Jonah

God’s sovereignty extends over all His creation, but His will is a complex and sometimes (seemingly) contradictory concept. Of course, it is only contradictory because our human minds are too infinitesimally minute to comprehend His infinitely great wisdom and understanding and His all-powerful workings – “what God has done from beginning to end” (Eccl 3:11).

God commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh, but what did Jonah do? He went the other way. He acted in defiant rebellion against God’s direct command, against His revealed will, for God had made it crystal clear to Jonah where he was supposed to go and what he was supposed to do. God’s commanded will was not accomplished in that moment it was given to Jonah. Jonah sinned.

And yet, it was God who willed Jonah’s disobedience. Jonah’s sin was in God’s foreordained plan and purpose. Most would find no difficulty believing that Jonah’s repentance was God’s doing in his heart. But what about Jonah’s rebellion? Was this not also planned by God?

Philippians 2:14 says, “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” God works in us for His good pleasure. It was God’s good pleasure for Jonah to rebel against God. Why? The answer is complex, for God works on multiple levels. One reason is so that God’s infinite wisdom and power might be displayed. God created a great fish to consume but not kill Jonah, and to spew him up when he repented. God mighty arm was bared to show His great power in bringing this wayward prophet to repentance and obedience.

A second reason is that God was intimately working in the heart of His prophet, on Jonah’s character. As a loving Father, He disciplined and broke His child, molding him like clay and purifying him in the furnace of suffering. What was the end purpose of this suffering? For Jonah to realize that God is God and to give Him glory.

These first two reasons work together to show how God works on multiple levels so far beyond our limited understanding. Packer writes briefly on this in his beloved book Knowing God. Packer reflects how in the life of Joseph, God was working on many levels – building Joseph’s character through fiery trials; refining the character of Jacob, who had idolized his youngest (at the time) son; sovereignly overseeing and carrying out His purposes for His people, blessing and protecting the nation of Israel (p. 86). In addition to Packer’s list, there were other purposes, both directly and indirectly related to God’s dealings with Joseph: bringing about foreordained judgment on other nations (e.g. Egypt and the Canaanite nations); withholding His electing love from the nations of Canaan and giving them over to ever-increasing wickedness, and so eliciting the full measure of God’s wrath and judgment upon them (Gen 15:16).

These two reasons worked together in an extraordinary way, demonstrating God’s power and wisdom to work in an intimate, personal level as well as a national and ethnic level.
Now on to the most important reason why it was God’s good purpose for Jonah to disobey, which we find in Matthew 12:38-41:

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

God had planned Jonah’s rebellion from before the beginning so that a prophecy concerning Jesus could be fulfilled. God had ordained Jonah’s sinful disobedience so that Jesus could reference Jonah as a prophetic voice and testimony of what God was about to carry out in His own death and resurrection. Jonah was a “type” of Christ – a historical witness to the redemptive work of Jesus written into history by the Almighty, omniscient God. Death swallowed up the Son of God, but on the third day, unable to contain Him, threw Him up. “And death has been sick ever since. And some day, Death will wash up on shore and forever be throne down into the Lake of Fire, along with the devil and his demons” (Paraphrasing Jonathan Edwards)

So, did Jonah violate God’s will and therefore sin against God? Yes. Was Jonah accountable to God for his sinful disobedience? Yes. Did God foreordain Jonah’s sinful disobedience? Yes. Did God sin is ordaining sin? No. Are there two wills of God? It seems to be so. Is it wrong for God to do what He did to Jonah? “Who are you, O man, to answer back to God?” (Rom 9:20). I AM THAT I AM! God is free to be and do as He wills, and in Him there is no sin.

Jacob, Esau and Two Thieves on a Cross

In Romans 9, Paul makes crystal clear his case that God’s freedom to choose whom He will and reject whom He will is not based on any distinction in them; for God chose Jacob and rejected Esau before they had done anything good or evil, before they were even born. God’s freedom of choice is an application of His being. LORD, or Yahweh, means “I AM THAT I AM.” This name is who God is (whatever God chooses to be). And because God is who He chooses to be, He is free to do as He chooses to do. This application of His name is found in Exod 33:19, which Paul quotes in Romans 9:15: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” In Exod 3:14, when Moses asked God His name, God replied “I AM THAT I AM.” Later, in Exod 33:19, God speaks again to Moses, telling him, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy.” I AM is His freedom in being. “I will…” is His freedom of doing. Out of His absolute unbounded freedom to be is His absolute unbounded freedom to do.

Why two thieves next Jesus? The answer parallels the answer concerning Jacob and Esau. Neither of them had done anything good nor bad. They were both just as unworthy of God’s electing grace. Yet God, in His sovereign freedom, chose Jacob. And God, in His sovereign freedom, chose one thief and not the other. Here again, at the very center of redemptive history, at Calvary itself, we find God’s freedom blasting forth in full force. “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy.” God’s Spirit regenerated the heart of one thief right there on the cross as the crowd hurled their insults at Jesus. His blood must have boiled as he saw this grand injustice. The other thief heard the same insults and blasphemies poured out toward the Son of God, but the Holy Spirit left him in his wickedness. This thief even chimed in, joining in the mockery of Jesus. One was stirred to repentance, the other toward the greatest evil of all, reviling God Himself. And when the elect thief could bear it no more, he rebuked the wicked thief, making his profession of faith right there on a cross. And as he did, he summed up the doctrine of grace in one concise statement:

Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds…

This thief’s heart had been reborn. The veil had been lifted and he saw “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor 4:6). And seeing this, he saw his own wickedness, his own deserved condemnation, justly due him for his sins. And looking toward the center, He saw Jesus, the justifier, the propitiation of God’s wrath and condemnation. And he fell on Jesus.

This thief’s confession is the necessary confession of every person who ever walked and will ever walk the face of the planet – we are under the same sentence of condemnation, and we will justly receive the due reward for our deeds. We have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. And the due reward for this shortcoming is wrath and eternal condemnation! One thief received his due upon the cross and now in all eternity. The other fell upon Christ and received mercy and an entrance into eternal life. Both deserved what one of them received; neither deserved what the other received. For God chose one and rejected the other. And these crosses on either side of Jesus’s stand forever as an reminder of God’s freedom to have mercy on whom He has mercy and to harden whom He hardens.

Reflections: The Sermon on the Mount & the Law

As I was prayerfully reading Romans 3 this morning, I came across the passage again which says that God overlooked forgave previous sins in His divine forbearance, and Jesus was put forward as a propitiation. This entire section begins with verse 21, where Paul states that righteousness has now been made known to us apart from the Law through faith in Jesus Christ. Paul states that, even though this righteousness is made known apart from the Law, the Law and Prophets in fact bore witness to it.

Reflecting on this and on the Law, I came upon thinking about the Sermon on the Mount. A flash of lightning hit my mind as I began to see this sermon in a way I had never before. This entire sermon is one long exposition of the requirements of the Law. And the purpose of that exposition has several purposes: to instruct for obedience, to reinterpret the Law by taking these Jewish listeners back to its original intent, to begin a revolution of living for delight in God’s glory. But in this particular entry, I am going to focus on an often missed purpose of Jesus in giving this exposition – to illuminate the utter hopelessness that the Law brings.

The listeners of Jesus had only a shadow of the Law, an warped interpretation of the most apparently “righteous” people of the day, the Pharisees, who were the keepers and teachers of this shadow. They taught and lived it for strict obedience. But they had completely missed the mark of what the Law truly was in its intent. When Jesus preached His Sermon on the Mount, His aim was not to explain the Law so the people could see how to behave, but to expose every way they hadn’t. Paul made very clear in Romans that “the law came in to increase the trespass” (5:20). A true understanding of the Law would reveal just how far off the Jews were from the righteousness of God and how impossible it was ever to meet the requirements of God’s Law, for God’s Law revealed the righteous requirement of God’s holiness.

The people, as long as they were looking at outward appearances could put up a good front. But when Jesus exposited the Law in full, showing it to be far above outward ritual – He showed it to be a matter of the heart – the response was not to be, “Okay, let’s go out and do this.” No, the appropriate response would be one of horror, “Woe is me. I am doomed.” Jesus was the first Reformed preacher, teaching the total depravity right here in the Sermon on the Mount. This is what Jesus meant when He said that He did not come to do away with the Law but to fulfill it – to fill it full of its true meaning (Matt 5:17-18).

Paul wrote that there is no humanly possible way to keep the whole Law, which is God’s perfect standard of holiness, because through the Law comes not righteousness but knowledge of sin (Rom 3:20). The Law served to show us how truly degenerate and sinful we were. If one were to only look at the Law at face value, with its many rule, regulations and rituals, one might dare attempt to live righteously. But wasn’t the rules, regulations and rituals that Paul was referring to. He was referring to the whole Law, the intent of the Law. One would have to look at the Law’s intent, that one’s heart also had to be in the right place. The Great Commandment clarified this. Love the Lord with all your being and love your neighbor as yourself. It was a Law that required heart transformation, that required love. But, as Paul emphasized, though it required these things, it made no provision for them (Rom 8:2). There is no greater sermon exposition on the full intent of the Law than Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount. As I read the sermon in this light, it came alive to me a way I had never experienced it before. God's Spirit was opening my eyes and conforming my understanding to His heart.

