & 24-28, ESV). This is a monumental truth forever sealed by the Holy Spirit within the redeemed until that glorious day (Eph. 1:13-14, ESV).

The First Beatitude in Revelation

For some, the notion that the book of Revelation has beatitudes, let alone seven of them, might sound a little surprising.  Normally, most readers of the New Testament associate that sort of thing with Jesus’ sermon on the mount as recorded by the apostle Matthew (Matt. 5:1-12, cf Luke 6:20-23, ESV).  Like I mentioned in my introductory post, the beatitudes in Revelation are one of the things that the Holy Spirit showed me and refused to let me forget.  There is so much in the last book of the bible that garners attention.  All the beasts, dragons, demons, and angels take center stage along with the prophetic symbolism regarding the events depicted in this unusual book.  These things distracted my heart and mind from seeing the seven beatitudes.  The fact that there are seven of them in the book of Revelation indicates theological significance.  If seven is symbolic for perfection, then it suggests a perfect offer of blessing from God through the person of Christ as administered by the Holy Spirit.

What do I mean by the phrase, “a perfect offer of blessing from God?”  Before I supply an answer, I do not want to suggest that the spiritual blessings in Christ have a strict expiration date for either this present age or the age to come (Ephesians 1:3-6, 2:4-7, ESV).  It is true that those who remain outside of Christ (or the unjust) will never experience these blessings in this life or in the next.  In fact, God’s offer of Christ terminates for the unjust at either their death or at the close of this age.  The reality for those in Christ is the opposite as the spiritual blessings begin breaking into their lives in this life.  At the dawn of the new day, the spiritual blessings bloom into such fullness that “no eye has seen, no ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9; cf Isaiah 64:4, ESV).

Now, here is my answer to the meaning of the phrase a perfect offer of blessing.  It refers to Jesus, the Son of God.  This is the same reason that the apostle Paul writes to the Corinthian churches in his second letter: “For all the promises of God find their Yes in [Christ].  That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory” (2 Cor. 1:20, ESV).  Every promise of blessing from God the Father finds its ultimate fulfillment in union with Christ.  There is no other way for anyone to enjoy them.  It is essential to keep Jesus at the center for these spiritual blessings.  This helps to maintain balance and perspective over the course of one’s life.  In keeping with this line of thought, here is the first beatitude from Revelation:

“Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near” (Revelation 1:3, ESV).

If I identify with Christ, then this beatitude illustrates how to demonstrate it.  The apostle John records in this passage that reading, hearing, and keeping the words (obeying it) of Revelation bless those who engage in these activities.  Let me take this one step further.  There is a blessing for reading aloud the book of Revelation that is separate from hearing it and from keeping it.  If I sit back and chew on this statement, then it stirs up many questions.  How does reading the last book of the New Testament bless the reader?  How does it bless the hearer or the keeper of it?  What is it about the book of Revelation that causes the Spirit of God to pronounce a blessing through the apostle John to those who read it, hear it, and keep it?  I want to stress this point because this beatitude occurs before any of the exhortations, warnings, visions and prophecies.  It seems to me that this emphasizes something unique or precious about the book of Revelation.

Allow me to venture into some uncharted territory as I offer some answers to the above questions.  At this point, it is essential to introduce the context that precedes the beatitude under consideration.  The first words of the book of Revelation state the following:  “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place…” (Rev. 1:1a, ESV).  This means that the book of Revelation is about Jesus, the Son of God, who received this revelation from God the Father.  It is the second part of that sentence, which blows my mind.  Everything in the book of Revelation flows from the Father heart of God toward the Son, who discloses this revelation to an angel, who makes it known to the apostle John (Rev. 1:1, ESV).  This is the unbroken chain of communication, which starts with the Father.