In Matthew 5, Jesus opens with the Beatitudes. Jesus insisted that we be poor in spirit, meaning we come knowing how hopelessly depraved we are. We were to mourn out of despondency for this state of affairs, knowing our lostness. We were to be meek, coming in humble weakness to receive God mercy in our unworthiness. Now this poverty of spirit, mourning and meekness was not to discontinue once we received Christ. Since sanctification would never be complete until glory, the sinful nature would also never be completely expunged as long as we bore this mortal coil.

Now, since we have been shown mercy, we were then to show forth that mercy to others, in an attitude of contrition. We were to continually have a hunger and thirst for righteousness, which Paul clearly teaches us cannot be apart from a working of the Spirit, for apart from His Spirit, no one was righteous and no one was seeking after/hungry for God (Rom 3:10-11).

When Jesus required purity in heart (v 8), He was going for the jugular, getting to the crux of the Law – the heart had to be pure. And how could the heart be pure when it was a heart of stone (Ezek 11:19), deceitful above all things and beyond cure (Jer 17:9)? The only way this could be is by a work of the Spirit, turning our stone heart into a heart of flesh (Ezek. 11:20).
We were to be peacemakers – an inward working of God's Spirit.
And Jesus finally warns us in this last Beatitude that we will be persecuted because we would be different, transformed inwardly by God’s Spirit.

This stuff, these Beatitudes, were all inward transformations. Jesus did not say, blessed are you who sacrifice, bring offerings, etc., but blessed are you who are poor in spirit, pure in heart, etc.

The statements that we are salt and light and a city set on a hill (vv 13-16) are metaphors for outward displays of inward transformation. We are to outwardly display God’s glorious work within us. This is in contrast to the hypocritical Pharisees who displayed their good works but had no inward transformation. “They were whitewashed tombs filled with dead men’s bones.”

Jesus then, in verses 17-20, emphatically states His purpose in this sermon and His mission on earth. In this sermon, He was not doing away with the Law but merely fulfilling it. Jesus rebukes anyone who does not keep even the iota, even the dot of the Law. His command was to read between the lines and live accordingly. Then Jesus pointed out a group of people, the religious leaders, who were dishonoring the intent of the Law, strictly living its outward requirements and imposing it on others, rather than obeying its underlying intents and implications. God's standards were heart standards lived out in practical love and service, not merely empty, outward acts.

If I were listening to Jesus at that point, I might think about the Ten Commandments. This Decalogue was never meant as an outward list of requirements for righteousness; they revealed a glimpse into the heart of God. The Pharisees just didn't get this. They did everything right on the outside. But they were inwardly depraved and degenerate, whitewashed tombs (Mat 23:27). Jesus came to fulfill the law, to expose depravity by revealing the entire meaning of the Law.

So Jesus takes His listeners back to the Ten Commandments. Do you see what He’s doing? Now if someone were to try to plead his innocence before the Law of God, and you hear people do this all the time when asked why they should go to heaven, the first thing he would probably say is, “Well, I’ve lived a pretty good life. I haven’t…killed anybody.” It’s interesting that times haven’t changed that much. The Jewish listeners were thinking the same thing, a thought no doubt put their by their religious leaders. And you can see Jesus go right to this first defense a person might offer for his own righteousness. In verse 21, Jesus starts here with murder. But what does He do? He exposes the full meaning of the Law, the heart of the command, the true standard of God. “If you're angry at your brother or hate him, you are a murderer!” Woe! It was easy to be righteous when the Law was really about not physically murdering someone. But if God weighs the heart, and if anger is murder, that’s a different matter altogether. Who has not been guilty of hatred at one time or another? No one!

What about adultery (vv 27-30)? Jesus said if you ever entertained a sexual thought about a woman other than your wife, you're an adulterer. God has ordained marriage as a sacred unity, a symbol of His divine love for His elect. If one’s heart is not for one’s spouse, he is guilty of adultery. God never abandons His covenant to His own, and His standard for us is that we never break our covenant either, which is why Jesus condemns divorce (vv 31-32). This is the full meaning of marriage, a human representation of God’s divinity and His love for His elect, and so any violation of the sanctity of marriage is a violation against the character of God.

What about oaths (vv 33-38)? God, again, is a covenant keeper. He speaks and it comes to pass. He does not turn to the left or right from His sovereign decrees. And we, His people, are to be like Him. If you say you are going to do something, it should be as good as done, no oath required. This is a standard of holiness that, again, debased the listeners’ standards of righteousness.

What about retaliation and revenge (vv 38-42)? Love your enemies (vv 43-48)? (I am getting most of my information on these verses from John MacArthur’s sermon, which amazingly came only two days after I set these verses aside for more prayer and research. His sermon podcast is entitled “Love Your Enemies, Part 3”). Nowhere in Law of the Old Testament did it ever say to hate your enemies. That was an implication the Pharisees added.

Deuteronomy 22:1-4 gives a command to look out for your brother and his possessions (his ox or donkey, in this case). What’s interesting is Exodus 23:4 makes the same command for one’s enemies. There are two implications: 1) We are to demonstrate love toward others by meeting their needs, and 2) A syllogism can be applied here to incorporate one’s enemies into the definition of brother. We are to consider our enemies our brothers. This implication was seen again in story of the Good Samaritan that Jesus told.

In Job 31:29-30, Job defends himself by telling very plainly that if he had rejoiced in the ruin of his enemy, which he did not do, he would have sinned. David gave the same sentiment in Psalm 7:3-5, saying that it is wrong to do evil to our enemies. It is a sin. And in Psalm 35:13-14, David again shows great love for his enemies, fasting and praying for them when they fell into calamity. The Law and Prophets never once said to hate one’s enemies. This interpretation slipped into the mix somehow through the course of time, and Jesus set them straight again, showing God’s standard for holiness, to show even your enemies great love .

This section and chapter end with this command, “You therefore must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” This is huge. It totally proves the point that the Sermon was meant to demonstrate our utter inability to fulfill the Law of God, for this is its requirement boiled down to the core. We are to be perfect JUST LIKE GOD! That is impossible! We just can’t do that. We are depraved. And so we need a Savior.

Next, in 6:1-6, Jesus rebuked outward displays of righteousness that had no heart value. The Pharisees, the pinnacle of outward righteousness, were carcasses on the inside, notorious for doing their good deeds to be seen by others, to feed their pride. But God weighed the heart, and so their deeds were worthless because they were motivated by pride, not worship. But here’s the standard. Keeping it a secret from others is not enough. One must keep it a secret from his own proud heart. That was impossible, and so again Jesus demonstrates our utter inability, in our natural state, to obey the Law of God.

Prayer, as demonstrated in the Lord's Prayer (vv 7-15), was to be an offering from the heart that expressed contrition and absolute dependence on God’s mercy and grace to meet our needs. Prayer is communion with God. Jesus condemned ritualistic chants and repetitions as a demonstration of faithlessness in God’s sovereign benevolence and providence. Pray, when done from the heart, puts us in our place by putting God in His, on the throne of our hearts. It shows our utter dependence on Him in every thing of life. We acknowledge God’s greatness, then confess our many shortcomings and present our many needs to Him, including both physical and spiritual.

Verses 19-34 lay down the kind of heart a kingdom person will have, and it deals with absolute trust of God in all circumstances of life. The treasure of a true child of God awaits us in heaven, and all our efforts and desires are to be to invest in those other-worldly treasures. This is the Law of God.

Verses 22-23 are commentaries on our own desires. If the desires of our eyes are for earthly, materials pleasures or comforts, then our entire existence will be to satisfy that end, and we will be judged accordingly. If our desires or for heavenly treasures and God’s glory, then that desire will permeate every area of our lives, showing us to be truly righteous. Here, Jesus again shows the full extent of the Law by explaining that our heart’s desires will be judged, not merely our outward actions. God’s eternal glory and our eternal delight in Him is to be the focus of every desire of our hearts, to glorify God and be totally satisfied in Him. Falling short of this is a violation of God’s holy Law.

How is righteousness going to look in our attitude toward God in the everyday matters of life? It will be a total trust in God for the food and clothing we require. The righteous standard is complete and total trust in God’s benevolent providence. Jesus addresses this is vv 25-34. He commands us never to worry or be anxious about any of these temporal things, implying that to do so is sin, a breach of God’s holy Law.

Jesus’s commands not to judge in 7:1-6 are also heart matters. They go right along with the Beatitude of being poor in spirit. An honest self-evaluation on God’s scale of holiness will show us once and for all that we are too flawed and morally filthy to ever make an acceptable judgment on someone else’s righteousness. Most judgments we make of others are not predicated on God’s highest law, the law of love, and so we are instructed not to judge. .

In all this, in Jesus’s exposition of man’s state of helpless depravity and utter inability to fulfill God’s law, He gently speaks to us now in verses 7-11 as His children whom He has called out of this rabble, assuring us that He will by no means reject those who come to Him. All who seek are invited to come to receive Christ and His many blessings. The Law also bids people to come to God with their heart offerings, even though they were corrupted by sin. And here, in verse 11, Jesus reiterates our degenerate state by stating, “If you then, who are evil…” We are evil when measured to the standard of the Law. Even in our evil state, we still do benevolent things. But God’s holiness remains the perfect standard – giving to God and others, and humbly trusting God to meet our needs.

There is no more clear a picture of God’s character and love than what is stated next, in what has come to be known as the Golden Rule (v 12). When we live the Law of God in its fullest sense of meaning, we are living a life that looks to the needs of others and seeks to meet them, just as God in Christ Jesus met our deepest need for redemption.

In all these teachings, the gate and road seemed to be becoming more and more narrow and hard, and Jesus comes right out and says this in verses 13-14. This path, this way of holiness, this righteous life required of us by the Law, is very narrow and hard. Jesus said in another place, “Many are called, but few are chosen” (22:14).

What are these fruits Jesus speaks of in verses 15-20? The context indicates these are outward demonstrations of true righteousness. But didn’t Jesus just condemn outward displays of righteousness? Why then, only a few moments later, does He advise His listeners that they will be able to recognize the truly righteous by their fruits?

In the following verses, Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven…many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name… And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, your workers of lawlessness.’”

First observation: Good fruit, fruit born from a good tree, is distinguished from outward good deeds. Perhaps what Jesus promises is that eventually, the true fruit of a person will show itself for what it is, good or bad. This was true for the Pharisees. When Jesus began to show forth the glory of God, their ugliness came out, making them guilty of the murder of the Son of God.
Second observation: “workers of lawlessness” in verse 23. It is profound that Jesus’s sermon, being an exposition on the fullest meaning of the Law, would call these false prophets “workers of lawlessness.” They perhaps did the outward requirements of the Law, but they were considered lawless, devoid of the Law, because they failed to understand its complete and proper meaning.

Jesus’s final words were an exhortation to obey – to do the commands of God. But, according to the context, these words (7:24-27) were more than this. Jesus had already communicated quite plainly that no one was capable of obeying God’s law. It was so far above their ability to obey, so far above even their understanding. God, in all His holiness, demanded none other than perfection. And so Jesus extends hope in these words: “Build your house on the rock.” It is not the house that offers the support, but the rock beneath the house. Jesus offers this to us. He is our Rock. Only in our recognition of our utter inability to obey and fulfill even the least command of God’s law according to God’s heart will be fall completely on this Rock.

The Glory of Christ and Heaven

The glory of Christ in heaven - I think I understand why Jonathan Edwards resolved to think about his death and heaven often. I don't think about heaven enough to make biblical conclusions. There is so much talk about what it will be like. Non-Christians expect bliss, not knowing that that is not their destiny. But even Christians make heaven out of their own desires and idols. "Heaven will be one long golf game," "Heaven will be being thin and eating whatever I want."

This morning as I prayed, God helped me realize, through His word, something I never thought about before. God hears my prayers every single time I pray, and this along with millions of others prayers prayed by my brothers and sisters around the world at the same time. Why do I think, in heaven, God will be confined to one place, His throne in the royal city? Why do I see myself on the outskirts of some large crowd where, only every once in an age I will catch His eye as I worship Him. Even in this fallen world, that is not the case. I may not be able to get an audience with George W., who is so far away and so busy. But the greatest being in the universe in right here all the time, listening intently to every prayer of my heart. "...no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him" (Isa 64:4)

I like to go some place quiet and pray in the morning. I have always loved to go someplace in nature with my Bible to worship, read and pray. And Jesus is always there. And, like I said, this is in a fallen world. I have never seen His face, but I know He is ever present. The disciples on the Emmaus Road said it best: "Did not our hearts burn?" Mine does when I meet God in prayer, when He speaks to me through His word. But in heaven, I will have a new body in which I can see His glory. And when I walk in those places in heaven, I will never be away from Him. In heaven, my home, I will be with Him all the time. I will always have His audience. We may hold hands, walk arm-in-arm and fellowship for ages together, and He can do this with me at the same time He is doing it with every other child of God in heaven, because He is omnipresent - everywhere!

† Thank You Jesus for heaven. Help me have more and more of a biblical view of what it will be like there. Heaven is for Your glory and my enjoyment of You forever. Everything else is just icing on the cake. You are the cake, the prize, my joy forevermore. Amen. †

An Eternal Weight of Glory

2/13/07

2 Cor 4:17: For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,

from Robertson's Word Pictures: "Eternal weight of glory: aioonion baros doxees. Careful balancing of words in contrast (affliction vs. glory, lightness vs. weight, for the moment vs. eternal)."

This is amazing, Lord. This verse is my memory verse this week, and I committed to exegeting my memory verses from now on to have their fullest meaning. I had no idea when I opened up the PC Study Bible to study this verse, I would find such a jewel. Thank You, Lord.

(added on 3/11/07)

The Hebrew word for glory is kabowd or kabod which means weight in a figurative sense. (OT:3519 - kabowd (kaw-bode'): properly, weight, but only figuratively in a good sense, splendor or copiousness: -glorious (-ly), glory, honour (-able). (Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary). The word is found in many places in the Old Testament, viz.

Ps 24:7-10
7 Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in.
8 Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.
9 Lift up your heads, O you gates! Lift up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in.
10 Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory.

Boice and Ryken write:

All three words [for glory] are used for God…which describes God as the King of
glory…[Psalm 24] is teaching that God alone is of ultimate weight, worth and
value, and therefore that He alone is worthy of our highest praise. We
are to give glory to God and to Him alone.

(Doctrines of Grace, p. 174)

So, glory means weight, or ultimate worth. Therefore, 2 Cor. 4:17 could also be translated: “for this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for God, who is of ultimate worth and highest praise." This, then, is a promise to help us hold fast through our trials because, in doing so, we will be given the greatest treasure of all – God Himself! As John Piper says, “God is the Gospel.”

Genesis 27 – Problems and Possible Resolutions on Jacob Receiving the Blessing

Genesis 27. This is truly a problem passage for me. Jacob receives the blessing of Isaac through his and his mother’s deceit. At least twice in the narrative, he lies to his father; but the whole scene is one big lie. But that’s not what bothers me. Romans 9 says that Jacob was elect and Esau was not. Jacob came out second but ended up first. He got both the birthright and the blessing. I don't have much problem with the way he got the birthright. Although it was an unfair trade, both parties consented.* But this, this is difficult for me. Why would God bless Jacob over Esau in light of this?

The question comes down to this: does God's sovereign will ordain sin? This took place before Mosaic law, but in God's eyes, what Jacob sinned. And Esau was the victim here. If God is active in this narrative, then doesn't that make Him a contributor to sin in the story? And if He is passively letting His foreordained will be carried out, then does that not also make Him an accomplice by having the power and doing nothing?

† God, forgive me. I worship You and mean no disrespect to Your holy name, but this raises a huge question for me that I pray You would help me resolve. Why would You bless Jacob for doing this? †

Here's a question? Was Jacob's receipt of the Isaac’s blessing a prerequisite for God's blessing? In other words, if Jacob had not deceived his father, by the aid and encouragement of his mother, and had Esau received the physical blessing of Isaac, would Jacob still have been the one chosen by God? If the answer is no, then it seems to demonstrate that God used and ordained sinful means to carry out His foreordained will. (The Arminian has no choice to make this conclusion.) But if the physically blessing was not required, it would demonstrate that God’s foreordained will could and would still prevail, that God would still elevate His elect Jacob to the position of His choosing despite circumstances.

Again, Romans 9:11 says that God chose Jacob before he was born, before he had done anything good or bad. The Arminian would say that God’s foreordination merely means that God chose Jacob ahead of time based upon a decision he would make of his own volition. If that were true, then God would have chosen Jacob based upon sin – lying, deceitful, wicked victimization of his own brother. God would, in effect, be ordaining sinful behavior to accomplish His will.

However, if God choice of Jacob had absolutely nothing to do with Jacob, then His will must be sovereign over all things. Had Jacob and Rebekah acted with integrity, God's power would have been shown by raising Jacob to be the inheritor of the real spiritual blessing even though Esau received the physical blessing. Perhaps God would have spoken to Isaac at the last minute, as He did with Abraham when the knife was lifted, telling him to bless Jacob rather than Esau. We will never know since Jacob, in fact, didn't act in integrity. Oh what a remarkable story would have unfolded in Genesis if Jacob and Rebekah had remained upright and allowed God to elevate Jacob.

If we go back to Genesis 25:23, we can see that God revealed to Rebekah that Jacob would in fact be the inheritor of the blessing. Rebekah knew that Jacob had been chosen over his brother Esau before he was even born. Yet she chose, like Abraham when God made His covenant with him, to take matters into her own hands. It is not clear what she was thinking in that moment when she overheard Isaac tell Esau that he would bless him, but it seems she felt compelled to act rather than trust, and she brought Jacob along in this deception.