When the apostle John writes in the third person about how he bears witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, he certifies the trustworthiness of the contents within the book of Revelation (Rev. 1:2, ESV).   John identifies the words that follow as having their origin in God the Father, which testify about Jesus or God the Son.  From this, I glean two key points: first, the Father aims to bear witness about the Son; and second, the content of the Father’s revelation given to the Son has a direct impact upon the lives of their servants and the entire created order (Rev. 1:1b, 7, ESV).  This shows the Father’s love and concern for those proclaiming and serving his Son, Jesus Christ; however, it also reveals the Son’s love and concern for those who become his disciples.  Later on in the book of Revelation, the heavenly host surrounding the throne of God worships the Son for his actions in redeeming a people for God (Rev. 5:9, ESV).

Because the first beatitude in Revelation declares a blessing upon the reader, the hearer, and the keeper, this places God and his word in the preeminent position.  What this demonstrates is an old exhortation to the people of the old covenant that the Spirit of God applies to the new covenant people.  For example, the following words spoken by God through Moses echoes the beatitude in Revelation: “…If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians…” (Exodus 15:26, ESV).  Thousands of years separate Moses from John, and the apostle from God’s people living today; however, the commands to listen to God’s voice, to keep his word, and to obey it transcend all eras while they apply to God’s people from all ages.  I think the important lesson in all of this is that the Father offers blessing and cursing through his word.

Jesus is the Father’s supreme offer of blessing to his people.  It is also the case that rejecting the Son places one under the severest judgment. This notion finds expression in the Penteteuch with respect to the prophecy of a future prophet.  God reveals to Moses that he will raise up a prophet similar to him who will speak God’s words and in his name; consequently, the Lord states without equivocation that the one who refuses to listen to this prophet will be judged personally by him (Deuteronomy 18:18-19, ESV).  Both Peter and Stephen apply this prophecy to the person of Jesus Christ in the book of Acts; although, it is the former who makes mention of the judgment for rejecting the person of Christ (Acts 3:22-23, 7:37, ESV).  It seems to me that the Holy Spirit is quite clear in his exhortation to read, to hear, and to keep the words of the prophecy of the book of Revelation (Rev. 1:3, ESV).  The call is to sit at the feet of Jesus like Mary in order to choose the better part (Luke 10:39 & 42, ESV).

 

Leon Morris on the Atonement

“To put it bluntly and plainly, if Christ is not my Substitute, I still occupy the place of a condemned sinner. If my sins and my guilt are not transferred to Him, if He did not take them upon Himself, then surely they remain with me. If He did not deal with my sins, I must face their consequences. If my penalty was not borne by Him, it still hangs over me. There is no other possibility. To say that substitution is immoral is to say that redemption is impossible. We must beware of taking up such a disastrous position.…

In the process of salvation God is not transferring penalty from one man (guilty) to another man (innocent). He is bearing it Himself. The absolute oneness between the Father and the Son in the work of atonement must not for a moment be lost sight of.  When Christ substitutes for sinful man in His death that is God Himself bearing the consequences of our sin, God saving man at cost to Himself, not at cost to someone else.  As Leonard Hodgson puts it, ‘He wills that sin shall be punished, but He does not will that sin shall be punished without also willing that the punishment shall fall on Himself.’  In part the atonement is to be understood as a process whereby God absorbs in Himself the consequences of man’s sin.”

(Leon Morris, The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, p410, 1955)

You Can’t Have One without the Other, Part II

In part one, I dealt with the parables of the mustard seed and leaven.  These two go hand-in-hand, or even better, represent two sides of the same coin.  They depict the type of growth to expect in this present age of imperfection until the Messiah’s second coming.  I stated that throughout the course of church history two schools of thought have arisen regarding the parables of the mustard seed and the leaven.  These divergent views remain hotly contested between scholars, but the real point is that responsible and Orthodox scholars arrive at different conclusions.  Lastly, I mentioned that the mustard seed and leaven parables close out Jesus’ teaching to the crowds.  The remaining three parables are given by the Lord in the presence of the disciples inside the house, which is where he had been teaching earlier in the day (Matthew 12:46 – 13:1 & 36, ESV).  In this entry, I will examine the twin parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl of great value.  Here they are for our reading pleasure:

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up.  Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.  Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it” (Matthew 13:44-46, ESV).  