But God’s will and power still prevailed, and God still received the glory because He raised Jacob, His elect, up IN SPITE of his sinfulness. He, like His elect Abraham (taking matters into his own hands with Hagar and producing Ishmael), or the rejected King Saul (offering sacrifices rather than obeying), or countless others who did not trust God to come through but made their own way, God’s sovereignty still prevailed. In His elect, He showed Himself faithful in their faithlessness. The others he rejected. Each were responsible before God for their sins, but God chose to overlook those of His elect until Christ was put forth as their righteousness(Rom 3:25).

*It was underhanded, however, how Jacob took advantage of his brother’s weakness. That Esau despised his birthright, which entitled him to many things – the double portion of estate, care over the family, as well as a fellowship with God due to these privileges (see Keil and Delitzch Commentary) – trading it for his the gratification of his fleshly appetite. It demonstrates Esau’s reprobation, that God loosened His restraint upon Esau to the point where he would not hold on the that which is sacred. Hebrews 12:16 goes so far as to Esau was unholy for this.

Th, 2/15/07-M, 2/19/07

Faith of my own? Nonsense!!!

How can the Arminian say that his own faith, or some universal ability to have faith, brought him into the Kingdom? And what can the Muslim really bring to God by way of good deeds so that, somehow, they will outweigh all the sin in his heart? In my own heart, I can see how my "own" faith, my own desire for God, is tainted. There are many reasons I might come to God for salvation, but none of them are for God:
· Hell. I don't want to burn forever. I don't want to live for all eternity in misery, in flame, in smoke, in anguish
· Purpose. I don't want to live a meaningless life on earth. I want to be part of something great. I want to leave a legacy ( I hear this garbage all the time; all this means is I want my name to be glorified) and for people to remember me as someone good. If I come to Christ, I might be able to do this. I want to give MY life away to a good cause.
· Loneliness. This Christianity might meet my personal longings and fill my loneliness. I have so many needs and Christ can fill them.

The list goes on and on, but at the heart of all these motivations is me! God is not glorified when I make a decision to follow Him based on these selfish motives. God is most glorified in us only when we are most satisfied in Him, when He is the center of our affections, not us!

As I pray this morning, I see myself having regressed in holiness since last week. Saturday, I was filled with so much pride, and I could see so evidently the loveless prejudice still festering in me. Yesterday I was slothful, prayerless and gluttonous. And as I sit here, I see how much this grace of God saves me, for there is nothing I can bring to God.

If God could only see my outward appearance, and that qualified me for heaven, I could probably fool Him. But even my unknown thoughts and motives are judged by God's perfect standards. No, I am a dead man on my own, if not for grace. And as I draw closer to God, the more I see just how miserable a creature I really am. When I think I am strong, the sinful nature comes and shows me just how wicked my heart really is. No, when it comes down to it, if God left it up to my own faith to bring me to salvation, and if this faith were weighed based upon all the secret motives and desires of my heart, I could not "get" salvation because my desires without Christ are always desires for my own preservation and glorification. Escape from loneliness, insignificance, and ultimately hell; desire for fame, name, contribution, legacy; all these are nothing more than debased desires for self-preservation and self-glorification.
If this isn't evidence enough for total depravity and unconditional election, there is none. When I stand before God and am judged based on every thought and motive, not merely every action, if the faith I have is my own and not a gift from God, then I am lost. I am lost! And so, in seeing my own failures and sinfulness in regard to holiness, I am more unashamedly a Calvinist today than I was yesterday.

1/29/07 - 2/2/07

The Sower, the Seed & the Ground

Matthew 13:3-9 - And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6 but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears, [1] let him hear.”

Thinking through the effectual call that is an inward working of the Holy Spirit and the general call that goes out to all through the preaching of the Gospel. The seed is the Word of God which is preached by the sower of the seed. The sower proclaims the Gospel to everyone, scattering the seed to all without discrimination. Because the seed is not scarce, the sower need not sow sparingly but bountifully. The Word of God is plentiful, for Christ's sacrifice is big enough to cover the sins of all men for all time, though few are chosen. The sower does not withhold seed fearing he will run out. The seed is like the flour in the widow's jar that was never consumed so long as she obeyed the Lord through the word of Elijah. And like her, there is no need for us to ration it, to sparingly sow it, to proclaim the truth of Christ's active righteous obedience freely imputed to those who believe, Christ's passive obedience through His death, effectively canceling the debt for sin, and Christ's glorious resurrection ensuring glorification with Him. This seed is bountiful, for Christ is infinite in value.

The ground is the state of the soul that receives the seed, and it is not dependent on the sower. Surely our prayers are powerful and effective, but this ultimately is in the Lord's hands. Some seed falls on corrupt, depraved ground. Other seed falls on regenerate soil. It is the Holy Spirit who works effectually to prepare the ground of His choosing for the seed that will fall upon it. But the seed will never be sown without return. God's word does not return void (reference).

So, the seed is essential. The general call is absolutely essential, for though the soil is inwardly prepared by God's Spirit, there will be no produce apart from the sowing of seeds. This means by which God effectually calls His elect is through the general call planted into their already tilled hearts.
My duty as a Christian is to sow seed bountifully, to plant by proclamation and prayer. God determines, and has determined from the foundation of the world, which ground will be good soil, which ground will be rocky, which ground will bring up thorns and which seeds will be stolen away by the birds of the air. Our duty is not to calculate these possibilities, but to prayerfully scatter freely and bountifully, leaving the condition of the ground up to God.

1/25/07

† Lord, the sun rises and the sun sets according to Your will.
And every heartbeat and every breath I draw is ordained by You.
And if these should continue or cease, Your will be done.
And if today my heart should stop beating, and if I should stop breathing
Then Lord, please, let me complete the work You have prepared me for.
Your will be done.

In Jesus's name, Amen †

1/19/07

A Prayer for God’s Blessing on the Day

† Sovereign Lord, I am but a man and You are God. Who am I to ever assume or presume upon Your will? I am no one. I lay my plans and goals at Your feet. You who make the ocean waves, Who causes the sun to rise and set, Who created galaxies with a word, You are more than able to determine my course this day.

When I pray according to Your will, there may be those, Lord, who question me, saying I am wishy-washy and unwilling to make a stand concerning Your will. But Lord, You have brought me to a deeper understanding of Your sovereign goodness and of the unquestionable totality of Your purposes, which will stand. “No one can stay Your hand.” You are more than able to bring about Your ordained purposes for my life this day. So I submit all my plans and goals to You.

Strip me of all the false theology and beliefs I have learned in my life about You and about my importance. You are preeminent, Your will is law, Your actions and character define rightness. You are the center of the universe physically, relationally, theologically…

Thank You for men such as John G. Paton, William Tyndale and Adoniram Judson who went before me in this history You have ordained. They were men of Godly valor, true Calvinists who knew that Your will was obedience to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. Fate is so far removed from who You are and what You do because out of Your omnipotence flows Your absolute wisdom and love. You ordained all things from beginning to end. Your sovereign love determined all things according to Your supreme wisdom. Who am I to determine any destiny of my own when You see all things clearly from eternity to eternity. You are God. There is no other.

Spurgeon said fate has as much in common with true faith, condescendingly referred to by some as Calvinism, as God and atheism. There is no mingling of the two, though the mind of carnal man sees a likeness in them. One is chance, the other is the decree of an all-wise, all-knowing, all-loving, all-powerful King and Savior. So, Lord, this day is Yours. This last day of this short break before I am back again among the heathen who know nothing of You but claim to know all. Give me a day that is refreshing and uplifting, enlightening and rejuvenating. But more than anything, give me a day where I begrudge nothing because Your hand is in everything. I am Yours Jesus. Amen.†

1/5/07

Prayer of Thanks

† Lord, I’m not sure why I am tired and have a headache right now, but I cannot focus enough to pray, so I will write this prayer to You.

Lord God of Heaven, I worship You. My King, You are sovereign over all the earth. You have taught me this year that You are God. You have taught me through Your word, through prayer, through Godly teachers like Piper and McArthur, and through people in my life. Thank You for bringing me to this place where I know You are God. Thank You.

Piper said he saw his theology fall apart in seminary – his little view of You. He said he wept everyday for six months, with elbows on either side of the Bible in his dorm room (Sermon: “What Romans 9 is All About.”) I have had no such emotional experience. Mine is one of relief. I have seen what this false perception of God can do and has done in my life. I have seen some of the effects of stripping You of Your glory and ascribing that power to man in something called “Free Will.” When God is belittled, man is inflated. Someone or something is going to be sovereign in every man’s perception. If it is not You, my Lord, it will be me. And it has been for so long.

Every time I think of Mosaic, I am in anguish. I know my anguish is no comparison to Paul’s anguish in Romans 9:1-5. But it is still a sorrow that these people, some of whom I have called friends, have rejected Your sovereignty and placed themselves at the center of their faith. I know not all have done this. But when I hear Erwin preach absolute heresy, beknown to him or not, and when no one checks him on it, there is a problem. (Did someone check him when he called Calvinism a false religion? I noticed in the sermon following that he changed the wording to “a distinct stream of Christianity.”)