Much like the duo of the mustard seed and the leaven, the above quoted parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl of great value have attracted a variety of interpretations over the years.  The heat over them is nowhere close to that associated with the mustard seed and the leaven.  In fact, I do not believe it would be fair to characterize the disagreements over the meaning of the hidden treasure and the pearl as exhibiting heat.  From the bit of reading that I have done, the scholars demonstrate genuine respect and good humor toward one another.  The two most prevalent interpretations of the parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl of great value agree that these teach the same lesson.  Like any debate, the issue with these parables turns on what lesson is Jesus teaching through them?

Before I interject my own allegiance, I will present the two interpretations and then their supporting reasons.  Here are the two respective views.  Number one, the common interpretation sees both the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price as depicting the immense value of the kingdom to the one who possesses it.  Number two, the other interpretation believes that these two parables illustrate the depth of Christ’s love for his people, who are his inheritance.  These are the two most dominant views of the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price.  If my readers observe the two positions closely, the difference is one of perspective. Here is what I mean.  The first interpretation portrays the kingdom’s worth from man’s perspective while the second shows how valuable the people of the kingdom are to the King.

When it comes to the first view regarding the parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price, the man in each parable represents an individual who seeks out and possesses the kingdom of heaven.  It is more valuable than any other possession in the entire world; therefore, someone will give up everything in order to acquire it.  There might be some further ways to nuance that interpretation, but I have given the gist of it.  Now, it is my belief that this view has a few issues with it.  First, is the kingdom of heaven something that any man or woman can purchase, or is it a gift of God (an inheritance) to those who believe in the Son?  Second, the man in both parables has the means to acquire the kingdom even if he ends up selling everything. Is there anything in me that earns or merits the kingdom?  Isaiah 64:6b says that “all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.” According to Psalm 14 and the first three verses, there is no one who seeks after God and no one who is righteous.

I agree that these two parables teach the same lesson; however, I believe that it pertains to Christ’s redemption of his people in order to inherit the kingdom.  Salvation by grace through faith is the only way to possess the kingdom of heaven.  In fact, Jesus tells Nicodemus that “unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God,” and then the Lord repeats this two verses later using different words: “unless one is born of water and Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:3 & 5, ESV).  Now then, remember that Jesus interpreted the man in the parable of the weeds as the Son of Man.  In my mind, the man in both the hidden treasure and the pearl represents Christ.  He is the one who seeks after the treasure and the pearl in order to purchase them (1 Cor. 6:20; 7:23, ESV). Another way to state this is that Jesus left heaven, took on the form of a servant, and died on the cross to redeem a people as his own (Phil. 2:6-11, ESV).

What this means is that the hidden treasure and the pearl refer to the redeemed of the Lord, the church.  There are passages in the Old Testament, which refer to God’s covenant people as his treasured possession (Exodus 19:5; Deut. 7:6, 14:2, 26:18; Mal. 3:17, ESV).  The apostle Peter picks up the Exodus nineteen passage and applies it to the New Testament people of God (1 Peter 2:9-10, ESV).  The church is the treasure possession.  Each living stone or believer is a specially formed and prized, but so is the whole group of believers from both testaments.  The pearl pictures the same truth in a similar way.  Its formation is unique.  A foreign object finds its way inside an oyster, which secretes layers of nacre over it.  This is a painful process for the shell creature, but the pearl winds up being highly valuable.  In the same way, Jesus bears the sin of his people, which causes him great harm even death.  He clothes his people with his righteousness, which results in a glorious bride, the church (Rev. 5:9-10, 19:7-8, ESV).