And Lord, does it matter? Is my anguish unwarranted? Some say it’s just a point of disagreement. What if it’s not a big deal? What if very little hinges on this “difference of opinion” about salvation?

What hinges on it? The very meaning of salvation. Our view of God, our view of the Holy Spirit’s role is salvation. Our understanding of what we were in fact saved from. In a nutshell, our worldview is changed.

Thank You, Lord, for letting me use my spiritual gifts for edifying this group of men. You have employed my gift of teaching, a gift You have given me, for Your service once again. I love to teach, to read, to study. Help me, Lord, to apply what I learn to Your Great Commandment and Great Commission. Thank You. †

12/26/06

“Is God in Your Future?” More Thoughts

Part 1: Romans 9 in a Nutshell

There is a context to this chapter that extends all the way back to the beginning of the book. Also, this is a set of three chapters that run together, 9, 10 and 11.

Paul expresses in verses 1-5 his intense anguish over the rejection of the Gospel by the nation of Israel. Paul, being a child of Israel by birth, wishes that he himself could be cut off from eternal life that Israel might believe.

But Paul reminds us that the promises of God do not fail. The context is important here. Romans 8 was a long chapter of encouragement to God’s elect that, though they will experience temporal suffering, along with creation, and alongside the Holy Spirit, there are great things in store of God’s children. Furthermore, in spite of all the suffering they were encountering, they could rest assured that they would never be separated from God’s love, but that God had ordained all their suffering for His glory and their own good.

But how could God be trusted if He couldn’t keep His promise with Israel, one might ask? That is the question Paul addresses in verse 6ff. Paul makes it clear that God can be trusted. How? Because God’s promise to Israel stands. But Israel isn’t and never was what some thought it was. Paul affirms a Spiritual Israel, so to speak, rather than a Physical or Political Israel. It is the children of the promise, the elect, that is true Israel. And God has, just as Romans 8:29 states, has predestined a people who are His very own, foreknown and fore-chosen to be His people. Why is this comforting? Because it is not based on our control? When we have those Romans 7 moments and feel that we must not be God’s child based on sin waging war within us, we can rest assured that God’s election in us is sure.


Part 2: Erwin’s Interpretation:

Erwin McManus preached a sermon on December 3 entitled “Is God in Your Future.” He begins a section of his sermon with an illustration about this chapter, saying it’s like jumping into the middle or end of a conversation, and how if we do that, we often miss the point, or even reach the opposite conclusion concerning what the conversation was even about. He uses an illustration of how someone walked into an intense conversation between him and his wife, where he emphatically exclaimed, “Divorce!” The conclusion they reached was, “Kim and Erwin are getting a divorce!” But what this person missed coming in late to the conversation the real question preceding Erwin’s exclamation: “What is the one thing you would never consider doing no matter how bad things got?” The question completely changes the answer.

Erwin’s point was that Calvinists come into the conversation with Paul thinking the question is “Why is God excluding so many?” But, according to Erwin, Paul is really answering the objection to the Jews who are asking, “Why are these Gentiles allowed to be entered into the kingdom of God?”

I tried to read this passage according to Erwin’s interpretation, putting myself in the place of a first century Jew who was not following God’s heart for the Gentiles, but I just couldn’t follow it to a logical conclusion. This interpretation makes no sense in the context of the chapter, the surrounding chapters and the entire book. His interpretation is utter foolishness.

Nonetheless, here is what I did. I pretended to be this so-called Jew who believes my chosenness by God is exclusive, even though Paul, according to Erwin, is saying it’s inclusive (of Gentiles). (The point of of disagreement with Erwin isn’t over this point. Of course we are in agreement the Gospel is inclusive of Gentiles, otherwise neither he nor I would even be having this argument. We are both, after all, Gentiles. No, the point of disagreement is on Paul’s reason for anguish in verses 1-3. There are several reasons, both exegetically and logically why Paul is not possibly in anguish over the Jew’s exclusivist thinking, not wanting the Gentiles to be given the Gospel. No, Paul is in anguish for much more crucial matters – the very eternal life of his people, who are rejecting Christ as their Messiah, and therefore going to hell.)

So follow me on this journey through the next few paragraphs as I become this Jew according to Erwin’s interpretation of Romans 9. By the way, I am taking the liberty to step out of the box, remaining a Jew, but jumping forward to refer to Erwin’s interpretation from time to time -

Okay, I’m a Jew who believes Jesus came as the Messiah to my people, not to the Gentiles. After all, we are the chosen people, as promised to Father Abraham by God Himself. And now Paul, himself a Jew, is saying he is completely broken-hearted that Israel has rejected the idea that God chose us inclusively – the include Gentiles into the kingdom of God because God loves them too! We have claimed since the beginning God’s love and choice of us is an exclusive one. We are God’s chosen people, not the rest of the world. They are dogs! And for that, Paul is in anguish – that we just don’t get it. God is moving at a pace that put Him lightyears ahead of us concerning His inclusive, unconditional love to all people.

(I can’t believe Paul is upset at this, and not that the Jews are not coming into the kingdom of God themselves. This should be Paul’s real anguish, that Jews are going to hell because they don’t believe in Jesus.)

Paul goes as far as saying he would rather lose his own salvation and go to hell than for us to remain blind to this inclusive love of God to the Gentiles.

So this is what Paul is upset about, that Israel isn’t inclusive (not that we aren’t accepting the Gospel). But Paul then reassures his readers that God’s promise to Israel hasn’t been broken. The reason for this is that not everyone born an Israelite is really an heir to God’s promise, only those born of the promise – a spiritual Jew who has the heart of God.

Paul illustrates, saying that Jacob was chosen not exclusively but to be a light to Edom, and that’s why they were getting the discipline of God (Verse 13, where Paul quotes from Malachi 1). What Paul means is that God has chosen Israel (Jacob) so that Jacob could choose (give the Gospel) to Edom (Esau). These verses (Rom 9:7-13) point to the fact that not all children of Abraham, only Isaac was chosen; and not all of Isaac’s children, only Jacob. So, it’s not all of Abraham’s children, just the ones God has chosen (for expanding the kingdom, not salvation).

That sort of makes sense, so far. But then it gets a little hairy. In verse 14, what is Paul really asking when he writes, “Is there injustice on God’s part?” Well, Erwin’s interpretation (as illogical as it sounds) is that Paul is saying God is not unjust to choose to include Gentiles into the kingdom – to include all people in His plan, not just Jews. Now, I’m not really tracking here. God doesn’t seem to be widening the selection through these verses (7-13) but narrowing it. His selection, His choice, is narrowing to children of the promise, not all physical children of Abraham. But I suppose if they are being chosen to include everyone, it makes some sense.

I still object to this inclusion of Gentiles into the kingdom. It’s not fair! Paul even quotes Moses in saying that God has the right to have mercy on anyone He wants to have mercy on. He is referring to the Gentiles!

So, what does verse 16 mean? Paul says that “it” depends not on human will or exertion but on God who has mercy. By “it,” is he referring to this choice to include the Gentiles? That is the only reasonable conclusion we can make. “It” refers to selection by God. Well, using the context provided in the next sentence, Paul brings up Pharaoh, saying God chose to harden him.

So now I’m confused. Isn’t Paul trying to make the point that the Jews should be inclusive of the Gentiles? He’s arguing for that, right? Well, I’ve heard Paul preach and read a lot of his other writings. He’s pretty good at making a reasonable, logical argument. So, why then does he make reference to Pharaoh? Why is Paul citing a person in the Old Testament whom God “hardened” because He chose to? Why not pick a better example to prove his point – someone like Cyrus, or the widow Elijah went to, or the leprous man who went to Elisha? They were all pagans who honored God, weren’t they?

But Paul chooses Pharaoh, someone who was chosen to be condemned. This just comes out of the blue, preceded by verse 16, which states that God chooses not based on any merit or will of the person chosen.* Why Pharaoh? If Paul is arguing for inclusion, why is he referencing someone who was excluded? This doesn’t support Paul’s argument that God’s children of promise include Gentiles, that the Gospel is inclusive. In fact, it completely undermines his point. Why would Paul even mention Pharaoh?

Then it gets even hairier. In verse 19, Paul reads the mind of a skeptic who is asking, “Why does God still find fault?” Now this is directed to me, an exclusive Jew, Paul is saying to me, according to Erwin’s interpretation, that I have no right to tell God whom He can and cannot choose to include (not exclude). I don’t want the Gentiles included. Paul says, “Tough, that’s not your call. You’re just a lump of clay in the Potter’s hands, just like the Gentile. I can do whatever I want with either of you.”

The theology concerning God’s sovereignty makes sense, but the argument is a non sequitur, if the argument is for inclusivity. The questions Paul asks at the beginning of this section puzzles me: “Why does [God] still find fault? For who can resist His will?” What fault is Paul talking about? Who is at fault? I thought Paul was arguing that no one is at fault; God was expanding His love by choosing Gentiles. Then why is someone at fault?

The reference seems to point back to Pharaoh, who was chosen for condemnation. God raised him up so that His power might be proclaimed in all the earth. God chose Pharaoh as this instrument of wrath prepared for destruction (verse 22). But why did God choose someone (Pharaoh) to be condemned in order that His love might expand? If God is all-inclusive and unconditionally loving, how could he condemn Pharaoh after hardening his heart?

I’m not tracking here. Let me get this straight. Paul is telling me that my problem is I’m not at one with God’s heart and character because I am not being inclusive of the Gentiles. Then he uses Pharaoh, a Gentile, as an example of someone God rejected rather than chose. But he uses Pharaoh as an example of someone who God used, by rejecting him and hardening his heart, in a desire to expand His all-inclusive love to the Gentile world through the Jews. (Isn’t Egypt part of the Gentile world?) So God hardened Pharaoh, and it would be another non sequitur to assume that Pharaoh was unlike Jacob and Esau, that he was not chosen before birth to be condemned rather than chosen. So, if God is being inclusive of the world, why would He exclude Pharaoh based on his merit or will to pursue God, or lack thereof? God is allowed to love and choose people like Jacob without merit or will, so He must be allowed to reject people like Esau and Pharaoh for the same reasons. He is, after all, the Potter, and we are the clay.

Another thing I notice in verse 24. “Even us” refers to both Jews and Gentiles. So Paul is addressing both Jews and Gentiles in this long argument. So, okay, if he is addressing Gentiles, even partly, who is he arguing with for the inclusion of Gentiles? Why do Gentiles need to be convinced that they need to be inclusive of themselves? And this “even us” is referring to Christian Jews, since Paul says “we were called out.” So the whole chapter is addressed to Christians, whether they be Jews or Gentiles. Therefore the argument only follows if it is an argument is for exclusion not inclusion. The Jews are excluded because they don’t believe in Jesus, not because they aren’t including Gentiles into the kingdom. Paul is a pretty serious guy, but his intense emotion in verses 1-3 is not merited merely for the sake of Jewish Christians who simply haven’t embraced an expansion of the Gospel into all the nations of the world. God had already been changing the hearts of many Christian Jews (Acts 10 and forward), and the Jews who didn’t embrace this, who were not true heirs of Abraham, and Judaizers, weren’t Christians to begin with. Paul’s heartache, therefore, couldn’t be that Christian Jews weren’t getting it, because he is making the point in the following verses that true spiritual Israel did get it, leaving their kin by blood but not by promise behind, unchosen and rejected by God. This was Paul’s anguish – the rejection by Jews of Christ, and therefore, their rejection by God.

*(Even if this choosing by God was for inclusion, the fact remains that they were chosen based on no merits or WILL of their own. Now I will give him this, that Paul doesn’t come right out and say there was no will on the part of the person in this verse, but Paul does give a crystal clear example in Jacob and Esau, who were chosen before birth (verse 11). They were chosen when they did not will or even have the ability to choose God for themselves.) Ω

W, 12/21/06

Holiness

Rom 8:23

And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

I spent some time thinking since our Bible study Thursday. Creation is in a state of entropy, according to the second law of thermodynamics, spoken into creation by God Almighty. It's all winding down. But that's not all. Our bodies are part of this system that is breaking down.

I see it every time I go to the gym, though not until this past week have I seen how the Bible speaks to what's going on. Here's what I mean. Lately, I have only been able to strength train once a week, usually on Saturdays or Sundays. Since I have been going only go once a week, I hit it pretty hard. And the following day, now this might be delusional on my part, but I notice some payoff. That bicep is feeling pretty good! But I know that by Friday, if I don't hit it again, it's back to the way it was.

Or what about a more spiritual matter. Praying and being in the Word every morning energizes me. I get to work ready to go, eyes open, looking for God in everything. God's Spirit is powerfully encouraging me through a fresh word and sweet fellowship. But by 1 o'clock, where's all this freshness? Where's all this sweetness? It's pretty much gone, like a balloon deflated by this or that concern.
Now, in the first example, I can see Romans 8:23 in full force. This flesh is part of the present system of corruption. It is in a state of decay, moving always toward entropy, toward deadness (in this case, flab). Only by constant maintenance can this body be as it was, perhaps, designed to remain. Maybe our new resurrection bodies will only require one intense workout to be perfectly fit for all time. Oc course, I'm being facetious. We know that our glorified bodies won't require such things. And, of course, the shape of our bodies will most likely be our last concern in glory. Concerning the second matter. Why is it that our devotional life is always in a state of entropy as well? Our spirit has been regenerated by God's Spirit, right? Have we not been justified and, therefore, made into new creations (2 Cor 5:17)? Perhaps this condition has more to do with sanctification, with the reality Jesus has left us in this world for a time (John 17). God is making us holy heirs with Christ Jesus through sufferings of many kinds (Rom 8:17; Jas 1:2-4). But while we remain in this world, the corruption about us has a deleterious effect on our own spirits unless we abide in the vine (John 15:5). Even a few hours around it brings us down. I think that is why we are commanded to pray ceaselessly. Without this constant maintenance of our own holiness, by the Spirit of God, we will not see the Lord (Heb 12:14).

12/11/06

God is Bigger

God is so much bigger than I have ever known Him to be, since I have found this truth called Calvinism. He is no longer small, as I unknowingly supposed Him to be before I found this truth, or rather God’s Spirit laid it onto my heart. He is all in all. He is sovereign over all things in heaven, on earth and under the earth. And Satan has diminished to almost nothing. There is no person in all the cosmos more bound and un-free than he. He is not that free agent I until only recently thought he was. He is bound with every turn to his own wicked nature. Not merely totally depraved, as is unregenerate mankind, but ultimately depraved, unable to make a decision outside of his own character and fallenness. And he roams about only with as much freedom as God allows him on his proverbial leash, for the sole purpose of bringing God the glory through his defeat and through our affliction for the purpose of being glorified with Christ (Rom 8:18).

11/30/06

The Problem of Satan

Why does Satan exist? What is his purpose? Questions come up like, "If God is sovereign, what's up with these principalities and powers in Eph 6?" It sure does seem in some places in the Bible that there is a dualism going on. It doesn't seem Satan is "on a leash" the way some passages are written. The question came to mind this morning, "Piper said Satan doesn't even show up in the warfare book of Romans until chapter 16 - that's how little space he gets in the spiritual warfare picture - most of it is war against our own flesh. Then what about Acts? How much of this warfare stuff Paul mentions in Eph 6 actually shows up in the books of Acts?" I couldn't remember, so I skimmed it this morning. What I found, on a cursory look, is that there is much resistance by the kingdom of darkness to what the Holy Spirit is doing, but the Irresistible (God) cannot be resisted. And thinking on Eph 6 and on Acts, what I find is a few things:

§ The Holy Spirit is unstoppable.
§ Satan and his demons are ever present in the scenarios that the Apostles face (Simon the sorcerer, the evil spirits cast out by nonbelievers, and perhaps even the viper that struck Paul)
§ There is apparently no relevant struggle between the Holy Spirit's power working through apostolic ministry, (Paul shows up, speaks, demons flee).
§ This warfare passage in Eph 6 is often interpreted as a dual between good and evil. But the passage makes clear that there is no uncertainty in the destructive power and defensive capability of these weapons. They obliterate enemy resistance.

How compatible is the current evangelical or charismatic view of Satan with the sovereign God view of Satan - that God holds Satan on a leash; that God is completely in control of all things in heaven, on earth and under the earth? Most people seem to think Satan is sovereign in this world, holding power over all people against the will of God, and God is doing His work through us to crush him and rescue captives from darkness to the kingdom of light. Sounds good. I used to believe that. But is it biblical?

Not completely. As is, it's dualism. I will admit here that I don't know everything, and will never know everything, about this spiritual warfare, about this invisible reality of Satan, demons, principalities and powers. But what I am finding in the Bible is that God is sovereign, that He is allowing Satan control over the peoples of the earth for a season, that these principalities and powers are Satan's strategy by which he maintains this control. And perhaps it is all for God's people. Perhaps it's all part of the process of sanctification, that God is using Satan and evil in multiple ways in our lives.

One way God is using Satan is to purify our faith through testing (Jas 1:2-4). Satan has power to afflict and tempt us, permitted by God, so that our faith will be tested and perfected.

A second way God uses Satan is to keep our mind set on things of the Spirit. "Life is war 'til the day we die." The war is, first and foremost, against our own flesh (sinful nature). God constantly sharpens us as we face and overcome temptation by the power of His Spirit.

But God also loosens the leash when we are rebelling against God by indulging the flesh. Satan is allowed to torment us, which is God's effectual disciplining of His children. This disciplines comes in many forms, both external and internal. But it is discipline, not condemnation. Satan, sometimes being an instrument of this discipline, speaks condemnation to us. But we must remember we are not condemned (Rom 8:1-2), that God is disciplining us "as a father disciplines a son" (Heb 12:6ff)

A third reason God uses Satan is so that we, heirs with Christ, get to partake in the victory of the cross. We actually get to fight in the battle and share the spoils of victory. God already won the war on the cross. But if the enemy weren't allowed to remain in the land, we wouldn't get to be part of the battle.