How wonderful is the truth of the parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl.  It shines even brighter in relation to the previous four parables of the sower, the weeds, the mustard seed, and the leaven.  Those offered rays or glimmers of hope, but their overall tone is somber.  Both the hidden treasure and the pearl parables speak to the present sanctifying work of the Spirit within the church and its future glorification at Christ’s second advent.  If these two parables merely depicted the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, then that would be good news.  Because the hidden treasure and the pearl promise the church’s future glorification at Christ’s return, then this is nothing short of miraculous or mind-blowing.  The person and work of the Holy Spirit within God’s people seal and guarantees our eventual entrance into the kingdom of heaven.  That will be a glorious day.

The Journey into Life

This past weekend, I participated on the ministry team for a discipleship retreat run by Cleansing Stream Ministries (CSM).  If this peaks anyone’s interest, then click here to learn more about this ministry.  One of the things that I have seen in my own life is the absolute necessity to take the Lord at his word.  Jesus said a myriad of times throughout his earthly ministry that the kingdom of heaven is at hand.  He demonstrated  this by his very presence, by his teaching, and by his works or demonstrations of his power and authority.  When Jesus appeared to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, “he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27, ESV).  These two forlorn disciples encountered Jesus, who rebuked them for being slow to believe in his word and in himself.  The wonderful thing about the Lord is he meets these disciples in that place of despair, but he does not leave them in that condition.  By opening their eyes to how all of Scripture points to him, Jesus builds their faith and emboldens them for a life of testifying about him and his word (Luke 24:30-32, ESV).

There is a journey depicted by these two disciples, which mirrors my own.  Despite different circumstances, I have found myself at one time or another in despair or forlorn over my condition like those disciples on the road to Emmaus.  I had high hopes for what the Lord said in his word about himself and new life in him; however, the reality told a much different story.  The other possibility is that my perception of reality was off.  At times, there is a mix of incorrectly interpreting my experiences and what the Lord says about them, which may spin me in a thousand different directions.  This seems to be a systemic condition of mankind since the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden.  A lie entered into reality, which caused doubts about the truth and the one who is truth’s source.  Shame and fear take hold of me like the first man and woman.  I run around attempting to make things right, but nothing works…The indicator light to the gas tank flashes empty, but I still keep going.  Does that make any sense?

The obvious answer to that previous question is a resounding no.  Running on empty never makes sense, so what is the reason for doing it?  On some level, I have perceived rightly that something is off or amiss about me.  The problem seems to be my response to the recognition of something wrong.  Rather than admitting it to God and trusted friends, I cover things up like Adam and Eve.  I seek out people, places, and things in order to hide or conceal what I have seen that is unpleasant within me or about me.  Instead of taking time to pause or stop, I keep going and going and going like the Energizer Bunny except my tank is empty.  How long can I keep this up?  I may even realize at times that I must stop, but I will not or cannot.  There are numerous factors that come into play here such as false expressions of fear, guilt, and shame.  May I submit to my readers and followers that those three bugaboos mask the root, which I believe to be pride or an unwillingness to admit that I have a problem.

I believe that there are right expressions of fear, guilt, and shame; however, most of the time those wind up twisted into the false ways so quickly that it is hard to ever conceive of fear, guilt, and shame serving a good purpose.  The book of Proverbs says in multiple places that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  If fear was always a negative emotion, then there is no way to ever understand what the author of Proverbs maybe driving at with that statement.  Guilt has a tendency to cut both ways like shame.  There is an aspect of guilt, which is necessary for producing genuine confession and repentance over one’s actions.  The apostle Paul speaks of a Godly sorrow that leads to repentance.  This particular passage reveals how good guilt and good shame work together.  Good guilt acknowledges that I have done something wrong, and good shame expresses genuine sorrow for the pain and separation that it has caused between God and me and others.

What I mean by this is that shame exists in two forms: the good kind and the harmful kind.  From my personal experience, I found the latter to be all too common in my life and in the lives of men and women throughout the world.  It is my personal belief that the presence of negative shame within all people regardless of race, age, tongue, tribe, you name it, gives tremendous support to the historical, objective fact of the Fall of Adam and Eve in the garden.  I do not know how else to explain the prevalence of such an universally transcendent emotion, which any person is able to understand in spite of language and cultural differences.  Harmful shame blocks life from entering the person because he or she believes oneself to be inherently unworthy of it.  Bad shame is an insidious emotional state, which fuels all addictive behaviors.  If I believe that I am a bad person or unworthy of God’s life-giving touch and presence, then there is no reason to pursue life in Christ to better my condition.

Before I wrap this up, I want to expand upon the notion of shame having a good or beneficial aspect to it.  This may already cause some to think that I am off base or confused.  Allow me to walk us through some passages in both the Old and New Testaments.  In the sixth chapter of Jeremiah and the fifteenth verse, the prophet proclaims God’s word of judgment upon Jerusalem because its people committed sinful acts without any shame over them being wrong in the Lord’s presence.  This was such an important point for the Lord to convey to his people that he had Jeremiah repeat this word again in the eighth chapter and twelfth verse.  Jumping over to the New Testament, the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul exhorts the Ephesian Christians to avoid sinful acts and speaking about them because the latter is shameful (Ephesians 5:12, ESV).  If participating in sin without shame is wrong from God’s eyes in the Old Testament, then the bar winds up being raised even higher in the New Testament with the prohibition against repeating the sinful acts taking place inside and outside the church.

Sin is sin.  It defiles, it separates, and it leads to death apart from Christ.  A right understanding of sin and its consequences only comes through the gracious saving work and presence of the Holy Spirit.  He redeems the ability of his people to express fear, guilt, and shame in ways that honor the Lord, others and oneself.  The redemptive aspect to shame enables God’s people to recognize the impact that their sin has had upon God, others, and themselves.  When it comes to guilt, the good aspect of it enables the believer to acknowledge that a wrong has been committed and it needs to be made right.  Lastly, fear of the Lord provides a necessary, internal check within God’s people that allows them to see sin’s consequences from their Lord’s perspective.  It is not a laughing matter.  Many sons and daughters of the King experienced his redemption from bad fear, guilt and shame for the first time at the CSM retreat this past weekend. For many, the journey into life has begun in earnest for the first time.  Now, the truth of walking by faith and not by sight will be put to the test.  O Lord, preserve them like the apple of your eye.

 

Wanted: Dead or Alive

I love Western movies.  It does not matter the era whether the Golden Age of Hollywood or today.  Count me in as a diehard fan of the genre.  More than likely, the Western captures my imagination because of its mythical elements.  I could not resist wording today’s post the way I did.  It represents a cliched reference to the catching of criminals in every Western story whether television or cinema.  When I came across the following scripture passage, I felt inspired to pay homage to the Western:

“20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 ‘Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch’ 22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh” (Colossians 2:20-23, ESV).

At the risk of sounding pretentious, I submit to my readers and followers that the apostle Paul fits the mold of a gruff, Western hero.   He might be the New Testament’s version of John Wayne.  Again, this runs the risk of caricaturing an historical figure, who advanced the gospel message in mighty ways before the internet, electricity, the train, the automobile, you name it.  Respect is due a man who gave his life for the very message that I proclaim while steeped in comfort and convenience.  There is no Roman Imperial Cult demanding complete veneration from its citizens on pain of death at the moment in the United States.  Of course, this could change over the coming decades.

If one does a smidgen of homework on the letter to the Colossians, one learns that Paul writes these words from prison.  He is a criminal in the eyes of the Roman Empire.  If I take this one step further, Paul’s imprisonment illustrates the consequences between being dead or alive.  He has died to the world and its ways by proclaiming the gospel and living its message.  This has landed Paul in prison.  If he remained alive to the world, but dead to Christ, then he would be free to engage in Roman society as a Roman citizen.  Rather than engage with the world according to its ways, Paul sits in prison while using this letter to the Colossians in order to jostle them into obedient living.  This is exactly the context previous to the above quoted passage.