Perhaps a fourth way God uses Satan is to turn people over to deeper levels of depravity, and to keep those God has chosen to condemn in their sinfulness. Romans 1 seems to communicate this, that God turns degenerate people over to deeper levels of their sinful nature. I have to do further study on this, but it makes sense. The power of darkness must have some sway over the perpetuation of depravity in the degenerate.

Yet in all this, "we are more than conquerors through him who loved us" (Rom 8:37). More than conquerors means (from Piper's sermons on Romans) that we are not merely ones who have conquered evil in battle, defeating an enemy; no, we have done more than conquer; we have also subdued him into servitude. Being more than a conqueror means all our enemies, whether Satan or sin or our own flesh, are now our servants - THEY SERVE US for our good. Sins serves us. Flesh serves us. Disease serves us. Death serves us. All things serve "the good for us who are called according to His good purpose" (Rom 8:28). How do they serve us? They sanctify us. They turn our eyes toward Jesus. They increase our trust in God. And, finally, one of them (death) opens a doorway into eternal delight where we will live forever in God's presence and for His glory and our everlasting joy.

This is why Satan exists and is allowed to reign in the world. It is all for God's good purpose. Praise God forever! Ω

11/16/06

Reflections on Romans 7

† Oh, the wretchedness of flesh. Lord, how I long to separate myself from it. Yet it is so much a part of me. "Without holiness, no one will see the Lord." Yet, my flesh constantly cries out for that which is unholy. I am so much connected to this wretched flesh that I consider it me, consider the cry of my flesh my own need. Lord help me to separate my spirit from this wretched flesh, and thus wage war on its vileness all the more effectively through Jesus Christ. Amen.†

Consider this example. I torture my body to make it my slave through the strong physical discipline of running and strength training. I beat this body and train it and make it my slave. I resist foods my flesh loves and feed it only healthy foods. What happens? Does my flesh die miserably as it should? No, my body becomes more beautiful through the training. Weight is lost. Muscles are toned. And I become proud of this body. I become proud of the very flesh I am trying to subject. So the very instruments of torture I use to kill this flesh the flesh turns into its own useful weapons to feed my pride, to resuscitate my flesh. And thus I sin more.

I understand more of what Paul is saying. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:24-25) Ω

11/4/06

Concerning Fate

Here are some quotes from a sermon I recently heard. These are disturbing comments from my former pastor Erwin McManus. Some quotes are more disturbing than others.

* “For love to exist there has to be freedom” – A very interesting concept. This quote, in context, is defending the doctrine of free-will, that the love God requires of mankind could never really qualify as love if man did not have the freedom to choose or reject God. "God wants us to love Him, so He must give us freedom to choose or not to choose."

* “Christianity is just like Buddhism and Islam and Hinduism. You see, once anything becomes a religion, it becomes legalistic – ‘these are the things you have to do to earn God’s love,’ or it becomes fatalistic – ‘God is sovereign and you really don’t have a choice.’” Christian history is full of legalists, but it is also full of devout, God-fearing, God-loving saints. Erwin says in his books, interviews and sermons he is on a mission to destroy Christianity and rebirth a revolution [like unto the first century]. But what is at stake in this destruction? A carnal, dead religious institution? Good. But what if the destruction spreads to doctrine, to the history of God's work from the first century until now? What are we gaining in this destruction? What are we losing?

* “…By the way Calvinism says it doesn’t matter in the end what you choose because God has already chosen who belongs to Him and who is damned to hell. And they’re all the same – all these religions [Buddhism, Hinduism, Calvinism] – they are fatalistic…" Calvinism is a false religion? The Calvinism of Spurgeon, Knox, Owen, Moody, Piper, is a false religion? Now a lost person or a new Christian may have no clue what Erwin is talking about. There is an indoctrination going on here. Mosaic is full of impressionable young people, mostly in their early 20s, who are spellbound as they listen to this very charismatic orator. And Erwin is constantly committing the error of eisegesis, employing human wisdom and philosophy over the correct and careful handling of the Word of God. I fear for my friends at Mosaic who hear this human wisdom week in and week out. It must have a deleterious effect on their faith, right?

Fatalism and Labeling

Concerning fatalism: it seems that if someone wants to immediately render something questionable or downright objectionable, there is a sure-fire way of doing it – label it! I remember John Piper saying something about that in the sermon or series entitled “The Righteous are as Bold as a Lion.” He said that the thing we are most afraid of as we speak the truth is that someone will label or categorize or pigeonhole us. If we say something slightly controversial, we might be labeled a fundamentalist, a right-winger, or fanatical Christian. “Oh let us get over out fear of being labeled!” (paraphrase)

Here’s Erwin’s strategy – label Calvinism as fatalistic. By labeling this biblical system of theology as something characteristic of a false religion, he is able to summarily dismiss it as untrue and uncharacteristic of truth, as he defines it. And Erwin’s system of theology boils down to eisegesis – coming to the Bible with a preconceived belief or set of beliefs about God, humanity, salvation, etc., and then using the Bible to support those beliefs. That’s what Erwin did with Deuteronomy 30:19, and it’s what he has done with many of scriptures over the years I have listened to him speak.

Now back to fatalism. My immediate response to hearing anyone say Calvinism is fatalistic and like all other false religions is nausea. But after the initial shock wore off, I thought about it some more. Don’t half the verses I have memorized demonstrate some fatalism in my relationship with God? My personal hope is resting on this fate called assurance of salvation. My eschatological hope rests on this fate called Revelation. God has written history from beginning to end. The end is right there in the Bible, though we can hardly understand it all. They are mysteries to us, but God knows them all because He is bringing them about according to His sovereign will. And don’t tell me Jesus’s life wasn’t "fated" in a sense. His life and ministry were prophesied in Isaiah and a dozen other prophetic books. Every step Jesus took, every word He spoke, every person He called, was fated (foreordained) by God. We would still be lost in our sin if this were not so.

You see, two thing that make fatalism so repulsive and terrifying. The first is that there might not be any meaning in the fate laid out for us; no rationale; no logic; no justice. In a sense, according to our own standards, it's not "humane." The second is that the Person who is controlling our fate might not be trustworthy, good, just or benevolent. But what if both of these objections could be answered? What if it all made sense and what if the One calling all the shots was an all-wise, all-just, all-powerful, all-benevolent God who loves us enough to die in our place. I have no problem having my fate resting in the hands of a Person like this. The book of Revelation used to scare me to death until I realized it's all good news written to encourage us who have been called by God.

I hate using movie analogies in a theologically-oriented argument, but there is a wonderful analogy in the movie The Matrix. In a certain scene, Neo is being asked if he believes in fate. He answers no because “I don’t like the idea of not being in control of my own life/destiny” (paraphrase). So, it seems, the opposite of fate is being in control of one’s own destiny. Is this biblical? Are we in control of our own destinies? We are certainly able to choose how we act in any given moment, but that decision births new choices which then exponentially birth choice after choice. Does this exponential chasm between a choice made now and a choice to be made at some far off point in the future where a thousand other choices have been made between now and then sound more like choice or fate, especially considering every external factor that will affect what that so-called choice might be? Yes, we have to factor in anything that comes into contact with our world – from the weather to accidents to death! No, if the truth is between fate and being in control, I think fate wins hands down.

But what if there is some kind of spectrum? What if it’s not completely fate and it’s not completely in our control, but rather somewhere in the middle? Perhaps there is a certain element of choice AND there is a certain element of “fate” involved, if fate can be defined as God’s immutable, preordained, sovereign will. However, if it is possible that every choice we make is hamartia, whether we mean it for good or not (Isa 64:6b - …all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags), and this is due to an God-ordained curse (Gen 3; Gal 3:10, 13; Romans 3:9b), then no matter what choices we make, good or evil, we are still cursed because of something we never had any control over in the first place. “Choose life,” (Deut. 30:19) then, is an impossible command because every choice we could possibly make even if we willed and moved toward life would only lead to death. Why? Because we are cursed unto death!

This sounds a lot like fate to me. We have no control over our destinies because no matter what we do, we are still cursed. There is no more visible evidence to this than our own mortality. Therefore, only God can bring about something so extraordinary that can set us free from this curse. And that something, or rather Someone, is Jesus, who made propitiation for our sins, appeased God’s wrath, and absorbed our condemnation in His flesh on the cross.

So all humanity is free now to choose Jesus, right? If this were so, it would be impossible to make a case for fate (fate again being God’s sovereign pre-ordained will) because we now have control over our destinies if we choose Christ. But Romans 3:9ff communicates very clearly that no one seeks God. Romans 8:7 goes further to say there is not merely apathy toward God, but hostility, and that humanity does not and cannot choose God. Jesus told his disciples, “You did not choose me, but I chose you…”(John 15:16). Jesus also said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him,” (John 6:44) and, "…no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father" (John 6:65). We must be given permission even to come to God, not that we want to. We must be drawn (Greek: dragged) to God. The Apostle Paul later wrote, “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil 2:13). Not only does God work in us to do good, but He must work in us for there even to be a will to do good.