When reading Colossians 2:13-15, Paul exhorts the Colossian believers to remember their position in Christ and how he accomplished it before God and all the principalities.  The apostle stresses three key points: 1. God made the Colossian believers alive in Christ while dead to him; 2. God forgave their trespasses (or sins) in Christ by his death on the cross; and 3. Christ disarmed or weakened the demonic forces by his death and resurrection.  Instead of these truths forming a heart and life of obedience to Christ, the Colossians reverted back to their old ways of submitting to human and fleshly rules or regulations (Col. 2:20-22, ESV).  Paul pleads with them to examine their lives to determine whether they are dead or alive to the world.

According to Paul, living for the world goes against being made alive in Christ.  It is sheer insanity for the Colossians to live this new life in Christ as if they were dead to him and alive to the world.  If this previous sentence sounds contradictory, then it has served its purpose.  The apostle Paul’s intent is to illustrate the futile existence of believers who revert back to the flesh for living.  In fact, the twenty-third verse, of Colossians chapter two, is a sobering reminder for followers of Christ today just as it was in Paul’s day.  How can I possibly believe and live according to human precepts and teaching for victory over sin, when Christ secured the victory over sin and death through his death and resurrection?  The law does not save.  It reveals to me my sin and corresponding need of a savior; however, using the law or works to accomplish righteous living subverts the gospel and Christ (Galatians 1:6-8; 3:2-4, 23-25, NASB).

When I reflect upon the title of today’s post, “Wanted: Dead or Alive,” I see it as a clarion call by the apostle Paul to stir up the believers in Colosse and throughout the entire church age.  The apostle leaves no room for believers to straddle the fence with respect to their devotion to Christ.  God the Holy Spirit uses Paul’s words to call his people into greater intimacy and faithfulness.  There is no victory over sin according to the flesh.  I can manage my sin to the best of my ability apart from Christ…but, Paul says rather bluntly that such efforts “…are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh” (Col. 2:23, ESV).  I call that a reality check.  It demands that I examine where my focus is at in life: on Christ or on myself.  Am I living life according to the flesh by strict adherence to rules or regulations (otherwise known as legalism)?  Or, do I submit my flesh and its desires to the Holy Spirit and his word for true restraint and victory?

Sweetly Broken

Few worship songs match the power and emotion of Jeremy Riddle’s tune from 2007. It covers deep waters of doctrine in visible word images. The music and vocals help to wrap it up like a priceless gift. Enjoy the music and words and the Spirit, who speaks through anointed worship like this song.

Foreshadowing Christ, part II – Water from the Rock

Yesterday I explored the notion of God’s provision of the manna in the wilderness as foreshadowing the first coming of Christ. My basis for this view rested upon these two scripture texts: Exodus 16:4-5, 14-15 and John 6:32-33, 49-51. In this post, I will present essentially the same argument with respect to the Exodus account of the water from the rock. The first text is the Old Testament passage, which will be followed by the New Testament one:

“Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.’ And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel” (Exodus 17:6, ESV).

“For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:1-4, ESV).

Before I delve into the text placed in bold, I want to lay out the context for both passages. In the Exodus account, the water from the rock occurs after the provision of the manna. By God’s command, the people of Israel left the Wilderness of Sin and camped at Rephidim (Ex. 17:1, ESV). The text does not specify how much time passed between God’s provision of the manna and the Israelites subsequent grumbling against God over the lack of water. What I want to highlight is that these men and women had witnessed the Lord send them bread from heaven. It was a miracle and an act of divine grace by God on their behalf. Instead of allowing God’s grace to transform their hearts, the people sunk into unbelief and grumbled against God while longing to return to Egypt (Ex. 17:2-3, ESV).

In the apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, the tenth chapter serves as a key one for this young church. The Holy Spirit speaks through Paul over the rampant idolatry within their congregation. He reprimands them for mixing their pagan religious practices into the Lord’s Supper, which Paul describes as worshiping both demons and the Lord at the same time (1 Cor. 10:20-21, ESV). For Paul, the worship of the Corinthian believers revealed hearts divided toward Christ and each other; therefore, he explains to them that the importance of the Lord’s Supper is its display of unity between the believers and Christ (1 Cor. 10:16-17, ESV). By divine revelation of the Holy Spirit, Paul illustrates to the Corinthian church how their idolatry separates them from God in the very same way as the Israelites of the Old Testament; consequently, the Corinthians are in danger of facing the same judgment (1 Cor. 10:8-10, ESV).

If the Apostle Paul had not lived to write the first letter to the Corinthians, the title of today’s post would be meaningless at best and heresy at its worst. On its face, the Exodus account appears to give no hint of Christ being present in the wilderness with the Israelites, let alone following them as a rock. It seems to be an account of God performing another miracle in the desert for his people: providing them water to drink in the desert. Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the apostle Paul reveals to us in 1 Cor. 10:4 that the rock represented Christ in the Old Testament. He develops this further by informing the Corinthians that the Old Testament people of God participated with Christ and his offer of living water (this last point is my opinion).

Because the Holy Spirit through Paul equates the rock with Christ, there is a larger dimension at play with respect to redemptive history. Paul uses the Exodus text to warn the Corinthian church about rebelling against Christ in their mixed worship. This illustrates that they are going down the same ruinous path as the Israelites. History begins repeating itself in Corinth, and the sin is even greater because the Corinthian church has the fullness of God’s revelation. The Israelites experienced only a shadow of what was to come in the wilderness. Just as idolatry prevented the Old Testament people from entering the Promised Land, it threatens to bar the Corinthians from entering the kingdom, which is the ultimate fulfillment of the land of Canaan.

There is one more aspect of the Exodus account that needs to be drawn out. Moses strikes the rock according to the Lord’s command. What this represents is Christ’s death. According to Isaiah 53:10a, the prophet writes that “…it was the will of the Lord to crush [Christ].” Moses’ actions foreshadow Christ’s death on the cross, which had been ordained by the Father. When the soldier pierced the side of the Son, blood and water flowed out (John 19:34, ESV). The blood of the covenant pardons sins while the water of the Spirit brings new life in the redeemed (John 7:38, ESV). Basically, the Lord offers salvation in Christ to the Israelites at Rephidim. When they grumble against God, they are refusing to accept the Father’s offer of salvation. Their unbelief blinds them to the real work, the eternal redemptive work, that God desires to bring about in their lives.

In many ways, I behave no differently than the Israelites. Five years ago, I suffered the loss of two jobs and an automobile in eight months. This was my wilderness experience, and I began crying out to God for basic needs: a job and a car. When the days dragged on, when the prayers seemed to stack up to the ceiling, I wondered about the goodness of God. By the way, I had been a believer for more than a decade. I saw his goodness over and over again in my life and in the lives of my friends and family. Despite those facts, I railed against the Lord just like the Israelites.

At no point did I cross over into refusing to remain in covenant with God. This is one place where I differed from the Israelites. I knew where he had found me, and where I stood in the midst of this wilderness. Did I know where I was headed? I had no idea what our sovereign Lord had up his sleeves for yours truly. Despite the uncertain future, I kept hanging onto God’s promise in Isaiah 54:11, which states: “O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires.”

Somehow I hoped against hope. I held onto that passage in Isaiah 54:11, which I felt led to read one night in the midst of crying out to my Lord. Through his word, he filled me with a fresh flow of living water. Life returned my dry and weary soul. This is what God had been offering to the Israelites with the water from the rock. He offered to them the hope of new life. He offered his one and only son. Has the Lord offered you living water in the desert? Do you desire living water from the spiritual rock, who is Christ?