Martin Luther once wrote, “Hence it follows that free-will without God's grace is not free at all, but is the permanent prisoner and bondslave of evil, since it cannot turn itself to good.” (The Bondage of The Will, 1525)1. Even the will that, thinking it is free, acts freely in its own estimation is not free at all, but a slave to it’s own sinful nature (Romans 7). There simply is no freedom to choose righteousness apart from the granting of faith for righteousness – apart from God Himself choosing us and dragging us to Himself. And there is no spectrum. God chooses whom He wills to choose. We are slaves that cannot choose even when we think we are choosing. Our destinies are not our own, for as long as we are not chosen by God, we are imprisoned in our own choiceless fate under the condemning wrath of Almighty God. We are hostile to God, not wanting to have anything to do with Him. Again, that sounds a lot like fate! 2

1 It should be noted that Martin Luther wrote this when John Calvin was barely in puberty; it would not be possible to consider Martin Luther a Calvinist since there was no such thing as Calvinism at the time.

2 God's sovereign will is not fatalism at all but Providence. But in this blog entry, I merely use the term to make a point in my argument against the statement that Calvinism is a false religion dominated by the concept of fate.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon best summed it up like this:

What is fate? Fate is this – Whatever is, must be. But there is a difference between that and Providence. Providence says, Whatever God ordains, must be; but the wisdom of God never ordains anything without a purpose. Everything in this world is working for some great end. Fate does not say that. . . . There is all the difference between fate and Providence that there is between a man with good eyes and a blind man. Ω

The Most Valuable Thing in the Universe

I heard a preacher recently says that God values people – human beings – more than anything else in the universe. Is it not God who sets the standard for us for what is the most valuable? For example. God is love, therefore love is to be valued. God is just, therefore justice is to be valued. So, if people are the most valuable thing to God in the universe, then people ARE the most valuable thing in the universe. Therefore, according to this preacher, people are the most valuable thing in the universe, and we are to value people more than anything in the universe.

But isn’t God the most valuable thing in the universe? Are we not to value God more than anything in the universe? And if this is the standard we are to live by, and if it is imposed upon us by God, then God must value God more than anything in the universe. So if God values God more than anything in the universe, and we are to value God more than anything in the universe, then we cannot value people more than anything in the universe because we cannot value people more than we value God. WE CANNOT VALUE PEOPLE MORE THAN WE VALUE GOD!

John Piper puts it this way,

Perhaps you have heard people say how thankful we should be for the death of Christ because it shows how much value God puts upon us…Jonathan Edwards calls [this] the gratitude of hypocrisy… “they first rejoice, and are elevated with the fact that they are made much of by God…their joy is really a joy in themselves, and not in God."
A Godward Life, p. 214

If we value God more than anything, as God values God, then we will be able to shine forth true light to people, so that they can share in this glorious truth, that God is the most valuable thing in the universe. That is the purpose of missions and evangelism, “to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ.” On the contrary, what this preacher is proposing is the worship of Man. What humans value most, they worship.

If Jesus, as a man, placed man as God’s most important value, then He would, in essence, be worshiping Man. But God was at the center of Jesus’s life and ministry. Jesus loved people, but God was supremely valuable, the very center of Jesus’s life and ministry. If Jesus came mainly to love people because God valued them more than anything, His mission would have looked quite different. His ministry would have catered to their needs. Of course, He met needs, but He did not make people’s needs His ultimate mission. His eyes were set on the vindication of His Father’s glory. Ω

Reflections on Being a Physical and Spiritual (Tri)athlete

The bike ride and run were nothing, only matters of time. It was the swim that was killer. The gun fired and everyone in my wave (the Red Caps) made their mad dash toward the water. It must have been 50 meters from the starting point to the point where the water was deep enough to swim. I was getting a little winded before I even got to that point, so I slowed down and walked briskly. Everyone was pretty much out of sight within the first two minutes except for one other guy and myself.

The waves kept crashing against me. The pool swim didn’t prepare me for this brutal rhythm. In the pool, I could put my head down. I could stroke right, stroke left, turn, breathe and repeat. But here, I couldn’t guarantee a water-free breath. I took in some serious salt water. I must have been 200 meters out when thoughts of quitting and turning back came to mind. But the visualization of the events surrounding that kept me going. I thought of the turn around and placing my feet back on the beach, of the judge (or whoever), pulling my chip and pronouncing me Disqualified. I imagined the car ride home – the ride of shame. No, Linda wouldn’t shame me. That would be all me. No, there could be no turning back.

Moments later, I still was feeling uneasy. It was somewhere between nervous and terrified, though not quite that intense. “This water is pretty deep now.” I have a fear of sharks. And I was all alone now. The herd of swimmers had gone on and the next wave hadn’t been released yet. I was a sitting duck to ocean predators. Granted the water was freakin’ cold, and there was some recollection in this compendium of mental trivia that sharks were warm water dwellers. That helped. Another thought repeatedly came to me: that I am not wearing a life jacket, only a wetsuit. I could actually sink if I stop swimming. All the while, I was still ingesting that yummy ocean water.

My goggles fogged up. Great! I think I threw away the receipt for that anti-fog. Too late now. I couldn’t see, so I had to pull my goggles. This was as bad as it gets. I can’t breath. I can’t see. I’m getting bloated on salt water. I’m a sitting duck. The waves actually seem to be pushing me back to shore with every stroke I do take. There may be shark right under me and I look like a seal. Or I may just sink.

I was praying intermittently throughout the whole adventure. A lifeguard came along side me after awhile and asked if I needed assistance. No way! I asked him if I was making progress. He said yes. Of course he did. I would probably say yes in his position, stretch the truth a bit to make me feel better. But I took it as encouragement and moved on. I just had to make it to the first buoy to know it was true – that I was making progress.

What a relief when that buoy was finally on my left (all buoys were to our left on the Olympic run). I was moving forward. On to the second buoy. By that time, the next wave was well on my tail. When I rounded that second buoy, I was getting hit by swimmers who weren’t looking where they were going, just knew they were moving in the right direction. Somewhere around this area, after about 20 minutes in the water, two things happened. First, it dawned on me that I had never swam out this far from the shore. In fact, this may be two, three, even four times farther out. That was an unsettling, yet exhilarating thought. It was an accomplishment. The second thing that happened was I was subconsciously beginning to get a feel for the “pulse” of the ocean. The waves did have a pulse after all. There was a pattern to these mad waves, like a heartbeat – not completely steady, but not chaotically random either. Once that was discovered, this giant called the ocean diminished to an understanding of its heartbeat.

God used this swim to teach me a great deal, and I am still reflecting and learning. I am reminded of 1 Corinthians 9:27. I understand what it would mean to be physically disqualified, though I am thankful that was not my end. What it must be like for someone to be spiritually disqualified. To go through all the hard work, all the training, all the long rides, swims, runs, to push myself to exhaustion, and then to be disqualified in the first twenty minutes of the first event, would have been heart wrenching. I had to go the distance. I had to finish.

Linda and I just watched the movie “The World’s Fastest Indian” starring Anthony Hopkins. That last segment of the movie, where he raced his motorcycle was inspiring. He leg was burning from the exhaust, his eyes were burning because his goggles got blown off, and his bike was wobbling out of control. But he came to break the land record, to get his bike over 200 mph. There was no going back, no regrouping, no second chance – not this time. If he turned around, he wouldn’t get to do it again. This was it. He had come all the way from New Zealand. It took years to prepare for this event, and it would only take 5 minutes to do the whole thing. And it would only take one small decision, after all the hard work, to lay it all down, to be disqualified. In that moment, his burning leg and eyes, his aching heart, and his fear – none of it mattered. Something inside made him finish, no matter the cost. That’s what I felt in that water. I had to finish.

But this race was nothing in light of eternity. In my own way, I won, for I finished the race in far better time than I had hoped. But even if I had won, as Paul said, I would have received only a fleeting glory, a temporary “crown.” But the is another race I am running in everyday, and this race is for a prize that will not fade, an eternal reward. There was urgency and even terror in the thought of not finishing that swim. How much more should there be an urgency and terror in not finishing this eternal race. There was fear of shame for having turned around and being disqualified in that swim. How much more should be a fear of shame for being disqualified by King Jesus, of having Him be ashamed of me, of Him denying me before His Father in heaven.

This journey through life is a race – a long, drawn out race. The finish line is no where in sight. But that doesn’t mean it’s not imminent, and quickly approaching in light of eternity. I trimmed my attire in that water, and I trimmed my bike on that ride so that it would weigh as little as possible. “Take only what you need.” And I did. “Let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Heb 12:1).

† Thank You, Lord Jesus, for this life lesson. Help me to keep this at the forefront of my mind forever, to run to win, lest I be disqualified, lest I dishonor You with many trivialities, lest I run haphazardly and shoddy in this race. Amen. †

(For those wondering, I completed an Olympic Triathlon on Sunday, June 25, 2006 in Ventura, CA. This is the event to which I am referring.)